750 village guards employed in northern Turkey

GİRESUN – Anadolu Agency

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Some 750 village guards employed as part of the fight against terrorist organizations started working at their posts in the northern province of Giresun after finishing their training, Giresun governor’s office announced April 19.   

The announcement said that besides operation activities, the guards are also working for the “maintenance of security and public order.” 

The village guard system, officially named the “provisional village guards,” was originally established in 1924 in an effort to entrust locals with the task of providing for their own safety, under Village Law No. 442, but remained practically inert until it resurrected in the early 1980s due to the rise of the outlawed Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK). Following its resurrection in 1985, the system was entrusted to locals in order to prevent attacks by the PKK. Village guards, who typically came from feudal, pro-state Kurdish families, were generally seen as instrumental in assisting the army in countering activities by the PKK.