Kurdish PKK insurgents streaming back into Turkey

Kurdish PKK insurgents streaming back into Turkey –

ANKARA — Turkey’s intelligence community has determined that Kurdish insurgents returned from their bases in Iraq and Syria.

In a report by two intelligence agencies, the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) was said to have ended its withdrawal from Turkey, launched in 2013.

The report, titled “Solution Process/PKK Report,” said the insurgency group has deployed 1,000 agents and fighters in Turkey.

“The organization is keeping its presence at the moment and the withdrawals have stopped,” the report by the intelligence units of the paramilitary Gendarmerie and police, said. “The militants who were staying at the winter bases on the borders are moving toward the inner regions as the weather becomes warmer.”

Portions of the report have been leaked to the Turkish media over the last two weeks. The intelligence agencies said about 1,000 PKK fighters, belonging to 65 cells, left Turkey from May to September 2013 as part of a reconciliation agreement with the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“There is no movement in the roads leading out of the border,” the report said. “There are movements of smaller groups into the interior regions [of Turkey].”

But the withdrawal was said to have been limited to lightly armed PKK forces. The report said heavy weapons units remained along the southeastern Turkish border and were now returning to such cities as Ankara and Istanbul.

“They moved to the interior areas, rather than crossing the border,” the report said.

So far, the PKK, with a presence in at least seven provinces, has not renewed major operations in Turkey. The report said the PKK was building its forces and recruited 2,000 agents, most of them assigned to non-combat roles.

“Many of these people did not join armed attacks, but received political training on the other side of the border and returned Turkey under the repentance law,” the report said. “These people are participating in political activities for the organization in Turkey.”

WORLD TRIBUNE