ISTANBUL,— A Turkish soldier and a Technician, who were allegedly abducted by the armed Kurdistan Workers‘ Party (PKK) this week have been released, the Turkish army said Friday.

The army had claimed the two were abducted in Mus province, about 1,000 kilometres east of Ankara. There was no comment from the PKK on the incident.

Mus governorate had reported the soldier missing on Tuesday and pointed its finger at the PKK, which is outlawed in Turkey.

In Yuksekova, a city near the border with Iraq and Iran that is the site of frequent skirmishes between Kurds and security forces, 13 people were arrested and one injured in fresh clashes with police, according to local media.

The armed wing of the PKK accused the army of carrying out a “wide scale” operation in Yuksekova this week, but websites affiliated with the organization did not have any statements on the alleged abduction.

Tensions have been rising recently with the Kurdish minority in Turkey ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for June 7, including bombings that targeted a pro-Kurdish party, causing several injuries.

The PKK’s jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan began talks with Ankara in 2012 to end a conflict stunted development in Turkish Kurdistan, the mainly Kurdish southeast of the country.

Ankara and the PKK agreed to a ceasefire two years ago, as part of negotiations to end a three-decade insurgency that has killed 40,000 people. But the fragile peace process has been strained ahead of the election.

Doubts about progress are heightened by the belief that Erdogan is courting right-wing voters ahead of the election, putting his goal of introducing a presidential system in the country ahead of the peace process.

Since it was established in 1984 the PKK has been fighting the Turkish state, which still denies the constitutional existence of Kurds, with the aim of creating an independent Kurdish state.

But now limited its demands to establish an autonomous Kurdish region and more cultural rights for ethnic Kurds,who make up around 22.5 million of the country’s 75-million population but have long been denied basic political and cultural rights, its goal to political autonomy. A large Turkey’s Kurdish community openly sympathise with PKK rebels.

Read more Turkish-Kurdish Peace Process

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