Intelligence report on PKK alarms Turkey

A report titled "PKK 2008" was discussed at a meeting of the Supreme Board of Counterterrorism (TMYK) chaired by PM Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Tuesday.

The report, prepared by contributions from the General Staff, the National Intelligence Organization (MİT), the Gendarmerie and units of the National Security Directorate, includes intelligence on the recent situation of the PKK, its financial sources, its structure and its targets for the coming year.

The report also includes documents demonstrating that arms and ammunition used by the PKK in recent terrorist attacks in Turkey were obtained from the organization’s camps in northern Iraq. The outlawed organization, which has managed to acquire heavy arms of late, is known to be making special efforts to bring ammunition into Turkey. It has also moved most of these arms to its camps near the Turkish border. The PKK, which has experienced difficulty in attracting new recruits since its leader Abdullah Öcalan was captured, is planning to regain some of its power by staging sensational terrorist acts throughout Turkey’s major cities in 2008.

The information provided in the report has been confirmed by the more than 1,350 PKK militants captured in 2007, sources say.

The PKK is also making major preparations in a triangular area around the borders of Turkey, Iran and Iraq. There are an estimated 1,400 terrorists in the Kandil Mountains in northern Iraq, most of who are deployed in the Bardost, Avashin, Gara, Metina and Haftanin regions to cross into Turkey.

Safe haven should be destroyed

The report highlighted that no terrorist organization would be able to survive without a safe haven offering it protection, adding that the north of Iraq has become the safest place for PKK terrorists, who once hid in the Bekaa Plain in Lebanon. The report stresses that although the PKK has no serious support in northern Iraq, it has cooperated with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) since improving its strained relations with both groups following the US invasion of Iraq. With Iran staging a number of military operations against the Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PJAK), the PKK extension in that country, and Syria not allowing a PKK presence inside its territory, the safe zone for the PKK has become northern Iraq, the report underlines. These facts had a significant role in the government’s decision to start a military incursion into the area.

The PKK has lost most of its financial resources and has increasingly been relying on tradesmen of Kurdish ethnic background in bigger cities for funding. The report alleges the PKK has bank accounts in Sweden and Belgium that receive monthly donations from countries in Europe with a large number of individuals who are citizens of the Republic of Turkey. The organization also tries to pressure businessmen of Kurdish origin in Europe by trying to collect money through organizations that include the Scandinavian Kurdish Peace Council, the Solidarity with the Council of Solidarity with the Kurdish People in France and a number of others such as the London Kurdish Relationship Group, England’s Kurdistan Human Rights Project organization, the Council of Say No to the War Against Kurdish People in Belgium, the US-based Kurdish information network AKIN and the Kurdistan Employers’ Union (KARSAZ) in Germany.

Diversified means of support

The report also claims that the PKK is involved in commercial activity through citizens of Kurdish origin in Europe. Most of this commercial activity is carried out through Turkish döner stores, cafeterias and export-import companies.

Robbery and mugging remain a means of funding for the PKK; however, the bulk of its funding is donations and monthly payments. Meanwhile, it is also known that the PKK extorts money from businessmen of Kurdish origin as well as collecting “fitre” and “zekat,” charity donations that are obligatory in Islam, from citizens of Kurdish background. The report claims that even the hides of sheep killed during the last Feast of the Sacrifice were sold by the PKK to obtain arms and ammunition. According to the report, the PKK has earned some of its share from the direct income support introduced by the government under a World Bank incentive program for farmers.

The PKK also finds funding from subscribers to its publications such as Serxwebun, Kürdistan Devriminin Yolu (The Path to the Kurdistan Revolution) and the Manifesto, says the report. Counterfeit documents for Turkish citizens of Kurdish background residing abroad is another small but effective way of funding the organization. Fake passports, IDs, work or residence permits are some examples along with accounts of human trafficking; the individuals may then be subject to extortion for such services. Drug trafficking is also cited as a source of income.