Turkish attack on Kurd positions complicates Islamic State fight

Turkish fighter jets struck Kurdish insurgent positions in southeastern Turkey yesterday, shaking the country's fragile peace process with the Kurds and demonstrating the complexities surrounding the US-led coalition fighting Islamic State, which Turkey is under heavy pressure to join.

Turkish news reports said the strikes had been aimed at fighters of the Kurdistan Worker’s Party – the PKK – in retaliation for the shelling of a Turkish military base.

Such air strikes were once common, as Turkey fought a Kurdish insurgency in a conflict that claimed almost 40,000 lives over nearly three decades. However hostilities essentially ceased two years ago when the peace process began.

Both the Turkish newspaper Daily Sabah and an online statement from the PKK said the air strikes were the first since then.

A statement from the Turkish military did not mention air strikes specifically, only an exchange of fire with “terrorists”.

The action is likely to raise further questions about Turkey's willingness to take on what the United States and many experts say is a much greater enemy, one that should unite the Turks and the Kurds – the extremists of Islamic State who have taken control of large parts of Iraq and Syria.

Under siege

In Syria, the Kurdish city Kobani, just over the border from Turkey, has been under siege by Islamic State, prompting calls for intervention by the Turkish military, which has positioned troops nearby.

Nearly 200,000 refugees have fled into Turkey from the city. The Turks, though, have been reluctant to step in militarily, because the fighters defending Kobani belong to an offshoot of the PKK.

The group, called the Democratic Union Party, or PYD, has carved out a measure of autonomy in some parts of northern Syria amid the chaos of the civil war there and Turks see it as a security threat.

Even before the air strikes, Turkey’s unwillingness to do more to relieve Kobani, despite pressure from the US and others, had spilled over on to the streets of Turkish cities, where more than 30 people were killed last week in violence surrounding protests.

The Kurds have not sought Turkish military action in Kobani, but have pressed for Kurdish fighters to be allowed to pass through Turkish territory to join the fight in Syria. After the street protests, Kurdish leaders appealed for the continuation of the peace process, and tensions have eased for now.

Turkey's prime minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, reiterated to parliament yesterday that the international coalition against Islamic State must also take on the toppling of the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad.

Peace efforts

Mr Davutoglu also sought to separate the Kobani situation from Turkey’s efforts to make peace with Kurds in Turkey.

“I’m telling those who try to build a relationship between Kobani and the peace process – these two are different from each other. The peace process was there before Kobani and saying so does not mean that we do not think of Kobani as important. The peace process will continue with determination.”

Meanwhile, in Kobani, US- led forces conducted 21 air strikes on Monday and yesterday aimed at halting Islamic State advances, the US military said yesterday.

The strikes, which also included Saudi Arabian fighter aircraft, destroyed two militant staging areas, destroyed or damaged three Islamic State buildings and damaged three other compounds, US central command said in a statement.

The military said there were signs the strikes had slowed Islamic State advances in Kobani but cautioned that the situation remained fluid. – (New York Times service/Reuters)