The Latest Military Actions Of The ARGK
Translated By Arm The Spirit From Kurdistan-Rundbrief #23/96


Successful Balance Of The "Fall Offensive" Published

The Press Office of the People's Liberation Army of Kurdistan (ARGK)
has published the balance from the first month. The ARGK carried out
a total of 368 actions, during which 701 soldiers (including 4
officers), 62 policemen and special forces, and 48 "village guards",
a total of 831 state forces, were killed and 94 soldiers and 41 
village guards were wounded. 2 state agents and 33 village guards 
were taken prisoner by the ARGK. 4 military stations had to be
abandoned by the Turkish army, and in Hakkari province, 4 village
guard settlements have decided to cease their activities.

The guerrilla suffered 97 losses during this time period, according to
the ARGK Press Office, and 95 other fighters were wounded. One guerrilla
was wounded and captured.


Various Statements Concerning The Suicide Actions

The ARGK has stated that the woman guerrilla known as Bermal,
who carried out the suicide bombing of the police car in Sivas,
was named Guler Otas and had been a member of the ARGK since April 1993.
She was born in Yolagz village in Batman province in 1967 and was
forced to leave her village. She began political work with the ERNK
(National Liberation Front of Kurdistan) in 1987, was arrested in
1989, and then worked in a factory until joining the guerrilla. During
this period, both her brother and her nephew were murdered by the
contra-guerrilla.

The ERNK European Organization cited the three suicide bombings as
a warning to Turkey and her allies. "At the present level, our army,
the ARGK, is currently on the offensive, and the army of the
Turkish Republic, is on the defensive and in flight...If the war
progresses further, the Turkish Republic will have to pay the
consequences. If it wishes to avoid its total disintegration, it
must sit down with the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) at the negotiating
table at once. Otherwise, every region where Kurds live will become
a living hell for the Turkish Republic."

The ARGK commander for Amed (Diyarbakir) stated: "The actions in Dersim,
Adana, and Sivas were not suicide bombings, they were acts of sacrifice.
If necessary, such actions with similar methods will be carried out
further. Such actions are breathing new life into the Kurdish regions."

PKK Chairman Abdullah Ocalan stated that all three suicide attacks
were carried out on the guerrillas' own initiative. "If I had given
the order, the actions would have been 100 times more violent. These
three women carried out symbolic acts which were not ordered by me.
But now we can see that, if we want, all Kurds could become living
bombs."

"What is most characteristic of the PKK guerrillas is that they
are all willing to sacrifice their lives for a great goal, that is
their incredible strength. Such actions show the spirit of
sacrifice of guerrillas which is most evident in the PKK. We have
not yet made use of this incredible potential."

"These women had the consciousness and will to be free women, to
show an important message, to be an example for women all around the
world. It is wrong to characterize their actions as suicide acts, for
they were just the opposite. They possessed an incedible force of
life."


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