Armed Conflict in Ağrı and its Aftermath
On Saturday, April 11th, the General Staff declared that in an armed conflict that broke out between the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) prior to a tree-planting activity in Ağrı province’s Diyadin district, 5 members of the PKK had been killed, and one PKK member and four military personnel had been injured.
According to the declaration at 8:12 pm, the conflict in Yukarıtütek Village lasted all day. The four injured soldiers had been taken to Ağrı State Hospital, with three of them only slightly injured but the other taken in for surgery.
The TSK stated: “After having received information that at the event called Spring Festivities, people would engage in propaganda for the Divisive Terrorist Organization and that they would be pressuring citizens into voting for their candidates of choice at the general elections, upon the order of the Ağrı Governorate to restore Public Order, Security Forces consisting of 15 Teams were deployed to the region the night tying April 10th to April 11th, and Divisive Terrorist Organization member terrorists opened fire with long barreled weapons on our elements during deployment.”
The TSK declared they “immediately reciprocated the fire” and said in their statement on 10:33 am that they were sending in armed helicopters and commando units to the region for assistance in the ongoing conflict.
The Ağrı Governorate and the Interior Ministry corroborated the declaration of the General Staff. The Interior Ministry added that the attack confirmed their sensitivity about public order and showed the necessity of precautions taken.
The Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş made a public statement saying both sides need to give “a satisfactory explanation” as to why and how the conflict broke out, for the sake of the peace process.
Demirtaş also criticized the General Staff’s statement saying, “The General Staff needs to stop working for the Justice and Development Party (AKP).”
HDP Co-chair Figen Yüksekdağ stated that the government ought to apologize from its voting public for deploying soldiers at a tree-planting event, after boasting about bringing an end to military domination.
“AKP as a soldiers’ party, as a war party had the army attack our people,” said Yüksekdağ. Pointing out that the HDP has been striving to maintain peace before the upcoming elections, she added: “If military operations and attacks on our people continue, the AKP is responsible for all the casualties.”
In the following hours, former Interior Minister Efkan Ala said that the assailants had been killed. Speaking after Ala, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said the following at a celebration in Sakarya province: “Today in Ağrı Diyadin, the divisive terror organization attempting to blow up the environment of peace in our country and to sabotage the peace process through attacks targeting our soldiers, staged an attack on our self-sacrificing security forces on duty to protect our great nation. I strongly condemn the incident in your presence. The conflict is ongoing. 25 terrorists are fighting against our security forces.”
On the other hand, Hakkâri-based news site Yüksekova News reported that the conflict with the PKK broke out after soldiers launched an operation prior to the tree-planting event led by HDP and Democratic Regions Party (DBP).
Soldiers stopped those heading from Diyadin district center to the village for the tree-planting event in the morning, saying entry and exit were prohibited by the governorate due to conflict in the region. DBP Diyadin District Co-chair Nuri Şahin who was involved in the tree-planting organization was one of those not let into the village. Şahin also said that the soldiers told them there was a conflict in the region. He said he saw four military helicopters flying over the area, but that he could not hear the sounds of conflict from where they were.
The KCK’s response
Union of Kurdish Communities (KCK) Executive Council Co-presidency made a public declaration about the conflict in Ağrı province. The written declaration on Fırat News Agency’s website commemorated the numerous people injured and Diyadin HDP former district head Cezmi Budak, who allegedly fell a martyr in the operation launched by Turkey’s army when he tried to protect people, serving as a human shield. The statement featured a vow to keep Budak’s memory alive by actualizing freely governed free Kurdistan.
The KCK in their statement also remarked, “Erdoğan and AKP government officials are clearly preparing certain operations and provocations to suppress democratic powers. They are very afraid due to the most recent election polls, and getting all the more aggressive upon seeing their downfall compared to the rise of HDP in the eyes of the public. Erdoğan will do whatever it takes and resort to all sorts of provocations to bring the presidential system to Turkey, and AKP will likewise, to remain in power.”
“Despite Erdoğan’s statement that 25 guerillas were fighting the army, there was only a small guerilla unit against thousands of soldiers and equipment deployed in the region.” The KCK also noted that only one guerilla fighter was dead, contrary to the General Staff’s statement that 5 PKK members had been killed and 1 PKK member and 4 soldiers had been injured.
Stating that the AKP is looking to start a new war, the KCK warned: “If Turkey’s government continues to send planes to fly over the guerillas’ areas every day and continue to open fire while we act in the spirit of a ceasefire, we will retaliate in necessary self-defense.”
HDP Co-chair Demirtaş’ response
HDP Co-chair Demirtaş spoke at the start rally of their electoral campaign in Istanbul’s Kadıköy district. He spoke of what he called the “AKP provocation in Ağrı” as follows:
“What took place in Ağrı yesterday was not a conflict but a pre-planned, rehearsed, and staged operation and they tried to cause as many deaths as possible there. They left 15 soldiers in the scene of the conflict and abandoned them. 8 of these were injured. They left the injured soldiers there and withdrew. Why was that? So that those soldiers may die there and AKP’s votes may increase all over the country. But what happened? People from the HDP went to the conflict area, and executives from the HDP carried the injured soldiers out of there with their own hands.”
“Those at the General Staff who staged this fake provocation operation need to answer to the public. If the HDP didn’t help, those soldiers could have died there. As our friends were trying to go get the injured soldiers so that nobody would die, they opened fire on them from a helicopter. They killed our district head, they martyred our fellow HDP member and a PKK guerilla fighter. These are conveyed differently to Turkey’s public. These people will do anything they can to disparage HDP.”
“The government did not send in any ambulances for the injured soldiers. They just left them there to die. The government did what they could so that people would die.”
“I am calling out to the leaders of the opposition, to Mr. Bahçeli and Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu. Let us go to Ağrı together. Let us find out what went on at the place where it happened. Let’s not allow for AKP’s ruses.”
Demirtaş also added that the AKP has panicked and “started acting crazy” after realizing the power of and public support behind the HDP.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu had denied Demirtaş’s words and claimed he was twisting the facts.
Footage of the Incident Released
In the video posted by Dicle News Agency (DİHA) showing the local public going to help the wounded soldiers in Ağrı, someone from the public is heard to tell the soldiers “Never mind the equipment, your friend is dying. We will give you a lesson in humanity.”
A civilian trying to help a wounded soldier says, “Come on, let’s lift this soldier together. He [the soldier] did not do anything wrong,” to which another soldier responds, “There’s nothing for us to do here.”
Another person helping says “If you had let us early in the morning, if civilians had come here, this wouldn’t have happened,” and the soldier by his injured counterpart is heard saying “You might think we are to blame, but we are here as part of our duty. Go tell whoever did this.”
On Monday April 13th, Turkey’s Armed Forces (TSK) posted a thank-you message on their website addressed to the people who helped the soldiers injured in the conflict in Ağrı on April 11th. The message read the intervention of the public was “worthy of admiration” and “showed the great devotion and love our citizens feel for Turkey’s soldiers.” (BK, AS/PU/KU)
Click here to read this article in Turkish.