US fills PKK armories via Czech Republic

The majority of the arms provided by the United States to the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) terrorist organization was provided by the Czech Republic, which released the Democratic Union Party (PYD) terrorist co-leader Saleh Muslum, despite Turkey’s extradition request.

The BKS, Dochka, Draganof, Kalashnikov rifles, 23 millimeter ZU23, IGLA (SA-18) anti-plane weapons, mortar shells, Katyusha, and Grad weapons that were collected by Czech barons as part of the Warsaw Pact were distributed to U.S. bases in Bulgaria and Romania. From there, they were transported to terror group’s armories in Syria’s al-Hasakah.

Colonel Haydar Ateş, the former commander of the Afghanistan Turkish Task Force, spoke exclusively to Yeni Şafak and evaluated recent developments. Until 1990, the illicit weapons procurement center was East Germany, but after the reunification of East and West Germany, these activities were carried out through Czechoslovakia. Noting that the Prague-based arms trade reached $70-80 billion a year, Ateş emphasized that the biggest customer of the weapons stock market in Prague over the last five years was the U.S.

"The Pentagon and the CIA are very well aware of who they are giving their weapons to and are afraid of giving weapons in their own inventory to the PKK in case that they are held to account in the future," said Ateş.

“Everyone takes their share of the illicit activity. Except for the Javelin and TOW-type anti-tank weapons, the remainder of the weapons sent by the U.S. to Syria are Russian-made. The UAE foots the bill for the weapons buildup. The political and military authorities who served on the field in the illegal arms trade also received personal profits from these businesses,” he added.

A Czech court on Tuesday released Saleh Muslum, former co-leader of the PYD/PKK terrorist group. Muslum was detained on Sunday in Prague after Turkey called on the Czech Republic for the arrest of the former terrorist co-leader. The Turkish Interior Ministry had offered a bounty of nearly $1 million on Muslum who is listed as a most wanted terrorist.

Muslum allegedly met with arms dealers in Prague following his release. Yeni Şafak has obtained information stating that many top PKK officials including Zubeyir Aydar and Sabri Ok made similar visits to the country between 2014 and 2017.

There are reportedly over 40 Czech citizens in the "International Battalion" formed by foreign fighters of the PKK in the Sinjar and Qandil camps.

Two Czech citizens named Marketa Vselichova and Miroslav Farkas, who were trying to cross into Iraq to join the PKK ranks, were arrested in Turkey’s Şırnak in 2016.

The U.S has supplied the PYD terror organization with more than 5,000 truckloads of weapons to allegedly use in the fight against Daesh, despite Ankara’s warnings that the group is the Syrian offshoot of the PKK terror organization.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union and the United States. The PKK has been conducting armed violence in the southeastern part of Turkey since 1984. More than 40,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the three-decade long conflict.