Intelligence agency reveals how PKK uses Belgium as a centre in Europe

Belgium's intelligence agency has reported that the terrorist organisation PKK uses the country as a centre base in Europe, hiding its true aims and benefiting from the support given to civil society under false names, claiming to represent all Kurds.

The 2020 report of the Belgian intelligence and security agency VSSE noted that the main aim of the PKK is to be removed from the terrorist list of Europe, and that the organisation does not support violence to "preserve its image" in Europe and Belgium.

"Belgium plays a central role in the PKK's European structures," the report said.

The report said that foreign extremism is not a direct threat to Belgium, but a problematic area. 

PKK, which is on the EU's list of terrorist organisations, sometimes uses extreme violence to achieve its goals, the report said.

It reported that the PKK's tactic of mobilising crowds can disrupt public order and cause tension with the Turkish community in Belgium, sometimes leading to violent incidents.

READ MORE: Turkey slams Belgian ruling protecting PKK terrorists

'Revolutionary Tax'

Belgian intelligence noted that the PKK carries out political and financial activities through local associations. 

"Revolutionary tax collection" is included in these kind of activities.

PKK also owns some media companies in Belgium, and they make their propaganda through its own television and radio channels, according to the report.

"The main threat the PKK poses to our country is extremism," the report said, adding that the terror group also had ties with other far-left organisations in Belgium.

READ MORE: PKK uses EU as base for propaganda, recruitment activities: Europol report

Daesh and radicalization

The defeat of the Daesh terrorist organisation does not eliminate the terrorist threat, the report said, emphasising that radicalisation and the factors causing it still continue.

It underlined that the crisis in Syria and Iraq caused an increase in the number of refugees coming from these regions. In addition to that, a significant number of people, convicted of terrorist crimes in Belgium, are nearing the end of their sentences. Thus, Belgium will face the challenge of reintegrating those people into society.

The report also mentions that a limited number of Belgian foreign terrorist fighters are still in Syria.

Most of the Belgian foreign terrorist fighters who escaped from the conflict zone in 2020 were in prison or in camps controlled by the PYD/ YPG terror group, and more than 130 foreign terrorist fighters from Syria and Iraq have returned to Belgium.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the US, and EU – has been responsible for the deaths of at least 40,000 people, including women, children and infants. 

READ MORE: Belgium repatriates group of mothers, children from Syria