Turkey Inside Line: The PKK Strikes and Ankara Blames European Countries

On Tuesday, Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) terrorists/guerillas bombed a bus carrying military personnel in Istanbul. Four soldiers and a 17-year-old girl were killed and 15 people were wounded.

Signs of support for Ankara came in different manners from different locations. A Turkish delegation went to Israel to collected the last four of 19 Heron unmanned planes. US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said:

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There has been no change in the level of U.S.-Turkey cooperation in confronting the PKK. The PKK is a foreign terrorist organization and presents a joint common threat to Turkey, to Iraq, and to the United States.

We offer our condolences to the families and friends of the victims. And this is expressly why we continue to cooperate fully with Turkey and understand Turkey's ongoing efforts to defeat the PKK.

On Wednesday, however, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was targeting those whom he thought were not helping: European countries. During his speech at the 13-member Southeast European Cooperation Process (SEECP), Erdogan blamed them for not cooperating with Turkey in its "war on terror". He said that "Europe's security begins with Semdinli (a district located in Hakkari, southeast of Turkey)" and continued:

I still see some European countries not cutting the terrorist organization's financial support, turning a blind eye to its actions and propaganda, and not giving the murderers back; despite of all the pain.

How many of the terrorists you caught have been given back? There is an extradition of criminals agreement between us. To which of these did you conform? You always deferred this by talking us about the independence of judiciary. You did ot return them though we gave documents and information. That is why we are complaining.