Editing Kurdistan Workers' Party (section)

==Tactics==
[[File:Demonstration in Paris for slain PKK workers.jpg|thumb|Demonstration in Paris for [[Triple murder of Kurdish activists in Paris|slain PKK founder and activists]]]]
The organization said that its violent actions against the government forces were used by "the need to defend Kurds in the context of what it calls as the massive cultural suppression of Kurdish identity (including the 1983 Turkish Language Act Ban) and cultural rights carried out by other governments of the region".<ref>{{cite book|last=McDowall|first=David|title=A Modern History of the Kurds|date=August 2011|page=443}}</ref> 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.{{citation needed|date=May 2018}} In 1995 the PKK declared that it would comply with [[Geneva Conventions]] of 1949 and also its [[Protocol I|amendment of 1977]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Provost |first=René |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6X0xEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22Code+of+the+Terrorists%3A+The+PKK+and+the+Social+Construction+of+Violence%22.+Critical+Criminology.&pg=PA360 |title=Rebel Courts: The Administration of Justice by Armed Insurgents |year=2021|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0190912246 |page=359 |language=en}}</ref> The PKK divides the combat area within Turkey into several regions which comprise a number of [[Provinces of Turkey|Turkish provinces]], of which each one is headed by its commander. A province is further also divided into several sub regions, in which a number of fighting battalions of between 100 and 170 militants are stationed. The battalions are again divided into companies of 60 to 70 fighters of which at least one needs to constituted by female and two by male militants.<ref name=":19">Provost, René (2021), p. 358</ref>

===Criticism===
{{See also|Kurdistan Workers' Party insurgency#Abuses by the Kurdish side}}
The PKK has faced condemnation by some countries and human rights organizations for the killing of teachers and civil servants,<ref name="amnestysecurity" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=Öğretmen Necmettin Yılmaz'ın Öldürülmesini Kınıyoruz!|url=https://www.ihd.org.tr/ogretmen-necmettin-yilmazin-oldurulmesini-kiniyoruz/|access-date=12 March 2021|website=[[İnsan Hakları Derneği]]|language=tr}}</ref> using [[Suicide attack|suicide bombers]],<ref>{{Cite web|title=Foreign diplomats, countries condemn Cizre attack – World News|url=https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/foreign-diplomats-countries-condemn-cizre-attack-103271|access-date=12 March 2021|website=Hürriyet Daily News|date=27 August 2016 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=PKK claims deadly suicide bombing at Turkish police station|url=https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/pkk-claims-responsibility-suicide-bombing-left-11-dead-turkey-1381604350|access-date=27 December 2018|website=Middle East Eye|archive-date=14 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181214114351/https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/pkk-claims-responsibility-suicide-bombing-left-11-dead-turkey-1381604350|url-status=dead}}</ref> and recruiting child soldiers.<ref name="childsoldiers" /><ref name="HRWCS">{{Cite web|date=22 December 2016|title=Iraq: Armed Groups Using Child Soldiers|url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/12/22/iraq-armed-groups-using-child-soldiers-0|access-date=12 March 2021|website=Human Rights Watch|language=en}}</ref> According to the TEPAV, an Ankara-based think tank, a survey conducted using data from 1,362 PKK fighters who lost their lives between 2001 and 2011 estimated that 42% of the militants were recruited under 18, with roughly 9% under 15 at the time of recruitment.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The PKK and the 'Child Soldiers'|url=https://www.tepav.org.tr/en/kose-yazisi/s/3057|access-date=12 March 2021|website=TEPAV|language=en-en}}</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable ([[WP:NOTRS]]).|date=October 2022}} In 2013 the PKK stated it would prohibit the recruitment of children under the age of 16 as well as keep 16–18 year olds away from combat.<ref>{{Cite web|title=PKK has complied with the Geneva Conventions since 1995|url=https://anfenglish.com/features/pkk-has-complied-with-the-geneva-conventions-since-1995-50097|access-date=12 March 2021|website=[[ANF News]]|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=25 July 2015|title=Turkey: monitoring the HPG/PKK's prohibition on using children in hostilities|url=https://www.genevacall.org/turkey-monitoring-hpgpkks-prohibition-using-children-hostilities/|access-date=12 March 2021|website=Geneva Call|language=en-US}}</ref> [[Human Rights Watch]] has documented 29 cases of children being recruited into the HPG (the PKK's armed wing) and the [[Sinjar Resistance Units|YBŞ]] since 2013. Some children were recruited under the age of 15, constituting a war crime according to international law.<ref name="HRWCS" />

===Recruitment===
[[File:PKK female figher̠02.jpg|thumb|230px|PKK female fighters.]]
[[File:Pkk-peshmerga-fighters.jpg|thumb|PKK and [[Peshmerga]] fighters, 11 August 2015]]
Since its foundation, the PKK has recruited new fighters mainly from Turkey, but also from Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Western countries{{which|date=November 2021}} using various recruitment methods, such as using nationalist propaganda and its gender equality ideology. At its establishment, it included a small number of female fighters but over time the number increased significantly and by the early 1990s, 30 percent of its 17,000 armed fighting forces were women.<ref name="gender">Ali Özcan, Nihat{{cite web|url=http://jamestown.org/terrorism/news/article.php?articleid=2373638|title=PKK Recruitment of Female Operatives|access-date=23 August 2010|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070915044101/http://jamestown.org/terrorism/news/article.php?articleid=2373638|archive-date=15 September 2007}}, ''Global Terrorism Analysis'', [[Jamestown Foundation]], Volume 4, Issue 28, 11 September 2007.</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable ([[WP:NOTRS]]).|date=October 2022}} After the third party congress in 1986<ref name=":14">Marcus, Aliza (2009). pp. 116–117, 119</ref> or in 1989, the PKK's armed wing issued a so-called "Compulsory Military Service Law",<ref name=":15" /> which authorized the forcible recruitment of young men. The law provoked disagreement within the party, and in 1990 it was suspended.<ref name=":14" /> The PKK has had to temporarily suspend recruitment several times since 1991, as it had difficulties providing training to the large number of volunteers who wanted to join its ranks.<ref name=":15">{{Cite journal |last=Özcan |first=Alị Kemal |date=2007 |title=The Vacillating PKK: Can It Be Resurrected? |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4284527 |journal=Middle Eastern Studies |volume=43 |issue=1 |pages=107–110 |doi=10.1080/00263200601079740 |issn=0026-3206 |jstor=4284527  |s2cid=144547591}}</ref>

By 2020, 40% of the fighting force were women.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Szekely|first=Ora|date=2020|title=Exceptional Inclusion: Understanding the PKK's Gender Policy|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/1057610X.2020.1759265|journal=Studies in Conflict & Terrorism|volume=46 |issue=4 |pages=433–450|doi=10.1080/1057610X.2020.1759265|s2cid=219481924|issn=1057-610X}}</ref> In much of rural Turkey, where male-dominated tribal structures, and conservative [[Muslim]] norms were commonplace, the organization increased its number of members through the recruitment of women from different social structures and environments, also from families that migrated to several European countries after 1960 as [[Foreign worker|guest workers]].<ref name="gender" /> {{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable ([[WP:NOTRS]]).|date=October 2022}} It was reported by a Turkish university that 88% of the subjects initially reported that equality was a key objective, and that they joined the organization based on this statement.<ref name="Hurriyet DeceivedChild">{{cite news|url=http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/gundem/6673759.asp?gid=180|title=Hepsi kandırılmış çocuklar|language=tr|work=[[Hürriyet Daily News]]|publisher=[[Ankara University|University of Ankara]]|access-date=9 June 2007}}</ref> In 2007, approximately 1,100 of 4,500–5,000 total members were women.<ref name="gender" />{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable ([[WP:NOTRS]]).|date=October 2022}}

According to the [[Jamestown Foundation]], in the early years of the PKK existence, it recruited young women by abducting them.<ref name="gender" />{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable ([[WP:NOTRS]]).|date=October 2022}} Families would also encourage family members to join the PKK in order to avenge relatives killed by the Turkish army.<ref name="gender" />{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable ([[WP:NOTRS]]).|date=October 2022}}

===Weapons===
In July 2007, the weapons captured between 1984 and 2007 from the PKK operatives and their origins published by the Turkish General Staff indicates that the operatives erased some of the serial numbers from their weapons. The total number of weapons and the origins for traceable ones were:<ref name="waponsandorigins">{{cite news|url=http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/gundem/6922630.asp?gid=180|title=İşte PKK'nın silahlarının listesi|access-date=19 July 2007|language=tr|work=[[Hürriyet Daily News]]}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|+
! colspan="3" |The choice and origin of the traceable weapons (July 2007)<ref name="waponsandorigins" />
|-
!Type
!Quantity
!Sources
|-
|[[AK-47|AK-47 Kalashnikovs]]
|4,500
|71.6% from the [[Soviet Union|USSR]], 14.7% from China, 3.6% from Hungary, 3.6% from Bulgaria
|-
|Rifles<ref group="note">[[PK machine gun|PKC automatic rifle]], [[Dragunov (SVD-63) sniper rifle|Dragunov Sniper Rifle]], Arbiki, [[Heckler & Koch G3]], [[M16 rifle]], [[Heckler & Koch PSG1]] (G-1), [[Mauser]]</ref>
|5,713 (959 traceable)
|45.2% from Russia, 13.2% from United Kingdom, and 9.4% from United States.
|-
|[[Rocket launcher]]s
|1,610 (313 traceable)
|85% from Russia, 5.4% from Iraq, and 2.5% from China in origin.
|-
|[[Pistol]]s
|2,885 (2,208 traceable)
|21.9% from [[Czechoslovakia]], 20.2% from Spain, 19.8% from Italy
|-
|[[Grenade]]s
|3,490 (136 traceable)
|72% from Russia, 19.8% from United States, 8% from Germany,
|-
|[[Land mine]]s
|11,568 (8,015 traceable)
|60.8% from Italy, 28.3% from Russia, 6.2% from Germany
|}