20 days ago, the Turkish state attempted a major provocation in the rural parts of Gever (Yüksekova), Hakkari.

The Turkish state attempted a major provocation in the rural parts of Gever (Yüksekova), Hakkari, nearly 20 days ago. Initially, soldiers were dispatched in the region. Soon after, Special Team police forces arrived and the soldiers were asked to carry out a “special operation” in the area that lies between the Gever district of Hakkari and Şemdinli. HPG guerrillas were the apparent targets of the operation. However, an argument broke out between the Special Team police and the soldiers who were chosen to join the operation.

It is claimed that soldiers insisted that the situation did not require an operation, however Special Team police argued otherwise. This time period is also when the Ağrı-Diyadin-Tendürek provocation took place. Soldiers argued that PKK-HPG guerrillas were not in the area where the operation was to take place, and if they were in those areas an offence would cost soldiers many casualties.

However, the Ankara administration had described this as “a special operation” and even recalled the authorized military personnel who had been on leave at that time in order to carry out the order. With the Ankara administration’s command, Special Team forces further insisted on the operation and finally convinced the reluctant soldiers. The area where the police and the soldiers began to head was very risky and soldiers were aware of this risk. Therefore, they wanted to fall back before the search got wider but the frustrated Special Team police insisted otherwise once again. Verbal quarrels between the commanders of each group turned into fights, which later transformed into a gunfight.

3 sergeants and 5 police died during the gunfight and as soon as it was heard, Ankara intervened and chose not to send any helicopters to the clash site. The dead and injured personnel were taken to military and public hospitals in Yüksekova and Hakkari. The families of deceased soldiers offered 250 thousand TL and the injured personnel were offered 125 thousand TL to cover up the event and out of fear, nobody refused.

A commander named lieutenant Mehmet Yıldız and a soldier named Volkan were involved in the event, and a lieutenant named Mehmet Yaşar lost his life on site. It has been claimed that the 3 Special Team police that died in the event were from Erzurum.

We called Yüksekova Gendarme Command to confirm the claims and asked the names of the soldiers. The military officials stated that the lieutenants were registered to Şemdinli. When we called Şemdinli Gendarme Command, officials told me that the mentioned soldiers were not registered there. The soldiers from Hakkari Military Hospital that we spoke to stated that he did not have the authorization to give out any information on this issue.

We later spoke to Hakkari governor Yakup Canpolat, who said that he would not “discuss such events over the phone.” When we shared details and the concrete names we had on the event, the governor said “no news of such event officially reached me so I cannot say anything.”

Local sources highlight the ever-present military movement in the region and the additional military precautions are often taken in the city.

*This piece by Kurdish journalist Baki Gül has been translated from Turkish by ANF English service.