The Mahsum Korkmaz Academy is a training camp of the

Kurdistan Workers' Party The Kurdistan Workers' Party, or the PKK, isDespite the PKK's 12th Congress announcing plans for total organisational dissolution, the PKK has not yet been dissolved de facto or de jure. a Kurds, Kurdish militant political organization and armed ...

(PKK). It was established in 1986 in Helve, a village in the

Beqaa Valley The Beqaa Valley (, ; Bekaa, Biqâ, Becaa) is a fertile valley in eastern Lebanon and its most important farming region. Industry, especially the country's agricultural industry, also flourishes in Beqaa. The region broadly corresponds to th ...

in Lebanon. It is named after

Mahsum Korkmaz Mahsum Korkmaz, also known as Agit (Kurmanji: Egîd; Sorani: عەگید) (1956 – 28 March 1986), was the first commander of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)'s military forces. Korkmaz moved to Lebanon in 1979 and alongside Kemal Pir was respo ...

, a former commander of the armed wing of the PKK. Today the camp is situated in Qandil Mountains, Southern Kurdistan.

Foundation and locations

To establish the Mahsum Korkmaz Academy was decided at the Third Party Congress of the PKK in October 1986. Its first location was in the Beqaa valley in Lebanon, which at the time was under Syrian control. It had to leave Lebanon due to Turkish pressure in 1992, following which it settled to

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

, the Syrian capital. After the expulsion of the PKK from Syria in 1998, the academy moved to

Iraqi Kurdistan Iraqi Kurdistan or Southern Kurdistan () refers to the Kurds, Kurdish-populated part of northern Iraq. It is considered one of the four parts of Greater Kurdistan in West Asia, which also includes parts of southeastern Turkey (Northern Kurdist ...

Training

It is estimated that about 10'000 militants underwent training in the years between 1986 and 1998 when the academy had to leave Syria and settled in Iraq. In 1991, the education consisted of two months of ideological and one-month military training. After the arrival of new students, they took on a new Kurdish name and delivered an oath to remain loyal to the party line, the martyrs and the leader. The new name was intended to avoid repression and as a sign for the beginning of a new life. Until 1998,

Abdullah Öcalan Abdullah Öcalan ( ; ; born 4 April 1948 or 1949), also known as Apo (short for Abdullah in Turkish; Kurdish for "uncle"), is a founding member of the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Öcalan was based in Syria from 1979 to 1998. He ...

gave lectures of several hours every week at the academy, which were called ''Çözümlemeler'' (Analyses). They consisted of experiences of his own life and followed by the challenge to engage in self-criticism. The students were often reminded that the main battlefield was oneself, who was to become a new human and only to a lesser extent the fight was against an external enemy. Sometimes an attack by the Turkish army was simulated.

Free time

In some evenings, the students would gather to play football games (in which Öcalan would often also participate). Other activities would be dancing Govend or play volleyball.

Turkish opposition to the academy

In April 1992 the

Interior Minister An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a Cabinet (government), cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and iden ...

of Turkey Ismet Sezgin pressured the Syrian president

Hafez al-Assad Hafez al-Assad (6 October 193010 June 2000) was a Syrian politician and military officer who was the president of Syria from 1971 until Death and state funeral of Hafez al-Assad, his death in 2000. He was previously the Prime Minister of Syria ...

to close the camp in Lebanon, following which the PKK then closed it down and speculations arose if the camp would be re-established in either Iran or Cyprus.

Ünal Erkan Ünal Erkan (born 1942 in Erzurum) is a Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) politician. He was a member of the party's Central Executive Board, resigning in 2007. He was governor of the OHAL state-of-emergency region from 1992 to 1995, and had previ ...

, the Governor of the State of Emergency region in

Turkish Kurdistan Turkish Kurdistan or Northern Kurdistan () is the southeastern part of Turkey where Kurds form the predominant ethnic group. The Kurdish Institute of Paris estimates that there are 20 million Kurds living in Turkey, the majority of them in the ...

and the Turkish defense minister

Nevzat Ayaz Nevzat Ayaz (5 October 1930 – 3 December 2020) was a Turkish civil servant and True Path Party politician. He was governor of Istanbul Province from 1979 to 1988. He was elected to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey in 1991, and was Minister ...

both welcomed its closure at the time.

References

{{reflist Abdullah Öcalan 1986 establishments in Lebanon Kurdistan Workers' Party Terrorist training camps