Turkey Bombs PKK

Turkey is bombing female members of the PKK who have been successful in killing ISIS. Why? Why would a member of NATO kill fighters who are successful at killing many members of ISIS?

Jon

http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/embattled-kurds-fight-is-group-while-enduring-turkish-attacks-1.2487484

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/25/us-mideast-crisis-turkey-idUSKCN0PZ03J20150725

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-33663005

Turkey said on Saturday that its fighter jets hit militant camps of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq overnight, and Turkish ground forces struck the PKK and Islamic State fighters in northern Syria.

The strikes against PKK targets are likely to be a major blow to the stalled Kurdish peace process.

Turkey launched its first-ever air attack against Islamic State targets in Syria early on Friday, promising more decisive action against both the jihadists and Kurdish militants.

Fighter jets hit PKK targets in several locations in northern Iraq, including warehouses, “logistic points”, living quarters and storage buildings, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s office said.

The outlawed PKK, deemed a terrorist organization by Ankara and Washington, has waged a three-decade insurgency against Turkey for greater Kurdish autonomy.

Picking two simultaneous fights with both the Islamic State and the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) is a really difficult game to play for Turkey’s military strategists.

Tactics like employing suicide bombs against civilians make IS a very dangerous group. The PKK, on the other hand, is a totally different organisation with mass support across Kurdish regions of Turkey and Syria. The Turkish-Kurdish opposition People’s Democracy Party (HDP), which is seen as close to the PKK, won 13% of the vote in June’s general election.

The air strikes on the PKK bases in Iraqi Kurdistan follow a gradual increase in tension between the Turkish government and the Kurdish movement in the run-up to the elections.

The two sides have been engaged in a peace process that started in early 2013 and a ceasefire has held for the best part of two years. Turkish officials say tension has risen because the PKK leadership has refused to disarm and has started to carry out attacks against security forces. However, the PKK accuses the government of publicly abandoning the peace process, while adopting a nationalist discourse and cracking down on Kurdish activists.

Profile: The PKK

Suruc massacre highlights Turkey’s Islamic State dilemma

The Turkish government has faced criticism at home and abroad for not doing enough against IS, despite being part of the international coalition fighting it.

Friday’s air strikes marked the first time Turkey has confirmed air strikes against targets in Syria since IS began its advance through Iraq and Syria in 2013.

“This is a process,” Mr Davutoglu said. “It is not limited to one day or to one region. The slightest movement threatening Turkey will be retaliated against in the strongest way possible.”

He said Turkey was prepared to send troops across the border into Syria “if there was such a need”.

The agreement to let the US use the Incirlik airbase, following months of negotiations, was finalised in a phone call between President Barack Obama and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

It could allow the US to step up air strikes against IS, as it is closer to northern Syria and Iraq than the Gulf, which currently serves as a launch-pad for bombing missions.

Mr Erdogan said the US-led coalition against IS would be allowed to use the base “within a certain framework” – but did not specify what this would be.