Turkish General Staff thanks locals of eastern province for helping wounded soldiers

“Our citizens, who came to the area during the air evacuation of our four personnel who were wounded during the clashes with the terrorists of the separatist terror organization at Ağrı’s Diyadin district’s Yukarıtek village on April 11, 2015, deserve admiration, [while this act] has shown how big the commitment and love our citizens have towards Turkish soldiers and has also formed a good example of our nation’s unity and togetherness,” read a statement released on the General Staff’s website on April 13. 

Five PKK militants were killed and four Turkish soldiers were injured in Ağrı on April 11, in clashes that erupted after PKK militants opened fire on security forces, the military said in a statement. Meanwhile, the PKK denied its militants attacked first, also arguing one civilian and one PKK militant were killed in the clashes.

“We thank our citizens and wish [them] good and peaceful days that are full of health and happiness,” the statement added. 

Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş had said on the day of the attack that the locals had helped the injured soldiers and there was footage of the incident. 

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and government officials have accused the PKK of “trying to pressure people to vote for the HDP,” while the HDP side has argued that the operation was “pre-planned and fake.”

Meanwhile, a group of Turkish soldiers were subject to harassing fire by members of the PKK in a remote area in Turkey’s southeastern province of Hakkari on April 12, state-run Anadolu Agency reported. 

PKK members opened harassment fire with a long-barreled weapon on the soldiers, who went to a rocky area in Şemdinli where they had determined the laying of smuggled materials. The army responded with artillery shooting, while no casualties or injuries took place, according to Anadolu Agency.