The business publication Bloomberg Business writes today that recent violent clashes with Islamic State militants have sent investors fleeing from Turkey’s financial markets. The benchmark Borsa Istanbul 100 Index slid on July 23 by the most since June 8, and dropped 4.9 percent last week. Two Turkish soldiers were killed and four wounded in a car bomb in southeast Turkey, while in the west, an unidentified group attacked public buses and a bomb exploded in front of the provincial office of the ruling AK Party. The incidents are the latest in a cycle of violence that began with the July 20 suicide bombing in the Turkish town of Suruc. Turkey responded by bombing the group’s positions in Syria, as well as launching air strikes against Kurdish PKK rebels in northern Iraq. A fourth air operation in northern Iraq, targeting the PKK, was conducted on Sunday. Security forces have detained at least 851 people across Turkey on grounds that they were members of terrorist organizations, including the PKK and Islamic State. Government actions amount to an “end to the de facto cease-fire” between the state and the PKK, the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party said in a statement on Saturday, Bloomberg writes.
News agency Reuters writes today that NATO Security General Jens Stoltenberg called an emergency meeting on Tuesday to discuss security at the request of Turkey after last week's suicide bombing there and Turkish security operations against Islamic State and PKK Kurdish militants. NATO said in a statement on Sunday that the North Atlantic Council, which includes the ambassadors of all 28 NATO allies, would meet following a request by Turkey to hold consultations under Article 4 of NATO's founding Washington Treaty. "Turkey requested the meeting in view of the seriousness of the situation after the heinous terrorist attacks in recent days, and also to inform allies of the measures it is taking," NATO said. "NATO allies follow developments very closely and stand in solidarity with Turkey."In Article 4, members are encouraged to bring subjects to the table for discussion for political consultation. Since the alliance's creation in 1949, it has been invoked several times, such as by Turkey in 2003 and in 2012, and Poland in 2014. Germany, the Netherlands and the United States each sent two Patriot anti-missile batteries and soldiers to operate them at the start of 2013 after Turkey asked for NATO help in increasing border security due to the civil war in Syria, Reuters reports.
