US Department of State places PKK on terror list for one more year

WASHINGTON - Anatolia News Agency

Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) fighters arrive in the northern Iraqi city of Dohuk on May 14 leaving Turkey as part of peace talks with Ankara. AFP photo

The outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) has been placed on the U.S. State of Department's list of foreign terrorist organizations in the country reports on terrorism published May 30. Citing the NATO Center of Excellence - Defense Against Terrorism in Ankara, the report said there had been 226 terrorist incidents reported through November.

According to the report, 494 insurgents were killed, 21 injured and 44 arrested, while 155 surrendered themselves to the authorities during the first 10 months of 2012 as a result of operations targeting the PKK.

The Turkish government initiated peace talks with the PKK at the end of 2012. The ongoing process entered a critical stage as the PKK started the withdrawal of its militants from Turkish soil at the beginning of May. The PKK was designated by the U.S. as a foreign terrorist organization on October 8, 1997.

The U.S. State Department also mentioned the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C), which claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attack targeting the U.S. Embassy in Ankara on Feb. 1, 2013, among "prominent terrorist groups."