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Kurdish protestors clash with police

The listed terrorist organisation is alleged to have “extorted money from businesses”

Police searched 28 addresses across the country last week, including in Brussels and Antwerp, in a raid on suspected activities of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Eighteen people were detained, 10 of whom were later released. The others were accused of links to the PKK, which figures on lists of banned terror organisations compiled by the UN, the EU, Nato and the US.

The PKK hit the headlines in 1998, when founder Abdullah Öcalan was snatched by Turkish agents in Kenya and taken to Turkey for trial. He was sentenced to death, but the sentence was later commuted to life in prison.

Claims by Kurdish demonstrators that the Belgian police were acting on instructions from Ankara were categorically denied, as was a claim that Turkish state security agents were present at the raids. However, a spokesman for the federal police said there may have been Belgian officers of Turkish origin present.

Police now allege that the PKK, or its successor Kongra-Gel, is using intimidation to extort funds from Kurdish businesses based in Belgium. Another allegation, first heard in 2004, that they are training Kurdish youths as young as 15 in terrorist camps in Germany, has also resurfaced. Police seized documents claimed to be forged papers, as well as about €250,000 in cash.

Later in Brussels, at the weekend, a Turkish kebab shop on Anspachlaan close to the stock exchange was smashed up and patrons attacked while Kurdish demonstrators marched past.

(March 10, 2024)