[8][9] The group first appeared in August 2004, just weeks after the PKK called off the 1999 truce, assuming responsibility for two hotel bombings in Istanbul which claimed two victims.

An employee of the later banned Kurdish German news agency MHA told Süddeutsche Zeitung in 2005 that representatives of the TAK would always remain anonymous and tight-lipped.

Other Kurdish observers saw the Freedom Hawks as a socially disrooted youth, a new urban guerrilla born out of despair.

[36] However, Vera Eccarius-Kelly, a scholar of political science, has noted that there are no clear signs that indicate a struggle between the two groups.

[37] Other analysts believe that the group was initially formed by PKK leaders in 2003, when it engaged in illegal demonstrations, roadblocks and occasional Molotov cocktails.

[41] This view is shared by the White House, which called TAK the PKK's "urban terrorism wing" in October 2016.

[42] According to The Guardian, "Turkish officials as well as some security analysts say TAK still acts as a militant front of the PKK".

[44] Istanbul-based Turkish independent security analyst Metin Gürcan, writing for Al-Monitor, described TAK as "a semi-autonomous, armed outfit that carries out attacks under the PKK umbrella", saying that while the PKK ideologically and financially supports TAK, it allows it to decide on the nature and timing of its attacks.

He went on to claim that the Turkish government carries out attacks in the name of TAK to better characterise the PKK as a terrorist organization in the international arena.

We as TAK will determine and realize our independent action strategy, tactics and manner in line with the mission we have undertaken.

[57] TAK has claimed responsibility for a number of attacks against police officers, soldiers, government and business institutions since 2004.

Its earliest attacks were small, non-lethal bombings in public places which the group described as "warning actions."