Turkish authorities continue to attack the Kurdish positions in southeastern regions of Turkey as well as in the Northern Iraq. Turkish leadership uses the frequent terrorist attacks in Turkey as a good pretext to intensify "anti-terrorist" operations against the Kurds. Almost every terrorist attack in Turkey is being used to point to the link between terrorists and Kurdish forces and to highlight the importance of war against the Kurdish militants.
It should be reminded that the anti-terrorist operations started in the southeastern part of the country in July of 2015. The Turkish government has declared a curfew in the district of Sur in Diyarbakır, in Cizre and Silopi of Şırnak province, as well as in a number of districts of Mardin province since December of 2015. According to Reuters, on February 2016 the Turkish military said it has managed to "successfully accomplish" the operation against Kurdish fighters in Cizre town. However, it was announced that the curfew in Cizre town will continue for certain time.
Now Turkish officials declare new launch of "anti-terrorist" operation against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Turkish Interior Minister Efkan Ala said curfew is in place in seven southeastern Turkish regions, РИА Новости reports.
According to the Turkish News Agency Anadolu, during the clashes around 300 members of the security forces have been killed. Turkish military forces inform about thousands of "PKK terrorists" have been killed in operations across Turkey and northern Iraq.
However, human rights organizations periodically alarm that among those killed people the number of civilians is high. Many experts say Turkish authorities operations remind of "mass punishment".