A brief history of the PKK terrorist organization

The foundations of the PKK Terrorist Organization were laid in the pre-1980 bipolar world order. Abdullah Öcalan, who laid the foundations of this organization, was among the founders of the Democratic Higher Education Association, which was established in Ankara in 1974, while he was working within the Eastern Revolutionary Culture Associations.

After that, a group formed around him and adopted the armed struggle, went to the Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia region in 1978 and started armed actions. They were originally known as the "Apoists". In November 1978, at a meeting held in Fis village of Lice district of Diyarbakır, the name of the organization was changed to PKK (Partiya Karkaren Kurdistane: Kurdistan Workers' Party).

After that, the PKK started to carry out armed actions rapidly, but it still had very few weapons and militants. In addition, there were other separatist organizations that had been established in the region before, and they had to fight alongside the security forces. For this reason, the PKK did not become much stronger. But the 1980 military coup changed everything.

When the 1980 military coup took place, the leaders of other organizations generally fled to European countries, while the leaders of the PKK Terrorist Organization fled to Syria. As those who went to Europe stayed away from the region, their organizations soon disintegrated. However, Öcalan, who settled in Damascus, started to manage his organization from here with the support of the Syrian intelligence (Al Muhaberat).

After a congress held in 1981, with the support of Hafez Assad, he succeeded in establishing a camp for the armed elements of the organization in the north of Iraq. This situation created discomfort in the north of Iraq, but Barzani and Talabani, who were afraid of Assad, could not openly oppose the establishment of a new organization in their area of ​​activity.

After that, a large number of armed militants were trained in camps established in Iraq and the Palestinian region and were sent to Turkey. At the second congress held in Damascus in 1984, it was decided that the organization had become strong enough and it was necessary to move on to the action phase. Thereupon, the existence of the terrorist organization was announced to the whole world with the Eruh and Şemdinli raids on 15 August 1984.

Although the aim of the PKK was to establish a united Kurdistan state on the lands of Syria, Iran and Iraq, Saddam and Iran also started to support the PKK after Hafez Esat. Thanks to the support of these countries and the opportunity to take shelter and shelter on the territory of these countries when they are in trouble, the PKK has increased its attacks day by day and has become Turkey's most important problem.

Continuing its activities with its rural-based guerrilla strategy, the PKK used its violence as a propaganda tool, thus rapidly increasing the number of its supporters. As a result, the number of terrorists began to be expressed in figures of 15-20 thousand. This situation caused the security forces stationed in the region to be insufficient for the fight.

Thereupon, some troops from all over Turkey were shifted to the region. With these units, a strategy called "Area Control" was implemented and the PKK's movement area was tried to be narrowed. While the area was controlled with the temporary and permanent base areas established in the dominant places controlling the passageways, ambushes were thrown and operations were carried out with commando units and special units in the uncontrollable areas between these base areas. In addition to supporting weapons such as mortars and artillery, armed helicopters and planes were also used in operations.

In addition, the "Anvil and Hammer" tactic in the first spring and autumn months of every year (holding the dominant hills on one side of the terrorists' region with some troops, surrounding the region with other troops, deporting the terrorists to the troops deployed on the dominant hills and acting as anvils while the siege circle is narrowed, and the destruction of terrorists trapped between the hammer and the anvil by blowing blows) were carried out. As a result, the PKK was prevented from taking the initiative in the struggle and many terrorists were neutralized.

In addition, Barzani and Talabani were contacted, who were disturbed by the PKK's overpowering in their own regions. In cooperation with them, many large and small operations were carried out in northern Iraq. Base areas were established in some places in the north of Iraq. Many operations were carried out with the Peshmerga through these base areas and liaison personnel.

In fact, when the borders of the state that Mesut Barzani, Celal Talabani and Abdullah Öcalan dreamed of establishing were compared, it was seen that these borders were almost the same. Their hostility was not because they had different goals, but because they had different organizations (which they called parties) and different ideologies. The most important problem was the leadership ambitions of the three people.

The name of Talabani's organization was KYB (Patriotic Union of Kurdistan). This organization was close to the social democratic political view and was more democratic than the other two organizations. Barzani's organization KDP (Kurdistan Democratic Party) was. This organization had a more authoritarian, more feudal and more right-wing political view than the PUK, based on the dominance of the Barzan Tribe. Öcalan's organization, the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party), on the other hand, had a more authoritarian, communist and Stalinist political view than the KDP, based on the rule of the leader.

It can also be said that the difference in language or dialect between the audiences they address has an effect on the separation of these three organizations. The PUK found support among Sorani-speaking people in general, the KDP among people who spoke Behdinan, and the PKK among people who spoke Kurmanji.

The separation between the KDP and the PUK also had historical roots. Because of these differences, there were struggles between the KDP and the PUK from time to time. While the KDP was close to Turkey, the PUK could sometimes cooperate with the PKK and the Saddam regime. Since the region he controlled was between the KDP, the Iraqi central government, the PKK and Iran, he was also careful to get on well with Iran. However, they did not hesitate to participate in many operations against the PKK.

Despite all the domestic and international operations, the PKK continued to struggle with outpost raids, ambushes and the mines it laid. He also managed to hold the camp sites in Iraq. However, he could not regain his former strength. This situation continued until Abdullah Öcalan was captured and brought to Turkey in 1999.

Although Abdullah Öcalan was tried by the court and sentenced to death, this sentence was not executed because the government parties agreed to abolish the death penalty. He began to serve his sentence in the prison prepared for him in İmralı. Thereupon, the PKK suspended most of its armed militants by leaving the country. For this reason, the fighting stopped for a while. However, the PKK started its actions again in 2000. These actions continued to increase every year until 2005.

In 2005, signs began to appear that the government would change its policy towards the PKK from the very beginning. In 2005, the Prime Minister said, "The Kurdish issue is my issue." He started to give hints of this by making a statement. However, this new policy could not be implemented due to the e-memorandum in 2007 and the Dağlıca raids in 2008 and 2009. More precisely, the public was not aware of the initiatives made as a requirement of this policy. Because the government had started some initiatives for the implementation of its new policy and it was doing these attempts abroad secretly.

In this context, secret Oslo talks were held in 2009. But these talks were leaked to the public. The government initially refused these talks, but had to admit that the negotiations were held when documents about the talks began to be published in some media outlets. However, he announced that these negotiations were made by the state, not the government. After that, some moves that would be called the "Opening Process" began to come.

The "Opening Process", which started with steps such as teaching local languages ​​and dialects in schools and broadcasting in local languages ​​and dialects on television, continued with the fulfillment of other demands of the Terrorist Organization. For example, Diyarbakır prison was closed at the request of the organization. This policy also received a response from the PKK Terrorist Organization's ringleader, who was lying in Imrali. In this context, Öcalan's message was read to the crowd gathered in Diyarbakır in 2013. In that message, Öcalan was telling the organization, "Drop your weapons and withdraw abroad."

But the government did not get the expected result from this call. Because the leaders of the organization did not comply with this call. This situation led to comments that Öcalan, who has been in prison for a long time, has weakened his influence on the organization. Despite this, the government continued to take new steps one after another. For example, the operations were subject to the permission of the governorships. Therefore, the operations could not be carried out by the security forces.

In April 2013, a delegation of 63 people was formed with the claim of contributing to the solution process. The committee of wise people, composed of some writers, artists, academics and representatives of non-governmental organizations, was planned to operate in 7 regions in groups of nine people. A chairman, vice chairman and secretary were appointed to these groups.

The Prime Minister had a meeting with the delegation at the prime minister's office in Dolmabahçe Palace. In the party group meeting, he announced that they would listen to the opinions and suggestions of wise people, consult with them, organize some activities in the regions where wise people go, and meet with the public and opinion leaders.

Meanwhile, the government began to have problems with the FETO Terrorist Organization, with which it acted in cooperation during the period it came to power and held on to power. As a response to the initiatives made, the PKK contented itself with just following the developments during the Gezi Events, which had the potential to plunge the government into a deep crisis, and the 17/25 December 2013 events caused by FETO.

However, while the PKK remained silent in the West, it struggled to increase its power in the east and southeast.

Some members of Turksish soceiety at their journeys, were unloaded from minibuses on their way to the city, and executions began. Thus, segments of society opposed to the PKK were suppressed. By putting pressure on the people, the organization started to spread its struggle based on rural areas to the residential areas. Residential organizations were strengthened, and many places were de facto occupied and controlled by the PKK.

In 1990-91, the PKK carried out actions in built-up areas in order to establish liberated areas in some districts and even tried to revolt the people. However, at that time, this attempt ended in failure due to the determined stance of the government and security forces. Now the PKK settled in the residential areas and was trying to add the struggle in the built-up areas to its strategy of struggle based on the countryside. However, there was a significant anti-PKK mass in the residential areas and this situation started to cause clashes.

For this reason, the PKK carried out some sensational actions in Diyarbakır in 2014 in order to show its power to both the state and those who resisted it. Many children died in one of them. Thanks to these actions, the organization managed to put pressure on all segments of society, so HDP won 81 deputies in the parliament in the June 2015 elections. However, this success caused a debate between the PKK and HDP. Because everyone attributed this increase in votes to their own efforts.

The government party, which could not come to power alone in this election, realized that the initiative process benefited the HDP and made them lose votes. Thereupon, the President declared that he did not recognize the 10-item Dolmabahçe Agreement, which was made on 17 July 2015 with the participation of AKP and HDP supporters within the scope of the opening process and announced to the public on 28 February 2015. With this development, the solution process was shelved.

Behind this statement of the government, the organization implemented a new strategy on July 24, 2015 called the "Revolutionary People's War". In accordance with this strategy, residential areas began to be transformed into liberated zones. The buildings have been prepared in such a way as to prevent any interference from the outside. Ditches were dug on the roads and walls were built.

Meanwhile, when the PKK carried out daring actions in some cities, signs began to appear that the government had decided to take drastic measures. As a matter of fact, the government, which managed to come into power once again in the repeated elections in November 2015, started to carry out operations in rural areas by mobilizing the armed forces.

After this, a comprehensive operation called “Hendek Operations” was launched against the built-up areas. These operations, which started at the end of 2015, continued with determination until the first months of 2016. As a result, the dominance of the PKK terrorist organization in residential areas was completely broken. The terrorist organization, which suffered great casualties in these operations, began to lose public support and weakened considerably.

The Separatist Terrorist Organization (PKK) believes that a struggle based only on the countryside is not sufficient for success; Considering that actions should be taken in cities in order to build "democratic autonomy", he implemented the strategy of "City War Based on Rural" under the name "Revolutionary People's War" and thus ended in disappointment.

In addition, the PKK weakened considerably in rural areas as technological developments and especially UAVs and SİHAs were used effectively. According to statements made by some state officials, the PKK's number of armed terrorists in the country has dropped to hundreds of figures. The organization's power in Iraq was also dealt a heavy blow, due to numerous operations in the north of Iraq, in which SİHAs were also used in addition to planes.

The PKK is now going through the most difficult times in its history in Turkey and Iraq, due to numerous operations that have been carried out since then. His strength has weakened incomparably with the past and he has lost his ability to act.

The PKK is trying to compensate for this weakness by focusing on Syria. Because, with the support of the USA, the organization established by the PKK in Syria seized a large region and increased the number of its armed personnel to 60,000 people. Moreover, due to the current situation in Syria and US support, Turkish security forces cannot effectively intervene in this organization.

While these developments pose a great problem for Turkey, they have also created a very ironic situation for the Syrian regime. Because at the end of the day, the PKK Terrorist Organization, which it nurtured for years to weaken and even divide Turkey, has emerged as the most important factor dividing Syria.