Murat Karayılan (Kurdish: Mirad Qarayîlan; born 5 June 1954 in Birecik, Şanlıurfa, Turkey), also nicknamed Cemal,[1] was one of the co-founders of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).[2] He became the PKK's acting leader after its original founder and leader, Abdullah Öcalan, was captured in 1999 by Turkish intelligence agents.[3] On 2014, he left the PKK leader position and was assigned as the new commander-in-chief of the PKK's armed wing, the People's Defence Forces.[4]
On 13 December 2016, the Mardin 1st Criminal Court of Peace issued a detention warrant for Karayılan and Duran Kalkan, another PKK commander, as part of an investigation into the killing of the Kaymakam of Derik, Muhammet Fatih Safitürk.[8]
In March 2017, there were reports of a failed assassination attempt against Karayılan, but it was unclear as to whether the attempt was made by Turkish forces or a group within the PKK.[9]
From 28 October 2015, he was in the red category of the "most wanted terrorists" list published by the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Turkey. The Ministry offered a reward of up to 10 million ₺ for his capture.[15]
Murat Karayilan was also the author of a book called Bir Savaşın Anatomisi (Anatomy of War).[16]
Suspicions of drug trafficking
On 14 October 2009, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated senior leaders of the PKK as significant foreign narcotics traffickers: Karayılan, as head of the PKK, and high-ranking members Ali Rıza Altun and Zübeyir Aydar. Pursuant to the Kingpin Act, the designation froze any assets the designees may have had under U.S. jurisdiction and prohibited U.S. citizens from conducting financial or commercial transactions with them.[17] As of 2011, Karayılan still had the designation.[18]
^Basaran, Ezgi (22 September 2017). Frontline Turkey: The Conflict at the Heart of the Middle East. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 91. ISBN978-1-83860-858-3.