Articles About Terrorist Activities

One soldier died and one was injured in a conflict with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, in the southeastern province of Hakkari on Sunday, private news channel NTV reported.

The conflict erupted in the Dağlıca region, which has been the scene of bloody confrontations in the past. PKK members opened fire on soldiers who were en route to an operation, the TV channel reported.

The PKK emerged at the beginning of the 1980s with demands for more rights for Turkey’s Kurdish population, which lives mainly in the eastern and southeastern regions of the country. The conflict has continued since then, causing more than 30,000 deaths.

A recent effort by the current government to solve the Kurdish issue brought both hope for an end to the conflict and critical reactions. The return of several PKK members from northern Iraq as part of the government’s move triggered an uproar after the PKK members were released without arrest.

First demanding a separate state of their own, PKK members later said they wanted to live together within the borders of the Turkish Republic but with more democratic rights for Kurds, primarily the right to education in Kurdish.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey as well as the United States and the European Union.

Source: Hurriyet Daily News
URL: www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=one-soldier-dies-in-pkk-conflict-2010-03-14