Kurdish separatism in Turkey

As many as 55 Turkish security personnel have been killed in terrorist attacks across Turkey over the past month, while the security forces have killed 771 militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in operations within the country and in northern Iraq, state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Aug. 21.

A young man approached me the other day at a bar in the Aegean town of Bodrum and said:
?I was a security officer 15 years ago fighting in the mountains. When we used to lose our friends there, we used to look to those having fun in Bodrum and swear at them. Look at the fate. I am now in Bodrum and having fun and other people are dying in the mountains.?

?They have not started the real fight yet,? my source told me. He was a man from Tunceli, in his 50s, once a leading member of a leftist group, now the founder of an NGO. He was in touch with all Kurdish groups, including the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) and the leadership of the Peoples? Democratic Party (HDP).

Iran has expressed its concerns to Turkey?s ambassador over a recent spate of attacks on its citizens in the neighboring country, news media reported on Aug. 20.

Nine Iranian trucks and a bus have been attacked or torched in Turkey since late July, Tabnak news agency quoted a transport official as saying on Aug. 18.

Turkish fighter jets hit outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) bases on the border with Iraq late Aug. 19 after eight soldiers were killed in a blast in the southeastern province of Siirt.

F-16 jets which took off from the Diyarbak?r 8th Main Jet Base hit PKK bases in the town of Karaçal? on the border with Iraq for around an hour late Aug. 19.

The Silvan district of Diyarbak?r province in southeastern Turkey looked like a war zone due to deadly clashes which had raged for almost two days when daily Hürriyet reporters visited the area.

Twelve soldiers were killed in the latest series of attacks against security officials in southeastern Turkey.

An improvised roadside bomb targeted an armoured vehicle, claiming the lives of eight soldiers on the Siirt-Pervari motorway in Siirt province on Wednesday.

Muhammet Tufan, a member of Turkish Armed Forces, has been registered as the 50th fallen soldier in the last 29 days.

This is as of Monday night. I don't know how many more lives will be hurt or how many households will start mourning tonight.

Eight soldiers were killed in the outlawed Kurdistan Workers? Party (PKK) bomb attack in the southeastern province of Siirt.

PKK militants remotely detonated a bomb placed on the road linking ?irvan and Pervari districts during the passing of a military patrolling convoy. Several soldiers were also reported to be wounded.

A Turkish militant from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has called for the ?conquest? of Istanbul, slamming President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an for helping Western ?crusaders,? the ?atheists? of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers? Party (PKK), as well as the Free Syrian Army (FSA) ?secularists.?