Turkey mourns 10 soldiers slain within two days

Seven of the soldiers were killed in Siirt and another one was killed in Hakkari on Tuesday, while the two others were killed in Van on Wednesday.

Reacting to news that 10 Turkish soldiers were killed during clashes with the PKK in southeastern Turkey, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan vowed not to back down from the renewed democratization initiative aimed to solve the decades-long Kurdish problem in the country. “I want to state as clearly as possible that bullets fired at our security forces and our soldiers will not halt this [democratization] process, which is intended to create unity among our 72 million countrymen,” he said, signaling that government will not hesitate to pursue the initiative further despite vicious attempts to derail the process.

Seven Turkish troops were killed and two others were wounded in a clash with PKK terrorists in the town of Eruh in Siirt and one soldier was killed and two others wounded in the Çukurca district of Hakkari province on Tuesday. The wounded soldiers were taken to local military hospitals, while additional troops have been deployed to the region, according to the report.

The heartbreaking news of the death of Hüseyin Gürlek, 26, one of the soldiers killed in the Eruh conflict, has shaken the residents of his hometown of Gediz in the province of Kütahya. There was mourning yesterday in Gürlek's home, and town officials and residents gathered around his family's home to offer their condolences for his death. Gürlek only had two-and-a-half months left until he was due to be discharged from the military.

Just as Turkey was trying to overcome its sorrow over the killing of these soldiers, news of the deaths of two other soldiers in Van's Başkale district after they stepped on land mine planted by the PKK came as another shock. Seven other soldiers were also wounded in this incident.

The attacks have come at a time when the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government is working on a comprehensive plan to resolve the Kurdish issue. The two main opposition parties have so far shied away from any involvement in the process and have strongly criticized the government's initiative, saying the plan will not end the decades-long terrorist problem in Turkey. The deaths of soldiers at the hands of the PKK are set to boost the opposition's claims and potentially create public uproar against the government initiative.

The prime minister seems to be holding his ground so far as he said, "The peace process and the democratization process will continue with the same determination." Describing the initiative as a “solidarity project,” Erdoğan said the government is trying to eliminate all problem areas or minimize them as much as possible. He emphasized, however, that the government's determination to fight terrorists will continue unabated.

Statements issued by both the president and the parliament speaker endorsed Erdoğan's viewpoint. President Abdullah Gül said, “Threats targeting our unity and integrity will never achieve their goals.” He said everybody has been shaken and saddened by the attacks that have come at a time when good-will efforts are underway to strengthen peace and brotherhood in the country. Parliament Speaker Mehmet Ali Şahin drew attention to the timing of the attacks and questioned the motives behind them. “They [terrorists] who resort violence to damage our national unity and integrity will never reach their goals,” he underlined.

In a separate development, security forces arrested one person yesterday in the village of Yatırtepe, in the nearby southeastern province Şanlıurfa, who was sought for allegedly belonging to a terrorist organization. According to information posted on the Web site of the General Staff, Turkish troops also destroyed a land mine buried alongside the Dicle-Ergani highway.