Democrats will be known for Iraq surrender; Time now for homeland defense
PKK RECRUITS WOMEN FOR OPERATIONS
ANKARA — The Kurdish insurgency has increased recruitment of female
operatives.
Turkish officials said the Kurdish Workers Party has increased the
number of women operatives over the last decade. They said the PKK has
determined that women, who generally attracted less suspicion, were
preferable for intelligence and sabotage operations.
"The higher number of women militia in the PKK increases the security
concerns of the Turkish government," Nihad Ozcan, a Turkish security analyst
at the Economic Policy Research Foundation, said. "This situation makes
propaganda more effective and the participation of militias in the PKK
easier."
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By 1995, 30 percent of the PKK's 17,000 fighters were said to have been
women. Officials said female operatives were also regarded as effective in
propaganda and recruitment.
Ozcan said the PKK recruited women from rural areas, Turkish cities and
European countries. He said the PKK often abducted women to win cooperation
from their families.
"Some families encourage their daughters to join the organization to
avenge family members who were killed in clashes with Turkish authorities,
or just to maintain the social status granted by aiding the organization,"
Ozcan said in a report by the Washington-based Jamestown Foundation.
Officials said women work in both PKK military units as well as in front
groups. They said womens' units are separate from men and have often been
selected as suicide bombers. In all, nearly 25 percent of the 5,000 PKK
fighters were said to be women.
