Six charged with PKK membership appear in UK court

LONDON,— Six Kurdish individuals appeared in a British court on Friday, facing charges of belonging to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party PKK, which is banned in Turkey, the United Kingdom, and several other countries.

Prosecutors told the court the defendants, aged between 24 and 63, were members of or claimed membership in the PKK. The organization was officially designated a “terrorist” group in Britain in 2001.

The six were charged following a police raid on a Kurdish Community Centre in north London in November 2024.

Additional charges against some defendants included organizing and speaking at meetings in 2023 and 2024 to support the PKK.

Despite the PKK’s announcement last year that it would disarm and disband, including a symbolic weapons-burning event, the group remains banned in the European Union, the United States, and other countries.

The defendants are Ercan Akbal, 57; Ali Boyraz, 63; Agit Karatas, 24; Berfin Kerban, 32; Turkan Ozcan, 60; and Mazlum Sayak, 28. All have pleaded not guilty to membership in a proscribed organization.

Akbal faces additional charges of arranging and addressing two meetings to promote PKK support. Ozcan and Sayak deny arranging two meetings for PKK support, while Boyraz and Karatas deny one count of speaking at a pro-PKK meeting.

Defense lawyer Larkin told the court that advocating for Kurdish self-determination is not illegal, but the methods used by the PKK led to its proscription.

The trial is expected to last up to three months.

The PKK launched an armed struggle against the Turkish state in 1984 to demand autonomy for Kurds in Turkish Kurdistan.

Kurds make up nearly 30 percent of Turkey’s population of 85 million, according to 2012 statistics. Turkey reports that over 40,000 Turkish soldiers and Kurdish guerrillas have died in the conflict.

(With files from Reuters | Agencies)