Turkey Live Coverage (23 May): Tough Line on "Counter-Terrorism"...and Israel's Military

1725 GMT: Diyarbakir's Mayor Osman Baydemir hosted the native Indian music group Inca Sol. Baydemir said:

Kurdish people understand you very well. Kurds have experienced the same tragedies your forefathers had faced. We would like you to know that Kurdish people has great respect to your people.

1600 GMT: Interior Minister İdris Naim Şahin accused the Assad regime for allowing PKK members to establish bases in Syrian territory. He claimed that even some PKK gorups were running small towns close to the Turkish border. Şahin continued:

Syria is turning a blind eye to terrorist groupings in areas close to the border to put Turkey in difficulty and perhaps as a way to take revenge on Turkey.

As known, Syria has also been accusing Turkey for training and arming the opposition forces within the turkish territories which is denied by Ankara.

1445 GMT: During his visit to Kazakhstan, Erdogan told his counterpart Karim Mansimov that they were very pleased to have carried the bilateral relations to strategic partnership in 2009. 

After he had stated that the total amount of Turkish business investment in the country reached around $2.5 billion, Erdogan said to Mansimov:

My brother, you know that I want 3 kids from each family in Turkey. You should say here not 3 but 5! Because all financial opportunities along with a vast area over 2 million 700 thousand square meters are fine. 

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Turkey Follow-Up: More Questions --- and No Answers --- About the Killing of 34 Civilians

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoganOn Wednesday, I asked about January's Uludere killings, in which 34 civilians died, who gave the order to jets to bomb? And, beyond the death, how does this incident --- and the claim that the "intelligence" behind the attack came from the US --- affect Turkey's relations within the context of its Kurdish problem? 

More questions....

Turkish Armed Forces said that the intelligence --- which apparently to smugglers being wrongly identified as Kurdish insurgents --- was given by "national sources", but when eyes turned to the National Intelligence Service (MIT), it denied that it provided information.

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Turkey Live Coverage (5 April): The "Proof" of Terrorism

1645 GMT: Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said during the joint press briefing with Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha that Syrian President Bashar Assad's continuing violence is nothing short of his "manouevres of deception" rather than "manouevres of retreat."

In response to Tehran's recent remarks on the venue of nuclear enrichment talks, Erdogan said:

Iran needs to be honest. It is losing credibility because they are not honest. This is not the language of diplomacy. It is the language of something else yet it does not suit to me.

1600 GMT: President Gul continues his speech at the War Academy. Gul says:

This environment of instability taking place in our nighbours is wanted to be turned into a new Cold War stage where regional and global power struggles will occur. 

It is possible that the tension focused on Iran's nuclear programme will lead to a close combar environment. Under these conditions, Turkey has no luxury to watch these developments from a distance.  

1510 GMT: Speaking at the War Academy, President Abdullah Gul welcomed Turkey's "virtuous power":

In the present day, one can neither speak about security without democracy, nor a real democracy without security. Hence, democracy is both the most effective way to fight terrorism and our most valuable merit that we should jealously preserve.

It is very important to separate our citizens who voice their demands within the democratic system without resorting to violence from those who are tied to terrorism.

I believe that Turkey should act as a ‘virtuous power.’ A ‘virtuous power’ cares not only about the military/political dimension of security, but also justice and human values side.

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Latest from Turkey: The Insurgent PKK, Relations with Russia, the New Middle East, and Israel

Latest developments in Turkey....

What Next with the PKK?

The Kurdish separatist group, PKK, ended its unilateral truce on 28 February. Last week, its life-long-imprisoned leader Abdullah Ocalan said: “I will make the evaluation in the coming days in March. If something positive happens, the current state of inaction will continue until elections. If not, I am out, I will fade from the scene. My health situation is already not good enough to carry on this work.”

On the following day, three PKK guerillas/terrorists were killed by Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) in Sirnak. On Friday, TSK clashed with PKK members in Bingol --- four PKK members and two village guards were killed. Was this a reaction to Ocalan by PKK ’s senior officials or an organized response by PKK with Ocalan’s permission before the Turkish New Year (Newroz)?

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