Chronology of the PKK: From group formation to party (1973–1980)

Abstract

The Kurdistan Workers Party (Partîya Karkêren Kurdistan, PKK) is often considered a latecomer that miraculously survived the 1980 military coup. Yet the establishment of the party in 1978 was preceded by a long process of group formation that started shortly after the 1971 military coup in Turkey. This article presents a chronology of the PKK during the 1970s. The main aim of this chronology is to show how the PKK came into being as the result of the intensive groundwork of a committed cadre, covering the process of ideological group formation (1973–77) and party building (1978–80). The chronology presented here ends in 1980 when the PKK withdrew many of its militants that were not arrested or killed to Syria and Lebanon following the military coup of September 12 of that year. This withdrawal became the beginning of a reorganization process leading to the start of the guerrilla insurgency in 1984.