ConflictBarometer_2015

MIDDLE EAST AND MAGHREB
of whom was Uqbah ibn Nafi Brigade leading figure Lokman
Abu Sakhr. Militant attacks on checkpoints in Sbitla,
Kasserine, and Sidi Bouzid in the eponymous governorate
on April 7 and June 15, left seven soldiers and one militant
dead as well as several people injured. Another militant died
on June 15 when militants and police clashed in Jendouba
governorate. The army intensified operations and killed at
least five militants in Gafsa following the Sousse hotel attack
on June 26. In a statement on July 12, the interior minister
claimed that the government had decimated almost 90
percent of Ubqah ibn Nafi Brigade. Furthermore, President
Beji Caib Essebsi declared a nationwide state of emergency
that was then extended several times and lifted on October
2. On August 9, the army killed Uqbah ibn Nafi Brigade's
high-ranking Abdelhak Dabbar at Djebel Samama, Kasserine.
On August 23, gunmen reportedly belonging to Uqbah ibn
Nafi Brigade attacked a customs office in Bouchbka, Kasserine,
killing one person and injuring three people. On October
12, when the army tried to free a kidnapped civilian at Jebel
Samama, militants killed two soldiers. Uqbah ibn Nafi Brigade
later stated that it had killed the abductee. In reaction to
the attack on one presidential guard bus on November 24,
Essebsi imposed a nationwide 30-day state of emergency
and announced to hire 6,000 additional security forces. On
December 9, Uqbah ibn Nafi Brigade claimed to have killed
five soldiers at Jebel Chaambi.
Essebsi frequently stressed the importance of combating extremism
and improving security capabilities. The measures
included, for instance, the deployment of eight additional helicopters
and campaigns to take back or shut down extremistcontrolled
mosques. On July 27, the parliament passed an
anti-terror bill allowing capital punishment in cases of conviction
on terrorism and facilitating the arrest of suspects.
wih
TURKEY (OPPOSITION GROUPS)
Intensity: 3 | Change: | Start: 2013
Conflict parties:
Conflict items:
opposition groups vs. government
system/ideology, national power
The violent crisis over national power and the orientation
of the political system between opposition groups, mainly
protesters related to the Gezi protests of 2013 as well as the
Islamic Gülen movement, and the government continued.
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) restricted
the right of assembly in many cases throughout the year.
The infringement on the freedom of the press by the government
also continued, further highlighted by the imprisonment
of several journalists accused of insulting President Recep
Tayyip Erdogan and ''cooperating with terrorists.'' The general
elections in June and the following failure to form a
government were accompanied by tensions between political
opponents and led to re-elections in November in which
the AKP regained the absolute majority [→ Turkey (PKK)].
On January 21, a court in Kayseri, eponymous province, sentenced
two police officers involved in the death of the student
Ali Ismail Korkmaz during the 2013 Gezi protests to a ten-year
prison term each. In reaction, about 1,000 protesters, claiming
the sentence was too lenient, clashed with riot police outside
the courthouse, which resulted in several injuries among the
protesters. The police used tear gas and water cannons to
disperse the crowds. Similar protests took place in Ankara,
Istanbul, and other major cities. On February 13, the police
used water cannon and tear gas against 2,000 protesters boycotting
schools in Izmir, eponymous province, and criticizing
the growing influence of religion in classrooms. The police
detained dozens of protesters. On March 11, protesters
in the provinces of Ankara, Istanbul, and Izmir gathered to
commemorate Berkin Elvan, a youth killed during the 2013
Gezi protests. The police used tear gas and water cannons
to disperse the crowd and detained 20 people. Protesters
threw stones and Molotov cocktails. On March 31, members
of the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front stormed
a courthouse in Istanbul, kidnapping Mehmet Selim Kiraz, the
prosecutor investigating the Elvan case. When security forces
stormed the building, Kiraz and both militants died in the ensuing
shootout. On May 1, protesters gathered on Istanbul's
Taksim Square despite a governmental ban on demonstrations.
The police used water cannon, tear gas, and batons,
while the protesters threw Molotov cocktails and stones. In
total, 23 people were injured, among them six police officers
and MP Sebahat Tuncel. The police further detained 203
protesters.
During the two months before the second round of elections,
independent media outlets were repeatedly targeted by government
supporters and Turkish authorities. On September
6 and September 8, about 200 followers of the AKP, led
by AKP parliamentarian Abdurrahim Boynukalin, attacked the
office building of major newspaper Hürriyet in Istanbul. They
destroyed several windows until riot police dispersed the
crowd. A week later, authorities announced to start criminal
investigations against Hürriyet, as they suspected the newspaper
of ''spreading terrorist propaganda.''
On November 3, two days after the re-elections, the police
detained at least 43 people the government accused of membership
of the Gülen movement, among them journalists and
police officers. The arrest of the journalists Can Dündar and
Erdem Gül on November 26 incited protests across the country.
A total of 2,000 people gathered in Istanbul and another
1,000 in Ankara, including Members of Parliament. The journalists
were charged of ''espionage,'' ''terrorist propaganda,''
and ''divulging state secrets'' after having released footage
allegedly depicting the state intelligence agency sending
weapons to Syria. On December 7, a lawsuit on behalf of
the Turkish embassy in the US was filed against Gülen in
Pennsylvania, USA, where he lives in self-imposed exile since
1999. He was accused of inciting unlawful arrests of political
opponents in 2009. dse
TURKEY (PKK)
Intensity: 5 | Change: | Start: 1974
Conflict parties:
Conflict items:
PKK vs. government
autonomy
The conflict over autonomy between the Kurdistan Workers'
Party (PKK) and the government escalated from a violent
crisis to a war.
During the first half of the year, peace negotiations between
the PKK and the government as well as sporadic violence
continued. In the second half of 2015, violence intensified,
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