Articles About Terrorist Activities

Washington Institute of Near East Policy

What is the Kurdish Regional Government’s current status in northern Iraq, and what implications does it hold for the United States? Is Kurdish independence a likely scenario? To examine these questions, a four-member Washington Institute delegation visited the KRG in February 2008, exploring its political and economic situation, its ties to the rest of Iraq, and its relations with Turkey, Syria, and Iran. The trip resulted in a set of benchmarks to assess the region’s future prospects, both domestically and internationally.

In this new Washington Institute Policy Focus, Soner Cagaptay, Audrey Flake, Michael Knights, and David Pollock discuss each of these benchmarks, outlining important new findings on issues such as the KRG’s little-known financial dependence on Baghdad, its lethargic economic growth, its “love-hate relationship” with Iran, and its tolerance of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) — a factor that haunts Turkish-KRG and Turkish-Iraqi relations alike. Taken together, these and other findings could give policymakers significant leverage in their efforts to secure a broad spectrum of U.S. interests in Iraq, from human rights concerns to investment opportunities. Download Free e-Book

Source: www.washingtoninstitute.org/templateC04.php?CID=296

Hurriyet

An outlawed PKK separatist was killed and two others were injured as they staged an attack on the provincial security department in an eastern city of Turkey, the provincial governor said.

The police gave an immediate response to a terrorist attack carried out by three outlawed separatists, killing one outlawed PKK separatist and injuring two others in the clash, the Bingol Governor Irfan Balkanlioglu said.

No casualties were reported among police officers.

Read the rest of this entry »

Hurriyet

Turkish warplanes launched an air operation against the targets of the outlawed PKK organization in the Qandil region in Iraq, all 12 targets belonging to the terrorist organization were hit, the Turkish General Staff said in a statement posted on its official website on Sunday.

Turkish warplanes returned to their base safely after fulfilling their mission successfully, the statement also said.

Read the rest of this entry »

Hurriyet

A Turkish soldier was killed in clashes with outlawed PKK separatists in an eastern province of Turkey, broadcaster NTV reported on Saturday.

A Turkish soldier was killed in the clashes that took places in the Kagizman district of the Kars province, NTV reported on Saturday.

Another soldier was injured in the clashes, the state-run Anatolian Agency later reported.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist group by much of the international community including the U.S. and the EU.

Source: arama.hurriyet.com.tr/arsivnews.aspx?id=9521350

Turkish Daily News

The Turkish military has bombed 13 targets of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, in northern Iraq, said the General Staff in a written statement posted on its Web site yesterday.

The planes attacked terrorist targets in the Zab region near the Turkish border Wednesday, according to the statement.

An investigation into terrorist casualties is ongoing, it added, and underlined the fact that the attack specifically targeted the terrorist organization, with the military having taking all necessary measures to avoid civilians in the region.

The statement also said the military was determined to press ahead with anti-terrorist operations both inside and outside the country, “according to military needs.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Hurriyet

PKK terrorism in the past 25 years cost Turkey over $300 billion, Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek told on Monday at a press briefing following the Council of Ministers meeting, and added the “cost of South-East Anatolia Project (GAP) was $32 billion.”

“Had Turkey not been in a position to deal with the terror problem, we would have been able to create 10 GAPs,” Cicek said.

“We discussed the issue of Cyprus today. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and several ministers were in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) to attend the celebrations on the occasion of Cyprus Peace Operation. We had evaluations made with officials from the TRNC,” Cicek said.

“The year 2008 is important from a perspective of negotiations in Cyprus. New contacts and meetings began in Cyprus following the elections in southern Cyprus,”he also said.

Cicek said he does “not understand what the DTP implied and what is behind this statement”, when asked about recent comments made by new co-chairs of the Democratic Society Party (DTP) Ahmet Turk and Emine Ayna that “guns should be given up in finding a solution to the Kurdish problem”.

“As we talk, Turkish security forces continue to stage operations in various parts of Turkey. Just a few days before such comments were made by the DTP, Turkish security forces and soldiers were killed by the terrorist organization,” he added. 

We have to understand that no group can gain anything by resorting to violence, Cicek said.

“We know how much Turkey have lost due to terrorist activities. Our citizens in south-east Anatolia are the ones who have been deeply affected and hurt by the terrorist organization. Turkey lost over $300 billion in its fight against terrorists. Had Turkey not been subjected to terrorist activities, Turkey could have erected 10 GAPs. Turkey’s national income could have doubled if there was no terror. 3,800,000 Turkish citizens in southeast Anatolia would have been employed had there been no terror,” he also said.
 
Source: www.hurriyet.com.tr/english/domestic/9485407.asp?gid=244&sz=9343

Today’s Zaman

Belgian authorities have announced that they will soon begin confiscating the assets of the Denmark-based Roj TV television station, one of the main propaganda tools of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the Anatolia news agency reported yesterday.

According to Anatolia, Belgian authorities said earlier this week that they will begin confiscating Roj TV’s funds and equipment in the days ahead to collect a heavy tax fine levied on the station earlier this year. The Belgian Finance Ministry had issued the station a tax fine of around 4 million euros in late February. Roj TV officials claimed that Turkey’s pressure on the United States and certain EU countries to have the station closed down were behind the fine.

Read the rest of this entry »

Hurriyet

Three German mountaineers, held hostage by outlawed PKK separatists in Turkey for almost two weeks, arrived home in Germany late on Monday.

“We are very happy to be returning to Germany in good health,” one of the freed hostages Lars Holger Reime said in a brief statement carried on German television networks. 

“It was a difficult time, but we coped with it relatively well. We were relatively well treated by our kidnappers and on a physical level we are doing pretty well,” he was quoted by AFP as saying.

Reime, who refused to take questions, thanked the German and Turkish authorities for having resolved the matter without resorting to military action. “That was our big fear,” he said.

Read the rest of this entry »

Hurriyet

Two Turkish soldiers and two outlawed PKK separatists were killed in two separate clashes between the army and the outlawed PKK in Turkey’s eastern province of Bingol and southeastern province Sirnak on Friday.

The clashes erupted in the mountains of Bingol province as soldiers patrolling the area came upon a group of outlawed PKK separatists, AFP cited sources.

Two Turkish soldiers and one outlawed PKK separatist were killed in the clashes, the sources said.

Another Turkish soldier was killed in a separate clash with the PKK in Sirnak, Dogan News Agency reported on Friday.

Read the rest of this entry »

TCA

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan paid a two-day visit to Iraq last week, which Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki called “historic.”

The two prime ministers signed a joint political declaration on the establishment of a “high-level strategic cooperation council” between the governments. The two prime ministers said that this effort will help forge a “long-term strategic partnership” between Turkey and Iraq.

Border security, which figures very high on Turkey’s agenda due to PKK terrorist attacks from northern Iraq against Turkey, was also discussed by the prime ministers. Reportedly, the two countries agreed to establish a security zone at their border to eliminate the terrorist threats between the two countries and an economic zone in order to ease cross border trade.

Read the rest of this entry »