Kurdistan Freedom Hawks

Kurdish nationalist militant group in Turkey

The Kurdistan Freedom Hawks or TAK , is a Kurdish nationalist militant group in Turkey seeking an independent Kurdish state in Turkish Kurdistan (eastern and southeastern Turkey). The group also opposes the Turkish government's policies towards Kurds in Turkey. The group presents itself as a break away faction of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in open dissent with the PKK's readiness to compromise with the Turkish state. The PKK distances itself from the TAK, stating that the Turkish government uses the TAK to portray the PKK as a terrorist organization in the international arena, that the PKK only targets the Turkish Armed Forces or their proxies, that it always takes responsibility for its attacks, and that there are no links between the PKK and TAK. Analysts and experts disagree on whether or not the two groups are in reality linked. The group first appeared in August 2004, just weeks after the PKK called off the 1999 truce, assuming responsibility for two hotel bombings in Istanbul which claimed two victims. Since then, TAK has followed a strategy of escalation, committing numerous violent bomb attacks throughout Turkey, with a focus on western and central Turkey, including some tourist areas in Istanbul, Ankara, and southern Mediterranean resorts. TAK also claimed responsibility for the February 2016 Ankara bombing, which killed at least 28 people, the March 2016 Ankara bombing in the same city that killed another 37 people, and the December 2016 Istanbul bombings which killed 47 people.

After several decades of oppressive measures by the Turkish government towards the ethnic Kurdish population of Turkey, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) was formed in 1978 in an aim to establish equal rights and self determination for the Kurds in Turkey, who comprise between 18% and 25% of the population. Since 1984, however, an armed conflict began between the PKK and the Turkish security forces resulting in the deaths of around 7,000 Turkish security personnel and over 30,000 Kurds. Throughout the conflict, the European Court of Human Rights has condemned Turkey for thousands of human rights abuses. The judgments are related to executions of Kurdish civilians, torturing, forced displacements, destroyed villages, arbitrary arrests, and murdered and disappeared Kurdish journalists. As a result of a brief PKK cease fire in 2004, the Kurdistan Freedom Hawks were formed, a group that presents itself as a break away faction of the PKK and is in open dissent with the PKK's readiness to compromise with the Turkish state. The TAK opposes, through militant action, the treatment of Kurds in Turkey and seeks retaliation for those Kurds who were killed at the hands of the Turkish government.

The TAK seek an independent state of Kurdistan. The group violently opposes the Turkish government's policies towards its ethnic Kurdish citizens. TAK first appeared in 2004. There is substantial debate on the origin, composition, and affiliations of the group. Some Turkish analysts claim that the group is either a small splinter of or an alias for the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), the most active Kurdish militant group. Others suggest that the group may be totally independent of the PKK, or only loosely connected to it. PKK leaders deny having any control over the TAK. There are some indications that the TAK was founded by disgruntled or former members of the PKK.

According to the Jamestown Foundation, the TAK has been a rival to the PKK since 2006. However, Vera Eccarius Kelly, a scholar of political science, has noted that there are no clear signs that indicate a struggle between the two groups. According to her, whilst TAK repeatedly damaged the PKK's efforts to negotiate cease fires with "unapproved" bombings, in a way that has been compared to the Real IRA in the Northern Ireland conflict, the fact that there is no such struggle may have two explanations; the TAK may be operating outside the PKK's command structure, or it may be used by the PKK for "specific missions". TAK's origins however remain controversial. Some Turkish security analysts alleged that Bahoz Erdal may be the leader of TAK. Other analysts believe that the group was initially formed by PKK leaders in 2003, when it engaged in illegal demonstrations, roadblocks and occasional Molotov cocktails. TAK has since claimed to have split from the PKK, accusing it of being "passive", most recently in December 2015, when they criticized the PKK's "humanist character" as inept in the face of "the methods used by the existing Turkish state fascism." Some experts say that TAK is affiliated to the PKK; according to France24's correspondent in Turkey, "most" analysts share the view that whilst the TAK is affiliated to the PKK, it enjoys some operational autonomy. The National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, an academic research centre funded by the US Department of Homeland Security, describes the TAK as the "special urban terrorism wing" of the PKK. This view is shared by the White House, which called TAK the PKK's "urban terrorism wing" in October 2016. According to The Guardian, "Turkish officials as well as some security analysts say TAK still acts as a militant front of the PKK". Business Insider has reported that "experts who follow Kurdish militants say the groups retain ties". Istanbul based Turkish independent security analyst Metin Gürcan, writing for Al Monitor, described TAK as "a semi autonomous, armed outfit that carries out attacks under the PKK umbrella", saying that while the PKK ideologically and financially supports TAK, it allows it to decide on the nature and timing of its attacks. Gürcan further wrote that the TAK was set up by the PKK but then split from it. Marcus believes that it is unlikely that the TAK gets direct orders from PKK but thinks that the PKK has control over TAK's actions. Newsweek and Al Arabiya have written that the group is linked to the PKK while Deutsche Welle has described it as a breakaway from the PKK. In 2012, Human Rights Watch mentioned the TAK in its January 2012 report, calling the TAK "a group linked to PKK". According to Howard Eissenstat, a Turkey expert at St Lawrence University in New York, the TAK is damaging the PKK's short term and long term goals, and it's unlikely that the TAK is under PKK control. PKK leader Cemil Bayik also denied a link or any resemblance between the PKK and the TAK. He went on to claim that the Turkish government carries out attacks in the name of TAK to better characterise the PKK as a terrorist organization in the international arena.

The group has been designated as a terrorist organization by the US, UK and Australian governments, as well as by the European Union. The Turkish government regards the group as part of the PKK and does not list it separately.