Turkey’s military offensive against the PKK continues. Turkish planes strike at least 16 targets in the mountainous region of Daglica and Iraqi Kurdistan. The peace process is no longer in the cards. Erdogan wants to change the constitution and turn Turkey into a presidential republic.

Ankara (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Turkey continues its campaign against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (Partiya Karkerên Kurdistanê‎, PKK). For Ankara, the latter is a terrorist organisation and has recently launched fresh airstrikes against its positions.

Turkish warplanes struck Kurdish rebel targets in the southeast of the country and northern Iraq, the military said today.

"Sixteen targets were destroyed as a result of air strikes," it said after yesterday’s operations in Turkey's mountainous Daglica region near the Iraqi border as well as several regions in northern Iraq.

Similar strikes were carried out on Monday, the day after the Justice and Development Party (AKP) won a landslide victory.

Four Kurdish militants died Tuesday after clashes with Turkish security forces in several parts of the restive southeast, security sources said.

Also yesterday, Ankara ruled out any resumption of the peace process with the outlawed PKK after a wave of violence erupted in July, leaving a 2013 ceasefire in tatters.

Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan today called for a new constitution after his ruling Justice and Development Party's (AKP) weekend triumph at the ballot box.

"Solving the issue of a new constitution was one of the most important messages of November 1," he said in a televised speech in Ankara.

Erdogan, the strongman of Turkish politics for more than a decade, has long been pushing for a new constitution to replace the 1980 military-drafted charter and expand the powers of the presidency.

Earlier Wednesday, his spokesman said that Turkey was considering holding a referendum on changing from a parliamentary to a presidential system.

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• kurdistan
• pkk
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• constitutional
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• erdogan