PKK leaders arrested in Belgian raids, media say

Mar 4, 2010, 17:04 GMT

   Brussels - Belgian police on Thursday arrested two leaders of a group linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is seen as a terrorist body by the European Union, local media reported.

The news came after officials confirmed that they had launched raids on some 25 properties across the country, including the Belgian offices of exiled satellite broadcaster Roj TV, in a move against the PKK.

The arrested men were Zubeyir Aydar and Remzi Kartal, two leaders of PKK successor group Kongra-Gel, the Belga news agency reported, citing official sources.

The PKK had been recruiting ethnic Kurds in Belgium to join their campaign in the Middle East, Belga wrote.

A number of other people were arrested, including Roj TV staff, Belga wrote. Separately, Dutch-language public broadcaster VRT wrote that around a dozen had been detained.  

 The PKK is listed by the European Union as a terrorist organization. It fights for an independent Kurdish state on the borders of Turkey, Iran and Iraq. Roj TV backs the party.

   Thursday's raids were concerned with the 'habitual activities of the PKK - that is, terrorism,' officials told the German Press Agency dpa.

   Roj TV in February won a court case against the German government, which had tried to ban it because it supports the PKK. The channel's main audience comprises Kurdish immigrants in Germany, though the broadcaster is based in Denmark.

   The court ruled that Germany had no right to interfere with the operations of a broadcasting enterprise incorporated in Denmark.

   Officials would not give further details of the raids. Two years ago, Belgian police carried out a series of raids against the PKK in which they arrested 29 women.