Turkey launches new strikes on PKK, calls emergency NATO meeting

AFP reports on the chaos unraveling in and around Turkey. Ankara launched new air strikes on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Northern Iraq on Sunday, and both sides appear to have abandoned the Turkish-Kurdish ceasefire. Turkey began attacking the PKK almost immediately following the launch of its anti—ISIS air strike campaign last week. At Turkey’s request, there will be an emergency NATO meeting on Tuesday to discuss the fighting. Ankara invoked a clause in the alliance charter that allows member states to call meetings when they believe their territorial integrity or political independence is threatened. In the last week, Turkish police have arrested 851 people they claim are members of IS, the PKK and the Marxist Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party Front (DHKP-C). Protests are raging in Turkey in response to the government’s Middle East policies, and police are using force to suppress the demonstrations.

 

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