ANKARA (Sputnik) — On Tuesday, Turkey’s pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) urged Ankara to cease police and military operations launched in July and the militants to stop hostilities.
"Our Prime Minister [Ahmet Davutoglu] ordered to continue carrying out intensive operations against the separatist terrorist organization despite the forthcoming winter," the statement published Wednesday read.
Tensions in Turkey escalated in mid-summer 2015, when authorities launched a military campaign against PKK militants in northern Iraq. The campaign started after a terrorist attack organized on July 20 by the Islamic State (ISIL) near the Turkish-Syrian border and after PKK militants took the responsibility for the murders of Turkish police officers in South-Eastern provinces.