Hundreds flee Turkey to Kurdistan region as PKK-Turkey fight intensifies
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Recent fighting between the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Turkish government in southeast Hakkari province has displaced 242 civilians in the region, according to a Rudaw reporter Tuesday.
It has been three days since Turkish military forces besieged the Semdinli district and nearby areas. Rudaw’s Shawkat Harki reported that due to heavy clashes between Turkish forces and PKK guerrillas, many families have fled their homes and entered the Kurdistan region in Iraq.
According to the source, civilians claimed that Turkish military forces set their villages on fire.
Turkey’s military meanwhile has announced one Turkish solider was killed and several others were wounded in a series of clashes between the PKK in Semdinli and nearby villages.
The PKK claimed that its guerrillas killed 19 soldiers and 13 special operations police and two armored vehicles were destroyed with soldiers inside them. It also announced five guerrillas were killed by Turkish forces.
Clashes also erupted in Lice in Diyarbakir province in southeastern Turkey, leaving four Turkish soldiers wounded, said the statement.
On Friday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in a speech televised by Rudaw, warned that any insurgency would be dealt with without mercy. Last Tuesday, Erdogan vowed to continue military operations against the PKK until the disarmament of the group.
According to a statement from the office of Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkish security forces have detained over 1,300 individuals with suspected ties to ISIS, the PKK and leftist groups.
Kurdish politicians have stressed that the recent waves of raids inside Turkey have targeted Kurdish opposition and the majority of detainees are Kurdish activists in Turkey.
Tensions have been high since the ongoing Turkish crackdown began late last month, with nationwide sweeps and deadly Turkish air raids in the Qandil Mountains and in Turkey’s southeastern, ethnically Kurdish regions.
The latest hostilities shattered a shaky peace process between Ankara and the PKK that was meant to end a three-decade insurgency in which 40,000 people died.