Similarities between the PKK and al-Qaida, Daesh


After the military intervention of Sept. 12, 1980, the PKK terrorist group committed its first slaughter of people in the town of Eruh in Turkey's Siirt province. In this ferocious incident, 30 Kurdish civilians, including 13 children, were brutally murdered by the PKK. During this period, the PKK terrorists were also assassinating the leaders of other political organizations pursuing democratic struggles.

Such intensely violent and bloodthirsty attacks of the PKK were derived from the theory of the "power of violence," which was formulated by Mahir Çayan, one of the leaders of Turkey's Marxist organizations, who took his inspiration from the radical leftist movements of Latin America.

According to this theory, since Eastern people were not inclined to revolutions, they had to be forced to support revolutionary movements through violence.

In order to secure the support of Kurdish people, the PKK relied on a policy of intimidation through a series of violent acts targeting civilians. In its long history of terrorism, the PKK has always aimed at intimidating the people to draw attention away from the public and to ensure its efficiency in the region.

For example, the PKK recently murdered and gravely wounded dozens of students by setting up a bomb in front of a prep school.

The United States acknowledges the PKK as a terrorist organization, just like al-Qaida and Daesh. In the past, they even put a price on some of the PKK's leading cadre's heads. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who is currently putting pressure on President Donald Trump in favor of the PKK, severely criticized Barack Obama's administration for their support of the PKK. In a meeting of the U.S. Senate, Graham reprimanded both Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan and Chief of General Staff Joseph Dunford for openly supporting a terrorist organization:

Graham: "Is the PKK a terrorist organization?"

Shanahan: "Yes, it is."

Graham: "Then, do you become a partner with a terrorist organization?"

Shanahan: "The PKK is a terrorist organization for the United States as well."

Graham: "It is contended that the [Democratic People's Party] PYD is founded by the PKK's militants."

Shanahan: "Yes, it is true that they have an organic relationship."

Graham: "Then, do you not know that Turkey, our NATO ally, is disturbed by this situation?"

Now, Graham has made a U-turn by supporting the PKK against the Republican president. Yet, the PKK has many similarities with al-Qaida and Daesh in that the PKK is an ethnic-separatist terrorist organization. It completely ignores the law. It commits serious human rights violations in the name of its "sacred" goals. Its financial base is composed of drug and human trafficking. It abducts and arms children. The practice of using child soldiers is one of the worst humanitarian violations that the PKK continues to commit.

Some 500,000 Kurds from northern Syrian regions have taken shelter in Turkey and northern Iraq after the area was invaded by the PKK. Even after the fall of Daesh, these people have been unable to return because the PKK does not tolerate anyone who does not comply with their ideology.

Armed with a Stalinist ideology, the PKK murders civilians of any ethnicity.

The PKK commits political murders and assassinations inside and outside of Turkey. In the last five years, the PKK murdered almost 100 politicians in Turkey.

The PKK is a ferocious terrorist organization just like Daesh. Yet, Western media continues to present the PKK militants as "heroic fighters who defeated Daesh." During his presidential campaign, Trump claimed that "ISIS [Daesh] was founded by the Obama administration" and that Hillary Clinton aimed at managing the terrorist organization if she could win the presidential elections.

Thanks to Operation Euphrates Shield, Turkey has become the first country who directly fought against and defeated Daesh. However, Turkey's indisputable success against Daesh did not draw the attention of Western media. It is curious that Daesh carried out its terrorist attacks particularly against Turkey, France and Germany.

The weakness of the Obama administration forced them to make an alliance with the PKK. Presenting themselves as the role model for democratic countries, the U.S. was condemned to cooperate with a terrorist organization in Syria.

Against Turkey's ongoing Operation Peace Spring in northern Syria, the PKK and its supporters inside and outside of Turkey have launched a smear campaign. They claim that Turkey is fighting against Kurds in Syria. This is not true. Turkey is fighting the PKK, which is a dangerous and ferocious terrorist organization just like al-Qaida or Daesh.