Country Reports on Terrorism 2012

Strength: Membership is estimated at 400 individuals.
Location/Area of Operation: KH’s operations are predominately Iraq-based. In 2011, KH
conducted the majority of its operations in Baghdad but was active in other areas of Iraq,
including Kurdish areas such as Mosul. KH militants were reportedly in Syria, protecting Shia
shrines and fighting alongside Syrian President Asad’s troops against Syrian opposition forces.
Funding and External Aid: KH is almost entirely dependent on support from Iran and
Lebanese Hizballah.
KURDISTAN WORKERS’ PARTY
aka the Kurdistan Freedom and Democracy Congress; the Freedom and Democracy Congress
of Kurdistan; KADEK; Partiya Karkeran Kurdistan; the People’s Defense Force; Halu Mesru
Savunma Kuvveti; Kurdistan People’s Congress; People’s Congress of Kurdistan; KONGRA-
GEL
Description: Founded by Abdullah Ocalan in 1978 as a Marxist-Leninist separatist organization,
the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) was designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization on
October 8, 1997. The group, composed primarily of Turkish Kurds, launched a campaign of
violence in 1984. The PKK’s original goal was to establish an independent Kurdish state in
southeastern Turkey, but in recent years it has spoken more often about autonomy within a
Turkish state that guarantees Kurdish cultural and linguistic rights.
Activities: In the early 1990s, the PKK moved beyond rural-based insurgent activities to include
urban terrorism. In the 1990s, southeastern Anatolia was the scene of significant violence; some
estimates placed casualties at some 30,000 persons. Following his capture in 1999, Ocalan
announced a “peace initiative,” ordering members to refrain from violence and requesting
dialogue with Ankara on Kurdish issues. Ocalan’s death sentence was commuted to life
imprisonment; he remains the symbolic leader of the group. The group foreswore violence until
June 2004, when the group’s hard-line militant wing took control and renounced the selfimposed
cease-fire of the previous five years. Striking over the border from bases within Iraq,
the PKK has engaged in terrorist attacks in eastern and western Turkey. In 2009 the Turkish
government and the PKK resumed peace negotiations. However, talks broke down after a PKK
initiated attack on July 14, 2011, that left 13 Turkish soldiers dead. Violence in 2011 and 2012
has marked one of the most deadly time periods in the almost 30 year conflict. Widely publicized
peace talks between Ocalan and the Turkish government to resolve the conflict began at the end
of 2012.
Primary targets have been Turkish government security forces, local Turkish officials, and
villagers who oppose the organization in Turkey. The PKK remained active in 2012: on August
20, a car bomb in the southeastern Turkish city of Gaziantep killed nine people, including four
children, and wounded in excess of 70. Similar car bombings occurred in both Hakkari province
in January, killing one and injuring 28, and Kayseri province in May, injuring 18.
Strength: Approximately 4,000 to 5,000 members; 3,000 to 3,500 are located in northern Iraq.
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