KURD-A Background Report
February 14, 1995

Why Does The ARGK Attack Village Guard Settlements?

     In response to charges by Amnesty International that the
PKK's guerrilla army "executes villagers on a daily basis", a
KURD-A correspondent interviewed a member of the people's army.
The following are excerpts from that interview:

Are "murders" carried out (even against women and children) just
because a certain village does not support the ARGK?

     The party has not given us any orders whatsoever to threaten
or punish a village which fails to support us, for example, by
denying us food or medical attention. In cases such as this, a
representative of the guerrilla eventually goes to the village to
explain things to them and to possibly change the way they feel.
If the representative is unsuccessful because the village is
afraid of reprisals by the Turkish security forces, then they are
"left alone".

Why does the media claim such things then?

     People who are far away and who do not know anything about
the PKK in the region and who don't know the guerrillas are
sometimes killed by contra-guerrillas disguised as ARGK
guerrillas. Their families are then told that they were murdered
by guerrillas.

Are there any concrete examples of this?

     Yes, we could tell you several examples. Here are two
examples, but we are going to change the names of the villages:
     The first village was Delal in the Idil region of Cizre
province. A shepherd named Celal was seized away from his flock
and taken to Idil. There, he was severely tortured and eventually
killed with three shots to the head. One of these shots was fired
by the official mayor of Idil himself. Then, his body was taken
back to his family, who were told that the PKK had murdered him
and that the PKK were threatening to kill the entire family in
this same manner. Then the family members were forced to become
"village guards" (paramilitary forces armed and paid by the
Turkish state). Because they were afraid, six men in the family
became village guards. Later they learned from some of their
neighbours that the shepherd had not been killed by the PKK, so
the men gave back their village guard weapons to the government.
Then the entire village of Delal was destroyed by Turkish
security forces.
     The second village was Bilind. Here, the villagers were told
that they must become village guards. The people did not want to,
because they had big herds of sheep and cattle in the fields that
needed to be looked after. In the evening of the day after they
refused to become village guards, tanks attacked the village. A
man named Ahmet was killed. Afterwards, the villagers were told
that the ARGK were the ones who had attacked the village, even
though the people themselves had seen the Turkish security forces
attacking them. Through fear of further attacks, the people
became village guards. But eventually, they, too, laid down their
weapons.

When a village guard settlement causes problems for neighbouring
villages or for the guerrillas, what happens then? Is such a
village destroyed?

     No. The people there are called upon to stay peaceful and to
stop fighting against the ARGK. Such calls are made several times
through a megaphone. Then, an announcement is made that anyone
wishing to fight should come out of the village, or that the
wives and children of the village guards should be taken away to
a safe distance. If these demands are ignored and an attack
follows, then the ARGK must counter-attack. If possible, they try
to avoid the women and children. But under those circumstances,
of course, that's not always possible.

Are all village guard settlements dealt with in this way?

     No, only those villages that voluntarily become active and
are armed and paid by the Turkish state. Those villages where
people become village guards out of fear are spared, because they
don't attack us.