PKK releases kidnapped soldier, technician in Turkey’s east

In a statement issued on their website, the Muş Governorate said the PKK had released the two people, a soldier and a technician, early May 22.

“[The two kidnapped] were released by the PKK around 2:00 a.m. on May 22,” read the statement. 

It stated that the specialist soldier, identified as C.T., was assigned to the southeastern province of Mardin’s provincial gendarmerie, while the technician, identified as S.T., worked at the Türksat Directorate, the Turkish operator of satellites that help television channels broadcast widely.

The Turkish General Staff stated May 20 that the PKK had kidnapped two people in the area between Merkez Mescitli village and Bostankent village in the province of Muş, though not mentioning the victims’ names or when the incident had taken place. 

Doğan News Agency reported that the kidnapping took place on May 18, while the kidnapped soldier was on leave to visit his family in the Erzurum province. He had gone to the Baltaş village in Muş with his childhood friend, the technician, who was sent to the area by his company for maintenance work on television transmitters.

The PKK and Turkish security forces have been in involved in an armed conflict since the early 1980s, throughout which a total of around 40,000 people have died from both of the sides, including civilians. 

Although the PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and European Union, there has not been a major armed clash between its militants and Turkish security forces since 2013, due to a resolution process the government initiated in the late 2000s. 

Before the negotiation process began, the PKK had routinely kidnapped Turkish civil servants, workers and soldiers in the country’s southeast.