Kalkan: Revolutionary Operation in Şemdinli is the beginning

In an interview to ANF about the “Revolutionary Operation” in Şemdinli and Çukurca for the last two weeks, Kurdish Communities Union (KCK) executive council member Duran Kalkan said that the guerrilla activity and domination in the region is a warning to the Turkish state which –he said- will see the real power of guerrilla forces in the event of not taking a lesson from this warning.

Kalkan said that the guerrilla actions in the region, where over a hundred soldiers died according to HPG (People’s Defense Forces) sources, is a beginning and pointed out that the new struggle process is an answer to the increasing killing, imprisonment and oppression of the Kurdish people in the last one year.

KCK executive council member Kalkan underlined that the deadlock in the Kurdish issue is a consequence of the policies of the Turkish government which -he said- is mistaken for intending to come up with a solution to the problem by waging a war against the forces of the Kurdish people.

KCK demands democratic autonomy for the Kurds in Turkey on the basis of political and peaceful negotiations, remarked Kalkan and added that guerrilla actions and civil rebellion will emerge should the Turkish state refuse to agree on this proposal.

Kalkan noted that “Kurdish guerrillas have surrounded and taken the control of many areas in the regions of Şemdinli, Zap and Zagros, placing the Turkish army in a position in which it cannot go out of its military posts and will soon have to draw back or surrender.”

Democratic Turkey will be arising from the region, said Kalkan and added that Kurdish guerrillas have defeated the army of hired soldiers AKP government has formed against the forces of the Kurdish movement.

Boy allegedly shot by soldiers found buried near border

Dicle News Agency (DIHA) published a photograph of 13 year-old dead boy Veysi Demir, confirming the allegations that the boy was buried in the ground after he was shot by Turkish soldiers in Toprakseven (Sitiyakut) village of Çaldıran town of Van province early Tuesday.
The body of 13 year-old Veysi Demir, who is claimed to have been shot dead in an armed attack by soldiers on Tuesday, was found buried near Iran border on Wednesday. The boy had been accompanied by another minor F.Altan who survived the attack and managed to escape to his village after the attack on their way to Iran for fuel purchase. On the photograph by DIHA, Demir is seen to be lying in blood with his hand broken and a huge stone placed on his burial place.
Demir’s father Mehmet Reşit Demir who claimed that his son was killed and buried by soldiers said the followings to DIHA yesterday; “We brought the body of my son to our village after we found it somewhere 150 meters away from where the incident took place. My son was killed for not paying a bribe to soldiers who are already informed about all fuel transfers from Iran into the region.”
Demir’s father pointed out that another group who in the same way went to Iran for oil purchase could easily cross the border owing to the bribe they gave to soldiers.
Demir explained that Turkish soldiers buried his son near Iran border with an aim to put the blame of his death on Iranian soldiers. This is a massacre and we will not let it drop, underlined father Demir.

Şemdinli mayor Töre speaks to ANF – SPECIAL

As heavy clashes between People’s Defense Forces (HPG) and Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) continue in Şemdinli (province of Hakkari) since 23 July, ANF spoke to BDP (Peace and Democracy Party) Şemdinli’s mayor, Sedat Töre.
“Clashes – said the mayor – have been getting heavier in an area of 20 km from Goman Mountain, 1 km from Şemdinli district center, to Hacıbey Brook on the Turkey-Iraq border”.
The clashes area is affecting the village of Bağlar and its six hamlets as well as the village of Günyazı and its three neighborhoods. Around a thousand people reside in 130 houses in this area, the mayor points out.
The first citizen underlines that clashes got heavier and heavier since 24 July. “The Turkish media – says the mayor – has avoided to write about the clashes till the eight day when they reported the situation in the region drawing information from alternative and independent media which have been following events from the beginning”.
On 30 July and 1 August Hakkari Governor’s Office issued two statements in which the scale and gravity of clashes and the situation of civilians in the region were not reported correctly. “It was only reported – recalls the mayor – that two security officers died and ten others were wounded in the clashes”.
However the clashes are heavily affecting civilians:  “60 families in four separate hamlets – says the mayor – were forced to leave their houses on August 1. Thirty one of these families had to move to relatives’ houses, while others had to move to other villages far from the clashes area. The four hamlets, Yiğitler, Çem, Zorgeçit and Güzelkaya, have been completely evacuated because of the lack of security for people and property and because of the ongoing aerial bombing in the region”. Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) district organization and Şemdinli Municipality have recently set up a support desk and provide these people with necessary food and medicine as well as other urgent needs.
“There has been a continuous power cut in the clashes area which has been closed to traffic since 26 July. Several delegations, – says the mayor – included BDP deputies Esan Canan and Özdal Üçer, were not allowed to enter the clashes area despite all the attempts they have made”.
Fırat News Agency reported that five HPG guerrillas have lost their life in clashes however these deaths nor any delivery of bodies to any hospital or forensic medicine institute have been confirmed so far by any official statement. The bodies of five HPG members are therefore thought to be still in the clashes area.
“There are – says  Sedat Töre – other serious consequences. Clashes are causing heavy problems to the natural life of the region as many forests have suffered from fires caused by random and intense bombing by the Turkish army”.
The mayor expresses his worries about the “ways and extent of bombing by the military. We cannot exclude the use of prohibited weapons, for example – he adds – we have no way to check as all motorways in the region have been closed to traffic, the details of clashes are hidden from the public opinion and security forces have been trying to evacuate the people from the region. The people who are still living in the area are mostly concerned over the possibility of use of prohibited weapons”.
In the light of all this BDP mayor Sedat Töre underlines the “need for both local and foreign public opinion to call on the relevant institutions to end the ongoing military operation”.

Şemdinli turned into a war field

Clashes are ongoing in Şemdinli where People’s Defense Forces (HPG) guerrillas targeted Haruna military post on Tuesday.
The attack on the post, which is located some 23 km from the city of Şemdinli, was carried out following two separate guerrilla actions targeting two separate military convoys in the afternoon. At least three soldiers are said to have died and three others were wounded in one of the convoy attacks, while no reports have been received as to the injuries or deaths in other attacks.
An extensive area in Şemdinli region has been under the control of Kurdish guerrillas since 23 July and clashes are reported in a larger area since the beginning of the Turkish army operations two weeks ago. The army intensifiedaerial assaults for the geography of the clashes area doesn’t allow a ground attack with heavy vehicles.
People’s Defense Forces Press Office HPG-BIM reported that over a hundred soldiers died in the guerrilla actions which targeted many military points in the district of Çukurca on 4 August. Turkish military denies this claim.
The presence of the guerrilla control in the region seems to be confirmed by the prohibition of seven areas to civilians by the governor’s office in Hakkari.
In a statement on recent operations and clashes on 6 August, Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) executive council presidency pointed out that a new war process is currently being lived in Kurdistan. KCK statement emphasized that the Turkish media is hiding the war and losses of the Turkish army.
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) executive council member Sozdar Avesta evaluated the process in Şemdinli as a “revolutionary operation” which –he underlined- is considered to be the greatest and permanent operation of recent years. “Our people should on the other hand form their democratic autonomous government in this process”, Avesta noted.
People’s Defense Forces evaluated the guerrilla actions in Şemdinli as “a new strategy”, while KCK President Murat Karayılan said in his interview to ANF that “Borders have become a thing of the past as HPG guerrillas are now deploying in North Kurdistan and around Şemdinli which is located 35 km inside the border.
“In this new phase of the struggle – Karayılan said – Kurdish guerrillas will be following the strategy of spread into areas they have hit.

Clashes going on around Şemdinli

Clashes continue in Şemdinli area where the Turkish army bombed the Goman Mountain on Monday night. The bombing continue until Tuesday morning. Howitzer, mortar and aerial bombs were dropped during the night in the mountainous area in which, according to villagers in the region, the army cannot enter by land.
The aerial activity and bombing of the Turkish army is reported to be continuing in the region where gunshots have been heard in the latest operation in the areas of Yiğitler (Nîrkula) and Masiro.

Six months isolation for jailed DIHA reporter

Jailed DIHA reporter Özlem Ağuş has been denied visits for six months as well as a phone conversation and letter for 45 days. Ağuş has been accused of “jeopardizing the internal security” of Adana’s Karataş Closed Prison for Women where she has been held for the last six months.

The indictment is yet not ready for reporter Özlem Ağuş who was sent to prison on March 9, accused of being a member of the KCK (Kurdistan Communities Union) organization.

Vedat Özkan, lawyer for reporter Ağuş, said that his client is being isolated through punishments that have already been imposed on her since late July. Lawyer Özkan pointed out that Ağuş was prosecuted for joining Newroz events and a hunger strike before her imprisonment and on the grounds that the letters she wrote in prison amounted to propaganda.

Iranian foreign minister visits Turkey

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi will be in Turkey later on Tuesday for talks on the Syrian crisis, a Turkish diplomat told AFP.
According to AFP the Iranian foreign minister wanted the visit “at his own request,” which was conveyed through diplomatic channels late Monday, the diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Salehi will have talks with his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu in Ankara, with the Syria conflict topping the agenda, he added.
The visit comes after 48 Iranians were kidnapped on Saturday by unidentified “armed groups” as they were travelling in a bus to the airport in Damascus, according to the Iranian embassy in the Syrian capital and the Syrian state news agency SANA.

Seven new ‘prohibited areas’ announced

Following clashes between HPG Kurdish guerrillas and Turkish army, the provincial governor’s office in Hakkari stated that seven zones in the province will be under a temporary military prohibition until October 6, 2012.
Military operations are being carried out in the area.
The prohibited zones in the Hakkari, Şemdinli, Çukurca and Yüksekova districts are the “İkiyaka zone, east of Şırnak Beytüşşebap and Altındağlar in the central region of Hakkari, Buzul Mountain, Alandüz, the Balkaya Mountains, Gediktepe and Karadağ, and the Çağlayan and Pirinçeken zones.”
In the statement issued by the Governor’s office it is said that “Between the dates of July 6, 2012 and October 6, 2012, citizens are prohibited from entering these zones for the safety of their lives and property”.

Turkish soldiers crossed West Kurdistan border

Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) units have entered the town of Cerablos (province of Kobani) in West Kurdistan on Monday night.
The military unit crossing the border was reported to be equipped with helicopters and 15 military vehicles carrying special units. The vehicles of the Turkish army reportedly got back to their base after patrolling the town.
While local sources say that the army crossed the border for a shift change in front of Sultan Süleyman Shah mausoleum across the Fırat river near Kobani, it grabs attention that the change of duty which is normally made with helicopters has been made with a cross-border activity this time.

Demirtaş to AKP: war cannot solve Kurdish question

Speaking at an event in the province of Batman on Monday, Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş called on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to admit that military ways cannot resolve the Kurdish problem which –he underlined- can come up with a solution through negotiation and dialogue alone.
Demirtaş, reminding of brutal police attack on people in Newroz Day and 14 July rally in Diyarbakır, said that the Kurdish people have been responded with gas bombs and panzers every time they took to the streets to demand peace and to stage demonstrations against deaths.
BDP co-chair blamed the AKP government for the death of young people and continued saying that; “These deaths are the consequence of the fact that the government has never extended a hand to peace and it has instead passed the resolution on cross-border operation, beaten mothers asking for peace on streets, responded to people for peace with gas bombs and jailed young people and mayors.”
Demirtaş noted that the government has respected neither the will of the Kurdish people nor their leader Abdullah Öcalan who “plays the major role of the solution”, he underlined.
“It is a shameful approach of the government to try to put the blame of deaths on Kurdish people who were always insulted and sent back while going to clashes area as human shields to end the operations and to prevent further death of guerrillas, soldiers and other security forces”, said Demirtaş who also criticized the Turkish media for covering the truth up as to the ongoing war where, he underlined, dozens of people were dying every day.
BDP co-chair ended calling on relevant government authorities to enter into negotiations to ensure that both sides, referring to PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) and TSK (Turkish Armed Forces), can lay arms down.