Kurdistan Workers Party
Encyclopedia
The Kurdistan Workers' Party ( or پارتی کار کهرانی کوردستان Parti Karkerani Kurdistan), commonly known as PKK, also known as KGK and formerly known as KADEK (Freedom and Democracy Congress of Kurdistan) or KONGRA-GEL (Kurdistan People's Congress), is a Kurdish
organization which has since 1984 been fighting an armed struggle against the Turkish state
for an autonomous Kurdistan and greater cultural and political
rights for the Kurds in Turkey
. The group was founded on 27 November 1978 and was led by Abdullah Öcalan
. The PKK's ideology was originally a fusion of revolutionary socialism
and Kurdish nationalism
- although since his imprisonment, Ocalan has abandoned orthodox Marxism
.
The PKK is listed as a terrorist
organization internationally by a number of states and organizations, including the United States
and the European Union
. Turkey labeled the organization as an ethnic
secession
ist organization that uses terrorism and the threat of force against both civilian and military targets for the purpose of achieving its political goal.
("Apo") in Ankara
. The group soon moved its focus to the large Kurdish population in south-east Turkey
. On November 27, 1978, the group adopted the name "Kurdistan Workers Party". Espousing a radical Far Left
Marxist ideology, the group took part in violent conflicts with right-wing entities as a part of the political chaos in Turkey at the time. In 1979, as a propaganda of the deed
, the group attempted to assassinate Kurdish tribal leader Mehmet Celal Bucak who they claimed exploited the peasants, and collaborated with Turkey
. This marked a period of intense urban warfare between other radical political elements. The 1980 Turkish coup d'état pushed the organization to another stage with the members doing jail time, being subject to capital punishment, or fleeing to Syria. On November 10, 1980, the Turkish Consulate in Strasbourg
, France
was bombed in a joint operation with the Armenian
radical group ASALA
, which they claimed as the beginning of a "fruitful collaboration."
Starting in 1984, the organization transformed itself into a paramilitary group, using training camps located in France, and launched attacks and bombings against governmental installations, the military, and various "institutions of the state" - some of which were connected to the Southeastern Anatolia Project
. The organization moved to a less centralized form, taking up operations in a variety of European and Middle Eastern countries, especially Germany
and France
. The PKK has attacked civilian and military targets in various countries, such as Turkey, France, Belgium and Iraq.
Beginning with the mid 1990s, the organization lost the upper hand in its operations as a consequence of a change of tactics by Turkey and Syria's steady abandonment of its support for the group. In the mid 1990s, it also began a series of suicide bombing attacks. 15 such attacks were performed, 11 of which were carried out by females. In the late 1990s, Turkey increased the pressure and the undeclared war between Turkey and Syria ended open Syrian support. In 1999, Öcalan was captured, prosecuted and sentenced to death, but later commuted to life imprisonment as part of European Union membership
. With downgraded security concerns, the Turkish parliament began a controlled process of dismantling the legal control, using the term "normalization" or "rapprochement" depending on the sides of the issue. The bans on broadcasting and publishing in the Kurdish language were partially relaxed - although significant barriers remained. At the same time, the organization was blacklisted in many countries. On April 2, 2004, the Council of the European Union
added the organization to its list of terrorist organizations. Later that year, the US Treasury
moved to freeze assets of branches of the organization. The organization went through a series of changes, and the unilateral truce that was declared when Ocalan was captured, ended in 2003.
Since Post-invasion Iraq, 2003–present, Turkey alleges that Massoud Barzani
, president of the Kurdistan Regional Government
, and the US-led coalition forces, have not done enough to combat with the organization and dislodge it from its base in the Iraqi mountains. In an interview during April 2010 the leader of the armed wing of the PKK, Murat Karayılan
, admitted to his organization having attacked a group of approaching American soldiers in 2004 in North Iraq and killing at least one of them.
. The organization's aims and objectives have evolved over time towards the goal of national autonomy, and what Ocalan dubs "Democratic Confederalism".
During 1980s the movement included and cooperated with other ethnic groups, including ethnic Turks, who were following the radical left. The organization initially aimed to establish a fully independent Kurdistan covering land in Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran.
In 1999, following the capture of Ocalan, the organization announced a "peace initiative," and spoke more often about cultural or linguistic rights. However, the group renounced its self-imposed cease-fire in 2004. Besides the activities directed towards Turkey, on 17 July 2005, one of the chief executives Hasan Özen was murdered in Austria. Hasan Özen wanted to leave the organization, and the PKK is widely thought to be responsible. In Diyarbakir, on 6 July 2005, Hikmet Fidan
, the former founder of the legal branch the People’s Democratic Party (HADEP), was also murdered. Hikmet Fidan had tried to form an alternative, non-violent Kurdish political party called the Patriotic Democratic Party (PWD) with Osman Ocalan, the brother of Abullah Ocalan. At least 3 other persons involved with the PWD were also killed. The PKK is widely thought to be responsible for these killings also.
was unchallenged leader of the organization. After the capture of Öcalan, authorities induced him to publicly plead for a ceasefire. Though serving life imprisonment, Öcalan is still considered the honorary leader and figure-head of the organization.
Murat Karayilan
has the control of the organization in practice, although undergone numerous conflicts between Cemil Bayik. Cemil Bayik beside Abdullah Öcalan, Kesire Yildirim Ocalan, and Hakki Karaer was one of the core leaders. Cemil Bayik’s military skills and leadership were criticized by Abdullah Ocalan during his 1999 trial. The organization appointed "Doctor Bahoz," the nom de guerre of Fehman Huseyin, a Syrian Kurd
, in charge of the movement's military operations signifying the long-standing solidarity among Kurds from all parts of Kurdistan.
. Instead of one big training camp which could be easily destroyed, the organization established many small camps. During this period the organization set up a fully functioning enclave with training camps, storage facilities, and reconnaissance and communications centers.
In 2007, the organization was believed to have a number of camps strung out through the mountains that straddle the border between Turkey and Iraq, including in Sinaht, Haftanin, Kanimasi and Zap. The organization has two types of camps, the border camps that were used as forward bases from which militants infiltrate into Turkey. The units deployed there are highly mobile and the camps have only the minimum infrastructure. The camps in the Qandil Mountains have a more developed infrastructure—including a field hospital, electricity generators and a large proportion of the PKK's lethal and non-lethal supplies.
There are also training camps in other countries, the organization's training camp which was deep in the woods and indiscernible was dismantled near Eindhoven in the Netherlands. The following raids resulted in arrests and seize of materials in The Hague, Rotterdam, Eindhoven and Capelle aan den IJssel. There was another training camp in Belgium, which is evidence the organization uses training camps in Europe for political and ideological training.
beginning in early 1990s. The establishment of direct links to the organization has been a question. In sequence HEP/DEP
/HADEP/DEHAP
/DTP
and the latest Peace and Democracy Party
(BDP) have been accused of sympathizing with the PKK, since they have refused to brand it as a terrorist group. As of June 2007 report by the European Union Institute for Security Studies
stated that "It is an obvious secret that DTP is connected to PKK in a way and PKK is a terrorist group."
Political organizations established in Turkey are banned from propagating or supporting separatism. Several political parties supporting Kurdish rights have been banned on this pretext. The constitutional court claimed to find direct links between the HEP/DEP
/HADEP and the PKK. IN 2008 the DTP-party was prosecuted by the constitutional court.
Kurdish politician Abdülmelik Fırat claims that Democratic Society Party
(DTP) was founded by PKK, and that 80 percent of Kurds do not vote for this party. However, senior DTP leaders maintain that they support a unified Turkey within a democratic framework. Aysel Tuğluk published an article in Radikal
in May 2007 as the co-president of DTP, to prove that claim.
Several parliamentarians and other elected representatives have been jailed for speaking in Kurdish, carrying Kurdish colors or otherwise "promoting separatism", most famous among them being Leyla Zana
.
. Such activity continues to this day. Turkish law enforcement seized a number of drug shipments and drug labs that belonged to the PKK. The PKK has also relied extensively on taxing drug shipments that move through its territory. PKK has units on the borders of areas it controls to collect money from drug traffickers and a number of Turkish drug smugglers are reported to have given money to the organization.
On October 14, 2009, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control
(OFAC) targeted the senior leadership of the PKK, designating as significant foreign narcotics traffickers, Murat Karayilan, the head of the PKK, and high-ranking members Ali Riza Altun and Zubayir Aydar.
On April 20, 2011, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced the designation of PKK founders Cemil Bayik
and Duran Kalkan and other high-ranking members as Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers (SDNT) pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (Kingpin Act). Pursuant to the Kingpin Act, the designation freezes any assets the designees may have under U.S. jurisdiction and prohibits U.S. persons from conducting financial or commercial transactions with these individuals.
During its establishment in the mid 1970s, amid violent clashes in the whole of Turkey, the organization used classic terrorism methods, such as the failed assassination of Mehmet Celal Bucak as a propaganda-of-the-deed. After the 1980 military coup, the organization developed into a paramilitary organization using resources it acquired in Bekaa valley in part of ex-Syrian-controlled Lebanon
. After 1984, PKK began to use Maoist theory of people's war. There are three phases in this theory. The militant base during the initial years was coming from different sources, so the first two phases were diffused to each other.
, sabotage
, riot
s, protests, and demonstration
s against the Turkish government. PKK has also been accused of violent attacks on individual civilians or residential areas (Kurds and non-Kurds alike), who refused to co-operate with the PKK or were suspected of collaborating with the Turkish authorities. During these years, the PKK fought a turf war against other predominantly Kurdish organisations in Turkey. The PKK effectively used the prison force to gain appeal among the population. In the whole Turkey, this period was characterized by violent clashes which culminated in the 1980 military coup.
During this time, the organization argued that its violent actions were explained by the need to defend Kurds in the context of what it considered as the massive cultural suppression of Kurdish identity (including the 1983 Turkish Language Act Ban) and cultural rights carried out by other governments of the region.
and assassination
against government officials and Kurdish tribal leaders who were named as puppets of the state were performed as well. Widespread sabotage
s were continued from the first stage. PKK performed kidnapping
western tourists, primarily in Istanbul
but also at different resorts. Its actions have taken place mainly in Turkey and against Turkish targets in other countries, although it has on occasions co-operated with other Kurdish nationalist paramilitary groups in neighboring states, such as Iraq and Iran. PKK has also attacked Turkish diplomatic and commercial facilities across Western Europe
. In effect, the Turkish state has led a series of counter-insurgency
operations against the PKK, accompanied by political measures, starting with an explicit denunciation of separatism in the 1982 Constitution
, and including proclamation of the state of emergency
in various PKK-controlled territories starting in 1983 (when the military relinquished political control to the civilians). This series of administrative reforms against terrorism included in 1985 the creation of village guard system
by the then prime minister Turgut Özal
who is of partial Kurdish descent.
PKK members in Sweden came into conflict with the Swedish government, and in 1986 PKK became the first main suspect for the assassination of Olof Palme. The illegal investigation of these suspicion led to the Ebbe Carlsson affair.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, in an effort to win increased support from the Kurdish peasantry, the PKK altered its leftist secular ideology to better accommodate and accept Islamic beliefs. The group also abandoned its previous strategy of attacking Kurdish civilians, focusing instead on government and tourist targets. In its campaign, the organization has been accused of carrying out atrocities against both Turkish and Kurdish civilians and its actions have been criticised by human rights
groups such as Amnesty International
and Human Rights Watch
. Actions of the Turkish state
in the past have also been criticised by these same groups.
On October 29, 1998, Turkish Airlines Flight 487 on a Boeing 737 named Ayvalık en route from Adana to Istanbul was hijacked by a PKK militant on the Republic Day. The hijacker, armed with a pistol and a hand grenade demanded to fly to Zurich, Switzerland via Sofia in Bulgaria.
All in all, this low intensity conflict
which has lasted more than thirty years has had a number of effects in the Turkish territory.
ian foreign minister Ali Akbar Salehi
announced Iran would co-operate with Turkey in some military operations against the PKK.
norms are commonplace. The organization increased its number of members through the recruitment of women from different social structures and environments, such as women from families that migrated to several European countries after 1960 as guest workers
. It was reported that 88% of the subjects claimed that equality was a key objective, there was no equality within the organization. In 2007, approximately 1,100 of 4,500-5,000 total members were women.
The organization used children within its militant force. 86% percent of who had joined the organization was to bolster their families incomes following offers that it would provide for their families in return. All of the new recruits reported that these offers were not fulfilled. 80% of those surveyed also reported that they had actively stopped other family members—usually younger brothers—from joining the organization too. 60% of those surveyed had an education level below high school level.
When asked why they stayed in the organization, two thirds stated that they were afraid of facing reprisals. They also feared for the safety of their families, who would be at risk as well. Five percent said that they feared punishment by the Republic of Turkey.
Four members of the organization, who handed themselves over to authorities after escaping from camps in northern Iraq, claimed they had seen two U.S. armored vehicles deliver weapons, which was widely reported and further stoked suspicions about U.S. policy in Iraq. US envoy denied these claims. The arms were claimed to be part of Blackwater Worldwide arms smuggling allegations. The probe of organization's weapons and the investigation of Blackwater employees were connected.
The organization has been using mines. Use of these mines has led to civilian deaths, in part due to accidental triggering by civilian trucks and buses rather than the intended military armoured vehicles.
The report was denied by Turkish Officials.
A report by INTERPOL published in 1992 states that the PKK, along with nearly 178 Kurdish organizations were suspected of illegal drug trade
involvement. Also INTERPOL's chief narcotics officer Iqbal Hussain Rizvi stated that the PKK was also heavily evolved in drug trafficking as a means to support the Kurdish revolt in Turkey. Members of the PKK have been designated narcotics traffickers by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
. In 2008, according to information provided by the Intelligence Resource Program of the Federation of American Scientists
the strength of the organization in terms of human resources consists of approximately 4,000 to 5,000 militants of whom 3,000 to 3,500 are located in northern Iraq.
A study carried out by the Counter-Terrorism and Operations Department of Directorate General for Security over a sample of files about people convicted of being a militant under Turkish laws including 262 militants from the organization has found that 54% of the members are aged 14 to 25, 34% 26 to 37 and 12% 38 to 58. University graduates make up 11% of the members, high school graduates 16%, secondary school graduates 13%, primary school graduates 39%, literate non-graduates 12% and illiterates 9%.
Support of Syria
: From early 1979 to 1999 Syria had provided valuable safe havens to PKK in the region of Beqaa Valley
. After the undeclared war between Turkey and Syria, Syria placed restrictions on PKK activity on its soil. Turkey is expecting positive developments in its cooperation with Syria in the long term, but even during the course of 2005, there were PKK operatives of Syrian nationality operating in Turkey.
Support of Iran
: Iran listed PKK as a terrorist organization after Iran's supply of resources to the PKK began to be used on its own soil
. Iran
provided PKK with supplies in the form of weapons and funds.
Support of Greece
: retired Greek L.T. General Dimitris Matafias and retired Greek Navy Admiral Antonis Neksasis had visited organization's Mahsun Korkmaz base camp in Bakaa valley in October 1988 along with parliamentarians from the panhellenic Socialist movement
(PASOK). At the time it was reported that the general has assumed responsibility for training. Greeks also dispatched arms through the Republic of Cyprus
. In December 1993, Greek European affairs minister Theodoros Pangalos
was quoted as saying "we must be supportive of the Kurdish people to be free". Greece declined to join Germany and France and the eleven other members at the EU to ban the organization. During the 1990s, Greece
supplied the rebels.
Support of the Republic of Cyprus: was alleged when Abdullah Öcalan
was caught with a Cypriot passport to the name of Mavros Lazaros, a nationalist reporter.
Support of the Soviet Union
and Russia
: According to the former KGB
-FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko
, who was poisoned in 2006, PKK's leader Abdullah Ocalan was trained by KGB
-FSB. As of 2008, Russia
is still not among the states that list PKK as a terrorist group despite intense Turkish pressures.
United Kingdom: MED TV
broadcast for five years in the UK, until its license was revoked by the regulators the Independent Television Commission (ITC) in 1999. The PKK has been listed as a terrorist organisation since 2001. In 2008 the United Kingdom detained members of the PKK and seized the assets of the PKK's representative in Britain, Selman Bozkur, alias “Dr. Hüseyin”. His assets remain frozen.
Support of various Europe states: Despite Brussels' designation of the group as a terrorist organization, the EU continues to permit the broadcasting of the organization's networks on the Hot Bird 3 satellite owned by the French company Eutelsat
. MEDYA TV
started transmissions from studios in Belgium via a satellite uplink from France
. MEDYA TV's license was revoked by the French authorities. A few weeks later Roj TV
began transmissions from Denmark. It has also been argued that the Netherlands
and Belgium
have supported the PKK by allowing its training camps to function in their respective territories. On November 22, 1998, Hanover's criminal police reported that three children had been trained by the PKK for guerrilla warfare
in camps in the Netherlands and Belgium. After the death of Theo van Gogh
, with increasing attention on domestic security concerns, the Dutch police raided the 'PKK paramilitary camp' in the Dutch town of Liempde
and arrested 29 people in November 2004. Denmark
allows Kurdish satellite television stations (such as ROJ-TV), which Turkey
claims has links with the PKK, to operate in Denmark and broadcast into Turkey.
Various PKK leaders, including Hidir Yalcin, Riza Altun, Zubeyir Aydar, and Ali Haydar Kaytan all lived in Europe and moved freely. The free movement was archived by the strong ties with influential persons. Danielle Mitterrand
, the wife of the former President of France, had active connections during the 90s with elements of the organization's leadership that forced a downgrade in relationships between the two states. Ali Rıza Altun, a suspected key figure with an Interpol
arrest warrant on his name, after harboring him for some time Austria
arranged a flight to Iraq
.. Turkish foreign minister Abdullah Gül
summoned the Austrian ambassador and condemned Austria's action. On September 30, 1995, While Öcalan was in Syria, Damascus
initiated contact with high ranking German CDU MP Heinrich Lummer and German intelligence officials.
The Chief of the Turkish General Staff during 2007, General Yaşar Büyükanıt
, stated that even though the international struggle had been discussed on every platform and even though organizations such as the UN
, NATO, EU
make statements of serious commitment, to this day the necessary measures had not been taken. According to Büyükanıt; "this conduct on one side has encouraged the terrorists, on the other side it assisted in widening their [the terrorists] activities. The most distressful part of it is that many of the European countries being a member of NATO, an organization that had announced that terrorism was the greatest threat to itself."
Sedat Laçiner
, of the Turkish think tank ISRO
, says that US support of the PKK undermines the US War on Terrorism
. Seymour Hersh
claimed that the U.S. supported PEJAK, the Iranian branch of the PKK. The head of the PKK's militant arm, Murat Karayilan, claimed that Iran attempted to recruit the PKK to attack coalition forces, adding that Kurdish guerrillas had launched a clandestine war in north-western Iran
, ambushing Iranian troops
.
As a revolutionary left-wing
organization, the PKK perceived Turkish society as one that was deformed by capitalism and imperialism. The PKK unleashed its aggression on enemies spanning all classes (farmers, business, etc.) and those that it considered puppets of the state. The cost of the PKK's actions are significant. PKK had drastic effects on regional economy, as targeted infrastructure of the region. Regions' inability to join the economical activities were associated with the work force, costs (insurance premiums, facility costs, loss of trained personnel etc.), and productivity (loss of work time, travel restrictions, inability to move rapidly etc.). The region has had a very high historical tourism potential and it has been dormant because of the terrorism threat for many years.
The integration into social and economical activities are developed within the education system. Educational activities were targeted by the PKK. Because the majority of the people are very resilient to the effects of political violence, young people form a high risk group because of their undeveloped personalities. The effects of political violence on the newer generations is an important issue because, at the moment, the new generation in areas affected by the conflict have no experience living under what would be considered normal conditions.
This conflict became part with the negotiations between Turkey and the European Union
(EU) about its eventual integration to the EU
.
have destroyed some 8000 Kurdish communities and created 3 to 4 million refugees in the process.
According to Chief of the Turkish General Staff
, until September 2008:
According to Kendal Nezan
's article published in July 1998 in Le Monde diplomatique
, the conflict has weighed heavily on the Turkish state's budget. In 1993, a sum of $70m was allocated from the prime minister’s secret funds. According to government inspector Kutlu Savaş, this sum was used mainly for procuring weapons and anti-terrorist equipment from Israel and for external operations. Irregular units in the conflictual zones have had to find ways to finance themselves, including racketeering and secret funding. The details of state-sanctioned criminal activities were revealed in the wake of the Susurluk scandal
. Sedat Bucak has been alleged by Kendal Nezan to have 20,000 men under his command, while the village guards, pro-government Kurdish militias created in the mid-1980s, are estimated to number some 64,000.
organization internationally by NATO, European Union
and the following states:
The PKK leader claimed on an interview that the only reason they have been put on the 'Terrorist organization' list is due to political pressure from Turkey, who he accuses of falsifying accounts and unfairly demonizing the organization.
Kurdish people
The Kurdish people, or Kurds , are an Iranian people native to the Middle East, mostly inhabiting a region known as Kurdistan, which includes adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey...
organization which has since 1984 been fighting an armed struggle against the Turkish state
Turkey-PKK conflict
The Turkey – Kurdistan Workers' Party conflict, also referred to as the Kurdish Conflict in Turkey, the Kurdish Conflict, the Kurdish insurgency, the Kurdish rebellion or PKK-terrorism and has also been described as the latest Kurdish uprising or as a civil war, is an armed conflict between the...
for an autonomous Kurdistan and greater cultural and political
Human rights of Kurdish people in Turkey
Human rights of Kurdish people in Turkey looks at the human rights of Kurds in Turkey.- Education :In Turkey, the only language of instruction in the education system is Turkish....
rights for the Kurds in Turkey
Kurds in Turkey
Ethnic Kurds compose a significant portion of the population in Turkey . Unlike the Turks, the Kurds speak an Indo-European language...
. The group was founded on 27 November 1978 and was led by Abdullah Öcalan
Abdullah Öcalan
Abdullah Öcalan , Kurdish founder of the terrorist organization called Kurdistan Workers' Party in 1978.Öcalan was captured in Nairobi and extradited to the Turkish security force, and sentenced to death under Article 125 of the Turkish Penal Code, which concerns the formation of armed gangs...
. The PKK's ideology was originally a fusion of revolutionary socialism
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
and Kurdish nationalism
Kurdish nationalism
Kurdish nationalism is the political movement that holds that the Kurdish people are a nation deserving of a sovereign homeland, Kurdistan out of the territories where Kurdish people form a majority...
- although since his imprisonment, Ocalan has abandoned orthodox Marxism
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
.
The PKK is listed as a terrorist
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
organization internationally by a number of states and organizations, including the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
. Turkey labeled the organization as an ethnic
Ethnic nationalism
Ethnic nationalism is a form of nationalism wherein the "nation" is defined in terms of ethnicity. Whatever specific ethnicity is involved, ethnic nationalism always includes some element of descent from previous generations and the implied claim of ethnic essentialism, i.e...
secession
Secession
Secession is the act of withdrawing from an organization, union, or especially a political entity. Threats of secession also can be a strategy for achieving more limited goals.-Secession theory:...
ist organization that uses terrorism and the threat of force against both civilian and military targets for the purpose of achieving its political goal.
History
In the early 1970s, the organization's core group was made up largely of students led by Abdullah ÖcalanAbdullah Öcalan
Abdullah Öcalan , Kurdish founder of the terrorist organization called Kurdistan Workers' Party in 1978.Öcalan was captured in Nairobi and extradited to the Turkish security force, and sentenced to death under Article 125 of the Turkish Penal Code, which concerns the formation of armed gangs...
("Apo") in Ankara
Ankara
Ankara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of , and as of 2010 the metropolitan area in the entire Ankara Province had a population of 4.4 million....
. The group soon moved its focus to the large Kurdish population in south-east Turkey
Southeastern Anatolia Region
Southeastern Anatolia Region is one of Turkey's seven census-defined geographical regions . It is bordered by the Mediterranean Region to the west, the Eastern Anatolia Region to the north, Syria to the south, and Iraq to the southeast.-Provinces:...
. On November 27, 1978, the group adopted the name "Kurdistan Workers Party". Espousing a radical Far Left
Far left
Far left, also known as the revolutionary left, radical left and extreme left are terms which refer to the highest degree of leftist positions among left-wing politics...
Marxist ideology, the group took part in violent conflicts with right-wing entities as a part of the political chaos in Turkey at the time. In 1979, as a propaganda of the deed
Propaganda of the deed
Propaganda of the deed is a concept that refers to specific political actions meant to be exemplary to others...
, the group attempted to assassinate Kurdish tribal leader Mehmet Celal Bucak who they claimed exploited the peasants, and collaborated with Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
. This marked a period of intense urban warfare between other radical political elements. The 1980 Turkish coup d'état pushed the organization to another stage with the members doing jail time, being subject to capital punishment, or fleeing to Syria. On November 10, 1980, the Turkish Consulate in Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
was bombed in a joint operation with the Armenian
Armenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
radical group ASALA
Asala
Asala may refer to:* Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia, a Marxist-Leninist guerrilla organization.* Asalah Nasri, Syrian singer* Al Asalah, a Salafist political party in Bahrain...
, which they claimed as the beginning of a "fruitful collaboration."
Starting in 1984, the organization transformed itself into a paramilitary group, using training camps located in France, and launched attacks and bombings against governmental installations, the military, and various "institutions of the state" - some of which were connected to the Southeastern Anatolia Project
Southeastern Anatolia Project
The Southeastern Anatolia Project is a multi-sector integrated regional development project based on the concept of sustainable development for the 9 million people living in the Southeastern Anatolia region of Turkey...
. The organization moved to a less centralized form, taking up operations in a variety of European and Middle Eastern countries, especially Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. The PKK has attacked civilian and military targets in various countries, such as Turkey, France, Belgium and Iraq.
Beginning with the mid 1990s, the organization lost the upper hand in its operations as a consequence of a change of tactics by Turkey and Syria's steady abandonment of its support for the group. In the mid 1990s, it also began a series of suicide bombing attacks. 15 such attacks were performed, 11 of which were carried out by females. In the late 1990s, Turkey increased the pressure and the undeclared war between Turkey and Syria ended open Syrian support. In 1999, Öcalan was captured, prosecuted and sentenced to death, but later commuted to life imprisonment as part of European Union membership
Accession of Turkey to the European Union
Turkey's application to accede to the European Union was made on 14 April 1987. Turkey has been an associate member of the European Union and its predecessors since 1963...
. With downgraded security concerns, the Turkish parliament began a controlled process of dismantling the legal control, using the term "normalization" or "rapprochement" depending on the sides of the issue. The bans on broadcasting and publishing in the Kurdish language were partially relaxed - although significant barriers remained. At the same time, the organization was blacklisted in many countries. On April 2, 2004, the Council of the European Union
Council of the European Union
The Council of the European Union is the institution in the legislature of the European Union representing the executives of member states, the other legislative body being the European Parliament. The Council is composed of twenty-seven national ministers...
added the organization to its list of terrorist organizations. Later that year, the US Treasury
United States Department of the Treasury
The Department of the Treasury is an executive department and the treasury of the United States federal government. It was established by an Act of Congress in 1789 to manage government revenue...
moved to freeze assets of branches of the organization. The organization went through a series of changes, and the unilateral truce that was declared when Ocalan was captured, ended in 2003.
Since Post-invasion Iraq, 2003–present, Turkey alleges that Massoud Barzani
Massoud Barzani
Massoud Barzani is the current President of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region and the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party. Barzani was born in Mahabad, Iran, during the rule of the Republic of Mahabad...
, president of the Kurdistan Regional Government
Kurdistan Regional Government
The Kurdistan Regional Government , , is the official ruling body of the predominantly Kurds-populated Kurdistan Region in Northern Iraq...
, and the US-led coalition forces, have not done enough to combat with the organization and dislodge it from its base in the Iraqi mountains. In an interview during April 2010 the leader of the armed wing of the PKK, Murat Karayılan
Murat Karayilan
Murat Karayılan is the current acting leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party.He has been the PKK's acting leader ever since its original founder and leader, Abdullah Öcalan, was captured in 1999....
, admitted to his organization having attacked a group of approaching American soldiers in 2004 in North Iraq and killing at least one of them.
Ideology
The organization originated in the 1970s from the radical left and drew its leaders, members from other existing leftist groups, mainly Dev-Genç. The organization initially presented itself as part of the worldwide communist revolutionCommunist revolution
A communist revolution is a proletarian revolution inspired by the ideas of Marxism that aims to replace capitalism with communism, typically with socialism as an intermediate stage...
. The organization's aims and objectives have evolved over time towards the goal of national autonomy, and what Ocalan dubs "Democratic Confederalism".
During 1980s the movement included and cooperated with other ethnic groups, including ethnic Turks, who were following the radical left. The organization initially aimed to establish a fully independent Kurdistan covering land in Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran.
In 1999, following the capture of Ocalan, the organization announced a "peace initiative," and spoke more often about cultural or linguistic rights. However, the group renounced its self-imposed cease-fire in 2004. Besides the activities directed towards Turkey, on 17 July 2005, one of the chief executives Hasan Özen was murdered in Austria. Hasan Özen wanted to leave the organization, and the PKK is widely thought to be responsible. In Diyarbakir, on 6 July 2005, Hikmet Fidan
Hikmet Fidan
Hikmet Fidan , a Kurdish-born Turkish politician, was the former deputy leader of the Democratic People's Party until it was banned by the Constitutional Court in 2003....
, the former founder of the legal branch the People’s Democratic Party (HADEP), was also murdered. Hikmet Fidan had tried to form an alternative, non-violent Kurdish political party called the Patriotic Democratic Party (PWD) with Osman Ocalan, the brother of Abullah Ocalan. At least 3 other persons involved with the PWD were also killed. The PKK is widely thought to be responsible for these killings also.
Organization
The PKK has multiple heads in various West European countries. However, Abdullah ÖcalanAbdullah Öcalan
Abdullah Öcalan , Kurdish founder of the terrorist organization called Kurdistan Workers' Party in 1978.Öcalan was captured in Nairobi and extradited to the Turkish security force, and sentenced to death under Article 125 of the Turkish Penal Code, which concerns the formation of armed gangs...
was unchallenged leader of the organization. After the capture of Öcalan, authorities induced him to publicly plead for a ceasefire. Though serving life imprisonment, Öcalan is still considered the honorary leader and figure-head of the organization.
Murat Karayilan
Murat Karayilan
Murat Karayılan is the current acting leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party.He has been the PKK's acting leader ever since its original founder and leader, Abdullah Öcalan, was captured in 1999....
has the control of the organization in practice, although undergone numerous conflicts between Cemil Bayik. Cemil Bayik beside Abdullah Öcalan, Kesire Yildirim Ocalan, and Hakki Karaer was one of the core leaders. Cemil Bayik’s military skills and leadership were criticized by Abdullah Ocalan during his 1999 trial. The organization appointed "Doctor Bahoz," the nom de guerre of Fehman Huseyin, a Syrian Kurd
Kurds in Syria
Kurds are the largest ethnic minority in Syria making up 10% of the country's population. Most of them are Sunni Muslims; there are also Yazidi and Yarsan Kurds in Syria and small numbers of Christians and Alawis. They face routine discrimination and harassment by the Syrian...
, in charge of the movement's military operations signifying the long-standing solidarity among Kurds from all parts of Kurdistan.
Training camps
The first training camp was established in 1982 in Bekaa Valley (which was then under Syrian control), with the support of the Palestine Liberation Organization and Syria. This main camp moved to north Iraq in 1998, under intensive pressure, after Syria expelled Ocalan and shut down all camps established in the region. The organization moved its training camps to North Iraq where there was a vacuum of control after Operation Provide ComfortOperation Provide Comfort
Operation Provide Comfort and Provide Comfort II were military operations by the United States and some of its Gulf War allies, starting in April 1991, to defend Kurds fleeing their homes in northern Iraq in the aftermath of the Persian Gulf War and deliver humanitarian aid to them.-Operation...
. Instead of one big training camp which could be easily destroyed, the organization established many small camps. During this period the organization set up a fully functioning enclave with training camps, storage facilities, and reconnaissance and communications centers.
In 2007, the organization was believed to have a number of camps strung out through the mountains that straddle the border between Turkey and Iraq, including in Sinaht, Haftanin, Kanimasi and Zap. The organization has two types of camps, the border camps that were used as forward bases from which militants infiltrate into Turkey. The units deployed there are highly mobile and the camps have only the minimum infrastructure. The camps in the Qandil Mountains have a more developed infrastructure—including a field hospital, electricity generators and a large proportion of the PKK's lethal and non-lethal supplies.
There are also training camps in other countries, the organization's training camp which was deep in the woods and indiscernible was dismantled near Eindhoven in the Netherlands. The following raids resulted in arrests and seize of materials in The Hague, Rotterdam, Eindhoven and Capelle aan den IJssel. There was another training camp in Belgium, which is evidence the organization uses training camps in Europe for political and ideological training.
Political representation
The organization had sympathizer parties in the Grand National Assembly of TurkeyGrand National Assembly of Turkey
The Grand National Assembly of Turkey , usually referred to simply as the Meclis , is the unicameral Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by the Turkish Constitution. It was founded in Ankara on 23 April 1920 in the midst of the Turkish War of Independence...
beginning in early 1990s. The establishment of direct links to the organization has been a question. In sequence HEP/DEP
Democracy Party
Democracy Party was a pro-Kurdish political party in Turkey. It was founded in May 1993 by several prominent members of the People's Labor Party . The party became divided over the issue of the PKK, two factions - moderate and radical - appeared. Due to the promotion of Kurdish nationalism the...
/HADEP/DEHAP
Democratic People's Party (Turkey)
Democratic People's Party was a Kurdish nationalist political party in Turkey. DEHAP was founded 24 October 1997. It was the continuation of the People's Democracy Party , which was banned in March 2003 by the Constitutional Court on the grounds that it supported the Kurdistan Workers Party.At its...
/DTP
Democratic Society Party
The Democratic Society Party was a Kurdish Kurdish nationalist political party in Turkey. The party considered itself social democratic, and had observer status in the Socialist International. It was considered to be the successor of the Democratic People's Party...
and the latest Peace and Democracy Party
Peace and Democracy Party
The Peace and Democracy Party ) is a political party in the Republic of Turkey. It succeeded the Democratic Society Party following the closure of the latter party for its alleged connections with the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by the EU.The BDP has observer status in the...
(BDP) have been accused of sympathizing with the PKK, since they have refused to brand it as a terrorist group. As of June 2007 report by the European Union Institute for Security Studies
European Union Institute for Security Studies
The European Union Institute for Security Studies is a Paris-based EU agency of the Common Foreign and Security Policy . Its goals are to find a common security culture for the EU, to help develop and project the CFSP, and to enrich Europe’s strategic debate.The EUISS is an autonomous agency with...
stated that "It is an obvious secret that DTP is connected to PKK in a way and PKK is a terrorist group."
Political organizations established in Turkey are banned from propagating or supporting separatism. Several political parties supporting Kurdish rights have been banned on this pretext. The constitutional court claimed to find direct links between the HEP/DEP
Democracy Party
Democracy Party was a pro-Kurdish political party in Turkey. It was founded in May 1993 by several prominent members of the People's Labor Party . The party became divided over the issue of the PKK, two factions - moderate and radical - appeared. Due to the promotion of Kurdish nationalism the...
/HADEP and the PKK. IN 2008 the DTP-party was prosecuted by the constitutional court.
Kurdish politician Abdülmelik Fırat claims that Democratic Society Party
Democratic Society Party
The Democratic Society Party was a Kurdish Kurdish nationalist political party in Turkey. The party considered itself social democratic, and had observer status in the Socialist International. It was considered to be the successor of the Democratic People's Party...
(DTP) was founded by PKK, and that 80 percent of Kurds do not vote for this party. However, senior DTP leaders maintain that they support a unified Turkey within a democratic framework. Aysel Tuğluk published an article in Radikal
Radikal
Radikal is a daily Turkish language newspaper, published in Istanbul. It has been published since 1997 by Aydın Doğan's Doğan Media Group ....
in May 2007 as the co-president of DTP, to prove that claim.
Several parliamentarians and other elected representatives have been jailed for speaking in Kurdish, carrying Kurdish colors or otherwise "promoting separatism", most famous among them being Leyla Zana
Leyla Zana
Leyla Zana , is a Kurdish politician, who was imprisoned for 10 years for her political actions which were claimed to be against the unity of Turkey. When she was a member of pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party, she was banned from joining any political party for five years with the Constitutional...
.
Drug trafficking
The PKK was designated as a significant foreign narcotics trafficker by the U.S. Department of the Treasury for its more than two decades-long participation in drug trafficking. The drug trade is one of the PKK's most lucrative criminal activities. Nearly 300 individuals connected to the PKK were arrested on drug trafficking charges from the mid-1980s through the early 1990s, more than half of them in GermanyGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. Such activity continues to this day. Turkish law enforcement seized a number of drug shipments and drug labs that belonged to the PKK. The PKK has also relied extensively on taxing drug shipments that move through its territory. PKK has units on the borders of areas it controls to collect money from drug traffickers and a number of Turkish drug smugglers are reported to have given money to the organization.
On October 14, 2009, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control
Office of Foreign Assets Control
The Office of Foreign Assets Control is an agency of the United States Department of the Treasury under the auspices of the Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. OFAC administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions based on U.S...
(OFAC) targeted the senior leadership of the PKK, designating as significant foreign narcotics traffickers, Murat Karayilan, the head of the PKK, and high-ranking members Ali Riza Altun and Zubayir Aydar.
On April 20, 2011, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced the designation of PKK founders Cemil Bayik
Cemil Bayik
Cemil Bayik , also known as Cuma, is one of the five founders of the Kurdish separatist movement Kurdistan Workers' Party , who are still alive and is among the organisation's top leadership as he is a member of the 12-man leadership council of the Koma Civaken Kurdistan , a Kurdish political...
and Duran Kalkan and other high-ranking members as Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers (SDNT) pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (Kingpin Act). Pursuant to the Kingpin Act, the designation freezes any assets the designees may have under U.S. jurisdiction and prohibits U.S. persons from conducting financial or commercial transactions with these individuals.
Activities
| Activities of the Kurdistan Workers Party by Region | |||||
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| Riot Riot A riot is a form of civil disorder characterized often by what is thought of as disorganized groups lashing out in a sudden and intense rash of violence against authority, property or people. While individuals may attempt to lead or control a riot, riots are thought to be typically chaotic and... s |
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| Assassination Assassination To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be... |
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| Sabotage Sabotage Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening another entity through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. In a workplace setting, sabotage is the conscious withdrawal of efficiency generally directed at causing some change in workplace conditions. One who engages in sabotage is... |
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| Chemical warfare Chemical warfare Chemical warfare involves using the toxic properties of chemical substances as weapons. This type of warfare is distinct from Nuclear warfare and Biological warfare, which together make up NBC, the military acronym for Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical... Two decoded cases: 1) August 27, 1996 mustard/sarin 2) (50 mg/l) of cyanide to three water tanks used by the Air Force. |
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| Organized Crime Organized crime Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are... |
Extortion Extortion Extortion is a criminal offence which occurs when a person unlawfully obtains either money, property or services from a person, entity, or institution, through coercion. Refraining from doing harm is sometimes euphemistically called protection. Extortion is commonly practiced by organized crime... |
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| Drug Trafficking Illegal drug trade The illegal drug trade is a global black market, dedicated to cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of those substances which are subject to drug prohibition laws. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types of drugs by drug prohibition laws.A UN report said the... |
Transit | Transit | Destination | ||
During its establishment in the mid 1970s, amid violent clashes in the whole of Turkey, the organization used classic terrorism methods, such as the failed assassination of Mehmet Celal Bucak as a propaganda-of-the-deed. After the 1980 military coup, the organization developed into a paramilitary organization using resources it acquired in Bekaa valley in part of ex-Syrian-controlled Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
. After 1984, PKK began to use Maoist theory of people's war. There are three phases in this theory. The militant base during the initial years was coming from different sources, so the first two phases were diffused to each other.
1978–1984
In the first phase (1978–1984), the PKK tried to gain the support of the Kurdish population. It attacked the machinery of government and distributed propaganda in the region. PKK tactics were based on ambushAmbush
An ambush is a long-established military tactic, in which the aggressors take advantage of concealment and the element of surprise to attack an unsuspecting enemy from concealed positions, such as among dense underbrush or behind hilltops...
, sabotage
Sabotage
Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening another entity through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. In a workplace setting, sabotage is the conscious withdrawal of efficiency generally directed at causing some change in workplace conditions. One who engages in sabotage is...
, riot
Riot
A riot is a form of civil disorder characterized often by what is thought of as disorganized groups lashing out in a sudden and intense rash of violence against authority, property or people. While individuals may attempt to lead or control a riot, riots are thought to be typically chaotic and...
s, protests, and demonstration
Demonstration (people)
A demonstration or street protest is action by a mass group or collection of groups of people in favor of a political or other cause; it normally consists of walking in a mass march formation and either beginning with or meeting at a designated endpoint, or rally, to hear speakers.Actions such as...
s against the Turkish government. PKK has also been accused of violent attacks on individual civilians or residential areas (Kurds and non-Kurds alike), who refused to co-operate with the PKK or were suspected of collaborating with the Turkish authorities. During these years, the PKK fought a turf war against other predominantly Kurdish organisations in Turkey. The PKK effectively used the prison force to gain appeal among the population. In the whole Turkey, this period was characterized by violent clashes which culminated in the 1980 military coup.
During this time, the organization argued that its violent actions were explained by the need to defend Kurds in the context of what it considered as the massive cultural suppression of Kurdish identity (including the 1983 Turkish Language Act Ban) and cultural rights carried out by other governments of the region.
1984–1999
In the second phase (1984–1999), which followed the return of civilian rule in 1983, escalating attacks were made on the government's military and vital institutions all over the country. The objective was to destabilise Turkish authority through a long, low-intensity confrontation. In addition to skirmishing with Turkish military and police forces and local village guards, the PKK has conducted suicide bombing on government and police installations, as well as at local tourist sites. KidnappingKidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
and assassination
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
against government officials and Kurdish tribal leaders who were named as puppets of the state were performed as well. Widespread sabotage
Sabotage
Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening another entity through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. In a workplace setting, sabotage is the conscious withdrawal of efficiency generally directed at causing some change in workplace conditions. One who engages in sabotage is...
s were continued from the first stage. PKK performed kidnapping
Kidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
western tourists, primarily in Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
but also at different resorts. Its actions have taken place mainly in Turkey and against Turkish targets in other countries, although it has on occasions co-operated with other Kurdish nationalist paramilitary groups in neighboring states, such as Iraq and Iran. PKK has also attacked Turkish diplomatic and commercial facilities across Western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
. In effect, the Turkish state has led a series of counter-insurgency
Counter-insurgency
A counter-insurgency or counterinsurgency involves actions taken by the recognized government of a nation to contain or quell an insurgency taken up against it...
operations against the PKK, accompanied by political measures, starting with an explicit denunciation of separatism in the 1982 Constitution
Constitution of Turkey
This article relates to a current event. See also the Turkish constitutional referendum, 2010The Constitution of the Republic of Turkey is Turkey's fundamental law. It establishes the organization of the government and sets out the principles and rules of the state's conduct along with its...
, and including proclamation of the state of emergency
State of emergency
A state of emergency is a governmental declaration that may suspend some normal functions of the executive, legislative and judicial powers, alert citizens to change their normal behaviours, or order government agencies to implement emergency preparedness plans. It can also be used as a rationale...
in various PKK-controlled territories starting in 1983 (when the military relinquished political control to the civilians). This series of administrative reforms against terrorism included in 1985 the creation of village guard system
Village guard system
Village guards ) are paramilitaries. Originally they were set up and funded by the Turkish state in the mid-1980s under the direction of Turgut Özal. Their stated purpose was to act as a local militia in towns and villages, protecting against attacks and reprisals from the insurgents, terrorists...
by the then prime minister Turgut Özal
Turgut Özal
Halil Turgut Özal was Prime Minister of Turkey and President of Turkey . As Prime Minister, he transformed the economy of Turkey by paving the way for the privatization of many state enterprises.-Early life and career:...
who is of partial Kurdish descent.
PKK members in Sweden came into conflict with the Swedish government, and in 1986 PKK became the first main suspect for the assassination of Olof Palme. The illegal investigation of these suspicion led to the Ebbe Carlsson affair.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, in an effort to win increased support from the Kurdish peasantry, the PKK altered its leftist secular ideology to better accommodate and accept Islamic beliefs. The group also abandoned its previous strategy of attacking Kurdish civilians, focusing instead on government and tourist targets. In its campaign, the organization has been accused of carrying out atrocities against both Turkish and Kurdish civilians and its actions have been criticised by human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
groups such as Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
and Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
. Actions of the Turkish state
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
in the past have also been criticised by these same groups.
On October 29, 1998, Turkish Airlines Flight 487 on a Boeing 737 named Ayvalık en route from Adana to Istanbul was hijacked by a PKK militant on the Republic Day. The hijacker, armed with a pistol and a hand grenade demanded to fly to Zurich, Switzerland via Sofia in Bulgaria.
All in all, this low intensity conflict
Low intensity conflict
Low intensity conflict is the use of military forces applied selectively and with restraint to enforce compliance with the policies or objectives of the political body controlling the military force...
which has lasted more than thirty years has had a number of effects in the Turkish territory.
1999–current
In the third phase (1999–current), after capture of Öcalan, according to Maoist theory of people's war claims that the conventional fighting should be established to seize cities, overthrow the government and take control of the country. This stage has never been achieved. In effect, after the capture of Öcalan, activities of the organization never reached previous levels. At the same time, the PKK continued to heavily recruit new members and sustain its fighting force. It decided to remobilize its armed forces in 2004 as its control over its ethnic constituency is threatened by the rising appeal of the AKP among the Kurds of Turkey. While the fight against the Turkish security forces between 2004 and 2010 failed to achieve any significant military progress, the PKK and its ancillary organizations have continued to enjoy substantial support among the Kurds of Turkey. On October 21, 2011 IranIran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
ian foreign minister Ali Akbar Salehi
Ali Akbar Salehi
Ali Akbar Salehi is an Iranian politician, diplomat and academic and the current Minister of Foreign Affairs since 13 December 2010. Previous to his appointment as Minister of Foreign Affairs, he was Head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran from 16 July 2009 to 13 December 2010...
announced Iran would co-operate with Turkey in some military operations against the PKK.
Tactics
The areas in which the group operates are generally mountainous rural areas and dense urban areas. The mountainous terrain offers an advantage to members of the PKK by allowing them to hide in a network of caves and making military air operations, especially helicopter use, hazardous for the Turkish Armed Forces. While in urban areas, PKK members are often able to blend in with the local population.Recruiting
The PKK's Marxist ideology claims to support equality of gender. At its establishment, it included a small number of female militants. Over time, however, this number has increased significantly and by the early 1990s, 30 percent of its 17,000 armed militants were women. In much of rural Turkey, male-dominated tribal structures, and conservative MuslimMuslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
norms are commonplace. The organization increased its number of members through the recruitment of women from different social structures and environments, such as women from families that migrated to several European countries after 1960 as guest workers
Foreign worker
A foreign worker is a person who works in a country other than the one of which he or she is a citizen. The term migrant worker as discussed in the migrant worker page is used in a particular UN resolution as a synonym for "foreign worker"...
. It was reported that 88% of the subjects claimed that equality was a key objective, there was no equality within the organization. In 2007, approximately 1,100 of 4,500-5,000 total members were women.
The organization used children within its militant force. 86% percent of who had joined the organization was to bolster their families incomes following offers that it would provide for their families in return. All of the new recruits reported that these offers were not fulfilled. 80% of those surveyed also reported that they had actively stopped other family members—usually younger brothers—from joining the organization too. 60% of those surveyed had an education level below high school level.
When asked why they stayed in the organization, two thirds stated that they were afraid of facing reprisals. They also feared for the safety of their families, who would be at risk as well. Five percent said that they feared punishment by the Republic of Turkey.
Instruments
In July 2007, the weapons captured between 1984-2007 from the PKK operatives and their origins published by the Turkish General Staff indicates that the operatives delete some of the serial numbers from their weapons. The total number of weapons and the origins for traceable ones were:| The choice & origin of the traceable weapons (July 2007) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Type | Quantity | Sources |
| AK-47 Kalashnikovs AK-47 The AK-47 is a selective-fire, gas-operated 7.62×39mm assault rifle, first developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov. It is officially known as Avtomat Kalashnikova . It is also known as a Kalashnikov, an "AK", or in Russian slang, Kalash.Design work on the AK-47 began in the last year... |
4,500 | 71.6% from the USSR Soviet Union The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991.... , 14.7% from China People's Republic of China China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres... , 3.6% from Hungary Hungary Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The... , 3.6% from Bulgaria Bulgaria Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east... |
| Rifle Rifle A rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called "lands," which make contact with the projectile , imparting spin around an axis corresponding to the... sKannas, PKC automatic rifle PK machine gun The PK is a 7.62 mm general-purpose machine gun designed in the Soviet Union and currently in production in Russia. The PK machine gun was introduced in the 1960s and replaced the SGM and RPD machine guns in Soviet service... , Dragunov Sniper Rifle, Arbiki, Heckler & Koch G3 Heckler & Koch G3 The G3 is a 7.62mm battle rifle developed in the 1950s by the German armament manufacturer Heckler & Koch GmbH in collaboration with the Spanish state-owned design and development agency CETME .... , M16 rifle M16 rifle The M16 is the United States military designation for the AR-15 rifle adapted for both semi-automatic and full-automatic fire. Colt purchased the rights to the AR-15 from ArmaLite, and currently uses that designation only for semi-automatic versions of the rifle. The M16 fires the 5.56×45mm NATO... , Heckler & Koch PSG1 Heckler & Koch PSG1 The PSG1 is a semi-automatic rifle designed by the German company Heckler & Koch of Oberndorf am Neckar.-Development:... (G-1), Mauser Mauser Mauser was a German arms manufacturer of a line of bolt-action rifles and pistols from the 1870s to 1995. Mauser designs were built for the German armed forces... |
5,713 of (959 traceable) | 45.2% from Russia Russia Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects... , 13.2% from United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages... , and 9.4% from United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district... . |
| Rocket launcher Rocket launcher A rocket launcher is any device that launches a rocket-propelled projectile, although the term is often used in reference to mechanisms that are portable and capable of being operated by an individual.... s |
1,610 (313 traceable) | 85% from Russia Russia Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects... , 5.4% from Iraq Iraq Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.... , and 2.5% from China People's Republic of China China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres... in origin. |
| Pistol Pistol When distinguished as a subset of handguns, a pistol is a handgun with a chamber that is integral with the barrel, as opposed to a revolver, wherein the chamber is separate from the barrel as a revolving cylinder. Typically, pistols have an effective range of about 100 feet.-History:The pistol... s |
2,885 (2,208 traceable) | 21.9% from Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992... , 20.2% from Spain Spain Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula... , 19.8% from Italy Italy Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and... |
| Grenade Grenade A grenade is a small explosive device that is projected a safe distance away by its user. Soldiers called grenadiers specialize in the use of grenades. The term hand grenade refers any grenade designed to be hand thrown. Grenade Launchers are firearms designed to fire explosive projectile grenades... s |
3,490 (136 traceable) | 72% from Russia Russia Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects... , 19.8% from United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district... , 8% from Germany Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate... , |
| Land mine Land mine A land mine is usually a weight-triggered explosive device which is intended to damage a target—either human or inanimate—by means of a blast and/or fragment impact.... s |
11,568 (8,015 traceable) | 60.8% from Italy Italy Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and... , 28.3% from Russia Russia Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects... , 6.2% from Germany Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate... |
Four members of the organization, who handed themselves over to authorities after escaping from camps in northern Iraq, claimed they had seen two U.S. armored vehicles deliver weapons, which was widely reported and further stoked suspicions about U.S. policy in Iraq. US envoy denied these claims. The arms were claimed to be part of Blackwater Worldwide arms smuggling allegations. The probe of organization's weapons and the investigation of Blackwater employees were connected.
The organization has been using mines. Use of these mines has led to civilian deaths, in part due to accidental triggering by civilian trucks and buses rather than the intended military armoured vehicles.
Chemical weapons
German experts have confirmed the authenticity of photographs that purport to show PKK fighters killed by chemical weapons. The evidence puts increasing pressure on the Turkish government, which has long been suspected of using such weapons against Kurdish rebels. German politicians are demanding an investigation.The report was denied by Turkish Officials.
Funding
The organization's annual budget has been estimated at 500 million Euros. The PKK receives its funding in the form of private donations, from both organisations and individuals from around the world. Some of these supporters are Kurdish businessmen in south-eastern Turkey, sympathisers in Syria and Iran, and Europe. Parties and concerts are organized by branch groups. Additionally, it is believed that the PKK earns money through the sale of various publications, as well as receiving revenues from legitimate businesses owned by the organization. Besides affiliate organizations, there are sympathizer organizations such as the Confederation of Kurdish Associations in Europe (KON-KURD, headquartered in Brussels) and the International Kurdish Businessmen Union (KAR-SAZ, in Rotterdam) which constantly exchanges information and perform legitimate or semi-legitimate commercial activities and donations.A report by INTERPOL published in 1992 states that the PKK, along with nearly 178 Kurdish organizations were suspected of illegal drug trade
Drug trade
Drug trade may refer to:* Illegal drug trade, the manufacture and sale of illicit psychoactive substances* Pharmaceutical industry, the manufacture and sale of medical treatment chemicals...
involvement. Also INTERPOL's chief narcotics officer Iqbal Hussain Rizvi stated that the PKK was also heavily evolved in drug trafficking as a means to support the Kurdish revolt in Turkey. Members of the PKK have been designated narcotics traffickers by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
Human
During its highest point in the early 1990s the militant membership was around 17,000. After the capture of Öcalan this number drastically decreased. The membership increased from 3,000 to more than 7,000 since 2003 invasion of Iraq2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...
. In 2008, according to information provided by the Intelligence Resource Program of the Federation of American Scientists
Federation of American Scientists
The Federation of American Scientists is a nonpartisan, 501 organization intent on using science and scientific analysis to attempt make the world more secure. FAS was founded in 1945 by scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project to develop the first atomic bombs...
the strength of the organization in terms of human resources consists of approximately 4,000 to 5,000 militants of whom 3,000 to 3,500 are located in northern Iraq.
A study carried out by the Counter-Terrorism and Operations Department of Directorate General for Security over a sample of files about people convicted of being a militant under Turkish laws including 262 militants from the organization has found that 54% of the members are aged 14 to 25, 34% 26 to 37 and 12% 38 to 58. University graduates make up 11% of the members, high school graduates 16%, secondary school graduates 13%, primary school graduates 39%, literate non-graduates 12% and illiterates 9%.
International
At the height of its campaign, the organization received support from many countries. The level of support given has changed throughout this period.Support of Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
: From early 1979 to 1999 Syria had provided valuable safe havens to PKK in the region of Beqaa Valley
Beqaa Valley
The Beqaa Valley is a fertile valley in east Lebanon. For the Romans, the Beqaa Valley was a major agricultural source, and today it remains Lebanon’s most important farming region...
. After the undeclared war between Turkey and Syria, Syria placed restrictions on PKK activity on its soil. Turkey is expecting positive developments in its cooperation with Syria in the long term, but even during the course of 2005, there were PKK operatives of Syrian nationality operating in Turkey.
Support of Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
: Iran listed PKK as a terrorist organization after Iran's supply of resources to the PKK began to be used on its own soil
Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan
The Party of Free Life of Kurdistan , is a militant Kurdish nationalist group with bases in the mountainous regions of northern Iraq, which has...
. Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
provided PKK with supplies in the form of weapons and funds.
Support of Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
: retired Greek L.T. General Dimitris Matafias and retired Greek Navy Admiral Antonis Neksasis had visited organization's Mahsun Korkmaz base camp in Bakaa valley in October 1988 along with parliamentarians from the panhellenic Socialist movement
Panhellenic Socialist Movement
The Panhellenic Socialist Movement , known mostly by its acronym PASOK , is one of the two major political parties in Greece. Founded on 3 September 1974 by Andreas Papandreou, in 1981 PASOK became Greece's first social democratic party to win a majority in parliament.The party is a socialist party...
(PASOK). At the time it was reported that the general has assumed responsibility for training. Greeks also dispatched arms through the Republic of Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
. In December 1993, Greek European affairs minister Theodoros Pangalos
Theodoros Pangalos
Theodoros Pangalos is a Greek politician and leading member of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement. He currently serves as the Vice-President of the Greek government, responsible for the coordination of the Government Council for Foreign Affairs and Defense and the new Economic & Social Policy...
was quoted as saying "we must be supportive of the Kurdish people to be free". Greece declined to join Germany and France and the eleven other members at the EU to ban the organization. During the 1990s, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
supplied the rebels.
Support of the Republic of Cyprus: was alleged when Abdullah Öcalan
Abdullah Öcalan
Abdullah Öcalan , Kurdish founder of the terrorist organization called Kurdistan Workers' Party in 1978.Öcalan was captured in Nairobi and extradited to the Turkish security force, and sentenced to death under Article 125 of the Turkish Penal Code, which concerns the formation of armed gangs...
was caught with a Cypriot passport to the name of Mavros Lazaros, a nationalist reporter.
Support of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
: According to the former KGB
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
-FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko
Alexander Litvinenko
Alexander Valterovich Litvinenko was an officer who served in the Soviet KGB and its Russian successor, the Federal Security Service ....
, who was poisoned in 2006, PKK's leader Abdullah Ocalan was trained by KGB
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
-FSB. As of 2008, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
is still not among the states that list PKK as a terrorist group despite intense Turkish pressures.
United Kingdom: MED TV
MED TV
MED TV is an International Kurdish satellite TV station with studios in London, England and Denderleeuw, Belgium. MED TV broadcast programs mainly in six languages, Kurdish , Zaza, English, Arabic, Assyrian and Turkish...
broadcast for five years in the UK, until its license was revoked by the regulators the Independent Television Commission (ITC) in 1999. The PKK has been listed as a terrorist organisation since 2001. In 2008 the United Kingdom detained members of the PKK and seized the assets of the PKK's representative in Britain, Selman Bozkur, alias “Dr. Hüseyin”. His assets remain frozen.
Support of various Europe states: Despite Brussels' designation of the group as a terrorist organization, the EU continues to permit the broadcasting of the organization's networks on the Hot Bird 3 satellite owned by the French company Eutelsat
Eutelsat
Eutelsat S.A. is a French-based satellite provider. Providing coverage over the entire European continent, as well as the Middle East, Africa, India and significant parts of Asia and the Americas, it is one of the world's three leading satellite operators in terms of revenues.Eutelsat’s satellites...
. MEDYA TV
MED TV
MED TV is an International Kurdish satellite TV station with studios in London, England and Denderleeuw, Belgium. MED TV broadcast programs mainly in six languages, Kurdish , Zaza, English, Arabic, Assyrian and Turkish...
started transmissions from studios in Belgium via a satellite uplink from France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. MEDYA TV's license was revoked by the French authorities. A few weeks later Roj TV
Roj TV
Roj TV is an international Kurdish satellite television station broadcasting programmes in the Kurmanji, Sorani and Hewrami dialects of the Kurdish language as well as in Zaza, Persian, Arabic, and Turkish.-Programming:...
began transmissions from Denmark. It has also been argued that the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
and Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
have supported the PKK by allowing its training camps to function in their respective territories. On November 22, 1998, Hanover's criminal police reported that three children had been trained by the PKK for guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare and refers to conflicts in which a small group of combatants including, but not limited to, armed civilians use military tactics, such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility to harass a larger and...
in camps in the Netherlands and Belgium. After the death of Theo van Gogh
Theo van Gogh (film director)
Theodoor "Theo" van Gogh was a Dutch film director, film producer, columnist, author and actor.Van Gogh worked with the Somali-born writer Ayaan Hirsi Ali to produce the film Submission, which criticized the treatment of women in Islam and aroused controversy among Muslims...
, with increasing attention on domestic security concerns, the Dutch police raided the 'PKK paramilitary camp' in the Dutch town of Liempde
Liempde
Liempde is a village in the Netherlands in the municipality Boxtel. Annually the Flevo Christian music festival is held here. In 2005 the event What the Hack took place in Liempde....
and arrested 29 people in November 2004. Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
allows Kurdish satellite television stations (such as ROJ-TV), which Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
claims has links with the PKK, to operate in Denmark and broadcast into Turkey.
Various PKK leaders, including Hidir Yalcin, Riza Altun, Zubeyir Aydar, and Ali Haydar Kaytan all lived in Europe and moved freely. The free movement was archived by the strong ties with influential persons. Danielle Mitterrand
Danielle Mitterrand
Danielle Mitterrand was the wife of French President François Mitterrand, and president of the foundation France Libertés Fondation Danielle Mitterrand.-Biography:...
, the wife of the former President of France, had active connections during the 90s with elements of the organization's leadership that forced a downgrade in relationships between the two states. Ali Rıza Altun, a suspected key figure with an Interpol
Interpol
Interpol, whose full name is the International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL, is an organization facilitating international police cooperation...
arrest warrant on his name, after harboring him for some time Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
arranged a flight to Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
.. Turkish foreign minister Abdullah Gül
Abdullah Gül
Dr. Abdullah Gül, GCB is the 11th and current President of the Republic of Turkey, serving in that office since 28 August 2007. He previously served for four months as Prime Minister from 2002-03, and as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2003-07....
summoned the Austrian ambassador and condemned Austria's action. On September 30, 1995, While Öcalan was in Syria, Damascus
Damascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
initiated contact with high ranking German CDU MP Heinrich Lummer and German intelligence officials.
The Chief of the Turkish General Staff during 2007, General Yaşar Büyükanıt
Yasar Büyükanit
General Mehmet Yaşar Büyükanıt was the 25th Chief of the Turkish General Staff of the Turkish Armed Forces, from 28 August 2006 to 28 August 2008.-Biography:...
, stated that even though the international struggle had been discussed on every platform and even though organizations such as the UN
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
, NATO, EU
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
make statements of serious commitment, to this day the necessary measures had not been taken. According to Büyükanıt; "this conduct on one side has encouraged the terrorists, on the other side it assisted in widening their [the terrorists] activities. The most distressful part of it is that many of the European countries being a member of NATO, an organization that had announced that terrorism was the greatest threat to itself."
Sedat Laçiner
Sedat Laçiner
Sedat Laçiner , academic, columnist and author, is a Turkish academic specialist on the Middle East and International Relations, with particular reference to Turkish foreign policy. Prof. Dr...
, of the Turkish think tank ISRO
International Strategic Research Organization
The International Strategic Research Organization ) is a Turkish think tank, directed by Sedat Laciner.ISRO believes that the study of international relations "suffers from limited Western-centric understanding and needs different approaches"...
, says that US support of the PKK undermines the US War on Terrorism
War on Terrorism
The War on Terror is a term commonly applied to an international military campaign led by the United States and the United Kingdom with the support of other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as well as non-NATO countries...
. Seymour Hersh
Seymour Hersh
Seymour Myron Hersh is an American Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist and author based in Washington, D.C. He is a regular contributor to The New Yorker magazine on military and security matters...
claimed that the U.S. supported PEJAK, the Iranian branch of the PKK. The head of the PKK's militant arm, Murat Karayilan, claimed that Iran attempted to recruit the PKK to attack coalition forces, adding that Kurdish guerrillas had launched a clandestine war in north-western Iran
Iranian Kurdistan
Iranian Kurdistan is an unofficial name for the parts of Iran inhabited by Kurds and has borders with Iraq and Turkey. It includes Kurdistan Province, Kermanshah Province, Ilam Province and parts of West Azerbaijan province....
, ambushing Iranian troops
Islamic Republic of Iran Army
The Islamic Republic of Iran Army is the ground force of the Military of Islamic Republic of Iran. In Iran, it is also called Artesh, which is Persian for "army." As of 2007, the regular Iranian Army was estimated to have 465,000 personnel plus around 350,000 reservists for a total of 815,000...
.
Effects
The main goal of its activities was to alienate the people from the state by pushing security forces into more and more overt and repressive counter-measures. The Political-Justice section extends the results of this ideology and methods of the democratic processes and the justice system in Turkey. In a democratic system, an ideology that questions the state's legitimacy, will of its population and its security apparatus was difficult to be accepted as a political view, which was shaped under HEP/DEP/HADEP story. Turkish government authorities did not negotiate with the organization, so regional NGOs there were no communication channels between the sides. The ill-formed language ban of 1983 and Terrorism Act of 1991 were significant events. Also, amnesties were interesting events during the conflict time, as each amnesty gave more human resources to the organization. The prison as a rehabilitation concept was a failure. The people who were jailed for non-violent activities were becoming militants during their jail time. Government's military operations against the prisons were the highest point in this failure.As a revolutionary left-wing
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
organization, the PKK perceived Turkish society as one that was deformed by capitalism and imperialism. The PKK unleashed its aggression on enemies spanning all classes (farmers, business, etc.) and those that it considered puppets of the state. The cost of the PKK's actions are significant. PKK had drastic effects on regional economy, as targeted infrastructure of the region. Regions' inability to join the economical activities were associated with the work force, costs (insurance premiums, facility costs, loss of trained personnel etc.), and productivity (loss of work time, travel restrictions, inability to move rapidly etc.). The region has had a very high historical tourism potential and it has been dormant because of the terrorism threat for many years.
The integration into social and economical activities are developed within the education system. Educational activities were targeted by the PKK. Because the majority of the people are very resilient to the effects of political violence, young people form a high risk group because of their undeveloped personalities. The effects of political violence on the newer generations is an important issue because, at the moment, the new generation in areas affected by the conflict have no experience living under what would be considered normal conditions.
This conflict became part with the negotiations between Turkey and the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
(EU) about its eventual integration to the EU
Accession of Turkey to the European Union
Turkey's application to accede to the European Union was made on 14 April 1987. Turkey has been an associate member of the European Union and its predecessors since 1963...
.
Toll
More than 37,000 people have died since the beginning of the PKK's armed struggle in 1984. According to Denise Natali, the Turkish Armed ForcesTurkish Armed Forces
The Turkish Armed Forces are the military forces of the Republic of Turkey. They consist of the Army, the Navy , and the Air Force...
have destroyed some 8000 Kurdish communities and created 3 to 4 million refugees in the process.
According to Chief of the Turkish General Staff
Ilker Basbug
Mehmet İlker Başbuğ was till August 2010 the 26th Chief of the General Staff of Turkey. In this post he is succeeded by Işık Koşaner.-Biography:...
, until September 2008:
- 32,000 PKK members have been killed and 14,000 have been captured alive.
- 6,482 Turkish soldiers and security officials have been killed.
- 5,560 civilians have been killed.
According to Kendal Nezan
Kendal Nezan
A nuclear physicist by profession, Dr. Kendal Nezan is president of the Kurdish Institute of Paris and a board member of the Washington Kurdish Institute....
's article published in July 1998 in Le Monde diplomatique
Le Monde diplomatique
Le Monde diplomatique is a monthly newspaper offering analysis and opinion on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first created mainly for a diplomatic audience as its name implies...
, the conflict has weighed heavily on the Turkish state's budget. In 1993, a sum of $70m was allocated from the prime minister’s secret funds. According to government inspector Kutlu Savaş, this sum was used mainly for procuring weapons and anti-terrorist equipment from Israel and for external operations. Irregular units in the conflictual zones have had to find ways to finance themselves, including racketeering and secret funding. The details of state-sanctioned criminal activities were revealed in the wake of the Susurluk scandal
Susurluk scandal
The Susurluk scandal was a scandal involving the close relationship between the Turkish government, the armed forces, and organized crime. It took place during the peak of the Turkey–Kurdistan Workers' Party conflict, in the mid-1990s...
. Sedat Bucak has been alleged by Kendal Nezan to have 20,000 men under his command, while the village guards, pro-government Kurdish militias created in the mid-1980s, are estimated to number some 64,000.
Recognition as a terrorist group
The PKK is listed as a terroristTerrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
organization internationally by NATO, European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
and the following states:
- AustraliaAustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
- AustriaAustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
- AzerbaijanAzerbaijanAzerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
- CanadaCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
- IraqIraqIraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
- IranIranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
- FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
- GermanyGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
- Holland
- KazakhstanKazakhstanKazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...
- MoldovaMoldovaMoldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...
- New ZealandNew ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
- TRNC
- PhilippinesPhilippinesThe Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
- SyriaSyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
- TurkeyTurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
- United KingdomUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
- United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
The PKK leader claimed on an interview that the only reason they have been put on the 'Terrorist organization' list is due to political pressure from Turkey, who he accuses of falsifying accounts and unfairly demonizing the organization.