Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan yesterday said it was impossible to continue a peace process with Kurdish militants and urged parliament to strip politicians with links to them of immunity from prosecution.
Hours after he spoke, the Turkish military said its F-16 fighter jets had bombed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in the southeastern Turkish province of Sirnak, which borders Iraq, in response to an attack on a group of gendarmes.
Turkey last week launched air strikes on PKK camps in northern Iraq following a series of attacks on its police officers and soldiers blamed on the Kurdish militant group.
The PKK has said the air strikes, launched virtually in parallel with strikes against Islamic State fighters in Syria, rendered the peace process meaningless but stopped short of formally pulling out.
“It is not possible for us to continue the peace process with those who threaten our national unity and brotherhood,” Erdogan told a news conference in Ankara before departing on an official visit to China.
Western allies have said they recognise Turkey’s right to self-defence but have urged the Nato member not to allow peace efforts with the PKK to collapse.
While deeming the PKK a terrorist organisation, Washington depends heavily on allied Syrian Kurdish fighters in battling Islamic State in Syria.
An emergency Nato meeting in Brussels yesterday offered political support for Turkey’s campaigns in Syria and Iraq, and Erdogan signalled Turkey may have a “duty” to become more involved.
An emergency Nato meeting in Brussels yesterday offered political support for Turkey’s campaigns in Syria and Iraq
For Nato allies, the prospect of Turkey, which borders Iran, Iraq and Syria, fighting a domestic conflict against Kurdish as well as Islamist fighters is a deep concern. But for many in Turkey, Kurdish rebellion remains the primary national threat.
Besir Atalay, spokesman for the ruling AK Party, said it was too soon to declare the peace process over and said it could resume if “terrorist elements” put down arms and left Turkey.
“There is currently a stagnation in the mechanism but it would restart where it left off if these intentions emerge,” he told a press conference in Ankara.
Braving nationalist anger, Erdogan introduced tentative reforms on Kurdish rights and in 2012 launched negotiations to try to end a PKK insurgency that has killed 40,000 people since 1984. A fragile ceasefire had been holding since March 2013.
However, any calculation Erdogan may have had that his political gamble would reap broad electoral support from Kurds, some 20 per cent of the population, demonstrably failed.
The pro-Kurdish HDP party won 13 per cent of the vote in a June 7 poll, helping to deprive the AKP Erdogan founded of a majority in parliament for the first time since 2002.