In its daily statement about the war in Kurdistan, the People's Defence Forces (HPG) remember Akif Yilmaz, who died forty years ago in a hunger strike in Amed (tr. Diyarbakir). Yilmaz was a member of the PKK and went on a death fast together with Mehmet Hayri Durmuş, Kemal Pir and Ali Çiçek against the oppressive regime of the Turkish military junta on 14 July 1982 in the "Hell of Amed", the notorious prison of Diyarbakır. All four revolutionaries lost their lives in the course of the hunger strike.

The HPG commemorated Akif Yilmaz as a great revolutionary whose attachment to the Kurdish liberation struggle still radiates great symbolic power today and is regarded as a role model: "His courageous stance will always be an example to us and we give our word that we will realise his dreams and goals."

The HPG further said that four soldiers of the Turkish army were killed in "retaliatory actions in memory of Akif Yilmaz and Delal Nurhak" on Wednesday. Three other soldiers were injured, and the guerrillas were also able to destroy explosives intended for the bombing of a defensive position by the invading forces.

The HPG Press Centre gave the following information on the latest guerrilla actions and the attacks of the Turkish army:

ACTIONS BY GUERRILLAS

In the Zap region, a Turkish army advance towards the Şehîd Bahoz position was repelled by guerrillas with a sabotage action which left at least one soldier dead. In the Çemço area, one soldier was killed and two others wounded in an action carried out by guerrillas with heavy weapons on Wednesday afternoon. Another action took place in the area late in the evening. In Saca, guerrilla strikes with heavy weapons left a soldier dead.

At Girê Amêdî, a mobile guerrilla group carried out a sabotage action when a Turkish troop tried to advance to blow up a position. One soldier was killed and one other injured in the action, while the explosives carried by the Turkish unit were destroyed. At Girê Cûdî, guerrillas fired upon soldiers with heavy weapons at four o'clock today.

ATTACKS BY THE TURKISH ARMY

The Turkish army carried out six sorties with chemical weapons and bombs against guerrilla positions in the Zap region on Wednesday, affecting Şikefta Birîndara and Şehîd Bahoz. The Girê Cûdî, Sîda and Saca areas were bombed 18 times by fighter jets, and various other locations in the Medya Defence Zones were attacked 26 times by helicopters. In addition, dozens of attacks were carried out with howitzers, mortars and heavy weapons. In Karker, the Turkish army again tried to demolish guerrilla tunnels with construction machinery.