Hannes Swoboda, the head of the Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, has condemned acts of terror in Turkey and accused the Iranian government of seeking to inflame tensions in its neighbor. "I condemn every act of terror and strongly believe that terror cannot be used as a means to attain your goals in today's world," Swoboda said in a recent speech in Vienna, delivered at the opening of th ...

10 Turkish soldiers, 20 PKK militants killed in clashes Ten Turkish soldiers were killed and seven were injured in attacks by suspected members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the southeastern province of Şırnak last night. The PKK has launched numerous attacks on military bases around the province's Beytüşşebap district. The militants attacked the bases with rocket-propelled grenades (RPG ...

Washington is not lending the amount of support it should be giving Turkey in its fight against terrorism, President Abdullah Gül has said while admitting that Turkey should be able to take its own measures without relying on other countries to resolve the problem. “Is there anything more that the U.S. could do? Of course there is. Is [the U.S. effort] enough? I do not think so. But every country has its ow ...

BDP leader calls on PKK to lay down arms Selahattin Demirtaş, the co-leader of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), called on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) to halt all armed activities today. Demirtaş spoke in the wake of today's attack on a military outpost in the Dağlıca distict of the eastern Hakkari province by the PKK that left eight soldiers and 10 PKK militants dead. Demirtaş extended h ...

No negotiations, PKK has to lay down arms: Turkish PM The government will not conduct any negotiations with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told reporters today, adding that the PKK’s disarmament was the only way to end terror.  "Nobody can make terrorism an issue of negotiation," Erdoğan said. "We will end this, sooner or later. This is non-negotiabl ...

The outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party’s (PKK) recent attacks against civilians in East and Southeast Anatolia points to a return to Turkey’s dark 1990s era, which was characterized by severe clashes and killings, according to politicians and academics. “The PKK attacked many civilians such as public workers, teachers and construction sites in the 1990s. This hasn’t been happening for a long time, but the re ...

EP Rapporteur on Turkey calls on BDP to cut off ties with PKK European Parliament's rapporteur on Turkey Ria Oomen-Ruijten called on Turkey's Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) to cut off all ties with terrorist organization PKK. BRUSSELS- Speaking at a press conference following the adoption of her report on Turkey at the European Parliament on Thursday, Oomen-Ruijten said that she strongly condemned the viol ...

Turkey has adopted a new strategy in its bid to solve the Kurdish issue, whereby the state will not negotiate with the jailed leader of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Abdullah Öcalan, but instead will only hold talks with the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) and will invite the president of the Iraqi autonomous Kurdish region, Massoud Barzani, to act as a negotiator to broker any deals with th ...

The undesired (but much expected) prospect has come true and several suspects alleged for causing deaths of 35 people in a fire at a hotel in Sivas town of Turkey in 1993 have been released after the court dropped the case today, due to statute of limitations. Thus, the hope to further conduct the investigation to get to the brains(instigators) who organized the shameful event behind the scene has vanished. ...

Kurds should not lay down arms, deputy says Kurds should not lay down their arms because weapons are the community’s “insurance policy,” Diyarbakır independent deputy Leyla Zana has said. “The armed conflict forced everyone to choose a side. I would never argue for the laying down of arms,” she was quoted as saying. “Weapons are the insurance policy for Kurds, and they will remain so as long as the [Kurdish ...

Deputy gov attacked as BDP warns against official visits to Şırnak The deputy governor of Uludere district where 35 civilians were killed in a botched air raid were attacked by a group of people. Deputy Gov. Naif Yavuz was traveling to Gülyazı village to offer condolences to families of the killed when a group of people wielding sticks attacked him and hurled stones at Yavuz. Do not come to Uludere, says BD ...

Joe Biden, the vice president of the United States, visited ailing Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at his home in the Üsküdar district of Istanbul on Saturday. The two leaders focused on the fight against terrorism and regional issues, including the future of Iraq, from which American military forces will withdraw as of Dec. 31. The two-hour meeting also became the first public appearance of Erd ...

The United States and Turkey will continue to work together on “pursuing shared interests” in the Middle East and North Africa as it is reshaped by the Arab Spring, according to U.S. Vice President Joe Biden. Responding to emailed questions from daily Hürriyet ahead of his landmark visit to Ankara that was due to start late yesterday, Biden said Turkey’s “economic leadership” could have a “transformative im ...

Ankara could be forced to launch a cross-border operation against Syria if Damascus were to allow the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) to attack Turkey from its territory, President Abdullah Gül has said during a state visit to Britain. “I don’t think the Syrian government would make that kind of mistake” in allowing the PKK to conduct attacks from the Arab republic’s territory, Gül told the daily Gu ...

Syria should not even consider sheltering members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) or using the group as a pawn against Turkey, Turkish President Abdullah Gül has told Damascus while also noting Ankara’s flourishing ties with Washington. “I would strongly suggest and would expect that [Damascus] would not get involved in such a dangerous game,” Gül said in recent comments to the Financial Time ...

Germany should pay heed to its large Turkish community and throw its support behind Ankara's EU entry bid, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan told German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday."Turkey wishes that Germany would be its biggest supporter in its EU membership bid," Erdoğan said. "We want a very different kind of support... We have a special relationship." He was speaking at a ceremony attende ...

This beautiful country located at one of the most strategic spots of the world has been suffering from terror for over 30 years. An approximate budget of  US$ 500 billion has been spent to fight terror and more than 30,000 lives have been lost. During the last several years in specific terror has risen again and indeed after the start-up signal of democratization (also called Kurdish opening once) the gover ...

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan slammed Germany on Tuesday for becoming “an accessory” to the campaign of terror launched by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) terrorist organization in Turkey. “Those who tolerate terrorism become an accessory to the bloody face of terrorism,” Erdoğan said without naming Germany in a speech delivered in Berlin during a gala dinner to mark the 50th anniversary of ...

Turkey’s Kurdish community, including residents of the southeast, intellectuals and politicians who have been active outside the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) sphere of influence, have been upset by the terrorist group’s recent attacks, saying the violence is not helping any cause, but to the contrary is hurting communities. Kurdish politicians, businessmen and residents of Turkey’s East and Sout ...

Thousands poured out onto streets across Turkey yesterday to protest outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) attacks on Oct. 19 that killed 24 soldiers in the eastern province of Hakkari. “Words would not suffice to describe our pain. We bleed our pain internally for the well-being of our nation and our state. Those who have accounts to settle with the Turkish Republic are attacking from all sides. This sta ...

Turkish President Abdullah Gül says revenge will be ‘very great’ for attacks carried out by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants, while Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan underlines the timing of the deadly attacks that came on the day the official works on a new constitution kicked off. Ankara has promised “immense revenge” for at least 24 soldiers killed by Kurdish militants yesterday as ...

Twenty-four people died last night in clashes between alleged members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and security forces in Hakkari province in Southeast Turkey, NTV reported. The clashes began around 1 a.m. last night and lasted through the morning. The attackers were reported to have hit eight targets simultaneously. Most of the targets were known to have been near the border posts.  The c ...

Five policemen and three civilians died today in Güroymak district of the southeastern province Bitlis in a suspected roadside bomb explosion. A bomb that was planted in a manhole went off while a police vehicle was passing, just outside Güroymak, security sources said. Bitlis Gov. Nurettin Yılmaz told reporters in the eastern city that five police officers and three civilians were killed in the explosion, ...