Diyar Xerib, also known as Halmat, was a senior member of the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), the political wing of the PKK, 2018. Photo: ANF
QANDIL MOUNTAINS,— The Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), the political wing of the PKK, on Sunday confirmed the death of one of its leaders, just a few hours after Turkish media outlets reported that a senior member of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) had been killed in an operation in Iraqi Kurdistan.
Anadolu Agency cited Turkish sources as saying that senior PKK member Diyar Gharib Mohammed, also known as Halmat, was “neutralized” in a joint operation conducted by Turkish army and intelligence units on Qandil Mountains last week.
The Turkish army often uses the term “neutralize” in statements about attacks on PKK fighters, without giving precise details. It is generally understood to mean that they were killed, captured, or wounded.
The KCK confirmed in a statement that member of the KCK Presidency Diyar Gharib and two other PKK fighters were “martyred” in Turkish airstrikes on the Qandil Mountains on July 5.
“On July 5, Halmat (Diyar Gharib), a member of General Leadership Council, was martyred in an airstrike in Qandil along with his comrades Devran and Sahin (Abdulkarim Aslan),” read a statement from the KCK, according to Firat News Agency ANF.
Gharib had served in their ranks for 25 years, “receiving education from leader Apo [Abdullah Ocalan],” the PKK’s jailed founder, the statement added.
Gharib was the KCK official who confirmed the capture of several Turkish intelligence agents in Sulaimani in 2017. Their capture led to an air embargo on the province as the Turkish government accused the dominant Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) of aiding and abetting the PKK.
On August 23, 2017, Turkey expelled the PUK representative to Ankara..
The Turkish military routinely carries out airstrikes and artillery bombardments in Iraq’s Kurdistan region against suspected PKK targets, but their frequency has increased since Ankara launched “Operation Claw” in May 2019, as have civilian casualties.
The PKK took up arms in 1984 against the Turkish state, which still denies the constitutional existence of Kurds, to push for greater autonomy in Turkish Kurdistan for the Kurdish minority who make up around 22.5 million of the country’s 79-million population. More than 40,000 Turkish soldiers and Kurdish rebels, have been killed in the conflict.
A large Kurdish community in Turkey and worldwide openly sympathise with PKK rebels and Abdullah Ocalan, who founded the PKK group in 1974 and currently serving a life sentence in Turkey, has a high symbolic value for most Kurds in Turkey and worldwide according to observers.
Copyright © 2019, respective author or news agency, Ekurd.net | nrttv.com | rudaw.net | Agencies