ISTANBUL // Turkish fighter jets targeted Kurdish militants in south-eastern Turkey on Tuesday hours after the group fired on security forces, the military said.
Two F-16 jets hit a group of militants from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the mountainous province of Sirnak bordering Iraq, the statement said. Turkey launched air strikes against PKK targets late last week after the militants killed police and military personnel.
Earlier on Tuesday, a soldier in civilian clothes “was shot in the head in front of a bank ... by a member of the separatist terrorist organisation” in Semdinli in the mainly Kurdish southeast, the army said, referring to the outlawed PKK.
The soldier died of his injuries in hospital.
On Tuesday, president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey can longer continue the peace process with the Kurds amid continuing attacks against Turkish targets.
“It is not possible to carry on the [peace] process with those who target our national unity and brotherhood,” he said of the PKK.
Turkey, which considers the PKK a terrorist organisation, launched peace negotiations with the group’s jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan in late 2012, but the two sides have yet to reach an accord.
Ankara has expanded the cross-border campaign against ISIL in Syria, beginning last week to include PKK positions in northern Iraq, after deadly attacks inside Turkey blamed on the Kurdish separatists.
On Monday, gunmen in a predominantly Kurdish part of eastern Turkey shot dead a paramilitary police commander – the latest attack blamed on Kurdish militants.
“Those who exploit the people’s and the state’s tolerance and patience will receive the answer they deserve as soon as possible,” Mr Erdogan said.
Mr Erdogan vowed that Turkey’s operations against Kurdish militants and ISIL militants would continue “with determination”.
“Any step back is out of the question. This is a process and this process will continue with the same determination,” he said before leaving for China on an official visit.
Mr Erdogan also said Turkish and US officials were discussing the creation of a safe zone along the Turkey-Syria border, which would be cleared of ISIL group presence and turned into a secure area for Syrian refugees to return.
“The clearance of those regions and the creation of a safe zone there will lay the ground for 1.7 million citizens here to return home,” he said.
A senior US official said that Ankara and Washington aimed to establish an ISIL-free zone to “ensure greater security and stability along Turkey’s border with Syria”.
Details of the zone “remain to be worked out”, the official said during a visit by US president Barack Obama to Ethiopia, adding that joint efforts would not include Turkey’s demand for the imposition of a no-fly zone.
Turkey would support US “partners on the ground” already fighting ISIL militants, the official added.
Turkey has also given the US the green light to use its Incirlik air base to attack ISIL after months of tough negotiations.
On Tuesday, Nato declared its “strong solidarity” with Turkey at an emergency meeting as ambassadors gathered to meet about the threat faced by a member.
Ankara requested the extraordinary meeting to gauge the threat the ISIL extremist group poses to Turkey, and the actions Turkish authorities are taking in response, including attacks on Kurdish rebels.
“We strongly condemn the terrorist attacks against Turkey, and express our condolences to the Turkish government and the families” of victims killed in recent terrorist actions, Nato ambassadors said after the meeting.
“Terrorism poses a direct threat to the security of Nato countries and to international stability and prosperity,” the Nato statement said. “It is a global threat that knows no border, nationality or religion – a challenge that the international community must fight and tackle together.”
* Agencies