PKK using Germany as base to finance attacks in Türkiye: German spy chief

Germany’s domestic intelligence chief has admitted that the country has become a platform for the PKK terror organisation’s fundraising and recruitment activities targeting Türkiye.

“The PKK is organising various fundraising campaigns in Germany", Thomas Haldenwang, head of the German domestic intelligence agency BfV, told a news conference in Berlin on Tuesday.

The group is "then using this money to finance terror attacks in Türkiye”, he added.

Haldenwang said the PKK terror organisation is also using various associations in Germany to recruit young people as foreign fighters, who are then sent to Türkiye, Syria, or Iraq.

“The PKK remains an international terror organisation, it continues violent attacks, killings in the region”, he stressed.

READ MORE: Türkiye's concerns should be taken seriously: Germany

'PKK raised $17.8M in Germany last year'

According to the BfV’s annual security report released on Tuesday, the PKK terror organisation is "the biggest foreign extremist group" in Germany, with around 14,500 followers.

The terrorist group raised an estimated $17.8 million (€16.7 million) in Germany last year, and also raised more than $32 million (€30 million) in Europe in various fundraising campaigns, the report said.

Since 2013, at least 295 foreign fighters from Germany travelled to northern Syria and Iraq where they received military training from PKK terrorists and took part in armed attacks in the region, according to the report.

At least 30 of these foreign fighters died in battle zones, while nearly 150 of them returned to Germany in recent years, the report said, without giving any further details.

The PKK, which is classified as an “ethno-nationalist” and “separatist” terrorist organisation by the EU's law enforcement agency Europol, has been banned in Germany since 1993.

Although Türkiye has repeatedly called on its NATO ally Germany to take stronger action against the PKK, the terrorist group’s activities have been largely tolerated by authorities, and Berlin has been reluctant to do more to combat the group.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign, the PKK has been responsible for the deaths of at least 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants.

READ MORE: How Europe became a safe haven for the PKK