Articles About Terrorist Activities

Intent on resolving its ongoing Kurdish problem, Turkey launched a peace initiative last spring that includes measures to disarm the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a group listed by the State Department as a foreign terrorist organization. But does the PKK want peace? The following statements by top PKK leaders provide insight into the group’s intentions, the prospects for peace, and the implications for the United States. Read the rest of this entry »

Turkey on Tuesday urged Iraq and the United States to come up with ’concrete results’ on the ground in efforts to curb PKK terrorists in the third meeting of a tripartite committee between the countries.

“We have more expectations. We expect concrete results,” Turkish Interior Minister Beşir Atalay told reporters in Ankara following a meeting held as part of a joint committee set up by the three countries in November to cooperate against PKK terrorists, who attack Turkey from bases in northern Iraq.

Turkey has long been urging Iraq to choke off supplies to the PKK bases and arrest its leaders, but Iraq’s central government, and the Iraqi Kurdish administration in the north, have not done that. Read the rest of this entry »

After Tuesday’s tripartite talks in Ankara, Interior Minister Besir Atalay says Turkey wants to see concrete action by Iraq in the fight against the PKK

Progress has been made since establishing a trilateral mechanism involving senior Turkish, Iraqi and U.S. officials to combat the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, but Turkey has more expectations, Interior Minister Beşir Atalay said Tuesday.

A ministerial-level meeting of the trilateral mechanism took place in Ankara and was chaired by Turkey’s Atalay, Iraqi State Minister for National Security Shirwan al-Waili, and deputy commander of Iraq’s multinational force, Steven Hummer. Read the rest of this entry »

Turkish, Iraqi and US officials will convene in Ankara next week to discuss measures to counter the outlawed PKK. The meeting comes on the heels of Turkish PM Erdoğan’s announcement of a Kurdish plan. But officials say the talks were scheduled long ago and have nothing to do with the Kurdish plan

Turkey, Iraq and the United States will hold tripartite talks Tuesday in Ankara to discuss ways to keep the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, from using northern Iraq as a springboard for attacks on Turkish territory, a senior Foreign Ministry official told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review. Read the rest of this entry »

A landmine explosion in southeast Turkey has killed one soldier, the army said late Tuesday.

According to a statement posted on the military’s Web site, a Turkish soldier was killed when a landmine planted by Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, terrorists exploded in a mountainous area in the southeastern province of Şırnak.

The PKK launches cross-border attacks on Turkey from bases in northern Iraq and frequently uses remote-control landmines to target the country’s security forces. It is listed as a terrorist group by Turkey and much of the international community, including the European Union and the United States. Read the rest of this entry »

Turkish soldiers killed three Kurdish separatists in fighting in the south of the country, the army said Saturday, days after the separatists extended a unilateral ceasefire.

Fighting broke out Friday in a mountainous area in the southern province of Hatay, which borders Syria, when soldiers on patrol came across separatists from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, the General Staff said on its Web site.

An operation was under way to catch the fleeing separatists, it added. Read the rest of this entry »

Four people including two soldiers were injured in a mortar attack by Kurdish militants against a military post in southeastern Turkey, near the border with Iraq, local officials said Sunday.

The attack late Saturday saw terrorists fire six mortar shells from Iraqi territory toward a military border post near the village of Daglica in Hakkari province, the local governor’s office said in a statement.

Some of the shells landed in fields nearby, injuring two villagers, while two soldiers sustained injuries when one of the shells landed near the military station, it added. Earlier reports stated that the mortars had injured three people. Read the rest of this entry »

Three PKK terrorists were killed in clashes with Turkish security forces in the southern part of the country, the army said Saturday.

The clashes broke out Friday in a mountainous area in the province of Hatay, which borders Syria, when soldiers on patrol came across the PKK terrorists, the military said in statement posted on its Web site.

An operation was under way to catch the fleeing terrorists, the statement added.

Turkey has long been struggling with the terror organization PKK, which launches cross-border attacks on Turkey from bases in northern Iraq.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist group by Turkey and much of the international community, including the EU and the United States. Read the rest of this entry »

A landmine blast killed four people and wounded nine Monday in southeastern Turkey near the border with Iraq where Kurdish separatists are active, the Anatolia news agency reported, quoting the local governor’s office.

 The blast occurred in the Besta region in Şırnak province when a vehicle carrying workers to a road construction site ran over a landmine planted by separatists from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, the governor’s statement said.

None of the wounded were in a life-threatening condition, it added. Read the rest of this entry »