Hêzên Parastina gel
The People's Defense Forces ( Kurdish Hêzên Parastina Gel , HPG for short ) are the armed arm of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which many states classify as a terrorist organization . The fighters call themselves guerrillas . Murat Karayılan has been the commander of the HPG since 2013 . Former commanders were Bahoz Erdal (2004–2009) and Nur ad-Din Sufi (2009–2013).
The PKK's military arm was initially called Hêzên Rizgariya Kurdistan (Freedom Forces Kurdistan, HRK) and was officially established on August 15, 1984, the day the armed struggle against Turkey began. At the 3rd PKK Congress in 1986, the name was changed to Artêşa Rizgariya Gelê Kurdistan ( People's Liberation Army of Kurdistan , ARGK). The units of the (ARGK) withdrew from Turkey to northern Iraq in August 1999 following the appeal of the PKK leader Abdullah Öcalans, where they took up a defensive position. In 2000 the ARGK was dissolved and the HPG was founded. Their number is estimated to be over 6,500, of which about a third are women. These are organized in the YJA STAR . HPG bases are located in the Kurdish part of northern Iraq as well as within Turkey and Iran. During a unilateral ceasefire by the PKK, the number of skirmishes between guerrillas and the Turkish armed forces fell dramatically. Since March 2004 there have been increased military operations by the Turkish army against the HPG, as a result of which on May 28, 2004 the chairman of Kongra Gel , Zübeyir Aydar , declared the unilateral armistice with Turkey that had existed since 1998 to be invalid. Since then, members of the organization have carried out attacks, sabotage and raids on military convoys. Turkey is engaging in cross-border operations and deploying its air force in neighboring northern Iraq.
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Individual evidence
- ↑ Askim Bozkurt: The Kurdish Problem in Turkey . Peter Lang, 1994, ISBN 978-3-631-46915-6 , pp. 148 .
- ↑ Georg Spielberg: 1999–2003. July 28, 2015, accessed September 4, 2018 .