Turkish Forum

Tag: PKK

  • Turkey Sees Hidden Hand in Kurd Riots

    Turkey Sees Hidden Hand in Kurd Riots

    By MARC CHAMPION And ERKAN ÖZ

    ISTANBUL—Turkey’s escalating battle with Kurdish insurgents has become caught up in the country’s fiercely partisan domestic politics, as the government charged Tuesday that opponents of democratic change had triggered ethnic riots at both ends of the country.

    Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin said Tuesday that intelligence services were investigating whether two episodes of unrest Monday had been engineered. In eastern Turkey, suspected guerrillas (sic.) from the Kurdish Workers Party, or PKK, killed four policemen, triggering riots. In Turkey’s west, riots that followed a knife fight involving ethnic Kurds left dozens injured and detained.

    “In both cases we have to take into account the probability of provocations, and the intelligence services are investigating these probabilities,” Mr. Ergin told a group of reporters in Istanbul, through simultaneous translation.

    Turkey is in the midst of a power struggle between its Islamic-leaning government and the military-backed, secularist establishment that effectively ruled the country for decades. Conspiracy theories abound on both sides about the machinations of the other, and are impossible to prove.

    However, the accusation that members of Turkey’s so-called deep state are fueling conflict with the PKK in an effort to undermine trust in the government is explosive. Turkey’s war with the PKK has cost 30,000 to 40,000 lives since it began in 1984.

    Mr. Ergin declined when asked to name who he suspected of provoking Monday’s riots, but he said they were groups “who favor the status quo” in Turkey. Those groups, he said, were trying to block the government’s efforts at democratization, including a referendum on constitutional amendments to be held Sept. 12.

    The proposed changes to the basic law, which would remake the country’s top courts and subject the military to civilian law, could significantly alter the balance of power in the government’s favor.

    The PKK stepped up attacks in the spring after their jailed leader, Abdullah Ocalan, said he was calling off talks with Turkey’s government, explaining that Ankara’s stated goal of improving conditions for Turkey’s large Kurdish minority was going nowhere.

    From the outset, columnists in Turkey’s pro-government media speculated that the PKK’s move was being orchestrated with deep state members in an effort to discredit the government and unseat the AKP. Hundreds of Turkish bureaucrats, journalists and military officers are currently awaiting trial as alleged deep-state conspirators in proceeding that opponents see as a witch hunt.

    On Monday, the pro-government daily Bugün published the transcript of a wiretapped phone conversation from 2007, in which two men the newspaper identified as Turkish air force officers discussed whether to eliminate or relocate an unmanned aerial vehicle that was flying over eastern Turkey to spot PKK terrorists, because “There were casualties in the last event, I received serious pressure because of this.”

    The two men don’t mention the PKK, but the context of the conversation suggests they are talking about enabling Kurdish attacks.

    The General Staff issued a statement confirming that an investigation into the wiretapped phone call was started in 2007. The statement didn’t deny the authenticity of the transcript, but denied the probe had been delayed on purpose. The statement said voice analysis that would match the recording with the suspected officers had yet to be done.

    Another pro-government newspaper, Vakit, last week published a picture of Murat Basbug, the son of Turkey’s Chief of the General Staff Ilker Basbug, posing with a convicted PKK member. The newspaper said the picture was one of many of the two young men together.

    In a separate statement, the General Staff acknowledged the authenticity of the photograph of Murat Basbug, which Vakit said was found at the apartment of convicted PKK member Hasan Lala when he was arrested on April 9, 2009. The statement said the picture was taken at a casual meeting of friends and that facts cited in the Vakit story were “lies.” The statement didn’t specify which facts were inaccurate.

    On Monday, riots left dozens detained and police cars burned just outside Bursa, a city of two million south of Istanbul with a Kurdish population of about 300,000. The riots followed a knife attack by a group of ethnic Kurds on non-Kurds, after which a crowd surrounded the police station where the attackers were being held.

    The riots were the result of disappointment over the government’s failed Kurdish initiative, said Ayla Yildirim, chairwoman of the Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party, or BDP, in Bursa.

    Also Monday, rioters set fire to the BDP office in Hatay province, on Turkey’s border with Syria, after suspected PKK fighters killed four policemen, according to Anadolu Ajansi, the state news agency. There, too, a crowd surrounded the police station, this time on incorrect rumors that three suspects were being held inside.

    “It’s like somebody pushed the button, we see those kind of events all over the country,” said Ms. Yildirim.

    Write to Marc Champion at marc.champion@wsj.com and Erkan Oz at erkan.oz@dowjones.com

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703292704575393233492763798, JULY 28, 2010

  • Key PKK member arrested in Italy

    Key PKK member arrested in Italy

    MILAN – Doğan News Agency

    Nizamettin Toğuç, the chairman of the Confederation of Kurdish Associations in Europe, or Kon Kurd, is among the European leaders of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, arrested in Venice as a result of a joint operation by the Italian Secret Intelligence Service and the Podova gendarmerie

    Nizamettin Toğuç, the chairman of the Confederation of Kurdish Associations in Europe, or Kon Kurd, and four other alleged leaders of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, have been arrested in Venice, wires reported Wednesday.

    The arrests were the result of a joint operation between the Italian Secret Intelligence Service and the Podova Gendemarie.

    The prosecutor’s office in Venice verified that Toğuç were arrested in accordance with the international warrant issued by an Ankara court on suspicion that he was a member of the PKK. Italian police had already located and shut down PKK camps near the Italian city of Pisa not long ago.

    Toğuç, alleged to be a European leader of the outlawed group, is thought to have fled Turkey after the Democracy Party was banned in 1994, and was granted political asylum by the Netherlands in 1995. Turkey could request Toğuç’s extradition, while it would also be possible for the Netherlands to request he be repatriated there.

    Reports said Toğuç arrived in Venice with his wife under the cover of a vacation and is alleged to have been planning to attend a secret meeting thought to have been organized by the PKK.

    The Italian office of self-declared “Kurdistan” announced that PKK supporters would stage a demonstration July 24 to protest the arrests of Toğuç and the other four alleged leaders.

    The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

    Hürriyet Daily

  • Turkish PM: Some European countries not doing enough in PKK fight

    Turkish PM: Some European countries not doing enough in PKK fight

    Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday accused some European countries of turning a blind eye to the activities of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

    Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday accused some European countries of not doing enough to help Turkey in its fight against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

    “Some European countries did not give necessary support to Turkey in its combat against terrorism for a long time,” said Erdogan at a meeting of the Southeast European Cooperation Process (SEECP) in Istanbul, according to the state-run Anatolian Agency.

    “Despite all the pain we have been through and bloody attacks on civilians and security forces, today, there are countries who have not cut financial support to the terrorist organization, who turned a blind eye to its activities and its propaganda, and who did not extradite any criminals to Turkey.” he continued.

    Erdogan’s statement comes in the midst of escalating clashes between Turkish forces and the PKK. More than 40 Turkish soldiers have died in the last few months as the result of PKK attacks.

    Both the United States and the European Union list the PKK as a terrorist organization.

    Police in Istanbul Wednesday detained 27 people in connection with the previous day’s bombing of a military bus.

    Four soldiers and the 17-year-old daughter of an officer were killed in the attack, which has been claimed by an offshoot of the PKK.

    The bus was struck by a remote control bomb that had been planted by the roadside.

    In his speech, Erdogan said that European security is connected to the security in cities in eastern Turkey, where many of the recent clashes have taken place.

    “Security in Europe, particularly the Balkans, starts in Hakkari, in Semdinli. You should know that security of Balkan and European countries can not be restored before security is restored in Semdinli,” Erdogan said.

    “Most of our European friends announced PKK as terrorist organization. That is good, but declaring PKK as terrorist organization does not put an end to the matter. How many terrorists have you extradited to us from those you have detained?” Erdogan added.

    Haaretz

  • Turkey chides Europe over Kurdish ‘terror’

    Turkey chides Europe over Kurdish ‘terror’

    First Published 2010-06-24

    On the border with Iraq, where PKK attacks are launched

    Erdogan: some EU sates ‘failed to cut’ financial channels of PKK ‘terrorist organisation’.
    ISTANBUL – Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan slammed European countries Wednesday for inadequate support against separatist Kurdish militants, Anatolia news agency reported.

    “Unfortunately, some European countries have failed to give Turkey the required support in its long-running struggle against terrorism,” Erdogan told a gathering of Balkans leaders in Istanbul, according to Anatolia.

    “Despite bloody attacks against civilians and security forces (in Turkey), there are countries which have failed to cut the financial channels of the terrorist organisation, turned a blind eye to its activities and propaganda and failed to extradite criminals,” he said.

    Erdogan was referring to the separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), listed as a terrorist group by Ankara and much of the international community, including the EU.

    The PKK has an extensive support network among Kurdish immigrants in Europe.

    Erdogan’s remarks followed Tuesday’s bombing of a bus carrying army personnel in Istanbul, which killed four soldiers and a teenage girl.

    Radical Kurdish militants claimed responsibility for the blast, the latest episode in surging Kurdish rebel violence across Turkey.

    Ankara has long accused EU countries of tolerating PKK activities on their soil and failing to close down organisations affiliated to the rebels.

    It says the PKK obtains much of its finances through drug trafficking, people-smuggling, extortion and money laundering in Europe.

    Many Kurds were granted political asylum in European countries, notably in the 1990s, when the prosecution of activists opposed to Ankara’s heavy-handed policies against its sizeable Kurdish minority was a common occurrence.

    Copenhagen notably has long angered Ankara for refusing to shut down a Denmark-based Kurdish television channel, Roj TV, which Turkey says is a PKK mouthpiece.

    In 2007, Turkey slammed Austria for failing to arrest a senior PKK member wanted on an Interpol bulletin, allowing him instead to board a plane for northern Iraq, where the PKK enjoys safe haven.

    The PKK took up arms for self-rule in Turkey’s Kurdish-majority southeast in 1984, sparking a conflict that has claimed some 45,000 lives.
  • Explosion hits Turkish-Iraqi pipeline: report

    Explosion hits Turkish-Iraqi pipeline: report

    (AFP) – 10 hours ago
    ANKARA — An explosion ripped through a pipeline carrying oil from Iraq to southern Turkey on Saturday, sparking a fire, the Anatolia news agency reported.
    The blast, whose origin remains unknown, hit a section of the pipeline near Midyat town in the southeastern province of Mardin, the agency said.
    The pipeline has in the past been targeted by Kurdish insurgents active in the region.
    Firefighters were called to douse the flames, Anatolia said. An investigation was under way.
    The 970-kilometre (600-mile) pipeline runs from Iraq’s northern oil hub of Kirkuk to the port of Ceyhan on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast, from where the crude is shipped to world markets by tanker.
    The twin conduit, first inaugurated in 1976, carried 167.6 million barrels of oil last year, according to Turkish statistics.
    Rebels from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) fighting a 26-year-campaign for self-rule in Turkey’s mainly Kurdish southeast, have in the past bombed the pipeline several times.
    The PKK has significantly stepped up attacks against Turkish targets since May after jailed rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan said he was abandoning efforts for peace with Turkey and the rebels called off a unilateral truce.
    Some 45,000 people have been killed since the PKK picked up arms in 1984.

  • Kurdish Affairs Expert Offers Regional Perspective On Growing Violence In Turkey

    Kurdish Affairs Expert Offers Regional Perspective On Growing Violence In Turkey

    Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan (center) talks with Turkish soldiers in a trench during his visit to the Turkish city of Hakkari on the border with Iraq on June 20.Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan (center) talks with Turkish soldiers in a trench during his visit to the Turkish city of Hakkari on the border with Iraq on June 20.

    June 24, 2010
    With violence linked to Kurdish militants increasing in Turkey in recent weeks, the likelihood appears to be growing for a cross-border ground assault into northern Iraq by Turkish military forces. RFE/RL correspondent Ron Synovitz spoke with Michael Gunter — an authority on Kurdish affairs in Turkey, northern Iraq, Syria, and Iran — for a regional perspective on what is happening. Gunter, a political science professor at Tennessee Tech University and the International University in Vienna, has written nine books about the Kurdish people of the region — including some of the first analyses in English of Kurdish unrest in the Middle East.

    RFE/RL: Violence in Turkey attributed to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, the PKK, has been growing in recent weeks since the PKK ended the unilateral cease-fire that it declared last year. What is your overview of this situation in Turkey?

    Gunter: In Turkey, it’s extremely disappointing because last fall the Kurdish opening of the Turkish government promised to go a long way to begin solving the Kurdish problem in Turkey and I have never seen the Kurds so optimistic as they were last fall. However, all this came tumbling down for a number of reasons.

    Today we are back to square one. Turkey feels that the Kurds are trying to destroy Turkey. When I say the Kurds, I mean the PKK. There are many Kurds in Turkey that seem quite satisfied with the situation; whereas the PKK feels that the Turks have just not been sincere about any really genuine reform.

    RFE/RL: Turkish military forces this week launched operations in southeastern Turkey against Kurdish militants. Turkish forces also have set up blocking positions in the mountains along the Turkey-Iraq border. What is your analysis on these military operations?

    Gunter: Northern Iraq and the Qandil mountains near the Turkish border serves as a safe house for the PKK. In the last few weeks, the PKK has begun serious military action again in Turkey and the Turks feel it is coming from the Qandil mountains. That is partially true. But I think, too often, we don’t realize that there are PKK stationed in Turkey, too, and that even if the Qandil mountain safe house in northern Iraq were totally shut down, the PKK operations would continue from bases and safe houses within Turkey, too.

    RFE/RL: Could you discuss some of key Kurdish factions in Turkey, northern Iraq, Iran, and Syria, and their interests? Is there unity among them or are they working toward separate goals?

    Gunter: That would take an entire book and more. But in general, the Kurds throughout the region are in ferment. One of the main reasons is that the United States’ war against Iraq that began in 2003 opened up a Pandora’s box leading to the Kurdistan Regional Government, the KRG, in northern Iraq — which, in modern times, is arguably the first real Kurdish government in the world.

    RFE/RL: What impact has the creation of the KRG in northern Iraq had on the Kurdish question across the region?

    Gunter: The KRG not only has created a semi-independent state in northern Iraq, which attracts and inspires Kurds in Iran and in Turkey and in Syria; but the KRG has encouraged Kurds to strike out for their rights in these three other states. One problem the Kurds have always suffered from, though, is internal divisions, and these internal divisions among the Kurds are exacerbated by the fact that they live in different states, which has led the Kurds to have different interests. So I don’t see any particular coordination on the lines of a pan-Kurdish movement. Indeed, one traditional way the Kurds are controlled in the Middle East is “divide and rule.” The Turkish government right now is attempting to use the KRG in northern Iraq against the PKK that is stationed in Turkey.

    RFE/RL: Masud Barzani, the president of the Kurdish regional government in northern Iraq, visited Ankara on June 2, where he met with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul to discuss what the Turkish government described as “security issues.” Do you think these talks will result in any overt cooperation between them, or perhaps a tacit understanding, on the issue of rising PKK violence in Turkey?

    Gunter: It’s a very delicate situation. Both sides have very strong interests in cooperating with each other, but the KRG certainly has no interest in fighting against the PKK. Back in the early 1990s, Turkey was able to use the Iraqi Kurds to fight against the PKK — which caused an enormous amount of angst among the Kurds throughout the region and the world. So I don’t see any way that the KRG — Barzani — is going to fight against the PKK.

    On the other hand, Barzani and the KRG have a tremendous vested interest in cooperating with Turkey because as the United States prepares to leave Iraq, Turkey is, in effect, going to be the great power guarantee of the KRG. The KRG must cooperate with Turkey economically and politically. And that goes for Turkey too. Turkey has a great deal of vested interest in economic and political cooperation with the KRG. Exactly how you compromise and meld these two very contradictory goals of Turkey and the KRG is beyond me. It creates constant problems between the two — how they are going to cooperate when they basically have different interests concerning the PKK.

    RFE/RL: Some experts say it appears that there may be some kind of tacit “hot pursuit” agreement between the KRG and Anakara when it comes to cross-border incursions by Turkish forces to go after PKK militants in northern Iraq. What do you think?

    Gunter: I basically agree. But that hot pursuit agreement is tacit. There’s nothing written down. But in effect, I think that is going on right now. The KRG criticizes Turkey, but what can the KRG do. In effect, the KRG realizes that it is going to have to let Turkey make these ground interventions. As far as Turkey goes, Turkey has been intervening in northern Iraq for the last 20 or 25 years. The fact that the situation continues shows that Turkey has made little if any progress in its interventions. So I think the Turkish interventions into Iraq are largely for domestic consumption and are certainly not going to root out the PKK problem which has been there for over 30 years.

    RFE/RL: The rhetoric of Turkey’s Prime Minister Erdogan about Kurdish militants has been vitriolic — saying PKK fighters would “dry in their swamp and drown in their own blood.” Do you think this is a sign that Turkey may be preparing for another major ground offensive into northern Iraq like the kind last seen in February 2008?

    Gunter: I think Prime Minister Erdogan of Turkey has opened up his reelection campaign and, by taking this belligerent attitude toward the PKK, is trying to get some legitimate looking nationalist credentials for the upcoming Turkish election. Yes, I think Turkey may well have a major intervention into northern Iraq. But I’m saying it won’t accomplish anything except rhetoric.

    RFE/RL: Do you think there are similar tacit “hot pursuit” agreements between the KRG and Iran?

    Gunter: Iran and Turkey mirror each other in their relations, off and on, with the KRG and the PKK. It’s Turkey that we hear the most about, but Iran has been fighting its own battle against a supposed PKK associate called the PJAK — the Freedom Life Party in northern Iraq, which has headquarters in the Qandil mountains. It is an Iranian-Kurdish party that periodically raids into Iran, and Iran shells the border and raids back into northern Iraq. So there is an overall firmament involving both Turkey and Iran.

    RFE/RL: What about Baghdad’s apparent benign tolerance of Turkish incursions into northern Iraq? Do you think Baghdad has an any agreements with Ankara to turn a blind eye toward Turkish forces that go after PKK militants in northern Iraq?

    Gunter: Probably even more so. Baghdad has its own serious domestic problems — headed by the fact that Baghdad doesn’t even have a government right now and therefore is in a very poor position to oppose Turkish and Iranian interventions. However, on a theoretical basis, of course, Baghdad is the ultimate sovereign authority in northern Iraq. So Turkey and Iran are going to have to, at least in theory, deal with the Baghdad government. Actually, this situation gives a little leeway because when the KRG does cooperate with Turkey, it can say, “Well, we’re not really cooperating with Turkey because we’re not the sovereign here. Baghdad is the sovereign.” “It’s Baghdad’s fault for cooperating with Turkey and letting Turkish troops into northern Iraq to chase the PKK.” So the situation with Baghdad can be played both ways by both sides and further complicates the situation.

    RFE/RL: Do you think Baghdad and Iran have tacit “hot pursuit” agreements when it comes to dealing with Kurdish militants like the PJAK in northern Iraq?

    Gunter: I certainly think there are tacit agreements here. And, of course, we don’t know ultimately the relationship between the Iraqi Shi’ite parties and Iran. I suspect that the most important accomplishment in overthrowing Saddam [Hussein’s regime] was to hand Iraq to Iran. Sometimes we see signs of that and sometimes we see signs that the Iraqi Shi’ites remain very Iraqi nationalistic. But certainly Baghdad has been in no position to oppose Iranian or Turkish interventions into northern Iraq. Even if Baghdad were, I think there would be tacit understandings that Iran and Turkey have a right to go after what they see as terrorist movements.

    https://www.rferl.org/a/Kurdish_Expert_Regional_Perspective_Violence_Turkey/2081625.html