Turkey's tourist resorts threatened with terrorist campaign

The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a Kurdish separatist group, has said it plans a wave of violence following the breakdown of a year-long ceasefire. The PKK strategy will target major Turkish cities, rather than just army patrols and bases in the Kurdish heartlands. These are likely to include the metropolises of western Turkey, including those popular with tourists and businessmen, which have occasionally been hit by bombings in the last decade.

A triple-bombing struck the resort of Marmaris in 2006, while a year later a suicide bomber struck a popular shopping street in the capital, Ankara. Around 2.5 million British tourists visit Turkey each year. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office last night said they advised "against all but essential travel" to the south east of Turkey due to the "high threat from terrorism".

Murat Karayilan, the top commander of the PKK, said he had been left with no choice but to act following Turkish bombing raids on PKK bases in Iraq. He said the PKK would soon declare "democratic autonomy" in Kurdish regions of south-east Turkey. "If Turkey does not accept this, it is their problem," he said. The war between the Turkish government and the PKK, which has lasted 26 years and claimed 40,000 lives, has already moved into a new phase after the collapse of a ceasefire.