Editing Kurdistan Workers' Party (section)

==Resources==
===Funding===
Parties and concerts are organized by branch groups.<ref name="organizedcrime">{{cite web|url=http://www.ict.org.il/Article/1587/Kurdistan-Workers-Party|work=Counter-Terrorism Studies|publisher=[[International Institute for Counter-Terrorism|International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism]] (ICT)|title=Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK)|access-date=1 September 2007|archive-date=6 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160206140509/http://www.ict.org.il/Article/1587/Kurdistan-Workers-Party|url-status=dead}}</ref> According to the [[EUROPOL|European Police Office (EUROPOL)]], the organization collects money from its members, using labels like 'donations' and 'membership fees' which are seen as a fact extortion and illegal taxation by the authorities. There are also indications that the organization is actively involving in money laundering, illicit drugs and human trafficking, as well as illegal immigration inside and outside the EU for funding and running its activities.<ref name="europa.eu">{{cite web|url=https://www.europol.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/te-sat2011_0.pdf|title=EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report|website=Europol.europa.eu|access-date=28 December 2018}}</ref>

====Involvement in drug trafficking====
PKK's involvement in [[drug trafficking]] has been documented since the 1990s.<ref>{{cite web|author1=Glenn E. Curtis|author2=Tara Karacan|title=The nexus among terrorists, narcotics traffickers, weapons proliferators, and organized crime networks in Western Europe|url=https://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/pdf-files/WestEurope_NEXUS.pdf|work=Library of Congress|access-date=13 July 2016|page=20|format=Report|date=December 2002}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Turhal|first1=Tugru|title=Organizational Structure Of PKK And Non-PKK-linked Turkish Drug Trafficking Organizations|url=http://mars.gmu.edu/bitstream/handle/1920/10137/Turhal_gmu_0883E_11045.pdf|publisher=George Mason University|date=2015|page=91}}</ref> A report by Interpol published in 1992 states that the PKK, along with nearly 178 Kurdish organizations were suspected of illegal drug trade involvement. Members of the PKK have been designated narcotics traffickers by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.<ref name="Narcotics2" /> The [[Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution]], Germany's domestic security agency, echoed this report in its 2011 [[Annual Report on the Protection of the Constitution]], stating that despite the U.S. Department of Treasury designation, there was "no evidence that the organizational structures of the PKK are directly involved in drug trafficking".<ref name="auto">{{cite web|url=http://www.verfassungsschutz.de/de/oeffentlichkeitsarbeit/publikationen/verfassungsschutzberichte/vsbericht-2011|title=Verfassungsschutzbericht 2011|last=Friedrich|first=Hans-Peter|author2=Heinz Fromm|date=18 July 2012|publisher=Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz|page=342|access-date=21 November 2013}}</ref>

On 14 October 2009, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's [[Office of Foreign Assets Control]] (OFAC) targeted the senior leadership of the PKK, designating Murat Karayılan, the head of the PKK, and high-ranking members Ali Riza Altun and [[Zübeyir Aydar]] as foreign narcotics traffickers at the request of Turkey.<ref name="Narcotics2">{{cite news|url=http://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/tg318.aspx|author=Press Center|work=[[United States Department of the Treasury|U.S. Department of the Treasury]]|title=Treasury Designates Three Leaders of the Kongra-Gel as Significant Foreign Narcotics Traffickers|date=14 October 2009|access-date=23 April 2011}}</ref> On 20 April 2011, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced the designation of PKK founders [[Cemîl Bayik]] and [[Duran Kalkan]] and other high-ranking members as Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers (SDNT) pursuant to the [[Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act]] (Kingpin Act). Pursuant to the Kingpin Act, the designation freezes any assets the designees may have under [[Federal jurisdiction (United States)|U.S. jurisdiction]] and prohibits U.S. persons from conducting financial or commercial transactions with these individuals.<ref name="Narcotics">{{cite web|url=http://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/tg1148.aspx|date=20 April 2011|access-date=23 April 2011|title=Treasury Designates Five Leaders of the Kongra-Gel as Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers|publisher=United States Department of the Treasury}}</ref> On 1 January 2012, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's [[Office of Foreign Assets Control]] (OFAC) announced the designation of Moldovan-based individuals Zeyneddin Geleri, Cerkez Akbulut, and Omer Boztepe as specially designated narcotics traffickers for drug trafficking on behalf of the PKK in [[Europe]]. According to the OFAC, Zeynedding Geleri was identified as a high-ranking member of the PKK while two others were activists. The OFAC stated that the drug trafficking is still one of the organization's criminal activities it uses to obtain weapons and materials.<ref>{{cite news|date=1 February 2012|title=Treasury Sanctions Supporters of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) Tied to Drug Trafficking in Europe|publisher=US Department of the Treasury|url=https://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/tg1406.aspx}} {{PD-notice}}</ref>

According to research conducted by journalist Aliza Marcus, the PKK accepted the support of smugglers in the region. Aliza Marcus stated that some of those Kurdish smugglers who were involved in the drug trade, either because they truly believed in the PKK—or because they thought it a good business practice (avoid conflicts)—frequently donated money to the PKK rebels. However, according to Aliza Marcus, it does not seem that the PKK, as an organization, directly produced or traded in narcotics.<ref>{{cite book|last=Marcus|first=Aliza|title=Blood and belief: the PKK and the Kurdish fight for independence|url=https://archive.org/details/bloodbeliefpkkku00marc|url-access=limited|publisher=New York University Press|location=New York|date=2007|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bloodbeliefpkkku00marc/page/n195 183]–184|isbn=978-0814757116}}</ref>

[[File:Raqqa Syrian Democratic Forces 1.jpg|thumb|230px|Following the [[Syrian Democratic Forces|SDF]] capture of [[Raqqa]], YPJ and [[People's Protection Units|YPG]] troops raised a large banner of Abdullah Öcalan in the city centre.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/kurdish-fighters-raise-flag-showing-pkk-leader-abdullah-ocalan-centre-raqqa-610840006|title=Kurdish fighters raise flag of PKK leader in centre of Raqqa|work=[[Middle East Eye]]|date=19 October 2017}}</ref>]]

The [[EUROPOL]] which has monitored the organization's activities inside the EU has also claimed the organization's involvement in the trafficking of drugs.<ref name="europa.eu" />

===Human resources===
In 2008, according to information provided by the Intelligence Resource Program of the [[Federation of American Scientists]] the strength of the organization in terms of human resources consists of approximately 4,000 to 5,000 militants of whom 3,000 to 3,500 are located in northern Iraq.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://fas.org/irp/world/para/pkk.htm|title=Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)|work=[[Federation of American Scientists]]|access-date=23 July 2008|date=21 May 2004|first=John|last=Pike}}</ref> With the new wave of fighting from 2015 onwards, observers said that active support for the PKK had become a "mass phenomenon" in majority ethnic Kurdish cities in the southeast of the Republic of Turkey, with large numbers of local youth joining PKK-affiliated local militant groups.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/09/turkey-kurds-pkk-daglica-war-be-sustained-bloody-day.html|title=6 reasons why Turkey's war against the PKK won't last|publisher=Al-Monitor|date=8 September 2015|access-date=18 May 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160328074432/http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/09/turkey-kurds-pkk-daglica-war-be-sustained-bloody-day.html|archive-date=28 March 2016}}</ref>

===Alleged international support===
At the height of its campaign, it is alleged that the organization received support from a range of countries. According to Turkey, those countries the PKK previously or currently received support from include: Greece,<ref>{{cite news|title=Turkey says Greece supports PKK|url=http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/default.aspx?pageid=438&n=turkey-says-greece-supports-pkk-1997-07-01|access-date=17 October 2012|newspaper=Hürriyet Daily News|date=7 January 1997|archive-date=19 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019081333/http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/default.aspx?pageid=438&n=turkey-says-greece-supports-pkk-1997-07-01|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Greece dogged by Öcalan affair|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/287232.stm|access-date=17 October 2012|work=[[BBC News]]|date=27 February 1999}}</ref> Cyprus,<ref name="Faucompret">{{cite book|last=Faucompret|first=Erik|title=Turkish Accession to the EU: Satisfying the Copenhagen Criteria|year=2008|publisher=Taylor & Francis |location=Hoboken |isbn=978-0203928967|page=168|author2=Konings, Jozef |quote=The Turkish establishment considered the Kurds' demand for the recognition of their identity a threat to the territorial integrity of the state, the more so because the PKK was supported by countries hostile to Turkey: Soviet Union, Greece, Cyprus, Iran and especially Syria. Syria hosted the organization and its leader for twenty years, and it provided training facilities in the Beka'a Valley of Syrian-controlled northern Lebanon.}}</ref> Iran,<ref name="telegraph">{{cite news|title=Syria and Iran 'backing Kurdish terrorist group', says Turkey|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/turkey/9518194/Syria-and-Iran-backing-Kurdish-terrorist-group-says-Turkey.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/turkey/9518194/Syria-and-Iran-backing-Kurdish-terrorist-group-says-Turkey.html |archive-date=11 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=17 October 2012|newspaper=The Telegraph|date=3 September 2012}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Iraq,<ref>{{cite news|title=N. Iraq: A New Page in Foreign Policy|url=http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/default.aspx?pageid=438&n=n.-iraq-a-new-page-in-foreign-policy-1998-11-15|access-date=17 October 2012|newspaper=Hürriyet Daily News|date=15 November 1998}}</ref> Russia,<ref>{{cite news|title=Russian newspaper: Russia provided money for PKK|url=http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/default.aspx?pageid=438&n=russian-newspaper-russia-provided-money-for-pkk-2000-02-28|access-date=17 October 2012|newspaper=Hürriyet Daily News|date=28 February 2000|archive-date=19 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019081345/http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/default.aspx?pageid=438&n=russian-newspaper-russia-provided-money-for-pkk-2000-02-28|url-status=dead}}</ref> Syria,<ref name="telegraph" /> Finland,<ref name=cnbc>{{cite news|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/23/why-turkey-doesnt-want-sweden-finland-to-join-nato.html|title=Conflict, politics and history: Why Turkey is standing in the way of Sweden and Finland's NATO bids|website=CNBC|date=8 June 2022}}</ref> Sweden<ref name=cnbc/> and the United States.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-north-africa/eastern-mediterranean/syria/us-joins-turkey-pkk-fight-northern-syria | title=The U.S. Joins the Turkey-PKK fight in northern Syria | date=12 May 2017 }}</ref> The level of support given has changed throughout this period. Between the PKK and the [[Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia]] (ASALA) a cooperation has been agreed on in April 1980 in [[Sidon]], Lebanon.<ref name=":32">{{Cite journal|last=Mango|first=Andrew|author-link=Andrew Mango|date=1994|title=Turks and Kurds: Review Article|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4283686|journal=[[Middle Eastern Studies]]|volume=30|issue=4|page=986|doi=10.1080/00263209408701034|jstor=4283686|issn=0026-3206}}</ref>

;Greece: According to Ali Külebi, president of an Ankara-based nationalist think tank TUSAM, "It is obvious that the PKK is supported by Greece, considering the PKK's historical development with major support from Greece." Külebi said in 2007 that PKK militants received training at a base in [[Laurium|Lavrion]], near Athens.<ref name="Külebi">{{cite news|last1=Külebi|first1=Ali|title=PKK's Cooperation with the Greeks|url=http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/pkks-cooperation-with-the-greeks.aspx?pageID=438&n=pkk8217s-cooperation-with-the-greeks-2007-09-10|work=[[Hürriyet Daily News]]|date=9 October 2007}}</ref> Retired Greek L.T. General Dimitris Matafias and retired Greek Navy Admiral Antonis Naxakis had visited the organization's Mahsun Korkmaz base camp in Lebanon's [[Beqaa Valley]] in October 1988 along with parliamentarians from the center-left [[PASOK]].<ref name="gunter110" /> At the time it was reported that the general had assumed responsibility for training. Greeks also dispatched arms through the Republic of Cyprus.<ref name="gunter110">Gunter, Michael M. ''The Kurds and the Future of Turkey'', page 110</ref> During his trial, Öcalan admitted, as quoted in ''[[Hürriyet]]'', that "Greece has for years supported the PKK movement. They even gave us arms and rockets. Greek officers gave guerrilla training and explosives training to our militants" at a camp in Lavrion, Greece.<ref>{{cite news|title=Ocalan tells Turks of Greek arms and training for PKK, say reports|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ocalan-tells-turks-of-greek-arms-and-training-for-pkk-say-reports-1.155819|newspaper=[[The Irish Times]]|date=23 February 1999}}</ref>

;Republic of Cyprus: The Republic of Cyprus has been instrumental in helping Greece supply arms to the PKK.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gunter |first1=Michael M. |title=The Kurdish Factor in Turkish Foreign Policy |date=1994 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/45197497 |journal=Journal of Third World Studies |volume=11 |issue=2 |page=461|jstor=45197497 }}</ref> Further suspicion of support was stated when [[Abdullah Öcalan]] was caught with a diplomatic Cypriot passport issued under the name of Mavros Lazaros, a nationalist reporter.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.hri.org/news/cyprus/cna/1999/99-02-19_1.cna.html|title=Cyprus News Agency: News in English (PM), 99–02–19|publisher=Hellenic Resources Network|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402103939/http://www.hri.org/news/cyprus/cna/1999/99-02-19_1.cna.html|archive-date=2 April 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1999/02/18/turkey-celebrates-capture-of-ocalan/dbcbd10b-df34-4a4f-88ac-61f839528b12/|title=Turkey Celebratesn Capture of Ocalan |newspaper=Washington Post|date=20 February 1999}}</ref>

;Syria: From early 1979 to 1999, Syria had provided valuable safe havens to PKK in the region of [[Beqaa Valley]]. However, after [[History of the Kurdistan Workers' Party#The undeclared war|the undeclared war]] between Turkey and Syria, Syria placed restrictions on PKK activity on its soil such as not allowing the PKK to establish camps and other facilities for training and shelter or to have commercial activities on its territory. Syria recognized the PKK as a terrorist organization in 1998.<ref name="mfa.gov.tr">{{cite web|title=From Rep. of Turkey Ministry of Foreign Affairs|url=http://www.mfa.gov.tr/_p_statement-made-by-ismail-cem_-foreign-minister_-on-the-special-security-meeting-held-between-turkey-and-syria_br_october-20_-1998_br__unofficial-translation___p_.en.mfa|website=Republic of Turkey Ministry of Foreign Affairs|access-date=18 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160301105039/http://www.mfa.gov.tr/_p_statement-made-by-ismail-cem_-foreign-minister_-on-the-special-security-meeting-held-between-turkey-and-syria_br_october-20_-1998_br__unofficial-translation___p_.en.mfa|archive-date=1 March 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> Turkey was expecting positive developments in its cooperation with Syria in the long term, but even during the course of 2005, there were PKK operatives of Syrian nationality operating in Turkey.<ref name="organizedcrime" /><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/1998/int/980330/europe.a_hellenic_haven.19.html|title=A Hellenic Haven|first=Massimo|last=Calabresi|magazine=Time|access-date=22 October 2007|date=30 March 1998|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070212194259/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/1998/int/980330/europe.a_hellenic_haven.19.html|archive-date=12 February 2007}}</ref>

;Libya: In the 1990s Abdullah Öcalan appreciated the support for the "Kurdish Cause" by [[Muammar Gaddafi]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://fas.org/irp/world/para/docs/studies3.htm|title=MFA – III. International Sources of Support|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015063707/http://fas.org/irp/world/para/docs/studies3.htm|archive-date=15 October 2015|access-date=14 November 2015}}</ref>

;[[Soviet Union]] and Russia: Former [[KGB]]-[[Federal Security Service|FSB]] officer [[Alexander Litvinenko]] said that PKK's leader Abdullah Öcalan was trained by [[KGB]]-[[Federal Security Service (Russia)|FSB]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.chechenpress.co.uk/english/news/2005/07/11/01.shtml|access-date=29 June 2008|title=The originator of the acts of terrorism in London was standing near Tony Blair|date=11 May 2007|agency=Chechen Press|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190322122341/http://www.chechenpress.co.uk/english/news/2005/07/11/01.shtml|archive-date=22 March 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref> As of 2024, Russia is still not among the states that list PKK as a terrorist group despite intense Turkish pressure.

;Support of various European states: The Dutch police reportedly raided the 'PKK paramilitary camp' in the Dutch village of [[Liempde]] and arrested 29 people in November 2004, but all were soon released.<ref>{{cite news|work=Expatica|title=Dutch police raid 'PKK paramilitary camp'|url=http://www.expatica.com/nl/articles/news/dutch-police-raid-pkk-paramilitary-camp-13898.html|access-date=22 July 2008|date=12 November 2004|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081206104738/http://www.expatica.com/nl/articles/news/dutch-police-raid-pkk-paramilitary-camp-13898.html|archive-date=6 December 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref>:
:Various PKK leaders, including Hidir Yalcin, Riza Altun, Zubeyir Aydar, and Ali Haydar Kaytan all lived in Europe and moved freely. The free movement was achieved by strong ties with influential persons. [[Danielle Mitterrand]], the wife of the former President of France [[François Mitterrand]], had active connections during the 1990s with elements of the organization's leadership that forced a downgrade in relationships between the two states.<ref name="olson">{{cite book|title=The Kurdish Nationalist Movement in the 1990s: Its Impact on Turkey and the Middle East|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|year=1996|isbn=0813119995|last=Olson|first=Robert W|author-link=Robert W. Olson|quote=...President Mitterrand's, admittedly estranged wife Danielle. So bad had ties [France-Turkey] been at one stage that formal relations had been downgraded to the level of ''charge d'affaires''.|page=[https://archive.org/details/kurdishnationali00olso/page/122 122]|url=https://archive.org/details/kurdishnationali00olso/page/122}}</ref> After harboring Ali Riza Altun, Austria arranged a flight to Iraq for him, a suspected key figure with an [[Interpol]] arrest warrant on his name.<!-- The amount of time is not specified in the source but never the less is mentioned--> Turkish foreign minister [[Abdullah Gül]] summoned the Austrian ambassador and condemned Austria's action.<ref name="Austria Ali riza altun">{{cite web|url=http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/dunya/6915035.asp?gid=180|title=Avusturya teröristi uçakla Irak'a gönderdi|work=[[Hürriyet Daily News]]|date=18 July 2007 |access-date=18 July 2007|language=tr}}</ref> On 30 September 1995, while Öcalan was in Syria, [[Damascus]] initiated contact with high-ranking German [[Christian Democratic Union of Germany|CDU]] MP [[Heinrich Lummer]] and German intelligence officials. [[Sedat Laçiner]], of the Turkish think tank [[International Strategic Research Organization|ISRO]], says that US support of the PKK undermines the US [[War on Terror]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.turkishweekly.net/editorial.php?id=29|title=The West and Terrorism: PKK as a Privileged Terrorist Organization|work=[[Journal of Turkish Weekly]]|publisher=[[International Strategic Research Organization]]|access-date=29 June 2008|date=14 May 2006|first=Sedat|last=Lacine|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080504162825/http://www.turkishweekly.net/editorial.php?id=29|archive-date=4 May 2008}}</ref>