The PKK terrorist group uses celebrity names encoded for their bomb attacks, captured terrorists revealed during their interrogation.
The terrorists named Elif K., 25, and Syrian Halim M., 26, were captured back in August 2019 while entering Turkey from Syria with the intention of organizing a bomb attack in the country. The terrorists' investigation was recently completed while their indictments, which demand aggravated life imprisonment for each charge of disrupting the unity and the territorial integrity of the state, have been accepted by the Second Criminal Court of Adana in southern Turkey.
The indictment of the terrorists also included statements by Elif K. on how she joined the terrorist group as well as the details of the terrorist attacks.
According to the terrorist's statements, the PKK determined famous Turkish singers for each location they planned to attack. For instance, if they planned a bomb attack in the city center, they would use the name of Murat Boz, while for the seaside, they used the name Mustafa Ceceli. If the attack was to be in a bar, they would use the name Seda Sayan while if it was in a restaurant, they would use the name Selçuk Balcı.
Elif K. said the group traveled to Turkey with the intention of launching a bomb attack in southern Mersin province. During preparations for the attack, the terrorists all used this encoded language, she said.
She added that apart from the celebrity names for locations, the PKK also encodes the day when the attack will take place as well. Monday is encoded as black, Tuesday is encoded as white, Wednesday is encoded as red, Thursday is encoded as yellow, Friday is encoded as blue, Saturday is encoded as orange and Sunday is encoded as green, Elif K. stated.
The terrorist further revealed that the emojis used on the phone also have different meanings for the terrorist group. While the smiling man means "I am in Antalya," as Elif K. reported, the crying man refers to "continue to explore." Similarly, the guitar emoji refers to the timing of the attack as 8 p.m., the reverse finger means you can commit the attack, the heart emoji means there are civilians around, the cake emoji means you need money, the sad man means committing the attack is difficult, and the thinking man emoji asks "where are you?" The cat emoji, on the other hand, means that the number of policemen is less than 15 while the goose emoji means the number of policemen is more than 15.
Underlining that even the written messages were encoded, the terrorist said that writing "I love someone" actually meant "there is a bridge." Meanwhile, "I am shopping," meant "there is a junction." Writing "I want to get married" meant that there was a police station, while writing "I want water" meant "I cannot find a way out."