Rewards to be offered for turning in PKK leaders

The Ministry of Interior is preparing to implement a reward system which will offer four million liras each for bringing in PKK leaders Murat Karayılan, Fehman Hüseyin and Cemil Bayık.



SABAH has acquired details of the first-ever reward system to be set up in order to combat terrorism. According to the proposal, rewards up to four million liras have been set for the capture of 50 specific leaders of the PKK terrorist organization. The reward for turning in prominent figures for the PKK such as Murat Karayılan, Cemil Bayık and Fehman Hüseyin will be set at four million liras. The reward offered for lower-level members of the PKK administration is two million liras.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has decided to take additional measures following the PKK's recent slew of bomb attacks in city centers as well as the organization increased rural attacks. A proposal has been prepared to establish a reward system for capturing or revealing the identity of suspects. The proposal is currently under review by the Prime Ministry. If passed, a seven-member commission will be established, chaired by the Ministry of the Interior Deputy Undersecretary and will include three members of the police department and three from the gendarmerie.

According to the regulation, monetary rewards will be offered to those who assist in the capture of members of the PKK administration. The precise figures that will be offered, and for whom, will soon gain clarity. However, a maximum reward of four million liras will be offered for the highest echelon of the terrorist organization, which includes Murat Karayılan, Cemil Bayık, Rıza Altun, Duran Kalkan and Osman Öcalan. While for those who help turn in a member of the terrorist organization, lower rewards will be set, however for the capture of a perpetrator in a terrorist attack or a PKK leader, rewards will start from at least 100,000 TL. The following are a series of top-level PKK members with the highest rewards set for their capture.

MURAT KARAYILAN

Following Abdullah Öcalan's arrest, Murat Karayilan was considered the PKK's new number one. He has since made talks on relinquishing weapons and is therefore criticized within the terrorist organization. He changes locations frequently for fear of being assassinated.

CEMİL BAYIK

One of the 18 founding members of the PKK, he leads the organization's military wing and provides contact with Iran.

FEHMAN HÜSEYİN

His name is mentioned in connection to every bloody attack the organization stages. He goes by the code name Doctor Bahoz and is in charge of the urban offshoot TAK and the rural HPG.

DURAN KALKAN

One of the three deepest members of the PKK, he remains in the background yet gives the orders for bloody attacks. He wants a mass war to erupt between Kurds and Turks.

RIZA ALTUN

The new man in charge for the organization is Europe.

NİZAMETTİN TAŞ

TAŞ lives in Arbil, Northern Iraq. He led armed groups of the PKK for 20 years. In 2004, he relinquished his weapons. He also founded the PWD with Öcalan.

OSMAN ÖCALAN

The brother of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan. After his brother's arrest, he left the PKK and founded the Patriotic Democratic Party (PWD).