Turkish man in Germany sentenced to three years in jail for PKK membership

BERLIN - Anadolu Agency

AP File Photo

A Turkish man has been sentenced to three years in prison for being a member of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Germany.

The Hamburg Provincial High Court ordered three years’ imprisonment for the man, identified only as Mehmet D. 

The 46-year-old was convicted of holding meetings and staging protests in Germany’s western and northern regions in the name of the PKK, while also being a regional head of the group. 

The court said in its ruling that the PKK was a foreign terrorist organization that aimed to kill people and commit homicides. 

Turkey, the European Union, and the United States designate the PKK a terrorist organization and ban its activities inside their territory. 

Meanwhile, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office in Germany said another Turkish citizen, identified as Bedrettin K., had been arrested and charged over PKK membership. 

The 57-year-old man is charged with heading the PKK in areas including the German cities of Bremen, Hannover and Hamburg in 2014, and Düsseldorf, Köln and Bielefeld in 2015.