PKK Warns of ‘Heavy Price’ as Six Killed in Turkey Fighting

Four Soldiers, Two PKK Slain in Fighting in Southeast

PKK leader Murat Karayilan, a top commander located in northern Iraq, warned Turkey will pay a “heavy price” if they continue to attack PKK targets across the region, saying that the Erdogan government “made a very big mistake” by abandoning the ceasefire.

In the two weeks since the ceasefire was abandoned, there has been near daily fighting in southeastern Turkey, and that continued today in multiple areas, with at least four Turkish soldiers and two PKK fighters killed, along with a number of others wounded in several incidents.

The largest incident was in the Hakkari Province, where PKK fighters opened fire on a military patrol with long-range rifles and rocket launchers, killing three and wounding six. This brings the overall toll to 34 Turkish soldiers killed in the past weeks.

The war between Turkey and the PKK is a long-standing one, and indeed the 31st anniversary of its start will be over the weekend. There had been over two years of ceasefire, however, with peace talks. The talks hadn’t been advancing very fast, and Turkish officials declared a deal “impossible” after bombing PKK targets in Iraq.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.