Press Release

The war criminal Turkish army, which leaves the bodies of its own soldiers in the field and bombs them by fighter jets and artillery to prevent them from coming under the control of the guerrillas, which puts the bodies of soldiers in rubbish bags and throws them off cliffs, has once again clearly shown that it has no moral values.

The AKP/MHP regime is committing countless serious war crimes in full view of the world public by using chemical weapons, phosphorus bombs, thermobaric bombs and unconventional explosive devices against guerrilla positions. Despite all these inhuman attacks, the sacrificial resistance of our forces has effectively hit the invading forces. This revealed a very important level and showed limits to the Turkish army's aim to occupy the areas in the shortest possible time. The Turkish army had to withdraw from various areas and was on the defensive.

The Kurdistan Freedom Guerrilla, which restructured itself and focused on the guerrilla struggle of democratic modernity despite the harsh winter conditions in the harsh geography of Kurdistan, continued its struggle uninterruptedly throughout January, changing the usual methods and reorganising itself according to the conditions of the time. Our radically restructured forces put this change into practice at a time of the most intense war. With professional guerrilla units, they effectively used all dimensions of the terrain with war tunnels and emplacements and dealt heavy blows to the attackers in the most impossible places.

We are experiencing one of the most active winters in the history of our struggle. It has become clear that the guerrillas can strike the enemy at all times of the year and in all terrain conditions. In this way, the idea of permanent warfare has become concrete, a warfare that is active every month and every day of the year, inflicting blows on the enemy. Our forces have not allowed the enemy to breathe and have made history in the Zap, Avaşîn and Metîna areas. Their struggle has opened a new page in the history of the resistance of the oppressed peoples.

The Freedom Guerrilla of Kurdistan continues its effective and historic struggle in Northern Kurdistan with high performance. It has not only foiled thousands of operations of the Turkish army, but also met the enemy despite the wintry conditions and put up resistance unprecedented at this time of the year.

Our forces have fought sacrificially against the invading forces and collaborators at great risk in Botan. They have once again made it clear that the colonialists and collaborators will be held accountable no matter what. With their actions, they hit the colonialists in the brain and the collaborators in the heart.

The brave sons and daughters of our people have gone to their deaths without hesitation to protect the dignity of the people, to realise their dreams of a free future and to defend Kurdistan. The martyrs have fulfilled their historic task by following the path of Egîd and Zîlan and taking on the task of carrying the flag of struggle to victory. In January 2023, ten of our companions died in the resistance. We promise that we will continue to build the resistance on the basis of their struggle and crown the memory of our martyrs with victory.

The one-month war balance between 1 and 31 January as follows:

Guerrilla actions:

- 120 guerrilla actions were carried out, combining the tactics of sabotage, snipers, heavy weapons, hit-and-run.

As a result of the actions, 31 soldiers of the Turkish army were killed, and one soldier was injured.

Attacks by the Turkish army:

- As far as the HPG could ascertain, the Medya Defence Zones, especially the guerrilla resistance positions, were bombed 134 times by fighter jets and 38 times by attack helicopters, as well as hundreds of times with howitzers, mortars, tanks and heavy weapons.

- The guerrilla positions were attacked 252 times with unconventional bombs and chemical weapons.

Destroyed military equipment of the Turkish army:

- 1 Position

- 2 surveillance camera systems

- 1 grenade launcher

- 1 military tent

- 1 telescope

- 1 drone

- 1 excavator

Military equipment damaged by the guerrillas:

- 1 container

February 1, 2023

HPG Press Centre