RESPECT ‘RED LINES’, SAYS TURKEY ARMY

Istanbul: Turkey’s Army Chief has warned that the Army will do whatever is necessary if its “red lines” are not respected in peace talks with Kurdish rebels. His comments came amid intensified efforts by the government to restart stalled peace talks with the Kurdistan Worker’s Party ( PKK), which launched an insurgency seeking self- rule in the southeast in 1984. “We have made clear that we will do and say whatever necessary if our red lines have been crossed...” Turkish armed forces Chief of Staff Necdet Ozel said late Saturday, adding that these included “territorial integrity”. “We have been fighting this struggle for 30 years,” he added during a reception hosted by newly inaugurated President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the Cankaya presidential palace for Victory Day, a national holiday marking the final battle in the Turkish War of Independence. Mr Erdogan launched clandestine peace talks with PKK in 2012.