Biography of Hasan Ağaç

 

Hasan Ağaç was born in 1964 in Hilvan, a district of Urfa province. He was a politician from Northern Kurdistan and a commander of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Biography

He attended primary school in Hilvan. His family was large and close-knit, always embracing the ideals of freedom and the Kurdish national identity, never shying away from responsibility or duty. Because of economic hardship, they sometimes had to travel to major cities in Turkey to work.
Hasan Ağaç’s family was among the first to engage in organized activism as a family in the cities of Kurdistan.

Before the 1980 coup, they were active in the freedom movement. His brother Mehmet Ağaç was killed in 1979 during tribal conflicts in Hilvan.
Another brother, Ahmet Ağaç (Şukrî), lost his life in 1993 during a clash with state forces in Viranşehir, along with five of his comrades.

Hasan Ağaç was known in society for his calm demeanor, educational spirit, charisma, integrity, and resilience.
In 1989, he began democratic political work with the People’s Labor Party (HEP) and took on responsibility for the party’s activities in his district.
He was respected and loved among the people. Thanks to his eloquence and power of persuasion, many young people, both women and men, joined the revolutionary struggle alongside him. One of them was his brother, Ahmet Ağaç.
He was repeatedly followed, interrogated, and pressured by state forces, yet he never abandoned his work or withdrew.

In 1991, Hasan Ağaç and Yusuf Serhat Bucak ran for parliament as candidates for Urfa. Although they won, they were denied their seats. During the campaign, Hasan Ağaç said:

“Don’t spend too much money; my people are poor. My poster should be in black and white.”

At that time, his black-and-white campaign posters covered the streets of his hometown.

His family suffered greatly under oppression and persecution. There was hardly anyone in the family who had not been interrogated, detained, tortured, or imprisoned. His brother Salih Ağaç was sentenced to death and imprisoned in the 1980s.
On September 1, 1991, when the authorities couldn’t find Hasan Ağaç at home, they detained his 60-year-old mother instead. This incident was also documented in human rights reports.

In 1992, he was seen again in Ankara at the HEP headquarters, where he worked tirelessly for the establishment of a Kurdish National Assembly.

Facing many assassination attempts and planned attacks by state forces, he decided to join the armed resistance. At the end of 1992, he received training at the Mahsum Korkmaz Academy.

In 1994, he began practical work in the GAP region with a coordination role.
Hasan Ağaç became both an obstacle to occupying forces and a barrier to those collaborating with them. At that time, tribal leaders in the GAP region put a large bounty on his head.

In 1995, he was wounded during a two-month period of clashes in Mardin. For treatment, he went to Hewlêr (Erbil) and continued his struggle for freedom until 1997.

Hasan Ağaç shouldered the burden under all circumstances, never gave up, and dedicated himself wholeheartedly.
In 1997, he lost his life during clashes between the Kurdistan Workers’ Party and KDP members. KDP forces attacked the hospital and killed the wounded. Hasan Ağaç fell as a martyr on May 18, 1997, sacrificing his life while trying to protect his comrades.

https://ku.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasan_Ağaç

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