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The Kurdistan Workers Party ( or PKK, , also called KADEK, Kongra-Gel, and KCK) is an armed militant group founded in the 1970s and led, until his capture in 1999, by Abdullah Öcalan . 4 The PKK's ideology was founded on revolutionary Marxism-Leninism and Kurdish Nationalism . The PKK's goal has been to create an independent socialist Kurdish state in a territory which it claims as Kurdistan , an area that comprises parts of south-eastern Turkey , north-eastern Iraq , north-eastern Syria and north-western Iran .5 6 It is an Ethnic Secession ist organization that uses force and the threat of force against both civilian7 and military targets for the purpose of achieving its political goal. The PKK is listed as a Terrorist organization internationally by A Number Of States And Organizations , including the USA , NATO and the EU . More than 37,000 People have been killed in the Turkey-PKK Conflict since 1984,http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6537751.stm 4,568 being military personnel.8 RECENT STATUS 2006 - to date The PKK has declared ceasefire on September 28 , 2006 .910 The cease fire call has been rejected by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Chief of Staff, General Yaşar Büyükanıt . Erdoğan was quoted as saying; "A ceasefire is done between states. It is not something for the terrorist organization,"1112 The Turkish army is calling for action against PKK training camps in northern Iraq.13 There is an activity to the Kurdish villagers on 29.07.2007. This is an example in these days(see the activities of PKK for more example in the past): Militants killed the villager in Tünekpınar who didn't give food.14 Death threats by PKK concerning the Turkish General election in 2007 A death threat was mailed by PKK to CHP , MHP , DYP and AKP to withdraw their Van and Hakkari candidates allowing a DTP dominance. 2004 - 2006 The refusal of the Turkish government to issue a general Amnesty to PKK operatives, the failure of the Kurdish nationalist Democratic People's Party to make an electoral breakthrough until 2007 and profound ideological disputes within the movement led to the ceasefire becoming ragged in 2003, before breaking down completely in 2004. Since the declaration of cease-fire on August 2000, aside from a few isolated incidents, the armed conflict had come to a complete halt. Since 2004, there has been an increase in PKK attacks on the Turkish military, police, and governmental targets near the Iraq i border in the last months. Ankara is increasing its pressure on the US to obtain the go-ahead for a military strike to the PKK installations in northern Iraq. PKK claims it is only acting in self-defense and for the protection of the Kurds. During the period 2003-2004-2005 period; the total security personnel lost (soldier, police (21), village guard (22)) is 246. The total number of personnel wounded and disabled is 147. The total armed militants captured: 1325 (359 dead, 377 live, 589 Amnesty ) (116 among 377 through exchange of criminals with Iran , Iraq , Syria , Greece , Azerbaijan and Ukraine ). The TBMM report also expects an increase in the number of militants captured through exchange of criminals in the coming years. These numbers are presented as part of the fight on Terror activities. Report also mentions growing efforts in mobilizing the criminal intelligence exchange. 1999 - 2004 After his capture in 1999, the group's leader Abdullah Öcalan has urged the PKK to work peacefully to attain its objectives, and the PKK declared a ceasefire in that year. It changed its name to KADEK to reflect moves towards peaceful politics and co-operation with a wider range of ideologies, but it is claimed that this change was aimed to protect itself from the legal implications of being listed as a terrorist organization. A PKK/KADEK spokesman stated that its armed wing, The People’s Defense Force, would not disband or surrender its weapons, to maintain its capability of self-defense. PKK/KADEK avowing to not lay down its arms underscores that the organization maintains its capability to carry out terrorist operations. Abdullah Öcalan, has declared his own militants as "No better than Murderers".16 ALLEGATIONS OF INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT TO THE PKK According to The New Yorker magazine, US government has been supporting PJAK , the Iranian branch of PKK.17 General : ''Aksine bu tutum bir yandan teröristleri cesaretlendirmiş, diğer yandan eylemlerin boyutlarının genişlemesine yardımcı olmuştur. Esas üzücü olan Avrupa ülkelerinin birçoğunun, terörizmin kendisine yönelik en büyük tehdit olduğunu ifade eden bir kuruluş olan NATO'nun üyesi olmasıdır.'' - 18 A former militant, who recently had turned himself in to the Turkish Police, claimed that the weapons for PKK in the north of Iraq were provided by US armoured vehicles.1920. Austria arranged a flight to Iraq for Ali Rıza Altun , a key figure in PKK ranks and also wanted by the Interpol , after harboring him for some time. Turkish foreign minister Abdullah Gül summoned the Austrian ambassador and condemned Austria's action.21 A document by the Turkish General Staff published in July 2007 documented the weapons and their origin captured from the PKK operatives. Same report also indicates that the PKK operatives delete some of the serial numbers from their weapons as they have done before making a serial number search. The weapons PKK uses and their origins are:22
HISTORY Hammer And Sickle ]] See Also: History of the Kurdistan Workers Party The PKK's core was originally a group called the "Ankara Democratic Patriotic Association of Higher Education" (APOCUS) or Apocular ("Apoists"), which was made up largely of students, led by Abdullah Öcalan ("Apo" is his nickname). Although originally from Ankara , the group soon moved its focus to south-east Turkey, and its large Kurdish population, where they began organising. With the official release of the "Proclamation of Independence of PKK" on 27 October , 1978 , the group became known as the Kurdistan Workers Party. With its largely communist ideology, the PKK soon found itself in Conflict With Right-wing Entities . In 1979 Mehmet Celal Bucak was condemned for "exploiting the peasants," and "collaborating". The PKK attempted to assassinate him, but failed. This was the first violent high-profile public action undertaken by the PKK, and it marked a period of intense that same year largely ended the conflict, with members of the PKK going to prison, or fleeing to Syria . On November 10, 1980, the Turkish Consulate in Strasbourg , France was bombed causing significant material damage but no injuries. The ASALA (Armenian now inactive militant organisation that usually attacked Turkish consulates, it was designated as a terrorist organisation then) and the PKK claimed responsibility. In a telephone call to the Agence France-Presse office, a spokesman said the blast was a joint operation and marked the start of a "fruitful collaboration" between the two nationalist organizations.23 Starting in 1984, the PKK transformed itself into a paramilitary organisation (largely based in and supported by Iran , Iraq and Syria ), as it launched conventional attacks as well as Bombing s against Turkish governmental installations, military and civilian targets, many of whom were connected to the Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP), a multi-sector integrated regional development project based on the concept of sustainable development for more than 9 million people living in the Southeastern Anatolia region. The PKK also moved to a less centralized format, taking up operations in a variety of European and Middle Eastern countries. Following the collapse of the USSR , the PKK largely abandoned its communist roots, attempting to better accommodate Islamic beliefs. In the mid 1990s, they also began to shift from conventional bombing to Suicide Bombing , launching fifteen such attacks between 1995 and 1999. The majority (11 of 15) of the suicide bombers were women. during the In the late 1990s, the Turkish army began to gain the upper hand in its ground war with the PKK and post- Cold War shifts in international politics resulted in the group losing much of its support among other states. 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. Ban on publishing using Kurdish language (1983) was dropped in 1991, with more thorough reforms, such as the lifting of the ban on broadcasting in Kurdish, adopted in the 2000s with the decrease in PKK's activities. The Kurdish Conflict in Turkey: Obstacles and Chances for Peace and Democracy , by Ferhad Ibrahim, Gulistan Gurbey In 1999 Turkish authorities in Kenya to a local airport, in a joint operation between the CIA and Turkey's MIT . He was tried in Turkey and sentenced to the death penalty. He took a case against Turkey to the European Court Of Human Rights (ECtHR) which influenced Turkey's decision to commute the death sentence to life imprisonment, safeguarding him from risk of execution. The ECtHR held that there had been violation of Article 6 (right to fair trial), as there was a military judge in the Turkish court trying Abdullah Öcalan, there was no violation of Article 2 (right to life).http://web.archive.org/web/20050210224238/http://www.echr.coe.int/eng/Press/2003/march/Ocalanjudgeng.htm Following a call by the captured Öcalan for a peaceful solution, the PKK found itself blacklisted in many countries. Consequently, the PKK went through a series of changes and implemented a unilateral truce, which ended in 2004. On 2 April of that year, the Council Of The European Union added the PKK to its list of terrorist organisations. Later in 2004, the US Treasury moved to freeze assets of branches of the PKK. According to Turkish people, Massoud Barzani who controls the Iraqi side of the border, and the US troops in Iraq don't take enough precautions to protect the borders of Iraq and Turkey, and this causes a major problem in the Turkish foreign policy.http://istanbul.usconsulate.gov/cg_speech_0523.htmlhttp://istanbul.usconsulate.gov/ralston_091906.html RESOURCES The organization's annual budget has been estimated at $86 million USD .24 The PKK receives a proportion of 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.25 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. The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) also has been financing its separatist movement by "taxing" narcotic traffickers and engaging in the trade themselves. The PKK is heavily involved in the European drug trade, especially in Germany and France. French law enforcement estimates that the PKK smuggles 80% of the heroin in Paris. GWU At the height of its campaign, the PKK received support from other countries, most notably Nationalist ideology such as the Palestine Liberation Organisation , ETA , and to a lesser degree the Provisional Irish Republican Army . Through the large Kurdish immigration in Germany , it has also formed close contacts with violent left-wing political groups in that country. From early 1979 to 1999 Syria had provided valuable safe havens to PKK in the region of Beqaa Valley . During 1990s, Iran has provided PKK with supplies in the form of weapons and funds. In addition, the retired Greek army general . 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. Iran Listed PKK as a terrorist organization after Iran's supply of resources to the PKK began be to used on its own soil. On 30 September , 1995 Damascus opened new contacts with high ranking German CDU MP Heinrich Lummer and German intelligence officials. The PKK has also strong ties with influential persons around the world. Danielle Mitterrand , the wife of the former President Of France has active connections with elements of the PKK's leadership. ACTIVITIES The PKK operates in Turkey, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. One pattern is apparent after 1984, PKK began to use Maoist Theory Of People's War .The rise and fall of the PKK, By Michael Radu, Orbis (Winter 2001)The politics of the PKK (Kurdish Workers Party): a balance sheet, By Ute Reissner and Justus Leicht, World Socialist (1999) 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. In the first phase (1978-1984), the PKK tried to gain the support of the population. It attacked the machinery of government and distributed propaganda in the region. PKK tactics were based on which culminated in the 1980 Military Coup . 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. Kidnapping 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 Tourist s, primarily in Istanbul but also at different resorts. PKK has also attacked Turkish diplomatic and commercial facilities across Western Europe . In the third phase, or "guerrilla stage", Conventional Fighting was used to seize cities, overthrow the government and take control of the country. PKK seized cities during the highest activity period, and it also had consequences on the functioning of the Turkish parliament through Turkey's own election system, but there was no case during an active conflict that PKK manage to sustain its flag in a region within the borders of Turkey. MILITANT ACTIVITIES Since its creation in the 1970s, amid ) and cultural rights carried out by the governments of the region. However, in its campaign, the PKK 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. 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. All in all, this Low Intensity Conflict which has been lasting since more than thirty years has had a Number Of Effects In The Turkish Territory . Furthermore, this conflict is an important part concerning the negotiations between Turkey and the European Union (EU) about its eventual Integration To The EU . Eric Rouleau in the November/December 2000 edition of ' Foreign Affairs ' states: "According to the Turkish Ministry of Justice, in addition to the 35,000 people killed in military campaigns, 17,500 were assassinated between 1984, when the conflict began, and 1998. An additional 1,000 people were reportedly assassinated in the first nine months of 1999. According to the Turkish press, the authors of these crimes, none of whom have been arrested, belong to groups of mercenaries working either directly or indirectly for the security agencies".2930 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.31 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. The group has been planting mines. Landmine Monitor 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 Vehicle s. To counter the PKK's activities, the , whom a lot had been arrested after the 1980 Military Coup after having taken a central part in the 1970s years of lead, were quickly released by the Turkish state in exchange of taking part in the counter-insurgency, which was coherent with their ultra-nationalism. Along with Counter-Guerrilla , the Turkish branch of the NATO Stay-behind anti-communist clandestine paramilitary networks, these paramilitary units fought the PKK killing and torturing thousands in the 1980s. Dressed up as PKK fighters, they executed people as a form of Psychological Warfare .32 The fact that Counter-Guerrilla had engaged in torture during these Covert Operation s was confirmed by Talat Turhan, a retired Turkish lieutenant colonel. In a report published on 28 January 1997 , the Turkish government’s chief inspector, Savas, described how the army’s "special war" units had also become involved in protection rackets, blackmail, rape and drug trafficking. The report also describes how the Turkish government handed over the security of the large area around the towns of Siverek and Hilvan to the private army of tribal chief Sedat Bucak , an MP close to former Prime minister Tansu Çiller . A version of the report published in Turkish daily '' Radikal '' on February 4 , 1998 , stated: ''"In the region under State of Emergency Kurdish provinces , the authority to apply the death sentence has been brought down to the level of low-ranking officers and, even more seriously, to repentant prisoners, who were the terrorists of yesterday and are the potential criminals of tomorrow ... When persons have been handed over from one state service to another, after a case has been adjourned in the courts, and are found dead under a bridge, it is obvious that one cannot speak of murders by unknown perpetrators."'' Turkey’s pivotal role in the international drug trade , '' Le Monde Diplomatique '', July 1998 / According to a July 1998 article by '' Le Monde Diplomatique '', the conflict has weighted heavily on the Turkish state's budget. In 1993, a sum of $70m was allocated from the prime minister’s secret funds. According to Mr Savas, this sum was used mainly for buying weapons and anti-terrorist equipment from Israel and for external operations. Irregular Unit s in the conflictual zones have had to find ways to finance themselves, including racketeering and secret funding. Sedat Bucak has been alleged by the French newspaper to have under his orders 20,000 men, while the Village Guards pro-government Kurdish militias created in the mid-1980s would number to a total of 64,000. Use of Children/Study of University of Ankara PKK uses mainly children as the militant force. A recent study in Ankara Üniversitesi Sağlık Bilimleri Enstitüsü (University of Ankara and Health Sciences Institute) revealed 86% of the caught militants joined due to their families having an income less than 500 Turkish Liras (about US$ 380 ) per month, 60% of them had an education level less than high school.33 Also, all of the children on this study complained the promises made by the militant organization of their families being taken care of was not fulfilled. Also, 80% of the children admitted they actively stopped their family members, usually younger brothers, from joining the organization. When the children were asked why did they not run from the PKK and turn themselves in, only 5% said they were afraid of their punishment from the Turkish Republic. Two thirds of the children stated that they were afraid of being caught by the organization, due to the fact PKK punishments are not just limited to physical harm towards the militant; most of the time, their families were harmed as well. Yet another interesting statistic was the ideals of the PKK. PKK, a Leninist/Marxist organization, list equality amongst all as one of their objectives, but 88% of the subjects said there were no equality at all in the organization. EFFECTS See Also: Effects of the Kurdistan Workers Party As a revolutionary there were no communication channels between the sides. Ill-formed language ban of 1983 and Terrorism Act of 1991 were significant events. Also, amnesties were happened to be 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 , 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. 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. SEE ALSO
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