15 August 1984 PKK attacks
Part of Kurdish–Turkish conflict
Date15 August 1984
Location
Şemdinli, Hakkâri and Eruh, Siirt, Turkey
Result Start of the Kurdish–Turkish conflict[1]
Belligerents
 Turkey Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)
Commanders and leaders
Turkey Unknown Mahsum Korkmaz[2]
Abdullah Ekinci[3]
Casualties and losses
1 soldier killed[4]
2 police officers killed[1]
7 soldiers wounded[4]
1 police officer wounded[4]		 None
3 civilians wounded[4]

The 15 August 1984 PKK attacks, which were led by Mahsum Korkmaz (known as "Agit"),[2] marked the start of the last phase of Kurdish–Turkish conflict.[1][2]

Since the PKK's second party Congress, which was held from 20 to 25 August 1982 in Daraa, Syria, it was decided that the PKK would start preparing for an insurgency inside Turkey. Training camps were opened in Syria and in Lebanon's Beqaa Valley and propaganda teams were sent across the border to make contact with the local populations. After years of preparation, the PKK launched its first major attacks on 15 August 1984.[1][2][4] The attack was led by the founder of the PKK's military wing.[2]

PKK forces attacked the gendarmerie station in Eruh, Siirt and killed one gendarmerie soldier and injured six soldiers and three civilians. Simultaneously, PKK forces attacked a gendarmerie open-air facility, officer housings and a gendarmerie station in Şemdinli, Hakkâri[4] and killed two police officers[1] and injured one police officer and a soldier.[4]

Initially, Turkish authorities did not take the attacks seriously,[5] however the attacks were followed up by a raid on a police station in Siirt on 17 August,[4] which was soon followed by an attack that killed three of General Kenan Evren's Presidential Guards in Yüksekova and an ambush which killed 8 Turkish soldiers in Çukurca, in Hakkâri province.[5]

Insurgent violence in the predominantly Kurdish South-East of Turkey escalated heavily after the attacks.[2] Around 2,500 people were killed during the conflict between 15 August 1984 and 1991. This number rose to 17,500 between 1991 and 1992[6] and the Turkish state puts the number of people killed by the insurgency at 44,000 as of September 2008.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Jean-Christophe Peuch (8 April 2008). "Turkey: Government Under Growing Pressure To Meet Kurdish Demands". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Rferl.org. Retrieved 29 March 2012.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Abdullah Öcalan and the development of the PKK". Kicadam.home.xs4all.nl. Archived from the original on 24 March 2012. Retrieved 29 March 2012.
  3. ^ İsmet G. İmset, PKK: Ayrılıkçı Şiddetin 20 Yılı, Turkish Daily News, 1993, ISBN 9789759571108, p. 105.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Turkish Weekly Chronology of the Important Events in the World/PKK Chronology (1976–2006) Archived 6 October 2010 at the Wayback Machine, 13 September 2006
  5. ^ a b Kerim Yildiz; Susan Breau (2010). The Kurdish Conflict: International Humanitarian Law and Post-Conflict Mechanisms. Taylor & Francis. p. 16. ISBN 978-0-203-84933-0.
  6. ^ The Kurds in Turkey Archived 18 October 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ "Bir dönemin acı bilançosu". Hürriyet (in Turkish). 16 September 2008. Retrieved 17 September 2008.
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