KURD-A News Jan.15-20

Mon Jan 30 20:04:01 GMT 1995

From: newsdesk at newsdesk.aps.nl (Newsdesk Amsterdam)
Subject: Re: KURD-A News Jan.15-20
Reply-To: root at newsdesk.aps.nl

--------------- Forwarded from : Arm The Spirit <ats at etext.org> ----------------

KURD-A News Updates
January 15-20, 1995

During fighting in the Diyarbakir-Hani region, which lasted all
of Friday and Saturday, Kurdish guerrillas shot down an army
helicopter which was carrying leading army and police officers
from Diyarbakir. According to KURD-A correspondents in the area,
4 guerrillas and more than 30 soldiers were killed in the
fighting. (15.01.95)

In the strategically important Cudi mountains, which have been
under the control of the ARGK since the summer of 1994, another
attempt by the Turkish army to regain control of the region
failed on Friday. There were "many deaths" as a result of
constant guerrilla attacks during the three-hour battle.
(15.01.95)

During the first day of a major Turkish army operation involving
at least 70,000 men on Friday, Kurdish guerrillas attacked army
units. According to KURD-A correspondents in the area, army units
were forced to partially retreat on Saturday, leaving behind
logistical stations. It was also reported today that the army was
forced to call off an unsuccessful assault on the Kalendar
mountains which are under the control of the ARGK. (15.01.95)

Yesterday, ARGK units attacked several military stations of the
Turkish army in the Botan region. According to reports, rockets
were fired on military stations in Haliktan near Kerboran and in
Deriya. Our correspondent could not give any casualty figures,
but it appears that the military station in Deriya was completely
destroyed. (16.01.95)

In Gabar-Sikeftiyan, Kurdish guerrillas captured a food
transporter belonging to the Turkish army. According to KURD-A
correspondents in the area, a young Kurdish recruit mutilated
himself so that he would not have to take part in Turkish army
operations, which are largely directed against the Kurdish
civilian population. (16.01.95)

The military commander of the south Kurdish KDP (Barsani), Ali
Serman, is dead. He died in the south Kurdish province of Zele
during an attack by Barsani's enemies the PUK (Tablani). Both
parties, the KDP and the PUK, have been engaged in heavy rivalry
fighting since mid-December 1994 in the UN Security Zone in
northern Iraq. During this latest PUK attack, 35 other KDP
members were killed. (16.01.95)

A few days ago, heavy fighting broke out between the Turkish army
and Kurdish guerrillas following a military operation in the
Lice-Hani region. At least 20 Turkish soldiers were killed. Last
Saturday, an army helicopter which was shot down crashed right
into a guerrilla camp. This resulted in the deaths of all the
helicopter's passengers as well as 4 guerrillas in the camp.
Fighting has also broken out between the Turkish army and Kurdish
guerrillas in the Agri-Silan region. (17.01.95)

In Baykan-Marara, 4 paramilitary village guards were killed by a
mine planted by guerrillas when their vehicle drove over the mine
just outside of Madara. (17.01.95)

After Kurdish guerrillas attacked the heavily-defended village
guard settlement Sehen in the Bitlis-Tatvan region, fighting
broke out with approaching Turkish army units. KURD-A
correspondents could not report on the outcome of this battle,
but they did report that 1 village guard and 2 of his male
associates were killed. (17.01.95)

The Turkish army has starting making countless arbitrary arrests
in at least 7 villages in the area around Urfa-Zuruk. According
to reports, yesterday afternoon alone 50 known persons in the
villages of Merza and Zehwan were arrested. (18.01.95)

Yesterday morning at around 10:00 a.m., the chairman of the HADEP
party in Batman, Zeki Adlig, was shot dead in the street by
"unknown assailants". As in other cases of the murders of
writers, journalists, lawyers, and Kurdish oppositional
politicians, the police investigation into the deed has gone
nowhere. Zeki Adlig had been released from police custody just a
few days before after being detained for political reasons.
(18.01.95)

According to the Turkish human rights association IHD in Ankara,
a 12-year-old Kurd named D.T., who had been caught shoplifting,
was held by police for 5 days. He was tortured every day by
police. (18.01.95)

Yesterday evening, the press office of the ARGK released a
statement concerning tourism in Turkey and Kurdistan. In this
statement, the ARGK stated that Turkey and Kurdistan are areas
where a war is being fought and that tourists should not travel
there. All money earned from tourism in Turkey is used to finance
the Turkish government's dirty war in Kurdistan. (18.01.95)

Yesterday, a Turkish army convoy drove onto a mined road near
Besiri in Batman province. According to KURD-A correspondents in
the area, 2 tanks and other vehicles were destroyed by the mine
explosions. (19.01.95)

Several Turkish soldiers were killed yesterday when a mine
planted by guerrillas near a military station in Ayne exploded.
(19.01.95)

In the village of Simaz near Kulp, residents reported that 2
Kurdish guerrillas blew themselves up when they saw no other way
out of an hours-long battle with Turkish soldiers. KURD-A was
told that the 2 guerrillas had been surprised by Turkish soldiers
in the village. (19.01.95)

As KURD-A has often reported, Turkish army units have been
terrorizing villagers in the Mardin region for weeks now in order
to force residents to take part in the state's paramilitary
village guard system. Some villages have left their areas and
fled. According to Ozgur Ulke correspondents, Turkish army units
forcibly evacuated the village of Kirdir in the Mardin-Savur
region the day before yesterday. (19.01.95)

After the bombing of the offices of the daily newspaper Ozgur
Ulke, repression against the paper is continuing. Each issue of
the paper is censored, correspondents and distributors are
arrested and tortured. After the Diyarbakir correspondent Salih
Gueler was arrested on January 4, now Ismail Hakki Kelleci, who
also works for the paper in Diyarbakir, has also been arrested.
(20.01.95)

In the Mardin-Oemerli region, the mayor of Kocasirt, whose
residents refuse to become village guards, has been shot and
killed by Turkish security forces. The village was attacked by
security forces and its residents were ordered to become village
guards. Cemil Bingoel, the mayor, was then dragged from his house
and murdered near the village. After the murder of the mayor, the
village was evacuated less than a week later. (20.01.95)

According to KURD-A correspondents, a Kurd in the Turkish army in
the city of Nicosia in Turkish-occupied Cyprus was murdered. Ali
Riza Minaz, who only had one month of service left, had been
repeatedly arrested and tortured just because he was a Kurd. A
few weeks ago, Ali Riza Minaz had called his family and said that
he was afraid the he was going to be killed. (20.01.95)

Translated by:

Arm The Spirit
P.O. Box 6326, Stn. A
Toronto, Ontario
M5W 1P7  Canada

E-mail: ats at etext.org

Berxwedan jiyane!

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