The Turkish military announced on Sunday that it had discovered the bodies in a cave complex during an operation against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the mountainous Gara region near the Turkey-Iraq border. Twelve had been shot in the head while another died of a bullet wound to the chest during the operation, in which 51 militants were killed, according to Turkish officials.

In a statement, the PKK said three days of air strikes and ground battles “resulted in the death of some of the [Turkish intelligence] members, soldiers and policemen we had captured.”

Officials initially gave the impression that the hostages were civilians – the military described them as “citizens” while Ibrahim Kalin, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s spokesman, tweeted in English that the “PKK executes 13 civilian captives”.

However, 11 of the victims were later identified as police officers or soldiers kidnapped by the PKK in Turkey between 2015 and 2016.

No detail was given about the capture of two civilians. However, in 2015 a media outlet close to the PKK claimed two Turkish intelligence officers with the same names and from the same provinces as the civilian victims were being held by the insurgents.

Following the discovery of the bodies during an air and ground operation launched on Wednesday last week, Turkish officials took to social media to link the PKK to the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), a left-wing party with roots in the Kurdish movement.

“The terrorist organization PKK carried out deadly attacks, including suicide bombings, for four decades,” tweeted Fahrettin Altun, the government’s communications director.

“HDP, its political wing in Turkey, praises and condones PKK violence. Not all terrorists shoot people or blow things up. PKK and HDP are one and the same.”

His department released an English language video showing leading figures from the HDP, which acted as an intermediary in peace talks between the government and the PKK from 2013 to 2015, meeting PKK commanders.

The HDP, which is the third largest party in the Turkish parliament, denies direct ties to the PKK.

Dozens of its elected officials, including former MPs and mayors, are currently in prison on charges of supporting the PKK in what many view as politically motivated cases. There have also been recent calls to close the party.

Meanwhile, two HDP MPs were put under investigation for “provocative” tweets about the operation. The MPs had tweeted about their earlier contacts with the victims’ families to secure their release and accused the government of turning its back on efforts to free them.

In a statement, the party said the release of captured police and soldiers had previously been achieved through “diplomatic efforts.” The Gara victims’ families had visited HDP politicians on at least four occasions.

“Unfortunately, the government avoided taking on its diplomatic and humanitarian responsibilities to save the lives and ensure the freedom of its own officials who [have been] lost in a military operation without any clear purpose or target,” the statement added.

An MP from another opposition party said he had submitted six parliamentary questions on the fate of the hostages since 2016.

“Put aside the empty cries, give an account of why you haven’t done anything for years,” Murat Bakan said as he addressed the government in parliament last week. “We’ve been shouting with the families for years. Where were you?”

Mr Altun, widely seen as one of Mr Erdogan’s closest advisers, took aim at the “deafening silence in the face of PKK’s terror attacks and heinous crimes” from the West, questioning its commitment to democracy, right and the rule of law.

Ankara has long protested US support for PKK-linked fighters in Syria that spearheaded the campaign against ISIS as well as what it sees as European and American tolerance of demonstrations, fund-raising and media activities on behalf of the PKK.

A message of condolence from the US, in which it condemned the killings “if reports … are confirmed,” was seized on as illustrating a lack of support for Turkey.

Meanwhile, the Turkish Human Rights Association, which said it had been contacted by many of the victims’ families to help negotiate their release, said the military authorities should be “held accountable for the possible consequences of carrying out a highly risky military operation”.

Co-chair Ozturk Turkdogan added: “All information and documents relating to the military operations must be shared with the authorized chief prosecutor’s office. The Grand National Assembly of Turkey must investigate this issue and bring it to light by setting up an investigation commission.”

The hostages were being held in a cave system with multiple entrances, chambers and protected by steel doors, raising questions about the viability of a rescue mission.

The day before the deaths were announced, the father of one hostage, Gendarmerie Sergeant Semih Ozbey, called for an end to the Gara operation.

“Of course, I'm against these operations,” Gursel Ozbey told the Mesopotamia news agency. “If the state is operating where we have children, I want it stopped as soon as possible. I'll get hold of whoever hurts my child.”

The National News

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