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PKK News Updates
PKK / KONGRA-GEL and Terrorism
Established in 1978, PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) started its armed struggle in 1984 after a preparatory period of numerous murders and attacks, with the objective of the establishment, through armed struggle, of an independent Kurdish state within Turkey's borders.
Since 1984, PKK's terrorist activities resulted in the death of more than 30.000 Turkish citizens, among whom were innocent civilians, teachers and other public servants, many deliberately murdered, and large amount of economic loss. The terrorist organization also employed suicide-bombing methods, waged mainly by women terrorists in Turkey; and kidnapped foreign tourists in southeastern Anatolia in the early 1990s.
Following the arrest of its leader, Abdullah Öcalan, in 1999, the organization started claiming that it switched its strategy to peaceful methods and would pursue political struggle from then on.
In accordance with this policy of appearing as a born-again legitimate organization and to convince the international community accordingly, the organization changed its name to KADEK (Kurdistan Freedom and Democracy Congress) in April 2002, alleging that PKK has fulfilled its historical mission and would now like to be accepted as a political organization.
In October 2003, the organization underwent another name change to KONGRA-GEL (Kurdistan Peoples Congress). The decision was made public by a press statement in Iraq on 15 November 2003.
However, albeit the name changes, the leading members of the organization remain the same. Today, PKK/KONGRA-GEL is still headed by Abdullah Öcalan, with Zübeyir Aydar, a former member of the "Kurdish National Congress", an affiliate of PKK, its president. Furthermore, founders and leading figures of the PKK, such as Murat Karayılan, Cemil Bayık etc. continue to assume leading roles in the organization. Many of the leading figures of PKK/KONGRA-GEL are internationally recognized criminals searched through Red Bulletins.
Moreover, after neither of these two name changes nor the so-called strategy change of 1999, the organization did not undergo changes on substantial issues such as decommissioning of arms, continuing to carry out attacks mainly in southeastern Anatolia. The organization's declaration on 29 May 2004, alleging an end to a so-called unilateral cease-fire that the organization claims to be implementing since September 1999, stating that it would, by 1 June 2004, respond to any offence with a rationale of self-defense, is yet another open revelation of the organization's terrorist nature.
PKK/KONGRA-GEL keeps its militants and recruits new ones. PKK militants did not surrender to justice, even to benefit from the provisions of the "Law on Reintegration into Society", that came into force on 6 August 2003 (for a period of 6 months) and that provided amnesty to those members of a terrorist organization who were not involved in any crimes.
Presently, it is estimated that there are a total of approximately 5,000 PKK/KONGRA-GEL terrorists, the majority of whom are in north of Iraq, where the organization's headquarters are situated.
PKK/KONGRA-GEL is in the terrorist organizations list of the U.S. State Department.
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