Turkey Claims ‘Significant’ Gains in Attack on Kurdish Rebels in Northern Iraq

One Response to “Turkey Claims ‘Significant’ Gains in Attack on Kurdish Rebels in Northern Iraq”

1. Tansel on December 2nd, 2007 10:05 pm

   The Kurdistan Workers Party or PKK

   Is an armed militant group founded in the 1970s and led by Abdullah Öcalan until his capture in 1999… The PKK’s ideology was founded on revolutionary Marxism-Leninism and Kurdish nationalism. The PKK’s goal has been to create an independent socialist Kurdish state in a territory which it claims as Kurdistan, an area that comprises parts of south-eastern Turkey, north-eastern Iraq, north-eastern Syria and north-western Iran; those states oppose any such change. It is an ethnic secessionist organization that uses force and the threat of force against both civilian and military targets for the purpose of achieving its political goal.
   The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization internationally by a number of states and organizations, including the USA, NATO and the EU. More than 37,000 people have been killed in the Turkey-PKK conflict since 1984

   History

   The PKK’s core was originally a group called the “Ankara Democratic Patriotic Association of Higher Education” (APOCUS) or Apocular (”Apoists”), which was made up largely of students, led by Abdullah Öcalan (”Apo” is his nickname). Although originally from Ankara, the group soon moved its focus to south-east Turkey, and its large Kurdish population, where they began organising. With the official release of the “Proclamation of Independence of PKK” on 27 October 1978, the group became known as the Kurdistan Workers Party. With its largely communist ideology, the PKK soon found itself in conflict with right-wing entities.
   In 1979, Mehmet Celal Bucak was condemned for “exploiting the peasants,” and “collaborating”. The PKK attempted to assassinate him, but failed. This was the first violent high-profile public action undertaken by the PKK, and it marked a period of intense urban warfare between radical political elements in Turkey. From 1978 to 1982, the Turkish National Security Council recorded 43,000 incidents it described as terrorism. As part of the conflict, ex-prime minister Nihat Erim was assassinated in 1980. The military coup that same year largely ended the conflict, with members of the PKK being subject to capital punishment, going to prison, or fleeing to Syria.
   On November 10, 1980, the Turkish Consulate in Strasbourg, France was bombed, causing significant material damage but no injuries. The ASALA (Armenian now inactive militant organisation that usually attacked Turkish consulates, it was designated as a terrorist organisation then) and the PKK claimed responsibility. In a telephone call to the Agence France-Presse office, a spokesman said the blast was a joint operation and marked the start of a “fruitful collaboration” between the two nationalist organizations
   Starting in 1984, the PKK transformed itself into a paramilitary organisation (largely based in and supported by Iran, Iraq and Syria), as it launched conventional attacks as well as bombings against Turkish governmental installations, military and civilian targets, many of whom were connected to the Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP), a multi-sector integrated regional development project based on the concept of sustainable development for more than 9 million people living in the southeastern Anatolia region. The PKK also moved to a less centralized format, taking up operations in a variety of European and Middle Eastern countries.
   Following the collapse of the USSR, the PKK largely abandoned its communist roots, attempting to better accommodate nationalistic views and Islamic beliefs. In the mid 1990s, it also began to shift from conventional bombing to suicide bombing, launching fifteen such attacks between 1995 and 1999. The majority (11 of 15) of the suicide bombers were women.
   In the late 1990s, the Turkish army began to gain the upper hand in its ground war with the PKK and post-Cold War shifts in international politics resulted in the group losing much of its support among other states. With downgraded security concerns, the Turkish parliament began a controlled process of dismantling the legal control, using the term “normalization” or “rapprochement” depending on the sides of the issue. A ban on publishing using Kurdish language (1983) was dropped in 1991, with more thorough reforms, such as the lifting of the ban on broadcasting in Kurdish, adopted in the 2000s with the decrease in PKK’s activities.
   In 1999, Turkish authorities captured Öcalan while he was being transferred by the Greek security system from the Greek Embassy in Kenya to a local airport, in an operation conducted jointly by the CIA and Turkey’s MIT. He was tried in Turkey and sentenced to the death penalty. He took his case against Turkey to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) which influenced Turkey’s decision to commute the death sentence to life imprisonment, safeguarding him from risk of execution. The ECtHR held that there had been violation of Article 6 (right to fair trial), as there was a military judge in the Turkish court trying Abdullah Öcalan, there was no violation of Article 2 (right to life).
   Following a call by the captured Öcalan for a peaceful solution, the PKK found itself blacklisted in many countries. Consequently, the PKK went through a series of changes and implemented a unilateral truce, which ended in 2004. On 2 April of that year, the Council of the European Union added the PKK to its list of terrorist organisations. Later in 2004, the US Treasury moved to freeze assets of branches of the PKK.
   According to Turkish officials, Massoud Barzani, leader of the Kurdish region in northern Iraq, and US occupation forces have not done enough to combat PKK guerrillas and secure the Iraqi-Turkish border, causing tensions between the Iraqi and Turkish governments

   Resources
   The organization’s annual budget has been estimated at $430 million USD
   The PKK receives a proportion of its funding in the form of private donations, from both organisations and individuals from around the world. Some of these supporters are Kurdish businessmen in south-eastern Turkey, sympathisers in Syria and Iran, and Europe. Parties and concerts are organized by branch groups Additionally, it is believed that the PKK earns money through the sale of various publications, as well as receiving revenues from legitimate businesses owned by the organization. The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) also has been financing its separatist movement by “taxing” narcotic traffickers and engaging in the trade themselves. The PKK is heavily involved in the European drug trade, especially in Germany and France. French law enforcement estimates that the PKK smuggles 80% of the heroin in Paris.
   At the height of its campaign, the PKK received support from other countries, most notably Syria but also Greece in forms of parliamentary support and freedom to recruit and train at Levrion Refugee Camp, Iran, the Soviet Union and according to the Turkish government, Denmark allows Kurdish satellite television stations (such as ROJ-TV), which Turkey claims has links with the PKK, to operate in Denmark and broadcast into Turkey. MED TV broadcast for five years in UK, until its licence was revoked by the regulators Independent Television Commission (ITC) in 1999 due to a breach of ITC guidelines and perceived pro-PKK bias. When Med TV lost its licence in the UK, MEDYA TV started transmissions from studios in Belgium via a satellite uplink from France. MEDYA TV’s licence was revoked by the French authorities. A few weeks later Roj TV began transmissions from Denmark. It has also been argued that the Netherlands and Belgium have also supported the PKK by allowing its training camps to function in their respective territories. On 22 November 1998, Hanover’s criminal police reported that 3 children had been trained by the PKK for guerrilla warfare in camps in the Netherlands and Belgium.After the death of Theo van Gogh, with increasing attention on domestic security concerns, the Dutch police raided the ‘PKK paramilitary camp’ in the Dutch town of Liempde and arrested 29 people in November 2004. The PKK has also developed links with paramilitary groups among other ethnic groups which has harboured historic grievances against Turkey such as the ethnic Armenian ASALA, as well as groups which shared its left-wing nationalist ideology such as the Palestine Liberation Organisation, ETA, and to a lesser degree the Provisional Irish Republican Army. Through the large Kurdish immigration in Germany, it has also formed close contacts with violent left-wing political groups in that country. From early 1979 to 1999 Syria had provided valuable safe havens to PKK in the region of Beqaa Valley. During 1990s, Iran has provided PKK with supplies in the form of weapons and funds. In addition, the retired Greek army general Dimitris Matafias has paid numerous visits and offered assistance.As of March 1999, Greece had allegedly supplied PKK with 20,000 AK-47 and 30 Stinger missiles. Greek part of Cyprus also supported PKK by allowing its leaders to travel freely by providing them with passports. Abdullah Öcalan, the founder of PKK, has been caught with a Cypriot passport to the name of Mavros Lazaros. After the undeclared war between Turkey and Syria, Syria placed restrictions on PKK activity on its soil. Turkey is expecting positive developments in its cooperation with Syria in the long term, but even during the course of 2005, there were PKK operatives of Syrian nationality operating in Turkey. Iran listed PKK as a terrorist organization after Iran’s supply of resources to the PKK began to be used on its own soil.
   On 30 September 1995, Damascus opened new contacts with high ranking German CDU MP Heinrich Lummer and German intelligence officials. The PKK has also strong ties with influential persons around the world. Danielle Mitterrand, the wife of the former President of France has active connections with elements of the PKK’s leadership

   Allegations of international support to the PKK
   According to The New Yorker magazine, US government has been supporting PJAK, the Iranian branch of PKK. The head of the PKK militant arm, Murat Karayilan, in an interview with the Daily Telegraph claimed that US officers have regular meetings with the PKK in Northern Iraq. Karayilan said Kurdish guerrillas have launched a clandestine war in north-western Iran, ambushing Iranian troops with US and British support.
   General Yaşar Büyükanıt, who is the Chief of the Turkish General Staff, stated that even though the international struggle had been discussed on every platform and even though organizations such as the UN, NATO, EU make statements of serious commitment, to this day the necessary measures had not been taken. Büyükanıt further continued as: “On the contrary, this conduct on one side has encouraged the terrorists, on the other side it assisted in widening their [the terrorists] activities. The most distressful part of it is that many of the European countries being a member of NATO, an organization that had announced that terrorism was the greatest threat to itself. Dr. Sedat Laciner, director of the International Strategic Research Organization, said
   “The PKK is a terrorist organization. Americans and the EU say so. If the US ignores or supports the PKK in the region, the US’ fight against global terrorism will lose its base. Turkey’s support, as a moderate Muslim country, in fighting terrorism is crucial. However, if you support my terrorists, I can not help you in fighting against your terrorists.”
   A former militant, who recently had turned himself in to the Turkish Police, claimed that the weapons for PKK in the north of Iraq were provided by US armoured vehicles.
   Austria arranged a flight to Iraq for Ali Rıza Altun, a suspected key figure in PKK ranks with an Interpol arrest warrant in his name, after harboring him for some time. Turkish foreign minister Abdullah Gül summoned the Austrian ambassador and condemned Austria’s action.

   A document by the Turkish General Staff published in July 2007 documented the weapons and their origin captured from the PKK operatives. Same report also indicates that the PKK operatives delete some of the serial numbers from their weapons as they have done before making a serial number search. The weapons PKK uses and their origins are:
   4,500 AK-47 Kalashnikovs: 71.6% originating from the USSR, 14.7% from China, 3.6% from Hungary, and 3.6% from Bulgaria.
   5,713 (Kannas, BKC automatic rifle, Dragunov Sniper Rifle, Arbiki, Heckler & Koch G3, M16 rifle, Heckler & Koch PSG1 (G-1), Mauser) of which only 959 had a complete traceable serial number: 45.2% from Russia, 13.2% from United Kingdom, and 9.4% from United States.
   1,610 rocket launchers of which only 313 had a traceable serial number: 85% from Russia, 5.4% from Iraq, and 2.5% from China in origin.
   2,885 pistols of which only 2,208 had a traceable serial number: 21.9% from Czechoslovakia, 20.2% from Spain, and 19.8% from Italy.
   3,490 grenades of which 136 had a traceable serial number: 72% from Russia, 19.8% from United States, and 8% from Germany.
   11,568 mines of which only 8,015 had a traceable serial number. 60.8% from Italy, 28.3% from Russia, and 6.2% from Germany

   Activities
   The PKK operates in Turkey, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. One pattern is apparent after 1984, PKK began to use Maoist theory of people’s war. There are three phases in this theory. The militant base during the initial years was coming from different sources, so the first two phases were diffused to each other.

   In the first phase (1978-1984), the PKK tried to gain the support of the population. It attacked the machinery of government and distributed propaganda in the region. PKK tactics were based on ambush, sabotage, riots, protests, and demonstrations against the Turkish government. PKK has also been accused of violent attacks on individual civilians or residential areas (Kurds and non-Kurds alike), who refused to co-operate with the PKK or were suspected of collaborating with the Turkish authorities. During these years, the PKK fought a turf war against other predominantly Kurdish organisations in Turkey. The PKK effectively used the prison force to gain appeal among the population. In the whole Turkey, this period was characterized by violent clashes which culminated in the 1980 military coup.

   In the second phase (1984-1999), which followed the return of civilian rule in 1983, escalating attacks were made on the government’s military and vital institutions all over the country. The objective was to destabilise Turkish authority through a long, low-intensity confrontation. In addition to skirmishing with Turkish military and police forces and local village guards, the PKK has conducted suicide bombing on government and police installations, as well as at local tourist sites. Kidnapping and assassination against government officials and Kurdish tribal leaders…. Widespread sabotages were continued from the first stage. PKK performed kidnapping western tourists, primarily in Istanbul but also at different resorts. PKK has also attacked Turkish diplomatic and commercial facilities across Western Europe.

   In the third phase,conventional fighting was used to seize cities, overthrow the government and take control of the country. PKK seized cities during the highest activity period, and it also had consequences on the functioning of the Turkish parliament through Turkey’s own election system, but there was no case during an active conflict that PKK manage to sustain its flag in a region within the borders of Turkey

   Militant activities
   Since its creation in the 1970s, amid violent clashes in the whole of Turkey the PKK has developed into a paramilitary organization. The conflict between PKK and the Turkish state rendered much of southeastern Turkey a war zone in the late 1980s and 1990s. Its actions have taken place mainly in Turkey and against Turkish targets in other countries, although it has on occasions co-operated with other Kurdish nationalist paramilitary groups in neighboring states, such as Iraq and Iran. The PKK argued that its violent actions were justified by the need to defend Kurds in the context of what it considered as the massive cultural suppression of Kurdish identity (including the 1983 Turkish Language Act Ban) and cultural rights carried out by the governments of the region. In its campaign, the PKK has been accused of carrying out atrocities against both Turkish and Kurdish civilians and its actions have been criticised by human rights groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Actions of the Turkish state in the past have also been criticised by these same groups.
   In the late 1980s and early 1990s, in an effort to win increased support from the Kurdish peasantry, the PKK altered its leftist secular ideology to better accommodate and accept Islamic beliefs. The group also abandoned its previous strategy of attacking Kurdish civilians, focusing instead on government and tourist targets

   Effects

   As a self-styled revolutionary left-wing organization, PKK claimed there was a “mass violence by Turkish state on the Kurd identity” to justify its activities. The main goal of its activities was to alienate the people from the state by pushing security forces into more and more overt and repressive counter-measures. The Political-Justice section extends the results of this ideology and methods of the democratic processes and the justice system in Turkey. In a democratic system, an ideology that questions the state’s legitimacy, will of its population and its security apparatus was difficult to be accepted as a political view, which was shaped under HEP/DEP/HADEP story. Turkish government authorities did not negotiate with the organization, so regional NGOs there were no communication channels between the sides. The ill-formed language ban of 1983 and Terrorism Act of 1991 were significant events. Also, amnesties were interesting events during the conflict time, as each amnesty gave more human resources to the organization. The prison as a rehabilitation concept was a failure. The people who were jailed for non-violent activities were becoming militants during their jail time. Government’s military operations against the prisons were the highest point in this failure.
   As a revolutionary left-wing organization, the PKK perceived Turkish society as one that was deformed by capitalism and imperialism. The PKK unleashed its aggression on enemies spanning all classes (farmers, business, etc.) The cost of PKK’s actions are significant. PKK had drastic effects on regional economy, as targeted infrastructure of the region. Regions’ inability to join the economical activities were associated with the work force, costs (insurance premiums, facility costs, loss of trained personnel etc.), and productivity (loss of work time, travel restrictions, inability to move rapidly etc). The region has had a very high historical tourism potential and it has been dormant because of the terrorism threat for many years.
   The integration into social and economical activities are developed within the education system. Educational activities were targeted by the PKK. Because the majority of the people are very resilient to the effects of political violence, young people form a high risk group because of their undeveloped personalities. The effects of political violence on the newer generations is an important issue because, at the moment, the new generation in areas affected by the conflict have no experience living under what would be considered normal conditions.
   According to a July 1998 article by Le Monde diplomatique, the conflict has weighted heavily on the Turkish state’s budget. In 1993, a sum of $70m was allocated from the prime minister’s secret funds. According to Mr Savas, this sum was used mainly for buying weapons and anti-terrorist equipment from Israel and for external operations. Irregular units in the conflictual zones have had to find ways to finance themselves, including racketeering and secret funding. Sedat Bucak has been alleged by the French newspaper to have under his orders 20,000 men, while the village guards pro-government Kurdish militias created in the mid-1980s would number to a total of 64,000…

   Dear my European,Asian,Middle East Friends;

   Are you still saying PKK is a REBEL group that defend kurdish peoples rights, think twice and dont be regretful in future when your so called “REBEL” group association HIT YOUR CIVILIZATION..

   Terrorism is TERRORISM, its not matter which is done for…

   Sincerly,

   A Turkish Citizen

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