1984 PKK attacks

15 August 1984 PKK attacks
Part of Kurdish–Turkish conflict
Date 15 August 1984 Location Şemdinli, Hakkâri and Eruh, Siirt, Turkey Result Start of the Kurdish–Turkish conflict[1]
Belligerents
Turkey	Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)
Commanders and leaders
Kenan Evren	Mahsum Korkmaz[2] Abdullah Ekinci[3]
Casualties and losses
1 soldier killed[4] 2 police officers killed[1] 7 soldiers wounded[4] 1 police officer wounded[4]	None
3 civilians wounded[4]

The 15 August 1984 PKK attacks, which were led by Mahsum Korkmaz (known as "Agit"),^[2] marked the start of the Kurdish–Turkish conflict.^[1][2]

Since the PKK's second party Congress, which was held from 20 to 25 August 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 its first major attacks on 15 August 1984.^[1][2][4] The attack was led by the founder of the PKK's military wing.^[2]

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 Şemdinli, Hakkâri^[4] and killed two police officers^[1] and injured one police officer and a soldier.^[4]

Initially, Turkish authorities did not take the attacks seriously,^[5] however the attack was followed up by a raid on a police station in Siirt on 17 August,^[4] which was soon followed by an attack that killed three of General Kenan Evren's Presidential Guards in Yüksekova and an ambush which killed 8 Turkish soldiers in Çukurca, in Hakkâri province.^[5]

Insurgent violence in the predominantly Kurdish South-East of Turkey escalated heavily after the attacks.^[2] Around 2,500 people were killed during the conflict between the 15 August 1984 and 1991. This number rose to 17,500 between 1991 and 1992^[6] and the Turkish state puts the number of people killed by the insurgency at 44,000 as of September 2008.^[7]

See also

• October 2007 clashes in Hakkâri

References

v t e Kurdish–Turkish conflict Timeline Turkey State Government National Security Council Military Army Air Force Navy Gendarmerie Coast Guard Police MİT Village Guards Deep State Counter-Guerrilla Grey Wolves Turkish Revenge Brigade Susurluk scandal Ergenekon JİTEM Hizbullah Kurdish groups Insurgent KCK PKK History TAK KDP/N PŞK PJAK KKP PIK HİK KH (Hüda-Par) Allies DHKP/C TKP/ML & TİKKO DHP TDP ASALA (until late 1980s) Political HEP (1990–1993) DEP (1993–1994) HADEP (1994–2003) DEHAP (1997–2005) DTH (2005) DTP (2005–2009) BDP (2008–present) Hüda-Par (2012-present) The conflict 1974–1984 Political violence in Turkey, 1970s Maraş Massacre 1980 Turkish coup d'état 1984–1999 15 August 1984 PKK attacks Yeşilova incident Battle of Şırnak 1992 Taşdelen attack Battle of Kulp Operation Northern Iraq May 24, 1993 PKK ambush Başbağlar massacre Winter Campaign of 1994-1995 Operation Steel Operation Hawk Siege of Varto Sazak assault Operation Hammer Operation Dawn Operation Murat 1999 Istanbul bombings 1999–2004 2000 Turkish Hezbollah crackdown 2004–2012 2005 Kuşadası minibus bombing 2007 Ankara bombing October 2007 clashes in Hakkâri 3 January 2008 Diyarbakır bombing 2008 Turkish incursion into northern Iraq 2008 Istanbul bombings October 2008 Aktütün attack Reşadiye shooting İskenderun attack 2010 Hakkâri bus attack 2010 Istanbul bomb blast August 2011 Turkey-Iraq cross-border raids 2011 Hakkâri attack Uludere airstrike June-August 2012 Hakkari clashes 2012 Gaziantep bombing September 2012 Beytüşşebap attack 2013 United States embassy bombing in Ankara 2013– Solution process Protests Serhildan 1990 1991 1992 1999 2001 2005 2006 2008 2009 2011–2012 Kurdish leaders Insurgent Abdullah Öcalan Cemil Bayık Murat Karayılan Bahoz Erdal Mustafa Karasu Duran Kalkan Riza Altun Ali Haydar Kaytan Haji Ahmadi Murat Karasac Osman Öcalan Mahsum Korkmaz Şemdin Sakık Nizamettin Taş Kani Yılmaz Hüseyin Yıldırım Haki Karer Halil Atac Mazlum Doğan Kemal Pir Mehmet Baran Muhammad Mustafa Hüseyin Velioğlu Fidan Güngör Seyda Mele Abdullah Celal Başkale Political Ahmet Fehmi Işıklar Yaşar Kaya Leyla Zana Hatip Dicle Orhan Doğan Ahmet Türk Zübeyir Aydar Selim Sadak Murat Bozlak Tuncer Bakırhan Aysel Tuğluk Hüseyin Kalkan Selahattin Demirtaş Nurettin Demirtaş Orhan Miroğlu Ayla Akat Ata Gültan Kışanak Pervin Buldan Emine Ayna Sebahat Tuncel Kemal Burkay Sevahir Bayındır Orhan Miroğlu Fatma Kurtulan Osman Baydemir Nursel Aydoğan Sırrı Süreyya Önder İsa Altsoy Turkish leaders Military Kenan Evren Tahsin Şahinkaya Bülend Ulusu Nurettin Ersin Necdet Üruğ Necip Torumtay Eşref Bitlis Doğan Güreş İsmail Hakkı Karadayı Hüseyin Kıvrıkoğlu Hilmi Özkök İbrahim Fırtına Faruk Cömert Yaşar Büyükanıt Aydoğan Babaoğlu İlker Başbuğ Işık Koşaner Erdal Ceylanoğlu Necdet Özel Hayri Kıvrıkoğlu Political Turgut Özal Süleyman Demirel Bülent Ecevit Ali Bozer Yıldırım Akbulut Mesut Yılmaz Erdal İnönü Tansu Çiller Mesut Yılmaz Necmettin Erbakan Ahmet Necdet Sezer Abdullah Gül Recep Tayyip Erdoğan See also Media outlets MED TV (1990–2004) Roj TV (2004–present) TRT 6 (2009–present) Other Iraqi–Kurdish conflict Iranian–Kurdish conflict Kurdish rebellions Kurdish refugees Kurdish villages depopulated by Turkey Iraq Operations