According to reliable regional experts, as of late 1993, the People's Liberation Army of Kurdistan had between 7,000 and 10,000 guerrillas, variously armed, divided among southeastern Anatolia and several bases in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, and, now, in the Caucuses, along the Armenia-Azerbaijan border. In the beginning (1980-84), the PKK's armed wing had only approximately 500 men, equipped with an odd assortment of light weaponry, based in Syria and Lebanon. Since then, however, the ARGK has built itself up significantly. By way of example, according to reliable sources, in 1992 the "Mahsum Korkmaz Military Academy" in al-Hulwah (in Lebanon, now closed) was training 300 to 400 PKK "recruits" every three months.

Commandos, consisting of several dozen guerrillas, leave the ARGK's foreign bases to infiltrate isolated areas in southeastern Anatolia, sometimes more than 300 km away. Once ensconced in remote mountain areas, the guerrilla unit approaches the peasants in the nearby villages, and, by fair means or foul, gains their support. From their bases, the guerrillas stage attacks on patrols, economic targets, etc. Once the seeds of instability have been sown, the situation heats up and the PKK exploits the reaction of the military or the police in the region:

- Psychologically, by trying to sway the mountain peoples, who are caught between a rock and a hard place, into the guerrilla camp;

- For its foreign propaganda value, by presenting, particularly in Western Europe, all the war damage suffered by the civilian populace, including the atrocities of the guerrilla campaign itself, as human rights abuses perpetrated by the Turkish military, police, and gendarmes.