Combatting Commercial Terrorists: The PKK Case

Abstract

Money is vital for all terrorist organizations. For some organizations, it is a tool to achieve their goals; for others, it is the objective itself. Terrorists participate in organized crime activities at various levels. Organized crime expert Tamara Makarenko describes the nexus between organized crime groups and terrorist groups. This study expanded her continuum into understanding the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and its evolution through the organizations financial sources.Using this continuum, this study characterizes the PKK as a commercial terrorist group with strong financial motivations. Its financial motivations are stronger than its political ones. It originated as a pure terrorist organization sheltered by sponsoring states; meanwhile, it continuously improved its capabilities in criminal fields. To more easily conduct its criminal operations, its members maintain their deceptive political rhetoric. By UN standards, the organization can also be identified as a transnational organized crime group by considering the severity of its crimes and its criminal network across the Middle East, Turkey, and Europe.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 2015
Accession Number
AD1009331

Entities

People

  • Ulas Yildiz

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Engineered Resilient Systems
  • Human Systems
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Criminals
  • Drug Trafficking
  • Ethnic Groups
  • Human Population
  • International Law
  • International Organizations
  • International Relations
  • Kurds
  • National Politics
  • National Security
  • Personnel Management
  • Police
  • Political Science
  • Recreation
  • Societies
  • Terrorism
  • Terrorists

Readers

  • Political Violence and Terrorism Studies.