KURDISTAN PEOPLES LIBERATION ARMY

(ARGK)

   The ARGK (Artes-i Rizgariye Geli Kurdistan), or Kurdistan Peoples Liberation Army, was established by the third congress of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in October 1986 as the party's professional guerrilla army active in the mountains and rural areas and thus distinct from the Kurdistan National Liberation Front (ERNK), the party's civilian and propaganda front based more in urban areas.

   The ARGK never numbered more than some 10,000 members. Its members were always supposed to be party members, wear military uniforms, and operate under stricter codes of discipline. Following Abdullah Ocalan's capture by Turkey in February 1999 and the defeat of the PKK's military struggle, the ARGK was withdrawn from Turkey into Iraqi Kurdistan and its name changed to Hezen Parastina Gel (HPG), or Peoples Defense Force, to emphasize the PKK's new strategy of peaceful struggle for Kurdish rights within a democratic Turkey.