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Kurdistan Workers' Party

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File:Pkk.gif
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) Flag
File:Kadek flag.jpg
Congress for Freedom and Democracy in Kurdistan (KADEK) Flag
File:Kongra-gel flag.jpg
Kongra-gel Flag

The Kurdistan Workers Party (Kurdish: Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan or PKK), is one of several organisations striving for the rights of the kurdish people in Turkey. Its main objective is the creation of an independent Kurdish state in Kurdistan, a territory that is currently southeastern Turkey, northeastern Iraq, northeastern Syria and northwestern Iran. It arose from a radical youth movement in Turkey and was founded in 1973 by Abdullah Öcalan. Operated informally until 1978 when it proclaimed itself a revolutionary communist movement following a Marxist-Leninist doctrine, though since then it has abandoned much of its leftist doctrine. In 2002, the party renamed itself to KADEK, and then in 2004 to Kongra-Gel. Finally in 2005 the party reverted back to its original name, PKK.

In its campaign for Kurdish independence, the organisation has been accused of atrocities against both Turkish and Kurdish civilians. However, the Turkish Government has also been accused of widespread atrocities in its campaign to suppress the organisation, and has continued to repress efforts by the Kurdish people in Turkey to secure regional autonomy or independence.

Activities

PKK's targets consist of:

  • Turkish military and police forces.
  • Turkish sites at home and abroad.
  • Kurdish civilians who would not cooperate with the group or were alleged of collaborating with the Turkish military.
  • non-Kurdish civilians.
  • Village guards.

Their activities include:

  • Suicide bombs targeting local governors and police installations, and raiding villages and small towns.
  • Bombing tourist sites as well as kidnapping Western tourists, who were subsequently released, primarily in Istanbul and at Turkish seaside resorts in an effort to gain publicity and hamper the Turkish tourisim industry.
  • Protests and demonstrations.
  • Conducting attacks on Turkish diplomatic and commercial facilities in dozens of West European cities in 1993 and again in spring 1995.

The Turkish government responded to these actions, by using a more drastic and direct approach against the PKK. According to the Government, from 1984 through November 1997, 26,532 PKK members, 5,185 security force members, and 5,209 civilians lost their lives in the fighting. The damage to infrastructure and the money spent to end the conflict is claimed by the Turkish government to stand at 200 billion ($200,000,000,000) US dollars. Analysts point out that, if such figures are accurate, this sum would be more than enough to complete the GAP Project.

Resource Gathering

File:Frankfurd PKK protests after the capture of PKK leader.jpg
PKK supporters demonstrating after the capture of Abdullah Öcalan in Frankfurt, Germany (16 February 1999)

The organisation raised funds via:

  • Revenues obtained from the special nights organised by branch organisations in Europe.
  • Aid campaigns periodically organized by the party.
  • Grants and subscriptions.
  • Sales of publications.
  • Donations to the organisation from Kurds living in European countries.
  • Received safehaven and modest aid from Syria, Iraq, and Iran.
  • Aid received through intimidation from constructors and merchants running business in the region.
  • Extortion. In common with many terrorist organizations, the PKK routinely extorts money from people who start new businesses, and benefits from bids on government contracts. In order to finance the purchase of more sophisticated weaponry such as the German design SA FIM-92 Stinger missles, of which a number were discovered in mountain depots raided by the security forces in the spring of 1994, the PKK has begun to "tax" rich businessmen of Kurdish origin nationwide. Other professions such as doctors, contractors, builders, farmers, and teachers reportedly are not immune to extortion either. Although the largest portion of PKK's income is derived from drug smuggling, its annual budget is estimated to be $86 million USD. This includes income from extortion in both Turkey and abroad, especially from Kurdish and Turkish workers, most of who reside in Germany. The British National Service of Criminal Intelligence - NSIC) reported that in 1993 PKK extorted 2.5 million pounds sterling from immigrants and businesses. According to the same source, PKK obtained 28 million USD from drug smuggling in Europe in 1993. In addition, only those businessmen of whom PKK approves entered bids for government contracts in the southeast, in return for a "commission" to the organization. Likewise, temporary workers in the southeast who were paid a monthly net salary of $1,000 USD were forced to give up $700 USD of this sum to the PKK.


Tactics

The group in operate in high and mountanous rural as well as dense urban areas. While escaping/evading goverment troops members of the PKK often hide in underground safehouses or caves. Although nothing remotely close to Vietcong tunnel networks nor vegetation cover, the mountains and snow made them virtually invisible, especially during winter.

History

PKK supporters demonstrating in London (April 2003)
  • In 1973 the Kurdistan Workers Party, PKK, was established by Abdullah Öcalan, later formalised its doctrine in 1978.
  • In early 1980s consolidated resources and power base, prior to the military coup in Turkey, the PKK fled Turkey and established training camps in the Bekaa valley, part of ex-Syrian-controlled Lebanon.
  • In 1984 the organisation started its armed activities directed towards the Turkish military and Governmental institutes as well as civilian targets throughout Turkey
  • From early 1984 to 2 April 2002, the organisation operated under the banner of PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party).
  • From 1986 to 1987, Turkish Air Force raided PKK camps in northern Iraq in with the approval of the Iraqi government.
  • In 1990s the organisation ammended/abandoned its communist secular ideology to better accommodate and accept Islamic beliefs and also abandoned its previous strategy of attacking Kurdish civilians, focusing instead on governmental and touristic targets. The organisation's all-time high of activity was during the Gulf War when Turkey opened its Iraqi border allowing Iraqis and PKK members to flee the Saddam regime. The president of the era, Turgut Özal, is heavily criticised for his decision on this matter.
  • Two major operations were launched one at the end of 1992 and other in March 1995, were launched against the PKK, Some 1,912 PKK members died and 132 were captured alive during the ground actions of Operation Steel which was carried out by the Turkish Army in northern Iraq in May 1997. Some 965 PKK members died during the air raids. A total of 113 Turkish officers and soldiers were killed and 325 injured during this operation.
  • Beginning in 1993, PKK members launched attacks from Iranian soil.
  • Later in 1993, the PKK launched coordinated attacks involving firebombs and vandalism on Turkish diplomatic and commercial offices in six West European countries.
  • In 1994, the political party affiliated with the PKK, Democracy Party, was banned to operate as a political institution. Some members, most prominently Leyla Zana, were arrested and charged with treason and membership in the PKK but were released in 2004.
  • At the end of 1996, in PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan signed a protocol of cooperation with the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C).
  • Over the year 1997, the Turkish Army put out of action 3,302 PKK operatives, among which 484 were captured, 415 surrendered, and 303 arrested, in various operations including those in northern Iraq. During the same period, security forces lost 192 soldiers and 95 others were wounded; in addition, 49 village guards were killed and 14 wounded.
File:Ocalan right after capture.jpg
Abdullah Öcalan right after capture.

The PKK now

With the end of its unilateral cease-fire in August 2004 (the cease-fire had lasted for five years), on the claims that Ankara's reforms are "cosmetic", PKK leaders seem to favour a return to armed guerilla warfare. A great increase in PKK attacks on Turkish military, police and governmental targets in the last weeks seem to further prove this fact. The PKK claims it's only acting in self-defense and protection for the Kurds.

Meanwhile, the offical leader of the PKK, the one Kurds call Serok (leader) Apo (Abdullah Öcalan), has recently released the Declaration of Democratic Confederalism in Kurdistan .

Since his arrest in 1999, Öcalan had been campaigning for a democratic solution to the kurdish conflict inside the borders of turkey, in this document he asks for a border free confederation between the kurdish pieces of Turkey (called North Kurdistan by Kurdish nationalists), Syria (West Kurdistan), Iraq (South Kurdistan) and Iran (East Kurdistan). In this zone, three bodies of law would be implemented : EU law, Turkish/Syrian/Iraqi/Iranian law and Kurdish law.

Öcalan is to be retried on order of the European Courts of Human Rights, and he has declared his will to use this trial for a "peaceful resolution of the kurdish issue". It is not yet known whether Turkey will comply with the ECHR decision.

File:Abdullah öcalan.jpg
Abdullah Öcalan

Abdullah Öcalan

Main article: Abdullah Öcalan

Abdullah Öcalan (b. 1948) is the leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party and was captured in Kenya in early 1999 in a joint operation between the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Turkish National Intelligence Agency (MIT), and Israeli Institute for Intelligence and Special Tasks agency (Mossad).

See also

Sources

  • Section based on the article by Nur Bilge Criss, 'The Nature of PKK Terrorism in Turkey', Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 8 (1995) pp. 17-37
  • Section based on material published by the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs unless specified otherwise.

External links

Websites supporting the PKK

Kurdish Issue in Turkey

PKK - Kurdish Issue links

Websites with criticism of the PKK

Govermental:

Non-Govermental:

Categories: