Turkish Soldier Killed in Suspected Kurdish Rebel Attack
One Turkish soldier was killed and another wounded in a suspected attack by Kurdish rebels in eastern Turkey where tensions have soared in the last few days, local media reported Wednesday.
Militants from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) set up an ambush late Tuesday against a patrol unit in the eastern province of Van near the Iranian border.
A 23-year old Turkish lieutenant was killed and another was wounded after Kurdish rebels opened fire, the Dogan news agency reported.
A Kurdish protester and a Turkish soldier died Tuesday when security forces clashed with Kurds protesting at the dismantling of a controversial new statue of a slain PKK commander in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir.
Clashes continued through the night and spread to other Kurdish-majority cities including Hakkari and Sirnak where angry protesters hurled stones, blocked roads and burned tires to fend off security forces, Dogan said.
There were also protests in districts of Istanbul.
The hostilities came despite intensified efforts to kickstart stalled talks with the PKK, which launched an insurgency seeking self-rule in the southeast in 1984 that has claimed at least 40,000 lives.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan began peace talks with the PKK in 2012 but they stalled in September last year when the rebels accused him of failing to deliver on reform.
But the government is now seeking to restart the talks with the PKK, which is blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by Turkey and much of the international community.
Erdogan, who was elected president this month, said the peace process was one of his priorities.
The jailed head of the PKK, Abdullah Ocalan, said in a statement Saturday that the 30-year conflict was "coming to an end".
Source: Agence France Presse
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