A suspected member of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) terrorist group has been arrested in Spain during a Guardia Civil operation in Palma de Mallorca. The detainee, who was wanted for arrest and extradition to Germany, is accused of raising funds for the armed organisation with the aim of committing attacks in Turkey and other countries.
According to several Spanish media, the operation was carried out by the Guardia Civil’s Information Service on the instructions of the Central Court of Instruction No. 4 and the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the National High Court. The detainee, whose identity has not been disclosed and for whom the National High Court ordered provisional detention last week pending his possible extradition to Germany, was born in Turkey and could be one of the members of the PKK leadership, a group for which he carried out fund-raising activities to finance its terrorist activities, as well as other organisational and coordination tasks.
The PKK, whose historic leader Abdullah Öcalan has been imprisoned in Turkey since 1999, is classified by the European agency Europol as a ‘separatist’ and ‘ethno-nationalist’ terrorist organisation. Although outlawed in Germany since 1993, according to the German intelligence services (BfV) the group is still active in the country, where it is believed that it could have around 15,000 followers among the Kurdish immigrant population living in Germany. Already in a report produced in 2018, the Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA), a well-known Turkish think tank, warned of the growing threat posed by the PKK to Germany.
Reports by the BfV claim that in 2023 alone the PKK managed to raise at least 16 million euros in Germany through various fundraising campaigns with which to develop its activities. The PKK is considered a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the US and the EU, although it has so far kept a low profile in Europe, where it has tried to present a non-violent image by focusing more on propaganda and fundraising activities, with which to commit terror attacks in Turkey and finance its activities in several neighbouring countries.
However, in a report presented last June, the BfV warned of the terrorist group’s growing threat to Germany‘s security as the organisation with the most members and the most influence among foreign extremists in the country. In its report, the German intelligence services pointed out that the PKK committed at least 286 crimes on German territory in 2023, including violent attacks against people and property, and added that in the last decade it has recruited more than 300 fighters who have received military training in Syria and Iraq.
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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