Duran Kalkan
{{Short description|Senior commander of the Kurdistan Workers' Party}}
{{Infobox military person
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| name = Duran Kalkan
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| caption = Duran Kalkan in 2017
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| other_name = Selahattin Abbas, Selahattin Erdem
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| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=y|1954|01|01}}
| birth_place = Güzelim, Tufanbeyli, Adana Province, Turkey
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| allegiance = Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)
| branch = PKK
| branch_label = Service
| serviceyears = 1973–present
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| rank = Senior commander
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| unit = PKK
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| known_for = Senior commander of the PKK
| battles = Kurdish–Turkish conflict
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Duran Kalkan (born Güzelim, Tufanbeyli, Adana Province, Turkey, 1954), also known as Selahattin Abbas,[http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=38464&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=228&cHash=77d9cb0de2d2281e7de40c8fc4dee715 Duran Kalkan: The Turk Fighting for Kurdish Irredentism], jamestown.org; accessed 4 June 2017. or Selahattin Erdem is a senior commander of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
Duran Kalkan, Murat Karayılan and Cemil Bayık, the three current leaders of the PKK, are wanted by the United States Department of the Treasury and the Government of Turkey for recruiting child soldiers, involving in drug trafficking, targeting Turkish government officials, police and security forces, and indiscriminately injuring and killing civilians.{{Cite web|title=Rewards for Justice - Wanted for Terrorism - Cemil Bayik|url=https://rewardsforjustice.net/english/cemil_bayik.html|access-date=2020-10-09|language=en}}{{Cite web|title=Terör örgütünün sözde liderleri|url=https://www.haberturk.com/pkk-elebaslari-kirmizi-listede-de-12-milyon-tl-odulle-araniyor-2209807|access-date=2020-10-09|website=www.haberturk.com|date=7 November 2018 |language=tr}}
Biography
Kalkan was born in Güzelim, Tufanbeyli, Adana, in 1954 to a Turkish family that had migrated from Erzurum.{{cite web|url=http://lider51.tr.gg/ADANA-ILI-TUFANBEYLI-ILCESI-GUZELIM-KOYU-TARIHI-KOY-HAKKINDA-GENIS-BILGILER.htm|title=Hayaller... - ADANA ILI TUFANBEYLI ILCESI GUZELIM KOYU TARIHI KOY HAKKINDA GENIS BILGILER|last=lider51|website=lider51.tr.gg|access-date=2013-09-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141030174105/http://lider51.tr.gg/ADANA-ILI-TUFANBEYLI-ILCESI-GUZELIM-KOYU-TARIHI-KOY-HAKKINDA-GENIS-BILGILER.htm|archive-date=2014-10-30|url-status=dead}}
He was among a group around Abdullah Öcalan, Ali Haydar Kaytan and Cemîl Bayık amongst others which held regular meetings from 1973 onwards and were known as the Kurdistan Revolutionaries later on. He was shortly detained together with Öcalan and Haydar Kaytan in December 1974, as the Turkish authorities closed down the ADYÖD.{{Cite journal|last1=Jongerden|first1=Joost|last2=Akkaya|first2=Ahmet Hamdi|date=2012-06-01|title=The Kurdistan Workers Party and a New Left in Turkey: Analysis of the revolutionary movement in Turkey through the PKK's memorial text on Haki Karer|url=http://journals.openedition.org/ejts/4613|journal=European Journal of Turkish Studies. Social Sciences on Contemporary Turkey|language=en|issue=14|doi=10.4000/ejts.4613|issn=1773-0546|doi-access=free|hdl=1854/LU-3101207|hdl-access=free}} In November the group established the Kurdistan Workers' Party in which he initially served as a guerrilla commander in the PKK. He succeeded Riza Altun as the PKK's transnational finance manager in the late 1980s and managed the organizations finances in Germany until the late 1980s. He was arrested in 1988 and prosecuted during the Kurdish trial in Düsseldorf, Germany.{{Cite web|date=2018-03-16|title="Deutschland war und ist Teil des Krieges gegen Kurden"|url=https://lowerclassmag.com/2018/03/16/deutschland-war-und-ist-teil-des-krieges-gegen-kurden/|access-date=2020-09-28|website=Lower Class Magazine|language=en}} In pre-trial detention in Hamburg he made a hunger strike which lasted for 40 days.{{Cite news|last=Wiedemann|first=Charlotte|date=1989-06-08|title=Kurden protestieren|language=de|pages=4|work=Die Tageszeitung: taz|url=https://taz.de/!1809634/|access-date=2020-10-09|issn=0931-9085}} He was accused of together with Hasan Güler, to have led the European organization of the PKK and ordered the murder of Ramazan Adigüzel. The state prosecutor demanded a life sentence{{Cite news|last=jakobs|first=w|date=1994-01-19|title=Ankläger: Mord und Totschlag im Auftrag der PKK|language=de|pages=4|work=Die Tageszeitung: taz|url=https://taz.de/!1581276/|access-date=2020-09-28|issn=0931-9085}} but he was given six years for being a leader within a terrorist organization and due to his pretrial detention he was released.{{Cite news|last=Jakobs|first=Walter|date=1994-03-09|title="Ein solcher Prozeß darf sich nicht wiederholen"|language=de|pages=5|work=Die Tageszeitung: taz|url=https://taz.de/!1573082/|access-date=2020-09-28|issn=0931-9085}} After he moved to Iraqi Kurdistan, to evade arrest warrants.[https://books.google.com/books?id=DhtRxs4CVSUC&pg=PA212 The Militant Kurds: a dual strategy for freedom], books.google.com; accessed 4 June 2017. There he served as commander in the Arteshen Rizgariya Gelli Kurdistan (ARGK) and member of the PKK's Presidential Council,[http://kicadam.home.xs4all.nl/artikel/kalkan.html An interview with Duran Kalkan a commander of the ARGK and a member of PKK's Presidential Council] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120906092453/http://kicadam.home.xs4all.nl/artikel/kalkan.html |date=2012-09-06 }}, 15 July 1999 eventually becoming a member of the Executive Council of the Koma Civakên Kurdistan (KCK).{{cite web|url=http://www.habermonitor.com/en/haber/detay/71310/executive-council-member-of-the-kck-duran-kal|title=Executive Council member of the KCK Duran Kalkan, BDP 'Get out of the mountain' proposed}}
He publishes articles in the Özgür Gündem newspaper under the name Adil Bayram.{{cite news|title=Duran Kalkan'dan HDP yönetimine 'pasiflik' eleştirisi|url=http://www.radikal.com.tr/politika/duran_kalkandan_hdp_yonetimine_pasiflik_elestirisi-1383605|access-date=16 August 2015|work=Radikal|date=22 June 2015|language=tr}}
Kalkan is in the red category of the "most wanted terrorists list" published by the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Turkey since October 28, 2015. The list contains information that Duran Kalkan was born in Adana in 1954 and is a member of the PKK/KCK organization. The Ministry announced that a monetary reward of up to 10 million Turkish liras will be given to Kalkan in this category.{{Cite web|title=Gülen, PKK leaders remain on Turkey's 'most wanted' list|url=https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/gulen-pkk-leaders-remain-on-turkeys-most-wanted-list-92515|access-date=2015-12-14|website=Hürriyet Daily News|date=14 December 2015 }}{{Cite web|title=Turkey issues list of most 'wanted' terrorists|url=https://www.aa.com.tr/en/turkey/turkey-issues-list-of-most-wanted-terrorists/457286|access-date=2015-10-28|publisher=AA}}
On 13 December 2016, the Mardin 1st Criminal Court of Peace issued a detention warrant for Kalkan and Murat Karayılan, another PKK commander, as part of an investigation into the killing of the Kaymakam of Derik, Muhammet Fatih Safitürk.{{Cite web|url=http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/detention-warrants-issued-for-senior-pkk-figures.aspx?pageID=238&nID=107294&NewsCatID=509|title=Detention warrants issued for senior PKK figures |website=Hürriyet Daily News |date=14 December 2016 |access-date=2017-04-03}}
In November 2018 the USA declared, that within their Reward for Justice Program they offered a bounty of 3 million US-dollars for informations that led to the capture of Duran Kalkan.{{Cite web|title=Rewards for Justice - Wanted for Terrorism - Duran Kalkan|url=https://rewardsforjustice.net/english/duran_kalkan.html|access-date=2020-10-09|language=en|archive-date=2018-11-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181108224503/https://rewardsforjustice.net/english/duran_kalkan.html|url-status=dead}}
References
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{{Kurdish–Turkish conflict}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kalkan, Duran}}
Category:People from Tufanbeyli
Category:Members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party
Category:Foreign nationals imprisoned in Germany