Violence dampens hope of ending Turkey’s Kurdish conflict FEATURE 06/21/2010

Violence dampens hope of ending Turkey’s Kurdish conflict

FEATURE 06/21/2010 ANKARA — Mounting Kurdish rebel violence in Turkey and a harsh military response fed fears Friday that an already fragile government bid for a peaceful end to the 25-year conflict is in its death throes. At least 130 members of the separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) have been killed inside Turkey and in an air raid on rebel hideouts in neighboring Iraq since violence flared anew in March, the army said Friday, adding it had lost 43 personnel. The PKK is expected to further intensify and spread its attacks, it warned. The rebels have in the past bombed civilian targets in western Turkey, including tourist resorts. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan charged the PKK sought to undermine a government initiative to boost Kurdish freedoms and investment in the impoverished southeast in a bid to peacefully end the conflict. The so-called “Kurdish opening,” announced last year, has already faltered amid an opposition outcry that Ankara is bowing to the PKK, as well as persistent rebel attacks and a judicial onslaught on Kurdish activists. Ankara rejects dialog with the PKK, which it lists as a terrorist group.... MORE Source:  The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100621com3.html

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