Kurdistan Workers' Party

The Kurdistan Workers' Party, or the PKK, is a Kurdish militant political organization and armed guerrilla group primarily based in the mountainous Kurdish-majority regions of southeastern Turkey, northern Iraq and north-eastern Syria. It was founded in Ziyaret, Lice, on 27 November 1978 and was involved in asymmetric warfare in the Kurdistan Workers' Party insurgency (with several ceasefires between 1993 and 2013–2015). Although the PKK initially sought an independent Kurdish state, in the 1990s, its official platform changed to seeking autonomy and increased political and cultural rights for Kurds within Turkey. The PKK is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States, the European Union, Australia, and Japan. Some analysts and organizations disagree with this designation, believing that the PKK no longer engages in organized terrorist activities or systemically targets civilians. Turkey has often characterized the demand for education in Kurdish as supporting terrorist activities by the PKK. The PKK's ideology was originally a fusion of revolutionary socialism and Marxism–Leninism with Kurdish nationalism, seeking the foundation of an independent Kurdistan. The PKK was formed as part of a growing discontent over the suppression of Turkey's Kurds, in an effort to establish linguistic, cultural, and political rights for the Kurdish minority. Following the military coup of 1980, the Kurdish language was officially prohibited in public and private life. Many who spoke, published, or sang in Kurdish were arrested and imprisoned. The Turkish government denied the existence of Kurds and the PKK was portrayed trying to convince Turks of being Kurds. The PKK has been involved in armed clashes with Turkish security forces since 1979, but the full-scale insurgency did not begin until 15 August 1984, when the PKK announced a Kurdish uprising. Since the conflict began, more than 40,000 people have died, most of whom being Turkish Kurdish civilians. In 1999, PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan was captured and imprisoned. In May 2007, serving and former members of the PKK set up the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), an umbrella organisation of Kurdish organisations in Turkish, Iraqi, Iranian, and Syrian Kurdistan. In 2013, the PKK declared a ceasefire and began slowly withdrawing its fighters to Iraqi Kurdistan as part of a peace process with the Turkish state. The ceasefire broke down in July 2015. Both the PKK and the Turkish state have been accused of engaging in terror tactics and targeting civilians. The PKK has bombed city centres and recruited child soldiers, and conducted several attacks that massacred civilians. Turkey has depopulated and burned down thousands of Kurdish villages and massacred Kurdish civilians in an attempt to root out PKK militants. On 1 March 2025, the PKK declared a ceasefire with Turkey, and on 12 May, announced plans for a total dissolution of the organisation.

Infobox

Leaders

Major leaders: Abdullah Öcalan (POW)Murat KarayılanCemîl BayikDuran KalkanŞemdin Sakık (POW)Nizamettin TaşMahsum Korkmaz †Besê HozatBahoz ErdalAli Haydar Kaytan †Haki Karer †Mazlum Doğan (POW)Osman Öcalan Başkale †Nuriye KesbirMustafa KarasuKani Yilmaz †Kemal Pir (POW)

Foundation

27 November 1978

Dates of operation

1978–2025

Dissolved

To be determined[a]

Allegiance

mw- Kurdistan Communities Union (since 2005) Peoples' United Revolutionary Movement (2016–2025)

Groups

People's Defence Forces (2000–2025) Free Women's Units (2004–2025) Civil Defense Units (2015–2025)Patriotic Revolutionary Youth Movement (2006–2015)

Headquarters

Qandil Mountains, Kurdistan Region, Iraq

Ideology

Kurdish nationalism (disputed)[b] Democratic confederalism Libertarian socialism Progressivism Anti-capitalism Anti-imperialism Communalism Jineology Historical: Marxism–Leninism

Political position

Left-wing to far-left

Size

5,000 (estimate)[c]

Allies

State allies: Iran (sometimes) Ba'athist Syria (sometimes) Non-state allies: Syrian Democratic Forces Kurdistan Free Life Party Sinjar Resistance Units Êzîdxan Women's Units Bethnahrin National Council International Freedom Battalion United Freedom Forces Marxist–Leninist Communist Party (Turkey) Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist–Leninist Patriotic Union of Kurdistan Komalên Ciwan Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

Opponents

State opponents: Turkey Iraq Iran (sometimes) European Union NATO Israel (1982–1992) Non-state opponents: Islamic State Kurdistan Democratic Party Syrian National Army Kurdish Hezbollah Grey Wolves al-Qaeda

Battles and wars

mw- li Kurdistan Workers' Party insurgency Kurdish Hezbollah insurgency Israel–PKK conflict Lebanese Civil War 1982 Lebanon War Kurdistan Region–PKK conflict Kurdish Civil War Syrian Civil War Eastern Syria insurgency Iraqi-Kurdish conflict War in Iraq (2013–2017) 2017 Iraqi–Kurdish conflict

Designated as a terrorist group by

Turkey European Union NATO United States Canada Japan Iran Australia United Kingdom