PKK / HPG’s war statement for 2012

03 January 2013 – ANF – The year 2012 witnessed heavy clashes. Turkish security forces lost 2221 armed officers. HPG (People’s Defense Forces) Press Office (HPG-BIM) released its statement about the 2012 balance of operations and clashes.

The statement remarked that the Turkish army had carried out 320 ground operations and 184 aerial attacks in the last year. According to the statement, guerrilla forces carried out 736 actions and 314 guerrillas lost their lives in clashes during the year. The war statement for 2012 shows that the year has been the severest one of late years as clashes are seen to have intensified the most in the months of August-September-October, three months when guerrilla actions reached an all-time high.

According to the statement, clashes broke out 203 times during the year as a result of operations launched by the Turkish army. The highest number of clashes, 44 times, was recorded in the month of June, followed by 12 times between January and April and once in December. On the other hand, the statement says, guerrilla forces carried out 183 actions in August, 188 in September and 148 in October. According to figures determined by HPG, 2221 armed police officers were killed and 859 others were wounded in these actions, in which also 314 guerrillas lost their lives. The statement noted that 15 Sikorsky helicopters were shot down and 42 others were damaged by HPG forces. HPG also remarked that the year 2012 witnessed the highest rate of detentions and arrests of guerrillas. The number of detained or arrested guerrillas were listed as 31 in May, 7 in June, 21 in July, 18 in August, 10 in September, 39 in October and 13 in November.