Turkey: PKK ends unilateral truce with Turkey

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) announced on Thursday that it has ended the unilateral truce with the Turkish government following an increase in violence since the elections on Sunday that were won by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The PKK’s announcement comes several days after several raids were carried out by the Turkish air forces against PKK sites in southeast Turkey and across the border in northern Iraq, as well as clashes between the two sides.

In a statement published by Firat News Agency (ANF), the PKK said that “The unilateral state of inaction has ended due to the AKP government’s latest attacks.””

The statement added that the Justice and Development Party (AKP) proved after the election that the upcoming cabinet would be a “war cabinet”.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed on Wednesday that Ankara will continue its military campaign against the PKK in a conflict that Turkey has born witness to for more than three decades.

About 45,000 people have been killed since the PKK launched an armed campaign to obtain greater Kurdish autonomy in southeast Turkey in 1984.

Violence erupted earlier this year between PKK militants and government forces after a bomb attack targeted activists in a Kurdish-majority town, which led to the collapse of the truce declared in 2013 after secret talks between Ankara and the jailed leader of the PKK Abdullah Ocalan.

But after the suicide attack that targeted a gathering of supporters of the Kurdish issue in Ankara last month, the PKK said that it would suspend all attacks except in cases of self-defence, in a move aimed at reducing tensions ahead of the early parliamentary elections which were held on Sunday.

After its landslide victory in Sunday’s elections, the AKP renewed its attacks against the PKK and Erdogan’s opponents, including anti-AKP media outlets.

Three days after the victory of his party in the legislative elections, the Turkish President vowed on Wednesday not to adopt an “appeasement policy” in the campaign against the PKK. Erdogan, who dominates the political scene in Turkey, said more than a decade ago that “there will be no truce, operations will continue decisively against the terrorist organisation inside and outside Turkey.”