Turkish army relies on Kurdish collaborators
Despite the most modern NATO technology, the Turkish army is not in a position to take effective action against the guerrillas. This has been shown not only in recent years. The Turkish army is therefore relying heavily on Kurdish collaborators. On the one hand, it is looking for willing executors in corrupt clan structures such as the Barzani family, and on the other hand, it is relying on so-called village guards and Contras from Northern Kurdistan. The current operations in Southern Kurdistan clearly show that the Turkish state is stuck in a militarily hopeless situation despite its attempts by the PDK and village guards to gain control of the region.
The Turkish state’s aim in deploying village guards is to make Kurds kill each other. In this way, it believes it can wipe out the Kurdish freedom movement. Everywhere in the combat zones, village guards are sent into battle ahead of the Turkish troops. In the guerrilla areas in Northern Kurdistan in particular, the Turkish army cannot take a step without them. The freedom movement repeatedly warns the village guards against taking part in the operations and spilling the blood of other Kurds. This is also a reason why the village guards in the guerrilla areas often attack the guerrillas more doggedly than the Turkish soldiers. They fight against the guerrillas because they are afraid to hand over their weapons and because they are threatened. These village guards trample on their own honor and dignity for three cents and, by fighting against the freedom movement, become a disgrace to society.
In many areas of Kurdistan, especially in the Zap and Metina regions, the guerrillas are waging a tough war. The fighters are determined to overcome every obstacle and use creativity to counteract the technical superiority of the Turkish army. There is no doubt that the guerrillas have the upper hand in this war. In the past three years, there has been no means or method that the Turkish state has not used. Despite the warnings of the freedom movement, village guards are taking part in the operations in the Metina and Zap regions and are trying to penetrate the guerrillas’ positions. Many Turkish soldiers and at least as many village guards who took part in the attacks have been killed and wounded in this war. Now mercenaries from Syria in Turkish uniforms are also being sent into the field against the guerrillas.
The guerrillas never attack the village guards unilaterally
When the guerrillas see an attack or troop movements by people in Turkish uniforms, they immediately intervene and defend themselves. The guerrillas would never attack the village guards unilaterally. The guerrillas do not act against the village guards’ villages either. But the village guards who cooperate with the Turkish state in Southern Kurdistan and wear the uniform of the Turkish military are considered soldiers of Turkish fascism. Therefore, they are in the sights of the guerrillas. They must be aware that the guerrillas are not attacking them as village guards, but that they are making themselves a target by participating in the attacks. In the recent guerrilla actions, Necmettîn Menteş, a village guard from Bedlîs (tr. Bitlis), who was involved in an operation in Zap and Metîna, was seriously wounded by the guerrillas. He had to have a leg amputated. Also in Zap and Metîna, three village guards from Hezex (Idil) and Şirnex (Şırnak) were attacked by the guerrillas. Since the Turkish state cannot advance alone, it demands that the village guards go into battle ahead of its own demoralized troops.
Just as the Turkish state keeps quiet about its army’s losses, it does the same with the village guards. They are buried without any publicity, the families are given some money and silenced. This shows that the village guards have no value in the eyes of the Turkish state, they are nothing but a tool. And the Turkish state does not care about the deaths of the village guards. The village guards who play the Turkish state’s game and fight against the guerrillas are no different from the Turkish soldiers. All those who use weapons against the achievements of the Kurdish people, who approach a guerrilla position dressed as the enemies of the Kurdish people, are enemies of the guerrillas and pay for it with their lives. The guerrillas have shown time and again that they will not be stopped in their fight for freedom.
