Rise of the PKK

With the formation of certain revolutionary groups in Turkey after 1968, the Kurds began to organize, and in 1978, a revolutionary organization called the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) was established.

After the military coup on September 12, 1980, Kurdish revolutionaries were subjected to severe torture in Diyarbakır Prison. As a result of these tortures, dozens of Kurdish revolutionaries were brutally killed.

After these inhumane practices, the PKK began a war against Turkey in 1984. After this process, nothing would be the same for the Kurds. The toll of the heavy war grew day by day and left behind tragic stories. Bombed mountains, evacuated villages, people forced to migrate, people tortured, thousands of disappearances…

In the 1990s, many people were detained in Kurdistan and Turkey, and no one heard from them again. To this day, the families of the missing take to the streets to inquire about their fate.

The same disappearance occurred with Kurdish fighters. Especially the thousands of fighters who lost their lives in the conflict they found themselves in have no grave today.

For more information:

https://www.crisisgroup.org/content/turkiyes-pkk-conflict-visual-explainer

https://www.amnestyusa.org/updates/mass-graves-and-state-silence-in-turkey/