Page 124 - America's Failure to Perceive the PKK

Religion, and specifically Islam, heads the list of the superstruc-
tural institutions that the PKK rejects, either directly or indirectly,
depending on the circumstances, and that it regards as inimical.
The PKK, identifying religion and Islam as an agent of colo-
nialism, exhibited a hostile attitude to these values of society before
and after its foundation... The PKK began realizing the impor-
46
tance of bearing societal values in mind, as of the early 1990s and
in order to avoid a clash of values with the local people of the

region, it adopted a new language concerning the family,
women and cultural values, and particularly Islamic–reli-
gious values. The PKK's failure to attract the desired level of
47
grass root support in an organizational context, and the Kurds
opposing the organization by tending to support other groups,
such as Ilim, Menzil and Hizbollah, caused Öcalan to revise

his classic language concerning Islam and religion in the
1990s and led to greater importance being attached to the
subject. 48

Within this new guise, Öcalan explicitly stated that he could even
regard radical religious movements as allies.

122 America's Failure to Perceive the PKK