ANKARA (Sputnik) – The Cobra aircraft, taking part in the counterterrorist operation, crashed at 2:50 GMT in the Hakkari province due to a technical failure, according to the general staff. Both pilots were killed in the crash.
The majority of the province’s population is Kurdish. Tensions between Ankara and the Kurds escalated in July 2015 as fighting between the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), the Kurdish pro-independence organization considered to be terrorists by Ankara, and the Turkish army resumed. Ankara has imposed several round-the-clock curfews in Kurdish-populated towns, preventing civilians from fleeing the regions where the military operations are taking place.
