(CNN) -- Fighting between Kurdish rebels and government troops in southeastern Turkey killed more than a dozen people over the weekend, according to the semi-official Anatolia news agency.
Six soldiers, two village guards and 11 fighters from the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, were killed when the rebels attacked a military station in the village of Gecimli in Hakkari province late Saturday night, the agency said.
Fifteen other soldiers were wounded in the attack.
Turkey has been fighting the PKK since 1984. Initially, the movement sought a separate homeland for Turkey's ethnic Kurdish minority. But now, the rebels say they are fighting for more linguistic and cultural freedoms.
Turkey, the United States and the European Union have formally labeled the PKK a terrorist organization.
This is not the first time a military outpost in the area has been targeted. In June, eight soldiers and 10 PKK fighters were killed in the town of Yuksekova in the province.
Recently, there has been movement on restarting a peace process, with the head of Turkey's leading opposition party signaling his willingness to work toward a resolution with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Erdogan recently announced that students could elect to take Kurdish language lessons under a new educational reform package.
More than 40,000 people, mostly ethnic Kurds, have been killed in the conflict.
source: CNN
