Village guard system

Village guards
Türkiye Güvenlik Korucuları
LeadersAli Yerlikaya (Ministry of the Interior (Turkey))
Dates of operation26 March 1985 — present
HeadquartersAnkara
Active regionsTurkish border areas
Size54,000 (2019)[1]
Part ofGendarmerie General Command
Opponents
Battles and wars
Websitehttps://www.icisleri.gov.tr/illeridaresi/korucular-daire-baskanligi
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Village guards (Turkish: Korucular lit. "Rangers"), officially known as Türkiye Güvenlik Köy Korucuları ("Security Village Guards of Turkey"), are Gendarmerie General Command-aligned border guards involved in the Kurdish-Turkish conflict. They are mostly Kurds[2] but also Circassians,[3] Turks,[4] Uzbeks[5] and Kyrgyz people.[6][3] Originally they were set up and funded by the Turkish state in the mid-1980s under the direction of Turgut Özal. Their stated purpose was to act as a local militia in towns and villages, protecting against attacks and reprisals from the insurgents of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). The rationale behind the establishment of the village guards was that it would be helpful to the Turkish Army to have an additional force of people who knew the Southeastern Anatolia Region and the language in order to assist in military operations against the PKK.[7] In 2019, the force consisted of approximately 54,000 village guards in total.[1]

  1. ^ a b "Türkiye Son 3 Yılda Korucu Sayısını 54 Bine Çıkardı". Amerika'nin Sesi | Voice of America - Turkish (in Turkish). 13 November 2019. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  2. ^ "Kurds who became 'village guards' and fought PKK rebels in Turkey to". Independent.co.uk. 16 February 2014. Archived from the original on 17 August 2022. Retrieved 30 July 2016.
  3. ^ a b "AKP settles Kyrgyz 'migrants' in Northern Kurdistan". ANF News. Retrieved 30 November 2022.
  4. ^ "Giresun'a 750 köy korucusu!". www.haberturk.com (in Turkish). 19 April 2016. Retrieved 30 November 2022.
  5. ^ Sevinç, Fatih (3 May 2017). "Korucu aşiretleri: Biz ne olacağız?". Al Jazeera Turk - Ortadoğu, Kafkasya, Balkanlar, Türkiye ve çevresindeki bölgeden son dakika haberleri ve analizler (in Turkish). Retrieved 30 November 2022.
  6. ^ Gürcan, Metin (18 November 2016). "Arming Civilians for Counter-Terrorism: Turkey's Village Guard System". Sustainable Security. Retrieved 30 November 2022.
  7. ^ UNHCR/ACCORD: 6th European Country of Origin Information Seminar Vienna, 13 – 14 November 2000 – Final report