The People's Defence Forces ( ku, Hêzên Parastina Gel, HPG) is the military wing of the group

Kurdistan Workers' Party The Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK is a Kurdish militant political organization and armed guerrilla movement, which historically operated throughout Kurdistan, but is now primarily based in the mountainous Kurdish-majority regions of south ...

(PKK). During the 7th Congress of the PKK in January 2000, the HPG replaced the former military wing of the PKK, the People's Liberation Army of Kurdistan (''Artêşa Rizgariya Gelê Kurdistan'', ARGK). The replacement was intended to demonstrate the search for a peaceful solution of the Kurdish-Turkish conflict, after the capture of

Abdullah Öcalan Abdullah Öcalan ( ; ; born 4 April 1949), also known as Apo (short for Abdullah in Turkish and Kurdish for "uncle"), is a political prisoner and founding member of the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Öcalan was based in Syria from ...

in 1999. The HPG played an active in the

peace negotiations A peace treaty is an agreement between two or more hostile parties, usually countries or governments, which formally ends a state of war between the parties. It is different from an armistice, which is an agreement to stop hostilities; a surr ...

between the Turkish Government and the PKK in 2013, as it hosted a delegation consisting of several politicians from the

Peace and Democracy Party The Peace and Democracy Party ( tr, Barış ve Demokrasi Partisi, ku, Partiya Aştî û Demokrasiyê, BDP) was a Kurdish political party in Turkey existing from 2008 to 2014. Development BDP succeeded the Democratic Society Party (DTP) in 20 ...

(BDP) and members of the

Turkish Human Rights Association The Human Rights Association ( tr, İnsan Hakları Derneği, İHD) is an NGO for advancing Human rights in Turkey, founded in 1986 and headquartered in Ankara. Establishment The İHD's origins can be traced to the victims of the purges in the ...

(IHD) and agreed to release soldiers of the Turkish army as well as a Turkish politician, who they held captive. In 2014, the HPG was involved in the fight against the

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic ter ...

(ISIS) in

Sinjar Sinjar ( ar, سنجار, Sinjār; ku, شنگال, translit=Şingal, syr, ܫܝܓܪ, Shingar) is a town in the Sinjar District of the Nineveh Governorate in northern Iraq. It is located about five kilometers south of the Sinjar Mountains. Its p ...

. As far as can be judged from the publications, one of the basic HPG factions is called "Karela Forces" (or "Al-Karila Forces") and this name mainly mentioned in Arabic texts regarding HPG actions in northern Iraq and Turkey (in Arabic texts, this name is often used as an alternative name for People's Defence Forces in general.)

References

{{Authority control Apoist organizations in Turkey Anti-ISIL factions in Iraq Anti-ISIL factions in Turkey Military wings of socialist parties Organisations designated as terrorist by the United Kingdom Organizations based in Asia designated as terrorist Organizations designated as terrorist Rebel groups in Turkey