On august 12th rebels from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (pkk) kidnapped Huseyin Aygun, a prominent opposition mp, as he toured the mainly Kurdish eastern province of Tunceli. He was released 48 hours later, but the rebels got their desired publicity by abducting an mp right under the authorities' noses. "They did it for propaganda purpose, they did me no harm," declared Mr Aygun before passing on his captors' "desire for peace". Yet peace does not seem to be on the pkk agenda. Over the past month the group has increased its violence. It tied down the army for two weeks in a mountain enclave near Semdinli. It killed two soldiers in the Aegean resort of Foca. Hardly a day now passes without news of another pkk attack.
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