Politics
France prosecutes PKK Members accused of extortion, terrorism and terrorism
AFP reported that France has brought to trial 11 alleged top-ranking Kurdistan Workers’ Party members (PKK) accused of extortion and terrorist financing, as well as propaganda for the group.
The PKK, which has been declared a terrorist group by the United States and the European Union, as well as Turkey, has waged an armed struggle for decades against Ankara to gain greater autonomy for the Kurdish minorities in Turkey’s Southeast.
The 11 suspects on trial at the Paris Criminal Court, all of whom are Turkish nationals, have not admitted to belonging to the group. They claim that the group has no presence in France.
Investigators, however, believe that France and neighboring EU nations offer a place for PKK to operate.
There are organized cells among the 150,000 Kurdish people living in France, the 100,000 in the Netherlands, and the one million in Germany.
In 2020, two Kurdish women aged 18 and 19 were reported missing from southeastern France.
They were soon discovered to have attended PKK training camps in Europe.
Untangling the thread lead investigators to a group based in Marseille around a Kurdish Association that, they claim, collected a form of public tax called a “campaign”, to fund the PKK.
Wiretaps and testimony reveal harassment and extortion against members of the diaspora as “tax collectors”, who assign arbitrary contributions based on individuals’ estimated income, harass and extort them.
Investigators claim that some Kurds have paid for the “campaign”, voluntarily, because they are “in full agreement” with PKK.
Many of them do it out of fear of being ostracized or retaliated by the community.
One witness claims that he was told his legs would be broken.
Investigators estimate that two million euros ($2.2) is collected every year in the south-east of France.
The investigation also looked into how young Kurds are “recruited”, in conditions that are “close to kidnapping or illegal imprisonment”.
All those who receive “ideological training” are sent to military camps, most of which are in Iraq, to join the PKK’s fighting forces.
There are 35 million Kurds living in Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Turkey who do not have a state of their own.
In France, three Kurds died in December after being shot in a public center in Paris. The crime was described by investigators as “racist.”
The hearings will continue until April 14, 2019.
Michael Bayazidi Illustrative Photo:
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The European Commission has announced the results of the 2024 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Doctoral Networks call.
The Commission will fund a total of 149 excellent doctoral programmes with €608.6 million to train over 1800 doctoral candidates in and outside academia.
€536.9 million will be awarded to 133 standard Doctoral programmes, to train PhD candidates and develop their skills.
Funding includes also €26 million for 8 Industrial Doctoral programmes to train PhD candidates and develop their skills outside academia, including in industry and business. Doctoral candidates will also benefit from joint industry-academia supervision.
An additional €33 million will be allocated to 8 Joint Doctoral programmes, which promote joint selection, training and supervision leading to joint or multiple doctoral degrees.
The European Research Executive Agency (REA) received 1,417 applications for this call. This means a success rate of 10.6 %.
Close collaboration beyond academia
These doctoral programmes are implemented by international partnerships, involving 9335 organisations in 130 countries in the EU, Horizon Europe associated countries and beyond. 4725 of these are private for-profit entities.
Selected projects are coordinated by organisations in 18 countries.
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© FRVS+MPCP 2022. The European Times® News is registered as an EU Trademark. All rights reserved. The European Times® and the logo of The European Times® are EU trademarks registered by FRVS+MPCP.
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