Two soldiers and 34 Kurdistan Workers’s Party (PKK) militants were killed in attacks in Turkey’s Sirnak province, an official statement said on Friday.
According to the statement, two separate PKK attacks took place in Sirnak province, one on Thursday night and the other on Friday morning, Xinhua news agency reported.
Nine soldiers were also injured in the attacks.
Tensions have soared in Turkey in the past weeks as the government has launched a major military operation against PKK militants.
Fews days ago Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, made an emphatic speech in the European Parliament, in the backdrop of the growing migrant crisis. The speech was analytical and critical but also indicative of a roadmap for the European countries to deal with the growing crisis with utmost humanity. Some of his statements were impressive.
Additionally, Turkey has also deployed its forces in northern Iraq to resume its battle against Kurdish rebels, which was in abeyance since 2011. It is ironic that Turkey, as a NATO ally, is part of the US-led coalition fight against ISIS, but at the same time is attacking Kurdish fighters who have been most effectively fighting against the ISIS and holding them on. It is the Kurds who have done much of the fighting against ISIS in Syria and in northern Iraq. However, the Turkish government prefers Kurds to remain weaker and vulnerable, as it keeps the Kurd movement weaker within the Turkish boundary, trying for autonomous region for Kurds.