PKK’da Kadın Teröristlerin Rolü ve Örgüt İçi Cinsel İstismar
The Role of Female Terrorists and Sexual Abuse in the PKK

Summary/Abstract: Terrorist organizations need to recruit new militants in order to maintain their existence. In the 20th century, the role and visibility of women in social and business life has increased, which also led to an increasing recruitment of female terrorists for various roles and purposes. Besides engaging in terrorism activities female terrorists are also used in secondary roles such as courier, cooker, cleaner, etc. They are also frequently preferred in suicide attacks as they have various advantages over male terrorists in carrying out these attacks. Furthermore, some terrorist organizations also use female terrorists as a “bait” or “sexual slaves” by putting their sexual identities in the foreground. This paper analyses the role of female terrorists in the suicide attacks carried out by PKK and the sexual abuse experienced by female terrorists. The main argument of the study is that Abdullah Öcalan’s claims about women emancipation in the PKK do not reflect the reality. On the contrary women are not equal to men in the PKK and they are often exposed to sexual abuse. This study aims to fill an important gap in the literature, since there are a limited number of studies about the role of female terrorists and sexual abuse against them in the PKK.

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