ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A prominent Kurdistan Workers (PKK) leader who was reported to have been severely wounded by Turkish media in an airstrike on Mount Qandil in the Kurdistan Region, dismissed the claims on Friday, saying he was not present when the spot was targeted.
State-run outlets like Anadolu Agency reported that on March 21 Turkish jets using precise coordinates supplied by the country’s intelligence community “seriously injured Altun, who is close to PKK founding member Cemil Bayik and serves as the party’s foreign relations liaison.
"It is true that on March 21, [Turkey] carried out an airstrike on Qandil. But I was not near the spot that was targeted. While I was not there, they wanted to fabricate propaganda against me. I am not the only person targeted with this propaganda, but also my comrades. Every day they say they have killed someone in their so called Red List," Altun explained.
Turkey’s “Red List” is reserved for the country’s most-wanted individuals. Salih Muslim, the founder of Democratic Union Party — a pro-Kurdish party in Syria — was briefly detained last and then released by authorities in the Czech Republic for being on the list.
PKK outlets and the Turkish media provide different figures when reporting casualties resulting from nearly daily clashes by the two sides. Peace talks between the PKK and the Turkish government made some progress in 2013. The PKK has fought a four decade, sometimes armed, conflict against the Turkish state seeking greater cultural, political, and minority rights.
The peace process, however, fell apart in July 2015 and the conflict “entered one of its deadliest chapters in nearly four decades,” according to the International Crisis Group (ICG), which is monitoring the conflict. The renewed conflict was brought into populated areas, devastating cities in Turkey’s Kurdish-populated southeast. Between July 20, 2015 and April 5, 2019 at least 4,330 people have been killed, according to ICG.
"With publishing fake news, they would like to show off themselves as brave and attempt to down the morale of our nation," he added.
Commenting on local elections held in Turkey on March 31 which saw President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) losing races in major cities such like Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir, Altun described other parties as "dealing a huge blow to the AKP."
The pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP) did not run a candidate for the municipal elections on March 31 especially in giant cities of Ankara, Istanbul, Izmir, and Antalya.
Talking about mass hunger strikes pioneered by HDP MP Leyla Guven, Altun called for a nationwide resistance against the "fascist" state of Turkey. The HDP denies any links with the banned PKK.
He said Guven and her friends have been leading the resistance, but others across Kurdish regions should join them.
"All Kurds must stand up. There is a fascist regime antagonizing them and considering itself the enemy of Kurds... They think of nothing but only how to cleanse Kurds. Therefore, there must be public resistance against that. Leyla Guven and her friends initiated that resistance. Many others in prisons of Turkey followed them and went on hunger strikes. And it became a nationwide protest," he said.
He reiterated they would not accept isolation of jailed PKK leader Abdulla Ocalan, who was permitted his first visit by a lawyer in eight years on May 2.
"The more [Ocalan] is isolated, the easier everyone understands that their policy is to exterminate Kurds,” he claimed.
The PKK’s headquarters are in the mountains of Qandil near the Iraq-Iran-Turkey border.
State-run outlets like Anadolu Agency reported that on March 21 Turkish jets using precise coordinates supplied by the country’s intelligence community “seriously injured Altun, who is close to PKK founding member Cemil Bayik and serves as the party’s foreign relations liaison.
Ibrahim Kalin, an advisor and spokesperson to the Turkish president, also shared an Anadolu video of the operation that the media organization said was obtained from the Turkish military.
Speaking to pro-PKK Medya Haber TV in an hour-long interview, Reza Altun slammed state-affiliated media outlets for giving "wrong figures" and "lying" when reporting on the PKK-Turkey clashes.
Altun appeared healthy, vibrant and upbeat in the video, although the video never showed his entire body and his left arm appeared limp.
"It is true that on March 21, [Turkey] carried out an airstrike on Qandil. But I was not near the spot that was targeted. While I was not there, they wanted to fabricate propaganda against me. I am not the only person targeted with this propaganda, but also my comrades. Every day they say they have killed someone in their so called Red List," Altun explained.
Turkey’s “Red List” is reserved for the country’s most-wanted individuals. Salih Muslim, the founder of Democratic Union Party — a pro-Kurdish party in Syria — was briefly detained last and then released by authorities in the Czech Republic for being on the list.
PKK outlets and the Turkish media provide different figures when reporting casualties resulting from nearly daily clashes by the two sides. Peace talks between the PKK and the Turkish government made some progress in 2013. The PKK has fought a four decade, sometimes armed, conflict against the Turkish state seeking greater cultural, political, and minority rights.
The peace process, however, fell apart in July 2015 and the conflict “entered one of its deadliest chapters in nearly four decades,” according to the International Crisis Group (ICG), which is monitoring the conflict. The renewed conflict was brought into populated areas, devastating cities in Turkey’s Kurdish-populated southeast. Between July 20, 2015 and April 5, 2019 at least 4,330 people have been killed, according to ICG.
The Turkish state pretends to show that the PKK is "defeated, eradicated and destroyed and says there are just 600 to 700 [members] left,” Altun said.
"With publishing fake news, they would like to show off themselves as brave and attempt to down the morale of our nation," he added.
Commenting on local elections held in Turkey on March 31 which saw President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) losing races in major cities such like Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir, Altun described other parties as "dealing a huge blow to the AKP."
The pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP) did not run a candidate for the municipal elections on March 31 especially in giant cities of Ankara, Istanbul, Izmir, and Antalya.
Talking about mass hunger strikes pioneered by HDP MP Leyla Guven, Altun called for a nationwide resistance against the "fascist" state of Turkey. The HDP denies any links with the banned PKK.
He said Guven and her friends have been leading the resistance, but others across Kurdish regions should join them.
"All Kurds must stand up. There is a fascist regime antagonizing them and considering itself the enemy of Kurds... They think of nothing but only how to cleanse Kurds. Therefore, there must be public resistance against that. Leyla Guven and her friends initiated that resistance. Many others in prisons of Turkey followed them and went on hunger strikes. And it became a nationwide protest," he said.
He reiterated they would not accept isolation of jailed PKK leader Abdulla Ocalan, who was permitted his first visit by a lawyer in eight years on May 2.
"The more [Ocalan] is isolated, the easier everyone understands that their policy is to exterminate Kurds,” he claimed.
The PKK’s headquarters are in the mountains of Qandil near the Iraq-Iran-Turkey border.
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