PKK declares autonomous region in Turkey’s Dersim province

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has declared a democratic autonomous region in Dersim province of Turkey, and established checkpoints on the main road this week, Rudaw reports.

A video released by the PKK shows the group’s fighters controlling the road and searching vehicles.

“We as guerrillas, under the right of self-defense for ourselves and our nation, declare democratic autonomy in Dersim,” a fighter in the video said.

The PKK claimed that in Hakkari its fighters killed 32 Turkish security forces and lost five of their own. The Turkish government announced only one Turkish soldier was killed and several others wounded.

The Diyarbakir governor’s office announced a curfew starting from 1 am in response to the violence.

According to Turkish media reports, during a rally people in the mainly Kurdish Dogubeyazit district declared self-management.

"We declare our self-management," said Muhsin Kula, who claimed to be part of the new government. “Our villages and cities have been turned into ruins. The latest Varto case is proof that humanity is dead.”

Varto is a town in eastern Turkey where a female PKK fighter was allegedly raped and killed before her naked body was dragged through the streets by Turkish security forces. The incident has outraged Kurds throughout the region.

“We will not recognize state institutions in this region. We hereby declared that we manage ourselves,” Kula said.