Turkish tourism threatened with terrorist campaign

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a Kurdish separatist group, has said it plans a wave of violence following the breakdown of a year-long ceasefire.

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a Kurdish separatist group, has said it plans a wave of violence following the breakdown of a year-long ceasefire.

The PKK strategy will target major Turkish cities, rather than just army patrols and bases in the Kurdish heartlands.

These are likely to include the metropolises of western Turkey, including those popular with tourists and businessmen, which have occasionally been hit by bombings in the last decade.

A triple-bombing struck the resort of Marmaris in 2006, while a year later a suicide bomber struck a popular shopping street in the capital, Ankara.

Around 2.5 million British tourists visit Turkey each year. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office last night said they advised “against all but essential travel” to the south east of Turkey due to the “high threat from terrorism”.

Murat Karayilan, the top commander of the PKK, said he had been left with no choice but to act following Turkish bombing raids on PKK bases in Iraq.

He said the PKK would soon declare “democratic autonomy” in Kurdish regions of south-east Turkey. “If Turkey does not accept this, it is their problem,” he said.

The war between the Turkish government and the PKK, which has lasted 26 years and claimed 40,000 lives, has already moved into a new phase after the collapse of a ceasefire.

The prime minister, Recip Erdogan, who was under attack for making too many concessions, has ordered bombing raids on PKK bases in Iraqi Kurdistan.

The most prominent of these is the remote stronghold in the Qandil Mountains, where The Daily Telegraph was escorted for the interview along back roads hidden from the army drones circling overhead.

Despite the raids and the weight of one of Nato’s largest armies ranged against him, Mr Karayilan said his forces could keep up the struggle for decades more.

“We are deeply rooted in the mountains and hearts of the people of Kurdistan,” he said. “We are able to live another 50 years like this.”

Mr Erdogan’s strategy is to improve strategic ties with its neighbours to the east and squeeze out opposition from the Kurds, who form a significant minority in several countries.

He has built bridges with the leaders of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, which has provided a haven for the PKK for years.

Business between Turkey and northern Iraq is now worth an estimated $7 billion.

In return, Ankara is now demanding the Kurdish regional government hand over Mr Karayilan and 247 PKK commanders operating from their territory.

Tens of thousands of Kurds have been arrested under Turkey’s harsh anti-terror laws, including 1,600 Kurdish politicians and 4,000 children.

Analysts say the PKK, which is considered as terrorist group by the EU and the US and is on Britain’s list of proscribed groups, threats promise a major escalation of the conflict, at a time when Turkey is in the spotlight following its championing of the Palestinian cause in Gaza.

“A PKK announcement of that sort really raises the ante. You will see that Kurds will respond with support. As a result there is going to be a counter wave of repression and it will increase the tension and violence,” said Henri Barkey, of the Carnegie Endowment for Peace in Washington.

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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