On Sunday, Turkey's Interior Minister Efkan Ala announced a round-the-clock curfew across seven southeastern regions. Earlier in March, Ala announced the launch of a new counterterrorism campaign against the PKK in the country's southeast, especially in the districts of Yuksekova, Nusaybin and Sirnak.
"Eight members of the separatist terrorist organization PKK were killed in Sirnak, three in Nusaybin and 12 in Yuksekova," the statement reads.
The standoff between the Turkish government and the PKK has claimed the lives of 300 troops and police officers since it erupted anew in July 2015. The Turkish general staff estimates that over 1,000 Kurdish militants have been killed in its anti-terror campaign since mid-December, a figure that pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party officials argue includes hundreds of civilians.
The PKK, which Turkey considers to be a terrorist organization, seeks to create a Kurdish state in parts of Turkey and Iraq.
