Page 126 - America's Failure to Perceive the PKK

This change of tactic has been included much more widely in gen-
eral statements by the PKK in recent years. Various politicians and
actors known for their religious natures have been employed, and the
PKK has gradually began being associated with the concept of "mod-
erate Islam", in such a way as to influence the West. As a result of this
false representation, the West imagined that it now had a group that
would be effective against the growing numbers of radicals in the

Middle East. The reality is very different, however. The PKK's policy
of drawing closer to Islam is merely tactical, as described by a former
member of the organization, Demirkıran:

The day after I joined the organization I realized that it has no

religious belief. Because, it had a Marxist-Leninist structuring.
That really saddened me at first and caused me to be distressed
for a long while. Yet they still tried to relieve me of my faith, as
well. There was no question of my not rejecting religious belief
when everyone else was doing so. Although I did not deny the
faith internally, it was not possible to externalize my faith. Surely
all of us were irreligious. 50

These comments concerning Hüseyin, a member of the organiza-
tion aged in his mid-to-late 50's who had been an imam before joining
the PKK for various reasons, are also noteworthy:

When Uncle Hüseyin first came to the camp he was performing
his prayers as well. Then he saw that nobody else was praying,
and that moreover everyone was against religion, and he gradu-
ally ceased praying. He explained this by saying, "Now we are
at war. We can pray later". This is how an imam became estranged
to his religion in the PKK, which was funded on Marxist theory.
Other people, like us, had already long since forgotten God. 51

124 America's Failure to Perceive the PKK