Thousands celebrate PKK’s first armed attack at Kato Mountain in southeastern Turkey

ŞIRNAK - Doğan News Agency

The group lit a fire on the sides of the Kato Mountain spelling out “Apo,” the popular nickname of the organization’s jailed leader, Abdullah Öcalan. DHA photo

Thousands of Kurds gathered the night of Aug. 10 at Kato Mountain in the southeastern district of Şanlıurfa to celebrate the first armed attack carried out by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

The PKK supporters, including many women and children wearing traditional outfits, commemorated the 29th anniversary of the Aug. 15, 1984 attacks of the PKK targeting Siirt’s Eruh and Hakkari’s Şemdinli districts, enjoying a night-long concert performed by a band, dancing the traditional halay, holding banners and chanting slogans in for the PKK.

The group lit a fire on the sides of the mountain spelling out “Apo,” the popular nickname of the organization’s jailed leader, Abdullah Öcalan, along with a firework show that lit up the mountains. A giant poster of Öcalan and photos of killed militants were also unfurled during the night at the mountain.

The crowds chanted slogans in Kurdish saying, “Martyrs don’t die” and, “The PKK is the people, the people are here.”

Peace and Democracy Party Beytüşşebap district president Abdulkerim Ataman made a speech comemmorating the Eruh and Şemdinli attacks and shared his opinion on the ongoing peace process that was launched with a cease-fire declared by the PKK in March.

A gendarmerie commando, Süleyman Aydın, was killed in the 1984 Eruh raid and Sergeant Memiş Arıbaş succumbed to his injuries five days after the attack.