PKK ups recruitment after cease-fire ends: report

BRUSSELS (AA) – The terrorist PKK organization has increased fundraising, propaganda and recruitment after terminating its cease-fire with Turkey last July, and subsequent escalation of the conflict, according to a recent report by the EU’s law enforcement agency.

Published Wednesday, the EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report by Europol, says Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland and the Netherlands reported the continuity of the PKK’s annual fundraising campaigns, which included collecting donations, membership fees and other revenues.

The proceeds are believed to fund the group’s armed wing HPG (People’s Defense Forces) as well as its counterpart in Syria -- the PYD (Democratic Union Party) and its armed wing YPG (People’s Protection Units) – according to the report.

Although the PKK did not carry out any attacks in the EU in 2015, the group continues to be regarded as a terrorist organization in the EU, it added.

The report also warned of a possible escalation of confrontations between Kurdish separatists and Turkish nationalists in parallel to the Syrian and Turkish conflict.

“This may provoke PKK-affiliated groups to extend their activities in the EU, seeking violent confrontations with parties regarded as sympathetic to Turkish nationalism and/or suspected of a tolerance towards IS [Daesh],” it said.

The report said a total of 211 failed, foiled or completed attacks were reported by six member states, and almost half, 103, by the U.K. France followed with 72 and Spain had 25.

The attacks resulted in 151 fatalities: 148 in France, two in Denmark and one in Greece, it said, adding that these figures were markedly higher than in 2014, when four victims were killed and six wounded.

According to the report, a total of 1,077 individuals were arrested in 2015 for terror-related offences, compared to 774 in 2014.

Most arrests occurred in France with 424, Spain with 187 and the U.K. with 134.

The number of individuals arrested on suspicion of terror-related offences increased in 11 member states, most notably in France, it said, which saw 225 and 238 arrests, in 2013 and 2014, respectively.

The largest proportion of arrests in the EU was reportedly linked to jihadist terrorism, 687, as it was in the two preceding years. In comparison, this number was 216 in 2013 and 395 in 2014.

Arrests for separatist, 168, and left-wing terrorism, 67, also increased compared to 2014, when those numbers were 154 and 54, respectively.

On the other hand, the number of arrests for right-wing terrorism decreased from 34 in 2014 to 11 in 2015.

*Hale Turkes contributed to this report from Ankara.