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

REVUE DE PRESSE~PRESS REVIEW~BERHEVOKAÇAPÊ~RIVISTA STAMPA~DENTRO DE LA PRENSA~BASIN ÖZETi
But he complained that the Huwaiza marshes were now
too dangerous for his people to take theirwater buffaloes to..
"It takes thnebels two hours to reach the land. They use
mötor boats which cancarry as many as 12 armed men,!' he
said. Part of Huweiza was drained dry by Iraq to fend off repeated
Iranian offensives during the 1980~1988 Iraq-Iran
war. Across the dry land were empty tank bunkers, ditches,
watch towers and fong earth embankments -- leftovers from
the eight-year war.
"They even attack the highway; plundering travelers and
taking people hostage," he said.
Jabbar Sgheir Swadi said he had six buffaloes, but can no
120
• It's the first time a high-ranking PKK rep. has been
arrested in Europe, Turkish officials applaud Italians
• The arrest marks a new stage in the hostage affair
TDN wilh wire dispatches
ROME/ANKARA- A high~rankil1g
representative of the outlawed Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK) was arrested
in Rome on Thursday after holding a
news conference there, Italian' pohce
said. Officers arrested Ali Sapan, spokesman
for the Brussels-based National
Liberation Front of Kurdistan
(ERNK), the so-called political wing of
the PKK, after he held a press conference
at the foreign press club in cent"
rai Rome, a pohce spokesman' said.
The press conference was about the de-
!TIan~sbeing made by the PKK before
It WIll release seven Western tourists
its militants abducted in eastern Turkey
last month. One hostage is Italian and
one has dual Italian-Swiss citizenship.
There are also two Swiss, two Germans
and one New Zealander being
held by the PKK. The ..Italian news
ag~ncy ANSA reported Sapan, i9, was.
belOg held on an international warrant'
issued on April13, 1993, by a court in
Adana, Turkey, charging hIm. with belOg
a member of a terroristorganization.
. The Interpol desk of the Turkish 1'0hce
told TON that they asked the Italian
police whe~er they arrested any other
people WIth Sapan L after reports
that three inore ERNK members were
arrested at the same time.
I~lial}. Ambassad~~ to Ankara Luigi
Mana-Fontana GUICI told TON that
only Sapan was arrested, as far ils it
was reported to him from Rome.
The German-based pro-PKK Kurd-
Ha news agency told TON that one Other
person, who was reporting for the
agency, was also detaine9 by the Italian
l'pli ce but then released. A spokesman
for the agencysaid that the PKK
was not pleased by' the attitude of the
Italian government.
Pointmg out that this is the first time
a high-ranking representative of the
PKK was arrested 10 Europe, a spokesman
for theTurkish police told TON
that Turkey "deeply appreciated" the
longer take them to the swampy land for fear of the "infiltrators."
. "Sometimes we.send women to guide the animals into the
marshes. They do not attack women," he said. "We go tothe
Hur (~arshes) but stay on the fringe~ and.hav~.to.~ .back ~Y.
noon. Mohammed Hussein, with about 20 buffaloes;. the
largest herd in the village, said numbers of the animal, the
mamstay of the Marsh Arabs were decreasing atan alarming
rate. "They need the marsh water for food and to escape the
scorching heat but we cannot have them there as long as
they want," Hussein said.
Italy arrests PKK spokesman
action of the Italian police in arresting
Sapan. The source added that Turkey
.expected the sa~e from. the Belgian
and German pohce, who said, however,
Sapan could not be arrested only
because he carried false identity docu-.
ments.
. App!ITently,Turkish Interpol warned.
Its Itahan counterparts inadvance that
~apan would holda press conference
10 ltaly. The Turkish police also said
that an official applicatIOn to Italy.through
diploIuaticchannels for the extradition of Sapan to Turkey
will be made within 40 days. In the meantime, Sapan is
belOg held in a Rome jail, Italian officials said.
New stage in hostage alTair
Before his arrest, Sapan said the hostageswould only be
freed if Western governments dealt directly with the PKK-something
the countries concerned have refused to do.
Sapan also said he was trying to contact Italy's political
parties to negotiate the release of two Italian tounsts; one
has dual Swiss citizenship.
"I have an appointment with the POS (Democratic Party
of the Left), but I am ready to see anyone. We want to be
partners," he said at the news conference. The POS, heir to
the former Communist Party, is Italy's main opposition
party.
"Our movement wants to set these people free, but it is
fundamental that Western governments deal directly with.
us," he said. "We are the pomt of contact, not Ankara." The
PKK has kidnapped 16 foreigners in Turkey in the last two .
months, but has released nine.
Sapan told the news conference the Italian government
has made no moves to communicate with the PKK.
Denying reports that Italy's Izmir Consulate was trying to
make mdirect contact with the PKK, Italian Ambassador to
Turkey Guici told TON that neither direct nor indirect con"
tact had been made by any official of the Italian government
for the release of the hostages.
On Thursday, a high-ranking PKK official blamed Western
governments for tl)e plight of Western tourists held hostage
10 eastern Turkey. "Às long as these governments send
tourists to Turkey and support the war there, our attitude toward
tourists will not change," Cemil BaYlk, military commander
of the PKK told the Kurd.Ha news agency.
Observers believe that the arrest marks a new stage in the
hostage affair. .They believe the PKK, which wants direct
negotIation with the governmen.ts concerned'in return for the
. release of the hostages, now has to deal with the release of
one of its own. The observers also point out that the PKK
has already lost ground by trying to affect the release of the
hostages. . .
Seeking to carve an i~dependent Kurdish state o.utof Turkey;
Iran, Iraq and Syna, the PKK has been wagmg an' armed
campaign since 1984, in which more than 1,000 people
in Turkey have been killed so far. (Reuters) .