Unprecedented riots by groups supportive of the PKK terrorist organization led to bloodshed across Türkiye on Oct. 6 and 7, 2014. Today, the incidents live on in the bitter memories of the killings while four young men slaughtered by rioters remain symbols of the violence the terrorist group is capable of.

It all started on Oct. 6, 2014, when the pro-PKK Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) exploited what it called Türkiye’s "support" for the Daesh terrorist group after the government opposed the transport of weaponry through Türkiye to the PKK's Syrian offshoot, the YPG, in the country's north to allegedly be used to "fight against Daesh." This pretext was enough to foment riots among HDP supporters and members of the terrorist group who were involved in the killing of 35 people, including two police officers, in 35 provinces across the country. Another 761 people were injured.

The chaos featured everything from armed attacks by gunmen to masked rioters hurling Molotov cocktails into houses and businesses. Some rioters wielded stones and sticks while others used fireworks, torching cars. PKK supporters set up barricades on the streets, clashing with security forces. Official figures show 435 civilians and 326 security officers were injured in the riots which involved multiple counts of "murders, attempted murders, damage to property, abduction, theft, looting and burning of Turkish flags" according to indictments against rioters. Overall, the riots cost more than TL 300 million in damages.

More significantly, it disrupted the peaceful environment established in southeastern Türkiye whose population was long been terrorized by PKK, derailing social life and the economy. Rioters damaged 201 schools across Türkiye and a museum was set on fire in Diyarbakır during the unrest.

The riots could have been just another ordinary chapter in the bloody history of the terrorist group that has killed thousands since the 1980s if it were not for the young men who were lynched by a pro-PKK group in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır. Yasin Börü, Hasan Gökguz, Ahmet Dakak and Riyat Güneş became symbols of the first large-scale campaign of terrorism in the guise of riots by the terrorist group. Their names are still remembered in the region as "martyrs" by opponents of the terrorist group, which sought to recruit members to its ranks from the large Kurdish population in the region.

Their killings were particularly gruesome, even compared to past massacres by the PKK. The four young men, who were visiting neighborhoods distributing meat to the poor on the occasion of Qurban Bayram (Eid al-Adha or Festival of Sacrifice), took refuge in a residential building, only to be cornered by an angry mob who tossed them off the upper floors. Dakak’s head was crushed by stones while rioters ran over 16-year-old Börü after defenestrating him. Their bodies were burned and barely recognizable. Yusuf Er, the sole survivor of the riot who witnessed the brutal killings of his friends, underwent treatment for months for his deteriorated mental health.

Authorities launched investigations against more than 1,600 suspects following the riots and 386 among 894 detained suspects were arrested. The government compensated the victims for their losses, restoring damaged buildings and sending cash aid to businesses harmed by riots.

A lawsuit was filed against 41 suspects in the killings of Börü, Dakak, Güneş and Gökguz and 16 among them were sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment for murders and crimes against the state. Six other suspects, who were minors at the time of the murders, were sentenced to 110 years in prison each. The trial was later renewed by an appeals court and 15 suspects were sentenced to aggravated life terms while three minors were sentenced to 23 years in prison. More trials are underway for 108 other defendants involved in the riots.

In 2019, Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ Şenoğlu, two co-chairs of HDP, were charged for their links to the riots. One year later, courts issued arrest warrants for 82 suspects, including former HDP lawmakers for their role in riots. Yüksekdağ and Demirtaş are still in prison, awaiting the verdict in an ongoing trial involving other fugitive suspects. Each suspect faces multiple instances of aggravated lifetime imprisonment and lesser prison terms for their role in the riots while four defendants were released with judiciary control in earlier hearings.

The events were a major blow to the HDP and its public face, Demirtaş, who repeatedly stated that they aim to be an umbrella party appealing to all of Türkiye instead of a regional and ethnic party. The party's later calls, however, found little support.

The HDP has come under fire for its close links to the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU. Members of the party have so far declined to call the PKK a "terrorist group," and have attended PKK militants' funerals, two of whom were the suicide bombers that killed tens of civilians in multiple bombings in Ankara.

As for the PKK, the terrorist group lost a significant amount of members and clout in Türkiye thanks to successive counterterrorism operations which escalated especially in and after 2016, the year when military officers linked to the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) tried to stage an ultimately unsuccessful coup attempt. Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said in August that there were currently only 124 PKK terrorists within the borders of Türkiye, expressing his belief that there will be none in the rural areas by next year.

In its more than 40-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union – has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people, including women, children and infants. Though the PKK is a designated terrorist organization in the U.S., Washington's support for its Syrian affiliate has been a major strain on bilateral relations with Ankara. The U.S. primarily partnered with the YPG in northeastern Syria in its fight against the Daesh terrorist group. On the other hand, Türkiye strongly opposed the YPG's presence in northern Syria. Ankara has long objected to the U.S.' support for the YPG, a group that poses a threat to Türkiye and that terrorizes local people, destroying their homes and forcing them to flee.

Under the pretext of fighting Daesh, the U.S. has provided military training and given truckloads of military support to the YPG, despite its NATO ally's security concerns. Underlining that one cannot support one terrorist group to defeat another, Türkiye conducted its own counterterrorism operations, over the course of which it has managed to remove a significant number of terrorists from the region.