Surenas
SENIOR MEMBER
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- Jan 28, 2012
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(Reuters) - At least one Turkish soldier was killed and another wounded in clashes with Kurdish militants in eastern Turkey as tensions escalated, local media reported, potentially undermining government efforts toward direct peace talks.
A group of fighters from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) fired at a military border patrol unit near the Iran border in the eastern province of Van. A Turkish lieutenant was killed, and another soldier was injured in the clash late on Tuesday, according to Turkish media.
A Kurdish protester was shot dead and two others were wounded in southeastern Turkey earlier on Tuesday as they clashed with security forces dismantling a newly erected statue of a prominent Kurdish militant.
The PKK, considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the European Union and the United States, waged a three-decade insurgency to push for greater Kurdish rights, but hostilities have largely died down since a March 2013 ceasefire.
Turkey began peace talks with jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan in late 2012, and last month parliament approved a legal framework for the process for the first time, an important step toward ending the insurgency.
Turkish soldier killed in clashes with Kurdish militants| Reuters
A group of fighters from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) fired at a military border patrol unit near the Iran border in the eastern province of Van. A Turkish lieutenant was killed, and another soldier was injured in the clash late on Tuesday, according to Turkish media.
A Kurdish protester was shot dead and two others were wounded in southeastern Turkey earlier on Tuesday as they clashed with security forces dismantling a newly erected statue of a prominent Kurdish militant.
The PKK, considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the European Union and the United States, waged a three-decade insurgency to push for greater Kurdish rights, but hostilities have largely died down since a March 2013 ceasefire.
Turkey began peace talks with jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan in late 2012, and last month parliament approved a legal framework for the process for the first time, an important step toward ending the insurgency.
Turkish soldier killed in clashes with Kurdish militants| Reuters
