Lately there is a constant stress on actions carried out on secret units in the HPG statements. What are these secret units? Who are they? How do they act? And most importantly, what is their place in the Turkish army? We can’t comprehend the actions carried out by the HPG if we don’t understand the answers to these.

First of all, these secret units are comprised of ranked and professional soldiers, trained as specialists in various branches, and able to adapt to any conditions. The unit size differs according to the mission, ranging from 6 soldiers to 80. These are not ordinary soldiers, but personnel specially trained according to a certain agreement, who take an active leading role in the war in Kurdistan. The agreement here includes how these units and the army are connected.The secret units are autonomous groups, in a way. These units act together on duty in the rural areas or when they are out on leave. And as per the terms of their contracts, if they die in a conflict their death isn’t announced to the public. If the death is in fact made public, the family loses access to benefits provided for “martyrs and veterans”. These soldiers’ only source of income is the bonuses they receive for every operation, and this compensation.

These units at first work in secret from both civilians and normal soldiers. They can stay in a corner of a land without moving for days to monitor the land. As they use the appropriate camouflage, it is near impossible to detect them. These units also frequently go into villages in guerrilla clothing to gather intelligence on the guerrilla, and also exposing the people (who aid them, etc.) and get them arrested. The purpose of this action style is to clarify the location and style of the guerrilla units and conduct special operations.

Aydoğan Aydın and other ranked officers who were killed in the helicopter downed by the HPG in Şırnak’s Şenoba (Sêgirk) were part of this tradition and they were the command force with a role in the training of these forces. It is also common knowledge that these people wore guerrilla clothes to carry out many massacres in Kurdistan. The photographs that surfaced on social media in which the army commanders are seen in guerrilla clothes is just a brief glimpse into the issue.

The Turkish army has utilized these units actively since the ‘90s, as what they failed to do with a regular army they want to achieve through these secret units. The army was quite heavy and had little capability for action. Their strategy was to cramp up the landscape with tens of thousands of soldiers, jet fighters, tanks and armored vehicles, to create a divide between the guerrilla and the people and disabling the guerrilla. After the 2000’s, they shifted focus to intelligence-based point operations. When both options failed, they attempted to harm the guerrilla through operations based on intelligence (scout planes) and ground inteligence. Ground intelligence refers to the role of just this secret units. The secret units have the auhtority to conduct a limited operation when they encounter a small grup of guerrilla. But what they do is mostly intelligence gathering, threatening the people and preparations for larger orperations. They organize strictly in secret as they know very well that they will be targeted by the guerrilla if they are exposed.

As seen from the HPG statements, the Turkish army has shifted focus towards these units once again recently. The secret units being pushed out on the battle field in such an active way shows the severity of the war in Kurdistan. The army administration has achieved no results with the regular army system despite all the technical and military capacity, and have in a way tied their hopes to these secret units. But these units also suffering from HPG guerillas’ successful actions shows how the hopes have failed. It looks like the HPG guerrilla is stronger than the Turkish army in the sense of fighting capability and has the initiative.

With the HPG guerrillas recently carrying out actions on these units and the heavy blows they deliver, the AKP media has taken to churning out propaganda for a victory that isn’t there. We all saw what a disaster these heroes of the non-existent war suffered in Tendürk, Kato mountains and Amed. The ony purpose of them going up the Kato mountain and serving the press that many photos was to hide the defeat. But the special war minister who declared an “end date” for the HPG guerrillas on his own has since seen that he can’t hide the truth much longer.

It is understood that in the coming days, the HPG guerrilla will take the war to a different level. The AKP government is trying to achieve through these units what the full capabilities of the army and the state failed to do, but it will reconsider as well after the blows dealt by the guerrilla. It is unclear until when the fascist Turkish state will be able to continue with their policies of denial and annihilation (as has been their primary strategy). They might just end themseves, when they were trying to end the guerrilla.