The 24 May 1993 PKK attack, sometimes referred to as the Bingöl massacre was a Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) attack on unarmed Turkish military soldiers on the Elazığ- Bingöl highway, west of Bingöl. 33 Turkish soldiers and varying conflicting accounts of civilians were killed (two, four five). This occurred following the breaking of the first ever PKK-Turkish ceasefire when Turkish forces attacked the PKK in

Kulp KULP (1390 AM, 106.7 FM) is a radio station, paired with an AM revitalization FM relay translator, licensed to El Campo, Texas. The station airs a country music format and is owned by Wharton County Radio, Inc.

Background

In late 1991, Turkish president Turgut Özal attempted to establish dialogue with the PKK. He had said the idea of a federation could be discussed and a

Kurdish language Kurdish (, ) is a language or a group of languages spoken by Kurds in the geo-cultural region of Kurdistan and the Kurdish diaspora. Kurdish constitutes a dialect continuum, belonging to Western Iranian languages in the Indo-European language ...

TV channel could be opened. He also passed a bill, partially unbanning the use of the Kurdish language. In response the PKK declared a cease-fire on 20 March 1993. On 17 April 1993 Turgut Özal died under suspicious circumstances. The Turkish military began to increase their attacks on the PKK, in particular on 19 May, in

Şemdin Sakık Şemdin Sakık (born Muş Province, Turkey 1959), nicknamed ''Semo'' or ''Parmaksiz Zeki'' (fingerless Zeki) for having lost a finger while firing a rocket, is a former commander of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)'s military forces. He is be ...

reported to

Abdullah Öcalan Abdullah Öcalan ( ; ; born 4 April 1949), also known as Apo (short for Abdullah in Turkish and Kurdish for "uncle"), is a political prisoner and founding member of the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Öcalan was based in Syria from ...

that the soldiers were losing respect. Öcalan responded by stating you may retaliate if attacked to defend yourself, unaware of what would be planned.Page 214

The attack

Sasik decided on a show of strength, ordering units to block all main rounds to the Diyarbakir which was a favored operation by the rebels as it asserted authority. Due to the remoteness of some of these stretches of highway, the Turkish military were not eager to confront the PKK so sometimes sent off-duty soldiers via unmarked buses to avoid being targeted or identified at any roadblock. One of these roads was the Elazığ-Bingöl highway which was allegedly manned by over 150 PKK militants, who had come down from the mountains to the southeast. The PKK stopped several buses transferring unarmed Turkish soldiers in civilian clothes, and then dragged 33 soldiers and five civilians (including four teachers) from the vehicles and executed them. Some 22 soldiers were spared by the PKK and taken prisoner, before being released. The military was criticized for the fact that the soldiers were unarmed and there were no units protecting them. Sakık, later captured by the Turkish security forces, testified during the

Ergenekon trials The Ergenekon trials were a series of high-profile trials which took place on 2008–2016 in Turkey in which 275 people, including military officers, journalists and opposition lawmakers, all alleged members of Ergenekon, a suspected secularist ...

that deep state elements in the Turkish military had sent the soldiers unarmed in the hope they would be killed, as part of the

Doğu Çalışma Grubu The Doğu Çalışma Grubu (DÇG; en, East Study Group or East Working Group) was an alleged group within the Turkish military said to be linked to the Ergenekon organization, and possibly organised within the Turkish Gendarmerie's JITEM.dunyabult ...

's coup plans.

Aftermath

On the 8 June 1993, Abdullah Öcalan announced the cease fire it declared in March was over. The Turkish military intensified its anti-insurgency operations against the PKK during the following months. A total of 92 Turkish security forces, 203 Kurdish rebels and 29 civilians were killed during anti-insurgency operations in May and June, an additional 120 Kurds were arrested during these operations. Turkish claimed that Kucuk Zeki, the PKK's commander in Muş at the time, described the attack as a turning point in the conflict, as the state stepped up its operations against the PKK and "the war got much worse".

Legacy

On 24 May 2012, the

33 Martyrs Memorial The 33 Martyrs Memorial is a memorial in Bingöl Province, Turkey dedicated to 33 unarmed Turkish Army recruits killed by Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants in the 1993 Bingöl massacre. The memorial is 13 kilometers west of Bingöl. In ...

near Bingöl was dedicated to the 33 victims of the attack.

References

{{Kurdish–Turkish conflict (1978–present) 1993 in military history Mass murder in 1993 Massacres in 1993 Military history of Turkey 1993 in Turkey Conflicts in 1993 Kurdistan independence movement History of Elazığ Province History of Bingöl Province Kurdistan Workers' Party attacks Ambushes May 1993 events in Turkey May 1993 crimes Massacres in Turkey 1993 murders in Turkey