Kurdish nationalist party.
It was founded in Turkish Kurdistan in 1978 and sought to establish an independent Kurdish state in southeastern Turkey . It attacked Turkish interests and fellow Kurds suspected of collaboration with the Turkish government, often from bases in Iraq and Syria. The group's leader, Abdullah 00D6; calan, was arrested by Turkey in 1999 and was thereafter tried and convicted of treason. At its peak, it claimed 5,00010,000 members. See also Kurd .