Turkey, Kurd rebels gear up for return to all-out conflict

The military helicopters swooped in over the Kurdish heartland and dropped white incendiary powder on a raging brush fire igniting a massive conflagration that raced through the mountains, devouring orchards and livestock.
For Kurds living in nearby Lice, the recent Turkish operation brought back memories of the traumatic days in the 1990s when the army twice burned the town to the ground.
The military may have been trying to smoke out Kurdish militants, who had allegedly set off a car bomb near Lice killing a soldier and wounding four more. But locals in Lice, where the rebels have widespread support, see a more sinister motive: "Just like the old days," said local journalist Metin Bekiroglu, "they want to spread fear."

In an abrupt reversal, Turkey and the Kurdish rebels appear to be hurtling toward the return of an all-out conflict that plagued the nation for decades, before a fragile peace process was launched in 2012. A truce that has helped bring social and economic stability to Turkey evaporated only one week into the government's new offensive against the militant Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, which stretches from southeastern Turkey to northern Iraq. Old habits of militancy, killing and retaliation are returning to a region that until recently harbored hopes of joining mainstream Turkish life.
Forest firebombing is not the only provocative method Turkey is using to put pressure on the Kurds. In nearby Diyarbakir, the spiritual capital of Turkish Kurds, fighter jets are taking off for dozens of sorties to hit PKK strongholds in northern Iraq. The planes screech over the city as if to send a threat of destruction. Many Diyarbakir residents have relatives in the mountains among the Kurdish targets.