In July 2024 a suspected member of the PKK terrorist body wanted by Germany was apprehended in Spain. He is declared to be a so-called ringleader of the PKK and has been in jail. He was captured on the island of Mallorca, according to a brief police press release published.
The guy, who was born in Türkiye, is charged with collecting money for terrorist attacks. He is also said to have blended operations and taken on organisational, financial and personnel assignments. The PKK is categorised as an “ethno-nationalist” and “separatist” terrorist organisation by the EU’s law enforcement agency EUROPOL and has been outlawed in Germany since 1993. Its leader Abdullah Öcalan has been detained in Türkiye for 25 years.
However, it remains involved in the country with nearly 15,000 followers among the Kurdish immigrant population, according to German intelligence agency BfV. BfV chief Thomas Haldenwang indicated the number of people supporting the PKK grew from 14,500 to 15,000 people in Germany this year. Rather than devoting serious crimes, the group has concentrated more on propaganda, recruitment and fundraising movements, raking in millions annually.
The terrorist group extended at least 16 million euros ($17 million) in Germany last year in various fundraising movements, according to German estimates. BfV’s annual report stated in June that PKK members perpetrated 286 crimes last year, including violent attacks, resulting in both personal damage and property damage. It also compelled more than 300 foreign fighters from Germany since 2013 who were offered military training in Syria and Iraq.
BfV analysts expressed the PKK has a strict hierarchical structure, and its branches in Europe follow the instructions transmitted by the terrorist group’s leadership, without any space for independent decision-making. “In Europe, the PKK is attempting to present a largely non-violent image, whereas in Türkiye it continues to carry out terrorist attacks,” the analysts stated.
The group’s sympathisers flooded the Turkish Consulate building in Hannover in March after carrying pro-PKK demonstrations in the city without any intervention from the police. No one was killed or wounded, but there was harm to the building, which German security is bound to protect as an official representation of Türkiye in the country. The German government believes numerous acts as political, including intent to thwart democracy and crimes aimed at members of particular ethnic, religious or other groups.
Ankara has long called on its NATO ally Germany to take more severe and effective measures against the PKK to control future terrorist attacks. The PKK has been entering European countries by exploiting the legal holes and vague policies to recruit militants and sponsor its activities. In Türkiye, authorities imprisoned five suspects linked to the PKK in southern Mersin and southeastern Diyarbakır provinces.
