Turkey to offer 850,000 Euros rewards for PKK leadership

By Alakbar Raufoglu for SES Türkiye — ekurd.net

The PKK demanded Turkey’s recognition of the Kurds’ identity in its constitution and of their language as a native language along with Turkish in the country’s Kurdish areas, the party also demanded an end to ethnic discrimination in Turkish laws and constitution against Kurds, ranting them full political freedoms. See Related Links

Turkey is set to offer cash rewards for the PKK’s leadership, but analysts differ over whether the initiative will be effective.

March 16, 2012

ISTANBUL, — With a new initiative targeting the PKK’s leadership, Turkey is set to offer up to 1.6m euros (4m TL) in cash rewards for information leading to the capture of 50 members of the PKK’s top leadership. Up to 850,000 euros (2 million TL) will be offered for lower-level PKK leadership, while at least 42,000 euros (100,000 TL) will be provided for assisting in the capture of a perpetrator or plotter of a terrorist attack.

The list — submitted by the interior and finance ministries to the Prime Minister’s Office for approval — includes Murat Karayilan, Cemil Bayik, Riza Altun, Duran Kalkan and Osman Ocalan. Many on the list currently live in Europe or northern Iraq.

Ali Sahin, a ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) deputy sitting on the Parliamentary National Security Commission, said that the new initiative marks “the first time PKK terrorists are being targeted in such a way”.

Speaking to SES Türkiye, he called the new action “a strategic struggle” against the PKK.

“No matter what the result, even if [the new regulation] will not bring a final solution [to the PKK problem], it is an important step to neutralise and weaken the terrorist organisation,” he said.

However, for some local analysts like Yusuf Cinar, founder of the Konya-based think tank Strategic Outlook, the cash rewards might not be an effective instrument in the fight against the PKK.

“A long time is needed for the rewards to be effective in capturing top [PKK] leaders,” he told SES Türkiye, arguing that it depends on the possibility of infighting within the top leadership of the PKK. “This possibility looks very week right now,” he said.

Francesco Milan, a PhD candidate at King’s College in London who studies the counter-insurgency campaign against the PKK, argues that the new initiative could lead to concrete results.

The PKK is likely facing “more than usual” levels of internal friction lately, he noted. “I think the initiative tries to exploit this situation. It is addressed at PKK members, it aims at encouraging defections,” he said.

Milan also underscored that the PKK “does suffer from being hit at its top, unlike al-Qaeda or other leaderless terrorist organizations,” reminding of the internal turmoil that the PKK faced after its leader Abdullah Ocalan was captured in 1999.

“As a matter of fact, it is much easier to replace ten ‘rank and file’ PKK members rather than one leader. Just look at how PKK is still depending on [Abdullah] Ocalan,www.ekurd.net 13 years after he has been captured,” he said.

Wladimir van Wilgenburg, a writer for the Kurdish newspaper Rudaw and Jamestown Foundation analyst on PKK issues, however, isn’t so optimistic.

“It’s difficult for the PKK insurgents in Qandil [the PKK’s base in northern Iraq] to sell their leaders out, since they are in an isolated, mountainous area, and due to the punishment the PKK reserves for traitors,” he said.

Recently, an Iraqi Kurd named Musa Yusef was reportedly killed by the PKK for spying on them for Turkey. The PKK denied responsibility.

Wilgenburg points out that unlike the past when the PKK forced some people to become insurgents, “They are much more indoctrinated [now], or also believe in the cause.”

With many of the PKK’s leadership residing in Europe, Wilgenburg says the cash reward system might not be very effective there. “The PKK can only be arrested by the national authorities, and handed over to Turkey, if approved by court,” he said. “European countries will handle these issues in a judicial way; they will not change their policies for cash rewards.”

Published by Ekurd.net in cooperation with Southeast European Times.

via Turkey to offer 850,000 Euros rewards for PKK leadership.