Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

370 • KURDISTAN WORKERS’ PARTYceptable to Turks and other non-Kurdish Muslims and so has shiftedits targeting to avoid Turkish and other Muslim civilians, concentratinginstead on Turkish police, military and government targets,as well as Western tourists. During the 1980s and 1990s the PKKreceived Syrian and Soviet state sponsorship, as well as the supportof the Iraq-based Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). The PKK alsodraws on the support of expatriate Kurdish workers in Germany toobtain needed supplies, some of whom raise funds by narcotics traffickingin Europe. During the Iran-Iraq war, the Iraqi governmentdid not prevent the PKK from setting up bases in northern Iraq butalso did not prevent the Turkish air force from launching retaliatorystrikes against Kurdish bases in northern Iraq.From 1978 to 1980 the PKK engaged in assassinating local landlords,robbing banks, and setting up “people’s courts” to rule thefew villages they overran. During this time the PKK murdered 243people. According to Turkish sources, the numbers of people killedin the period 1984–1997 by the PKK insurgency included 26,532PKK fighters, 5,185 members of Turkish security forces, and 5,209civilians. During the period 1999–2002, PKK violence substantiallyceased but in the period 2003–2005, following the breakdown of the1999 unilateral PKK cease-fire, about 359 PKK militants were killed,850 were captured, and 116 were extradited to Turkey from other nations,while about 580 captured PKK members were amnestied. In thesame period, about 246 of the Turkish security forces had been killedand about 146 had been wounded. By late 2008 it was estimated thatmore than 40,000 people had been involved in this conflict.With the military crackdown beginning on 12 September 1980,Abdullah Ocalan, the PKK leader, fled to Syria. Shortly thereafter theTurkish military uncovered 100 rocket launchers smuggled by a PKKgroup from Syria. PKK fighters using Iraqi territory as a base attackeda Turkish army unit in May 1983, killing three soldiers. On 15August 1984, the PKK took over the villages of Eruh and Semdinli,200 miles apart, and held each for an hour, departing before Turkishforces could arrive. On 22 October 1986, PKK fighters attacked theNorth Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) air base at Mardin.Whereas the preceding incidents involved probing attacks ofmore symbolic than material effect, the PKK proceeded with attacksdirected largely against unprotected civilians. On 20 June 1987 thePKK massacred 30 Turkish villagers in Mardin Province, including