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Explained: PKK terror group's dangerous foothold in Europe

The PKK – listed as a terrorist organisation by Türkiye, the US, and the EU – has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants.

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PKK perpetrated acts of violence and clashed with the police, of whom more than two dozen were injured in Paris.

As supporters of the PKK, a known terrorist organisation, openly protested in major European cities this weekend, Türkiye has been sounding the alarm over members of the group, responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands and for supporting human trafficking, drugs, and organised crime, being free to walk the streets.

On Friday, a 69-year-old gunman opened fire on a cultural centre and nearby hair salon in Paris, killing at least three people and wounding three others. Local media reports named the shooter William M, a retired train driver and gun enthusiast with a history of armed offences.

PKK supporters soon gathered in the area after Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin visited the scene. In the ensuing protest, they perpetrated acts of violence and clashed with the police, of whom more than two dozen were injured.

Supporters of the terrorist group disrupted peace again on Saturday, this time in London, in another violent encounter with police.

For its part, Türkiye reminded Europe on Sunday of the threat the PKK poses.

"These developments have emerged as a hint that the patronage of terrorist groups in Europe just because of their opposition to Türkiye will eventually cause great trouble for Europe," Omer Celik, spokesperson for the Justice and Development (AK) Party, told a group of reporters.

Recruitment

Several European countries have told the EU law enforcement agency Europol that the terror group was also involved in serious and organised criminal activities, according to the report.

PKK sympathizers have vandalized mosques and shops frequented by the Turkish community in Germany. Similar incidents were also reported in Belgium and Switzerland, Europol reported in 2020.

Europol classifies the PKK as a terrorist organisation, saying in its 2020 and 2021 reports that the group still uses European countries for its propaganda, recruitment, and fundraising activities, even though it is officially banned in most of these nations.

The YPG, which is the terror group's Syria branch, has recruited nearly 300 people in Germany to travel to the war-torn country, as well as to Iraq, to fight in its ranks, according to the German government.

Fundraising

The PKK continues "to use Europe for fundraising by legal and illegal means," according to Europol, explaining that these activities include fundraising campaigns and donations, as well as "extortion and other organised criminal activities."

For example, Germany's spy chief in June admitted that the country has become a platform for the terrorist organisation's fundraising and recruitment activities targeting Türkiye.

"The PKK is organizing various fundraising campaigns in Germany, and then using this money to finance terror attacks in Türkiye," Thomas Haldenwang, head of the German domestic intelligence agency BfV, told a news conference in Berlin.

Drug trafficking

Having flourished for more than three decades, the PKK's continent-wide drug trafficking network in Europe is no secret to security and intelligence services, either.

The terror group reaps over $1.5 billion annually from its control over some 80 percent of the European illicit drug market, according to figures provided by Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu last month.

It uses these funds to wage its decades-long terror campaign against Türkiye.

According to Europol's EU Terrorism Situation and Trend 2022 report, PKK activities in European countries include money laundering, extortion, and drug trafficking.

Further out from the continent, threats, beatings, and brutal murders have been common practice for the PKK in Britain, which also lists it as a terror group.