PKK/YPG recruited 300 terrorists in Germany

BERLIN (AA) - The PKK/YPG terror group recruited nearly 300 people in Germany who travelled to Syria and Iraq to fight alongside the group, according to the German government.

The government made the figure public in response to a parliamentary question by the opposition party Alternative for Germany (AfD).

Since 2013, German intelligence services identified nearly 300 people who traveled to northern Syria and Iraq where they joined the terrorist PKK and affiliated groups, the government said.

It was not possible to determine whether these war volunteers actually fought against the Daesh/ISIS terror group, or took part in other conflicts, the government noted.

Nearly 150 of the foreign fighters have returned to Germany, the government confirmed but did not give more specific information about investigations or judicial proceedings initiated against them.

The PKK is classified as an "ethno-nationalist" and "separatist" terrorist organization by the EU's law enforcement agency EUROPOL, and has been banned in Germany since 1993.

But it remains active in the country, with nearly 14,500 followers among the country's Kurdish immigrant population.

Germany’s domestic intelligence agency BfV warned in its annual report that the PKK remains the largest foreign extremist group in the country, and its followers can carry out violent attacks if they receive instructions from the group leaders abroad.

Türkiye has long called on its NATO ally Germany to take stronger action against the PKK and its Syrian affiliate the YPG, stressing that these terror groups use Germany as a platform for their fund-raising, propaganda and recruitment activities.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK has been responsible for the deaths of some 40,000 people.