Duran Kalkan

Duran Kalkan (born 1954), also known as Selahattin Abbas,[2] or Selahattin Erdem [3]is a senior commander of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Duran Kalkan
Born1954
Güzelim, Tufanbeyli, Turkey[1]
OccupationSenior commander, Kurdistan Workers' Party
Military career
Nickname(s)Selahattin Abbas
AllegianceKurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)
Battles/warsKurdish–Turkish conflict

Duran Kalkan, Murat Karayilan and Cemil Bayik, the three current leaders of the PKK, are wanted by the United States Department of the Treasury and the Government of Turkey for recruiting child soldiers, involving in drug trafficking, targeting Turkish government officials, police and security forces, and indiscriminately injuring and killing civilians.[4][5]

Biography

Kalkan was born in Güzelim, Tufanbeyli, Adana, in 1954 to a family that had migrated from Erzurum.[6]

He was among a group around Abdullah Öcalan, Ali Haydar Kaytan and Cemîl Bayık amongst others which held regular meetings from 1973 onwards and were known as the Kurdistan Revolutionaries later on. He was shortly detained together with Öcalan and Haydar Kaytan in December 1974, as the Turkish authorities closed down the ADYÖD.[7] In November the group established the Kurdistan Workers' Party in which he initially served as a guerrilla commander in the PKK. He succeeded Riza Altun as the PKK's transnational finance manager in the late 1980s and managed the organizations finances in Germany until the late 1980s. He was arrested in 1988 and prosecuted during the Kurdish trial in Düsseldorf, Germany.[8] In pre-trial detention in Hamburg he made a hunger strike which lasted for 40 days.[9] He was accused of together with Hasan Güler, to have lead the European organization of the PKK and ordered the murder of Ramazan Adigüzel. The state prosecutor demanded a life sentence[10] but he was given six years for having being a leader within a terrorist organization and due to his pretrial detention he was released.[3] After he moved to Iraqi Kurdistan, to evade arrest warrants.[11] There he served as commander in the Arteshen Rizgariya Gelli Kurdistan (ARGK) and member of the PKK's Presidential Council,[12] eventually becoming a member of the Executive Council of the Koma Civakên Kurdistan (KCK).[13]

He publishes articles in the Özgür Gündem newspaper under the name Adil Bayram.[14]

In November 2018 the USA declared, that within their Reward for Justice Program they offered a bounty of 3 million US-dollars for informations that lead to the capture of Duran Kalkan.[15]

References
  1. Duran Kalkan, Biyografi.net; accessed 4 June 2017.
  2. Duran Kalkan: The Turk Fighting for Kurdish Irredentism, jamestown.org; accessed 4 June 2017.
  3. Jakobs, Walter (1994-03-09). "„Ein solcher Prozeß darf sich nicht wiederholen"". Die Tageszeitung: taz (in German). p. 5. ISSN 0931-9085. Retrieved 2020-09-28.
  4. "Rewards for Justice - Wanted for Terrorism - Cemil Bayik". Retrieved 2020-10-09.
  5. "Terör örgütünün sözde liderleri". www.haberturk.com (in Turkish). Retrieved 2020-10-09.
  6. lider51. "Hayaller... - ADANA ILI TUFANBEYLI ILCESI GUZELIM KOYU TARIHI KOY HAKKINDA GENIS BILGILER". lider51.tr.gg. Archived from the original on 2014-10-30. Retrieved 2013-09-05.
  7. Jongerden, Joost; Akkaya, Ahmet Hamdi (2012-06-01). "The Kurdistan Workers Party and a New Left in Turkey: Analysis of the revolutionary movement in Turkey through the PKK's memorial text on Haki Karer". European Journal of Turkish Studies. Social Sciences on Contemporary Turkey (14). doi:10.4000/ejts.4613. ISSN 1773-0546.
  8. "„Deutschland war und ist Teil des Krieges gegen Kurden"". Lower Class Magazine. 2018-03-16. Retrieved 2020-09-28.
  9. Wiedemann, Charlotte (1989-06-08). "Kurden protestieren". Die Tageszeitung: taz (in German). p. 4. ISSN 0931-9085. Retrieved 2020-10-09.
  10. jakobs, w (1994-01-19). "Ankläger: Mord und Totschlag im Auftrag der PKK". Die Tageszeitung: taz (in German). p. 4. ISSN 0931-9085. Retrieved 2020-09-28.
  11. The Militant Kurds: a dual strategy for freedom, books.google.com; accessed 4 June 2017.
  12. An interview with Duran Kalkan a commander of the ARGK and a member of PKK's Presidential Council, 15 July 1999
  13. "Executive Council member of the KCK Duran Kalkan, BDP 'Get out of the mountain' proposed".
  14. "Duran Kalkan'dan HDP yönetimine 'pasiflik' eleştirisi". Radikal (in Turkish). 22 June 2015. Retrieved 16 August 2015.
  15. "Rewards for Justice - Wanted for Terrorism - Duran Kalkan". Retrieved 2020-10-09.
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