13 Kurdish rebels killed in Turkey’s southeast

Turkish troops have killed 13 Kurdish rebels in two separate clashes in Turkey’s southeast on Thursday, authorities and state-run television said. The troops killed nine rebels near the town of Bingol, state-run TRT television reported. Four other rebels were killed in a hot pursuit following a rebel attack on a military outpost on the Iraqi border, said Gov. Muammer Turker of Hakkari province. One soldier was killed and six others were wounded in that rebel attack near the town of Cukurca, he said. The violence comes less than a week after Turkish warplanes bombed three suspected Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq, used by the rebels to stage hit and run attacks on Turkish targets. This year, Turkey has launched dozens of air raids on suspected rebel bases and other targets in northern Iraq and along the Turkish side of the mountainous border. The rebels from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, have been fighting for autonomy in Turkey’s Kurdish-dominated southeast since 1984. The conflict has claimed tens of thousands of lives. The PKK is considered a terrorist organization by the European Union and the United States, which has supplied Predator drones to Turkey to assist its fight. While Turkey has superior firepower there is no sign of a military victory over the rebels. The government held secret talks with the rebels in 2010 and left the door open for future dialogue with the PKK while vowing to maintain its military drive until they lay down arms. Turkey has granted more cultural rights to the Kurdish minority — such as broadcasts in the once-banned Kurdish language — in a failed effort at reconciliation. The rebels and the country’s Kurdish political movement insist on autonomy and education in Kurdish language in schools, which Turkey fears could divide the country along ethnic lines.