Turkey says sends more troops, aerial support to fight Kurdish militants| Reuters
(Reuters) - Turkey sent extra troops, reconnaissance planes and armed helicopters into its eastern Agri province on Saturday after four soldiers were wounded in a clash with Kurdish insurgents, the military said.
The fighting was centered in Agri's Diyadin district near the Iranian border, the military said on its website.
The government said militants from the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) were trying to destabilize the country before a parliamentary election in June.
"Terrorists with rifles opened fire on our forces, who immediately returned fire," the military said. "We have sent reconnaissance planes, armed helicopters and additional ground troops to the region and the clash is still ongoing."
No one from the PKK was immediately available for comment.
Ankara and the PKK agreed to a ceasefire two years ago, as part of negotiations to end a three-decade insurgency that has killed 40,000 people. But the fragile peace process has been strained ahead of the election.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan accused pro-Kurdish politicians of using insurgency as a campaign tactic.
"Twenty-five terrorists are engaged in clashes right now against our soldiers," he was quoted as saying by the state-run Anatolian news agency.
"A certain political party is trying to gain votes through the actions of this divisive terrorist organization," he said in an apparent reference to the pro-Kurdish HDP political party.
Erdogan has invested significant political capital in the peace process that started in 2012 and his authority, to some extent, is linked to its success.
A sweeping majority for the AK Party he founded would allow it to change the constitution and give Erdogan the broader presidential power he seeks.
Erdogan and the AK Party remain popular among many of Turkey's roughly 16 million Kurds, particularly those who distrust the PKK and appreciate Erdogan's efforts to seal a peace deal.
Deputy Prime Minister Yalcin Akdogan, a government negotiator in the peace talks, said the attacks were aimed at causing instability ahead of the election.
"Attempts against public order, election safety and the peace of the nation cannot be tolerated," he said on Twitter. "To put hopes on guns in an election is a sign of desperation and disrespect of the national will."
Last month Turkish forces exchanged fire with Kurdish rebels in the southeast, the Turkish military said, just days after jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan said the group's insurgency had become "unsustainable".
(Additional reporting by Seyhmus Cakan in Diyarbakir; Writing by
David Dolan; Editing by
Alison Williams)
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