Turkey Live Coverage (20 June): 26 Die in Military Clashes with PKK

1700 GMT: During a recent speech at the Washington Institute, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz said that Israel needs to come to terms with Turkey's superpower status in the Middle East.

1615 GMT: BDP's deputy Altan Tan underlined the equally important matter of halting military operations and responded to calls for PKK to lay down its arms. Altan said:

Every time, they ar calling on PKK lay down its arms. OK, let it do so but how, to whom and where shall it leave its arms? 

1520 GMT: Barzani spoke to Turkey's TRT: 

The period of armed struggle is over now. This gives harm to Kurdish people. Our position is clear and obvious. We are asking our brothers in Turkey to continue their activities in the Parliament. The recent steps taken are very important ones for Turkey. I am condemning this incident. 

1410 GMT: EU Minister and chief negotiator Egemen Bagis showed his reaction to the killing of Turkish soldiers by quoting one sentence from each verse of the Quran via his Twitter account.

Bagis's quotations are marked by bold characters in the original text below. 

Maide 32: 'It is because of this that We have decreed for the Children of Israel, "Anyone who kills a person who has not committed murder, or who has not committed mischief in the land; then it is as if he has killed all the people! Whoever spares a life, then it is as if he has given life to all the people." Our messengers had come to them with clarification, but many of them are, after this, still transgressing on the earth.'

Bakara 214: 'Or did you calculate that you would enter paradise, while the example of those who were before you came to you; they were stricken with adversity and hardship, and they were shaken until the messenger and those who acknowledged with him said, "When is God's victory?" Yes indeed, God's victory is near.'

1335 GMT: President Gul delivered his opinion about the "terror" problem:

The Kurdish issue that is discussed in the country is very different from the terror issue. Terrorists become the tool of someone today and they will become another's tomorrow since they were someone else's yesterday. 

All my citizens, Kurdish citizens, shall put a very clear distance between themselves and the terror and terrorists. 

1300 GMT: Black umbrellas were found next to dead bodies of PKK members. According to the experts, these are used to avoid thermal cameras. 

It is also stated that the numberof killed PKK members rose to 28.

1220 GMT: According to a claim coming from PKK sources, the death toll is over the official numbers. It is stated that 109 soldiers died and 100 others were wounded in a clash that started on Tuesday.

Besides, it is reported that four skorsky helicopters were shot down and nine others were damaged. PKK says only 15 fighters lost their lives.

1130 GMT: National Defense Minister Ismet Yildiz has said that the state is "capable of responding to those who do not want peace."

1000 GMT: Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government President Masod Barzani said that yesterday's clashes between the military and the Kurdish insurgency PKK in southeast Turkey are a "blow to peace".

Turkish jets have been steadily bombing PKK camps in northern Iraq non-stop. 

Kurdish Front

On Tuesday, eight soldiers were killed and 19 wounded in a a clash with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the southeastern province of Hakkari. The Turkish military said it subsequently killed 18 PKK fighters

The leader of the main opposition, the Republican People's Party, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, condemned the attack, underlined the "importance of the territorial unity", and called on PKK to lay down arms unconditionally. Kilicdaroglu then addressed the Government, "What happened to those unmanned aerial vehicles? Was there no intelligence?

The co-chair of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP),  Selahattin Demirtas, called on the PKK to lay down arms and the government to halt its military operations. Demirtas added:

This fight must end. We shouldn’t sit idly by and watch our youth kill each other. Those who regard negotiations and talks as betrayal of the country are also responsible for [these] deaths. We are in a period in which we need to defend the notion of peace more than ever.

The government's first evaluation of the situation came from Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc: 

There has been an attack to the military base in the Daglica district. They both outnumbered and had weapons. Turkey is waging war on terror. Unfortunately, there has been incidents similar to this during this struggle. 

Prime Minister Erdogan's remarks from Mexico set out the firm line:

We have never regarded terrorism as a matter of negotiation with anybody, and we will never do so. The only thing to do is for terrorists to lay down their arms. We will continue our struggle until the end, and, sooner or later, we will succeed in our fight against terror.

G-20 and Syria

Prime Minister Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin met on Tuesday on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Mexico. Following the meeting, Erdogan said:

My conversation with Mr. Putin was, of course, about what we can do in terms of future direction. Tonight, Mr. Putin gave directions to his foreign minister on how to proceed on the Syrian issue as did I to the Turkish foreign minister. For the coming phase, the foreign ministers from both sides will work together.

Erdogan's next significant meeting was with US President Barack Obama. The Turkish Prime Ministry released a statement following the two leaders' talks, saying they had discussed Syria at length and that both expressed concern over the worsening situation in the country.