MESOP TOP OF THE AGENDA – CEMIL BAYIKS (PKK) NEW START OF A BOMBING CAMPAIGN / WATCH RESSOURCE VOICES by Hurriyet / BBC / A Jazeera / Foreign Affairs / The Atlantic & others

Bombings in Eastern Turkey Kill Six, Wound Hundreds

Two car bombings of police stations in Turkey’s eastern provinces killed (BBC) at least six people and wounded more than two hundred others. Turkish officials blamed (Al Jazeera) the outlawed Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) for both attacks. The PKK has stepped up its attacks on Turkish security forces since the collapse of a cease-fire in 2015, and Turkey’s defense minister, Fikri Isik, linked the group (Hurriyet) to the alleged plotters of July’s failed coup attempt.

ANALYSIS

“Since the 1980s, the Turkish government has regularly arrested Kurdish politicians and banned half a dozen Kurdish political parties, without coming any closer to defeating the movement they represent. If anything, these efforts have only helped build support for the PKK and its violent tactics,” argues Nick Danforth in Foreign Affairs.

“As Turkey grapples with the aftermath of a failed coup, its resurgent conflict with the PKK has faded from the headlines. A month ago, security forces were busy ‘cleansing’ Kurdish towns of guerrilla fighters; now, the military itself is being purged of the government’s opponents,” writes Zia Weise in Foreign Policy.

“Major drivers of the increase in lethal terrorism in recent years—including the Syrian Civil War, the rise of ISIS, and the collapse in 2015 of a two-year ceasefire between the Turkish government and the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and its affiliates—come together within Turkey,” writes Kathy Gilsinan in the Atlantic.