The U.S. consulate in Istanbul was among several targets attacked in Turkey August 10. No one was injured in the attack on the consulate and a woman was arrested following a firefight with police. Separately, four police officers were killed in an earlier strike against a police station in the mainly Kurdish province of Sirnak. Shortly afterwards, militants shot and killed a soldier in a helicopter. Also in Istanbul, prior to the attack on the consulate, a bomb went off in the Sultanbeyli district, injuring three policemen and seven civilians. So far there is no evidence that the attacks were linked. Turkey blamed ‘separatist terrorists' for the attack, which is used by the government as shorthand for Kurdish militants. Turkey has recently entered the regional war, bombing both Islamic State and Kurdish targets in Northern Iraq. Turkish airstrikes prompted the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to declare and end to a two-year ceasefire. Kurds also blame Turkey for turning a blind eye to the slaughter of Kurds by the Islamic State and allowing thousands of jihadists to enter Syria via its poorly policed borders, while preventing Kurds from joining their fellow nationals to fight against ISIS. America on Sunday moved six F-16 fighter-bombers to the Incirlik air base in southern Turkey to take part in the bombing campaign against the Islamic State. The fact that Turkey's late decision to attack ISIS and allow U.S. planes access to its territory coincided with Turkey's decision to bomb the Kurds led Foreign Policy to speculate Has the US Just Sold Out the Kurds?
