Dozens of foreign fighters traveled to Syria and Iraq to take up arms with terrorist group, according to German spy agency
The terrorist YPG/PKK group recruited nearly 270 foreign fighters from Germany who took part in battles and terror attacks in Syria and Iraq, a report by German domestic intelligence agency BfV revealed on Friday.
In an analysis published in the quarterly newsletter of the BfV, the agency said among the 270 YPG/PKK foreign fighters who traveled to the region since 2013, at least 22 were killed in clashes or during Turkey’s anti-terror operations.
Three German citizens, Jakob Riemer, Sarah Handelmann and Michael Panser, who were known to German authorities as left-wing extremists, were among those killed.
The PKK has been banned in Germany since 1993, but it remains active, with nearly 14,500 followers among the country's Kurdish immigrant population.
Ankara has long criticized German authorities for not taking serious measures against the PKK and its Syrian affiliate YPG -- which continue to use Germany as a platform for their fund-raising, recruitment and propaganda activities.
In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU -- has been responsible for the deaths of nearly 40,000 people, including many women, children and infants.
