Turkish community urges Germany to launch probe into PKK attack

The Turkish minority in northwestern Germany called on authorities to launch an investigation into an attack on a mosque carried out by PKK terrorist sympathizers.

A mosque in the northwestern city of Bad Bentheim was vandalized by supporters of the PKK terrorist group, authorities reported on Monday.

The assailants sprayed graffiti on the walls of the Bad Bentheim mosque, run by the Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DITIB).

Hakkı Gümüşkuşak, the chairperson of the mosque association, told Anadolu Agency (AA) that the attack was carried out by supporters of the PKK terror group on Saturday.

He described the attack as “unacceptable” and added, “We are in contact with the police. We want the assailant or assailants be found. What was their aim? They should not be allowed to undermine peace here.”

Gümüşkuşak also said that their association, which has been active for 17 years, was never subjected to such attacks.

Bad Bentheim police launched an investigation but handled the matter as “damage to property via graffiti.”

Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, BfV, warned in its annual report that PKK remains the largest foreign extremist group in the country and its followers can carry out violent attacks upon instructions from group leaders abroad.

Several reports from Turkish and international law enforcement agencies have shown the group is able to finance its bloody terrorist campaign through drug trafficking in the European Union, raking in over $1.5 billion annually. It relies on its supporters and pro-PKK political groups across Europe.

Europol’s EU Terrorism Situation & Trend Report also revealed that the group maintained “an apparatus that provided logistical and financial support to its operatives in Türkiye and neighboring countries, and promoted its political objectives.” This apparatus mainly operated under the guise of legally recognized entities, such as Kurdish associations, it added.

The PKK, classified as an “ethno-nationalist” terrorist organization by the EU’s law enforcement agency Europol, has been banned in Germany since 1993. However, it remains active in the country with nearly 14,500 followers among the Kurdish immigrant population.

Türkiye has long urged its NATO ally Germany to take stronger action against the PKK, emphasizing that the terrorist group utilizes the country as a platform for recruitment, propaganda, and fundraising activities.

In its more than 40-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK has been responsible for the deaths of some 40,000 people.

Germany, a country of over 83 million people, has the second-largest Muslim population in Western Europe after France. Among the country’s nearly 5.3 million Muslims, 3 million are of Turkish origin.