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

REVUE DE PRESSE-PRESS REVIEW-BERHEVOKA ÇAPÊ-RzvISTA STAMPA-DENTRO DE LA PRENSA-BASIN ÖZETi
with under Turkish laws.
, In one village near the town of
Kulp in Diyarbakir, there were even
claims of a Hezbollah-~ecurity force
raid after which all houses were
burned down and the local governor
was chased off by the commander of
the operation. "
In another village of Silvan, security
forces ran a house-by-house search
and seized all weapons, after which
the Hezbollah made its attack on the
civilians.
In one case, in which an alleged
Hezbollah gunman was caught by the
people and surrendered to tile security
forces, he was never heard of
'again, indicating that he was secretly
set free.
The "coincidence" of the escalation
in activities attributed to the
Kurdish Hezbollah in southeastern
Turkey and the purge in the police
force Instigated oy Minister KalernIi
forgoodpurposes is still regarded as
132
stri~ng. Despitethis,. th~re are local
clams that the orgaruzatIon' actually
started with Aksu's own appointments
and was only topped by the
purge.
And, what is even more striking is
the local claim that the Hezbollah
enjoys immunity not only from the
police but also from this country's
secular military forces. Suspected
Hezbol-contra supporters or collaborators
are found among gendarmerie
intelligence group officers as well as
police special crack teams.
, Many people still do not even
believe that a separate Hezbollah
organization exists and say that most
activities carried out on its behalf are
part of the secret warfare in the
region. " "
Thus, the state has for some time
been subject to a new form of erosion,
losing regional confidence
rapidly in face of activities attributed
to the Hezbollah, added to the numer-
?us cl3:Ïms of human rights violations
III the troubled region. It is aIsöJac-
!ng a different kind of regional threat,
In the sense that as an organization
claiming to pursue a religious goal
and as a movement which has managed
to attract the backing of a part
of society, Hezbollah could become
even more dangerous than the PKK
in the future - operating in an area
under the influence of regional religious
trends.
Observers argue that if there are
those who see the Hezbol-contra as a
God-sent saviour (or solution) in the
war on separatist terrorism, it is evident
that they will have to cope with
the consequences of their mistaJœs. ,
The killing of Sincar and an escalation
of attacks in Batman show, however,
that at this stage, the government
must do everything it can to
investigate all claims into the
Hezbollah, to catch their local leaders
and their collaborators in official
offices, and prevent the massacre
which is being staged by this ruthless
organization in the Southeast. '
This is the only way the state can
maintain its credibility in the region.
But, such a task will be difficult.
For, looking at the claims which have
surfaced over the past two years, such
an operation will unavoidably have to
concentrate on suspected officials as
well. People, such as police chiefs
reassigned from Batman to Agri or
new deputy vice squad chiefs who
have turned up in Batman, also must
be investigated.
All indications are that if the
Hezbol-contra is to be busted and the
killers are to be revealed, the investigation
has to concentrate not on the
15- and 16-year-old triggers, but on
those 'who control them. The future
will show whether Ankara is truly
prepared to go this far - having literally
slept as the Hezbollah turned
into a monster and went loose ...
Turkish Probe September 7, 1993
IranUnhappy With the Iraqi Kurds
The recent attacks by Iran against Iraqi Kurdistan
show that thepro-lslamic regime is
unhappy with Iraq's Kurdish leadership, diplomatic
sources say. They say Iran is unhappy for
three reasons.
One is the fact that they feel the Iraqi Kurdish leaders
have established too close relations with Turkey
.and want a similar treatment from Tehran. Diplomatic
sources say that in the past, the Iranians
and the Syrians became too accustomed to steering
and dominating the Iraqi Kurds, but after the
Gulf War the Iraqi Kurds opted to establish closer ties
with the Türkish government. At the time, President
Turgut Özal forged warm ties with Kurdish Democratic
Party (KDP) leader Mesoud Barzani and
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) chairman Jalal
Talabani.
In time these relations became even warmer, and
today the Kurdish leaders say they would be very
happy to be an integral part of a political arrangement
with Turkey.
The Iranians hate the idea. Second is the fact
that the Iranians feel seriously threatened by the
West and are scared that Iraqi Kurdistan could be
used as a forward base by Western powers in an
assault against their country.
They reportedly feel Iran is being encircled by
unfriendly powers. "They feellike a cat cornered by
several dogs, and are trying to strike back in selfdefense,"
a leading kaqi Kurdish official told the
Turkish Probe recently. Third is the fact that Iran's
own secessionist Kurdish Democratic Party leaders
are ail living in exile in Iraqi Kurdistan and the Iranians
are, to say the least, unhappy with their activities,
which may seriously destabilize Iran. The Iranians
have asked the Kurds to extradite the Iranian
KDP leaders but have been turned down. "The Iranian
KDP is not a terrorist organization like the
PKK.
They are well-educated people who want to reach
their goals through political means. They feel
they can achieve this because internally the situation
in Iran is much more fragile than people think it
is," the Kurdish official says.
Back in Turkey, however, the Iraqi Kurds feel
they are not being treated so warmly. Talabani's
people feel that Turkish officials are biased in favor
of Barzani.
There are even hints that Barzani and the Turkish
military are making secret arrangements, while Ankara
puts distance between itself and Talabani. Talabani's
men say this is unjustified, and stress that
they have done everything in their power to combat
the PKK and are angry because they have been
blamed for the failures of the Turkish military against
the separatists.
Last week Turkish Gendarmerie Commander
Gen. Aydin liter had a meeting jointly with Talabani
and Barzani in Iraqi Kurdistan, in which he said Turkey
expects the two, to make all the necessary arrangements
in the border areas to prevènt PKK attacks
against Turkish military border stations. Iraqi
Kurds in return say they will do their best, but Turkey
also has to guard its borders more effectively,
and if the PKK militants manage to penetrate the
Peshmerga patrols they should at least be halted
by the Turkish military patrols.
Meanwhile, there are reports that there is growing
frustration in the Talabani camp and that if the Turkish
complaints about the PUK continue, Talabani's
men mayalso strike back at Ankara with their own
accusations,..