ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Serhat Amanos Varto, the spokesperson of the Kurdistan Communities Group (KCK) was confirmed killed in Turkish airstrikes with four other members nearly four months ago by media close to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) on Wednesday.
Rojnews, a media outlet close to PKK, announced the death of five guerrilla fighters killed including Varto in a Turkish airstrike on March 21. The KCK is an umbrella group of parties close to and including the PKK.
In addition to Varto (Emrullah Dursun), the deceased include PKK members Sinane Sor (Ali Aktash), Navdar Sinegir (Mikail Ozdemir), Serhat Shafak (Vehip Tekin) and Shiyar Farahinin (Celal Ozturk), ANF News another media outlet close to group detailed on Wednesday, citing the Solidarity Committee of the PKK. Party members often use a nom de guerre to obfuscate personal details.
ANF added that notifying the victims’ families has been underway since July 14. The reported message praised the sacrifices for the “struggle” and “the movement” for the Kurdish people resisting.
Turkish jets used precise coordinates supplied by Turkey’s intelligence community in the March 21 airstrikes, according to state-run Anadolu Agency.
Then Anadolu reported in that Varto was "neutralized" by Turkish airstrikes. Ankara uses the word neutralized to refer to those killed, wounded, or otherwise removed from the battlefield.
Varto was born in 1970 in Mus Province, according to ANF. He joined the PKK in 1991 in Cudi, between Sirnak and Silopi. He was arrested by the Baath regime in Syria while trying to go to Qandil to "help comrades" in 1999 and remained in prison for two years.
Following his release, he went to Qandil to fight, but began working in PKK's more diplomatic and political offices, resigning from a fighting role. The PKK hailed Varto as someone who has "struggled with great spirit."
Sor was born in 1959 in the Qosere area of Mardin province in southeastern Turkey. He joined the PKK at a young age. In the statement released by ANF, Sor was hailed as a "handpicked" guerilla of PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan who solved issues "with a strong moral force" and represented PKK's militant expertise.
He is described as a regional manager for Qandil.
Other PKK leaders, like Riza Altun, have denied being in the Qandil area when the airstrikes took place while Kurds were celebrating Newroz, a new year.
The PKK is headquartered in the Qandil Mountains of the northern Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Graphic: Sarkawt Mohammed / Rudaw
Additionally, Turkey commenced Operation Claw in late May striking PKK fighters near the Iraq-Turkey border. The Turkish Ministry of Defense announced Monday it has neutralized 174 guerilla fighters since they started the operation.
Then the People's Defence Forces (HPG), the armed wing of the PKK, denied the figures on Sunday, claiming no losses among their fighters during both phases of Operation Claw, deeming it as propaganda.
However, the KCK did confirm on July 7 the death of senior PKK official Diyar Ghareeb due to recent Turkish airstrikes.
A second phase of Operation Claw commenced on July 12 by Turkey’s defense ministry “with our Commando Brigades in the north of Iraq to destroy caves and shelters used by a terror organisation.”
Turkey’s regular strikes and the presence of PKK fighters in Kurdistan Region have concerned the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Iraqi federal government which each have said they are against their territory being used by armed groups to conduct attacks against neighboring countries.
Masrour Barzani, the new PM of the KRG, told Turkey’s Ambassador to Iraq Fatih Yildiz on Saturday in Erbil that they have “concerns” over recent victims following Turkish shelling in populated areas.
The PKK, a banned political party in Turkey, is headquartered in the mountains of Qandil in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq near the borders of Turkey and Iran.
Some 4,472 people have been killed since the peace process fell apart on July 20, 2015, according to the most recent figures from the International Crisis Group (ICG).
