• Bombs target Kurds in Iraq's disputed north

    Emad Matti / AP

    People react at the scene of a bomb attack in Kirkuk, Iraq on Nov. 27, 2012. Three parked car bombs exploded Tuesday morning simultaneously in the city of Kirkuk, home to a combustible mix of Kurds, Sunni Arabs and Turkomen who all claim rights to the city, police said.

    Ako Rasheed / Reuters

    A Kurdish security officer stands guard next to the destroyed headquarters of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (PDK) after a bomb attack in Kirkuk on Nov. 27, 2012.

    Reuters reports — Bombs targeting ethnic Kurds killed four people on Tuesday in the city of Kirkuk in Iraq's disputed northern territories, where the Iraqi army and troops from the autonomous Kurdistan region have been in stand-off for more than a week.

    It was not immediately clear who was behind the attacks although Sunni Islamist insurgents including a local affiliate of al Qaeda continue to strike regularly, killing 144 people across Iraq in October alone.

    After decades of oppression, Kurds in Syria get taste of freedom

    The latest bomb attacks come after troops from Baghdad and the Kurdistan region moved in last week on the territories over which both the central government and the Kurds claim jurisdiction. Read the full story.

    Follow @NBCNewsPictures

    •Sign up for the NBCNews.com Photos Newsletter

     

  • Police clash with Kurdish protesters in Turkey

    Bulent Kilic / AFP - Getty Images

    Turkish riot police fire tear gas as they clash with Kurdish demonstrators during a protest in support of a hunger strike movement by Kurdish prisoners in Istanbul, Turkey, Oct. 30, 2012.

    Bulent Kilic / AFP - Getty Images

    A protestor throws a fire bomb during clashes in Istanbul, Oct. 30.

    The Associated Press reports — Kurdish protesters clashed with police on Tuesday near a prison in southeastern Turkey where some inmates are on a hunger strike, witnesses said.

    Several thousand people joined a protest march to a prison in the city of Diyarbakir, and police used tear gas and water cannon to drive back groups of demonstrators who threw stones and firebombs from side streets. Shops were shuttered and many families did not send their children to school in line with calls for a boycott.

    After decades of oppression, Kurds in Syria get taste of freedom

    Hundreds of Kurdish prisoners in dozens of Turkish jails are on a hunger strike to demand increased rights for Kurds and improved jail conditions for Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan, who is being held on an island near Istanbul. Most of the prisoners are jailed for alleged links to the rebels, who are deemed terrorists by Turkey and its Western allies.

    Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says rebels are orchestrating the hunger strike and that the government will not bow to blackmail. The government has sought to reconcile with disaffected members of Turkey's Kurdish minority, but activists who seek autonomy in the mostly Kurdish southeast and say state concessions have not gone far enough.

    A surge in attacks by the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party in recent months has further eclipsed efforts to find a peaceful solution to a conflict that has dragged on since the 1980s, claiming tens of thousands of lives.

    See more images related to Turkey on PhotoBlog

    Bulent Kilic / AFP - Getty Images

    Turkish riot police fire a water cannon as they clash with Kurdish demonstrators during a protest in support of a hunger strike movement by Kurdish prisoners in Istanbul, Turkey, Oct. 30.

    Bulent Kilic / AFP - Getty Images

    Protestors help a woman affected by tear gas used by police during clashes against Kurdish demonstrators protesting in support of a hunger strike movement by Kurdish prisoners in Istanbul, Turkey, Oct. 30.

    Bulent Kilic / AFP - Getty Images

    Kurdish protestors stand in front of a flaming barricade during clashes between Kurdish demonstrators and riot police in Istanbul, Turkey, Oct. 30.

    Bulent Kilic / AFP - Getty Images

    Turkish riot police take positions as they clash with Kurdish demonstrators during a protest in support of a hunger strike movement by Kurdish prisoners in Istanbul, Turkey, Oct. 30.

    •Sign up for the NBCNews.com Photos Newsletter

  • Turkish Kurds make charcoal in Anatolia

    Serdar Bagis pitches wood to make charcoal near Kizilcahamam, Turkey on July 19, 2012.

    By Umit Bektas / Reuters

    Every year, in the early spring months, hundreds of Kurdish families migrate from eastern Turkey to the wooded areas of central Anatolia to earn money by making charcoal. Families live in makeshift tents and almost every member of these families takes part in the process.

    Kurdish people work to make charcoal.

    A woman douses burning wood during a charcoal making process.

    A boy plays around wood piles.

    A man covers a charcoal pile with nylon to stop it burning.

    A mother bathes her child in their makeshift tent.

    •Sign up for the NBCNews.com Photos Newsletter

  • Turkey mourns the loss of 24 soldiers killed in recent Kurdish conflict

    Umit Bektas / Reuters

    The Turkish honour guard carry the flag-draped coffin of Turkish soldier Yunus Yilmaz during a funeral ceremony at Kocatepe mosque in Ankara, Oct. 20. Turkish commandos have launched air-backed ground operations against Kurdish militants in five different areas in southeast Turkey and northern Iraq after guerrillas attacked Turkish forces on Wednesday in which 24 Turkish soldiers were killed.

    Evrim Aydin / Anadolu Agnecy via EPA

    Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, right, father of Turkish soldier Yunus Yilmaz, Hasan Yilmaz, second from right, and President Abdullah Gul, third from right, pray during the soldier's funeral ceremony at Kocatepe mosque in Ankara, Turkey, Oct. 20.

    Adem Altan / AFP - Getty Images

    Hasan Yilmaz, second from left, father of Turkish soldier Yunus Yilmaz, and other relatives watch the Turkish honour guard carry the portrait of Yilmaz during a funeral ceremony at Kocatepe mosque in Ankara Oct. 20. Turkey paid its last respects to 24 soldiers killed by Kurdish rebels on the Iraq border as the Turkish air force pounded rebel camps in northern Iraq.

    Murad Sezer / Reuters

    High school students, wearing headbands that read "Martyrs never die, the homeland cannot be separated," shout nationalist slogans during a protest against recent attacks on Turkish military, in Istanbul Oct. 20.

     Full story.