ANKARA — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that Ankara could not continue the peace process with the Kurds amid continuing attacks against Turkish targets. "It is not possible to carry on the (peace) process with those who target our national unity and brotherhood," he said, referring to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Turkey, which considers the PKK a terrorist organization, launched peace negotiations with the group's jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan in late 2012, but the two sides have yet to reach an accord. Ankara has expanded the cross-border campaign against Daesh (the so-called IS) group in Syria, beginning last week to include PKK positions in northern Iraq, after deadly attacks inside Turkey blamed on the Kurdish separatists. Late on Monday, gunmen in a predominantly Kurdish part of eastern Turkey shot dead a paramilitary police commander — the latest attack that Erdogan has blamed on Kurdish militants. "Those who exploit the people's and the state's tolerance and patience will receive the answer they deserve as soon as possible," he said. Erdogan vowed that Turkey's operations against Kurdish militants and Daesh militants would continue "with determination". "Any step back is out of the question. This is a process and this process will continue with the same determination," he told reporters at an Ankara airport before leaving for China on an official visit. Erdogan also said the formation of a safe zone in the north of war-torn Syria, free from Daesh, would help the return of many refugees. "The clearance of those regions and the creation of a safe zone there will lay the ground for 1.7 million citizens here to return home," he said. Some Kurds say that by reviving open conflict with the PKK, Erdogan is seeking to undermine support for the pro-Kurdish HDP opposition party ahead of a possible early election and stoke up nationalist sentiment. The HDP won a surprise 13 percent of the vote in a June 7 poll, helping to deprive the AKP, which Erdogan founded, from a majority in parliament for the first time since 2002. Kurds make up nearly 20 percent of Turkey's population of 77 million. Turkey has shut down almost all Kurdish political parties over the years. Erdogan, who has recently accused the HDP of links to the PKK, said he opposed party closures, but urged parliament to lift the immunity of politicians with links to "terrorist groups". — Agencies
