German prosecutors indict senior official of PKK European network

According to the Kurdistan Region Press, citing Deutsche Welle, the German Federal Prosecutor's Office has conducted an extensive investigation into the PKK's European network and submitted Yüksel Koç's indictment to the State Security Division of the Hamburg State Court on August 6. The court will now decide whether to accept the indictment. According to the Federal Prosecutor's Office, Koç is accused of membership in a foreign terrorist organization under Articles 129a and 129b of the German Criminal Code. Prosecutors say he was a leader of the PKK's European structure from June 2016 to July 2023.K. and served as one of the co-chairs of the Congress of Kurdish Democratic Societies of Europe (KCDK-E). The German prosecutor's office claims that Koch carried out the orders of the European leadership of the PKK during this period and was responsible for coordinating the organization's public relations and propaganda activities. He also appeared as a spokesperson at various events related to these activities and cooperated with various organizational units and media structures close to the PKK. Koch was arrested in May 2025, but his arrest warrant was suspended in August of the same year and finally completely canceled in May 2026. However, the federal prosecutor's office has now brought his charges to the judicial stage by submitting an indictment to the Hamburg State High Court. The PKK has been banned in Germany since 1993.Despite this ban, the German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution assessed the PKK as the largest and most organized foreign extremist structure in the country in its 2025 report. The report states that the PKK has maintained most of its activities in Germany despite the start of the peace process with Turkey. According to the assessment of the German domestic security agency, in 2025 a large number of PKK-related rallies and events were held throughout the country, some of which had thousands of participants. The report also reported on the continued capacity of the PKK to mobilize society in Germany and announced that in 2025 a number of officials of this organization in Germany were sentenced to prison sentences on charges of membership in a foreign terrorist organization. The Yüksel Koç case has reached the judicial stage in a situation where the PKKThe PKK has entered a new phase in its relations with Turkey after announcing its dissolution and beginning the disarmament process. However, legal cases related to the activities of its structures in European countries continue, indicating that changes in Turkey's process do not necessarily mean an immediate end to legal restrictions against PKK-affiliated networks in Europe.