Press Release
On January 23 (yesterday) the invading Turkish army carried out air attacks against various regions of South Kurdistan. Within this scope;
Between 11:30 and 13:00, fighter jets bombed the Yekmale Village and its surroundings in the Gare region as well as the Reshava territory in Deralok. At 19:20 the same day, the jets targeted the Qesroke area in the Heftanin region.
Our guerrilla forces suffered no losses in the attacks while four civilians named Azad Sahin, Azad Mecid Seyfo, Redar Mihemed Tahir and Wahid Ebdulqadir who were fishing along the Zap river were martyred in the attack against the Reshava territory. Our people have been deliberately targeted with the coordination of 4 scout planes. 2 of the bodies have been retrieved while the remaining two are still unaccounted for.
We would like to offer our condolences to the families of our people who lost their lives in this vile attack and to the people of Deralok. The invading Turkish army has intensified airstrikes against Southern Kurdistan’s territory and has been targeting not just the guerrilla areas but the areas where civilians live and make their living. The most recent example of this has been the Deralok and Eredna incidents, which expose the truth for all to see. The targeting of the Bebade Village Mosque and village houses in the Chemanke region recently, and the bombing of people on a picnic along the Mark River in the touristic Chemcho region have shown that the fascist colonialism’s true goal for Kurdistan is to not leave anything about Kurds here and destroy any and all values and gains. The AKP has, on one hand, established a de facto occupation of Southern Kurdistan with the dozens of military bases they have built up to the inner regions, and on the other has been targeting our civilian people on their own lands using high-tech weapons, exposing an animosity that goes beyond a war against the PKK. Such attacks clearly aim to intimidate the long-suffering people of Southern Kurdistan, it is clear that these attacks are the result of a deliberate and planned policy.
In the attacks in the last 3 years, at least 20 of our people have been martyred in this deliberate targetings in the Amadiya region alone. This is not an attack that any Kurdish patriot can accept, and as the People’s Defense Forces, demanding justice for our esteemed people is among our most fundamental duties.
On this basis, we offer our condolences again to the families of Azad Sahin, Azad Mecid Seyfo, Redar Mihemed Tahir and Wahid Ebdulqadir who lost their lives in this dire incident and to the people of Bashure Kurdistan. We promise once again that we will keep the memory of the martyrs alive by raising the struggle.
January 24, 2019
HPG Press Centre