Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 14
By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:
Turkey's air forces conducted air strikes on the bases of the terrorist organization known as the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), on the mountains in the Hakkari province, the newspaper Hurriyet said Oct. 14.
Hakkari Province is a province in the south east corner of Turkey. The administrative centre is located in the city of Hakkari.
The decision on using the air strikes was made after the PKK militants, taking advantage of the recent developments in Syria [Turkey's non-interference in the developments in the Syrian town of Kobani] threatened to return from Iraq to Turkey.
Turkey's conflict with the PKK, which demands the creation of an independent Kurdish state, has continued for over 25 years and claimed more than 40,000 lives.
The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by the UN and the EU.
The process of a democratic solution to the Kurdish problem in Turkey started in 2009, following which the PKK militants partially left Turkey and went into the neighboring Iraq.
After Ankara's announcement that it will not use the armed forces to protect Kobani from the Islamic State (IS) terrorist organization, the PKK supporters and the leader of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Selahattin Demirtas urged the Kurdish population in Turkey's southern provinces to hold mass protests.
Last week, Turkey imposed curfew in the provinces of Diyarbakir, Mardin, Siirt, Mus, Van and Batman because of the protests.
Aside from that, the protests in several provinces of Turkey inflicted severe damage to the property of municipalities and private businesses.
Turkey has repeatedly said civilians left Kobani, and the fights are going on in the town between the PKK's Syrian wing and the IS militants.