Speaking to Stêrk TV, Serdar Yektaş provided detailed information about the situation on the battlefield. Yektaş stated that the last pasha sent to coordinate the battlefield had been dismissed, but the dismissal is still not announced. He emphasised that the guerrillas dominate the battlefield. Yektaş warned that the KDP, which co-operates with the invaders, has now become a part of the war. The spokesperson of the HPG Press Liaison Centre also confirmed that hundreds of ISIS members were moved to South Kurdistan by the Turkish state.
Serdar Yektaş’s information on the situation on the battlefield is as follows:
THE SITUATION IN NORTH KURDISTAN
A unique war is being waged in North Kurdistan. Thousands of military operations took place in North Kurdistan last year. However, the Turkish state does not announce the results of these operations because it has suffered a great defeat in the operations.
They carry out thousands of operations, our comrades face operations in many places, they strike when possible, and inflict losses on the enemy. When the conditions are not favourable, they frustrate the enemy.
Operations with great financial costs are being frustrated. For example, there are continuous operations in Mardin, Savur, Mehser, Bagok, Gever, Hakkari and Zagros regions, as well as in Besta, Cudi, Gabar and Faraşin. The region is banned every 15-20 days anyway. There are also operations in Garzan and Amed. Operations are also being conducted in the Dersim, Erzincan and Erzurum regions. There is a continuous and big war throughout North Kurdistan. But only in some places are there confrontations. Our comrades engage in clashes and inflict heavy casualties on the enemy. We have martyrs from time to time. The Turkish state only talks about the operations when we suffer losses.
BÊRÎTAN NURHAK DIVED INTO THE ENEMY PERIMETER
Most recently, there was an operation in which our commander Bêrîtan Nûrhak Çiya (Sultan Dağ) was martyred. They surrounded the area from many points. Comrade Bêrîtan, with a sacrificial spirit, entered the enemy perimeter and killed three invaders. When she entered the second perimeter, fierce clashes took place and she was wounded, but she sacrificed herself in order not to fall into the hands of the enemy. Due to the war conditions, information reaches us a little late.
Most recently, there was an incident in the area called Masiro valley in Van’s Başkale district. Two of our comrades were martyred and one was captured. We are trying to clarify this incident, and once it is clarified, we will announce it to our people and the public with their identities.
THE SITUATION IN MEDYA DEFENCE ZONES
The guerrilla learned lessons from the attack methods applied by the Turkish state since 2021, took measures, and deepened its tactics. The Turkish state was left inconclusive at this point as well. In 2023, they put forward cooperation with traitors and those who sold themselves. They wanted to make a move in this way, but that also came to naught. In 2024, they have no new tactics left. They are carrying out bombardments and using banned weapons as they did before. They have increased the number of troops in the region. They escalated the intensity of the war. This time, using the traitors, they are trying to employ the tactic they call siege. They already say that they want to conquer these places. But they are wrong about one thing. The Turkish state foresaw all this and took measures accordingly. In other words, the Turkish state is applying the siege tactic in some places like Metina. In some places, they take risks like gambling and drive their troops into the field. The enemy’s situation is briefly like this.
THE SITUATION IN METÎNA
In Metîna, the Turkish state is settling in the vacant areas. There were repeated confrontations, and our comrades took effective actions. The army launched a new invasion attack on 16 April. Our comrades immediately identified the strategy and tactics of the enemy in Metîna and put tactics into action against it. Our comrades, seeing the enemy move on us with a different style, also responded with a different style. The resistance in Metîna will also be long-lasting, and the enemy will not be able to get the results they want. They are fooling themselves.
NO RESULTS
We are also watching the images shared by the Turkish state. They have placed howitzers in the Rûbar valley and Çukurca. They are firing cannons with a range of 50 kilometres. This is not a success; they are deceiving their own public opinion.
They say the lock is closed, but now let me share the truth with you, let’s see who is locked where and how:
The enemy attacked the nature twice in Xakûrkê. They entered some places at a 200-300 metres depth and retreated again.
Then they switched their direction to Şekif. This is a high place and a plateau. It is not difficult to reach there by helicopter.
In the Zap region, especially in Girê Amed and Girê FM, the enemy’s efforts have been frustrated in recent months. Our comrades did not only take precautions, but also carried out actions. Now it has calmed down a bit there because the comrades have frustrated them.
Since they realised that they could not get results from here, they carried out an attack from three sides at Girê Bahar on 3 July. We shared the results of this attack. In the current situation, our comrades are giving a harsh response there. The Turkish state carried out this attack with its special forces. All their troops consist of elite forces. They also know that it is not easy to settle here. It can be said that the Turkish army withdrew almost all of its forces in Zap. All their forces were defeated by the guerrilla. Now they are silent, whereas they were praising their special forces just a few months ago.
They also brought in mercenaries and brigades from Syria. This did not yield any results either. Now we hear that they are bringing in battalions of soldiers from Balıkesir and Kayseri. Let them bring them, too.
In the last four days, many actions have been carried out [by the guerrillas] in Girê Bahar and Sergele. These places have become hell for the invaders. If you come to our lands, if you try to invade, if you evacuate Kurdish villages and bombard the region with artillery, if you burn our lands, the heroes of these lands will of course make you pay for it and will not grant you the right to live.
TO THOSE WHO HELP THE OCCUPIERS: WE WILL NOT LET YOU GET AWAY WITH THIS!
Our movement has repeatedly warned the Turkish state and those who act with them. We say this to those who come with the invaders and attack us, to those who have guerrilla blood on their hands; we will not let you get away with this.
What does the general picture in the Medya Defence Zones tell?
The enemy’s plan to occupy the Medya Defence Zones in a few weeks in 2021 has failed. They have not been able to get results for three years, let alone three weeks.
We stopped the Turkish state, which claims to have such a big army, in this region. We choked this state in Zap, in the Medya Defence Zones.
Choked war, choked tactics: This leads to economic, political and social crises. We already see the situation Turkey is in. What Turkey is going through today is the result of the deadlock it has experienced in Zap and the Medya Defence Zones.
GUERRILLA IN CONTROL OF THE REGION
Despite the Turkish state’s hundreds of thousands of soldiers, techniques, traitors, sell-outs and gangs, the guerrilla is in control of the region. Those who do not know the art of war misunderstand dominance. Dominance is not the presence of a large number of soldiers in an area. Dominance is being able to hit the enemy when and where you want. Now we are in control of the area. We are defending ourselves, our tunnels. We suffer almost no casualties. And when we do, we clarify them and share them with the public. On the other hand, we have hit the enemy thousands of times. They have suffered hundreds of casualties in these last months. But they have only announced a few of them. They are hiding all of them.
THEY CHANGED THE LAST PASHA, THEY’RE HIDING IT
In the last three years, Turkey has changed the commander of the army, the minister of war, and the commander of the occupation campaign, who was even changed twice. If I am not mistaken, in August last year, they brought in a so-called pasha with the claim of winning the war. But they suffered a lot of losses, they could not achieve success. As far as we heard, they dismissed him too. But they haven’t announced it yet to avoid a loss of morale. They make it look like he is in charge, but the second commander of the army was appointed in his place. His name is Metin Toker. He’s in the field. He’s leading the war. He won’t succeed either.
KDP’S ROLE: BEYOND CO-OPERATION AND PART OF THE OCCUPATION NOW
The KDP’s co-operation and enmity against the people have gone beyond these concepts. The KDP is now de facto part of the war of occupation.
From 2021 and 2022, they have built roads. Now it is seen that all these roads are for the Turkish army.
Turkish army convoys are reinforced every day through the Sergêlê gate for the Turkish state to carry out the occupation.
The KDP and the border guards (who are also involved) offer all the means for the Turkish state to succeed. They have opened a road like a motorway, so to speak.
Regarding the points and the walls they established against the guerrilla, they would say that they did it to prevent the Turkish army from moving in. But now they themselves have handed over half of them to the Turkish state. They gave them without the Turkish state making such a demand. They use the other half together. MIT, Zeravan and soldiers are stationed in the same outposts.
Iraq and the KDP opened all official roads during the attacks on Bahar and Sergelê. They openly gave way to the invaders.
The Turkish army first came to the KDP’s outposts and settled down, bringing in their ammunition and vehicles. Then they headed towards Sergelê. All the ready-mixed concrete walls belong to the KDP and they give them to the Turkish army. They both help and act as porters for them. It is really shameful for the Kurdish people.
REINFORCEMENT OF ISIS GANGS
What the PUK spokesperson said (regarding the 300 ISIS members brought to the region) is true. Yes, they brought them to the region. But because ISIS was exposed for its brutality, they brought them in under the name of al-Nusra. We have clear information in this regard. Everyone knows that all these are various versions of al-Qaeda remnants. When they put a cap on their heads, they become ISIS, and when they put another cap on, they become al-Nusra. They are all gangs, and this information is correct.
REPLY TO THE MESSAGES SENT BY KDP MEMBERS OPPOSING THE OCCUPATION
KDP members sometimes send us messages. ‘When you raise the issue of co-operation, you talk about the KDP. We are also in the KDP. We are against occupation. Don’t say KDP, say Barzani family’, they say. We also believe in their sincerity, but it cannot work that way. If they are loyal to their people, they should criticise their own party first. They should say to the KDP administration, ‘why are you handing this country over to the invaders? Did we pay so much price for the Turkish state to come and occupy it? Is that why our blood was shed?’. The KDP is putting all KDP members under suspicion with what they are doing today. This is how we want to respond to those who send us messages.”