Police raid PKK terror cells in southwestern Germany

BERLIN (AA) - Police raided several houses in southwestern Germany as part of an investigation into the activities of the PKK terrorist organization, authorities said on Tuesday.

During searches at the houses of four suspects and a community center in Saarbrucken, police found “extensive evidence” of illegal activities, the public prosecutor's office in Koblenz said in a statement.

The accused are suspected of being key members of the PKK terror organization in the region, and they are believed to have been involved in fund-raising, propaganda and recruitment activities, according to the prosecutors.

The raids were held in Lebach, Volklingen, Losheim and Beckingen, small towns in the southwestern state of Saarland, a region bordering France.

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.

The terrorist group raised an estimated €16.7 million ($16.4 million) in Germany last year, and also raised more than €30 million in Europe in various fundraising campaigns, according to the annual report of German domestic intelligence agency BfV.

Türkiye has long called on its NATO ally Germany to take more serious measures against the PKK, which uses the country as a platform for 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 more than 40,000 people.