Page 280 - America's Failure to Perceive the PKK

either. For this reason, those who built a fake peace scenario in their
minds hoping that the PKK would surrender its weapons waited in
vain. As long as there is no action to fix the twisted mind of a mur-
derer, it is not important whether or not the gun is in his hand. He
will always find a way to get to the gun. Focusing on destroying the
gun alone without doing anything about the mindset of the murderer
is nothing but deluding oneself.

I Internal executions in the PKK

The PKK uses its armaments as a force against its own people as
well. It must be kept in mind that today many people are forced to
support the PKK due to intense fear and this fear results from the use
of weapons alone. This policy of intimidation by the use of arms with-

in the PKK is pursued quite viciously and an empire of fear reigns in
the organization with horrible executions. People who are reported to
be suspicious are executed by a firing squad in front of other terror-
ists upon the order of the "leadership," or shot in the company of their
family members, or buried first and then shot at the head, and some-
times horribly executed by being drowned in acid. The number of
such executions, which can be for various reasons like spying, dis-

obedience or failure to abide by the rules, is higher than any other ter-
rorist organization. Prominent Kurdish politicians like İbrahim Güçlü
and Kemal Burkay report that 15,000 to 17,000 Kurdish people have
so far been killed as a part of internal PKK executions. Burkay elabo-
rates:

The PKK implemented unprecedented terror to hush opposi-
tion within; arrested people and tortured them and shot them by
firing squads. It turned its bases in Bekaa and South Kurdistan
into killing fields. Also, it executed scores of defectors or dis-
sidents. This meant that hundreds and thousands of young

278 America's Failure to Perceive the PKK