What does the PKK stand for?

Context: Turkey’s conflict with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) – recognised as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU – continues in south-eastern Turkey and northern Iraq.

Does the PKK still exist?

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party or PKK (Kurmanji Kurdish: Partîya Karkerên Kurdistanê) is a Kurdish militant political organization and armed guerrilla movement, which has historically operated throughout Greater Kurdistan, but is now primarily based in the mountainous Kurdish-majority regions of southeastern Turkey and …

What are the main targets of the PKK?

PKK’s primary targets include police, military, economic, and social assets in Turkey. PKK also attacks on civilians and diplomatic and consular facilities. PKK is also involved in extortion, arms smuggling, and drug trafficking.

Who founded the PKK?

Abdullah Ocalan
Kurdistan Workers’ Party/Founders
PKK Origins (1978-1983) In this context, Abdullah Ocalan (born about 1947 in southeastern Turkey’s Sanliurfa Province) and other Kurdish activists founded the PKK in Turkey in the late 1970s as a Marxist-Leninist organization dedicated to an independent Kurdistan.

Where is Kurdish located?

Iran
Kurd, member of an ethnic and linguistic group living in the Taurus Mountains of southeastern Anatolia, the Zagros Mountains of western Iran, portions of northern Iraq, northeastern Syria, and western Armenia, and other adjacent areas.

Was Kurdistan ever a country?

Presently, Iraqi Kurdistan first gained autonomous status in a 1970 agreement with the Iraqi government, and its status was re-confirmed as the autonomous Kurdistan Region within the federal Iraqi republic in 2005. There is also a Kurdistan Province in Iran, but it is not self-ruled.

What are Turkish Kurds?

Kurds in Turkey refers to people born in or residing in Turkey who are of Kurdish origin. The Kurds are the largest ethnic minority in Turkey. According to various estimates, they compose between 15% and 20% of the population of Turkey. Many people who spoke, published, or sang in Kurdish were arrested and imprisoned.

What is the conflict between the Kurds and Turkey?

The Kurdish–Turkish conflict is an armed conflict between the Republic of Turkey and various Kurdish insurgent groups who have either demanded separation from Turkey to create an independent Kurdistan, or attempted to secure autonomy and greater political and cultural rights for Kurds inside the Republic of Turkey.

How long have Kurds been in Turkey?

After ca. 1800, the Cihanbeyli, Reşwan and Şêxbizin tribes migrated into central Anatolia from the east and southeast. The total Kurdish population in Turkey was estimated at around 1.5 million in the 1880s, many of whom were nomadic or pastoral.

How many Kurdish are there in Turkey?

According to the World Factbook, Kurdish people make up 18% of Turkey’s population (about 14 million, out of 77.8 million people). Kurdish sources put the figure at 10 to 15 million Kurds in Turkey. Kurds mostly live in Northern Kurdistan, in Southeastern and Eastern Anatolia.

What country has the most Kurds?

Autochthonous community