Murat Karayılan

Murat Karayılan
Nickname	Cemal[1]
Born	1954[2] Birecik, Turkey
Allegiance	Kurdistan Workers' Party
Rank	Chairman of Executive Committee[3]
Battles/wars	Turkey – Kurdistan Workers' Party conflict

Murat Karayılan (1954 in Birecik - ) is the current acting leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party. He has been the PKK's acting leader ever since its original founder and leader Abdullah Öcalan —who was captured in 1999.^[4]

Karayılan finished his studies at a vocational college of machinery and joined the PKK in 1979. He was active in his native province of Şanlıurfa until he fled to Syria at the time of the 1980 Turkish coup d'état.^[2]

International drug trafficking

On October 14, 2009, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) targeted the senior leadership of the PKK, designating as significant foreign narcotics traffickers, Murat Karayılan, the head of the PKK, and high-ranking members Ali Rıza Altun and Zübeyir Aydar. Pursuant to the Kingpin Act, the designation freezes any assets the three designees may have under U.S. jurisdiction and prohibits U.S. persons from conducting financial or commercial transactions with these individuals.^[5]

References

1. ^ http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/docs/studies1.htm
2. ^ ^{a b} Murat Karayılan yakalandı mı?, 13 August 2011
3. ^ http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2010/1004/re4.htm
4. ^ http://www.ekurd.net/mismas/articles/misc2011/1/turkey3095.htm
5. ^ Press Center (October 14, 2009). "Treasury Designates Three Leaders of the Kongra-Gel as Significant Foreign Narcotics Traffickers". U.S. Department of the Treasury. http://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/tg318.aspx. Retrieved April 23, 2011. 

External links

• Interview with Murat Karayilan

Persondata
Name	Karayilan, Murat
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1954
Place of birth	Birecik
Date of death
Place of death