The Kurdistan Workers' Party (Kurdish: Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan or پارتی کار که‌رانی کوردستان Parti Karkerani Kurdistan), is a Kurdish organization which has since 1984 been fighting an armed struggle against the Turkish state for an autonomous Kurdistan and cultural and political rights for the Kurds in Turkey.[1] The group was founded on 27 November 1978 in the village of Fis, near Lice and was led by Abdullah Öcalan.[11] The PKK's ideology was originally a fusion of revolutionary socialism and Kurdish nationalism — although since his imprisonment, Öcalan has abandoned orthodox Marxism.[12] The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization internationally by states and organizations, including United Nations, NATO, the United States and the European Union.