Mustafa Karasu

Who is Mustafa Karasu?

Mustafa Karasu also known as Huseyin Ali is an ethnic Turkish militant and the Deputy Chairman of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, a Kurdish rebel group fighting an armed insurgency against the government of Turkey for an independent Kurdistan. The group is recognised as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and EU. Along with Cemil Bayık and Duran Kalkan he is viewed as one of the hardliners among the PKK's leadership and is alleged to have links to Iran. He is the leader of the Alevi Shi'a groups within the PKK. His name was on the list of 248 PKK members of which Turkey wished extradication from Iraq on July 10, 2010.

He was imprisoned for several years after the 1980 Turkish coup d'état, after his release he became a member of the PKK's politburo and led the group's popular front: the ERNK. After working in the PKK's political wing for 3 years, in Europe he was called back to South-Eastern Turkey by Abdullah Ocalan to gain more battle experience. He is currently the member of the Executive Council of the Koma Civakên Kurdistan, which is the PKK's umbrella organisation.