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Kurdistan Workers' Party

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File:Pkk logo.gif
The PKK logo

The Kurdistan Workers Party (Kurdish: Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan or PKK), also known as KADEK and Kongra-Gel, is a revolutionary group, aiming to create an independent Kurdish state in a territory (sometimes referred to as Kurdistan) that consists of parts of south-eastern Turkey, north-eastern Iraq, north-eastern Syria and north-western Iran. Its ideological foundation is revolutionary Marxism-Leninism and Kurdish nationalism. EU(The Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PEJAK) based in northern Iraq and operating in Iran is associated with the PKK.)

PKK was founded and led by Abdullah Öcalan. It emerged as an organisation during the 1970s and developed into a paramilitary organisation in the late 1980s and 1990s, for details see the conflict in south-eastern Turkey. The PKK argues that its violence is justified by the need to defend Kurds in the context of what it saw as massive cultural suppression of Kurdish identity and cultural rights carried out by governments in the region, such as the mass destruction of civilian Kurdish villages and the banning of the kurdish language in Turkey. .


Activities

The PKK operates in Turkey, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.



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 government.

Effects

Main article: Effects of the Kurdistan Workers Party


As a revolutionary left-wing organization, the PKK perceived Turkish society as deformed by capitalism and imperialism.

International politics

Main article: International Politics and Kurdistan Workers Party


European Union has used Turkey's reaction to the PKK as an argument for rejecting Turkey's application for membership in the EU.

Current status

After the capture of leader Abdullah Öcalan in 1999, he urged the PKK to work for its objectives through peaceful means, and the PKK began a ceasefire in that year. It changed its name to KADEK to reflect a move towards peaceful politics and co-operation with a wider range of ideologies. The refusal of the Turkish government to issue a general amnesty to PKK operatives, the failure of the PKK-linked Democratic People's Party to make an electoral breakthrough 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 2004, aside from a few isolated incidents armed conflict came to a complete halt. Recently however has been increase in PKK activity. There is an increase in PKK attacks on Turkish military, police, and governmental targets near the Iraqi border in the last weeks.PKK claims it is only acting in self-defense and for the protection of the Kurdish people.

See also

Related concepts covered
Turkey Constitution of Turkey Politics of Turkey Left-wing politics
Kurds Kurdistan Abdullah Öcalan Leyla Zana
Terrorism State terrorism Proxy war Sheikh Sayid


Sources

External links

Websites supporting the PKK

Websites with criticism of the PKK

Governmental:

Non-governmental:

PKK issue in Turkey

Other websites that cover the PKK conflict

  1. "Turkish General Election Results 2002". Retrieved November 3. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  2. Cite error: The named reference militaryacts was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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