Turkey says Syria is helping PKK terrorists

Interior Minister İdris Naim Şahin said Turkish intelligence indicates that Syria is allowing PKK terrorists to establish themselves in areas close to the Turkish border. Some terrorists have even taken charge of running small Syrian towns, Şahin claimed, describing the development as an apparent act of revenge against Turkey.

Turkey has reacted to the popular uprising in Syria by urging its leader, Bashar Assad, to step down, by accepting some 23,000 Syrian refugees in Turkey, and by playing host to civilian and military members of the Syrian opposition.

PKK terrorists have long used bases in northern Iraq to launch attacks in Turkey, but Syria had stopped allowing that.

"Terrorist groupings that were not there a year ago have been spotted," Şahin told private NTV television. "Syria is turning a blind eye to terrorist groupings in areas close to the border to put Turkey in difficulty and perhaps as a way to take revenge on Turkey."

The PKK, which has been fighting for autonomy in southeast Turkey for decades, has been condemned as a terrorist group by Turkey, the European Union and the United States.

Turkish officials have accused Syria of reviving its ties with the PKK, and Şahin's statement came a week after three Turkish military officers were killed in fighting with suspected terrorists in the mountainous region of Amanos near the Syrian border. It was the first such clash reported there in several years.

Syria is believed to have stopped harboring PKK terrorists in 1998, when Turkey threatened military action. Ties between the two countries also improved after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan came to power in 2003, and Damascus was cooperating with Turkey in its fight against the PKK terrorists until ties soured over Syria's bloody crackdown on civilians.