UN calls on Turkey and PKK to find peaceful solution

NEW YORK—The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is concerned about the recent conflict between Turkey and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) said the organization’s spokesperson on Tuesday, and that both sides should return to dialogue.

“The Secretary-General is concerned by the latest escalation of tension between Turkey and PKK elements,” said the UN spokesperson in a statement.

Turkish fighter jets have been bombing PKK bases in the mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan since Saturday where many guerilla fighters are believed to have been killed.

“He (Ban Ki-moon) expresses the hope that there will be an immediate return to constructive dialogue in order to continue to find a peaceful solution to the challenge at hand,” said the UN statement.

The recent conflict comes after two years of calm between the PKK and Turkey as a result of a peace deal reached between both sides in March 2013.

“The Secretary-General calls on all concerned to refrain from returning to a deadly conflict which has in the past brought so much suffering and grief to the people of Turkey,” urged the UN.

The UN statement came less than 24 hours after a phone call between Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and the UN Secretary General in which the organization’s spokesperson said, "they talked about regional issues."

Meanwhile a diplomatic source at the UN told Rudaw that Turkey’s air campaign is increasingly seen by key European countries as more of a campaign against Kurds than to counter ISIS.