Press Release
The democratic resolution process initiated by Leader Apo despite challenging conditions and aggravated isolation in Imralı Prison, which aimed for a peaceful co-existence of peoples in Turkey and Kurdistan, had been declared to the world's public opinion in a historic declaration in Newroz of 2013. Following talks of nearly two years, the process was put into a certain frame with the 10-point Dolmabahçe Accords in the February of 2015.
The fact that the Turkish state, in spite of all these developments, sought to stir up a conflict through stalling and consequently provocative efforts that it developed as a special war tactics during these two years, and the fact that it was immensely preparing for a war, was clearly understood by means of the attacks it carried out in practical terms.
Relying on the suppression of the Kurdistan Freedom Struggle to make his dreams of dictatorship come true, Erdoğan, making an alliance with the MHP and mending the fences with some foreign powers, declared a war against our movement by conducting extensive aerial attacks on the guerrilla bases in Northern and Southern Kurdistan on 24 July 2015. Introducing a genocidal policy against Kurdistan yet in April 2015 with the system of an aggravated isolation and psychological torture against our Leader, the AKP-MHP alliance clearly manifested through the practices against Leader Apo what their plans against the future of our people, and how hostile their policies were.
As one would see from the Collapse Plan that was prepared in secret but reflected to the public in some way, the AKP-MHP alliance planned an extensive onslaught to wipe out our freedom movement, force our people to surrender and neutralise our Leader, yet they faced glorious resistance from our people and guerrilla forces during two years of all-out attacks, and achieved no results. In the first place, the AKP-MHP alliance faced with the great resistance from our people that declared Democratic Autonomy in their neighborhoods and towns, and from YPS forces that wrote epics of bravery in several towns, mainly in Sur, Cizre, Hezex, Nusaybin, Şırnak and Gever, and the Collapse Plan was thus caused to collapse yet in its first step thanks to the urban resistance. At the same time, the struggle given by our guerrilla forces, based on a sacrificing Apoist spirit, against the genocidal-colonialist Turkish state's fascist attacks in towns and urban areas for two years, proved once again the invincibility of the guerrilla, and frustrated the goals of the colonialist Turkish state.
Also, the AKP-MHP fascist alliance has been defeated in the face of the Rojava revolution in the military and diplomatic sense, and they have failed to achieve their planned goals in Southern Kurdistan. The Turkish state has spewn more spite through extensive bombings on the mountains and villages of Kurdistan, and thus shown the whole world they are an invading force and enemies to our people once more. Despite this fact, as part of the psychological war aginst our revolution and our people, the truth has been hidden from the Turkish and the world public, and they have attempted to make their forces look successful with the exaggerated numbers they announced. But the truth is just the opposite. This attack against our people and the forces of democracy in Turkey in the person of our people by the AKP-MHP fascist clique has been voided. The struggle the guerilla is raising against the fascist mindset of the AKP-MHP alliance who want to institutionalize the fascist system in Turkey through eliminating the Kurdistan Freedom Movement and its guerilla has shown that our movement is not just the fundamental force for Kurdistan’s freedom but also a fundamental force for the struggle for democracy in Turkey. It is very clear that the success of the guerilla’s resistance against this fascist wave they are trying to build up will pave the way for freedom and democracy in Turkey.
But this struggle isn’t without its toll, and is only pursued by paying a heavy price. Fascism’s attacks have been stopped by the children of our peoples fighting and sacrificing their lives, and the foundations for a strong march towards a free future have been laid. The point our struggle has reached through this resistance is a historic process where the conditions to carry the march for freedom to success have been created.
We salute with great gratitude and respect all our heroic martyrs who created this historic process with their epic resistance and gave us the opportunity for success, we bow in front of their memory, and repeat our promise to carry their memory in the struggle to free Kurdistan and Leader Apo.
In terms of revealing the truths, it our utmost revolutionary duty to share with the public and our people the balance sheet of the results revealed by this two-year process of resistance of the HPG forces that constitute a phase of total resistance in our history of struggle. We share with our people the following balance sheet of war for two years for the period between 24 July 2015 and 23 July 2017:
Ground operations: 746
Warplane and helicopter attacks: 1246
Mortar, howitzer, tank and artillery attacks: 2338
Confrontations: 333
Actions by guerrillas: 2239
Actions and confrontations with unverified results: 559
Enemy elements killed (police, soldiers): 6353 (72 of whom are high-ranking)
Enemy elements wounded: 2261
Military vehicles destroyed: 376 (including 15 tanks)
Military vehicles damaged: 209 (including 6 tanks)
Warplanes, Cobra and Sikorsky helicopters downed: 5 Sikorsky, 5 Cobra, 1 F16 aircraft
Cobra and Sikorsky helicopters damaged: 85
Guerrillas martyred: 1116
Guerrillas taken captive: 30
24 July, 2017
HPG Press Centre