The Prime Ministry has given its support to an international project that aims to devise a strategy to help Turkey deal more effectively with the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party.

Project on PKK's activities - 11 / 10 / 2008 08:11

The Prime Ministry has given its support to an international project that aims to devise a strategy to help Turkey deal more effectively with the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

The project, which will focus on the financial resources of the PKK and its organized crime activity, is due to be launched next month in the US.

Terrorism experts, academics and high-level bureaucrats from Turkey, Europe and the US will come together to devise an effective strategy for Turkey in the project, which is led by the Washington-based Turkish Institute for Security and Democracy (TISD).

The financial resources of the PKK and its transfer of these funds to recruitment, propaganda and media activities will be studied and analyzed in several workshops as part of the project.

The main target of the project is to develop concrete strategies and policies and present these to the relevant Turkish agencies for a more effective fight against and permanent defeat of the terrorist group.

Findings of the project will also be shared with the security forces of some other countries, including the member nations of the European Union.

Presentations given during the workshop will be compiled as a publication on the PKK which will be made available to terror specialists, academics and politicians all around the globe.

International security and intelligence agencies fighting terrorism will be informed about the activities of the PKK and ways to deal with the organization.

Analysts say the amount of data available on the PKK is enormous, but none of it has been processed, analyzed and presented to academics and politicians.

The TISD study is expected to emphasize that the PKK is not only a terrorist organization, but also a major crime network that is involved in activities like money laundering and the narcotics trade.

The Prime Ministry has already given its consent to the project, which is due to start next month. Initially, academics and experts at US and European think tanks will form the advisory council of the project.

These experts will direct six research teams -- consisting of five people -- each working on a separate subject.