Kurdistan Workers Party

The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) is a nationalist Kurdish militant organization that was founded in 1978 by Abdullah Öcalan. The PKK is also sometimes known by the name of its armed wing, the People’s Defense Force (HPG). The group is based out of Turkish and Iraqi Kurdistan. It has also staged attacks and established training camps in France, Belgium, and several Middle Eastern countries. The PKK is designated by NATO, the European Union, and the United States as a foreign terrorist organization. From 1984 to 2013, the PKK was locked in an armed struggle against Turkey for an independent Kurdish state in Turkish Kurdistan. It also fought alongside the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) against the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) in the 1994-1998 Kurdish Civil War. In 2013, the PKK joined the PUK and KDP in the war against the Islamic State (IS). Also in 2013, the PKK signed a ceasefire agreement with the Turkish government; however, the agreement broke down after the PKK allegedly assassinated two Turkish police officers accused of having links to IS. Shortly after, Turkey joined the war against IS and, in doing so, directed the majority of its fire power against PKK camps in Iraqi Kurdistan.