Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris
Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris
Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris
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REVUE DE PRESSE-PRESS REVIEW-BERHEVOKA ÇAPÊ-RIVISTA STAMPA-DENTRO DE LA PRENSA-BASIN ÖZETÎ<br />
Operation Provi<strong>de</strong> Comfort 'n .wi~ a<br />
peaee plan in its high level talks WIth<br />
two U.S. <strong>de</strong>legations from the<br />
National Security Council and State<br />
Depar1l11ent.<br />
'~ is not som<strong>et</strong>hing that will<br />
happenwith one me<strong>et</strong>ing. But it ,is<br />
wfiere we are trying to lead<br />
Washington:' Sanberk said. Mark<br />
Parris, the head of the U.S. <strong>de</strong>legation<br />
that arrived in Ankara<br />
Wednesday, said that new i<strong>de</strong>as had<br />
been launched in the talks on the<br />
security of the Turco-Iraqi bor<strong>de</strong>r<br />
and the protection of the northern<br />
Ira9.iKurds.<br />
'Oeeration Provi<strong>de</strong> Comfort is<br />
very ImI>0rtant for both factors,"<br />
Parris, the Near East adviser of<br />
National Security Council, said. He<br />
did not elaborate further.<br />
While Sanberk told the TDN that<br />
there were "no concr<strong>et</strong>e proposals on<br />
thè' restl1lcturing of the Operation<br />
Provi<strong>de</strong> Comfort," he said that a<br />
I(mg,-term peace plan can be based<br />
upon U.N. Resolution 688, which<br />
alms to reconcile the Baghdad<br />
administration with the Kurds.<br />
"If the resolution is realized,<br />
Provi<strong>de</strong> Comfort can be lifted as Iraq<br />
restores its full sovereignty on all its<br />
territory," Sanberk said. "This is<br />
what we aim at but we are acutely<br />
aware that the si<strong>de</strong>s are not ready for<br />
it." ,<br />
Sanberk indicated that until this<br />
was realized, Turkey "would not<br />
consent to the safe haven in northern<br />
Iraq;' to become an ''unsafe region"<br />
for Turkish security.<br />
Claiming that the Iragi Kurds<br />
should maintain the secunty in the<br />
region, Sanberk said: "It is incom-<br />
.patible to think to make the safe<br />
.haven a zone of insecurity for<br />
Turkey, then, at the same time, ask<br />
for the extension of Operation<br />
Provi<strong>de</strong> Comfort." "If we ~<strong>et</strong> too<br />
pressed on security, we can Impose<br />
tighter measures on Habur Bor<strong>de</strong>r<br />
Gate~ If the insecurity in northern<br />
.Iraq becomes a threat to Turkey's<br />
security, this will surely have an<br />
effect on Provi<strong>de</strong> Comfort," Sanberk<br />
said.<br />
The point is also expected to be<br />
put forcefully to a <strong>de</strong>legation çf<br />
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (pUK:),<br />
which will arrive in Ankara this<br />
week.<br />
The Turkish Parliament is expected<br />
to vQte on extending the mandate<br />
of Operation Provi<strong>de</strong> Comfort II<br />
before the end of June.<br />
Despite constant criticism of va,rious<br />
<strong>de</strong>puties, the force has been<br />
exten<strong>de</strong>d eight times since 1992.<br />
A new round of talks b<strong>et</strong>ween<br />
Turkey and ,the United States take<br />
place this weekend, as Deputy<br />
Assistant Secr<strong>et</strong>ary Eric Newson<br />
pays a visit tthe Turkish capital.<br />
"The si<strong>de</strong>s will take up regional<br />
issues and <strong>de</strong>fense cooperation,"<br />
Nur<strong>et</strong>tin Nurhn, the Foreign<br />
Ministry's new spokesman, said.<br />
Terrorist chief plays cloak<br />
and dagger with press<br />
.'<br />
By Haitham Haddadin<br />
Reuters StaffWriter<br />
IN THE BEKAA VALLEY, Lebanon-<br />
Interview~ in which guerrilla chief<br />
Abdullah Ocalan called on Tuesday for a<br />
ceasefrre in the Kurds' separatist war with<br />
Turkey were to have been held in a Beirut<br />
hotel, but reporters knew b<strong>et</strong>ter.<br />
A long-dIstance caller said the me<strong>et</strong>ing<br />
would be in a luxury hostelry, but when<br />
reporters m<strong>et</strong> up with the elusive guerrilla<br />
lea<strong>de</strong>r it was after another cloak-and-dagger<br />
trek to eastern Lebanon's Syrian-policed<br />
Bekaa Valley - a haven for Moslem militants<br />
and leftist groups during Lebanon's<br />
1975-90 civil war.<br />
Times have changed for the husky,<br />
coarse-voiced Marxist chief of the<br />
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) since he<br />
was <strong>de</strong>clared persona non grata by Beirut in<br />
1993.<br />
Lebanon's Prime Minister RafIk al-Hariri<br />
no longer wants PKK guerrillas preparing in<br />
Lebanon for ~~tacks in Turkey and has<br />
vowed that if Ocalan is cau~ht he will be<br />
thrown out. Our gui<strong>de</strong>, who I<strong>de</strong>ntifIed himself<br />
as a PKK supporter, would not disclose<br />
the venue but told us at the hotellobby to<br />
drive behind him to a Bekaa town an hour<br />
after a 2 p.m. interview <strong>de</strong>adline had<br />
passed.<br />
The town he named was another <strong>de</strong>coy.<br />
When we fInally arrived at the actual site<br />
we waited for two more hours at a mo<strong>de</strong>st<br />
house before Öcalan, dressed in a khaki<br />
shirt, showed up with three bodyguards<br />
brandishing AK-47 machine guns.<br />
"We are sony for the inconvenience but<br />
this is for secunry reasons," the soft-spoken<br />
gui<strong>de</strong>, who <strong>de</strong>clined to be named, said in<br />
broken Arabic.<br />
The mustachioed Öcalan, raising his fist<br />
in the air often as he spoke, ra~ped the<br />
United States saying it was pressunng Syria<br />
and Iran - where 600,000 and 3.5 million<br />
Kurds live respectively - to stop supporting<br />
the PKK.<br />
Sittin~ with the red PKK guerrilla flag<br />
behind him, it seemed almost ICOniCthat he<br />
spoke in Turkish not Kurdish, a language he<br />
says the Turks are trying to ban.<br />
He told reporters he was ready for peace<br />
if Ankara was ready for a political solution<br />
to the separatist campaign that has killed<br />
15,000 people since 1984. Turkey has<br />
re~pon<strong>de</strong>d .by saying it would not negotiate<br />
WIthterronsts.<br />
At New Rouz festivities marking the<br />
Kurdis~ new ye~, PKK guerrillas usually<br />
wave Rlctures of Ocalan, known to them as<br />
"Apo , and chant "Biji Apo, Biji PKK<br />
(Long Live Apo, Long üve PKK)".<br />
After the interview, the Kurdish gui<strong>de</strong><br />
politely asked our driver to bring the car<br />
close to the house so the televisIOn crew<br />
could put the camera in the boot and not<br />
arouse suspicions among Lebanese neighbors.<br />
91