Kurdish separatism in Turkey

Turkey's delicate peace process to end the Kurdish problem has reached a turning point with actors accusing each other, after an overnight attack by Turkish warplanes on its camps in northern Iraq.

Turkey's Kurdish question is once again at a perilous crossroads, after the Islamic State-linked suicide bombing in Suruç that killed 32 people on July 20 and the "revenge" killing of two Turkish police officers in nearby Urfa. 

Turkish authorities detained nearly 300 people as police launched large-scale raids to arrest suspected members of Islamic State (IS), the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and other militant groups on Friday.

The raids became necessary after a wave of deadly violence has recently gripped the country, claiming the lives of several security officers.

Years ago, when I was working for daily Radikal, I and our Ankara representative, Murat Yetkin, had a chat with a top-level security official. At those times, there was al-Qaeda. That official said, ?Turkey is catching dozens of al-Qaeda members each month and we are handing them over to our international interlocutors in appropriate ways.? Then he added this was strictly off the record. 

Funerals for the 32 victims of an ISIL bombing and two policemen killed by the PKK have produced scenes of mourning and anger in Turkey in the past few days. A masked protester is seen in Istanbul's Gazi district on July 22 in this AFP photo from Yasin Akgül. Click through for more

President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an criticized the Peoples? Democratic Party (HDP) for not denouncing the Kurdistan Workers? Party?s (PKK) killing of two policemen in Turkey?s southeastern Anatolian region on July 22. 

'Zones of Rebellion: Kurdish Insurgents and the Turkish State' by Ay?egül Ayd?n and Cem Emrence (Cornell University Press, 208 pages, $39) 

A senior governmental official has denied reports suggesting that President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an had knowledge of the content of a key meeting about the peace process even as another participant in the gathering confirmed that Erdo?an even attended the event in question.

Tunceli Emek, a daily in the southeast province of Tunceli, has a feature that no other newspaper in Turkey has: All of its employees, from its owner to its reporters and from its editors to its page designers, are women.

President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an has toughened his position against the People?s Democratic Party (HDP) by implying that it has ties with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers? Party (PKK) and acts as a parliamentary extension of the PKK. Erdo?an?s statement came only two days after HDP officials called the PKK to disarm and cease armed conflict against Turkey.