Despite a ceasefire declared unilaterally by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), the Turkish army continues to escalate their attacks on the guerrilla-held Medya Defense Zones in southern Kurdistan (northern Iraq). According to the HPG balance sheet for March, the Turkish army carried out a total of 11,585 air and ground attacks against the guerrilla areas in northern Iraq. The attacks carried out by the Turkish army after the PKK's declaration of a ceasefire have claimed the lives of several guerrilla fighters.

The Press Center of the People's Defense Forces (HPG) announced that the occupying Turkish army continued to target guerrilla areas. In a statement on Saturday, the HPG Press Center said the following:

"We commemorate with respect, love, and gratitude the great leader of our people, Sheikh Said, and his companions who walked to the gallows with great courage and determination for the cause of Kurdish and Kurdistan freedom, on the 100th anniversary of their martyrdom. We salute with respect the sacred struggle for existence and freedom that the Kurdish people have waged for a century at great cost, and we reaffirm our commitment as its selfless warriors.

The half-century-long struggle for freedom waged by the Apoist Movement is the fulfillment of the vow made by Sheikh Said, who said, “My grandchildren will surely avenge me,” and the cries of our martyrs, who have no graves, echoing throughout Kurdistan. Undoubtedly, our comrade Zîlan–Zeynep Kınacı, who carried out a self-sacrificing action on June 30, 1996, is one of the bravest, best, most heroic, and self-sacrificing descendants of the Kurdish people mentioned by Sheikh Said. We commemorate our martyr Zîlan, who walked toward martyrdom in the struggle for freedom on the same dates, and we salute the Kurdish people’s Day of Self-Sacrifice.

In accordance with the promise we made to our martyrs, our people, and our leaders, we, as Apoist self-sacrificing militants, declare that we are determined to continue our struggle in the Apoist self-sacrificing spirit, raising it higher and higher until the freedom of our leader and our people is achieved.

Over the past two weeks, Turkish army forces have intensified their attacks on our forces in the area between Amadiya district and Dêrelok sub-district in southern Kurdistan, mainly in Western Zap, and in Metîna. A very intense wave of attacks with chemical weapons has been launched to completely destroy our forces in the base areas located in the village of Sêgirê near the district of Amadiya and in Girê Amediyê above the village of Sêgirê. We have previously made relevant statements and warnings to the public. However, through the ever-increasing use of chemical weapons, they have carried out and continue to carry out attacks aimed at achieving results as soon as possible.

We, in response, carried out retaliatory operations on June 24 and 26 against Turkish military forces in this area that attacked our forces with the aim of destroying them.

We reiterate once again that our forces are committed to the new process announced by Leader Apo (Abdullah Öcalan) and the decisions taken by the 12th PKK Congress on this basis. Despite the cessation of the armed struggle, the persistent use of chemical weapons, which are prohibited by international law and constitute a crime, by the Turkish military command in the Amadiya region, we exercised our right to retaliate on June 24 and 26. Due to the sensitivity of the process, we are not currently publishing the casualties inflicted on the Turkish side or the full footage of these actions.

However, we would like to emphasize that the responsibility for the losses incurred and the current situation lies with the Turkish command in the region, who continue to use chemical weapons and high-explosive munitions against a force that has renounced armed struggle. If they continue their destructive attacks and the use of chemical weapons after our warning-based retaliatory operation, it must be understood that we will be forced to respond with a harsher and more crushing retaliation. It is clear that these attacks carried out by certain rent-seeking officials in pursuit of cheap heroism, in the name of their own personal ambitions, also constitute a serious intervention aimed at disrupting the Peace and Democratic Solution process developed by Leader Apo, which is in the interests of all the peoples of Turkey. From this perspective, we have the right to not remain silent, to protect our forces, and to give the harshest response to this mindset.

Details of the latest attacks carried out against our forces are as follows:

Attacks carried out by the Turkish army:

Between June 21 and 26, our tunnels in the Girê Amediye Resistance Area in the Şehîd Delîl Western Zap region were bombed nine times with chemical gas and explosive-laden drones.

On June 27, our tunnels in the Girê Amediyê Resistance Area in the Şehîd Delîl Western Zap region were first bombed with high-impact explosives and then with intense chemical gases.

Between June 21 and 26, our tunnels in the Bêşîlî and Dergelê Resistance Areas in the Metîna region were bombed 11 times with explosive-laden drones.

Between June 20 and 26, our tunnels in the Girê Amediye Resistance Area in the Şehîd Delîl Western Zap region were targeted 18 times using jackhammers, excavators, and drilling equipment in an attempt to destroy them.

On June 26, our tunnels in the Dergelê Resistance Area in the Metîna region were targeted 15 times with jackhammers, excavators, and drilling equipment in an attempt to destroy them.

Between June 20 and 27, the areas of Bêşîlî, Serê Metîna in the Metîna region; the areas of Girê Sîser, Girê Reşîd, Dêreşê, Girgaşê, Deşta Kafya, Mijê, Girê Kun, Girê Zengil, Zêvkê, Heftebax, Spîndarê in the Garê region; the areas of Girê Amediyê and Girê Bahar in the Şehîd Delîl Western Zap region, and the Berê Zînê Resistance Area in the Xakurkê region were heavily bombed with heavy weapons, artillery, and howitzers."