Hurriyet Daily News (a Turkish newspaper) reported that Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s government met with the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) three times over the past six months in Cairo, according to a Turkish Intelligence report.
After a long-term tracking by intelligence officials, the report said that Egypt gave the green light to the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) to open an office in Cairo.
The first meeting was mediated by the government of Baghdad, “The first contact between Egypt and the PKK started with the mediation of the central government of Iraq. A delegation from the PKK was allowed to go to Baghdad in the middle of December last year. The PKK delegation went to Cairo with a visa they obtained from the Egyptian Embassy in Baghdad,” said the report.
In January 2016, “A more authorized PKK delegation went to Cairo and met with some high-level officials from the Egyptian intelligence service. Egypt gave the message that it could support the PKK for the first time in this meeting. Egypt transferred weapons and money after this meeting,” the report added.
A third meeting took place between Cairo and seven PKK members in April 2016.
According to Hurriyet Daily News, the Intelligence report reads: “Seven people participated in this meeting: Mustafa Karasu, an Executive Committee member of the KCK [Kurdistan Communities Union]; Gülüşan Eksen (Fatma Adır); Seyithan Ayaz (Demgat Agit), who is responsible for the KCK’s foreign relations; Velid Halil (Aldar), someone with the code name Azad and two others who could not be identified,”referring to the KCK, which is an umbrella organization that includes the PKK.
Furthermore, the report stated that during the last meeting the PKK agreed to gather intelligence on members of the Muslim Brotherhood in Turkey and would commit actions against its members if necessary.
In addition, both sides allegedly agreed to continue the meetings and that Egypt would give weapons and monetary aid to the PKK. The report added that there was no other meetings are believed to have been held since April.
A two-year-long ceasefire between Turkey and Kurdish Worker’s Party(PKK), the Kurdish nationalist organization, broke down last July .
The PKK is reported to have carried out attacks on Turkish soil, while President Erdogan has responded by launching air strikes on rebel bases in northern Iraq.In March, 37 people were killed and at least 125 injured in a bomb attack on Ankara. The Kurdistan Freedom Hawks, an offshoot of the PKK, claimed responsibility for the killings.
