Israel–PKK relations

The Israel–PKK relations refers to the relations between Israel and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The PKK adhered to an Anti-Zionist stance and opposed Israel, as part of Abdullah Öcalan's teachings. When the PKK was based in the Beqaa Valley in the 1980s, it clashed with the Israeli Defense Forces many times, with continued tensions between the two sides afterwards.

Background The PKK's ideology started off as a Marxism–Leninism with a blend of Kurdish nationalism. Marxist-Leninists have a long history of hostility towards Zionism. However, the PKK's ideology later shifted to Democratic confederalism, a left-wing, libertarian socialist, anticapitalist, and internationalist ideology which also goes against Zionism. Democratic confederalism aims to replace ethnostates and capitalism with administrative councils elected by locals, allowing the people to have autonomous control over themself while linking themself to other communities via a network of confederal councils. Democratic confederalism also hopes to dissolve the United Nations. Abdullah Öcalan frequently stated his Anti-Zionist stance and also made negative statements towards the existence of Israel. Various leading members of the PKK, such as Mustafa Karasu, Duran Kalkan, Cemîl Bayik, and Besê Hozat, have also made negative statements towards Zionism and Israel.

In a comment submitted to Internationalist Commune, Mustafa Karasu confirmed the PKK's official stance on Israel, stating that "Since the emergence of the PKK, we have been against Zionism. We compared the genocide of the Kurds in Turkey with Israeli Zionism and the Apartheid regime of South Africa. Since its founding, the PKK has fought side by side with the Palestinians. In 1982, 13 of our cadres fell in the fight against the occupation of Lebanon by Israel. The Israeli state also participated in the international conspiracy against Abdullah Öcalan, and murdered four of our comrades in Berlin. No doubt, we will never forget the support the Palestinians gave to the Kurdish people in the 1980s. Our attitude towards Zionism has always been ideological. Until today, we stand on the side of the Palestinians and all those who are fighting for a democratic solution in the region."

Military clashes

Conflict in Lebanon After its expulsion from Turkey, the PKK relocated to Syria and later to the Beqaa Valley in Lebanon. The PKK was supported by the Assad government at the time. The first PKK militants that arrived at Beqaa Valley received training in 1980 at a Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) camp near Helwah, Rashaya District, Lebanon, and the PKK presence increased to the point that the DFLP could no longer afford to accommodate the PKK trainees. Öcalan arranged plans with other factions, including Fatah, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Palestinian Popular Struggle Front, and the Lebanese Communist Party, to train the PKK militant surplus. The DFLP did not intend to involve the PKK in the conflict against Israel, deeming them too inexperienced, and told them to only fight Israel in self-defense. The PKK mainly helped construct forts.Blood and Belief: The PKK and the Kurdish Fight for Independence, Aliza Marcus, 2009, pp. 55-58, However, the PKK ordered its entire personnel to fight Israel when the 1982 Lebanon War broke out, joining the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) against Israel and allied Christian militias. A total of 13 PKK fighters were killed during the war.The Settlement Issue in Turkey and the Kurds: An Analysis of Spatial Policies, Modernity and War, Joost Jongerden, 2007, pp. 59-61, The Israeli army arrested 15 PKK militants and took them to an Israeli prison in the occupied city of Ansar, Lebanon. The PKK mentioned the detentions in the June 1984 edition of its official magazine, Serxwebûn, and featured drawings and poetry from the incarcerated militants, in which they told their experiences of being beaten by Israeli interrogators, who made racist comments on Kurds. They also claimed that the Israeli interrogators had invited Turkish interrogators to the prisons and further abused the PKK prisoners. During the 1982 war, Israel seized many camps, including those of ASALA, and sent the information to Turkey,Turkey's Entente with Israel and Azerbaijan: State Identity and Security in the Middle East and Caucasus, Alexander Murinson, 2009, pp. 101, while Turkey in turn gathered intelligence on Iran and shared it with Israel. There were several smaller PKK-allied Kurdish groups training in Lebanon which had also clashed with Israel.The Kurds: A Contemporary Overview, 2005, pp. 181, ISBN 9781134907663.

As the PLO, PKK and ASALA fought against Israel, the PLO facilitated relations between the PKK and ASALA. On April 8, 1980, the PFLP hosted a press conference in Sidon, Lebanon, in which they presented 14 PKK and ASALA representatives, announcing their plans to target Turkey "until the regime falls and Armenian and Kurdish aspirations are fulfilled." Both ASALA and the PKK considered it a temporary tactical alliance, as the Armenians needed the Kurds for operations in Turkey, while the Kurdish militants sought to learn from the older and more experienced Armenian militants. The alliance conducted several joint operations against Turkish interests, including the bombing of the Turkish consulate in Strasbourg, France on November 10, 1980, the bombing of a Turkish tourist center in Rome the next day, and the bombing of the Turkish consulate in Toronto, Canada, on January 14, 1982. In the March 1982 issue of "Hay Baykar," Hagop Hagopian stated "we are fighting side by side with Kurdish revolutionaries." While the alliance disintegrated soon after, the PKK and ASALA remained allies. In 1986, the PKK established the Mahsum Korkmaz Academy in Beqaa Valley, which became their largest training camp, located near the ASALA and DFLP camps. The Mahsum Korkmaz Academy remained their main training camp until Turkey pressured the Syrian government to close it. The PKK relocated to Damascus in 1992 and reopened the camp there.

The Palestinian groups sheltering the PKK in the Beqaa Valley had a deep impact on the first generation of PKK militants. The PKK had suffered huge losses in Turkey and was militarily and politically powerless, although in the Beqaa Valley, the PKK gained military, ideological, and administrative experience that significantly benefitted the group. The experience also strengthened their belief in the Marxist concept known as the friendship of peoples. The PKK often recalled their experience in the Beqaa Valley, with many PKK veterans claiming that the group had only survived the 1980s because of the Palestinian groups.

Israeli cooperation with Turkey Turkey had been interested in Israeli weapons since 1982 after seeing what Israel achieved in Lebanon, but could not pursue the weapons as the intifada at the time had isolated Israel in the Middle East.Bengio, O. The Turkish-Israeli Relationship: Changing Ties of Middle Eastern Outsiders. pp. 97. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004. Noam Chomsky also added that American aid and funding to Turkey skyrocketed in 1984 with the start of the PKK insurgency, and that Turkey remained the top recipient of American aid until the arrest of Öcalan.Humanitarian Imperialism: The New Doctrine of Imperial Right. Noam Chomsky. In: Monthly Review, Vol. 60, No. 4, 2008, pp. 9. After the 1991 Madrid peace conference, Turkey sought to improve relations with Israel in every sphere.Gruen, G. E. “Dynamic Progress in Turkish-Israeli Relations.” Israel Affairs 1, no. 4 (1995): 52-54. doi:10.1080/21520844.2022.2146407.Linden, R. Turkey and Its Neighbors: Foreign Relations in Transition. pp. 42. Boulder and London: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2011.Altunisik, M. “The Turkish-Israeli Rapprochement in the Post‐Cold War Era.” Middle Eastern Studies 36, no. 2 (2000): pp. 173. doi:10.1080/00263200008701313 By 1998, the amount of Israeli weapon sales to Turkey had surpassed $1 billion USD.Inbar, E. The Israeli-Turkish Entente. pp. 23. London: King’s College London School of Humanities, 2001.Altunisik, M. “The Turkish-Israeli Rapprochement in the Post‐Cold War Era.” Middle Eastern Studies 36, no. 2 (2000): pp. 187. doi:10.1080/00263200008701313Liel, A., and C. Yirik. Turkish-Israeli relations: 1949–2010 = Yaḥase Yisra’el-Turkiyah = Türkiye-İsrail İlişkileri. pp. 146. Istanbul: Istanbul Kültür University, 2010. The PKK was supported by Syria, and to lesser extents by Ba'athist Iraq and Iran.Linden, R. Turkey and Its Neighbors: Foreign Relations in Transition. pp. 85. Boulder and London: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2011.Altunisik, M. “The Turkish-Israeli Rapprochement in the Post‐Cold War Era.” Middle Eastern Studies 36, no. 2 (2000): pp. 181. doi:10.1080/00263200008701313Bengio, O. The Turkish-Israeli Relationship: Changing Ties of Middle Eastern Outsiders. pp. 107. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004. Turkey was not only concerned with the Syrian support for the PKK, but also with Iraq, Iran, and Syria building massive arsenals for non-conventional ballistic missiles and biological weapons. Turkey wanted anti-ballistic missiles from Israel, which was also concerned with the massive arsenals.Inbar, E. The Israeli-Turkish Entente. pp. 33-36. London: King’s College London School of Humanities, 2001. Throughout the 1990s, Turkey accused Iran, Iraq, and Syria of being the top PKK supporters, and saw Israel as a crucial counterbalance.Banu Eligür, "Crisis in Turkish-Israeli Relations (December 2008-June 2011): From Partnership to Enmity," Middle Eastern Studies 48,

Israel entered a police cooperation agreement with Turkey, which targeted the PKK under the pretext of a global war on terrorism. Some sources claimed that Israel had a bigger role in targeting the PKK which was not publicized. Israeli involvement in the Turkish war on the PKK increased tensions between Turkey and Syria. Turkey convinced Israel to use its American lobby to get American support on the issue of Greek S-300 missile missile deployments in Cyprus, and to stop American criticism of the repression on Kurdish cultural rights.Ghariani, J. (2023). Turkish-Israeli relations: ‘the golden years’, 1991–2000. Israel Affairs, 30(1), 5–24. pp. 10. Even under Necmettin Erbakan, Turkey continued cooperating with Israel against the PKK.The Kurdish Conflict in Turkey: Obstacles and Chances for Peace and Democracy, Ferhad Ibrahim, Gülistan Gürbey, 2000, pp. 137, In 1993, the Turkish government allowed Israel to use Turkey to gather intelligence on Syria and Iran, in exchange for Israel equipping and training Turkish troops. They signed several more military and security deals in February 1996 and August 1996. By 1999, almost all Israeli air force pilots had some experience in Turkish airspace. Turkish Defense Minister Turhan Tayan visited the occupied Golan Heights in May 1997, after which Netanyahu publicly criticized the PKK. Turkey used the Israeli strategy in south Lebanon but in Iraqi Kurdistan, while Mossad operatives also trained the MİT to track PKK militants along Iraqi and Syrian frontiers, and even assisted Turkish troops in several operations in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Adana Agreement