| That
is a rather complex question, but aside from the top echelon who are professional
terrorists and extortionists, several groups can be discerned. Of course
there are those youngsters who were swayed by the rush provided by a mix
of ethnic/nationalistic propaganda, and the absolutely unscrupulous promises
of a good life perhaps in Europe. Remember, these were all kids who
did not have jobs or prospects for jobs considering the effects of terror
in the area, but PKK did offer pretty hefty financial inducements. (Note
that to some extent, PKK has delivered on its promise by getting militants
involved in drug-traffic and by getting them settled in Europe...)
Another very large group comprises children who were recruited (drafted?) by force and by propaganda during the brief time when PKK had quite a bit of control in the area, especially at night-time. Families were often given the choice of sending at least one of their children to PKK training camps or taking the risk of extermination of the entire family line. PKK ruthlessly dominated the night, and government authority was no match for the sheer terror of the immediate and swift executions of PKK. PKK can no longer do that in Eastern Turkey, and is quickly loosing whatever support it had. To make up for the lack of new blood from Turkiye, in recent years, quite a few militants were recruited from Syria. Another very significant group of quasi-militants comprise the "Kurdish Mafia" which, as a part of PKK, controls almost all drug-traffick in Europe. With respect to the 1 to 5,000 or so people that can gather in a European city in support of a PKK rally, that too is the same mixed group, but a good percentage of them are misled people in search of an identity-- some of them are European Kurds who have not seen the fanciful (so-called) "Kurdistan" or Eastern Turkey. Some are separatist ethnic-nationalist intellectuals. Currently, there may be a couple thousand PKK militants in Turkey, but there are more in Syria and Iraq, and even more in Europe. PKK is now a European problem. A problem which corrupts with drugs, extortion and terror. A problem which rots international ethics and law-- case in point, failure of Germany to request Ocalan's extradition from Italy even though there was a German warrant out for him; Italy's failure to arrest and try him; Greece's support for PKK etc. Germany just did not want to take the risk of offending the 7,000 or more active PKK militants in Germany. This decision of Germany, and the way Italy and Greece aided and abetted an international criminal is surely indicative of a slow rot at the core of European politics. |