Air offensive over 4 areas in Kandil

DİYARBAKIR

Turkish Armed Forces handout photo

Aircrafts bombed four zones in Iraq’s Kandil Mountain, where the most significant camp of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) is located, on the night of August 15.

Four F-16 aircrafts, which took off from Malatya Erhaç Air Base on the night of August 15, bombed Kandil Mountain by crossing the border and entering Iraq airspace, Doğan News Agency reported yesterday. Military sources indicated that four zones around the Kandil Mountain were targeted on the grounds of security intelligence. According to the local sources in the region, rural areas of Bermka, Sekanya, Sorgul and Bukriska villages were targeted during the air operation. The operation started at around 11.30 P.M. and lasted until the late hours of the night. No statement was made about the bombed targets. It was reported that the aircrafts took off from Malatya since the air base in Diyarbakır was under a maintenance work.

Meanwhile, in Güroymak district of the eastern province Bitlis, the PKK members organized an attack with a rocket projector against the government office at around 11.15 P.M. According to reports, while the rocket hit the office, a police officer guarding the building got injured. After the attack, special operation units started an operation in order to render the attackers ineffective.

“August 15 was peaceful”

Diyarbakır Governor Mustafa Toprak stated that one of the two PKK members, who secretly entered Diyarbakır to hold a sensational demonstration against the security forces on August 15, was rendered ineffective, and searches were being conducted to catch the other one, Anatolia News Agency reported yesterday. In a written statement issued with Diyarbakır Governor Mustafa Toprak’s signature, it was indicated that August 15, the anniversary of the PKK’s first demonstration, was quite peaceful and without a trouble. “Terrorist leader Abdullah Öcalan’s inability to convey his orders to the organization through his lawyers since July 27, 2011; operations against the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) ongoing since Sept. 2011, and major blows striking the terrorist units in the rural areas caused inaction, depression and loss of confidence in the organization,” the statement read. The statement read that the PKK wanted to increase their demonstrations due to the August 15, the anniversary of their first demonstration. It also underlined that safety measures were increased in the province with the coordination of Diyarbakır Governor’s Office; camera and armored vehicle supplement was provided to the police stations, the entrances and exits of the province was controlled by additional security cameras, and gendarmerie stations and base areas were supported in order to prevent the PKK’s activities.

On the anniversary of the PKK’s first armed attack, which was organized in Hakkari’s Şemdinli and Siirt’s Eruh districts, conflicts took place in Şırnak’s Cizre district, while demonstrations favoring the PKK were held and fireworks were set off in Mardin’s Nusaybin district and Batman. Police used gas bombs in order to disperse the demonstrators. A group of demonstrators gathered at Nusaybin’s Nevruz area set off fireworks and unfurled PKK flags and banners. Some people who were hiding their faces shouted slogans in favor of the PKK. And another group, mostly consisting of children, set fires. In Batman’s Bağlar neighborhood, a group including Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Istanbul deputy Sebahat Tuncel, danced the traditional “Halay” dance.

“The Kurds living in Turkey wants to live with the Turkish people. It is not a problem. The main problem is the denial of their existence, the Kurds living in Turkey want a self-governance,” Tuncel said. Meanwhile, on the night of August 16, supporters of the PKK threw a molotov cocktail at a market in Gaziantep. In İslahiye district, on the other hand, the PKK members burned two engineering vehicles doing metal work and fled from the scene of incident. Security forces kicked off a large-scale operation in order to arrest the attackers, who were estimated to have fled to Amanos mountains.