"Smuggling revenue goes to PKK"

[Vladimir]

ANKARA - Turkish Daily News

Smugglers in the region near the eastern Anatolian province of Van have been handing over 20 percent of their revenue to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), officials from the Van Police Department told the Anatolia news agency on Thursday.

Those engaged in smuggling were originally based in Iran in the past; however, due to pressure from Iranian authorities, they later moved to Van, officials told Anatolia. Introducing themselves as Azerbaijani in Van, they continued making their earnings via smuggling in cooperation with their relatives in Iran, they said.

The smuggled items were being carried on the backs of pack animals from Iran to Turkey through the regions where the PKK has control, thus the smugglers were giving 20 percent of their smuggling revenue to the PKK, officials said.

Meanwhile, officials also said that in operations held by the Van police during 2005, 1,646,429 smuggled packets of cigarettes were seized, while 2,580,947 packets were seized during the first 11 months of 2006.

Also during the first 11 months of this year, 202 separate operations were held concerning the smuggling of fuel oil, tea, sugar, honey, agricultural medicine and animal medicine. In total, 250 people were arrested during those operations and they were fined YTL 174 million.

The same officials argued that they succeeded in financially damaging the PKK with these operations.

The PKK is blacklisted as a terrorist group by Turkey, the European Union and the United States.

Last month, Interior Minister Abdülkadir Aksu said that the PKK was abusing the right to political asylum in Europe to engage in criminal activities, including human traficking. “The PKK obtains the majority of its finances through drug smuggling, human trafficking, extortion and money laundering, especially in European countries,” he said then.

Earlier this year, the Turkish police said that, faced with close international scrutiny of financial resources, terrorist groups operating in Turkey are increasingly resorting to drug trafficking to finance their activities.

A report drawn up in April by the police shows that the PKK and smaller terrorist groups are heavily involved in drug trafficking. Since 1984, according to the report, terrorist groups including the PKK, the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) and two extremist communist groups, namely the Turkish Communist Party (TKP/ML) and the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C), have been involved in 333 separate drug trafficking incidents.

What do you think about this news? Do you believe it? I heard it before that they tax smugglers on the border. Although Turkish Daily News says a lot of negative things about militant rebelgroups, they don't talk about susurluk or involvement of Turkish military officials in the drugs trade.

[Piling]

It is not recent, as the drug connexion in Europe which financially supports the PKK.

But Turkish official are often involved in the same buiseness and in fact the link between the PKK and Turkish State is mafia

[simore]

such smuggling occurs not only on border with east Kurdistan which is much more guarded by turkish army, but also near south Kurdistan.