[Centraal] Turkse strijd tegen IS & PKK #11 Grote schoonmaak

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AFP twitterde op donderdag 21-01-2016 om 01:57:45 Amnesty accuses Turkey of 'collective punishment' in Kurdish southeast https://t.co/tv3aACDKTx https://t.co/EgUIKWRR5k reageer retweet

twitter:

amnesty twitterde op donderdag 21-01-2016 om 18:16:48 #Turkey: Crippling curfews & cuts to basic services puts 200,000 at risk in Kurdish areas. https://t.co/EHuNYZl9KN https://t.co/tYiB3fy5wT reageer retweet

twitter:

247BZ twitterde op maandag 18-01-2016 om 18:43:55 Wees in heel #Turkije voorzichtig, vooral in grote steden op drukke plaatsen waar veel buitenlanders komen. https://t.co/TIqsYx9hap reageer retweet

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Op donderdag 21 januari 2016 19:20 schreef UpsideDown het volgende:

twitter:

AFP twitterde op donderdag 21-01-2016 om 01:57:45 Amnesty accuses Turkey of 'collective punishment' in Kurdish southeast https://t.co/tv3aACDKTx https://t.co/EgUIKWRR5k reageer retweet

twitter:

amnesty twitterde op donderdag 21-01-2016 om 18:16:48 #Turkey: Crippling curfews & cuts to basic services puts 200,000 at risk in Kurdish areas. https://t.co/EHuNYZl9KN https://t.co/tYiB3fy5wT reageer retweet

twitter:

247BZ twitterde op maandag 18-01-2016 om 18:43:55 Wees in heel #Turkije voorzichtig, vooral in grote steden op drukke plaatsen waar veel buitenlanders komen. https://t.co/TIqsYx9hap reageer retweet

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Op vrijdag 22 januari 2016 14:31 schreef ClapClapYourHands het volgende:
Er zijn berichten dat er weer een russisch vliegtuig is neergeschiten

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Op vrijdag 22 januari 2016 05:05 schreef Beathoven het volgende:

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Als je het advies van de laatste tweet ter harte wil nemen, moet je ergens in een dorpje gaan zitten.

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Op vrijdag 22 januari 2016 16:44 schreef johnson555 het volgende:

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kom niet in de buurt van mensen want er is kans op een aanslag

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Op vrijdag 22 januari 2016 16:50 schreef Beathoven het volgende:

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Inderdaad, het is een beetje loos..

Buitenlanders zitten vaak met name in plaatsen waar andere buitenlanders zitten. In Istanbul stikt het van de toeristen, in de badplaatsen idem. Ankara is de hoofdstad waar de meeste expats zitten na Istanbul. Alleen rond de zwarte zee en de kleinere steden etc zou het dan veilig zijn. Er is een verhoogd risico in de drukkere wijken van de bekendere steden omdat dit mooie uithangborden voor terroristen zijn qua exposure. Maar dit soort adviezen, ik weet nooit zo goed wat men er mee moet. Het is vaak ook wel iets dat men zelf een beetje kan inschatten n.a.v. de nieuwsberichten. Hoe staat het eigenlijk met het reisadvies voor Frankrijk?

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Op vrijdag 22 januari 2016 16:53 schreef johnson555 het volgende:

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https://www.rijksoverheid(...)zen/inhoud/frankrijk

grappig is dat (bijna) alle westerse landen groen zijn

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Op vrijdag 22 januari 2016 18:24 schreef Beathoven het volgende:

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heel apart Sinds 2012 zijn er in Frankrijk 160 doden gevallen door terrorisme, het meeste zoals bekend in Parijs. In West-Turkije vielen er met de aanslagen in Istanbul en Ankara 152 burgerdoden.

Het Turkse cijfer is vermoedelijk nog iets hoger omdat ik niet alle statistieken heb, maar het zal elkaar raken. Een groene zone voor west Turkije met Istanbul en Ankara in het geel en Frankrijk groen met Parijs in 't geel zou een veel beter beeld geven. De oorlogszone in het oosten van Turkije is uiteraard goed weergegeven met oranje en rood.

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Op vrijdag 22 januari 2016 18:47 schreef johnson555 het volgende:

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als je een aantal landen doorspit, zie je bv al "geel" voor gewapende overvallen.
laatst dat ik t weet, gebeurt dat overal eingelijk. check the states bv helemaal groen.

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Op vrijdag 22 januari 2016 11:14 schreef ClapClapYourHands het volgende:
5 scholieren gewond geraakt in Diyarbakir nadat PKK-ers een bom hadden gegooid op een schoolplein.

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Op vrijdag 22 januari 2016 11:15 schreef ClapClapYourHands het volgende:
Wapens gevonden in Cizre bij een dode PKK-er


[ afbeelding ]

Logo's komen bekend voor *kuch"

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You can’t become a knowledge economy by going after your brightest minds.
So says Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize winner in economics, speaking after Turkey’s highest education authority last week announced an investigation into more than 1,100 academics. They had signed a petition calling on the government to redouble efforts for peace in the southeast, where for months the military has been fighting an insurgency in largely Kurdish cities.
Joseph Stiglitz
Joseph Stiglitz Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
The petition was signed by international academics, including Noam Chomsky of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Judith Butler of the University of California, Berkeley, and faculty members at Turkey’s top universities. By the end of the week, professors in Turkey were subject to police raids, several had lost their jobs and at least a dozen were detained, according to press reports.
That pressure will have a "chilling effect," according to Stiglitz, who said he intends to raise the issue when he meets Turkish officials at the World Economic forum in Davos, Switzerland. He’s attending a dinner Thursday with Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. He’d been scheduled to appear on a panel with Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek, the country’s top economic official, but Simsek instead attended a talk by Davutoglu.
Brain Drain?
"This will lead to an exodus of academics," said Stiglitz, a professor at Columbia University in New York. In Davos, he said in a phone interview, policy makers are focusing on how to arrest a slowdown in some of the world’s biggest economies. "One of the ways you do that is by becoming an innovation economy. How can you achieve that without academic freedom?"
The crackdown on universities reflects increasing government influence over Turkey’s military, law enforcement, media and judiciary. It’s accelerated since Recep Tayyip Erdogan became president in 2014 after serving as prime minister for more than a decade.
Turkey’s government is "sending a clear message that dissent on key matters is not tolerated," Wolfango Piccoli, co-president of Teneo Intelligence in London, said by e-mail on Jan. 15. "By conflating dissenting remarks with terrorism and security, the government is able to minimize and sideline any critical view and actually sustain support for its crushing down on freedom of the media and speech."
Terrorist Listing
Erdogan Tuesday repeated his view that the "so-called" academics were supporting terrorism and siding with the PKK, whose fight with the Turkish state has escalated, bringing urban warfare to southeastern cities. The PKK is also listed as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and EU.
Those who stand with "mass murderers" have "committed the same crime," Erdogan said on Jan. 15, calling on Turkey’s judiciary and universities to take action against academics who signed the letter.
The office of the Turkish prime minister didn’t immediately respond to requests for a response to Stiglitz’s comments.
Parliament Control
It’s through expanding the powers of his presidency that Turkey’s economy will soar, Erdogan has said, as he looks ahead to a debate on altering the constitution to enshrine stronger powers for his office. The party he founded regained control of parliament last November, under Davutoglu’s leadership, with 49 percent of the vote.
Davutoglu says one of his government’s priorities is raising the value of what Turkey produces, with the help of the nation’s institutions of higher learning. Aziz Sancar, a professor at the University of North Carolina’s medical school, was one of three recipients of the Nobel Prize in chemistry last year, the first time a Turk had received a scientific Nobel.
"We’re going to incentivize the production and export of high value-added, high-tech products," Davutoglu said in a meeting with foreign companies in Istanbul Friday. "With cooperation between universities, the public sector and business world, we aim to increase high value-added production."
Priority Questions
Erdogan has devoted airtime to the dissenting academics in each of the public addresses he’s made since a bomb blast blamed on Islamic State killed 10 people in central Istanbul earlier this month. While Turkey is at the epicenter of challenges that are topping the Davos agenda -- the migration crisis, the fight against Islamic State, the slowdown in emerging markets -- it’s undermining itself with a focus on "fake" issues, Stiglitz said.
"In the context of the turmoil in the Middle East, the broad sentiment here is one of criticism for Turkey’s actions, when the priority should be dealing with ISIS," said Stiglitz, formerly chief economist of the World Bank.
That’s hurting the image of Turkey, a NATO member and the Middle East’s largest economy, he said: "Ten years ago it was viewed as a new model for progressive, Islamic parties in the region. Now no one’s saying that."

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The 1990s saw the peak of violence between the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the Turkish state — the bloodiest period in an old war that has waxed and waned for more than three decades, claiming more than 40,000 lives.

For PKK leader Cemil Bayik, those days have returned. "The administration used to destroy villages, kill people with white Toros," he says, referencing a model of Renault linked with the abduction and murder of Kurdish dissidents. "Today, they are burning and destroying the cities, forcing people into migration."

Parts of Turkey's predominantly Kurdish southeast are once again in the grip of open conflict. Government forces supported by tanks, artillery, and helicopter gunships moved into towns and cities in the region, imposing a series of strict round the clock curfews and clashing with lightly armed Kurdish militants in fierce urban fighting.

Access is barred to journalists and other external observers, but amateur video footage and pictures show scenes reminiscent of battlefields in neighboring Syria, with districts devastated by heavy weaponry and the bodies of civilians said to have been killed by security forces. The curfews have imposed an effective state of siege on some areas, leaving local residents trapped and struggling to access food or medical care. The lives of as many as 200,000 people remain at risk as government forces enact what amounts to connective punishment and in some cases seem to specifically target children, women and the elderly , Amnesty International said recently.

Related: Caught Between the Islamic State and Erdogan: Turkey's Most Important Opposition Politician Talks to VICE News

Meanwhile, Turkish jets are launching heavy strikes on PKK positions in more remote areas, and the group is continuing its attacks on police and military targets, killing dozens in the past six months alone, many of whom were young conscripts. Last week a truck bomb blamed on the group detonated outside a police station in the southeastern town of Cinar, an indiscriminate attack that killed one police officer and five civilians, including a baby and wounded many others.

Well over 550 people have lost their lives in the fighting since July, including more than 150 civilians, according to data collected by international monitoring groups and local sources — the heaviest toll in 20 years.

Violence could escalate still further. Meeting with VICE News late last year at the PKK's Qandil mountain stronghold in Iraqi Kurdistan, Bayik — one of the organization's founders and member of its three-man executive committee — said that the militants currently battling security forces in the cities were a faction known as the YDG-H, widely thought of as the PKK's youth wing, but described by him as an entirely separate organization.

He threatened, however, that if Turkey continued its operations in Kurdish regions and against the PKK, its guerrilla fighters would move into urban areas too. "They want to defeat the guerrilla forces and the movements in the Kurdish cities. We won't allow this to happen. If they want to make the war bigger, then the guerrilla forces will enter the cities," he warned.

Bayik added that the PKK also wished to establish a "democratic bloc" in Turkey, including non-Kurds, which would stage "democratic demonstrations and activities" and support recent declarations of autonomy in some Kurdish towns.

The silver-haired and bearish Bayik is one of Turkey's most wanted men. A list released at the end of October featured him in the top row and highlighted in red, the highest threat level. And even outside of the country's borders, he's still very much a target. Airstrikes regularly pummel Qandil, including hours before VICE News arrived, prompting tight security protocols.

Many of the group's buildings are dug in underground, and the interview with Bayik was conducted in a difficult-to-reach hillside grove to which plastic chairs and flags were carried especially for the occasion. The commander, clad in the PKK's usual olive green fatigues, arrived separately with a small escort and then disappeared into the trees afterwards.

Cemil Bayik speaking in Iraq's Qandil mountains. (Photo by John Beck)

Turkey's "Kurdish problem," as it is known, goes back decades. Successive governments have systematically marginalized the country's at least 15 million Kurds, outlawed their language, and, at times, denied even their existence. This repressive treatment gave rise to the PKK, which was founded in 1978 as a Marxist-Leninist separatist group (a philosophy it has since abandoned) by now-jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan along with Bayik and others. It went on to wage an insurgency against the Turkish state that earned it a place on Ankara, Washington, and the European Union's terror blacklist.

But Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan — then prime minister — initiated talks with Ocalan, still in his island prison, leading to a 2013 ceasefire agreement, and to a period of relative peace. The head of state has since hardened his stance, vowing to eradicate the PKK and stating Turkey had no Kurdish problem, just a "terrorism problem."

Bayik clearly sees Erdogan as a direct adversary, continually lambasting his "Sultanic" ambitions or comparing him to Kenan Evren, the army officer-turned-president who seized power in a 1980 military coup and went on to abolish parliament, senate, and constitution, while eroding civil rights and liberties.

A placard of jailed PKK leader Ocalan in the Qandil mountains. (Photo by John Beck)

The 2013 ceasefire held until shortly after June 2015's general election, which saw the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) pass the 10 percent vote threshold required to secure a parliamentary presence for the first time. In the process, it blocked Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) from gaining a majority large enough to fulfil his ambition of altering the constitution and transferring executive powers to his office. Bayik describes the results as reflecting "the true will of the Turkish people" and a move towards a more democratic republic.

The AKP was left unable to form a government alone and forced to engage in coalition talks with the country's second and third largest parliamentary blocs — the secular Republican People's Party (CHP) and far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). The discussions were unsuccessful and Erdogan eventually called a snap election for November.

On July 20, a suicide bomber trained by Islamic State (IS) militants killed 33 pro-Kurdish activists at a cultural center in the border town of Suruc. Many Kurds blamed Turkish security forces for laxity or collusion, and in the immediate aftermath, the PKK shot dead two police officers in a nearby town, claiming they'd collaborated with IS, but providing no evidence that they had done so.

Violence spiraled. Four days after the bombing, Ankara announced a two-pronged "war on terror," said to focus on both the PKK and IS, but concentrated almost entirely on the militant Kurds. Attack jets began the ongoing campaign of strikes against PKK targets in Turkey as well as neighboring northern Iraq that state media claims have killed hundreds of fighters. In turn, the group launched a number of assaults on security forces.

Bayik admits the aerial bombardment has had an impact on the PKK, but said the government-claimed casualty figures are vastly inflated "psychological warfare" "These [claims] are lies that have no results... They [Turkey] used to allege 'we have broken their [the PKK's] backbone, we have killed thousands of them, we did this and that'. All those allegations were hollow."

He said instead that the greatest damage has been inflicted on the houses, gardens, and livestock of local villagers, like the Turkish strike on the Qandil village of Zergele that killed eight residents in August, in an attempt to stir up unrest against the PKK. Bayik added that there have been some attempts to persuade local villagers to provide information on PKK positions and forces in the area to be passed on to Turkish intelligence.

The Qandil Mountains. (Photo by John Beck)

As the strikes continued, security forces stepped up activities in Turkey's southeast, escalating military operations, arresting hundreds in Kurdish areas — including a number of politicians and activists — and eventually imposing curfews. In response, some residents dug ditches and built barricades to prevent police vehicles entering, and armed youth fought any who tried with guns, rockets, and Molotov cocktails.

At the time of the interview, Bayik said that these urban clashes were still exclusively carried out by the YDG-H. "So far, guerrilla forces have not entered the cities," he said, referring to the PKK. "Those who fight against the regime's savagery in the cities and protect the nation are young people there. There is no connection between them and us. However we recognize their fight as legitimate defense and we advocate for them."

Clashes intensified in the election run-up, both in and outside the towns. Then, on October 10, two IS-linked suicide bombers blew themselves up at a peace rally part-organized by the HDP in the Turkish capital of Ankara. 102 people were killed that day, including two of the pro-Kurdish party's parliamentary candidates. The PKK's commanders declared a unilateral ceasefire that same day, which Bayik says was an attempt to ensure the upcoming elections went ahead in "an environment of calm and peace". The Turkish airstrike campaign continued regardless.

The HDP quickly canceled its election campaigning for safety reasons. But the AKP government carried on, relentlessly stressing that a vote for it was the only way to secure stability and avoid Turkey turning into a war-torn state like Iraq or Syria. It won a surprisingly resounding victory. And while the HDP again secured a parliamentary presence, it was a diminished one.

Bayik dismisses the November elections as a "coup" designed to sideline the HDP, and aided by collaboration between the AKP and IS, designed to cause instability and target the ruling party's opponents. The PKK scrapped its ceasefire shortly afterwards. "Erdogan only left two alternatives for the Kurds or the Kurdish freedom movement, either surrender or get killed," he said. "As everyone knows, we will not surrender, we will not bow to this pressure, we will defend ourselves."

But he stresses too that peace is still possible, urging the international community to help facilitate talks between the PKK and Ankara. "The time has come for Europe and the United States to put pressure on Turkey so that the Kurdish question will be resolved through democratic means and political methods. They should call on Turkey to stop the fighting against the Kurds, agree to a bilateral ceasefire, so that Turkey would accept a third eye on the dialogues and negotiations."

* * *

While violence within Turkey mounts, the PKK is also engaged with a newer enemy: IS. The Kurdish fighters have been battling the jihadists on several fronts in Northern Iraq, as well as to a lesser degree in Syria, alongside the affiliated People's Protection Units (YPG), which are backed by the US and have carved out an enclave for themselves in the north of the country, known as Rojava.

But Turkey is wary of a strong Kurdish presence on its southern border and Erdogan has consistently labeled the YPG "terrorists." Kurdish activists often accuse the AKP of providing help to, or at least tolerating, IS in order to contain the YPG, allegations repeated at length by Bayik.

In Northern Iraq, the PKK has played a decisive role in a number of engagements against IS, including November's operation to free the Yazidi city of Sinjar, which was overrun by IS the previous year, as peshmerga fighters from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) retreated.

Speaking overlooking the town after it was retaken in a peshmerga-led offensive, KRG president Masoud Barzani said no other armed groups had been involved. Inside the town shortly afterwards, flags from the PKK and its Yazidi offshoot, as well as the YPG were all visible. A local PKK commander told VICE News at the time his fighters had played a key role in the battle.

Guerrilla fighters in Sinjar. (Photo by John Beck)

PKK members say they've played a similarly vital, but overlooked part in a number other assaults, including on the town of Makhmour, not far from the regional capital of Erbil, seat of the KRG.

Barzani's administration is on good terms with Turkey, but Bayik suggests the KRG chief's response was the result of desire to distract attention from his own issues, including a financial crisis and refusal to step down when his term limit expired in August. "In order to evade those problems and to create some artificial agenda... Mr. Barzani comes to hide the role of the PKK forces," Bayik said, going on to restate the PKK's role in Sinjar, where he says the PKK lost 180 fighters since the IS advance over a year ago.

"As you know guerrilla forces played a determining role in Sinjar. Peshmerga couldn't resist against IS [in 2014], they just ran away and guerrillas intervened and went there and fought against IS. If it hadn't been for the guerrilla forces, Sinjar would have been completely invaded by IS and all of the Yazidis would have been massacred."

He went on to criticize the lack of protest from the KRG at Turkish airstrikes within its territory, arguing that they're only possible with Erbil's approval.

Despite the increasing struggle with Turkey, Bayik vowed to also step up the fight against IS, describing the extremist group as "a great threat against all humanity," and asking for assistance from the American-led anti-IS coalition. "Those who want to degrade and destroy IS should help the Kurds, the guerrilla forces, and support Rojava, these are the main forces that have proven they can inflict heavy blows on the capabilities of IS," he said.

The PKK already has "indirect relations" with coalition members, he adds — primarily the US but others as well — and wishes to communicate with them directly in future. Bayik acknowledges that the group's status as a blacklisted terror organization precludes this, but implores a rethink based on its role against IS. "The time has come to change that and to delist... so I call on all of those countries to do so..." he said, adding that this is no longer the "old PKK."

It may be a changed organization and the fight against IS has done much to rehabilitate it in public opinion. But in Turkey's southeast, violence is continuing along paths decades old, with the state showing little appetite for peace or apparent concern for civilian casualties. And civilians, at risk of being displaced, killed and wounded in the fighting, will fear that little has changed at all — for many, the bad old days are back.

twitter:

NewsRevo twitterde op donderdag 21-01-2016 om 20:03:40 Footage shows Kurds waving white flags in #Cizre being shot at by Turkish military - @haarunercanhttps://t.co/ZUFLLBZJH0 reageer retweet

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Op vrijdag 22 januari 2016 19:47 schreef ClapClapYourHands het volgende:

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Turks leger gebruikt geen AK47.

Leuke propaganda beelden tho.

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Op vrijdag 22 januari 2016 19:50 schreef ClapClapYourHands het volgende:

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Ja.

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Op vrijdag 22 januari 2016 19:53 schreef ClapClapYourHands het volgende:

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Ok man, er is totaal niet te zien wie er schiet maar het Turkse leger heeft het gedaan. Als je niet weet hoe een AK47 klinkt zeg dan niks.

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Op vrijdag 22 januari 2016 19:57 schreef ClapClapYourHands het volgende:

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en?

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Waarom gooit de PKK bommen naar scholen waar kinderen zijn? Je lult echt slap.

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Op vrijdag 22 januari 2016 20:00 schreef ClapClapYourHands het volgende:

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Nou leg dan uit waarom de PKK wel bommen naar scholen kan gooien maar niet het vuur kan openen op burgers waar Turkse soldaten in de buurt zijn?

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Op vrijdag 22 januari 2016 20:02 schreef ClapClapYourHands het volgende:

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[ afbeelding ]

Burgers moeten in gepantserde wagens vervoerd worden. De PKK wilt namelijk niet dat men vertrekt uit de steden. Als ze in de steden verblijven kunnen ze die mensen als humanshields gebruiken.

Snap je nu waarom de PKK niet wilt dat die mensen de steden niet verlaten?

En ja deze foto is van vandaag.

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Turkey faces numerous political land mines as it prepares to rebuild war-torn areas of the Kurdish-majority southeast.

Ankara will be entering potentially hazardous territory in its unprecedented plans for reconstruction in the Kurdish southeast.

The country continues to be preoccupied by the fighting that broke out in July between government armed forces and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Over the past three months, their battles spilled over from rural areas into town centers in the southeastern part of the country, which has a Kurdish majority. Government troops have cleared some populated areas of the PKK, prompting Ankara to announce plans for reconstruction of a kind it has never previously attempted.

Information released Jan. 20 by the office of the chief of the General Staff said that since the clashes began, 610 PKK members had been killed in three areas: 364 in Cizre, 140 in Silopi and 106 in Diyarbakir’s Sur district. The number of PKK militants killed since July exceeds 1,000 when losses are included from 10 other towns that experienced occasional clashes. During the same period, 236 security personnel were killed.

Civilian fatalities now exceed 500. The dimensions of the social and economic ramifications of this conflict can be better understood by bearing in mind that the clashes in towns have displaced more than 1.3 million people. Some 400,000 students have not attended school for three months. The economic fallout in Cizre alone has reached $300 million because of the disruption in border trade with Iraq. If clashes continue at the current pace, Turkey will in four years have replicated the economic losses of the 29 years between 1984 and 2013.

During a Jan. 19 visit to London, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told journalists that operations in Silopi had ended. “Silopi is cleaned. We will set up a new security structure there. There won’t be any more streets for terrorists to strut down. Soon Diyarbakir’s Sur and Cizre will also be secured,” he declared.

Davutoglu also disclosed that there will be major urban transformation projects implemented in the towns where clashes were heavy. He said Hakkari's provincial capital will be relocated to Yuksekova and Sirnak's provincial capital moved to Cizre. “Only then will public services be more effectively provided in these critical provinces, and security weaknesses will be rectified,” Davutoglu said.

In contrast to Davutoglu's low-key statements regarding the post-conflict period, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was in no way conciliatory in a speech during his traditional meeting with village leaders (“mukhtars”). “In the next phase, we will never deal with the separatist terror organization [PKK] or parties and other organizations it manipulates. That is over. Justice will deal with their organizations, deputies and municipalities,” Erdogan said. He also, however, signaled that major urban transformation projects will be undertaken in places where clashes had ended.

Although Davutoglu declared Silopi clear, and the military high command says 140 militants were killed there, local sources think it is still too early to declare anything over. According to information Al-Monitor received from a source in Silopi, all trenches and barricades have been removed, and security forces are in full control of the town. Mustafa A. said, however, “The real test of the state is now about to begin. Actually, in Silopi, street clashes were not as intense as in Cizre and Sur. With the lifting of the curfew, civilians living in neighborhoods affected by clashes are returning to their homes, but they are still afraid to bring their children back, as they are not sure that clashes are totally finished.”

Meanwhile, Suleyman D. observed, “There were about 30 PKK militants and 200 YDG-H [Patriotic Revolutionary Youth Movement] youngsters fighting in Silopi. About 30 of them were either apprehended or killed. The rest? They melted away; that is, they left the town.” He noted the challenges presented by winter. “Because of snow, communication between towns is spotty. Security forces are making good use of thermal surveillance technology in winter and snowy weather. We always have drones over our heads. It won’t be easy for the PKK this winter. But when the snow melts in April, if negotiations don’t begin, then clashes could resume.”

Indeed, fear prevails in the region that negotiations will not resume in spring, and even more intense violence will ensue. From Erdogan’s statements it is clear that the government intends to pursue a strategy of all-out aggression in a war of attrition aimed at eliminating the PKK presence along with its partisans. This strategy involves wiping out entire economic, intellectual, cultural and social habitats of terrorism in a "tooth for tooth" approach. Ankara is not pursuing a policy of deterrence, but one of total annihilation.

Security sources in Ankara told Al-Monitor that nearly all the trenches and barricades in Cizre have been removed, and two battalions of Turkish army special forces with 150 elite “maroon berets” have been tasked to sweep the Sur district. Sirnak and Nusaybin are said to be next in line.

The question now is what will happen after these towns are secured by the state. Holding on to secured areas and reconstructing them is usually harder than the fight to take them. Experiences from Iraq and Afghanistan have shown that military sweeps limited to military methods and instruments are the easiest phase. Post-conflict reconstruction, with which Ankara is unfamiliar and will be attempting for the first time, is an extremely complex undertaking that requires identifying problems and taking proactive measures before they erupt. Among the critical elements involved are determining how to organize political power, ensure security, design rebuilding and distribute allotted funds.

Ankara appears to be inclined toward a centralized state structure in the affected areas. All critical actions will adhere firmly to established rules and regulations or be referred to Ankara for approval or decision. Local decision makers will have diluted powers and limited capacities for taking the initiative. Here one must be on the lookout for possible discord between the field and the headquarters.

One question that must be addressed is whose security comes first: the state's, state organizations' or citizens'? If Ankara gives excessive priority to public order in lieu of citizens’ security, a stable security arrangement might be difficult to achieve. Local sources have frequently said that the police special operations teams brought in from elsewhere as reinforcements have intolerant attitudes that aggravate local residents.

The design and reconstruction of towns is obviously important. For example, in the reconstruction of Silopi, all zoning rules and plans will be reviewed. Where will the administrative center of the town be located? Will all public agencies be relocated to a compound behind high walls, like Baghdad’s Green Zone, or will they be scattered, as in Kabul? In particular, how will the neighborhoods that had trenches and barricades be redesigned without making life unbearable for residents facing strict security measures?

The material damage inflicted by clashes might have infuriated most citizens, but for a small, ambitious group it represents a lucrative source of income. Construction work for the urban transformation means more tenders to bid on and more money to make. The state needs to keep close watch on who is making how much from reconstruction. Reports are already circulating that the projects will be awarded to entrepreneurs close to the ruling Justice and Development Party.

The matter of hearts and minds might override the critical material, security and financial issues. Although one can visibly assess the economic consequences of the damage in Silopi, Cizre and other towns, one cannot measure the destruction to the hearts and minds of the people, except to observe its profundity.

Ankara has to think long and hard about the reconstruction process. Sadly, the country's increasing polarization impedes having a constructive debate. The deadliest outcome of a sterile debate could be Ankara’s whole-hearted return to a security-oriented policy encouraged by its success thus far.

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Op vrijdag 22 januari 2016 20:03 schreef ClapClapYourHands het volgende:
Maar goed, Torko slecht, Kurdi goed. Alleen het Turkse leger kan op burgers schieten, de PKK doet nooit iets fout.

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Op vrijdag 22 januari 2016 20:08 schreef ClapClapYourHands het volgende:

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http://www.ensonhaber.com(...)iyor-2016-01-22.html

Hier heb je een Google Translate voor je

The terrorist organization PKK bomb attack on the help of the citizens forced to leave their homes because soldiers running again.

The terrorists opened fire on those who leave their homes do not want to be a target, moving to a safe area in armored vehicles.

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Op vrijdag 22 januari 2016 20:22 schreef ClapClapYourHands het volgende:

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Ja doei primakov, ik ga niet alles tot in de puntjes voor jou opzoeken

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Voor iemand die hier komt huilen dat het Turkse leger op burgers schiet op basis van een kut filmpje met meerdere cuts en totaal onduidelijk beeld ben je echt een gigantische jankerd. Kom zelf maar terug met het bewijs dat er een soldaat daar op random burgers schiet.

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Op vrijdag 22 januari 2016 19:55 schreef primakov het volgende:

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Turkse tank te zien in de verte.
Waarom zou de PKk op burgers schieten?
Is dit zoiets als wat Erdogan gelijk zei na de aanslag in Ankara, zonder dat ook maar iets duidelijk was; aanslag op veelal Koerdische activisten gedaan door PKK. Lekker false flag theorieën.

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Op vrijdag 22 januari 2016 20:41 schreef Mathemaat het volgende:

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Ja, dat een professioneel leger zo maar op burgers schiet is heel geloofwaardig.