The PKK has turned away from its Marxist ideology and has become "heavily" pro-American, an Iraqi-Kurdish party affiliated with PKK told an American magazine.
The PKK (Kurdish Workers Party) is a Turkish-based organization, which has fought for Kurdish independence since the early 1980s, and is regarded by the United States as a terrorist organization.
The Kurdistan Democratic Solution Party (KDSP) is a party based in the Iraqi autonomic region of Kurdistan. Its chairman, Dr. Fayik Muhammad Golpi, was recently interviewed by an American magazine, the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs (WRMEA).
Golpi said his party was not a cloak for the PKK, but that it shared the same ideology. The Turkish daily Hurriyet, which republished segments of the interview, explained the KDCP was founded by the PKK.
"We were a Marxist organization. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union we re-evaluated Marxism… We cannot ignore the realities of the period of globalization. We have chosen democracy and federalism. This is not a tactical move," Golpi said.
During the interview Golpi stressed that support for the PKK had grown in the region over recent tensions between northern Iraq – where the autonomous region of Kurdistan is located – and Turkey.
The Turkish army has repeatedly warned that if the Kurdish attacks do not cease immediately, it will invade northern Iraq, from which the PKK terrorists emanate.
The American embassy in Turkey did not respond directly to the KDSP statement, according to which the PKK has turned pro-American. It stressed however, that the KDSP was affiliated with the PKK, which is a terrorist organization.