ANKARA, Turkey, Dec. 11 (UPI) -- Iranian and Turkish military forces fought with guerrilla separatists in the Kurdistan Workers' Party, killing nine in border skirmishes.
Iranian and Turkish forces engaged members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, during skirmishes along the Turkish border with Iran and Iraq.
Nine members of the PKK were killed and four others deserted the group, surrendering to Turkish forces, Turkey's English-language daily Today's Zaman reports.
The move comes as Ankara considers a series of cultural concessions for minority Kurds in an effort to find a political solution to a lingering conflict with the ethnic community.
The PKK, for its part, had offered its own initiative, sending members of the group from Iraq to Turkey in so-called peace groups.
The reconciliation effort could face challenges as lawmakers deliberate over the legality of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party, or DTP, in Turkey.
A constitutional court in Ankara is reviewing claims Friday that the DTP is tied to the PKK, which Turkey and Washington include on their national terrorist lists.
