Turkey says military operations in Kurdish town of Silopi have ended

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Turkey announced Tuesday the end of military operations in the southeastern Kurdish town of Silopi against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.

The Turkish news agency Anadolu quoted the governor of Sirnak province, Ali Ihsan Su, saying the operation against the PKK “had been successful and public order had been restored in Silopi.”

Ankara imposed a curfew on the Kurdish town in December as it launched a large military crackdown against the PKK, which is outlawed in Turkey as a terrorist group.

A total of 136 PKK militants had been killed in Silopi since Dec. 15, Anadolu quoted military sources as saying.

"All barriers and ditches have been removed, terrorists have been neutralized, and peace has been restored," Su told reporters, adding that 518 barricades and 270 ditches had been removed and 800 makeshift explosives defused.

"The security forces also seized a large amount of ammunition, long-barrelled rifles, handguns, rocket launchers, hand grenades, makeshift explosives as well as written documents," he said.

The governor´s office announced that the all-day curfew had been replaced by a partial curfew from 6 pm to 5 am.

Turkey and the PKK reignited fighting last July, ending a two-year old peace process.  The PKK has been fighting for three decades for greater rights for Turkey’s 15 million Kurds, who until 1991 were prosecuted for even speaking their own language.