Six PKK militants who killed teacher in Turkey’s Tunceli killed by armed drones: Governor’s office

TUNCELİ

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Six outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants who had abducted and killed a teacher in the eastern province of Tunceli were killed in an operation by armed drones on July 19, the Tunceli Governor’s Office has stated.

The governor’s office in a statement released on July 20 said armed drones spotted a group of PKK militants in the Nazımiye district and security forces launched an operation in the region.

Six PKK militants were killed in the strike as they were later identified as the militants who had killed Necmettin Yılmaz, a 23-year-old teacher.

Following the statement, Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu shared a post on his Twitter account, saying, “Our heroes took the revenge of those who killed teacher Necmettin Yılmaz, who was martyred in Tunceli’s Pülümür.” 

Yılmaz’s body had been found in the Pülümür Valley in Tunceli on July 12, nearly a month after he was abducted by PKK militants.

Yılmaz, who was serving as a teacher in the Çiftçibaşı village of the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa, was driving on a highway to the Black Sea province of Gümüşhane when a group of PKK militants stopped his car.

Erdoğan thanks CHP MP for speech on teacher 

Meanwhile, the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP)’s Tunceli deputy Gürsel Erol told Doğan News Agency that he delivered a speech in parliament on July 18 about Necmettin Yılmaz, focusing on the country’s terror problem and difficulties that security forces face. Erol said he also raised the issue of improving the personal rights of police in his speech.

Erol further noted that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan later called him and thanked him for his speech.

“Mr. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called me after my speech and thanked me. He said ‘It was a very important and befitting speech for the unity of our country and I thank you on behalf of our state and the nation,” Erol said.

Erol indicated that he also informed CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu about the president’s call, as the party leader also congratulated him for the speech.

According to party sources, Kılıçdaroğlu also mentioned the president’s call to Erol during the party’s central executive board meeting on July 19.

CHP to stage march in Tunceli 

Separately, the CHP will stage a march in Tunceli on July 21 to protest the PKK and to commemorate Yılmaz and 29 other teachers who had previously been killed by militants in the province.

The march dubbed “No to terror” will also see the participation of party deputies Levent Gök, Muharrem İnce, Tuncay Özkan, Haluk Pekşen, and Gülay Yelekçi. 

Erol held a press meeting on July 20 regarding the planned march, saying the event’s main target was to show that Tunceli “was not a city of terror” but instead “was a city of the Republic,” and the city as a whole stood against terror.  

“Tunceli is not a city of terror; we’ll not let that happen. We felt the need to organize a demonstration for such terror acts not to be conducted in Tunceli again, and for people not to die in this city but to live freely. And for this reason, we will march against terror tomorrow,” Erol said. 

“Tomorrow at 6 p.m. we’ll gather in front of the municipality building and will march until the banks of the Pülümür River, where our cemevi is located. After having walked until the banks of Pülümür River, we will lay carnations on the place where the body of Yılmaz was found, and then we will hold a press meeting. Our teacher’s death has saddened us all deeply. A pain has emerged in our hearts. It brought us to a point where we should rebel, instead of staying silent and talking in closed places,” Erol added. 

Meanwhile, Turkish Air Forces pounded hideouts of PKK militants in northern Iraq, the military said on July 20.         

According to a statement issued by the Turkish General Staff, the air operations were carried out in the Hakurk area on the night of July 19.         

One anti-aircraft gun, two mortar posts and three hideouts used by PKK militants were destroyed in the air operation.        

Elsewhere in Turkey, security forces killed two PKK militants in the eastern province of Ağrı, as the provincial gendarmerie forces were searching for PKK shelters in the Doğubeyazıt district, said the Ağrı Governor’s Office on July 20.  

Additionally, Turkish forces killed three PKK militants on July 20 in an air strike in the southeastern province of Hakkari, according to the local governor.