The vast majority of PKKs actions have taken place mainly in Turkey against the Turkish military, although it has on occasions co-operated with other Kurdish nationalist paramilitary groups in neighboring states, such as Iraq and Iran. 67 The PKK has also attacked Turkish diplomatic and commercial facilities across Western Europe in the late 1980s.

Since 1984, the PKK has been involved in the KurdishTurkish conflict (with cease-fires in 19992004 and 20132015), utilizing asymmetric warfare to seek various goals, including an independent Kurdish state, autonomy and increased human rights for Kurds within Turkey.

The initial reasons given by the PKK for this were the oppression of Kurds in Turkey and under capitalism.

At this time, the use of the Kurdish language, dress, folklore, and names were banned by the Turkish state, 21 including the words Kurds and Kurdistan.

Following the military coup of 1980, the Kurdish language was officially prohibited in public and private life.

Many who spoke, published, or sang in Kurdish were arrested and imprisoned.

The PKK was formed as part of a growing discontent over the suppression of Turkeys Kurds, in an effort to establish linguistic, cultural, and political rights for the Kurdish minority.

Since the conflict began, more than 40,000 people have died, most of whom were Kurdish civilians.

In 1999, PKK leader calan was captured and imprisoned.

In May 2007, serving and former members of the PKK set up the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), an umbrella organisation of Kurdish organisations in Turkish, Iraqi, Iranian, and Syrian Kurdistan.

In 2013, the PKK declared a ceasefire and began slowly withdrawing its fighters to Iraqi Kurdistan as part of a peace process with the Turkish state.

The ceasefire broke down in July 2015.

In March 2016, the PKK joined the Peoples United Revolutionary Movement, an alliance with the aim of overthrowing the Turkish government of Recep Tayyip Erdoan.

The PKK has historically bombed city centres, 31 32 33 while Turkey has burned down thousands of Kurdish villages and massacred Kurds in an attempt to root out PKK militants.

However, the labeling of the PKK as a terrorist organization is controversial; as an array of organizations, people, and NGOs contend that the PKK does not engage in organized terrorist activities, or systemically target civilians.

In 2008 and in 2018 the EU court of Justice ruled the PKK was classified as a terror organization with a lack of due process.

However, the EU still classifies the PKK as a terror organization.

In 2020, the supreme court of Belgium ruled that the PKK was not a terrorist organization, instead labeling the group as an actor in an internal armed conflict.

At this time, expressions of Kurdish culture, including the use of the Kurdish language, dress, folklore, and names, were banned in Turkey.

In an attempt to deny their separate existence from Turkish people, the Turkish government categorized Kurds as Mountain Turks until 1991.

The PKK was then formed, as part of a growing discontent over the suppression of Kurds in Turkey, in an effort to establish linguistic, cultural, and political rights for Turkeys Kurdish minority.

The new group focused on the large oppressed Kurdish population in Turkish Kurdistan.

Espousing a Marxist ideology, the group engaged in violent conflicts with right-wing Turkish nationalist groups during the political violence of the 1970s.

Following several years of preparation, the Kurdistan Workers Party was established during a foundation congress on 26 and 27 November 1978 in a rural village called Fis in Kurdish and Ziyaret in Turkish.

On 27 November 1978, 58 a central committee consisting of seven people was elected, with Abdullah calan as its head.

Other members were: ahin Dnmez, Mazlm Dogan, Baki Karer, Mehmet Hayri Durmu ku, Mehmet Karasungur tr, Cemil Bayk.

Initially the PKK concealed its existence and to the general public only announced its existence in a propaganda stunt as they attempted to assassinate a politician of the Justice Party, Mehmet Celal Bucak, 58 in July 1979.

Bucak was a Kurdish tribal leader accused by the PKK of exploiting peasants and collaborating with the Turkish state to oppress Kurds.

PKK supporters at 2003 march opposing the Iraq War, London.

PKK tactics were based on ambush, sabotage, riots, protests, and demonstrations against the Turkish government.

During these years, the PKK also fought a turf war against Kurdish and Turkish radical Islamist organisations in Turkey.

Turkish newspapers said that the PKK effectively used the prison force to appeal to the general population, which the PKK has denied.

In Turkey, this period was characterized by violent clashes that culminated in the 1980 military coup.

On 10 November 1980, the PKK bombed the Turkish consulate in Strasbourg, France, in a joint operation with the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia, which they described as the beginning of a fruitful collaboration in a statement claiming responsibility.

At the same time, some of its members started to receive training from the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in Lebanons Bekaa Valley, in Syrian-controlled camps.

The PKK received significant support from the Syrian government, which allowed it to maintain headquarters in Damascus, as well as some support from the governments of Iran, Iraq, and Libya.

It began to launch attacks and bombings against Turkish governmental installations, the military, and various institutions of the state.

The organization focused on attacks against Turkish military targets, although civilian targets were also hit.

The objective was to destabilize the Turkish authority through a long, low-intensity confrontation.

The establishment of the Kurdistan Liberation Force ( Hzn Rizgariya Kurdistan - HRK) was announced on 15 August 1984.

In addition to skirmishing with Turkish military, police forces and local village guards, the PKK has conducted bomb attacks on government and police installations.

Kidnapping and assassination against government and military officials and Kurdish tribal leaders who were named as puppets of the state were performed as well.

Turkish sources had also stated that the PKK carried out kidnappings of tourists, primarily in Istanbul, but also at different resorts.

However, the PKK had in its history arrested 4 tourists and released them all after warning them to not enter the war zone.

The PKK has also attacked Turkish diplomatic and commercial facilities across Western Europe in the late 1980s.

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