Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris

REVUE DE PRESSE-PRESS REVIEW-BERHEVOKA ÇAPÊ-RNISTA STAMPA-DENTRO DE LA PRENSA-BASIN ÖZETi
Turkeyasks
neighbors
to stop PKK
Ankara asks Damascus,
Baghdad, Tehran and
Yel8van to decide whether
theyare friends of Turkey
Turkish Daily News
ANKARA-Turkish government is takjng ne~! ~easures
to stop the anti-Turkish activities of the ~essloms~ Ku.r~
dish militants based in neighborin~ 'coun~es, officl~s I.n
, Ankara say. As a first ster, an officiai Turkish delegatIon IS
expected to go to Syria' soon" t~ re~ew Tu~key's deman~
to stop the activities of the secesslOmst Kurdistan Workers
Party (PKK) in that country.
"As a result of contacts established between Ankara and
Damascus, the PKK activities in,Syria wer~ reduced to a
minimum" a government source told TDN. But fromlate
May on ~e observed a reactivation of the PKK in that co-
U11try, which disturbs us.", ." .
The source pointed out that .the.resumpbon of fKK. actIvities
coincided with the termmatlon of the PKK s umlat~rai
cease~fire. The cease-fire was broken by a PKK nud
, May 24 ~ear Bingoi in.e~~tern Turkëf.. M~rethan }O unar~
med soldiers and five cIVI!!answere killed m the nud. '
PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan is known to have been living
in Syria since he escaped from Turkey in 1980.
Government sources also say there are preparations
to take additional measures against other neigbbOring countries
in which the PKK finds shelter. ' "
Government sources in Ankara say the measures have
, been planned in a context ranging from indirect diplomatic
moves to on the spot "intervention"against the presence of
the PKK inneighboring countries. Sources, who ask not to
be named, tell TDN that the "intervention" may go as far as
assassinations of the PKK leaderS based in other countries.
, Fn.!Iowirg a securit~ summit in Ankara:on Thursda-y;Prlme
MIRisier Tansu Çiller said that, Turkey's cooperation
'with Armenia, Iran, Iraq and Syria was "extremely important"
in Ankara's strug~lewith terrorism.
"Ten:or(ist organizations in Turkey) were fed,from outside
for many years," Çiller said. "Turkey can no longer turn
a blind eye to this.
, "Now our neighbors must decide: They are either ~urkey's
friends, or they are not. Those who feed the terronsts
outside Turkey are doin~ this on purpose, or it's out of their
control. If it's out of their control, then we can deal with the
situation ourselves. We can then help them (the countries in
which the PKK finds shelter) as well. We can no longer be
a spectator to the feeding of terrorists who kill innocent citizens
of Turkey."
Besides Syria, the PKK has a strong presence
in Iraqi Kurdish-controlled northern
Iraq.
Despite an agreement between the Turkish
'government and the Iraqi Kurdish leadership
.about a joint struggle against PKK activities.
in Iraq, Ankara complains about increasing
PKK activity there.
Security sources report that the PKK has
military camps in Iran and Armenia as well.
tSMET,G. tMSET I ANALYSIS
Turkey has started a countdown
to launch what may be its
biggest crackdown on Kurdish '
, uprisings since the .1938
repression of the Dersim (Tunceli)
.rebellion, sources close to the govern-
. ment say.
Preparations coincide with indications
from senior state officials that Ankara
agrees it is at war in the troubled.
Southeast region, and for this reason is
heading for wartime measures.
This week, returning to Ankara from a
visit to the region, National Defense
Minister Nevzat Ayaz told journalists:
l'I'm coming from the front. I was happy
to find our soldiers on the frortt confident
of themselves. Their morale was
high." The same day, Turkey's Prime
Mmister Tansu Çiller declared: "This
. war is not a war waged by the state. This
war is one that special crack teams will
wage against the terrorists. And we will
succeed." .
.. Earlier,. President. Süleyman Demirel
had referred to the Sbutheast incidents
138
Turkey gears up for
all-out war on PKK
as an uprising, defe'nding Turkey's position
that "upnsings have to be crushed."
9n Friday, Hurriyet..newspaper's
&htor in Cbief Ertugrul Ozkök said that
senior officers, security directors and
governmentofficials had evaluated in a
secret meeting what Turkey had done in
the early years of the republic to suppress
"Kurdish uprisings.'
Ankara's motive this winter is to
destroy completely the leadership and
grassroots of the outlawed Kurdistan
Workers' P~ (PKK) as promised earlier
by Chief of Staff Gen. Dogan Güre~.
There has been speculation that, If
necessary, this will be in the form of
Israeli-style attacks onPKK leaders
abroad: mainfy those. in Europe,
Armenia, Syria and Iraq. .
The operational decision for full-scale ~
war was taken tbis week after a series of 0'1
meetings in Ankara, with the liltest held .....
on Thursday. It reflects determination g~
on the Turkish part not only to kill pKK
senior staff but also to give no chance tp '2
the organization'smilitIa. è) .
"Either surrender or die," Gen. Güre~
warned the militia on Wednesday. .g.
Ankara this week once again warned S
Armenia, Iraq and Syria, saying they ~
should stop their support to terrorism.
Sources say there will soon be extensive
cooperation with Tehran to crack down
on the PKK camps in Iranian tenitory,
b