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Europe has become the home to a logistical support base for the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), according to a new report released by the European Police Office (Europol). The 2011 report, released by the EU's criminal intelligence agency on Thursday, states that the acts of the terrorist PKK, violent extremism and solo attacks represent a significant threat to European citizens.
The Europol report indicates terrorist organizations raise funds through global criminal enterprises inside and outside the EU, and one example of this is the suspected involvement of the PKK in narcotics trafficking to fund terrorist activities.Although the number of individuals arrested who are linked to the PKK is decreasing, Europe remains a logistical support base for funding, recruitment, training and propaganda. To fulfill the requirements of these logistics, the PKK has a network of recruiters across Europe, which could be a cause for concern, the report said.
According to the report, individuals were arrested in 2011 for membership in the PKK or for criminal activities that provided support to the PKK in France, Germany and Romania. The majority of the suspects arrested were involved in fundraising for guerrilla operations in Turkey and for the maintenance of guerrilla camps in northern Iraq.
Some of the funds collected are believed to have been used to sponsor EU-based propaganda centers and training camps. Extortion, money laundering, facilitating illegal immigration, drugs and human trafficking remain the main crimes committed by PKK members in Europe as well as their main profit generators, the report stated, adding that the PKK committed several terrorist attacks on Turkish territory in 2011, but the total number of attacks committed on Turkish soil has decreased.
The report found that the tactics used to commit the attacks have not changed very much:
Use of booby-trapped improvised devices and numbers of coordinated armed attacks carried out against the military, security services and border police posts have occurred in predominantly Kurdish areas of southeast Turkey. However some changes in modus operandi have been observed, for example through the kidnapping of teachers, targeting of schools and hijacking of public transport.
Europol: The PKK, radicalism, solo attacks cause concern
https://www.europol.europa.eu/sites/default/files/publications/europoltsat.pdf
Europol - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Europol report indicates terrorist organizations raise funds through global criminal enterprises inside and outside the EU, and one example of this is the suspected involvement of the PKK in narcotics trafficking to fund terrorist activities.Although the number of individuals arrested who are linked to the PKK is decreasing, Europe remains a logistical support base for funding, recruitment, training and propaganda. To fulfill the requirements of these logistics, the PKK has a network of recruiters across Europe, which could be a cause for concern, the report said.
According to the report, individuals were arrested in 2011 for membership in the PKK or for criminal activities that provided support to the PKK in France, Germany and Romania. The majority of the suspects arrested were involved in fundraising for guerrilla operations in Turkey and for the maintenance of guerrilla camps in northern Iraq.
Some of the funds collected are believed to have been used to sponsor EU-based propaganda centers and training camps. Extortion, money laundering, facilitating illegal immigration, drugs and human trafficking remain the main crimes committed by PKK members in Europe as well as their main profit generators, the report stated, adding that the PKK committed several terrorist attacks on Turkish territory in 2011, but the total number of attacks committed on Turkish soil has decreased.
The report found that the tactics used to commit the attacks have not changed very much:
Use of booby-trapped improvised devices and numbers of coordinated armed attacks carried out against the military, security services and border police posts have occurred in predominantly Kurdish areas of southeast Turkey. However some changes in modus operandi have been observed, for example through the kidnapping of teachers, targeting of schools and hijacking of public transport.
Europol: The PKK, radicalism, solo attacks cause concern
https://www.europol.europa.eu/sites/default/files/publications/europoltsat.pdf
Europol - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia