The Defence Regions of Meday- Qendil Mountains: A Kurdish 75 year old guerrilla of the Defence Forces of Kurdistan (HPG) passed away from cancer in Qendil Mountains.
Hessen Ince who was nicknamed as Ape Hessen among his comrades joined the Kurdish Resistance Movement in the age of 61.
Some of Ape Hessen’s children have dedicated their lives to Kurdish Resistance Movement. One of his sons was taken captive in a war in 1994. Later the Turkish soldiers throw him down from their helicopter.
Another son known as Ilmaz Ince died under torture as the result of heart attack. His daughter was injured in a battle with the Turkish Military Forces.
Ape Hessen officially joined the Kurdistan Worker Party (PKK) in abroad in 1996. Although he was suffering from serious illnesses he returned home and joined Kurdish Defence Forces in the Kurdistan’s Regions of Medya.
The Kurdistan Worker Party (PKK) was founded in 1973 as the result of the continuous and systematic oppressions and the denial of the Kurdish nation by the occupying powers of Kurdistan. The PKK took up arm in 1984 since all the possible political and diplomatic means applied for 11 years in between 1973-84 proved exhausted. The PKK however declared its first unilateral ceasefire in 1993 since it believed the arm struggle hit its targets. Since 1993 to date the PKK has declared unilateral ceasefires in 6 different occasions and called upon Ankara to solve the Kurdish problem in a peaceful democratic procedure.
Despite the facts that the PKK has declared 6 unilateral ceasefires and also it sent peace groups in two different occasions yet the PKK is considered as a ‘terrorist’ organization by Ankara and the US. It also continues to be on the blacklist in EU despite the court ruling, which overturned the decision to place the Kurdish freedom movement on the EU’s terror list “By labelling PKK as a terrorist organisation, the EU and the US are giving the Turkey a green light to target its civilians. They give the Turkish government a free hand to do what it will, a mother of Kurdish martyr said”.
It should be noted that after 1954, apart from the Korean war, 1949-52 and the invasion of Cyprus, 1974, the Turkish Army operations have continued to be exclusively against the Kurds.