Festival to be held in Eruh
Festival to be held in Eruh
The 15 of August 1984 is an important date for the Turkish-Kurdish conflict as it marked the first PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) attack, led by Mahsum Korkmaz (known as "Agit").
The 15 of August is remembered throughout Turkey, Kurdistan and Europe by thousands of Kurds.
Since the PKK's second party Congress, which was held from 20 t0 25 Augustus 1982 in Daraa (Syria) it was decided that the PKK would start preparing for an insurgency inside Turkey. Training camps were opened in Syria and in Lebanon's Beqaa Valley and propaganda teams were sent across the border to make contact with the local populations. After years of preparation the PKK launched it's first major attacks on August 15, 1984. The attack was led by the founder of the PKK's military wing.
PKK forces attacked the gendarmerie station in Eruh in Siirt and killed one gendarmerie soldier and injured six soldiers and three civilians. Simultaneously PKK forces attacked a gendarmerie open air facility, officer housings and a gendarmerie station in Þemdinli, Hakkâri and killed two police officers and injured one police officer and a soldier.
The first attack was followed up by a raid on a police station in Siirt on August 17 which was soon followed by an attack that killed 3 of General Kenan Evren's Preidential Guards in Yüksekova and an ambush which killed 8 Turkish soldiers in Çukurca, in Hakkâri province.
This year the 15 of August ceremonies are going to be particularly poignant has Mahsum Korkmaz has been remembered on many occasion at Newala Kasaba, the huge mass grave near Siirt where is body is said to have been dumped with dozens of others.
Last year Mehmet Melih Okyayi, mayor of Eruh (Peace and Democracy Party, BDP), has been sentenced to six years three months in prison by Diyarbakir 5th High Criminal Court for committing a crime without being member of an illegal organization.
He had been sentenced on charges related to the First Eruh Ciray Nature and Art Festival.
He is now supposed to serve a total of ten years in prison because of organizing a festival. He was the president of the festival organization committee. All of its members have been under trial.
Mayor Okyayi considered the conviction as political and said that “we had had the permission of the Governorship for the festival and our major goal was to introduce our district’s culture, nature and traditions. I believe that this sentence is political and is to be read in the wider context of the policy to suppress the Kurdish people. “
The 15 of August is remembered throughout Turkey, Kurdistan and Europe by thousands of Kurds.
Since the PKK's second party Congress, which was held from 20 t0 25 Augustus 1982 in Daraa (Syria) it was decided that the PKK would start preparing for an insurgency inside Turkey. Training camps were opened in Syria and in Lebanon's Beqaa Valley and propaganda teams were sent across the border to make contact with the local populations. After years of preparation the PKK launched it's first major attacks on August 15, 1984. The attack was led by the founder of the PKK's military wing.
PKK forces attacked the gendarmerie station in Eruh in Siirt and killed one gendarmerie soldier and injured six soldiers and three civilians. Simultaneously PKK forces attacked a gendarmerie open air facility, officer housings and a gendarmerie station in Þemdinli, Hakkâri and killed two police officers and injured one police officer and a soldier.
The first attack was followed up by a raid on a police station in Siirt on August 17 which was soon followed by an attack that killed 3 of General Kenan Evren's Preidential Guards in Yüksekova and an ambush which killed 8 Turkish soldiers in Çukurca, in Hakkâri province.
This year the 15 of August ceremonies are going to be particularly poignant has Mahsum Korkmaz has been remembered on many occasion at Newala Kasaba, the huge mass grave near Siirt where is body is said to have been dumped with dozens of others.
Last year Mehmet Melih Okyayi, mayor of Eruh (Peace and Democracy Party, BDP), has been sentenced to six years three months in prison by Diyarbakir 5th High Criminal Court for committing a crime without being member of an illegal organization.
He had been sentenced on charges related to the First Eruh Ciray Nature and Art Festival.
He is now supposed to serve a total of ten years in prison because of organizing a festival. He was the president of the festival organization committee. All of its members have been under trial.
Mayor Okyayi considered the conviction as political and said that “we had had the permission of the Governorship for the festival and our major goal was to introduce our district’s culture, nature and traditions. I believe that this sentence is political and is to be read in the wider context of the policy to suppress the Kurdish people. “
