PKK Terrorism : Ministry of Foreign Affairs Publication

What is the PKK?

The PKK (Kurdish acronym for the "Kurdistan Workers' Party"), formed in 1978 by Abdullah Öcalan, is the most notorious terror organization in the world. It has been waging a vicious campaign of terror against Turkey since 1984 with the external support of certain states and circles whose aim is to destabilize Turkey.

The PKK was identified as one of the 30 main terrorist organizations in the world by the US Secretary of State in October 1997, and it was also described in the same way in US State Department "Patterns of Global Terrorism" reports.

PKK’s terrorist activities have resulted, to date, in the death of thousands of people, including women, the elderly, children and in many instances even infants. The PKK has also murdered over one hundred school teachers, who became inevitable targets of the terrorists since it was judged that PKK’s subversive views could be most easily imposed on the uneducated and the ignorant. Lists giving the figures of ordinary individuals and public servants, ruthlessly killed or maimed by the PKK terrorists, are in annex.

The PKK has employed murder, intimidation, kidnapping and destruction to achieve its nefarious objectives. It targets ordinary people, because it aims to subjugate the local population in southeastern Turkey into supporting its evil deeds. The PKK has attacked the entire inhabitants of villages in southeast Anatolia. These attacks are also designed to make the region uninhabitable. The PKK destroys schools, sets forests on fire, blows up railways and bridges, plants mines on roads, burns down construction machinery, and demolishes health centers. A list containing the figures of material damage caused by PKK’s terrorist attacks is also in annex.

In response, the authorities trained the villagers to defend themselves and also moved some people to locations where they would be safer. These two measures, intended to protect the local population against terrorism, have been at the center of a misinformation campaign by the PKK and its sympathizers.

The PKK indiscriminately murders the very people on whose behalf it purports to act: Turkish citizens of Kurdish origin. Ironically, the PKK regards Masud Barzani’s Kurdish

PKK Terrorism: Ministry of Foreign Affairs Publication

Democratic Party and Jalal Talabani’s Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the two main Kurdish groupings in northern Iraq, as its adversaries.

Due to its ability to strike Turkey from Syria and (after the 1991 Gulf War) northern Iraq, the PKK proved for some time a serious threat to law and order and claimed many victims. Following its operations against PKK facilities in northern Iraq Turkey restored law and order throughout the southeastern provinces.

The PKK has been supported and sheltered by some of Turkey’s neighbors, as well as by some others outside the region. Syria and Greece are the principal countries that have been supporting the PKK for years. However, with the signing of Adana memorandum on October 20, 1998, the Syrian connection has been broken. Syrian authorities have promised not to support terrorist activities against Turkey and taken some steps in this direction. Turkey closely monitors Syrian compliance with the Adana agreement. Yet, Greece, a NATO ally, backs the PKK and its affiliates by every means at its disposal. Confessions and testimonies of dozens of PKK militants arrested in Turkey reveal that Greek support to PKK terrorism goes much beyond than what was generally estimated. Most recently, revelations made by the PKK member Fethi Demir and by Şemdin Sakık, PKK’s "second man" captured in northern Iraq, have helped to confirm concretely the continuing Greek support to the PKK. The statement made by Greek Premier Simitis on November 26, 1998, leaves no room for doubt about the position of Greece vis-a-vis the PKK: "the PKK is an organization fighting for the rights of the Kurdish minority and using various means to reach this end." Can there be a more explicit approval of PKK terrorism? There is of course other evidence and documentation concerning Grek support to PKK terrorism.

The PKK terrorist organization, among others, employs the following methods in the perpetration of its crimes:

a) Indiscriminate terror against the Turkish citizens of Kurdish ethnic origin mainly in southeastern Turkey. Targets included children, women, and the elderly. In some places PKK terrorists have wiped out isolated, dispersed settlements and hamlets. The aim is to force the local population into submission, to make them provide sanctuary.

b) Indiscriminate terror against non-Kurdish population. The purpose is to discredit the state institutions and to cause instability.

c) Terror against selected targets.

· Assassination of well known personalities, judicial, law enforcement and security personnel.

· Assassination of state functionaries that provide services to the local population in southeastern Turkey (civil servants, teachers, health personnel, technical personnel, etc.).

· Assassination of village guardsmen and their families.

· Attacks on and occupation of official missions of Turkey abroad (diplomatic, consular, commercial, tourism, etc.) as well as headquarters or branch offices of semi-official institutions (Turkish Airlines offices, banks, etc.).Attacks and acts of arson against the houses, business facilities, associations and mosques of the Turkish community living in western Europe, mainly in Germany. These acts of terror are mostly carried out through proxies and front organizations that are permitted by the authorities of the host countries to operate in those states.

d) Terror within the ranks of the PKK, against informants and repentant militants. Over the years, Öcalan has ordered the killing of numerous PKK defectors and potential rivals.

In the past decade, the PKK has conducted assassinations, kidnappings and acts of arson in Western Europe against former PKK members and defectors. Assassinations of PKK defectors occurred in Sweden in 1984 and 1985; in Denmark in 1985; in the Netherlands in 1987 and 1989; in Germany in 1986, 1987, and 1988.

e) Wider hit and run tactics against border posts and military patrols.

f) Terrorist attacks against industrial infrastructure, oil facilities, social facilities, and tourist sites with the aim of weakening the Turkish economy and tarnishing its image. As part of these terror acts, the PKK bombed passenger trains, ferryboats, and buses.

Several of these attacks resulted in civilian casualties. In 1993 and 1994 it also staged a series of kidnappings of foreigners in southeastern Turkey to frighten away tourists and to embarrass the Turkish government.

g) The head of the terrorist organization PKK has advocated and ordered the use of suicide bombings against Turkish targets that resulted in the deaths of security personnel and civilians, and injuries to many more.

Obviously, such an enterprise of crime and violence like the PKK requires colossal human and financial resources. As there are no legitimate ways or means to obtain the required resources, PKK’s only option is to resort to illegal and illegitimate methods. Hence, the PKK is heavily engaged in organized crime activities, including extortion, drug trafficking, arms smuggling, human smuggling (illegal immigration), and abduction of children. Such racketeering takes place particularly in western Europe.

The PKK has been carrying out its activities abroad through its front organization ERNK (Kurdish acronym for the "Kurdistan National Liberation Front"), the so-called "Kurdistan Parliament in Exile", its mouthpiece MED TV, and through other affiliated offices, centers and associations.

Through these front establishments, the PKK organizes and carries out its illegal activities. It also uses them to make its propaganda so as to influence and mislead the public opinion in west European countries for obtaining popular support to its subversive ends.

The abduction of children and youngsters in some European countries by these front organizations deserves special mention. According to police reports and press articles in several west European countries, the PKK recently organized kidnappings of children, of 14-17 years of age, in Varmland/Sweden through the ERNK, and in Celle/Germany through "Kurdish Information Bureaus", or "Kurdish Culture Centers". The statements of some of the abducted children, as well as press and police reports reveal that the PKKkidnapped these youngsters, took them to its camps, located in some other west European countries, and forced them into training as terrorist militants. The Turkish authorities spared no effort in drawing the attention of the west European countries to such criminal and illegal activities of the PKK, but unfortunately their calls to prevent these activities usually fell on deaf ears. The complaints of the children’s families, however, attracted the attention of the public and thus created a strong reaction towards what the PKK and its affiliates have in fact been doing for years. The police in Sweden and Germany are now investigating the matter.

Terrorism constitutes today one of the most serious violations of human rights, in particular the fundamental right to life. By murdering thousands of people, the PKK has violated the right to life. Therefore, all the PKK terrorists, including their head Öcalan,

must answer in the court of law for their crimes.

All societies threatened by terrorism have the right to take appropriate measures to protect themselves from violence and to eradicate terrorism. Turkey’s fight against the PKK terrorism is of this nature and aims not only to maintain security and to protect its citizens, but also to pave the way for economic and social development in the regions where this is needed most. This fight against terrorism observes democratic principles and the rule of law, with great care being given to respect the rights of innocent civilians.

Дата добавления: 2015-10-24