Yilmaz, Kani

(?-2006)

   Kani Yilmaz (whose real name was Faysal Dunlayici; he was also known as Faysal Turnaci) was at one time said to have been the third-highest-ranking member of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and in charge of all its European activities before his capture and imprisonment in Great Britain in October 1994. After he was finally released, he returned to work for the PKK in Europe. However, he was blamed in part for failing to find a sanctuary for Abdullah Ocalan while he was in Europe before his capture in February 1999. After Ocalan's capture, Yilmaz became identified with those who were against armed struggle and eventually left the party along with Osman Ocalan and others to help form the Patriotic and Democratic Party of Kurdistan (PPDK or PWD) in opposition to the PKK. In November 2005, he married Sheri Laizer, a well-known friend of and author about the Kurds. Yilmaz was assassinated in an unexplained car bombing in Sulaymaniya in northern Iraq on 11 February 2006. Although the PKK denied it, many suspected that this group was responsible for the killing.