A Kurdish-Australian man who once set himself on fire outside Sydney's Town Hall went on to join a terrorist group fighting on the border of Iraq and Turkey, a jury has been told.

Key points: Renas Lelikan is accused of fighting with Kurdish Workers Party

Renas Lelikan is accused of fighting with Kurdish Workers Party Also known as the PKK, they are accused of fighting against Islamic State

Also known as the PKK, they are accused of fighting against Islamic State Mr Lelikan argues he was not engaged in hostility on the Iraq-Turkey border

Mr Lelikan argues he was not engaged in hostility on the Iraq-Turkey border Instead, he says he was reporting on the 'struggle of the Kurdish people'

Renas Lelikan, 40, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of engaging in hostile activities in a foreign state and is currently facing trial in the NSW Supreme Court.

Crown Prosecutor Paul McGuire SC told the jury Mr Lelikan travelled to the Turkey-Iraq border to fight with the Kurdish Workers Party, the PKK, when hostilities escalated between the terror group and the Turkish government in 2012.

"He not only was there during the armed conflict, in the very hot spot along that border, [but] you will be able to infer from the evidence … that he himself was involved," Mr McGuire told the jury.

Mr McGuire said the court would be shown photographs of Mr Lelikan wearing a PKK uniform, carrying weapons including grenades and AK-47 rifle, standing in front of a PKK flag, and accompanying other soldiers.

He also said the accused's emails, social media posts and other communications from 2012 would also form part of the Crown case.

Renas Lelikan is charged with engaging in hostile activities in a foreign state. ( ABC News: Mazoe Ford )

"In at least one of the emails, in February 2012, the accused referred to 'welcoming in the spring' and said 'this could become the greatest and most fearless resistance in history'," Mr McGuire said.

In another email it is alleged Mr Lelikan refers to Turkish planes bombing his surrounds, how it made him angry and how people needed to carry umbrellas for protection from drones.

"I managed to make it by a whisker," the Kurdish-Australian man is alleged to have written in another email about getting ambushed by the enemy in a battle lasting seven hours.

Mr McGuire said the jury would be shown evidence that back in 1999 Mr Lelikan set himself on fire for the PKK during a Kurdish freedom protest outside Sydney's Town Hall and suffered burns to 80 per cent of his body.

"Next to his body police noticed a 5 litre petrol can, a cigarette lighter, two documents, and nearby a box of leaflets in relation to this protest," Mr McGuire said.

'He is a recorder of history'

Defence barrister Philip Boulton SC told the court there are two sides to every story and his client "emphatically denies" the charges against him.

He said Mr Lelikan did not travel to the Turkey-Iraq border to fight with the PKK, but to report as a journalist.

"He did not engage in armed hostilities … he didn't fire a gun … he was not engaged in any way in firing towards the Turkish Army," Mr Boulton said.

He told the jury that during the course of the trial they would be shown his client's "large volume" of work as a journalist, including books, articles, essays and short stories.

"He has written extensively about his own experiences and he has chronicled the struggle of the Kurdish people," Mr Boulton told the court.

"He is a recorder of history, not for mainstream media, but for those like him who have a sympathy for and empathy with the Kurdish struggle.

"Eventually the accused will give evidence in these proceedings — he will speak of his time in Kurdistan, he will tell you what was happening there when he was there, he will answer every question."

The Crown disputed Mr Lelikan went to the Turkey-Iraq border merely to write about the hostilities.

"He was not an impartial war correspondent or journalist, he was very much involved in a personal way in this armed dispute," Mr McGuire said.

The trial before Justice Lucy McCallum is set down for six weeks.