Chronology: Week of violence as Turkey, PKK fight rekindled

ISTANBUL

Turkish soldiers carry the coffins of soldiers Mehmet Koçak, right, and İsmail Yavuz during a ceremony in Diyarbakır, Turkey, Sunday, July 26, 2015. A car bomb struck a military vehicle in southeast Turkey, killing Koçak and Yavuz and wounding four others in an attack blamed on the PKK. AP Photo

The outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants killed at least 12 police and army members since last week, after Turkey launched a two-pronged “war on terror” against PKK and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants.

Here is a chronology of events that started following a suspected ISIL suicide bombing in southeastern Turkey.

• A bombing in the mainly Kurdish town of Suruç near Turkey’s border with Syria kills 32 people and wounds 100 others. Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu says it appears to be the work of ISIL. (Click here to read more)
• Protests erupt in major Turkish cities against Ankara’s alleged complicity with ISIL. (Click here to read more)
• PKK militants fire on a Turkish army unit in the eastern province of Adıyaman, killing a corporal. (Click here to read more)

• The PKK claims the killing of two Turkish policemen in the border town of Ceylanpınar to avenge the Suruç attack. (Click here to read more)
• Turkey agreed to open its İncirlik military base to aircraft of the anti-ISIL coalition. (Click here to read more)

• Jihadists inside Syria open fire on a Turkish army border post in the Kilis region, killing one officer and wounding two soldiers. (Click here to read more)
• In Diyarbakır, a majority Kurdish city in southeastern Turkey, PKK gunmen kill a Turkish policeman and seriously wound another. (Click here to read more)

• Turkish fighter jets hit ISIL targets inside Syria for the first time, killing nine militants. Later air strikes target PKK militants in northern Iraq. (Click here to read more)
• Suspected militants of ISIL and the PKK, as well as the far-left Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C), are arrested in dawn raids in Istanbul and other cities. The number arrested climbs to more than 1,300 by July 29. (Click here for photos)
• President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan says Turkey will let Washington use the strategic İncirlik airbase for strikes against ISIL. (Click here to read more)

• Turkish air strikes intensify against ISIL jihadists in Syria and PKK militants in Iraq.
• The PKK’s military wing says conditions for maintaining the ceasefire with Turkey “have been eliminated.” (Click here to read more)
• A car bombing kills two Turkish soldiers in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır. (Click here to read more)

• Ankara launches new air raids on PKK command posts in northern Iraq.
• As protesters battle security forces in Istanbul, a policeman is shot and killed. (Click here to read more)

• Turkey and the U.S. agree to create an “ISIL-free zone” in northern Syria, which Erdoğan says will help 1.7 million refugees return home. (Click here to read more)
• The U.S. recognizes Turkey’s right to self-defense against the PKK. (Click here to read more)
• Gunmen in the eastern province of Muş kill a Turkish gendarmerie commander. (Click here to read more)
• An explosion overnight suspends the transport of gas along a pipeline connecting Turkey and Iran in the eastern Turkish province of Ağrı. (Click here to read more)

• Erdoğan says “it is not possible” to pursue the peace process with the PKK.
• At an emergency meeting held at Turkey’s request, NATO expresses “strong solidarity” with Ankara, but Germany voices concerns over action against the PKK. (Click here to read more)
• Turkish jets hit PKK positions in the southeastern Turkish province of Şırnak, allegedly after militants opened fire on security forces.

• Turkey pursues air strikes against the PKK in Turkey and northern Iraq, targeting shelters, depots, logistical bases and caves used by the group. (Click here to read more)
• A non-commissioned officer has been injured in a gun attack in the eastern province of Erzurum. (Click here to read more)
• The Kirkuk-Ceyhan oil pipeline has been attacked in the eastern province of Şırnak. (Click here to read more)
• The Turkish parliament holds an emergency session to debate the government’s controversial two-pronged offensive. (Click here to read more)

• A Turkish police officer and a civilian are killed in a gun attack blamed on the PKK in the country’s southeastern Diyarbakır province.
• Three Turkish troops, including an officer, are killed when PKK militants opened fire on their convoy in the southeastern province of Şırnak, the army said. (Click here to read more)
• A total of 190 militants have been killed in two major airstrikes by the Turkish military targeting the PKK bases both inside Turkey and northern Iraq, intelligence sources tell daily Hürriyet. (Click here to read more)