Mustafa Karasu | |
---|---|
Nickname(s) | Huseyin Ali [1] |
Born | Gürün, Sivas Province, Turkey |
Allegiance | Kurdistan Workers' Party |
Rank | Deputy Chairman of PKK Leader of ERNK |
Unit | ERNK (previously) |
Battles/wars | Kurdish–Turkish conflict |
Mustafa Karasu also known as Huseyin Ali is a deputy chairman [2] of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), [3] a Kurdish rebel group fighting an armed insurgency against the government of Turkey for an independent Kurdistan. The group is recognised as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and EU. [4]
Karasu was born in Gürün. [5] Along with Cemil Bayık and Duran Kalkan he is viewed as one of the hardliners among the PKK's leadership and is alleged to have links to Iran. [6] He is the leader of the Alevi groups within the PKK. [7] His name was on the list of 248 PKK members of which Turkey wished extradication from Iraq on July 10, 2010. [8]
He was imprisoned for several years after the 1980 Turkish coup d'état, after his release he became a member of the PKK's politburo (leadership council) and led the group's popular front: the ERNK. [9] After working in the PKK's political wing for 3 years, in Europe he was called back to South-Eastern Turkey by Abdullah Ocalan to gain more battle experience. [10] He is currently the member of the Executive Council (de facto government) of the Koma Civakên Kurdistan (KCK), which is the PKK's umbrella organisation. [11] He has repeatedly spoken out on the side of the Palestinians when talking about the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. [12] [13]
The Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK is a Kurdish militant political organization and armed guerrilla movement which historically operated throughout Kurdistan but is now primarily based in the mountainous Kurdish-majority regions of southeastern Turkey and northern Iraq. Since 1984, the PKK has utilized asymmetric warfare in the Kurdish–Turkish conflict. Although the PKK initially sought an independent Kurdish state, in the 1990s its goals changed to seeking autonomy and increased political and cultural rights for Kurds within Turkey.
The history of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) began in 1974 as a Marxist–Leninist organization under the leadership of Abdullah Öcalan. In 1978 the organization adopted the name "Kurdistan Workers Party" and waged its low-level Urban War in Turkish Kurdistan between 1978 and 1980. The PKK restructured itself and moved the organization structure to Syria between 1980 and 1984, after the 1980 Turkish coup d'état. The Kurdish-Turkish conflict began in earnest in 1984. The rural-based insurgency lasted between 1984 and 1992. The PKK shifted its activities to include urban attacks against Turkish military bases between 1993–1995 and later 1996–1999. Öcalan was captured in Kenya in early 1999. After a "self declared peace initiative of 1999", hostilities resumed in February 2004. 2013 saw another ceasefire, but the conflict resumed again in 2015 and has continued since.
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