In addition, the report claimed that more than 1,370 PKK terrorists have been killed in various operations against the group within the same timeframe, both in Turkey and in northern Iraq, including Qandil Mountain.
Under its now-imprisoned leader, Abdullah Öcalan – incarcerated in İmralı Island Prison off the coast of Istanbul since his capture in 1999 – the PKK conducted its first attacks on Aug. 15, 1984, targeting police and gendarmerie bases in the Eruh district of the southeastern province of Siirt, and in Şemdinli, a district in nearby Hakkari province.
The PKK has killed more than 6,700 civilians since it launched its offensive in 1984.
The deaths of noncombatants, including woman and children, highlight the toll of more than 30 years of fighting, mostly in Turkey’s southern and eastern provinces.
Over the following 31 years, the militant group has carried out approximately 83,500 attacks, some of which stand out due to their size, timing and their indiscriminate nature.
Over a 24-hour period on July 8, 1987, the PKK killed 44 civilians, including women and children, in four attacks in Mardin and Hakkari provinces.
Six years later, on May 24, 1993, PKK terrorists killed 33 security forces personnel and seven civilians on the Bingöl-Elazığ Highway in central eastern Turkey.
On July 27, 2008, a PKK bomb killed 18 civilians, including five children, in Istanbul’s Güngören neighborhood.
Between January and July this year, PKK terrorists carried out 83 attacks, according to security sources. Over the last 10 months, 62 civilians were killed by terrorists, the report added.
Ankara allegedly allowed PKK to recruit child soldiers during ceasefire
Turkish security sources have disclosed information about the PKK practice of recruiting child soldiers, in another report released by state-run Anadolu Agency on Sept. 20, revealing that more than 2,000 children have joined the militant organization over the last two years.
According to the report, the terrorist organization has kidnapped 2,052 children over the last two years, taking them into the mountains.
The terrorist organization is said to have recruited these children during the Kurdish-Turkish settlement process, which was launched by the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government in 2012. The peace process was an effort to reconcile with Turkey’s Kurdish minority and expand their rights and freedoms, while simultaneously disarming the PKK.
Between Aug. 14 and Dec. 31, 2013, a total of 140 children between 13 and 17 years of age were abducted by the terrorist group.
Security records have also reported that PKK terrorists abducted 983 children aged between 12 and 17 in 2014. From the beginning of 2015 up until August 14, the records revealed that 929 children aged between 12 and 17 years had been taken away by the PKK.
These figures were compiled by Turkish authorities based on information from families of the stolen children.
Between 2013 and 2015, at least 410 children fled from the PKK terrorist organization and surrendered to Turkish security forces.
Testimonies given to police intelligence have also revealed that the PKK bribed children in southeastern provinces to make them attack Turkish forces. Children said that they received an average of 100 Turkish liras ($33) to carry out attacks on Turkish forces. If they were old enough, PKK terrorists also provided them with guns, the children said.

Settlement process
The settlement process launched by the AK Party government in 2012 was an attempt to reconcile with Turkey’s Kurdish minority, expanding their rights and freedoms while simultaneously disarming the PKK. The PKK had waged an armed separatist war against Turkey for over 30 years, resulting in more than 40,000 casualties, but maintained a rocky ceasefire with Ankara from 2013 until July.
The truce fell apart in the wake of a July 20 suicide bomb attack which killed 33 pro-Kurdish and left-wing activists in the country’s border town of Suruç in the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa. The bombing is suspected to be the work of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) sympathizers, though the organization has not claimed responsibility.
The PKK responded with retaliatory attacks targeting Turkish soldiers and police, accusing Ankara of supporting ISIL – a claim which has been vehemently denied by the government. Over 130 Turkish security personnel – police, soldiers, and village guard militiamen – have been killed by the PKK since early July, as well as countless civilians.
Critics accuse the AK Party of having intentionally prevented any investigation into or operations against PKK activity during the settlement process, allowing it to gather strength.
Sept 30, 2015 | BGNNews.com with AA | Istanbul
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