The prosecution says there is strong evidence that the PKK recruited (mostly) Kurdish youth and sent them to training camps in Belgium, Germany and other Western European countries for indoctrination. They also received military training in Greece and in eastern and northern Iraq in order to later fight the Turkish police and armed forces. The PKK is also charged with counterfeiting identity documents and collecting money using violence and threats. Facilities belonging to PKK-linked satellite broadcaster Roj TV in Denderleeuw were among the places that were raided.
It appears the police raids against the PKK were well-coordinated operations and that the US encouraged its European allies to limit the PKK activities in their own countries. In fact, back in December 2009, when US President Barack Obama met with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, he underpinned further cooperation against the PKK. In response to a question about a US action plan to disarm and eliminate the PKK, Obama said: “What the prime minister and I have discussed is coordinating closely in dealing with the problem of the PKK. We have stated before and I have reaffirmed since I came into office that the United States considers PKK a terrorist organization, and that the threat that it poses not only in Turkey but also in Iraq is one that is of deep concern. And as NATO allies, we are bound to help each other defend our territories. More broadly, I think that it is important for us to have a consistent position with respect to terrorism wherever it takes place. So we discussed how we can coordinate militarily. I will tell you that with respect to the issue of the PKK, I think that the steps that the prime minister has taken in being inclusive towards the Kurdish community in Turkey is very helpful, because one of the things we understand is, is that terrorism cannot just be dealt with militarily; there is also social and political components to it that have to be recognized.”
Obama’s emphasis on NATO partnership and being bound to help each other to defend our territories may indicate that the US pressure on other NATO member countries could be based on the NATO membership agreement. More importantly, his emphasis on possible military coordination against the PKK signaled such operations. One can argue that Turkey, with the help of the US, has finally found a reasonable ground, the NATO membership agreement, to put pressure on its European allies against PKK activities in Europe.
The surprising part of the operation was that Sabri Ok, head of Kurdish Communities Union (KCK) units, one of the most important leaders and close associates of jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, was not detained. One of the reasons behind why he was not detained is perhaps because Turkish authorities did not share intelligence concerning Ok. This is a likely option because Ok is one of the bridges between Turkish intelligence organizations and Öcalan.
On several occasions, intelligence agencies got in touch with Ok to try and deal with Öcalan to find available ground to address the Kurdish question. If this is true, then we can be optimistic about the results of the police raids in Europe because it gives us incentive to believe that the operations against the two important ring leaders, Kartal and Aydar, were approved by Öcalan for the sake of possible peace. In fact the tone of the PKK’s criticism against the police raids is surprisingly not very harsh.
Except a few old and recycled criticisms of European countries, the PKK did not take a firm position and did not order its militants in Europe to terrorize European countries. The truth behind the PKK’s calmness so far may otherwise be related to the communication barrier between Öcalan and the organization. The arrests took place after Öcalan’s lawyers met with him, so Öcalan may not have had the ability to send a signal to the PKK to develop its strategy according to what he suggests. Thus it would be safe to wait and see what Öcalan will say about the recent arrests and then try to understand how the PKK will respond to the arrests in Europe.
