The Kurdish People’s Defence Centre (HSM), the military wing of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), issued a statement calling all its forces to obey the armistice declared by the PKK due to the earthquakes.
“Alleviating the pain for the people, healing wounds has become an enormous humanitarian, conscientious and moral mission. The most appropriate approach will be to easing down and overcoming the challenges of today through unity and solidarity,” the HSM said about the situation after two major earthquakes hit Kurdish-majority or heavily Kurdish-populated provinces in south Turkey (north Kurdistan) as well as northern Syria on Monday.
“We also want to support those efforts. All self-defence forces and patriot institutions should offer assistance to people and mobilise for help,” the Kurdish group said.
“In that regard, we agree with the call made by comrade Cemil Bayık on behalf of the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) Executive Council that all means necessary will be put into practice,” it said.
“In that context, we make this call to all our guerrilla, fighter and self-defence units: In the framework of the call made by our co-chair, all operational plans and practices for metropolitan areas and cities should be stopped and as long as there is not an attack by Turkish state forces to our forces positioned in rural areas, no operational activities should be held. This directive will be in force until a second order, the studious compliance of all legitimate defence forces to this order is an essential responsibility,” the HSM added.
