PKK continues assassination strategy, kills state servant in southeastern Turkey

The governor of the district of Derik in southeastern Mardin province succumbed to his wounds in a local hospital on Friday, one day after the PKK attacked the local governorate building.

The latest in a string of PKK attacks targeting politicians in Turkey's southeast, District Governor Muhammed Fatih Safitürk died after being injured when PKK terrorists attacked the building with rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs). The Mardin Governorate has also confirmed that two of his guards were also injured in the assault, releasing a statement confirming the attack was carried out with rockets.

Safitürk was appointed as district governor of Derik after the former governor was discharged from duty. He is the latest official to be targeted by the PKK, a terrorist organization that has accelerated its attacks on politicians and local officials in the region.

The Justice and Development Party's (AK Party) Beytüşşebap Youth Branch Chairman Naci Adıyaman was also killed after being kidnapped by PKK terrorists in mid-August.

In mid-October, the PKK targeted AK Party Dicle deputy provincial head Deryan Aktert, killing him at a gas station.A few days before Aktert's assassination, the AK Party's Özalp deputy provincial head Aydın Müştü was slaughtered in his home in front of his wife and children.

The PKK's assassinations have yet to garner a reaction from the EU or the pro-PKK Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP).

The terrorist group has adopted a strategy of assassinating politicians, with PKK leader Murat Karayılan recently threatening the lives of trustees appointed to local governorates, saying they will be targeted by the PKK.

AK Party district chairman of Erzurum's İspir district Salih Zeki Çetinkaya was kidnapped in March from the Bingöl-Diyarbakır motorway as he and his brother were travelling to Şanlıurfa. Çetinkaya escaped two days later.

In June 2015, AK Party district chairman of Erzurum's Karayazı district Servet Tutkun was kidnapped and assaulted before being released the same day. In October 2014, 66-year-old tradesmen Mehmet Latif Şener, a known Free Cause Party (HÜDA-PAR) supporter, was assassinated in a street attack. Two terrorists were caught while trying to flee to a PKK base in the mountains.

In early September, PKK members kidnapped and assassinated Menderes Özer, 29, an AK Party member and the son of a former village guard chairman.

The PKK's threat against appointed trustees began after the Turkish government vowed to crack down on municipalities and governorates that aid and abet the terrorist group.

AK Party Deputy Chairman Mehdi Eker, who spent several days in Diyarbakır to observe people's reactions after the appointment of trustees to HDP municipalities, said such municipalities did not serve their constituents and, instead, helped the terrorist organization.

The Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) is interested in the assassinations as well. A FETÖ-linked journalist implied that PKK terrorists were set to kill the newly-appointed mayor of Diyarbakır, Cumali Atilla in a controversial tweet.

Bülent Keneş, the former editor-in-chief and columnist at the English-language newspaper Today's Zaman, tweeted in the wake of the arrest of the former Diyarbakır mayor saying, "May Cumali Atilla, who was appointed instead of Hasan Ölçer as the new administrator, rest in peace. My condolences for his loved ones, the PKK terror group does not forgive."

While FETÖ expected that the PKK would assassinate the appointed Diyarbakır mayor, the terrorist group targeted Derik's district governor.

In September, an official report by the Justice Ministry revealed at full length the involvement of the Democratic Regions Party (DBP) municipalities in various crimes. The DBP is the regional affiliate of the HDP.

Several district municipalities were found guilty of constitutional crimes in 2015; specifically in the districts of Sur, Silvan and Lice, for denying state authority and declaring self-governance. Municipal workers in the province also attended demonstrations in support of these so-called demonstrations for self-governance.

Vehicles belonging to many DBP municipalities, including those in Diyarbakır, were used to carry and bury deceased terrorist members of the PKK, the PKK's Syrian offshoot the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its armed wing the People's Protection Units (YPG).