First academic research on PKK’s demographics

 A recent academic study has analyzed files on 461 PKK members in the Kandil Mountains of northern Iraq. According to the research the average life expectancy of people after they join the PKK as 7.2 years. Another highlighted topic is about the average age of death in the mountains, which is listed as 26.3 years

This file photo shows one of the PKK’s leaders, Murat Karay?lan (2nd L), walking with his bodyguards in the Kandil Mountains.

Low schooling rates, teen girls being forced into early marriage, social pressure and influential terrorist propaganda are among the key factors driving membership in the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, a groundbreaking study has revealed.
Recruits begin joining the PKK at ages as young as 15 and the average age of a new member is 19.3 years old for males and 17.2 years old for females, according to the first-ever academic study of the outlawed group’s demographics, conducted by the Ankara-based Economy Policy Research Foundation of Turkey, or TEPAV.
“What is striking is seeing that a good portion of joiners are less than 18 years old. That shows us where the organization finds new members and at what age these young people encounter PKK propaganda and socioeconomic reasons that push them toward the group,” Dr. Nihat Ali Özcan, the lead researcher on the study, told the Hürriyet Daily News on Monday.
The TEPAV study analyzed files on 461 PKK terrorists in the Kandil Mountains of northern Iraq that include detailed information about when and where they joined the group and their life expectancy as PKK members. According to the research, 89 percent of PKK members are male and 11 percent are female. Twenty-five percent of members come from outside of Turkey, primarily Iran, accounting for 47 percent of foreign members, and Syria, with 39. As a source of foreign female PKK members, Syria ranks at the top of the list with 60 percent.

According to the study, the highest numbers of Turkish female PKK members come from the southeastern cities of Hakkari and Mardin, with 21 percent each, followed by Diyarbak?r, Bitlis and Van. These figures show that the importance of Southeast Anatolia, with its predominantly Kurdish population, in PKK recruiting.

“Hakkari is an important place for the organization to recruit new members. Schooling rates, forced marriages of teen girls and harsh social pressures, especially on young women, are among the reasons behind the high numbers of people joining [the PKK]. Girls seeking ‘freedom’ and ‘identity’ are running away to join the PKK,” Özcan said.

In overall membership to the PKK, however, Istanbul ranks as the top city, accounting for 20 percent of all members.

“It seems there is a well-established network in the cities mentioned,” Özcan said, adding that the PKK was seeking to recruit more young members as the hard physical conditions require physically healthy and strong people. “Look at the stone-throwing kids. It seems these children later join the PKK in the mountains,” he said. “These kids on the streets can become future PKK members if adequate measures are not taken.”

Post-joining life expectancy is 7.2 years

The study also analyzed the average life expectancy of people after they join the PKK. “A woman lives 9.5 years while a man lives only 6.9 years [after joining the PKK]. The average is 7.2 years,” Özcan said. His study also showed that the average age of death in the mountains is 26.3 years.

When asked about the accuracy of his report, Özcan said the PKK has between 5,000 and 5,500 members and he could only analyze the files of 461, or around 8 percent of the whole organization.

“A country fighting against the terrorists for nearly 30 years should have already done such studies,” Özcan said. “Everybody says terrorism will be eliminated, but how? If you do not know from where these terrorists are coming, who they are and why they leave their normal lives and join the PKK, then it will be very hard for you to fight against it.”

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