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PKK puts pressure on Kurds who don’t support it
According to the survey results, one in four people in the region are subjected to PKK threats or violence. The results of UTSAM’s survey were released at an international symposium on international terrorism and transnational crime which kicked off on Dec. 9 in Antalya and focused on the strategies of the PKK in order to understand how the terrorist organization recruits militants in the region. The report also touched upon what motivates people to join the PKK.
According to the results, only 17 percent of families in the Southeast have managed to stop their children from joining the PKK. The rest failed to prevent their children from fleeing from home to join the terrorist organization.
Fifty-three percent of all respondents believe having a family member who is a political prisoner is a significant factor pushing other members of the family to decide to become militants.
Moreover, if one relative joins the PKK, this also affects others in the family, whether it is actively engaging in the terrorist organization or getting involved in militant activities within its city branch. Sixty-two percent of all respondents believe the death of a relative who had joined the PKK deeply motivates young people to join the organization.
In addition, 63 percent of all respondents believe unresolved cases of murder that were prevalent in the country’s Southeast in the 1990s played a vital role in the decision of the youth to go to the mountains and join the PKK.
The more the PKK ramps up pressure on the people in the region, the more it reinforces its authority, thereby expanding its sphere of influence. The survey found Hakkari at the forefront of providing manpower to the terrorist organization.
According to Assistant Professor Süleyman Özveren, who heads UTSAM, the reason why residents of Hakkari have joined the PKK in high numbers is not because of military operations in the province but the lack thereof, which has given the PKK plenty of time to strengthen its presence in the region.
A military operation targeting the PKK in the Kazan Valley, in Hakkari, in mid-October destroyed much of the organization’s capabilities. Government officials say pressure felt by the locals from the PKK was eliminated by the operation.
“People have focused on economic survival, unemployment and poverty,” said Özveren, pointing out that the “democratic autonomy” unilaterally declared by the Democratic Society Congress (DTK), a platform that brings together Kurdish nongovernmental organizations, on July 14 is not on the people’s agenda. According to the survey, 51 percent of all respondents were not even aware of such an announcement.
More than half of the respondents think introducing more economic opportunities to the region would diminish the number of young people who join the PKK. The high rate of unemployment among the youth in the region paves the way for active engagement in militant activities.
The survey was conducted by making face-to-face in-depth interviews with 2,063 people between April and May 2011 in 24 provinces, including İstanbul and İzmir, both of which have a large Kurdish population.
In an attempt to show sensitivity to Kurds, experts from UTSAM who prepared the questions and survey avoided using the term “terrorist organization” in the hopes of getting clearer and fuller answers from respondents.
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