The Turkish Prime Minister announced on Wednesday August 12 that his country’s military attacks against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) will continue without fail.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a televised speech that peace talks with the PKK have ended and the government is determined to push the military option against the Kurdish group with a firm hand.
“Let me put it clearly, the operations will continue… We will continue to fight with determination,” Erdogan said, referring to Turkish air strikes on PKK targets in the country’s southeast and northern Iraq.
Erdogan ended the peace talks that had begun in 2012, ordering widespread bombing of PKK bases in recent weeks.
The Turkish prime minister insisted that the Turkish army will fight against the PKK until the last of them lay down their weapons and leave Turkey.
Erdogan has been heavily criticized by the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP), which has 80 of 550 seats in parliament. Erdogan insists that they are a front for the PKK, which he described as a “terrorist organization”.
