Diyarbak

Residents of the Sur district in the southeastern city of Diyarbak?r have fled their homes during a short break in a curfew that has been in place for over a week amid clashes between Turkish security forces and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Two soldiers and a policeman were killed in attacks carried out by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Turkey's southeast on Dec. 5, security sources have said.

PKK militants shelled a car carrying soldiers in plain clothes with long-barreled weapons in ??rnak province's Cizre district, killing two soldiers and injuring two others.

It has to be seen if Sunday's EU-Turkey Summit, and the "Action Plan" it produced, re-energizes stalled ties and resuscitates Ankara's membership talks. There have been too many false starts and broken promises on both sides in the past. It is useful, therefore, to keep a pinch of salt handy.  

Militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) attacked a commission investigating the killing of Diyarbak?r Bar Association head Tahir Elçi on Nov. 30. The incident marks the second attack on the group investigating the site where Elçi was killed in the southeastern city of Diyarbak?r's Sur district. 

The co-chair of Turkey's Kurdish-issues-focused Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), Selahattin Demirta?, was unharmed after his car was hit by a bullet on Nov. 22 in an apparent assassination attempt, party executives said. Police officials, however, have said the damage on Demirta?'s car was not caused by a gunshot.

Turkish General Staff Chief Gen. Hulusi Akar visited airbases in the southern province of Adana and the southeastern province of Diyarbak?r between Nov. 6 and 7, according to the Turkish General Staff.

Media freedom, pluralism and media playing the field for candidates were areas which raised concerns ahead of Turkey's Nov. 1 elections, according to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe's (OSCE) election observation leaders, who spoke after their multi-city visit.

Escalating conflicts have hit the tourism sector in Turkey?s eastern region after June 7 elections and a peace process bid gone wrong. 

?Super-cyber Turkey in Syberia? appeared in this column on Apr. 11, 2014 ? barely a year and a half ago. It mentioned how Turkey?s security apparatus proudly launched a Center for Response to National Cyber Threats. Earlier, the Turkish military headquarters had formed a Cyber Warfare Command. In 2013 alone, Turkey had hosted about a dozen conferences on cyber security and new technologies.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu revealed on Oct. 12 that the government was considering the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) as the ?first suspect? of the Ankara twin bombings on Oct. 10 which claimed at least 97 lives so far according to official figures with reports of a rising toll.