The fragile peace process between the Turkish government and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ party, or PKK, appeared to be on the brink of collapse after two Turkish soldiers were killed and four others were injured in a car bomb attack that Ankara blamed on Kurdish rebels.
The blast came after Turkey launched a second round of air strikes against PKK positions in northern Iraq on Sunday following a similar one on Friday which also targeted Islamic State in Syria, in retaliation for a string of violent attacks last week for which Turkey blames both groups – themselves fierce rivals.
Turkey asked Nato on Sunday night to hold an extraordinary council meeting on Tuesday under article four of the treaty, which invokes consultation but does not automatically trigger military action on the part of fellow Nato members. According to a statement by the Turkish foreign ministry, the meeting aims at informing Turkey’s Nato allies about the ongoing operations against Isis in Syria and the PKK in northern Iraq.
Nato officials said that while Turkey may ask for military assistance, the purpose of the meeting is primarily exploratory and to send a political message of support. They said that, while other Nato allies are sympathetic to requests for help against Isis, none are likely to want to become involved with the PKK, which is regarded as an internal problem for Turkey.
Turkey could ask for the creation of a safe buffer zone along its Syrian border in the fight against Isis.
A request for Nato assistance is unlikely to open the way for the UK to begin air strikes against Isis targets in Syria, at least not until after parliament is given an opportunity to vote, which is not likely to happen before the autumn.
In the latest strikes, Turkish F-16s took off from Diyarbakir in south-eastern Turkey and headed towards the PKK’s rear bases on Mount Kandil, CNN-Turk and NTV channels said.
“At around 9pm [1800 GMT], Turkish planes started bombing some of our positions in two areas” north of Dohuk and north of Arbil, a spokesman for the PKK in Iraq, Bakhtiar Dogan, told AFP.
US officials expressed their support for Turkey’s air strikes on the PKK, saying they “respected Turkey’s right to defend itself”. In a major policy shift, the Turkish government last week agreed to open its airbases for US-led coalition warplanes after the US had grown increasingly frustrated with Turkey’s reluctance to join the fight against Isis.
While some wondered if US support for Turkey’s raids on the PKK was part of the deal reached after lengthy negotiations, others said it was too early to deduce that the US had dropped the Kurds, a major ally in the fight against Isis, in exchange for Turkey actively joining the anti-Isis coalition.
“In the clash between the Turkish state and the PKK, the Americans have always supported Turkey,” said Mesut Yeğen, a historian of the Kurdish issue. “The real question is what the US would do if Turkey will turn on the PYD,” he added, referring to the Democratic Union party, the Syrian affiliate of the PKK.
On Sunday night the Turkish prime minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu, was quoted as telling a round table with Turkish newspaper editors that the country had no plans to send ground troops into Syria.
“An important point was the air cover for the [rebel] Free Syrian Army and other moderate elements fighting against Daesh [Isis],” the Hürriyet newspaper quoted him as saying.
“If we are not going to send in land units on the ground, and we will not, then those forces acting as ground forces cooperating with us should be protected,” he said.
Davutoğlu was also quoted as saying that the Syrian Kurdish PYD party could “have a place in the new Syria” if it did not disturb Turkey, cut all relations with President Bashar al-Assad’s administration and cooperated with opposition forces.
The deadly car bomb exploded late on Saturday, when a military police vehicle carrying several officers was travelling to intervene in a traffic blockade close to the predominantly Kurdish town of Lice, according to a statement by the Diyarbakır governorate. The military had launched a wide sweep to capture the bombers, Turkish authorities said. In coordinated raids throughout the province, at least 21 people suspected to have links to the PKK were arrested on Sunday morning.
The attack came on the heels of a PKK declaration that the ceasefire, agreed as part of the peace process started in 2012 in an attempt to end a bloody conflict that has killed more than 40,000 people over 30 years, had “lost all meaning” due to the Turkish military assault, the heaviest since peace negotiations began.
On Friday night, Turkish fighter jets hit several PKK targets, including shelters, warehouses, bunkers and parts of the Qandil mountains, where the Kurdish group’s military headquarters are located, the Turkish authorities said. One PKK member was killed and three others were wounded during the attacks, according to a statement published by the People’s Defence Force (HPG), the PKK’s military wing.
In a statement published on Saturday, the HPG denounced the air raids as an “aggression of war” by the Turkish state and vowed to resist.
The operations continued on Saturday, when Turkish fighter jets and artillery forces jointly attacked PKK camps in northern Iraq and Isis militants in Syria. Turkish officials said the incursion against the jihadis would help create a “safe zone” on Syrian soil alongside the Turkish border.
“As soon as areas in northern Syria are cleared of the [Isis] threat, safe zones will emerge naturally,” the Turkish foreign minister, Mevlüt Çavușoğlu, said on Saturday, adding that these swaths of land could be used to host Syrian refugees.
“We have always defended the establishment of safe zones and no-fly zones in Syria. People who have been displaced can be placed in those safe zones,” he said.
Parliament has been summoned to meet on Wednesday to discuss the security situation.
Turkish police used water cannon to disperse a demonstration in Ankara condemning violence by Isis, an AFP reporter said, with police reportedly arresting about 33 people.
Meanwhile, the leftist opposition Peoples’ Democratic party (HDP) has harshly criticised the military operations, saying the attacks on the PKK were a “pretext” and an attempt by the interim Justice and Development party (AKP) government to force early elections after the party lost its parliamentary majority on 7 June.
“This is a plan by the government to set the country on fire in order to secure a single-party government. By creating a militaristic and nationalist climate while pretending to conduct a comprehensive fight with terrorism, the government wants to force snap elections,” the HDP said on Saturday, underlining the need for renewed dialogue and negotiations in order to save the peace process, now hanging by a thread.
Since the suicide bomb attack that killed 32 people last Monday, a wave of violence has rolled over the country, including the killing of several police officers for which the PKK claimed responsibility. Violent protests against the AKP’s failed Syria policies and its stalling of the Kurdish peace process have erupted in several cities all over Turkey. In clashes between pro-Kurdish protesters and the police in Cizre, a 21-year-old man was reported shot in the exchange of gunfire.
In Istanbul, authorities banned a planned “peace march” scheduled to take place on Sunday, citing security concerns and traffic congestion. Turkish police in Ankara used water cannon and teargas to disperse a demonstration protesting against the AKP’s Syria policies and Isis violence. Thirty-three people were reportedly detained.
Journalist and commentator Oral Çalışlar said that neither the Turkish government nor the PKK had anything to gain from a return to full-scale hostilities.
“In the end both parties will have to sit around a table and continue to talk,” he said. “They know, from years of struggle, that they cannot destroy each other, and that they cannot reach any lasting results through violence. The peace process simply has to continue because of that.”