| 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 (born 1954 in Birecik, Turkey) is the acting leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party. He has been the PKK's acting leader ever since its original founder and leader, Abdullah Öcalan, 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]
In August 2011 it was alleged he had been captured by Iranian forces, a claim denied by both Iran and the PKK. Nevertheless this led to many conspiracy theories about how Karayılan was, in fact, released by Iranian forces which is a proof of his alleged links to Iran.
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]