Hope For Peace Fades in Turkey Over PKK Attack
August 17, 2011
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul, August 17, 2011
Nine soldiers were killed in an ambush near the Iraqi border that was blamed on the Kurdish rebel group the PKK.
The Turkish army retaliated with airstrikes, but it is believed the rebels had already crossed back to their bases in neighboring Iraq.
The attack brought an angry response from Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
"Terrorists martyred our children," Ergogan said. "May God rest their lost. Terror is a cruel phenomena - without a religion, without a nation, without a race, without a country."
The PKK has stepped up attacks after ending its unilateral cease-fire last month.
Since 1984, the rebel group since has been fighting for greater Kurdish rights in a conflict that has claimed more than 40,000 lives. At least 30 soldiers have died in the past few weeks. And, with the deaths coming in the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, it has added to the anger in Turkey against the PKK.
Earlier this month, Erdogan warned Turkey's restraint in action against the rebel group was coming to the end. He said with the passing of Ramadan, Turkey's armed forces would retaliate. Ramadan ends in two weeks.
Journalist and military affairs expert Metehan Demir says the government's reaction will be tough.
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