Situation in east Turkey?

[pecha72]

Hi, were heading that way shortly, just heard on the news theres been some more hassle near the Iraq border and the PKK areas.

At the moment we are planning to go from Kayseri to Diyarbakir to Van, then on to Dogubeyazit and Iran border... the other option is thru Sivas & Erzurum, but Im thinking it might get bitterly cold for bikes there, thats why the more southern route you could take the better (maybe!)

I understood previously, that the disputes were only at the immediate border region, and the rest of the east was in fact ok... anybody have any info, if this has changed significantly in the past week or so? I dont think the army will even let us into any regions where there might be high possibility of conflict, but still wandering what the reality is... and a bit cold would be better than going into a warzone, no doubt!