Head of Peoples’ Democratic party raises fears after spate of clashes near Syrian border between Turkish nationalists and KurdsThe leader of Turkeys main pro-Kurdish political party has warned that the country is on the verge of civil war between state forces and militant Kurdish separatists. The remarks made by Selahattin Demirtas,co-chairman of the Peoples’ Democratic party, followed scenes of violence and firebombing in Turkey final week, or with hundreds of reported attacks by nationalist mobs on offices belonging to Demirtas’s party,known by the Turkish abbreviation HDP, as well as on ordinary Kurds.
The incidents were partially a reflection of simmering anti-Kurdish sentiment in a week that saw 29 Turkish security personnel killed in three days at the hands of suspected Kurdish PKK guerrillas. Since the resumption of hostilities earlier this summer between the state and the PKK, and considered a terror organisation by Washington and Ankara,more than 100 soldiers absorb reportedly died. Turkish airstrikes absorb pounded PKK positions in the south east and across the border in the Kurdish areas of northern Iraq.
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Source: theguardian.com