Mysterious Death of Alleged Turkish Agent in Kurdistan

A PKK fighter in the Qandil Mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan. Photo by Quil Lawrence.

DUHOK, Iraqi Kurdistan -- Sources from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) deny they have killed an Iraqi Kurd for allegedly spying for the Turkish intelligence agency. 

Relatives of Musa Yusef, whose body was found in late January in Matin Mountain near the Turkish border, say he was murdered by the PKK.

The PKK has been involved in a three-decade-long armed struggle against Turkey for Kurdish rights.

Yusef, said to be a supplier of arms, food and clothes for the PKK for years, went missing in January, only weeks after a deadly attack by Turkish warplanes on a group of civilian Kurdish smugglers which killed 35 people.

Yusef’s controversial murder has led to speculation about who killed him and why. Some of Yusef’s relatives say he was working for the PKK; others say he was working for the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) as well.

The KDP is one of the two ruling parties in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

“We told Yusef that since he was doing such things, we would inform the KDP that he spied for the MIT.”

Yusef, who is survived by his wife and five children, was captured along with two friends by PKK guerillas in early January. His friends were later released and are currently in detention in a local security station. 

Col. Jamil Khaled, the police chief of Amedi where Yusef’s body was found, said they do not have “correct and official information” on who killed Yusef or why.

Local security officials say all they know at this point is what they have heard from Yusef’s family -- that he was killed by the PKK.

But a PKK spokesman denied his group’s role in Yusef’s death.

“The Kurdistan Regional Government is responsible for the security of citizens within its territory. Therefore, we do not allow ourselves to detain any citizens of this region. We do not have anything to do with Musa Yusef’s death,” said Bakhtiyar Dogan, a spokesman for PKK’s military wing known as HPG. “Yusef was not even in our detention for us to be able to kill him. The claims by his family are baseless.”

The PKK says it has launched an investigation into the issue and will reveal its findings later.

But another PKK official confirmed to Rudaw that he had personally interrogated Yusef. He said Yusef’s capture came after an attack by Turkish military that left five PKK guerillas dead. The group later received photos that showed the base where the five fighters had been killed from sources inside Turkey. Their suspicion fell on Yusef.

“The photos were taken from up close and we were told that they were taken 20 days before the bombardment. They appear to have been taken inside a car,” said a PKK source who did not want to be identified. He said the photos were taken from inside Yusef’s car.

The source said they recorded Yusef’s confessions and have handed them to the KDP.

“We told Yusef that since he was doing such things, we would inform the KDP that he spied for the MIT.”

The PKK official, however, said Yusef hanged himself using his long and thick traditional Kurdish belt.

“If our guerillas killed had Yusef, we would openly admit that,”

“If our guerillas killed had Yusef, we would openly admit that,” said the source. He also denied that Yusef had been tortured. He said the signs on his body were probably caused as a result of decay as the group had possession of the body for four weeks.

Family and relatives went to some of the PKK bases in the Qandil Mountains hoping to get some news about the whereabouts of Yusef.

“We tried to meet him but the PKK denied they had him or were hiding him. Wherever we went to ask about him, they would say he was not here,” said one of Yusef’s relatives who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Mohammed Nezdori, an Iraqi Kurd who also works as a smuggler in the border area between Iraq and Turkey, was also detained by the PKK guerillas for a few days. He said one night he could hear the screams and appeals of someone detained in the cell next to his.

Nezdori was later arrested by Iraqi Kurdish security forces on the suspicion that he might be linked to Yusef’s detention, but was later released as there was no evidence against him.

Yusef Abdullah, Musa Yusef’s father, described his son’s relationship with the PKK as “very strong.” He denies Yusef provided weapons to the PKK, saying he only supplied them with food and other goods.

Abdullah, who following the Islamic tradition had washed the dead body of his son, said, “There were signs of torture all over his body. Both his hands were very tightly fastened from behind in a way that the rope had cut through his flesh.”

A source from the security office in Zakho, where Yusef’s family lives, said there are “rumors” that he was working for the Turkish intelligence agency known as MIT.

“My son was ready to change his religion but was never ready to betray the PKK,”

“The PKK have told some people that Yusef had taken photos of their bases in the villages of Pirbel and Avelha near the border with Turkey and had passed the images to the Turkish MIT. The bases were apparently bombed later,” said the source, who requested not to be identified as he was not authorized to comment on the case.

Some local media also reported that Yusef was working for the local KDP intelligence service. But Abdullah denies the allegations.

“My son was ready to change his religion but was never ready to betray the PKK,” said Abdullah. “If they had told me that my son had done such a thing, I’d have killed him myself.”

Some sources say Yusef tipped off the MIT about the smugglers on the border, mistakenly identifying them as PKK guerillas. That triggered the Turkish aerial attack in late 2011 that led to the death of 35 civilians. Turkish authorities later acknowledged they mistakenly targeted the local smugglers, thinking they were PKK fighters. Yusef’s relatives doubt he was involved in that attack.

Esmat Ergushi, a senior security official in the Kurdistan Region, says they have not received any documents on Yusef from the PKK.