Murat Karayılan ( ku, Mirad Qarayîlan) (born 1954),Murat Karayılan yakalandı mı?
13 August 2011 also nicknamed Cemal, is one of the co-founders of the

Kurdistan Workers' Party The Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK is a Kurdish militant political organization and armed guerrilla movement, which historically operated throughout Kurdistan, but is now primarily based in the mountainous Kurdish-majority regions of sout ...

. He has been the organization PKK's acting leader since its original founder and leader, Abdullah Öcalan, was captured in 1999 by Turkish intelligence agents. On 2014, he left the PKK leader position and was assigned as the new commander-in-chief of the PKK's armed wing, the

People's Defence Forces The People's Defence Forces ( ku, Hêzên Parastina Gel, HPG) is the military wing of the group Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). During the 7th Congress of the PKK in January 2000, the HPG replaced the former military wing of the PKK, the People ...

. Born in

Birecik Birecik; ku, Bêrecûk is a town and district of Şanlıurfa Province of Turkey, on the Euphrates. Built on a limestone cliff 400 ft. high on the left/east bank of the Euphrates, "at the upper part of a reach of that river, which runs near ...

Şanlıurfa Urfa, officially known as Şanlıurfa () and in ancient times as Edessa, is a city in southeastern Turkey and the capital of Şanlıurfa Province. Urfa is situated on a plain about 80 km east of the Euphrates River. Its climate features ...

, Karayılan finished his studies at a vocational college of machinery and joined the organization PKK in 1979. He was active in his native province of

until he fled to

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

at the time of the 1980 Turkish coup d'état. He has called on

Kurds ug:كۇردلار Kurds ( ku, کورد ,Kurd, italic=yes, rtl=yes) or Kurdish people are an Iranian ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Ir ...

to stop serving in the

military of Turkey The Turkish Armed Forces (TAF; tr, Türk Silahlı Kuvvetleri, TSK) are the military forces of the Republic of Turkey. Turkish Armed Forces consist of the General Staff, the Land Forces, the Naval Forces and the Air Forces. The current Chief ...

, stop paying taxes and stop using the

Turkish language Turkish ( , ), also referred to as Turkish of Turkey (''Türkiye Türkçesi''), is the most widely spoken of the Turkic languages, with around 80 to 90 million speakers. It is the national language of Turkey and Northern Cyprus. Significant sma ...

. On 13 December 2016, the Mardin 1st Criminal Court of Peace issued a detention warrant for Karayılan and

Duran Kalkan Duran Kalkan (born Güzelim, Tufanbeyli, Adana Province, Turkey, 1954), also known as Selahattin Abbas,

, another PKK commander, as part of an investigation into the killing of the

Kaymakam Kaymakam, also known by many other romanizations, was a title used by various officials of the Ottoman Empire, including acting grand viziers, governors of provincial sanjaks, and administrators of district kazas. The title has been retained an ...

Derik Derik ( ku, Dêrika Çiyayê Mazî) is a town in the Derik District in Mardin Province of Turkey. The town had a population of 18,942 in 2021. Government In the local elections of April 10 Mülkiye Esmez from the Peoples' Democratic Party was e ...

, Muhammet Fatih Safitürk. In March 2017, there were reports of a failed assassination attempt against Karayılan, but it was unclear as to whether the attempt was made by Turkish forces or a group within the PKK. Murat Karayılan and two other PKK leaders are wanted by the

United States Department of the Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and t ...

and the Government of Turkey for allegedly recruiting child soldiers, targeting Turkish government officials, police and security forces, and injuring and killing civilians within the Rewards for Justice Program. Since 28 October 2015, he has been in the red category of the "most wanted terrorists" list published by the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Turkey. The Ministry states that a reward of up to 10 million ₺ will be given to the person or persons who catch him or share information that will result in his arrest. Murat Karayilan is also the author of a book called ''Bir Savaşın Anatomisi'' (Anatomy of War).

Suspicions of drug trafficking

On 14 October 2009, the

U.S. Department of the Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and t ...

Office of Foreign Assets Control The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is a financial intelligence and enforcement agency of the U.S. Treasury Department. It administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions in support of U.S. national security and foreign policy ob ...

(OFAC) designated senior leaders of the organisation PKK as significant foreign narcotics traffickers: Murat Karayılan, the head of the PKK, and high-ranking members Ali Rıza Altun and

Zübeyir Aydar Zübeyir Aydar (born 1961, in Eruh) is a Kurdish politician, lawyer and president of the Kongra-Gel (People's Congress of Kurdistan), which is the parliament of the Koma Civakên Kurdistan (KCK), making him the de jure political leader of the ou ...

. Pursuant to the Kingpin Act, the designation freezes any assets the three designees may have under U.S. jurisdiction and prohibits U.S. persons from conducting financial or commercial transactions with these individuals. As of 2011, Karayılan still has this designation. The German

Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (german: Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz or BfV, often ''Bundesverfassungsschutz'') is Germany's federal domestic intelligence agency. Together with the Landesämter für Verfassungss ...

stated in the same year, that it has no evidence that the organisational structures of the PKK are directly involved in drug trafficking in Germany.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Karayilan, Murat 1954 births Living people People from Birecik Turkish Kurdish people Members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party Turkish Kurdish politicians Kurdish revolutionaries Apoists 21st-century male writers Kurdish independence activists People charged with terrorism