The Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (Kurdish: پارتی ژیانی ئازادی کوردستان or Partiya Jiyana Azad a Kurdistanê or PJAK, also known in English as Free Life Party of Kurdistan, Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan, and sometimes referred to as PEJAK), is a militant Kurdish nationalist group with bases in the mountainous regions of northern Iraq, which has been carrying out numerous attacks in western Iran, southern Turkey and the northeastern parts of Syria where the Kurdish populations live.
Most experts describe PJAK as an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). According to the New York Times, the PJAK shares the same leadership and logistics of the PKK militants in Turkey, as well as allegiance to its leader, Abdullah Öcalan, but unlike the PKK fights Iranian government forces rather than the Turkish government ones.
Both groups are members of Kurdistan Democratic Confederation (Koma Civakên Kurdistan or KCK), an umbrella group of insurgent Kurdish groups. The PJAK (and the PKK), has been designated a terrorist organization by a number of states and international organizations.
The membership of PJAK's armed wing, the HRK, is estimated to be 3,000 and come from Iran, Turkey, Iraq, Syria, and the Kurdish diaspora.
Read more about PJAK: Policies and Structure, Armed Conflict and Arrests, Relation To United States Government and Military Structures, Arrest of Haji Ahmadi, The Group Leader, See Also