Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)

The Kurdish organization founded in Turkey in 1978. Initially, it wanted to create an independent Kurdistan and it was combining anti-colonial ideas with Marxism-Leninism. Since 1984 it has fought against Turkey. This is the reason why the members of the organization have faced numerous repressions. Over 40,000 people died. In the middle of 1990s, most PKK members resigned from Marxism-Leninism ideas and the fight for independence. They changed their main demands to democracy, feminism and ecology, as well as the creation of a federation of Middle East states which will be based on these principles. The leader of the PKK is Abdullah Öcalan, who has been serving a life sentence in a Turkish prison since 1999. He was charged with the death of all victims of the ongoing Kurdish-Turkish conflict.