No difference between PKK, PYD terrorists: UK-based think tank

A recent report by the London-based “Henry Jackson Society” think tank has concluded that the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and its Syrian affiliate, the PYD, are the same terror organization, that they share the same ideology and receive orders from terrorist ringleader Abdullah Öcalan.

Titled “The Forgotten Foreign Fighters: The PKK in Syria,” the report underscores the fact that “the PKK, PCDK, PYD/YPG and the PJAK are actually all part of the same terrorist organization.

“The constituents of the Kurdistan Communities’ Union (KCK) are not “affiliates” or “offshoots” or “sister groups” of the PKK; they are organically integrated components of the same organization – sharing membership, ideology, and a command structure under the ultimate authority of Abdullah Öcalan and his deputies in the PKK’s headquarters in the Qandil Mountains of northern Iraq,‘’ the report concludes.

Recalling that the PKK terrorist organization is on the terror lists of the EU, NATO and a large number of European countries, the report emphasizes that

“This was not just done in solidarity with NATO ally Turkey, which of course also includes the PKK on its terrorism blacklist. The PKK has killed Western citizens in its attacks on tourist areas in Turkey and has kidnapped Westerners for ransom.“

The report also cites the PKK’s organized crime networks in Europe that provide support to the terror organization: ‘’ The PKK has a vast infrastructure in Europe to generate funds and raise support for the PKK, based almost entirely around organized crime. By some estimates, the PKK’s European wing brings in nearly £80 million per year by extorting the Kurdish diaspora, laundering money, and trading in narcotics, human beings, illegal weaponry, and more mundane items like cigarettes and tea.

“This money is not only used to finance terrorism in Turkey, but finances acts of terror by the PKK in Europe itself, against Turkish state property, dissident Kurds, and other people and property deemed hostile by the PKK.’’

“The PYD consolidated an authoritarian regime, heavily reliant on the Assad state that viciously repressed all Kurdish political organizations and activists, including those with links to Erbil. U.S.-led coalition countries continued to provide air support, money, weapons, and intelligence to PKK/PYD terrorists, remove Daesh even in Arab-majority zones, enabling a rapid expansion of the YPG statelet in Syria.“

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union and the United States.

The PKK has been conducting armed violence in the southeastern part of Turkey since 1984. More than 40,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the three-decade long conflict.