Turkey says found body of soldier killed by PKK in Duhok two years ago

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkish defence ministry announced on Tuesday that it has found the body of a soldier who was killed by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in late 2022. The Kurdish group had previously said it was willing to hand over the body to Ankara if requested. 

The ministry said in a statement that they found the remains of Infantry Specialist Sergeant Mustafa Bazna “who was martyred on November 3, 2022, after falling from rocks during a rocket attack by members of the separatist terrorist organization, and whose body could not be found despite all search efforts, were finally recovered on January 29, 2025.”

It was referring to the PKK - an armed Kurdish group that has been listed as a terrorist organization by Ankara. 

The PKK claimed in December 2022 that Bazna was killed by them near the Amedi district of Duhok province on November 3, adding that they also confiscated his military equipment and mobile phone.

“Even though there is such an inhuman enemy… we state hereby that we can deliver the body of the soldier named Mustafa Bazna to his family through civilians or non-governmental organizations, if they demand, in accordance with the moral values of humanity, common values of the peoples and the laws of war,” said the PKK at the time. 

Pro-Kurdish lawmaker Omer Faruk Gergerlioglu on November 20 at the uncle of the soldier had asked him to help the family find out about the fate of Bazna “who we have not heard from for 15 days.”

Gergerlioglu also cited the family as saying that they had been told by Turkish authorities that Bazna could have been lost, killed or taken as a hostage by the PKK while on duty in the Kurdistan Region’s mountainous areas.