A total of three security force members – two soldiers and a police officer — were killed in clashes with the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) late on Sunday and early on Monday in southeastern Turkey.
A special operation police officer was injured in clashes with PKK members in the Bahçelievler neighborhood of Şırnak, which is under curfew due to military operations since March 14, early on Monday. The police officer lost his life while receiving treatment at the Şırnak Military Hospital.
In a separate incident, 31-year-old Mehmet Düzenli, a first lieutenant, was killed in a clash between the security forces and PKK members in the Uludere district of the Şırnak province at around 9:00 pm on Sunday. The clash occurred in a military base near Turkey’s Iraqi border after a group of PKK members launched an armed attack on the base. The soldier was first injured and taken to a hospital by a helicopter, however, he later lost his life.
Turkish General Staff released a statement on Sunday, informing the public about another soldier who lost his life while receiving treatment at a hospital in Siirt’s Pervari district. The statement wished “God’s mercy upon the fallen soldier,” and conveyed condolences to his family and friends, the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) and Turkish nation.
There have been repeated clashes between security forces and PKK members since a cease-fire between the government and the PKK’s jailed leader, Abdullah Öcalan, collapsed in July of last year. Since the settlement process launched by the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government in 2012 with the PKK to end the country’s long-standing Kurdish problem ended in July, nearly 200,000 locals in the Southeast have been forced to leave their homes due to fighting and curfews.
The authorities have been imposing curfews in towns and districts to flush PKK militants from urban areas in Turkey’s mostly Kurdish Southeast since the collapse of a peace process with the PKK in July.