TURKEY: REPORT ON PKK VIOLENCE, FOURTEEN PKK

UNCLAS ANKARA 004356 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PTER IZ TU SUBJECT: TURKEY: REPORT ON PKK VIOLENCE, FOURTEEN PKK TERRORISTS KILLED REF: ANKARA 4163 (EXDIS) AND PREVIOUS ¶1. (SBU) This is another in a series of periodic reports on PKK violence in Turkey (see reftels). Our primary sources for these reports are mainstream Turkish press services, such as the Anatolian News Agency, and international wire services. While these sources are more reliable than most Turkish press sources, they are not necessarily unimpeachable. Press services sympathetic to the PKK, such as Neu-Isenburg People's Defense Forces and Firat News Agency, tend to report higher numbers of Turkish Security Forces casualties. ¶2. (U) According to press reports, two members of the Turkish Security Forces were killed and eight were wounded over the period July 17 - July 23. One civilian was killed. This number of PKK-related casualties is more typical than the high level observed during the second week of July (reftel). Fourteen PKK terrorists were killed and twelve were arrested during clashes with Turkish forces during the same period. Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/ankara/ WILSON