What is Kurdistan Workers’ Party that attacked Turkish Defence Industry?
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), also known as Kongra-Gel, claimed responsibility on Friday (Oct 25) for attacking a state-owned defence manufacturer’s headquarters near Ankara.
The PKK attacked Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) on Wednesday, killing five people, and injuring 22 others. They stated that they targeted the industry because the arms it produced had killed “thousands” of Kurds, including women and children.
Attack planned ‘long time ago’
In their statement, the rebel group said they planned the attack “a long time ago”, apparently rebuffing claims that the attack was an attempt to frustrate rumoured reconciliation efforts between the PKK and the Turkish government.
Aim to create ‘independent Kurdistan’
PKK is a militant Marxist-Leninist Kurdish separatist group, established in 1978, with the aim of creating a unified, independent Kurdistan.
It further aims to gain control of Kurdish areas of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey to advance Kurdish rights and recognition.
Moreover, their goal is to establish a confederation of semiautonomous Kurdish regions.
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The party is banned as a terrorist organisation in Turkey, the US and UK, and has been fighting against the Turkish state since the 1980s for greater rights for the country’s significant Kurdish minority.
The PKK is banned as a terrorist organisation in Turkey, the US and UK, and has been fighting against the Turkish state since the 1980s for greater rights for the country’s significant Kurdish minority.
Earlier on Tuesday, a key ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan suggested that the PKK’s leader, Abdullah Ocalan, could be released from his life imprisonment in a Turkish prison if he publicly disbanded the organisation.
(With inputs from agencies)