article_snippet.sent: (CNN)Five militants from the Kurdistan Workers' Party were killed and another was wounded in clashes with Turkish armed forces in eastern Turkey, the country's military said Saturday.
article_snippet.sent: The Kurdish separatists opened fire from a long distance, targeting Turkish soldiers who were securing an area in Agri ahead of a spring festival, CNN Turk reported.
article_snippet.sent: Since the first incidents more than three decades ago, an estimated 40,000 lives have been lost.
article_snippet.sent: The conflict has been, some say, a battle by activists among Turkey's Kurdish minority for independence.
article_snippet.sent: It has been, others say, a guerrilla war by rebels who have punctuated others campaign with terrorist acts.
article_snippet.sent: About a fifth of Turkey's population is Kurdish -- a minority long living under cultural oppression, most of a minority in the underdeveloped southeastern part of Turkey.
highlights_snippet.sent: Recep Tayyip Erdogan says clashes are attempt to halt a resolution process with Kurds .
  
highlights_snippet.sent: Violence between Kurds and the Turkish military has been ongoing for more than three decades .