This town of 19,000, nestled in an idyllic mountain pass of impossibly green pastures and golden autumn trees, is on the front lines of Turkey's rapidly escalating guerrilla war.
In a struggle for autonomy as well as independent language and education rights, the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) has waged a low-grade conflict in Turkey for decades. But in recent months, the group has re-emerged as a stronger, better equipped and increasingly organized force that is now in the midst of one of its bloodiest campaigns since the worst days of the conflict in the 1990s.
The rebels, observers say, appear to be taking a cue from the recent Arab uprisings, seeking to inspire a "Kurdish Spring" among segments of a stateless ethnic group numbering roughly 30 million and traditionally living in parts of Turkey, Syria, Iran and Iraq. The campaign is presenting a major security risk for Turkey at a time when this strategically vital NATO member is also pushing for a limited international intervention against the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad, who Turkish officials see as being at least partly responsible for the mounting PKK threat.
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