BAGHDAD: Twenty customs officers who had been kidnapped by terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) members in the southeastern provinces of Hakkari and Van last month have been released.
The officers, accompanied by a delegation consisting of representatives from the Human Rights Association (İHD), the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) and the Şırnak Bar Association, are on their way back to Turkey.
Ten customs officers working at Turkey’s Üzümlü border gate with Iraq in the Yüksekova district of southeastern Hakkari province were kidnapped by PKK members on their way to work on Aug. 10, while 11 others working at the Kapıköy border gate reportedly went missing as they were returning home from work in the eastern province of Van on Aug. 21. The number of customs officers seized by the PKK in Van has been also reported as 10 by some news outlets.
A delegation consisting of the İHD, Şırnak Bar Association and HDP members made contact with the PKK to rescue the customs officers. The delegation reportedly received the kidnapped officers in northern Iraq on Tuesday morning at around 9:30 a.m. The customs officers are expected to cross into Turkey through the Habur border gate in the southeastern city of Silopi.
The PKK has stepped up its attacks on security forces since July, when the Turkish military resumed air strikes on PKK targets in Turkey and in northern Iraq, following a period of cease-fire that accompanied a settlement process launched in 2012 to resolve the country’s Kurdish issue.
There have also been instances where state officials working in eastern and southeastern Anatolia have been kidnapped by the PKK.
