The 15th of August 1984 is an important date for the Turkish-Kurdish conflict as it marks the first PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) attack, led by Mahsum Korkmaz (known as “Agit”).

15 August is remembered throughout Kurdistan and Europe by thousands of Kurds today.

In the PKK’s second party Congress, which was held from 20 to 25 Augustus 1982 in Daraa (Syria) it was decided that the PKK would start preparing for an insurgency inside Turkey. Training camps were opened in Syria and in Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley and propaganda teams were sent across the border to make contact with the local populations. After years of preparation the PKK launched its first major attacks on August 15, 1984. The attack was led by the founder of the PKK’s military wing.

PKK forces attacked the gendarmerie station in Eruh in Siirt, killing one gendarmerie soldier and injuring six soldiers. Simultaneously PKK forces attacked a gendarmerie open air facility, officer housings and a gendarmerie station in Şemdinli, Hakkari and killed two police officers and injured one police officer and a soldier.

The first attack was followed up by a raid on a police station in Siirt on August 17 which was soon followed by an attack that killed 3 of General Kenan Evren’s Presidential Guards in Yüksekova and an ambush which killed 8 Turkish soldiers in Çukurca, in Hakkari province.