INFOGRAPHIC - PKK’s bloody attacks still a vivid memory

By Nurten Arslan

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (AA) - The PKK terrorist organization’s decades-old armed campaign has targeted politicians and civilians, including women, children and the elderly, leaving behind thousands of casualties and shattered lives.

The PKK, which made its name known on Aug. 15, 1984, by attacking Eruh district in southeastern Siirt province and Semdinli district in southeastern Hakkari province, has tried in vain to undermine peace and security in rural areas and shifted its bloody attacks to city centers.

It not only targeted security forces but also civilians, including students, teachers and health personnel.

People still remember when the PKK shot babies in swaddle in one of their attacks on rural areas in the 1980s and 1990s.

A total of 22 innocent civilians, including 13 children were executed by PKK terrorists in a schoolyard in the village of Derince in Siirt. The photo of three-year-old Serkan who was among the victims brought up the issue on international media, after which the PKK terror group’s now-jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan was called “baby murderer”.

On Jan. 3, 2008, a PKK bomb attack killed students in Diyarbakir, southeastern Turkey. Seven people, including six children were killed when a bomb targeted a military vehicle passing by.

Students Eren Sahin Eronat, Salih Ekinci, Melek Ipek, Ridvan Suer, Ferhat Mutlu and Engin Taskin along with a parent Cengiz Kaya were among the victims of the grim attack which also left 73 people injured.

On Nov. 8, 2009, PKK terrorists attacked a public bus in Istanbul’s Bagcilar district; 17-year-old high school student Serap Eser succumbed to her wounds after a month.

On Sept. 16, 2010, a PKK roadside bomb struck a passenger bus in Hakkari. Two-year-old Nurullah Umut Ciftci and 11-month-old Zeynep Kurt were among nine people killed during the attack.

On Sept. 20, 2011, the PKK terrorists targeted a car in Siirt province, killing four girls and injuring two others in the same car.

On Sept. 26, 2011, PKK terrorists attacked on a car and killed an eight-months pregnant mother and her four-year-old daughter. The father and the other daughter of the family were seriously injured.

On Oct. 29, 2011, Hatice Belgin saved many lives when she attempted to prevent a suicide bomber in eastern Bingol province. She was shopping with her three children. She was killed along with two other civilians.

On Oct. 5, 2014, 16-year-old Yasin Boru and his friends, Ahmet Dakak, Riyat Gunes and Hasan Gokguz, who were distributing food aid to Syrian refugees, were chased down and lynched by alleged pro-PKK supporters on the second day of Eid al-Adha.

- Teenager killed in PKK attack

On Aug. 30, 2015, 13-year-old Firat Simpil in southeastern Silvan was killed in a roadside bomb blast blamed on the PKK terror group in Diyarbakir. The bomb device was believed to have been placed to target a military vehicle.

On Sept. 28, 2015, 9-year-old Elif Simsek died after a rocket fired by PKK terrorists on an armed police vehicle missed its target and hit her apartment building instead in Diyarbakir's Bismil district.

On Sept. 12, 2015, two children were seriously injured in southeastern province of Mardin after an explosive was left by PKK terrorists on the children’s house roof; 9-year-old Tahsin Uray, one of the two children injured, succumbed to his injuries at Kiziltepe Hospital later.

- District governor martyred

On Nov. 10, 2016, Mardin's Derik District Governor Muhammet Fatih Safiturk died in hospital following a bomb attack by PKK terrorists on his office a day earlier.

- Orphaned children

On May 12, 2016, PKK terrorists detonate a bomb-laden truck on the outskirts of Durumlu village in Diyarbakir’s Sur district, following an argument with a group of villagers who spotted the vehicle and began to chase it. The blast killed 16 people and injured 23 others.

The explosion, which left a 20-meter wide and 4-meter deep crater, was felt in neighboring districts and damaged a number of vehicles and buildings nearby; 36 children were left orphan and eight women were widowed due to the PKK attack.

- PKK targets teachers

On June 9, 2017, 22-year-old music teacher Senay Aybuke Yalcin was killed in a PKK terrorist group’s attack targeting the vehicle of the mayor, Veysi Isik, when she was returning home from school in the Kozluk district of the southeastern province of Batman.

On June 16, 2017, 23-year-old elementary school teacher Necmettin Yilmaz was kidnapped by a group of PKK terrorists in Pulumur district of the eastern province of Tunceli. His burnt-out vehicle was found on June 16. His body was recovered almost a month later near the Pulumur Stream.

- Young informer targeted

On August 11, 2017, 16-year-old Eren Bulbul was killed in a PKK attack in Macka district of the northeastern Trabzon province, when he was showing a terrorist hideout to security forces. Gendarme Master Sgt. Ferhat Gedik, 41, was injured in the same incident and later died.

- Road workers killed

On July 2, 2017, a road worker was killed and another injured when PKK terrorists attacked a construction site on the eastern Sirnak-Van Highway.

On July 3, 2017, two road workers were killed and four others injured in Uludere district of the southeastern Sirnak province. In another attack on the same day, two road workers were injured in an attack by the PKK in Semdinli district of eastern Hakkari province.

- Terrorists target politicians

On March 9, 2017, Tayfun Ayhan, a local official of the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party for the town of Esendere in the Yuksekova district in Hakkari, was wounded and his brother Murat Ayhan succumbed to his wounds at the hospital after a gun attack by group of PKK terrorists.

On April 15, 2017, motorcade of AK Party District Chairman Ibrahim Vanli came under PKK attack in Muradiye district of Van; Vanli's nephew Adnan, who was also a guard, lost his life.

On June 30, 2017, AK Party deputy head of Lice District in Diyarbakir, Orhan Mercan was shot dead by PKK terrorists in front of his house.

On July 1, 2017, a day after the attack on Mercan, Aydin Ahi, AK Party deputy head of Ozalp District in Van, was shot dead by members of the terror organization.

On Aug. 31, 2017, security guard Mehmet Paksoy, who was an AK Party candidate for mayor’s office in Sirnak, was killed in a PKK attack in front of his house.

- Village heads targeted

On Aug. 17, 2017, Nurettin Altun, a village head in Yuksekova district of Hakkari, was shot dead by PKK members.

- PKK attacks from 80s

Sirnak-Ortabag Massacre (Jan. 22, 1987): A PKK bomb attack killed eight civilians, including two children and four women, in the town of Ortabag.

Mardin-Midyat Massacre (Jan. 23, 1987): PKK terrorists killed 10 civilians, including two babies and five children, and wounded 10 others in Gundukorte rural area of Midyat district.

Mardin-Nusaybin Massacre (March 7, 1987): The PKK terror group shot dead eight civilians, including six children in Acikyol town of Nusaybin district.

Mardin-Omerli Massacre (June 20, 1987): PKK terrorists killed 30 civilians, including 16 children and six women, in Pinarcik town of Omerli district.

Mardin- Midyat Massacre (July 8, 1987): Nine killed, including seven children from the same family and two women in Haraberk rural, while terrorists killed 16 others in Pecenek town, and 11 others, including five women -- two of whom were pregnant -- and four children in Ciftekavak rural.

Sirnak-Yagizoymak Massacre (March 28, 1988): The PKK terrorists garrotted nine shepherds.

- PKK attacks from 90s

Elazig-Kovancilar Massacre (March 21, 1990): 10 civilians, including nine engineers, killed in the district.

Sirnak-Guclukonak Massacre (June 11, 1990): 27 civilians, including 12 children, and seven women were killed in Cevrimli town.

Istanbul-Cetinkaya Store Massacre (Dec. 25, 1991): PKK terror group attacked a store in Bakirkoy district with Molotov cocktails, taking 11 lives, including seven women and a child.

Bitlis-Tatvan Massacre (June 11, 1992): PKK terrorists executed 13 people in a minibus by firing squad.

Diyarbakir-Yolac Village Massacre (June 27, 1992): PKK terrorists raided a mosque during prayer time and kill 10 people.

Bingol Massacre (May 24, 1993): PKK terrorists blocked a road and stop a bus carrying plainclothes soldiers on the Bingol-Elazig highway; 33 unarmed soldiers martyred.

Mardin-Hamzabey Massacre (June 30, 1993): PKK terror group killed seven civilians in the rural.

Erzincan-Basbaglar Massacre (July 5, 1993): PKK terrorists set ablaze village of Basbaglar after killing 33 people.

Elazig-Maden Massacre (July 5, 1993): PKK terrorists killed eight civilians after stopping the bus carrying them.

Mardin-Ormancik and Akyurek Village Massacres (July 5, 1993): 21 people, including 11 children killed when terrorists raided their villages.

Tunceli-Darikent Massacre (Sept. 11, 1994): Six teachers killed.

Diyarbakir-Kulp Massacre (Jan. 1, 1995): PKK terrorists killed 20 people, including children, women, and the elderly.

- Attacks shift from rural to city centers

Istanbul-Spice/Egyptian Bazaar Attack (July 9, 1998): Explosives planted by PKK terrorists killed two and injured 121 others. The attackers were later caught.

Ankara-Anafartalar Attack (May 22, 2007): The PKK terror group carried out a suicide bomb attack on Anafartalar Bazaar. 9 people, including a Pakistani national, were killed. More than 100 others were injured.

Istanbul-Gungoren Massacre (July 27, 2008): Two separate explosives planted by PKK terrorists claimed 18 lives, including five children in Gungoren district; 154 others were also injured.

Istanbul-Halkali Massacre (June 22, 2010): A PKK bomb attack on a military service left five people, including a high school student dead.

Ankara-Kumrular Massacre (Sept. 20, 2011): Three people dead, 34 others wounded when a PKK bomb explodes in the capital’s Kumrular Street.

Sirnak-Cizre Massacre (Aug. 26, 2016): 11 police martyred; 78, including a baby, wounded when PKK terrorists attacked police in Cizre district.

Diyarbakir-Cinar Massacre (Jan. 16, 2016): Six people were killed, 39 injured

Ankara Guvenpark Massacre (March 13, 2016): PKK terrorists attacked central Kizilay square using a bomb-laden car; 36 people were killed, 125 others injured.

Diyarbakir-Sur Massacre (Aug. 10, 2016): Seven people, including a police officer were killed; 12 others, including five police personnel were injured when PKK attacks a police service using a bomb-laden car.