The Defence Regions of Medya- Qendil Mountains: The Kurdish Defence Forces (HPG) released a statement on Monday 31th May claiming that 33 Turkish soldiers were killed in clashes in Sirnak, Hakkari, Siirt and Mardin.
HPG’s statement on causalities does not involve 7 Turkish soldiers killed in the attack against a naval base in Hatay. Sixteen soldiers were killed in a single attack in Sirnak province at Uludere on May 26. Two soldiers were killed in Pervari on Thursday
HPG also said the attacks in Siirt provice at Pervari targeted those who are responsible for “rape scandal”.
Eight Turkish minors aged 13 and 14 who study at a boarding school in Siirt’s Pervari district had raped two Kurdish toddlers aged 2 and 3 last year, killing one of them. Pervari Mayor İsmail Bilen and several other officials attempted to cover-up the rape incident.
HPG statement also warned of more attacks against Turkish targets after June 1.
1 June is 7th anniversary of PKK’s statement that ended 5 years of unilateral ceasefire.
HPG is the defensive military wing of The Kurdistan Worker Party (PKK) 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 had hit its targets. Since 1993 to date the PKK has declared 6 unilateral ceasefires in 6 different occasions and called upon Ankara to solve the Kurdish problem in a peaceful democratic way.
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 Turkey a green light to target its civilians. They gave 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 in1949-52 and the invasion of Cyprus in 1974, the Turkish Army operations have continued to be exclusively against the Kurds.