Film backdrop image for PKK Fighters (2011)

20119 minPGnews

PKK Fighters

20119 minPGnews

In July 1991, the PKK gains support from Iraqi Kurds in the fight for a Kurdish state.

Genres

Channel: Journeyman Pictures

PKK Fighters

2011• 9 minPG

Synopsis

In July 1991, the PKK gains support from Iraqi Kurds in the fight for a Kurdish state.

Synopsis

In July 1991, the Kurdish struggle for statehood, led by wealthy landowners for over forty years, faces a new challenge with the emergence of the PKK, or Kurdish Workers' Party. The establishment of a UN-declared safe-haven has erased the border between Turkey and Iraq, allowing the PKK to gain support from Iraqi Kurds. The PKK distinguishes itself by teaching a Maoist philosophy to its recruits, and notably, women participate equally in training, living, and fighting alongside men. This shift in dynamics marks a significant evolution in the Kurdish fight for autonomy.

Comments

What are people saying?

Play More Like This

Turkish Kurds - Turkey (2007)

Turkish Kurds - Turkey

More than 40,000 lives have been lost in the conflict between Kurdish militants and Turkish forces, reflecting decades of tension and violence.

Turkish Kurds - Turkey

Clashes Continue as Frontline Tension Escalates: The Battle for Iraq (Dispatch 4) (2014)

Clashes Continue as Frontline Tension Escalates: The Battle for Iraq (Dispatch 4)

Kurds celebrate control of Kirkuk while Sunni leaders express concerns over Arab representation in Iraq.

Clashes Continue as Frontline Tension Escalates: The Battle for Iraq (Dispatch 4)

The fight for Kurdish independence in Iraq (2024)

The fight for Kurdish independence in Iraq

95% of votes cast in Kirkuk support an independent Southern Kurdistan, reflecting the community's desire for autonomy amid political uncertainty.

The fight for Kurdish independence in Iraq

Kurdistan Under Saddam (2011)

Kurdistan Under Saddam

The Kurds face violent repression and deportations after the Gulf War intervention in 1991.

Kurdistan Under Saddam

From Grief Over Kobane To Chaos: Istanbul's Kurdish Riots (2014)

From Grief Over Kobane To Chaos: Istanbul's Kurdish Riots

Two members of the Okmeydanı community die while fighting with the YPG in Kobani, prompting protests and memorials across Turkey.

From Grief Over Kobane To Chaos: Istanbul's Kurdish Riots

Guerrilla Girls of the PKK -Turkey (2007)

Guerrilla Girls of the PKK -Turkey

About 10,000 fighters, half of them women, make up the PKK's forces in the Kandal Mountains of Northern Iraq near the Iranian border.

Guerrilla Girls of the PKK -Turkey

An Interview with PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan (2007)

An Interview with PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan

Abdullah Öcalan, leader of the PKK, discusses the Kurdish struggle for independence and the complexities of their fight against the Turkish government.

An Interview with PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan

Iraq - Kurdish resistance to Iran's regime (2024)

Iraq - Kurdish resistance to Iran's regime

Kurdish exiles in Iraq resist the Iranian regime from secret mountain camps.

Iraq - Kurdish resistance to Iran's regime

PKK Assassinations in Paris: The Turkish Intelligence Agency (2022)

PKK Assassinations in Paris: The Turkish Intelligence Agency

Sakine Cansiz, co-founder of the PKK, and two other Kurdish activists were murdered in Paris, with evidence suggesting involvement from Turkey's intelligence agency.

PKK Assassinations in Paris: The Turkish Intelligence Agency

Iraq: Kurds against Mullahs (2023)

Iraq: Kurds against Mullahs

Tensions escalate in Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan as Iran demands the disarmament and relocation of Kurdish forces from border areas.

Iraq: Kurds against Mullahs

For Sama (2019)

For Sama

2019•1h40m•★8.2TMDB

Five years of conflict in Aleppo are documented through the eyes of a journalist and mother raising her daughter amid the Syrian Civil War.

1989 - The fall of Communism (2025)

1989 - The fall of Communism

More than 30,000 East Germans fled to the West in the late 1980s, prompting massive uprisings and significant political changes in Eastern Europe.

1989 - The fall of Communism

Explore PKK Fighters

Where else to watch

For Sama (2019)

For Sama

2019•1h40m•★8.2TMDB

Five years of conflict in Aleppo are documented through the eyes of a journalist and mother raising her daughter amid the Syrian Civil War.

No digital watch option in your country

North (2015)

North

2015•1h32m•★7.0TMDB

Three distinct camps house guerilla fighters from the PKK, revealing their daily struggles and motivations in the Kurdish region of Turkey.

Peshmerga (2016)

Peshmerga

2016•1h32m•★5.7TMDB

1,000 km of frontline in Iraqi Kurdistan is documented by filmmaker Bernard-Henri Lévy during the conflict against Islamic State troops from July to December 2015.

Kurdish Factor (2018)

Kurdish Factor

2018•56m•★6.0TMDB

Iraqi Kurds played a key role in two Gulf Wars and continue to fight against ISIS while seeking their own independent state.

Notes from a Kurdish Rebel (2006)

Notes from a Kurdish Rebel

2006•1h20m•★2.8TMDB

Akif joins PKK guerrilla fighters in the mountains of Kurdistan, documenting their internal struggles and political debates in his diary.

Notes from a Kurdish Rebel

Browse more like this

An Interview with PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan (2007)

An Interview with PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan

Abdullah Öcalan, leader of the PKK, discusses the Kurdish struggle for independence and the complexities of their fight against the Turkish government.

An Interview with PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan

No digital watch option in your country

Iraq - Kurdish resistance to Iran's regime (2024)

Iraq - Kurdish resistance to Iran's regime

Kurdish exiles in Iraq resist the Iranian regime from secret mountain camps.

Iraq - Kurdish resistance to Iran's regime

No digital watch option in your country

1989 - The fall of Communism (2025)

1989 - The fall of Communism

More than 30,000 East Germans fled to the West in the late 1980s, prompting massive uprisings and significant political changes in Eastern Europe.

1989 - The fall of Communism

No digital watch option in your country

Frontline Fighting: Battling Isis (2015)

Frontline Fighting: Battling Isis

2015•47m•★7.2TMDB

Three British volunteers with no military training join the Kurdish People's Protection Units in Rojava, Syria, to fight against the Islamic State.

Frontline Fighting: Battling Isis

Good Kurds, Bad Kurds: No Friends But the Mountains (2000)

Good Kurds, Bad Kurds: No Friends But the Mountains

2000•1h12m•★6.5TMDB

Seventy-two minutes of footage show how Kurdish identities change based on different perspectives in conflict-ridden Iraq.

Good Kurds, Bad Kurds: No Friends But the Mountains

Tokyo Kurds (2021)

Tokyo Kurds

2021•1h43m•★10.0TMDB

Approximately 2,000 Kurdish refugees fled persecution from the Turkish government in the 1990s and settled in a suburb of Tokyo.

VICE News: The Islamic State (2014)

VICE News: The Islamic State

2014•43m•★7.5TMDB

In the first week of August 2014, Islamic State fighters seized new territories in northern Iraq, pushing into Kurdish areas and displacing local minorities.

VICE News: The Islamic State

Return to Kirkuk: A Year in the Fire (2006)

Return to Kirkuk: A Year in the Fire

2006•1h30m•★7.0TMDB

After 25 years in exile, Karzan Sherabayani returns to Kirkuk to vote in Iraq's first democratic election following decades of ethnic and sectarian conflict.

Return to Kirkuk: A Year in the Fire

Demirkırat: Rebellion (1991)

Demirkırat: Rebellion

1991•53m•★9.0TMDB

Forty-six deputies joined İsmet Pasha in April 1959 for a political expedition along the route of the Great Offensive from Turkey's War of Independence.

Demirkırat: Rebellion

Gaza: The Killing Zone (2003)

Gaza: The Killing Zone

Daily violence in the Gaza Strip escalates as Dispatches reporter Sandra Jordan and producer Rodrigo Vasquez document the dangerous conditions on the ground.

Gaza: The Killing Zone

Encounter Point (2005)

Encounter Point

2005•1h25m•★6.8TMDB

Four individuals affected by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict risk their lives to advocate for a nonviolent resolution to ongoing strife.

Encounter Point

Is this your film?

If you made this film or hold the rights to it, we'd like to talk. We can license it and pay you a share of what it earns.

License it with us →