Turkish Counter-attack Leaves 17 Dead

Turkish military says 35 PKK rebels believed killed
Turkey's military said on Friday some 35 terrorists were believed to have been killed amid a recent upsurge in clashes in the country's southeast, but it had yet to confirm this information.

The military told reporters they had picked up communication between the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) terrorists where they referred to some 35 deaths of their members in clashes this week on Cudi mountain in Şırnak, near the border with Iraq.

The militants have stepped up deadly attacks on the Turkish armed forces in recent weeks, piling pressure on the government and military to act decisively against them.

In clashes on Thursday, five soldiers and five PKK terrorists were killed. The Turkish military said one of its helicopters crashed because of technical failure, killing a soldier and wounding 15.

NATO-member Turkey has staged almost daily artillery and aerial attacks on the PKK terrorists in southeast Turkey and northern Iraq since a militant attack killed 17 soldiers this month.

Turkey blames the PKK, considered a terrorist organisation by the United States and the European Union, for the deaths of more than 40,000 people since it launched its armed campaign for autonomy in southeast Turkey in 1984.

http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar...tay&link=156160

5 soldiers died not 11.

Most turkish officers including the generals live in the SE where they are involved on a day to day basis with the fighting and there have been many instances of very high ranking officers killed in ambushes with the PKK. 3 of the 5 killed were ethnic kurds also

user posted image

Five soldiers die in Hakkari clash
Pvt. Orhan Mahran, who died in a helicopter crash on Wednesday in Hakkari, was laid to rest in his hometown of Tatvan in the province of Bitlis yesterday.
Five soldiers were killed Wednesday in a clash with Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) terrorists near the border with Iraq, the military has announced. One of the soldiers was killed in a helicopter crash during the clash, the military said yesterday in a statement.

The PKK has claimed responsibility for shooting down the helicopter during the clash in Hakkari. The military, however, said the helicopter crashed due to a technical problem while trying to block the terrorists’ escape path. The statement said 15 security personnel also suffered minor injuries in the crash.

The military stated that the other soldiers were killed prior to the crash when a group of PKK terrorists opened fire on them near the border. The deaths of the five soldiers came at a time when the country had already been shaken by successive terrorist attacks on security forces. A deadly attack on a military outpost in the Aktütün area of eastern Hakkari city claimed the lives of 17 soldiers on Oct. 3 and wounded 21 others. A terrorist raid on a police shuttle in the southeastern city of Diyarbakır on Oct. 8 resulted in the deaths of five people, four of whom were police officers, and the injury of 18 others.

The incident on Wednesday in Hakkari drew the condemnation of various circles, and government officials reiterated their determination to combat terrorism until every single terrorist is flushed out. President Abdullah Gül released a statement soon after the incident and said no heinous act targeting the indivisible integrity of the country would be able to achieve its aims.

Parliament Speaker Köksal Toptan expressed grief over the deaths of five soldiers, adding that the series of terrorist acts were aimed at disturbing peace in the nation and harming the territorial integrity of the country.

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal stated that Turkey had great determination to protect its national unity and territorial integrity and fight the terrorists.

In the meantime, a military memorial ceremony was held at the Hakkari Mountain Commando Brigade and four of the five slain soldiers were sent to their hometowns for burial. Selahattin İrkoş, father of Hasan İrkoş -- one of the martyred soldiers -- said he had dreamed of his son three times the night before he was killed. “I called Hasan and told him to give me frequent phone calls to let me know he is OK. But he lost his life. My grief is indescribable,” he noted.

Father of another dead soldier, Abdullah Erdin, said his son Ferhat was engaged and was planning to get married in a month. “May our country live long. A great pain weighs heavily on my chest. May God prevent other fathers from experiencing similar grief,” he stated.

The uncle of Umur Çiftçi, Abdullah Gülser, stressed that terrorist acts wouldn’t be able to damage the fraternity between Turks and Kurds. “I hope these deaths will be the last. Turks and Kurds are brothers. There are some who try to sow the seeds of enmity between them but they will not be successful,” he said.

17 October 2008, Friday

Official: 2 terrorists killed in Turkey
An official says Turkish soldiers have killed two militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party(PKK) during a clash in the country's southeast.

İrfan Balkanoğlu, the governor of the southeastern Bingöl province, said Wednesday the fighting occurred near the village of Dallıtepe.

The deaths Tuesday follow days of violent Kurdish pro-*test*-('")s across the country sparked by allegations that Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Öcalan was mistreated in prison. The government has strongly denied the allegations.

http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar...tay&link=156604

Twenty-five PKK terrorists were killed in Turkish air strikes targeting PKK hideouts in northern Iraq last week, an army spokesman said Friday. Seventeen others were killed in security operations inside Turkey, he added. (UPDATED)

Intelligence reports suggest that several PKK terrorists were also injured when Turkish warplanes raided the Qandil mountains in northern Iraq on Oct. 17, General Metin Gurak, the head of the general staffs press department, told a news conference in Ankara.

Gurak said 17 PKK terrorists were killed inside the country in clashes with Turkish security forces that took place last week.

Turkey, provided with intelligence by the United States, has stepped up its campaign to crackdown on the PKK both inside Turkey and in northern Iraq, after the terror organization increased its attacks on Turkish soldiers, as well as civilians.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist group by Ankara and much of the international community, including the EU and the United States.

http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/english/domesti...99929.asp?scr=1

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Turkish soldier dies in PKK clashes

user posted image

Turkey has stepped up military action against the PKK in recent months [AFP]

A Turkish soldier has been killed and at least four others wounded in clashes with Kurdish fighters in eastern Turkey, according to media reports.

The fighting occurred between soldiers on patrol and separatist fighters from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), in a rural area of Agri province, the Anatolia news agency quoted a local governor as saying on Wednesday.

Turkey has stepped up military action against the PKK since its fighters killed 17 soldiers in a raid in southeast Turkey in October.

The PKK has waged a 24-year armed campaign for self-rule in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast in a conflict that has claimed some 44,000 lives.

Ankara says the PKK fighters use neighbouring northern Iraq as a springboard for attacks in Turkish territory and Turkish planes have carried out several strikes on rebel bases across the border.

The la-*test*-('") fighting comes as US, Iraqi and Turkish officials held talks in Baghdad, the Iraqi capital, signalling new efforts to tackle the issue of Kurdish fighters based in Iraq.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2...4453241523.html

Alepou your back! I see you posted the death of the turkish major, 4 terrorits were killed in that incident also. if your still scanning the news how come you posted nothing of the two greek pilots burnt alive in the apache accident a few days ago?

QUOTE (turkkan @ November 19, 2008 05:48 pm)

Because it desn't suit his agenda. He is still under the impression that we should send our Generals to lead our armies against the farking pkk. He's a good guy though....even though he thinks that Generals are expendable.

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Three Turkish soldiers killed, eight injured in PKK clashes

Three Turkish soldiers were killed and eight others were injured Wednesday in clashes with PKK terrorists in eastern and southeastern provinces of Turkey.

Two Turkish soldiers were killed and four others were injured in the clash that took place in the Lice district of southeastern province of Diyarbakir. Four PKK terrorists were killed in the clash in Diyarbakir.

In an earlier clash on Wednesday in a rural area of the eastern province of Agri, a major was killed and four other Turkish soldiers were injured.

Another PKK terrorist was killed in southeastern province of Sirnak and one terrorist surrendered to security forces in Diyarbakir, the General Staff said Wednesday in a statement posted on its website.

Turkey, provided with intelligence by the United States, stepped up its campaign to crackdown on the PKK both inside Turkey and in northern Iraq, after the terror organization increased its attacks on Turkish soldiers, as well as civilians.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist group by Ankara and much of the international community, including the EU and the United States.

http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/english/domesti...99904.asp?scr=1

QUOTE (turkkan @ November 19, 2008 11:48 pm)

I did, but not on this site, this defence section is pretty dead.

People write poetry in the defence section and the mods do nothing as usual........yada yada.....

You could of posted it? It was a training accident.

There is a lot of stuff I don't post here anymore.

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Turkish army says 1,049 PKK terrorists neutralized in 2008

A total of 1,049 members of the terrorist PKK organization, including 670 killed, 214 captured and 165 surrenders, have been neutralized within the context of the struggle against terrorism since the beginning of the 2007, until Dec. 10, according to the figures released on the Turkish General Staff's website.

The Turkish army neutralized the highest number of terrorists in February with a total of 266, according to the army's statistics.

The figures also showed that 120 terrorist PKK members took advantage of the "effective repentance" law and surrendered to the country's security forces.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist group by Ankara and much of the international community, including the EU and the United States.

http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/english/domesti...49364.asp?scr=1

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Three Turkish soldiers killed in Kurdish rebel attack

Today, 09:29 am

Kurdish rebels launched a deadly attack in southeastern Turkey hours after the Turkish and Iraqi prime ministers vowed a fresh clampdown on the separatists, officials said Thursday.

Three soldiers were killed and another nine wounded, four of them seriously, when rebels from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) armed with automatic weapons attacked an army vehicle, the local officials said.

The attack late Wednesday in the village of Cizre, near the borders of both Iraq and Syria, came hours after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan held talks in Ankara with Iraqi counterpart Nuri al-Maliki.

The prime ministers vowed to step up their cooperation against Turkish Kurdish rebels whose presence in neighbouring northern Iraq has cast a shadow over relations.

The thorny issue of PKK rebels taking shelter in Iraqi mountains along the border was at the centre of their talks.

"We should not allow terrorist organisations, in particular the PKK, to weaken our relations," Maliki said.

Erdogan said the fight against "terrorism" was a common issue for the neighbouring nations. "Our joint fight will continue," he said.

Maliki later told reporters that a mechanism of three-way talks between Iraq, Turkey and the United States, set up last month, was tasked with doing "what is necessary... against any activities by the PKK."

"We have a common understanding that it is a terrorist organisation," he said.

Hundreds of militants from the PKK are holed up the mountains of northern Iraq, which they use as a launching pad for cross-border attacks on Turkish targets.

Turkish warplanes have since last year bombed rebel hideouts in the region.

Ankara has often accused the Iraqi Kurds, who run an autonomous administration in northern Iraq, of tolerating and even aiding the rebels.

But in a policy shift earlier this year, it said it would seek to resolve the issue through diplomacy and intensified contacts with the Iraqi Kurds, whom it had long snubbed.

Iraqi Kurds are now included in the three-way talks.

A senior Turkish official said Wednesday Ankara "sees signs" that the Iraqi Kurds are willing to cooperate against the PKK.

On the eve of Maliki's visit, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, gave fresh assurances that both Baghdad and the Kurdish administration of northern Iraq were determined to purge the region of the PKK.

"We, the Iraqi Kurds, will no longer allow armed people from any Kurdish group to use our territory to carry out attacks on Turkey or Iran," Talabani said in an interview with Turkey's Aksam daily.

He said Kurdish parties in northern Iraq would soon convene a meeting to issue a joint appeal to the PKK to abandon its armed struggle.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Ankara and much of the international community, took up arms for self-rule in Turkey's Kurdish-majority southeast in 1984, sparking a conflict that has claimed about 44,000 lives.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20081225/twl-t...ur-3cd7efd.html