Two PKK members killed in Van
4 08 2009Two members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, have been killed in fighting with paramilitary troops in eastern Turkey, security sources said Tuesday.
The fighting erupted late Monday when troops patrolling a mountainous area in Van province, near the Iranian border, encountered militants from the PKK, the sources said.
Last month, the PKK said it was extending a unilateral truce by six weeks until September 1 in anticipation of peace proposals by its jailed leader Abdullah Öcalan.
But Ankara, which lists the PKK as a terrorist group, has never recognized such truces and military operations against the rebels have continued.
The PKK took up arms for self-rule in Turkey’s Kurdish-majority east and southeast in 1984, sparking a conflict that has claimed about 45,000 lives.
The government is currently working on a package of reforms to expand Kurdish freedoms in a bid to win over the Kurds and erode popular support for the PKK.
Source:Hurriyet
URL: www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=two-kurdish-rebels-killed-in-turkey-security-sources-2009-08-04
Recent Comments