Press Release
The Turkish nation state is based on the mentality of the Committees for Unity and Progress (İttihat ve Terakki) and the annihilation of all peoples of Anatolia, especially the Armenian, Greek and Assyrian-Syriac populations.
The Kurdish people constituted an essential element in the foundation of the Turkish Republic and were deprived of their identity over time through systematic genocidal plans and practices. The Turkish nation state was built on a genocidal attack on the Kurdish people. The attacks of the Turkish nation state, which have continued for a hundred years, have necessarily led the Kurdish people to resistance and uprising. Our people have paid a high price, and although they have been shrouded in deathly silence at times, they have never accepted their uprooting. The historical emergence of Leader Apo [Abdullah Öcalan], his epic struggle, now in its fiftieth year, and the reality embodied in the PKK have breathed new life into the Kurdish people, given them a consciousness and a will, and turned them into a people fighting for their existence and freedom, and back on the stage of history. The Apoist movement and our struggle for freedom, which has marked the last fifty years of the Turkish Republic, have become the hope of the oppressed by breaking this artificial construct that is to be developed through the denial and annihilation of all peoples.
The fascist AKP/MHP regime organised one invasion after another against Kurdistan against this historical background. This was meant to realise these genocidal plans and to keep the regime in power even in the year of the centenary of the Turkish Republic. For this purpose, the AKP/MHP regime declared an all-out war on the Kurdish people everywhere inside and outside Turkey against all their achievements and tried to complete genocide of the Kurdish people through invasion offensives. The main current aim of this plan is to liquidate the guerrillas in Northern Kurdistan and the Medya Defence Zones. Especially in the last two years, extermination operations have been carried out against the guerrillas in the whole of Northern Kurdistan and extensive invasion attacks against Zap, Avaşîn and Metîna in the Medya Defence Zones.
Our guerrilla forces have maintained their presence in Northern Kurdistan under the most difficult conditions and an impossible situation, guerrillas have increased their struggle in professional units, thwarted annihilation operations, demonstrated a posture of historic importance and inflicted considerable losses on the Turkish army. The Turkish state has not been able to achieve success against the guerrillas in Northern Kurdistan despite promising their annihilation every year. Despite thousands of operations to liquidate the guerrillas, the Turkish state has not been able to achieve its aim with its extermination attacks against the guerrillas in Northern Kurdistan, even though fighters of our forces have fallen in Northern Kurdistan from time to time. Being aware of their historical role, the whole guerrilla in Northern Kurdistan, especially our fallen comrades, made the enemy fail by showing great faith, will, determination, work and effort on the basis of Apoist sacrifice.
The AKP/MHP regime's goal of occupying the Medya Defence Zones by capturing Zap, Avaşîn and Metîna, which was set for two to three weeks, has still not been comprehensively realised. The Turkish state has tried to occupy the areas within the borders of the Ottoman National Pact, especially in the last two years, using the most modern war technology, banned bombs and chemical weapons and the support of the KDP. However, it could not implement this. Throughout 2022, the historic resistance in Northern Kurdistan and Medya Defence Zones has once again shown that the guerrillas are invincible. All the figures and information presented to the public by the special war ministries concerned in this issue do not reflect the reality. The picture of the war and the actual figures can be found in our annual report.
The stance against torture and oppression in Imralı and in all the dungeons, the epic resistance of the guerrillas, the resistance of our people against the fascist attacks and the resistant stance not to surrender in the field of democratic politics have destroyed the Kurdish politics of the AKP/MHP regime. Turkey could not eliminate the political line developed by the left democratic forces of the people. Thus, it has once again become clear that a genocidal policy based on violence will not lead to any goal.
The Freedom Guerrilla of Kurdistan, in the spirit of Apoist philosophy and sacrifice against all kinds of ultra-modern war technology, has shown high performance and manoeuvrability with its fighting tactics. The resistance of the Kurdistan Freedom Guerrilla in 2022 made history and foiled all the enemy's plans. In this struggle, the bravest daughters and sons of this people fell. In the year of struggle 2022, 301 of our comrades, including 64 comrades in Northern Kurdistan and 237 (55 of them by the use of banned bombs and chemical weapons) in the Medya Defence Zones have fallen. We have disclosed the identities of each of them to their families, our people and the public.
The balance sheet of the struggle of 2022 waged by the Kurdistan Freedom Guerrilla under the leadership of our beloved martyrs and in the Apoist spirit of sacrifice is as follows:
Attacks by the Turkish army:
Use of prohibited bombs and chemical weapons: 3,280
Attacks by combat aircraft: 4,527
Attacks with helicopters: 5,701
Companions martyred and taken prisoner:
Companions martyred: 301
Captured companions: 6
Guerrilla actions
Total: 3,034
Actions of the Air Defence Forces: 2
Revolutionary operations: 6
Ambushes: 12
Assault operations: 15
Infiltrations: 43
Coordinated guerrilla actions: 107
Sabotage actions: 333
Sniper actions: 562
Actions with heavy weapons: 722
Battles and attacks: 1232
Enemy losses:
Soldiers killed: 2,942 (including four agents, twelve counter-guerrillas and 26 senior military officers)
Injured members of the occupying forces: 408
January 2, 2023
The People's Defence Centre (HSM) Headquarters Command