The PKK's urban arm, the Kurdish Communities Union (KCK), will simultaneously stage demonstrations and create chaos in the eastern and southeastern provinces. The group plans to launch this double-front action on Feb. 15, the anniversary of the capture of the PKK's jailed leader Abdullah Öcalan, and continue until March 21, Nevruz, or the spring festival which is of special significance to Kurds.
Intelligence sources say the group plans to cause bloodshed not unlike in 1992, the bloodiest Nevruz Turkey has ever seen, though protests and violent protests during Nevruz celebrations are common each year. Tens of people died in the 1992 incidents. The process the PKK seeks to launch on Feb. 15, which it calls “serhildan [uprising] of the masses,” will gradually increase in intensity.
The terrorist group has chosen a period that is critical for Turkey. The public expects a new Constitution to be drafted, opposition parties have been pushing for early elections, the public is more polarized than ever and the opposition accuses the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) of establishing a “civilian dictatorship.” There are also rumors of a new closure case in the offing to shut down the AK Party. The PKK’s plans also come at a time when military plans to take over the government are being exposed one after the other.
The PKK has played a crucial role in similar eras in Turkey over the past 30 years. To assume that role, the PKK has set up a special command of 150 militants, sources say, under the command of Fehman Hüseyin, a commander of the PKK’s guerilla arm People’s Defense Forces (HPG) who uses the code name Bahoz Erdal. Another commander of the group is Kadri Çelik, who uses the code name Ape Hüseyin and who was in charge of the PKK attacks on the Dağlıca and Aktütün military outposts that left tens of Turkish soldiers dead. Çelik is also a former member of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK). Çelik and his men are under the control of a group in the PKK known as “İskenderunlular,” who are known for their shady links with some criminal elements inside the Turkish armed forces. This group is led by Duran Kalkan, who is responsible for a PKK attack in the Reşadiye district of Tokat that took the lives of seven soldiers in early December 2009. The PKK had not claimed responsibility for that attack as a group, but the İskenderunlu group had. Kalkan himself is of Turkish origin, and he is one of the three most influential people in the splinter group, which seems to have links to other organizations that are more malevolent than the PKK’s own contacts.
The new urban terrorism unit will be using the name of TAK, or the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons, a previous unit of the PKK that was originally established to stage terrorist attacks. TAK was active between 2004 and 2007 but was later suspended by the PKK. Last week, TAK restructured and held its first congress as the new TAK, releasing a written statement announcing its decision to “resist annihilation and policies of denial.” The statement also threatened to stage large-scale attacks on urban targets. “Every place, starting with the metropolises of Turkey, is a warfront for us. Everyone who supports the current system, starting with army officers and civilian bureaucrats, are our targets. Those betrayers, cooperators and submissive segments that serve the current system of denial and annihilation will not be spared from being targeted by us.”
Kalkan also made a recent statement to the Kurdish news agency ANF, threatening to instigate uprisings in the Kurdish-dominated East and Southeast. Kalkan in addition targeted the AK Party, accusing it of taking “Turkey” to war.
