Interviewed on PKK crime, Ms. Courtney Keeley, an analyst on terrorism, says the group is involved in drug deal and smuggle.
The questions and answers are as follows:
-You have discussed organized crime and the PKK in your report, could you explain it?
Anyone who studies in the field of organized crime knows that the PKK is involved in narcoterrorism and terrorism worldwide. I also mentioned the Colombian FARC in my report. The PKK is not on the same level as the FARC, but both have things in common, including Marxist ideology, both are on the terrorist list of Western countries, and both are on the list of first-rate drug traffickers. Especially in the eighties, the PKK grew in Bekka Valley, and we all know that Lebanese cannabis comes from this region. When the PKK transferred its forces to southeastern Turkey, intensifying the real separatist war in the 1990s, got involved the entire body in narcotics, and taxing all drug trafficking in and out. If we pay attention, at that time, the main centers of drug cultivation were not near the Iranian border, but in areas such as Kars, that is, mountainous areas that are very difficult to reach. They both forced farmers to plant drugs and imposed a tax on drug trafficking. Therefore, from the very beginning and over the past few decades, there has been a full drug involvment. Now the issue of PKK is not only the PKK itself, because it is not limited to armed conflict, but also the issue of narcoterrorism has been added, which is mostly a cause of instability. That is, in addition to Turkey, it has destabilized Iraq, Syria and the Balkans. I must say that it produces drug in a very large volume and has made the confrontation cost high.
-So is it the issue of heroin, cocaine and other types of narcotics?
In addition, muphtamethanes should be added, which come from Europe and reach the Middle East, even to the Arab countries on the Persian Gulf. That is, it spreads instability everywhere and uses all means to smuggle drugs.
-You mentioned the FARC, which is very active in the production of cocaine. Is the PKK also limited to drug transit only?
It earns money not only from transit but also from taxes, from cultivation of drug and in total more than one billion dollars a year, thus changing the equation. We know that it cooperates with the Taliban and smuggles drugs through Pakistan, Iran and other routes, and the final destination of these drugs is Europe.
-Which routes does the drug cross when it crosses the borders of Afghanistan?
It also goes through Russia and Georgia, but I would like to point out that since 2013 and 2014, PKK drug laboratories have been established in Syria. This was also done by ISIS in the areas under its control in Syria. It became a huge market for the Middle East. Of course, there are also drug laboratories in Bulgaria. But the big danger is that it distributes drug pills among the children and young people. They are very cheap, easy for access. When I spoke to the director of the Green Crescent NGO in Diyarbakir, he said that 12-year-old children were also involved in the distribution and use of pill drugs. Therefore, all these cases strengthen the structure of terrorism and the organized terrorism of the PKK. It is definitely a threat to the world. I emphasize that the children can get drug pills very easily.
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