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PKK kidnappings backfire among Turkey's Kurds

Sinan Bockum, 15, has safely returned after being kidnapped by the Kurdistan Workers Party following protests by his family, but others are still held hostage.
Protesters shout slogans during a demonstration against Turkish security forces, after an incident in the Lice district of Diyarbakir province killed one person and wounded seven on Friday, in Istanbul June 29, 2013. Turkish security forces killed one person and wounded seven on Friday when they fired on a group of people protesting against construction of a new gendarmerie outpost in Kurdish-dominated southeastern Turkey, security sources said. The incident happened in the village of Kayacik in the Lice di

A rash of kidnappings by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) may destroy all the progress made in the peace negotiations since 2006.

While the peace process may be going nowhere, the separatist militant group that has battled Turkey for over three bloody decades has deepened its dominance in the majority-Kurdish southeast and has not given up its violent tactics — including toward civilians — to accomplish its goals.

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