A PKK terrorist who was caught plotting to start wildfires in Türkiye in 2022 originally intended to set fire to a high-speed train line in central Konya province, according to the indictment in his trial, a report in the Sabah newspaper said.
Ahmet Kumak was captured on Aug. 26, 2022, after a tipoff to the Antalya Police who accused him of spreading PKK propaganda and traveling to Antalya on that day to "do something dangerous somewhere."
A search of his person revealed a map of Antalya and a plastic bin carrying nearly 2 kilograms (4.41 pounds) of sulfuric acid, an incendiary and irritant substance used by the PKK in homemade explosives.
Police found a PKK handler instructed Kumak, code-named "Devran," to first go to the southern Mersin province bordering Antalya to obtain an iron corrosive tool, which he laid on the railway of the Konya high-speed train to derail it and cause a crash.
But Kumak’s plan failed, and he was later ordered to move and lead a "luxurious life" in Antalya. He was told someone from Izmir would be dispatched to assist him. He had been promised he would be put in charge of PKK’s "Children of Fire" branch.
Kumak is now facing up to 15 years in prison for "being a member of an armed organization" in an ongoing trial, while four other accomplices who sent him money are facing seven to 15 years in prison for abetting an armed terrorist organization.
PKK is known to use arson attacks as a sabotage technique, often hailed as such by PKK’s de-facto leader, Murat Karayılan.
The group was also blamed for a series of wildfires that raged across Türkiye’s 52 provinces in the Mediterranean, Aegean, Marmara, Western Black Sea and southeastern Anatolia regions in the summer of 2021. The flames claimed at least eight lives and injured over 1,520 others.
Last year in December, Turkish authorities discovered a PKK plot for sabotage acts in the country. They detained 38 suspects linked to its "sabotage team" that regularly paid the suspects to run reconnaissance on potential targets.
One of the suspects confessed to police that he set fire to marinas in the Aegean resort city of Bodrum in January 2022 in exchange for TL 185,000, which amounted to roughly $10,000 at the time.
Similarly, in October 2020, the PKK claimed an attack where four arsonists linked to the "Children of Fire Initiative" burned forestland in southern Hatay province.
The so-called "initiative" was responsible for many arsons in recent years, and it is known for its close ties to the PKK. It has claimed the environmental destruction they caused was a so-called act of revenge.