Turkey's crackdown against Kurdish militants raises tension

Cizre, a town very close to the Syrian border and not much farther way from Iraq, has been under curfew, and Turkish Interior Minister Selami Altinok said it will only be lifted after a security operation was finished, according to Turkey's semi official news agency Anadolu.

Seven PKK members have been killed and 10 have been arrested during the operation in Cizre so far, Altinok said.

The Kurdish Communities Union, a group associated with the PKK, released a statement calling for "resistance against the increasingly ongoing terror by Turkish state forces in Northern Kurdistan."

The current Kurdish conflict in Turkey flared up in July after a suicide bombing in Suruc, that was blamed on ISIS.

Since then, more than 100 Turkish soldiers and hundreds of PKK militants have been killed across Turkey, according to Anadolu.

The PKK has been designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

On Thursday, government forces barred a convoy that included members of Turkey's opposition Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) from entering Cizre, a town where the party has strong support.

Altinok said they were stopped about 17 miles (27 kilometers) from the town because of the curfew, according to Anadolu.

"Because we think it might lead to different provocative incidents, it is out of the question for them to arrive at Cizre for their own safety," he told a news conference in Ankara.

On its website, the HDP accused the government of escalating the violence between the PKK and the Turkish State. The party distanced itself from "violence-based, war-oriented policies" and said it's trying to "push both PKK and the Turkish state to end this armed conflict."

HDP called on international communities for solidarity and support to bring about a ceasefire.

(CNN)