Provoked by a New Attack, Turkey Takes the Fight to Kurdish Separatists
By Pelin Turgut / Istanbul Friday, Oct. 21, 2011
Reeling from the worst assault on its armed forces in almost two decades by the Kurdish separatist group PKK, Turkey has sent hundreds of troops into northern Iraq to take on PKK strongholds. Twenty-four Turkish soldiers were killed in coordinated attacks on border posts in Turkey's southeast in the early hours of Wednesday, Oct. 19, prompting Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and members of his Cabinet to cancel trips abroad and gather in a briefing room in Ankara. TV stations have abandoned scheduled programming to broadcast coverage of the funerals of the slain soldiers — mostly young conscripts on a compulsory tour of duty — while thousands of high school students carrying Turkish flags marched through the streets of the capital.
More:Turkey Sends Troops to Iraq to Fight PKK Kurdish Separatists - TIME