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The Grand Turk

PKK chief tells Syria Kurds: Don’t trust US, Russia – keep fighting

2019-10-21

Thanks for not helping, dude. [Rudaw] Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Cemil Bayik released a video on Sunday warning Syria’s Kurds not to trust the motives of the United States or Russia and to continue fighting the Ottoman Turkish invasion. "You need to stay put. You should not leave your areas. Let them kill and wound as many as they want," Bayik said in the video, published by the PKK-affiliated ANF news agency. The PKK has fought a decades-long war with the Ottoman Turkish state for greater Kurdish political and cultural rights for Kurds in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey

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Europe

PKK suspects apprehended in raids across 5 European states

2019-06-20

[Rudaw] Two suspected members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), accused of recruiting and training "terrorist fighters", were apprehended in a wide-scale crackdown on the group in five Europe ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... an countries. The two suspects were apprehended "after a number of house searches conducted simultaneously in five countries", Europol said in a statement on Wednesday. They have not been named. The operation, carried out jointly by Eurojust and Europol, saw raids in Austria, Belgium, La Belle France, Germany, and Switzerland ...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell... , the statement added. "Europol’s European Counter Terrorism Centre set up a coordination centre on a joint action day to support the operations of the law enforcement authorities in all countries concerned," it said. The Belgian Prosecutor’s Office initiated a criminal investigation into the organization in 2017. Those apprehended allegedly belong to the PKK’s armed wing ‐ the People’s Defence Forces (HPG). Europol and Eurojust accused them of "recruiting terrorist fighters" and "using training camps and sessions in various countries". The PKK, an gang fighting for greater Kurdish political and cultural rights in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire... , is considered a terrorist organization by Ankara, the EU, and the US, for its decades-long war with the Ottoman Turkish state. Earlier this year, German authorities shut down two Kurdish publishing houses, alleging the companies were giving the PKK financial backing. According to German authorities, there are around 14,500 PKK supporters in Germany. In 2008, Germany banned Roj TV for its alleged ties to the PKK. Late last year the US announced cash rewards for information on three senior PKK leaders, including Murat Karayilan, Cemil Bayik and Duran Kalkan. A fierce battle between the PKK and Turkey is ongoing in the southeast of Turkey, spilling over into the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The group uses the Region as a safe haven and is currently headquartered in the Qandil Mountains. Turkey has repeatedly launched cross-border incursions and bombing raids targeting the group, in violation of Iraq’s illusory sovereignty. Both Erbil and Baghdad have called on Ankara to halt its attacks and demanded the PKK withdraw from their territory.

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Iraq

High-level PKK leader Altun says he wasn’t in Qandil when Turkish jets struck

2019-05-12

“Nyaa, nyaa, ya missed me!” [Rudaw] A prominent Kurdistan Workers (PKK) leader who was reported to have been severely maimed by Ottoman Turkish media in an Arclight airstrike on Mount Qandil in the Kurdistan Region, dismissed the claims on Friday, saying he was not present when the spot was targeted. State-run outlets like Anadolu Agency reported on March 27 that on March 21 Ottoman Turkish jets using precise coordinates supplied by the country’s intelligence community "seriously injured Altun, who is close to PKK founding member Cemil Bayik and serves as the party’s foreign relations liaison. Ibrahim Kalin, an advisor and spokesperson to the Ottoman Turkish president, also shared an Anadolu video of the operation that the media organization said was obtained from the Ottoman Turkish military.

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Iraq

PKK has gone quiet in Duhok after US bounties: local official

2018-11-15

[Rudaw] A local official in Duhok province believes the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)’s activities have been affected by recent US bounties on the heads of three senior commanders of the party. The US last week announced bounties collectively totaling up to $12 million for information leading to the capture of three senior PKK leaders: Murat Karayilan, Cemil Bayik, and Duran Kalkan. "This has made the PKK show up less often," Sarbast Akrayi, head of Kani Masi sub-district, told Rudaw English on Wednesday. Kani Masi is located in Duhok province’s Amedi district on the Kurdistan Region’s border with The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... With the PKK less active, Ottoman Turkish bombardments have decreased, Akrayi explained. Turkey frequently carries out Arclight airstrikes against alleged PKK positions in the Kurdistan Region. The country’s Ministry of Defence reported on Tuesday they have "neutralized" 57 "terrorists" in aerial operations in northern Iraq in the last four days. Ottoman Turkish armed forces use the term "neutralized" to refer to those killed, maimed, or otherwise removed from the battlefield. The Amedi district has always been a hotspot for conflict, both the decades-long PKK-Turkey conflict and Kurdish uprisings against the former Iraqi regime. "Therefore, the people are used to such things," Akrayi said of the reaction of local residents to the bombardments. The most devastating period of the PKK-Turkey conflict in this area was between 2015 and 2017 when 4,000 acres of land were desolated, 26 villages were abandoned, and 18 houses were destroyed, Akrayi explained. The people were left with an estimated 2.3 billion dinars ($1.9 million) in material losses, the official said. There are 76 villages in the sub-district with a population of 10,000. The PKK have not completely halted activities, however. Guerrilla forces attacked Ottoman Turkish positions in Erbil province’s Sidakan sub-district early on Wednesday, which was followed by Ottoman Turkish bombardment on the region, according to local mayor Ihsan Chalabi. "Turkey bombarded Mount Del and borders of Khalifan, Siran, Shelkan, and Blasanan villages at 9:00 am, Wednesday, lasting for 45 minutes," he told Rudaw, adding that the attack was in response to a PKK strike half an hour earlier. There were no reports of casualties or material losses.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Bounties on PKK leaders a strange move by US

2018-11-10

[Rudaw] This week the United States announced that it was offering a bounty of several million dollars for information leading to the arrest of three top Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leaders. A "bounty" of $5 million dollars was placed on People’s Defense Forces (HPG) leader Murat Karayilan, $4 million for Cemil Bayik, and $3 million for Duran Kalkan. The bounties are part of the US State Department’s "Rewards for Justice" program. Established by the 1984 Act to Combat International Terrorism, the program states that "the Secretary of State may offer rewards for information that leads to the arrest or conviction of anyone who plans, commits, aids or attempts international terrorist acts against US persons or property, that prevents such acts from occurring in the first place, that leads to the identification or location of a key terrorist leader, or that disrupts terrorism financing." The US State Department’s website claims that since the start of the program in 1984, "the United States has paid in excess of $125 million to more than 80 people who provided credible information that brought faceless myrmidons to justice or prevented acts of international terrorism worldwide. The program played a significant role in the arrest of international terrorist Ramzi Yusef, who was convicted in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. Today, the Rewards for Justice Program continues to play a critical role in US counterterrorism initiatives around the globe."

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The Grand Turk

US offers up to $5 mln reward for information on PKK members

2018-11-07

[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The United States on Tuesday offered rewards for information on three senior members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has waged an armed insurgency against the Ottoman Turkish state for decades. The move could help Washington repair strained ties with NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... ally Ankara. The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... has been infuriated by US support for the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia in the fight against ISIS in Syria. Ankara considers the YPG an extension of the outlawed PKK and, like it, a terrorist organization. On Tuesday, Washington authorized rewards of up to $5 million for information "leading to the identification or location" of Murat Karayilan, up to $4 million for Cemil Bayik and up to $3 million for Duran Kalkan. The announcement was made by the US Embassy in Ankara following a visit by US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Palmer. The three PKK figures also appear on Turkey’s "most wanted terrorists" list, according to the Interior Ministry, which describes them as being among the leaders of the organization. The PKK, designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... , has fought the Ottoman Turkish state since 1984. Relations between Turkey and the United States have begun to thaw since the release from jail last month of American evangelical pastor Andrew Brunson. Last week, the two countries mutually lifted sanctions on government officials, imposed in August over the Brunson case. Washington announced this week that Turkey would receive a temporary waiver from re-imposed sanctions on Iran. President Tayyip Erdogan also said on Tuesday that talks with the United States regarding state-owned lender Halkbank, which had been facing a US fine over allegations of evasion of sanctions on Iran, were on a positive track. US and Ottoman Turkish troops last week began conducting joint patrols in Syria’s Manbij, which the two sides have agreed to clear of murderous Moslems. Turkey had previously said the United States was delaying implementation of the plan. Trump and Erdogan are to meet this weekend at a summit in Gay Paree. Rudaw has more, including photos of the wanted men, here.

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The Grand Turk

Turkey issues warrant for PYD leader Salih Muslim over Ankara bombing

2016-11-23

[RUDAW.NET] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... has issued an arrest warrant for Salih Moslem, co-leader of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), for alleged connections to an Ankara bombing last year which killed 28 people. The state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Tuesday that arrest warrants had been issued for Moslem and 47 others, including some top leaders of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), including Murat Karayilan and Cemil Bayik, both founding members of the group. Turkey regards PYD as the Syrian wing of the PKK. February’s bombing targeted military busses during the evening rush hour. The PYD denied involvement after it was accused of the bombing following the attack. Just days after the attack, another Kurdish group, the Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK) grabbed credit, saying it carried out the attack to show its opposition to policies of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... The perpetrator, according to TAK, was a 26-year-old Turkish national from the eastern Turkish city of Van. The then Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, however, named the Ankara bomber as Salih Necar, a Syrian national and member of the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), the military wing of the PYD.

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Iraq

Iranian commander met PKK leader in Iraq: News report

2016-11-09

[AA.TR] The commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s elite Quds Force, Qasem Soleimani, recently met Cemil Bayik, a leader of the PKK terrorist group, in Iraq’s northern city of al-Sulaymaniyah, a Kurdish website has reported. According to the basnews website, Soleimani asked Bayik to send PKK holy warriors in Sinjar to take part in an ongoing campaign aimed at capturing Iraq’s northern city of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... from the ISIS terrorist group. Linked to the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP), the basnews website is based in northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region. While in al-Sulaymaniyah (also located in the Kurdish region), Soleimani reportedly promised Bayik that Iran would increase its financial and military support to the PKK if the group’s fighters took part in the Mosul campaign. He also reportedly asked Bayik to bolster the PKK’s presence in parts of Iraq that fall within Iran’s sphere of influence. According to the website, the meeting came directly after members of Iraq’s central government "provided facilities to the PKK in Baghdad in which to establish a military and political headquarters". However, some men learn by reading. A few learn by observation. The rest have to pee on the electric fence for themselves... Shahfan Abdullah, an MP for the KDP and a member of the Iraqi parliament’s security and defense committee, pointed out that, according to an agreement with a U.S.-led anti-ISIS coalition, PKK holy warriors would be targeted if they approached Mosul from the Sinjar Mountain region. This, he said, did not only apply to the PKK, but also to the Shia Hashd al-Shaabi militia and affiliated groups. Established in mid-2014 with the express aim of fighting ISIS, the Hashd al-Shaabi is an umbrella group of pro-government Shia militias. Abdullah went on to assert that Iranian military experts had recently visited the Mosul front and held a number of meetings with Hashd al-Shaabi leaders.

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The Grand Turk

More on bombed Turks

2016-08-18

[FoxNews] A string of bombings, blamed on Kurdish rebels and targeting Turkey's security forces, killed at least 14 people and wounded more than 220 others, officials said Thursday. Two of the attacks were car bombings that hit police stations in eastern Turkey, while a third — a roadside blast — targeted a military vehicle carrying soldiers in the southeast of the country. Authorities say the assaults were carried out by the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, which has launched a campaign of car bombings targeting police stations or roadside bomb attacks against security force vehicles. Last week, PKK commander Cemil Bayik threatened increased attacks against police in Turkish cities.

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The Grand Turk

PKK Warns Turkey Rebels Will 'Escalate the War'

2016-04-26

[AnNahar] The Kurdish rebel PKK movement is ready to step up its fight against The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... in response to Ankara's blistering military campaign, its leader warned in a BBC interview released Monday. Since the collapse of a two-year ceasefire with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) last year, Turkish government forces have been carrying out operations against the group in the southeast of the country. PKK leader Cemil Bayik said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... was "escalating this war". "The Kurds will defend themselves to the end, so long as this is the Turkish approach -- of course the PKK will escalate the war," he told the British broadcaster. Erdogan said this month that 355 members of the security forces had been killed in fighting as well as over 5,000 PKK members -- although this could not be independently verified. Its rebels are accused of trying to create a separate Kurdish state within Turkey -- but Bayik denied it. "We don't want to separate from Turkey and set up a state. We don't want to divide Turkey. We want to live within the borders of Turkey on our own land freely... The struggle will continue until the Kurds' innate rights are accepted," he said. The PKK was ready to escalate the conflict "not only in Kurdistan, but in the rest of Turkey as well", he added. Erdogan "wants the Kurds to surrender. If they don't surrender, he wants to kill all Kurds. He says this openly - he doesn't hide it," Bayik said. The PKK launched a bloody insurgency against the Turkish government in 1984 seeking independence, beginning a decades-long fight for greater autonomy and rights for Kurds which has left 40,000 dead. It later watered down its demands to seek instead more autonomy with cultural and language rights. Jailed PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan called a truce in March 2013, but tensions over the Syrian conflict kickstarted the violence last year. Erdogan has proposed stripping Turkish citizenship from supporters of Kurdish rebels and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is trying to alter Turkey's constitution, to allow prosecutions of pro-Kurdish politicians accused of "terrorist propaganda".

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The Grand Turk

Turkey hits Kurd Kommie kamps

2016-02-19

Turkey has launched overnight air strikes on Kurdish militant camps in northern Iraq overnight, only hours after a suicide car bomb attack targeting military buses killed 28 soldiers and civilians and wounded dozens in the Turkish capital Ankara, security sources said on Thursday. According to Turkish media, a Syrian man, registered as a refugee in Turkey and affiliated with the outlawed Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) was responsible for the rush hour attack on the capital. A car loaded with explosives detonated next to the military buses as they waited at traffic lights near Turkey’s armed forces’ headquarters, parliament and government buildings in the administrative heart of Ankara late on Wednesday. The military condemned the assault, describing it a terrorist attack. Senior security source said initial signs indicated that militants from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) were accountable. The co-leader of the PKK umbrella group, Cemil Bayik, said, “We don’t know who did this. But it could be an act of retaliation for the massacres in Kurdistan, referring to the Kurdish region covering parts of Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran. In a statement a few hours after the blast, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said: “Turkey will not shy away from using its right to self-defense at any time, any place or any occasion.” “Our determination to retaliate to these attacks, in Turkey and abroad, which aim at our unity, togetherness and future, is increasing with such actions.” The attack comes as Turkey gets pulled deeper into the war in neighboring Syria and tries to contain some of the fiercest violence in decades in its predominantly Kurdish southeast. It is participating in the international fight against ISIS in Syria and Iraq led by the US, and has been firing at Kurdish militia fighters in northern Syria in recent days. It has also been fighting PKK militants in its own southeast where a 2-1/2 year ceasefire collapsed last July, plunging the region into its worst violence since the 1990s.

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The Grand Turk

Report: PKK Leader Urges U.S., EU to Broker Peace with Turkey

2015-12-01

[AnNahar] Kurdish rebel leader said Sunday that The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... has slipped into a civil war with the Kurds, as he urged the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... and the United States to step up as peace brokers to end the conflict. "Military tanks, artillery and helicopters are being deployed in the south of Turkey against the Kurdish civilian population. The situation is the worst in decades," Cemil Bayik, one of the leaders of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) told Bild am Sonntag newspaper. "The Turkish government say: this war will last until all Kurdish fighters surrender or are killed. Therefore I say that yes, we Kurds are once again in a civil war with Turkey," said Bayik, speaking at his group's stronghold of northern Iraq's Qandil mountains. Bayik along with Murat Karayilan is considered the PKK's top commander on the ground in the absence of its tossed in the calaboose Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! chief Abdullah Ocalan. Southeast Turkey has been rocked by a new wave of unrest that has left several hundred people dead since a two-year-old truce between Ankara and the PKK fell apart in July. The PKK tore up the unilateral ceasefire it had declared in 2013 after Turkey began waging a relentless campaign against the group in southeastern Turkey and northern Iraq. "If the military act against the Kurdish civilian population, then we will defend the Kurds. That is our right and our responsibility," said Bayik. At the same time, the PKK leader said he still believes in a political solution out of the crisis. "We don't want to fight anymore. We want political solutions. For that we need a peace broker, a third party," he said. "Therefore we are asking the United States or Germany as part of the EU, to take on this task." Both the U.S. and the EU have put the PKK on their list of terror organizations. But Bayik said it was time to review that listing, as he underlined the role that his group has played in the fight against Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... jihadists. "Since we began battling IS on several fronts and freed many people, the people in Europe have begun to understand the real nature of the PKK," he said. "The time has come to finally remove PKK from the terror list."

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