Hamburg, Nov 4, (dpa/GNA) – A leading member of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has been arrested in the northern German city of Hamburg, at the request of the local investigating authorities.
According to prosecutors, the man in question is a 54-year-old Turk who is said to have led the organization’s activities in various parts of Germany for several years. He is accused of membership of a terrorist organization abroad.
The PKK took up the armed struggle for a Kurdish state or autonomous region in south-eastern Turkey in the 1980s, but later abandoned its demand for an independent state.
It has been banned from operating in Germany since 1993, and is listed as a terrorist organization in the EU, Turkey and the United States.
The 54-year-old was arrested on the basis of an arrest warrant, issued by the Dresden Higher Regional Court. His flat in Cologne was searched.
According to the Dresden Public Prosecutor General’s Office, the man was allegedly responsible for PKK activities in Dresden, Leipzig, Chemnitz, Magdeburg and Halle from the beginning of 2015 until July 2018.
“The tasks of the accused included the supervision and management of the PKK room managers subordinate to him as well as the organisation of propaganda events and meetings. He also organized annual fundraising campaigns for the PKK,” it said on Tuesday.
The properties of two other suspects were searched in the eastern town of Bautzen. The men, aged 46 and 53, also have Turkish citizenship. They are also suspected of having been members of the PKK or having supported it.
GNA