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Children of Fire Initiative

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Children of Fire Initiative (Kurdish: Înîsiyatîfa Zarokên Agir; Turkish: Ateşin Çocukları İnisiyatifi), is a Kurdish arsonist group active in Turkey.

History

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Although they had committed arson many times before, the group was not widely recognized before 2020.[1] The group committed 28 arson attacks in 2019.[2] They burnt cars, boats, yachts, offices, and homes. They have no ideology or structure and are a plain "revenge" group.[3][4] They also burnt military bases of Turkish troops stationed in northern Syria.[5] The group claims that they are not Anti-Turkish, nor do they target ordinary Turkish civilians who mind their own business, and that their only targets are Turkish governmental buildings, and people they accuse of persecuting Kurds, such as AKP or MHP politicians, offices, and supporters.[6]

The fires in Hatay in October 2020 were attributed to the group, and it was when they were recognised in the media.[1][7] Turkish sources that it is a PKK proxy group, although it denies those claims and the PKK denied them too.[8]

References

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  1. ^ a b Yilmaz, Dr Kamil (2020-12-15). "Claiming and Glorifying Environmental Terrorism Online: The Case of PKK's 'Children of Fire Initiative'". GNET. Retrieved 2024-04-13.
  2. ^ Miş, Nebi; Ataman, Muhittin; Yeşiltaş, Murat; Uzun, Cem Duran; İnat, Kemal; Bayraklı, Enes; Üstün, Kadir; Gür, Nurullah; Arkan, Atilla (1 Şubat 2019). 2019’da Türkiye. SET Vakfı İktisadi İşletmesi. ISBN 978-625-7040-17-4. Archived from the original on 2 August 2021. Access date: 2 Ağustos 2021.
  3. ^ "Ateşin Çocukları İnisiyatifi 14 tekne ve bir aracı ateşe verdi". ANF News (in Turkish). Retrieved 2024-04-13.
  4. ^ "Ateşin Çocukları İnisiyatifi birçok araç ve işyeri yaktı". ANF News (in Turkish). Retrieved 2024-04-13.
  5. ^ "Adana, İzmir ve İstanbul'da eylem". ANF News (in Turkish). Retrieved 2024-04-13.
  6. ^ "Ateşin Çocukları İnisiyatifi yedi kentte AKP-MHP'lilere ait mülkleri yaktı". ANF News (in Turkish). Retrieved 2024-04-13.
  7. ^ "Terör örgütü YPG/PKK, Hatay'daki orman yangınını propaganda çalışmasına dönüştürdü". www.aa.com.tr. Retrieved 2024-04-13.
  8. ^ "Înîsiyatîfa Zarokên Agir gelek der şewitand". ANF News (in Kurdish). Retrieved 2024-04-13.