PKK rebellion (2015–present)

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 southeastern Turkey and northern Iraq. Since 1984, the PKK has utilized asymmetric warfare in the Kurdish–Turkish conflict (with several ceasefires between 1993 and 2013–2015). Although the PKK once sought an independent Kurdish state, in the 1990s its aims shifted toward autonomy and increased rights for Kurds within Turkey.

The PKK is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States, the EU and some other countries; however, the labeling of the PKK as a terrorist organization is controversial, and some analysts and organizations contend that the PKK no longer engages in organized terrorist activities or systemically targets civilians. Turkey has often viewed the demand for education in Kurdish language as supporting terrorist activities by the PKK. Both in 2008 and 2018 the EU Court of Justice ruled that the PKK was classified as a terror organization without due process. Nevertheless, the EU has maintained the designation.

The PKK's ideology was originally a fusion of revolutionary socialism and Marxism–Leninism with Kurdish nationalism, seeking the foundation of an independent Kurdistan. The PKK was formed as part of a growing discontent over the suppression of Turkey's Kurds, in an effort to establish linguistic, cultural, and political rights for the Kurdish minority. Following the military coup of 1980, the Kurdish language was officially prohibited in public and private life.Toumani, Meline
Minority Rules
''The New York Times'', 17 February 2008 Many who spoke, published, or sang in Kurdish were arrested and imprisoned. The Turkish government denied the existence of Kurds and the PKK was portrayed trying to convince Turks of being Kurds.

The PKK has been involved in armed clashes with Turkish security forces since 1979, but the full-scale insurgency did not begin until 15 August 1984, when the PKK announced a Kurdish uprising. Since the conflict began, more than 40,000 people have died, most of whom were Kurdish civilians. In 1999, PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan was captured and imprisoned. In May 2007, serving and former members of the PKK set up the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), an umbrella organisation of Kurdish organisations in Turkish, Iraqi, Iranian, and Syrian Kurdistan. In 2013, the PKK declared a ceasefire and began slowly withdrawing its fighters to Iraqi Kurdistan as part of a peace process with the Turkish state. The ceasefire broke down in July 2015. Both the PKK and the Turkish state have been accused of engaging in terror tactics and targeting civilians. The PKK has bombed city centres and recruited child soldiers, while Turkey has depopulated and burned down thousands of Kurdish villages and massacred Kurdish civilians in an attempt to root out PKK militants.

Background

As a result of the military coup of 1971, many militants of the revolutionary left were deprived of a public appearance, movements like the People's Liberation Army of Turkey (THKO) or the Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist–Leninist (TKP-ML) were cracked down upon and forbidden. Following, several of the resting political actors of the Turkish left organized away from the public in university dorms or in meetings in shared apartments. In 1972–1973 the organization's core ideological group was made up largely of students led by Abdullah Öcalan ("Apo") in Ankara who made themselves known as the ''Kurdistan Revolutionaries.'' The new group focused on the oppressed Kurdish population of Turkish Kurdistan in a capitalist world. In 1973, several students who later would become founders of the PKK established the student organization ADYÖD, which would be banned the next year. Then a group around Öcalan split from the Turkish left and held extensive discussions focusing on the colonization of Kurdistan by Turkey. Following the military coup of 1980, the Kurdish language was officially prohibited in public and private life. Many who spoke, published, or sang in Kurdish were arrested and imprisoned. At this time, expressions of Kurdish culture, including the use of the Kurdish language, dress, folklore, and names, were banned in Turkey. In an attempt to deny their separate existence from Turkish people, the Turkish government categorized Kurds as "Mountain Turks" until 1991. The PKK was then formed, as part of a growing discontent over the suppression of Kurds in Turkey, in an effort to establish linguistic, cultural, and political rights for Turkey's Kurdish minority.

Following several years of preparation, the Kurdistan Workers Party was established during a foundation congress on 26 and 27 November 1978 in a rural village called Fis in Kurdish and Ziyaret in Turkish. On 27 November 1978, a central committee consisting of seven people was elected, with Abdullah Öcalan as its head. Other members were: Şahin Dönmez, Mazlûm Dogan, Baki Karer, , , Cemil Bayık. The party program ''Kürdistan Devrimci Yolu'' drew on Marxism and saw Kurdistan as a colonized entity. Initially the PKK concealed its existence and only announced their existence in a propaganda stunt when they attempted to assassinate a politician of the Justice Party, Mehmet Celal Bucak, in July 1979. Bucak was a Kurdish tribal leader accused by the PKK of exploiting peasants and collaborating with the Turkish state to oppress Kurds.

Ideology and aims

The organization originated in the early 1970s from the radical left and drew its membership from other existing leftist groups, mainly Dev-Genç.Jongerden, Joost.
PKK
" CEU Political Science Journal. Vol. 3, No. 1, page 127–132. During the 1980s, the movement included and cooperated with other ethnic groups, including ethnic Turks, who were following the radical left. The organization initially presented itself as part of the worldwide communist revolution. Its aims and objectives have evolved over time towards the goals of national autonomy and democratic confederalism.

Around 1995, the PKK ostensibly changed its aim from independence to a demand for equal rights and Kurdish autonomy within the Turkish state, though all the while hardly suspending their military attacks on the Turkish state except for ceasefires in 1999–2004 and 2013–2015. In 1995, Öcalan said: "We are not insisting on a separate state under any condition. What we are calling for very openly is a state model where a people's basic economic, cultural, social, and political rights are guaranteed".

Whilst this shift in the mid-nineties has been interpreted as one from a call for independence to an autonomous republic, some scholars have concluded that the PKK still maintains independence as the ultimate goal, but through society-building rather than state-building.

The PKK has in March 2016 also vowed to overthrow the Turkish government of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, through the ' Peoples' United Revolutionary Movement'.

The organization has adapted the new democratic confederalist views of its arrested leader, which aim to replace the United Nations, capitalism and nation state with the democratic confederalism which is described as a system of popularly elected administrative councils, allowing local communities to exercise autonomous control over their assets while linking to other communities via a network of confederal councils. Followers of Öcalan and members of the PKK are known, after his honorary name, as ''Apocu'' (Apo-ites) under his movement, ''Apoculuk'' (Apoism). The slogan ''Bijî Serok Apo'', which translates into Long Live leader Apo, is often chanted by his sympathizers.

Religion

While the PKK has no known Islamist or practicing religious member among its leadership, it has supported the creation of religious organizations. It has also supported Friday prayers to be in Kurdish instead of the Turkish language. Öcalans early writings did not have a positive view of Islam, but later works had a more favorable tone, specifically regarding the revolutionary symbol of Muhammed against an established order. Öcalan viewed Zoroastrianism as the original religion of the Kurds.

Organization

Even though the PKK has several prominent representatives in various countries such as Iraq, Iran, Syria, Russia, and West European countriesFrank C. Urbancic,
Briefing on Release of 2006 Country Reports on Terrorism
" U.S. Department of State, 30 April 200

/ref> Abdullah Öcalan stayed the unchallenged leader of the organization. Today, though serving life imprisonment, Öcalan is still considered the honorary leader and figurehead of the organization.

Murat Karayılan led the organization from 1999 to 2013. In 2013 Cemil Bayik and Besê Hozat assumed as the first joint leadership. Cemil Bayik was one of the core leaders since its foundation. The organization appointed "Doctor Bahoz," 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.Brandon, James.
The PKK and Syria's Kurds
," ''Global Terrorism Analysis'', Jamestown Foundation Volume 5, Issue 3 (15 February 2007).

Political and popular wing

In 1985, the National Liberation Front of Kurdistan ( ku, Eniye Rizgariye Navata Kurdistan, ERNK) was established by the PKK as its popular front wing, with the role of both creating propaganda for the party, and as an umbrella organization for PKK organizations in different segments of the Kurdish population, such as the peasantry, workers, youth, and women. It was dissolved in 1999, after the capture of Abdullah Öcalan.

Cultural branch

In 1983, the Association of Artists (') was established in Germany under the lead of the music group . Its activities spread over Kurdish community centers in France, Germany and the Netherlands. In 1994 the Hunerkom was renamed into the 'Kurdish Academy of Culture and Arts'. Koma Berxwedans songs, which often were about the PKK resistance, were forbidden in Turkey and had to be smuggled over the border.

Armed wing

The PKK has an armed wing, originally formed in 1984 as the Kurdistan Freedom Brigades ( ku, Hêzên Rizgariya Kurdistan, HRK), renamed to the People's Liberation Army of Kurdistan ( ku, Arteşa Rizgariya Gelî Kurdistan, ARGK) in 1986, and again renamed to the People's Defense Forces ( ku, Hêzên Parastina Gel, HPG) in 1999.

Women's armed wing

The Free Women's Units of Star ( ku, Yekîneyên Jinên Azad ên Star, YJA-STAR) was established in 2004 as the women's armed wing of the PKK, emphasizing the issue of women's liberation.

Youth wing

The Civil Protections Units (YPS) is the successor of the Patriotic Revolutionary Youth Movement (YDG-H), the youth wing of the PKK. In February 2016 the ANF news agency reported the establishment of the women's branch of the YPS, the YPS-Jin.

Training camps

The first training camps were established in 1982 in Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Iran and also in Beqaa Valley with the support of the Syrian government. In the third party congress of October 1986, the PKK established the Mahsum Korkmaz Academy in the Beqaa Valley. After Turkey pressured Syria to enforce its closure in 1992, the academy moved to Damascus. After the Iran-Iraq War and the Kurdish Civil War, the PKK moved all its camps to Northern Iraq in 1998. The PKK had also completely moved to Qandil Mountains from Beqaa Valley, under intensive pressure, after Syria expelled Öcalan and shut down all camps established in the region. At the time, Northern Iraq was experiencing a vacuum of control after the Gulf War-related Operation Provide Comfort. Instead of a single training camp that could be easily destroyed, the organization created 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 reported to have camps strung out through the mountains that straddle the border between Turkey and Iraq, including in Sinaht, Haftanin, Kanimasi and Zap. The organization developed two types of camps. The mountain camps, located in Turkey, Iraq and Iran, are used as forward bases from which militants carry out attacks against Turkish military bases. The units deployed there are highly mobile and the camps have only minimal infrastructure. The other permanent camps, in the Qandil Mountains of Iraq, have more developed infrastructure—including a field hospital, electricity generators and a large proportion of the PKK's lethal and non-lethal supplies.Jenkins, Gareth., ''Global Terrorism Analysis'', Volume 4, Issue 33 16 October 2007. The organization is also using the Qandil mountain camps for its political activities. It was reported in 2004 that there was another political training camp in Belgium, evidence that the organization had used training camps in Europe for political and ideological training.

Political representation

The PKK could count on support from protests and demonstrations often directed against policies of the Turkish government. The PKK also fought a turf war against other radical Islamist Kurdish and Turkish organizations in Turkey. Turkish newspapers said that the PKK effectively used the prison force to gain appeal among the population which PKK has denied.Immigration Appeals: 2nd – 3rd Quarter (2004), by Great Britain Immigration Appeal Tribunal

Alleged political presentation

The organization had sympathizer parties in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey since the beginning of the early 1990s. The existence of direct links between the parties and the PKK have several times been a question in Turkish politics but also in Turkish and European courts. In sequence HEP/ DEP/ HADEP/ DEHAP/ DTP and the BDP, which later changed its name to Democratic Regions Party (DBP) on 11 July 2014, as well as the HDP have been criticized of sympathizing with the PKK, since they have refused to brand it as a terrorist group.

Political organizations established in Turkey are banned from propagating or supporting separatism. Several political parties supporting Kurdish rights have been reportedly banned on this pretext. The constitutional court stated to find direct links between the HEP/ DEP/ HADEP and the PKK. In 2007 against the DTP was initiated a closure case before the constitutional court which resulted in its closure on 11 December 2009. In 2021, against the HDP was also initiated a closure case during which the HDP is accused of being linked to the PKK. It is reported that Turkey has used the PKK as an excuse to close Kurdish political parties. Senior DTP leaders maintained that they support a unified Turkey within a democratic framework. In May 2007, the co-president of DTP Aysel Tuğluk, published an article in ''Radikal'' in support of this policy.

Several parliamentarians and other elected representatives have been jailed for speaking in Kurdish, carrying Kurdish colors or otherwise allegedly "promoting separatism", most famous among them being Leyla Zana. The European Court of Human Rights has condemned Turkey for arresting and executing Kurdish writers, journalists and politicians in numerous occasions. Between 1990 and 2006 Turkey was condemned to pay 33 million euros in damages in 567 cases. The majority of the cases were related to events that took place in southeastern Anatolia. In Iraq the political party Tevgera Azadî is said to have close to the PKK.

Reported links with Turkish intelligence

During the controversial Ergenekon trials in Turkey, allegations have been made that the PKK is linked to elements of the Turkish intelligence community.

Şamil Tayyar, author and member of the ruling AK Party, said that Öcalan was released in 1972 after just three months' detention on the initiative of the National Intelligence Organization (Millî İstihbarat Teşkilatı, MİT), and that his 1979 escape to Syria was aided by elements in MİT. Öcalan has admitted making use of money given by the MIT to the PKK, which he says was provided as part of MIT efforts to control him.

Former police special forces member Ayhan Çarkın said that the state, using the clandestine Ergenekon network, colluded with militant groups such as the PKK, Dev-Sol and Turkish Hezbollah, with the goal of profiting from the war.

The secret witness "First Step" testified that General Levent Ersöz, former head of JITEM, had frequent contact with PKK commander Cemîl Bayik.

Status in Turkey

In Turkey, anything which could be perceived as a support of the PKK is deemed unsuitable to be shown to the public. Turkey views the demand for education in Kurdish language or the teaching of the Kurdish language as supporting terrorist activities by the PKK. The fact that both the HDP and the PKK support education in Kurdish language was included in the indictment in the Peoples Democratic closure case. In January 2016, the Academics for Peace who signed a declaration in support of peace in the Kurdish–Turkish conflict were labelled and prosecuted for "spreading terrorist propaganda" on behalf of the PKK. In November 2020, a playground for children in Istanbul was dismantled after the municipality decided its design too closely resembled the symbol of the PKK. Politicians of pro-Kurdish like the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) or the HDP were often prosecuted and sentenced to prison term for their alleged support of the PKK. The possession of '' Devran'', a book authored by the political prisoner Selahattin Demirtaş, was viewed as an evidence for a membership in a terrorist organization in 2019 because according to the prosecution it described events involving the PKK.

Status in Germany

The PKK could count with a strong support from the diaspora in Germany where the Hunerkom, its cultural branch was based. During the 1990s, the PKK was able to organize blockades of highways and its sympathizers self-immolated for which the PKK official Cemil Bayik apologized in 2015 after sympathizers of the PKK launched several waves of attacks against Turkish institutions in Germany. The PKK's activities were banned by the Minister of the Interior Manfred Kanther in November 1993. In a meeting between German MP Heinrich Lummer of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) and Abdullah Öcalan in Damascus in 1996, Öcalan assured Lummer that it was the PKKs aim to find a peaceful solution for their activities in Germany. The PKK also demanded that it should be recognized as a legitimate entity and not as a terrorist organization in Germany, a demand to which Germany did not accede to. In Germany several Kurdish entities such as the Association of Students from Kurdistan (YXK), the Mesopotamia publishing house or the Mir Multimedia music label were deemed to be close to the PKK. The latter two were eventually closed down by Interior Minister Horst Seehofer who accused them of acting as a forefront of the PKK and to support the PKKs activities in Europe with its revenue. The Kurdish satellite channel Roj TV was also accused of being a branch of the PKK by Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble and had to end its activities in Germany in 2008. The PKK has received political support for a lift of its prohibition by the Die Linke and its party leader Bernd Riexinger in 2016.

Status in Israel

: Relations between Israel and PKK have always been complex. During the 1982 Lebanon War the several PKK fighters in Lebanon fought against Israel for the Palestine Liberation Organization and other affiliated groups which they were training with at the time. In February 16, 1999, fugitive Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Öcalan was arrested at the Greek embassy in Nairobi, Kenya. After a news report claimed that Israel's Mossad agency helped Turkey track Ocalan, protests erupted in Europe. On February 17, 1999, three Kurdish protesters were shot and killed while trying to occupy the Israeli consulate in Germany. In September 2017 IDF chief of staff, Yair Golan, said at The Washington Institute:

Shortly after that Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted:

Netanyahu also replayed it on his state visit to Argentina. In May 2018, Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party and Kurdistan Workers Party condemned the killings of Palestinians during Gaza border protests with Israeli troops after the US moved its embassy to Jerusalem. They also invited the involved sides to negotiate and compromise. In October 2019, at the onset of Operation Peace Spring, Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted:

He also offered the People's Defense Units (YPG) Israeli assistance. During the offensive, Israel’s deputy foreign minister, Tzipi Hotovely, stated: Israel indeed has a salient interest in preserving the strength of the Kurds and the additional minorities in the north Syria area as moderate and pro-Western elements, The possible collapse of the Kurdish hold in north Syria is a negative and dangerous scenario as far as Israel is concerned. The Turkish Army used 170 M60-A1 tanks upgraded by Israeli IMI Systems during the operation. These tanks were upgraded between 2003 to 2010 during the military cooperation between Israel and Turkey at a cost of $687 million. Seymour Hersh said that the U.S. and Israel supported PJAK, the Iranian branch of the PKK. The head of the PKK's militant arm, Murat Karayılan, said 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. In 2022, During the peace negotiations of Turkey and Israel, Informed sources said that a delegation from Israel's Mossad spy agency had met with Turkish intelligence officials to discuss security issues. The Mossad agents told their Turkish counterparts that Israel is ready to cooperate with the PKK should Ankara continue its support for the Hamas military wing. Turkey admitted that it was concerned about the potential for Israel to back the Kurdish PKK militia in response to Ankara's alleged support for the military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, Rai Al-Youm reported on Tuesday.

Despite these statements from Israeli officials, several PKK leaders including Abdullah Öcalan, Mustafa Karasu, Duran Kalkan, Cemîl Bayik, and Besê Hozat have made negative statements towards Israel and Zionism, even in recent years. Murat Karayilan, however, in an interview with The Jerusalem Post in 2020 said that the PKK supports a Two-state Solution when asked about the PKK's attitude towards Israel.

Tactics

The organization said that its violent actions against the government forces were used by "the need to defend Kurds in the context of what it calls 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". 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. In 1995 the PKK declared that it would comply with Geneva Conventions of 1949 and also its amendment of 1977. The PKK divides the combat area within Turkey into several regions which comprise a number of Turkish provinces, of which each one is headed by its commander.Provost, René (2021), p. 358 A province is further also divided into several sub regions, in which a number of fighting battalions of between 100 and 170 militants are stationed. The battalions are again divided into companies of 60 to 70 fighters of which at least one needs to constituted by female and two by male militants.

Criticism

The PKK has faced condemnation by some countries and human rights organizations for the killing of teachers and civil servants, using suicide bombers, and recruiting child soldiers. According to the TEPAV, an Ankara-based think tank, a survey conducted using data from 1,362 PKK fighters who lost their lives between 2001 and 2011 estimated that 42% of the militants were recruited under 18, with roughly 9% under 15 at the time of recruitment. In 2013 the PKK stated it would prohibit the recruitment of children under the age of 16 as well as keep 16-18 year olds away from combat. Human Rights Watch has documented 29 cases of children being recruited into the HPG (the PKK's armed wing) and the YBŞ since 2013. Some children were recruited under the age of 15, constituting a war crime according to international law.

Recruitment

Since its foundation, the PKK has recruited new fighters mainly from Turkey, but also from Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Western countries using various recruitment methods, such as using nationalist propaganda and its gender equality ideology. At its establishment, it included a small number of female fighters but over time the number increased significantly and by the early 1990s, 30 percent of its 17,000 armed fighting forces were women.Ali Özcan, Nihat, ''Global Terrorism Analysis'', Jamestown Foundation, Volume 4, Issue 28, 11 September 2007. While in 1989 the PKKs armed wing issued a so-called "Compulsory Military Service Law", the PKK had to temporarily suspend recruitment several times since the early 1990s, as the PKK had difficulties to provide training to the large number of volunteers, which wanted to join their ranks.

By 2020, 40% of the fighting force were women. In much of rural Turkey, where male-dominated tribal structures, and conservative Muslim norms were commonplace, the organization increased its number of members through the recruitment of women from different social structures and environments, also from families that migrated to several European countries after 1960 as guest workers. It was reported by a Turkish university that 88% of the subjects initially reported that equality was a key objective, and that they joined the organization based on this statement. In 2007, approximately 1,100 of 4,500–5,000 total members were women.

According to the Jamestown Foundation, in the early years of the PKK existence, it recruited young women by abducting them. Families would also encourage family members to join the PKK in order to avenge relatives killed by the Turkish army.

Weapons

In July 2007, the weapons captured between 1984 and 2007 from the PKK operatives and their origins published by the Turkish General Staff indicates that the operatives erased some of the serial numbers from their weapons. The total number of weapons and the origins for traceable ones were:

Resources

Funding

Parties and concerts are organized by branch groups. According to the European Police Office (EUROPOL), the organization collects money from its members, using labels like ‘donations’ and ‘membership fees’ which are seen as a fact extortion and illegal taxation by the authorities. There are also indications that the organization is actively involving in money laundering, illicit drugs and human trafficking, as well as illegal immigration inside and outside the EU for funding and running its activities.

Involvement in drug trafficking

PKK's involvement in drug trafficking has been documented since the 1990s. A report by Interpol published in 1992 states that the PKK, along with nearly 178 Kurdish organizations were suspected of illegal drug trade involvement. Members of the PKK have been designated narcotics traffickers by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany's domestic security agency, echoed this report in its 2011 Annual Report on the Protection of the Constitution, stating that despite the U.S Department of Treasury designation, there was "no evidence that the organizational structures of the PKK are directly involved in drug trafficking".

On 14 October 2009, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) targeted the senior leadership of the PKK, designating Murat Karayılan, the head of the PKK, and high-ranking members Ali Riza Altun and Zübeyir Aydar as foreign narcotics traffickers at the request of Turkey. On 20 April 2011, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced the designation of PKK founders Cemîl 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. On 1 January 2012, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced the designation of Moldovan-based individuals Zeyneddin Geleri, Cerkez Akbulut, and Omer Boztepe as specially designated narcotics traffickers for drug trafficking on behalf of the PKK in Europe. According to the OFAC, Zeynedding Geleri was identified as a high-ranking member of the PKK while two others were activists. The OFAC stated that the drug trafficking is still one of the organization's criminal activities it uses to obtain weapons and materials.

According to research conducted by journalist Aliza Marcus, the PKK accepted the support of smugglers in the region. Aliza Marcus stated that some of those Kurdish smugglers who were involved in the drug trade, either because they truly believed in the PKK—or because they thought it a good business practice (avoid conflicts)—frequently donated money to the PKK rebels. However, according to Aliza Marcus, it does not seem that the PKK, as an organization, directly produced or traded in narcotics.

The EUROPOL which has monitored the organization's activities inside the EU has also claimed the organization's involvement in the trafficking of drugs.

Human resources

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. With the new wave of fighting from 2015 onwards, observers said that active support for the PKK had become a "mass phenomenon" in majority ethnic Kurdish cities in the southeast of the Republic of Turkey, with large numbers of local youth joining PKK-affiliated local militant groups.

Alleged international support

At the height of its campaign, it is alleged that the organization received support from a range of countries. According to Turkey, those countries the PKK previously or currently received support from include: Greece, Cyprus, Iran, Iraq, Russia, Syria, Finland, Sweden and the United States. The level of support given has changed throughout this period. Between the PKK and the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) a cooperation has been agreed on in April 1980 in Sidon, Lebanon.

;Greece: According to Ali Külebi, president of an Ankara-based nationalist think tank TUSAM, "It is obvious that the PKK is supported by Greece, considering the PKK's historical development with major support from Greece." Külebi said in 2007 that PKK militants received training at a base in Lavrion, near Athens. Retired Greek L.T. General Dimitris Matafias and retired Greek Navy Admiral Antonis Naxakis had visited the organization's Mahsun Korkmaz base camp in Lebanon's Beqaa Valley in October 1988 along with parliamentarians from the center-left PASOK. At the time it was reported that the general had assumed responsibility for training. Greeks also dispatched arms through the Republic of Cyprus.Gunter, Michael M. ''The Kurds and the Future of Turkey'', page 110 During his trial, Öcalan admitted, as quoted in ''Hürriyet'', that "Greece has for years supported the PKK movement. They even gave us arms and rockets. Greek officers gave guerrilla training and explosives training to our militants" at a camp in Lavrion, Greece.

;Republic of Cyprus: The Republic of Cyprus has been instrumental in helping Greece supply arms to the PKK. Further suspicion of support was stated when Abdullah Öcalan was caught with a diplomatic Cypriot passport issued under the name of Mavros Lazaros, a nationalist reporter.

;Syria: From early 1979 to 1999, Syria had provided valuable safe havens to PKK in the region of Beqaa Valley. However, after the undeclared war between Turkey and Syria, Syria placed restrictions on PKK activity on its soil such as not allowing the PKK to establish camps and other facilities for training and shelter or to have commercial activities on its territory. Syria recognized the PKK as a terrorist organization in 1998. Turkey was 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.

;Libya: In the 1990s Abdullah Öcalan appreciated the support for the "Kurdish Cause" by Muammar Gaddafi.

;Soviet Union and Russia: Former KGB- FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko said that PKK's leader Abdullah Öcalan 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 pressure.

;Support of various European states: The Dutch police reportedly raided the 'PKK paramilitary camp' in the Dutch village of Liempde and arrested 29 people in November 2004, but all were soon released.
: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 achieved by strong ties with influential persons. Danielle Mitterrand, the wife of the former President of France François Mitterrand, had active connections during the 1990s with elements of the organization's leadership that forced a downgrade in relationships between the two states. After harboring Ali Riza Altun, Austria arranged a flight to Iraq for him, a suspected key figure with an Interpol arrest warrant on his name. Turkish foreign minister Abdullah Gül summoned the Austrian ambassador and condemned Austria's action. On 30 September 1995, while Öcalan was in Syria, Damascus initiated contact with high-ranking German CDU MP Heinrich Lummer and German intelligence officials. Sedat Laçiner, of the Turkish think tank ISRO, says that US support of the PKK undermines the US War on Terror.

Designation as a terrorist group

The PKK has been placed on Turkey's terrorist list, as well as a number of allied governments and organizations. It is often referred as "Separatist terrorist organization" ( tr, Bölücü terör örgütü) by the Turkish authorities.

In the 1980s, the PKK was labeled as a terror organization by the Swedish government of Olof Palme. After Palme was murdered in 1986, the PKK was considered a potential suspect – however, this theory was soon abandoned and in September 2020, the state prosecutor Krister Petersson announced he believed he had found the murderer and closed the case as that person was no longer alive.

In 1994, Germany prohibited the activities of the PKK.

The PKK has been designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the US State Department since 1997. In 2016, US Vice-president Joe Biden called the PKK a terrorist group "plain and simple" and compared it to the Islamic State. In 2018, the United States also offered a $12 million reward for information on three PKK leaders.

First designated as a terror organization by the European Union in 2002, the PKK was ordered to be removed from the EU terror list on 3 April 2008 by the European Court of First Instance on the grounds that the EU had failed to give a proper justification for listing it in the first place. However, EU officials dismissed the ruling, stating that the PKK would remain on the list regardless of the legal decision. The EU in 2011 renewed its official listing of the PKK as group or entity subject to "specific Umeasures to combat terrorism" under its Common Foreign and Security Policy. In 2018, Prakken d'Oliveira Human Rights Lawyers reported that the PKK won another case against its listing as a terror organization by the EU, but the EU kept the PKK on the list as the ruling only concerned the years from 2014 until 2017.

The PKK is also a Proscribed Organisation in the United Kingdom under the Terrorism Act 2000; the then British Prime Minister Theresa May used the phrase "Kurdish terrorism" in 2018."UK's May uses phrase 'Kurdish terrorism' during Erdogan visit as Kurds protest in London"
'' Kurdistan 24.'' 15 May 2018.

France prosecutes Kurdish-French activists and bans organizations connected to the PKK on terrorism-related charges, having listed the group as a terrorist organization since 1993. However, French courts often refuse to extradite captured individuals criticized of PKK connections to Turkey due to technicalities in French law, frustrating Turkish authorities.

The following other countries and organizations have listed or otherwise labelled the PKK in an official capacity as a terrorist organization:

Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Canada, Czech Republic, Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, New Zealand, Spain, Syria.

In May 2022, Finland and Sweden submitted applications to join the NATO alliance as a response to the invasion of Ukraine, Turkey has opposed their admission to the alliance unless they crack down on local PKK, PYD and YPG networks. On 28 June, the first day of the 2022 NATO summit in Madrid, the Turkish delegation softened their opposition to Finland and Sweden's NATO membership applications and signed a tripartite memorandum addressing Turkey's concerns regarding arms exports and Kurdish relations. Finland and Sweden affirmed that the PKK is "a terrorist organization". On 30 June 2022, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that Sweden made a "promise" to extradite "73 terrorists" wanted by Turkey.

Refusal to designate PKK as a terrorist group

Russia has long ignored Turkish pressure to ban the PKK. The government of Switzerland has also rejected Turkish demands to blacklist the PKK. Switzerland does not have a list of terrorist organizations, but it has taken its own measures to monitor and restrict the group's activities on Swiss soil, including banning the collection of funds for the group in November 2008.

In 2020, the supreme court of Belgium ruled that the PKK was not a terrorist organization, instead labeling the group as an actor in an internal armed conflict. Following this, the Belgian Government announced that the ruling would not affect the current designation of the PKK as a terrorist organization.

Flags

Party flags

Flags of wings

History

1970s

During the 1970s, the PKK was involved in urban warfare. PKK tactics were based on ambush, sabotage, riots, protests, and demonstrations against the Turkish government. During these years, the PKK also fought a turf war against Kurdish and Turkish radical Islamist organisations in Turkey. Turkish newspapers said that the PKK effectively used the prison force to appeal to the general population, which the PKK has denied. In Turkey, this period was characterized by violent clashes that culminated in the 1980 military coup.

1980s

The 1980 Turkish coup d'état brought a difficult environment for the PKK, with members being executed, or being jailed. Other fled to Syria, where they were allowed to establish bases by Hafez al-Assad. The PKK also managed to come to agreements with the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), the Fatah of Yassir Arafat or the Palestinian Popular Struggle Front (PPSF) of Samir GhawshahMarcus, Aliza (2012). p.57 and also with Masoud Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in Iraqi Kurdistan which would facilitate their activities.

In a second phase, 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 destabilize the Turkish authority through a long, low-intensity confrontation. The establishment of the Kurdistan Liberation Force (''Hêzên Rizgariya Kurdistan'' – HRK) was announced on 15 August 1984. From 1984, the PKK became a paramilitary group with training camps in Turkish Kurdistan, Iraqi Kurdistan, Syria, Lebanon and France. The PKK received significant support from the Syrian government, which allowed it to maintain headquarters in Damascus, as well as some support from the governments of Iran, Iraq, and Libya. It began to launch attacks and bombings against Turkish governmental installations, the military, and various institutions of the state. The organization focused on attacks against Turkish military targets, although civilian targets were also hit.

In addition to skirmishing with Turkish military, police forces and local village guards, the PKK has conducted bomb attacks on government and police installations. Kidnapping and assassination against government and military officials and Kurdish tribal leaders who were named as puppets of the state were performed as well. Widespread sabotages were continued from the first stage. Turkish sources had also stated that the PKK carried out kidnappings of tourists, primarily in Istanbul, but also at different resorts. However, the PKK had in its history arrested 4 tourists and released them all after warning them to not enter the war zone. The vast majority of PKK's actions have taken place mainly in Turkey against the Turkish military, although it has on occasions co-operated with other Kurdish nationalist paramilitary groups in neighboring states, such as Iraq and Iran. The PKK has also attacked Turkish diplomatic and commercial facilities across Western Europe in the late 1980s. 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. The establishment of the Village Guards resulted into a change of policy by the PKK, who reorganized its military wing at the 3rd party congress in October 1986 and made the joining of its military wing the Kurdistan People's Liberation Force compulsory.

1990s

From the mid-1990s, the organization began to lose the upper hand in its operations as a consequence of a change of tactics by Turkey and Syria's steady abandonment of support for the group. The group also had lost its support from Saddam Hussein. As during the international operation Poised Hammer the collaboration between Barzani and Turkey embittered, the situation for the PKK became even more difficult, with Barzani condemning terrorist attacks by the PKK during a Newroz festival. At the same time, the Turkish government started to use more violent methods to counter Kurdish militants. From 1996 to 1999, the organization began to use suicide bombers, VBIED, and ambush attacks against military and police bases. The role of suicide bombers, especially female ones were encouraged and mythologised by giving them the status of a "goddess of freedom", and shown as role models for other women after their death. On 30 July 1996, Zeynep Kınacı, a female PKK fighter, carried out the organization's first suicide attack, killing 8 soldiers and injuring 29 others. The attacks against the civilians, especially the Kurdish citizens who refused to cooperate with them were also reported at the same years. On 20 January 1999, a report published by HRW, stated that the PKK was reported to have been responsible for more than 768 executions. The organization had also reportedly committed 25 massacres, killing more than 300 people. More than a hundred victims were children and women.

In March 1993 Öcalan, in presence of PUK leader Jalal Talabani declared a unilateral ceasefire for a month in order to facilitate peace negotiations with Turkey. At an other press conference which took place on 16 April 1993 in Bar Elias, Lebanon, the ceasefire was prolonged indefinitely. To this event, the Kurdish politicians Jamal Talabani, Ahmet Türk from the People's Labor Party (HEP) and also Kemal Burkay also attended and declared their support for the ceasefire. The ceasefire ended after the Turkish army killed 13 PKK members in Kulp

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