section_path: Tactics/Recruitment
section_name: Recruitment
paragraph_text: Recruitment
  
  Since its foundation, the PKK has recruited new fighters mainly from Turkey, but also from Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Western countries using various recruitment methods, such as using nationalist propaganda and its gender equality ideology. At its establishment, it included a small number of female fighters but over time the number increased significantly and by the early 1990s, 30 percent of its 17,000 armed fighting forces were women. After the third party congress in 1986 or in 1989, the PKK's armed wing issued a so-called "Compulsory Military Service Law", which authorized the forcible recruitment of young men. The law provoked disagreement within the party, and in 1990 it was suspended. The PKK has had to temporarily suspend recruitment several times since 1991, as it had difficulties providing training to the large number of volunteers who wanted to join its ranks.
  
  By 2020, 40% of the fighting force were women. In much of rural Turkey, where male-dominated tribal structures, and conservative Muslim norms were commonplace, the organization increased its number of members through the recruitment of women from different social structures and environments, also from families that migrated to several European countries after 1960 as guest workers. It was reported by a Turkish university that 88% of the subjects initially reported that equality was a key objective, and that they joined the organization based on this statement. In 2007, approximately 1,100 of 4,500–5,000 total members were women.
  
  According to the Jamestown Foundation, in the early years of the PKK existence, it recruited young women by abducting them. Families would also encourage family members to join the PKK in order to avenge relatives killed by the Turkish army.