Who are the PKK?
- 12 years ago
Al Jazeera breaks down the 1984 formation and recent activities of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
Abdullah Ocalan founded the group in 1974 and in 1978 named it the Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan or the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a Marxist-Leninist insurgency fighting for an independent Kurdish state.
The PKK took up arms against Turkey in 1984 with the aim of creating an ethnic homeland in the southeast. More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict since then.
Abdullah Ocalan founded the group in 1974 and in 1978 named it the Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan or the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a Marxist-Leninist insurgency fighting for an independent Kurdish state.
The PKK took up arms against Turkey in 1984 with the aim of creating an ethnic homeland in the southeast. More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict since then.