The Turkish government remains committed to reforms to expand Kurdish freedoms despite a string of deadly attacks by Kurdish separatists, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday.
“We will never step back from our struggle against terrorism. But we will keep up democratization with the same determination,” Erdogan said at a meeting of his Justice and Development Party in parliament. “We are expanding efforts so that security and democratization are secured simultaneously.”
On Monday, six soldiers were killed and seven others were wounded when militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) fired rockets at a naval base in southern Turkey, officials said.
Firat news agency, which is close to the PKK, reported on Tuesday that the rebels claimed responsibility for the strike on the base in Iskenderun city, claiming that they had killed seven soldiers and wounded 11.
The base attack was the latest episode in increasing violence between the army and the rebels that also saw five members of the security forces and a private security guard killed on Saturday.
“Whenever we speak of democracy, some resort to terror ... Whenever we speak of rights and prosperity, some start shedding blood,” Erdogan said.
Last year, the government announced it would expand Kurdish freedoms in a bid to reconcile with the restive community and encourage rebels to renounce violence. The initiative however has faltered amid a string of events, including the banning of the main Kurdish party in December and bloody PKK attacks that have led to public outrage at the government.
The surge in violence also came after a report at the weekend quoting jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan as saying he was abandoning efforts to seek dialogue with Ankara “since I could not find an interlocutor.”
His calls for dialogue have been rejected by the government, which insists the PKK should either lay down arms or face the army.
The PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Turkey and much of the international community, took up arms in 1984 for self rule in Turkey’s Kurdish-majority southeast, sparking a conflict that has claimed about 45,000 lives.
Meanwhile, Iraqi Kurdish leader Massud Barzani was scheduled to visit Turkey yesterday for talks with Erdogan and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.
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