Turkey to expand anti-PKK operations, ‘warns’ through SMS

Uğur Ergan - ANKARA

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Turkish security forces are expected to expand the scope of ongoing anti-terror operations in Southeastern Anatolian by including the İdil district of Şırnak, Nusaybin district of Mardin and Yüksekova district of Hakkari, according to information daily Hürriyet has gathered from security officials.Jointly carried out by the military and police, the operations were first been launched in the Sur district of Diyarbakır and the Cizre and Silopi districts of Şırnak in mid-December as the fight against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) turned urban.Security officials and government members have said the operations in Silopi and Sur were to conclude soon while efforts to “clear Cizre of terrorists” will continue.Security officials told Hürriyet that İdil to be the first venue in its continuing anti-PKK campaign, to be followed by Nusaybin and Yüksekova. If need be, the Southeastern Anatolian town of Şırnak would also be included in the zone of operations, they said.The first sign that İdil would be the next district to be “cleared” was given when the Education Ministry invited the district’s 1,200 teachers to come to a seminar in Istanbul via a text message, the same as was done in Silopi, Sur and Cizre before curfews were announced and operations launched.For better coordination and cooperation, some commando units of the army and special forces’ teams of the police have been receiving urban warfare training, the army said in a statement posted on its website over the weekend, another indication that operations will continue.Security officials reported 10 PKK militants were killed in clashes in Cizre over the weekend and a sizeable amount of weapons and ammunitions seized in operations.Turkish government has announced a 10-article action plan in the fight against terror, as Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu repeated that security operations will continue until “public order is fully restored” in the region.