Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

KURDISTAN WORKERS’ PARTY • 37116 women and eight children. Another 30 civilians were murderedon 11 July 1987, also in Mardin Province. In 1987 there were 13similar attacks, some made in larger towns such as Diyarbakir. FromAugust 1984 until September 1989, about 1,500 people died due toPKK violence. For the entire year of 1988, 315 people were killed,but in the first six months of 1989, 258 were killed, showing thesteady increase in PKK activity. Once world attention began to focuson the situation of Kurdish refugees from Iraq during the 1990–1991Gulf War, the PKK decided to step up its activities, causing the deathfigure to rise to 900 in 1991. On two occasions in August 1991 thePKK kidnapped Western tourists in southeastern Turkey but in eachcase released them unharmed within the year.PKK activity has centered on Mardin, Siirt, and Hakkari provinces,a triangular area bordering Iran and Iraq, which the PKK is trying toturn into a “liberated zone.” The pattern of attacks was always to hit,kill scores of Turks or attack a government or military facility, andthen leave before the Turkish army could arrive. This armed propagandawas meant to demonstrate the impotence of Turkish rule, toterrorize Turks, and to encourage Kurds to resist the government. ThePKK suffered when Iraq began to suppress the Iraqi Kurds in 1987–1988. This in turn forced the KDP to come to terms with Turkeyto gain asylum for 60,000 of its own forces. Those terms includeddiscontinuing support for the PKK. The tactic of murdering Turkishcivilians also alienated Turkish leftist militants, with the exceptionof the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front, formerlyknown as Dev Sol, who had previously supported the PKK.After 1988 the PKK desisted from its practice of massacring civiliansand concentrated instead on hitting Turkish military outposts,police stations, and government offices. Heavy-handed counterinsurgencyefforts by the Turkish military have exasperated the localKurdish population in southeastern Turkey, causing many of them toaccept the legitimacy of the PKK. Beginning in 1991 the PKK beganstriking at Turkish military targets outside southeastern Turkey, killingfour and wounding at least 12 in Adana, Istanbul, and Izmir. Estimatesof PKK membership in 1987 put its fighting strength at 1,100and noncombatant supporters at around 3,400. By mid-1989, anotherestimate put the fighting strength at 5,000. By 1994 PKK strength wasestimated at 20,000 but by 2005 was estimated to have fallen to justover 1,000 militants. Following a massive Turkish military operation