The Metina/Xabur Command of the People's Defense Forces (HPG) has commented on an incident in the course of a troop transfer of forces of the KDP (Kurdistan Democratic Party) in southern Kurdistan. On Saturday morning, a two-way transport was carried out to the guerrilla area in Metina. There were around fifty vehicles in each of two military columns - mostly armored cars. According to the HPG, the target was a strategic point between the hills of Çarçel and Hakkari. In order to stop the advance, the guerrillas fired several warning shots.

"Nevertheless, these forces continued to advance in attack position regardless of the warning shots. The area in question and its surroundings is an uninhabited region without villages or settlements that has been ignored by the peshmerga for 25 years," the Metina Command's statement said. "The area is dominated by guerrillas and is largely mined against invasion by the Turkish state. Although this is common knowledge, there was no response to our warnings. As a result of the continued advance, damage has been caused to one or two vehicles by explosions, the background of which has not yet been determined, resulting in casualties [among the ranks of the KDP forces]. This undesirable incident is regrettable. However, the responsibility does not lie with us, but with those who sent these troops there."

The KDP's deployment of troops amid 43 days of guerrilla resistance to the Turkish occupation operation on the front lines in Kestê and Zendûra was described by the HPG's Metina Command as an "act of support" for the Turkish state. "Taking these areas would limit the guerrillas' room for maneuver, weaken the resistance and pave the way for the Turkish state. At the same time, it would mean stabbing the guerrillas in the back. Yet our forces have not directly targeted these troops. Their losses were due to their own mistakes or attacks by others. The conflict situation that arose as a result of an attack on our forces continues at this hour."

The HPG called this "KDP-provoked incident" in the midst of a historic phase "extremely dangerous" that could plunge Kurdish forces into a "deep conflict". "This would cause great harm to all Kurds and the Kurdistan national cause. We do not want to see another sinister intra-Kurdish conflict. We are only concerned with resisting the Turkish state as the traditional enemy of our people. We are determined to lead this struggle until victory over the Turkish state. The guerrillas of Kurdistan have demonstrated with their resistance, which has been going on for 43 days, that they are able to cope with the attacks of the Turkish state on South Kurdistan. The fact that they want to surround us from behind has no place in Kurdish traditions and is an attempt to endanger the future of our people. As the Freedom Guerrilla of Kurdistan, we call on the people of Kurdistan, first and foremost the patriotic people of the Behdinan region, the political forces, intellectuals, and those working in the arts, to persuade the KDP to abandon this stance."