# List of assassinations of the Kurdish Workers' Party insurgency

This is a list of assassinations of the Kurdistan Workers' Party insurgency, usually carried out by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) or the security forces of Turkey.
| Date | Target | Attacker | Location | Result | Casualties | Comment |
| 30 July 1979 | Mehmet Celal Bucak | PKK | Hilvan, Şanlıurfa, Turkey | Assassination failed | 5 killed, 2 wounded | Bucak was a Kurdish tribal leader and a member of the Turkish parliament. He was injured with his son when PKK militants under Cuma Tak tried to assassinate him. |
| 22 October 1988 | Esat Oktay Yıldıran | PKK | Ümraniye, Istanbul, Turkey | Assassination successful | 1 killed | Yıldıran was a Turkish military officer who was responsible for torturing inmates in Diyarbakır Prison. He was shot dead on a public bus by a PKK militant. |
| 7 July 1991 | Vedat Aydın | Turkey | Maden, Turkey | Assassination successful | 1 killed | Vedat Aydın was a leader of the Peoples' Labour Party and the Turkish Human Rights Association. |
| 24 February 1992 | Cengiz Altun | Turkey | Istanbul, Turkey | Assassination successful | 1 killed | On 24 February 1992 Yeni Ülke journalist Cengiz Altun was assassinated. He had previously received death threats, and had written an article on the Counterguerrilla in the 2–8 February issue. |
| 31 July 1992 | Yahya Orhan | Turkey | Istanbul, Turkey | Assassination successful | 1 killed | Journalist Yahya Orhan, who wrote for Özgür Gündem and Yeni Ülke, was assassinated on 31 July 1992. |
| 20 September 1992 | Musa Anter | Turkey | Diyarbakır, Turkey | Assassination successful | 1 killed, 1 wounded | Anter was shot at a festival in 1992 by Turkish JITEM, in an incident in which the politician Orhan Miroğlu was seriously injured. |
| 18 February 1993 | Kemal Kılıç | Turkey | Istanbul, Turkey | Assassination successful | 1 killed | Kemal Kılıç, a former correspondent for Özgür Gündem then writing for Yeni Ülke, was assassinated on 18 February 1993. |
| 4 September 1993 | Mehmet Sincar | Turkey | Batman, Turkey | Assassination successful | 2 killed | Mehmet Sincar was a politician of the Democracy Party investigating the murder of Vedat Aydın. |
| 4 September 1993 | Metin Özdemir | Turkey | Batman, Turkey | Assassination successful | Included above | Metin Özdemir was a politician of the Democracy Party investigating the murder of Vedat Aydın. |
| 6 July 2005 | Hikmet Fidan | PKK | Bağlar, Diyarbakır, Turkey | Assassination successful | 1 killed | Hikmet Fidan who worked as the senior general chairman for a long time in HADEP before the party was closed, was shot to death with a silencer in front of a building in Turkey. |
| 17 July 2005 | Hasan Özen | PKK | Vienna, Austria | Assassination successful | 1 killed | PKK's representative of Austria; Hasan Özen was assassinated. Özen was against of Abdullah Öcalan's declarations and he wanted to leave the organization. |
| 12 February 2006 | Kani Yılmaz | PKK | Iraqi Kurdistan | Assassination successful | 2 killed | PKK's former representative of Europe, Kani Yılmaz was assassinated by a bomb that was put into his car on 12 February. Yılmaz was burned to death in the car with a former PKK militant Sabri Tori. |
| 9 January 2013 | Sakine Cansız | Turkey | Paris, France | Assassination successful | 3 killed | Sakine Cansız was one of the co-founders of the PKK. She was shot dead in Paris, on 9 January 2013, with two other female Kurdish activists, Fidan Doğan and Leyla Söylemez. |
| 9 January 2013 | Leyla Söylemez | Turkey | Paris, France | Assassination successful | Included above | Leyla Söylemez was an area manager of the PKK youth organisation. She was shot dead in Paris, on 9 January 2013, with two other female Kurdish activists, Sakine Cansız and Fidan Doğan. |
| 9 January 2013 | Fidan Doğan | Turkey | Paris, France | Assassination successful | Included above | Fidan Doğan was a Kurdish activist, who worked at the Kurdish information centre in Paris and also represented the Brussels-based Kurdish National Congress in France. She was shot dead in Paris, on 9 January 2013, with two other female Kurdish activists, Sakine Cansız and Leyla Söylemez. |
| 22 July 2015 | Okan Acar | PKK (alleged by Turkey) | Ceylanpınar, Şanlıurfa, Turkey | Assassination successful | 2 killed | On 22 July 2015, two police officers (Okan Acar and Feyyaz Yumuşak) were assassinated by unidentified men. Soon after, 9 Turkey Kurds were anonymously denounced as the killers, arrested and accused of assassinations under PKK orders. Authorship was first claimed by PKK's armed wing HPG, describing it as a retaliation following the prior 2015 Suruç bombing. |
| 22 July 2015 | Feyyaz Yumuşak | PKK (alleged by Turkey) | Ceylanpınar, Şanlıurfa, Turkey | Assassination successful | Included above | On 22 July 2015, two police officers (Okan Acar and Feyyaz Yumuşak) were assassinated by unidentified men. Soon after, 9 Turkey Kurds were anonymously denounced as the killers, arrested and accused of assassinations under PKK orders. Authorship was first claimed by PKK's armed wing HPG, describing it as a retaliation following the prior 2015 Suruç bombing. |
| 3 October 2015 | Haci Lokman Birlik | Turkey | Şırnak, Turkey | Assassination successful | 1 killed | Lokman was killed and his corpse tied with a rope to a police car and filmed by the police while being pulled through the streets of Şırnak. Lokman was the brother-in-law of HDP deputy Leyla Birlik. |
| 28 December 2015 | Tahir Elçi | Turkey (assumed) | Diyarbakır, Turkey | Assassination successful | 1 killed | President of the Diyarbakır Bar Association, who litigated against Turkey at the European Court of Human Rights. |
| 14 September 2016 | Ahmet Budak | PKK | Şemdinli, Hakkari, Turkey | Assassination successful | 1 killed | Ahmet Budak was a politician for AK Party. He was killed in front of his son with a pistol when 3 PKK members including a child attacked him. |
| 22 September 2016 | Halit Benek | PKK | Mazıdağı, Mardin, Turkey | Assassination failed | None (+1 perpetrator killed) | Halit Benek was governor of Mazıdağı District for AK Party. A PKK member tried to assassinate him on 22 September with a pistol and a grenade but the assassin was shot death by police. |
| 10 October 2016 | Aydın Muştu | PKK | Özalp, Van, Turkey | Assassination successful | 1 killed | Aydın Muştu was vice governor of Özalp District for AK Party. He was killed by PKK members in front of his house on 10 October. |
| 11 October 2016 | Deryan Aktert | PKK | Dicle, Diyarbakır, Turkey | Assassination successful | 1 killed | Deryan Aktert was vice governor of Dicle District for AK Party. He was killed by PKK members on 11 October. |
| 9 November 2016 | Ali Boutan | Turkey | Qamishli, Rojava, Syria | Assassination successful | 1 killed | Commander of Anti-Terror Units. |
| 10 November 2016 | Muhammed Fatih Safitürk | PKK | Derik, Mardin, Turkey | Assassination successful | 1 killed, 1 wounded | Muhammed Fatih Safitürk was governor of Derik District. He was assassinated by PKK via a bomb in his office. He was critically wounded and died of wounds the day after the attack. His personal chauffeur was also injured but survived. |
| 17 December 2016 | Turan Bedirhanoğlu | PKK | Şırnak, Turkey | Assassination failed | 1 wounded (+1 perpetrator wounded) | Turan Bedirhanoğlu vice governor of Şırnak for AK Party. The Turkish Intelligence was aware of a planned assassination before the planned date and took measures. Bedirhanoğlu was protected by special forces on 17 December. PKK militias opened fire when they realized they were noticed. Dincer was slightly and one of the PKK militias was heavily wounded. |
| 15 August 2018 | İsmail Özden | Turkey | Snune, Sinjar, Iraqi Kurdistan | Assassination successful | 1 killed | Insurgent's leadership. Assassinated in a Turkish airstrike on Sinjar. |
| 17 July 2019 | Osman Köse | PKK (alleged by Turkey) | Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan | Assassination successful | 3 killed | Köse was an officer in Turkish consulate in Iraq. He was assassinated when he was dining on a restaurant in Erbil. Two Iraqi civilians were also killed in the assassination. Turkish government blamed PKK however, People's Defence Forces (HPG), the armed wing of the PKK never claimed responsibility for the assassination. |
| 12 October 2019 | Hevrin Khalaf | Ahrar al-Sharqiya | M4 Motorway, Rojava, Syria | Assassination successful | 1 killed | Hevrin Khalaf was a Kurdish-Syrian politician who served as the Secretary-General of the Future Syria Party. She was executed by Turkish-backed Ahrar al-Sharqiya militants. |
| 23 June 2020 | Zehra Berkel | Turkey | Helincê, Kobane, Syria | Assassination successful | 3 killed | Berkel was a women's rights activist in Syrian's Rojava region as a coordinating member of the Kongra Star women's movement. She was killed via a Turkish drone attack together Amina Waysi and Mizgin Xelil. Turkey has been criticized for this killing of women's rights activists. |
| 5 June 2021 | Selman Bozkir (aka Docteur Huseyin) | Turkey | Makhmour refugee camp, Iraq | Assassination successful | 3 killed | Turkey claimed the airstrike which killed Bozkir and two others, claiming Bozkir, the camp manager, to be a senior PKK official and the camp to be "an incubator for terrorism". The Makhmour camp was created in the 1990s, hosting refugees fleeing South-Eastern Turkey's destruction. |
| 16-17 August 2021 | Seîd Hesen | Turkey | Sinjar, Iraqi Kurdistan Sikeniye village, Sinjar District | Assassination successful | 11 killed | Seîd Hessen was an Iraqi Sinjar YBŞ commander targeted by Turkey airstrikes, including airstrikes on his hospital. Two assistants, 4 YBŞ security, and 4 medical staffs were killed. |
| 7 December 2021 | Marwan Badal Haji | Turkey | Khanasor, Shingal district | Assassination successful | 2 killed | Marwan Badal Haji was an Iraqi, Yazidi, Sinjar YBS commander. In 2014 while ISIS invaded Sinjar, Badal formed the core of a Yazidi resistance militia which later became the YBS, supported by Syrian YPG. Turkey considers YPG and YBS as foreign offshoots of Turkish PKK. |