PKK-related groups attack Education Directorate vehicles in Diyarbakır
20 September 2013 /İSMAİL AVCI, DİYARBAKIR – Zaman – Members of the Patriotic Revolutionist Youth Movement (YDG-H) — which is affiliated with the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), the urban arm of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) — recently attacked five vehicles in Diyarbakır, including two vans owned by the Diyarbakır Directorate of Education — part of the Ministry of Education, by throwing Molotov cocktails at them after residents disobeyed a call by the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) last week to boycott schools and sent their children to school.
The BDP and the KCK had called on all Kurds last week to boycott schools during the first week of the academic year, which started on Monday, to promote the demand for education in the Kurdish language. However, most parents in the southeastern provinces, except for Hakkari province, sent their children to school on the first day of the new school year, ignoring the call to boycott schools. In the Şehitlik neighborhood of Diyarbakır’s Yenişehir district, YDG-H members reportedly threw Molotov cocktails and burned down five vehicles, two of which were owned by the Diyarbakır Directorate of Education — affiliated with the Ministry of Education — and parked in the directorate’s parking lot. Three of the attacked cars belonged to residents. Those who carried out the attack were wearing scarves to cover their faces and fled the scene through the side streets.
Police took extensive security measures at the scene and launched an operation to capture the attackers. However, so far no suspects have been apprehended.
Meanwhile in the Cizre district of the southeastern province of Şırnak, a group of YDG-H members attacked a private car with a handmade bomb on Wednesday night. There were no reported injuries during the incident, but the car was damaged. Police have launched an investigation. The attacks are considered by the residents of the southeastern provinces as a reaction to them not heeding the call for the boycott. Turkey’s Kurds have long demanded education in the Kurdish language in schools. Kurdish, as a language class, is available in the Turkish school system, but Kurdish as the education language for other subjects is a controversial issue. Kurdish politicians are currently pushing for reforms to allow Kurdish to be used as a language of education in state schools, soften anti-terrorism laws, lower Parliament’s 10 percent electoral threshold and strengthen local government.