Europol highlights threat posed by PKK to EU

By Ahmet Gencturk

ATHENS (AA) – Europol, the European Union’s law enforcement agency, highlighted the threat that the PKK terrorist organization poses to the bloc’s member states in a report released Wednesday.

The agency in its annual terrorism report revealed that members of some European far-left groups and anarchists have been training and fighting with PKK terrorists in northern Iraq, southeastern Türkiye, and more recently in northeastern Syria, where most of the terrorist group’s attacks have taken place.

“The PKK is very active in the EU, mostly using member states as bases for administrative, recruitment and financing purposes,” it said, adding that drug trafficking and fraud are among its main income sources in the EU, which are used to finance its terrorist campaigns.

It said the PKK also operates an extensive propaganda apparatus across Europe.

According to the agency, in 2022, Germany arrested four people and Italy one person for their connections to the PKK.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the US, the UK and the EU – has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.