A senior Turkish minister on Friday dismissed talk of a possible PKK ceasefire ahead of the Nov. 1 general election as a “ploy” and pledged the government will continue to fight “until it gets a result.”
Deputy Prime Minister Yalcin Akdogan spoke out in an interview with A Haber TV after the idea of a unilateral PKK ceasefire was raised in the Turkish media.
The Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) has urged a ceasefire to improve the security situation in the restive southeast and earlier this week a senior PKK figure said the group would take an “historic stance” before the election.
Akdogan, a Justice and Development (AK) Party minister, said a ceasefire was a ruse used by the PKK “whenever they run into trouble.”
The group — designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and EU — previously declared a ceasefire from 1999 to 2004 and from 2013 until July, when it resumed its armed campaign following the Suruc massacre.
“Right now, this has no value whatsoever or any credibility for that matter,” Akdogan said, referring to a potential ceasefire. “The government will continue its operations until it gets a result.
“Summer or winter, as long as there are terrorist attacks and armed people continue to victimize other people and disregard for the rule of law continues to exist, security measures and operations will continue.”
Some Kurdish-majority towns have been placed under military curfew since violence erupted in late July, effectively sealing them off from the outside world, as part of the security forces’ response to PKK attacks.
According to the state, around 2,000 PKK militants have been killed in Turkey since they returned to their armed campaign following a ceasefire aimed at bringing an end to the 30-year conflict. More than 150 security forces’ members have been killed since then, the Turkish president said at the end of last month.
This story has been edited from the source material.
