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
Curfewlifted in Cizre
after major operation
• Mayor says security forces
fired on town after clash
Turkish Daily News
ANKARA- Local authorities in. the
Southeastern town of Cizre on Sunday
lifted a daylong curfew after completing a
major crackdown on districts where sympathizers
of the outlawed Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK) are believed to be
living. Cizre Mayor H~him H~hjmi said
that following an early morning operation,
security forces opened fire on.certain
buildings in the town. .
DespIte official statements that two
PKK militants had been killed, local
sources claimed two children were also
. dead. Coinciding with the operation, Tur-
~ey's Agriculture Minister Refaeddin
~ahin delivered a strident speech in Kayseri,
demanding everyone who denied the
Turkish national identity to "go to hell.tt
Officials said during the weekend that
two PKK militants and -a police officer
were killed in Saturday's clashes, which
erupted with a raid on an alleged organizatIOnsafe-house.
..
Local sources said police, accompanied
by troops, armored vehicles and Cobra
helicopters, launched the operation early
Saturday morning on the district of Cudi -
• named after the mountain where the
PKK is currently said to have more than
20 trainirig camps. . .
After a ~~ef clash, they said, iJ91JCé iïi~
formed cItizens from armored vehicle
loudspeakers that a curfew had been imposed
on the town. But the gunfire continued
throughout the day. A reliable source
in DiyarbakIr told the TDN that it had
now become standard for town raids. to
start off with a single operation in the early
hours of the morning to justify what he
called "deterrent fire," which lasts almost
all day. At least 10 civilians were reportedly
injured during tJ.teincident.
The pro-Kurdish Ozgür Gündem, quoting
sources, said on Sunday that two children,
aged two and 12, were killed in the
incident, and another 15-year-old boy was
hospitalized. ..
The newspaper claimed that a house
where three PKK militan~s were hiding
was. surrounded by security forces a~d
fired upon for at least five hours. It saId
the forces opened fire on other houses as
well,causing great damage in the town.
. ~ahin said In a sJleeçJi he made at t.he
Grape Festival in Kayseri, as security
forces oJlened,firè in Cizre,!hat :no o.ne
who denied hIs or her TurkIsh Identity
should have thè right to live in Turkey.
142
"Those who say I am not a Turk, those
who do not accept the Turkish flag, can
go to whichever hell they want," ~ahin
said in a clear reference to the Kurdishbased
Democracy Party DEP. Locals reported
that the Ci?:re. operation soon
spread from the Cudi district to the districts
of Kurtulus, Sur and Darkapl Saturday
afternoon. On Sunday, calm was restored
in the town. Meanwhile, sources in
the region reported three separate operations
were continuing on thePKK's
mountain units, the ARGK military flank;
The Agn and Tendürek mountains are reportedly
bein~ bombed, while an opera"
tion also contmues on Herekol Mountain;
where five Jlaramilitary village guards
were reportedly wounded. The death toll
in four days of clashes and violence in the
region has exceeded 40, official statements
said.
On Sunday, in an exclusive interview
. wiUt the daily Sabah, Turkey's Çhiefof
Staff Gen. Dogaït.Gûre~ .promised'()n~
again to defeat the PKK within a year.
Güre~ said the PKK would be crushed
by next spring, and added that the activities
of the organization for the time being
were areflectlOn that it was in trouble.
On Sunday, ,the PKK continued with
low-level armed attacks. In 13atman,gunmen
opened rocke! and machine gun fire
on a house, wounding four people, allegedly
in retaliation for the killing of Mardin
D~uty Mehmet Sincar. .
In I du, Kars, a roup of militants
opene fire on a bor!er station Saturday
n!ght; ~o casualtie~ were reported. Offi-
CIals saId the terronsts also burned down
a school building.
Italians establish contact with PKK
• Five-member
delegation in Turkey to
secure tourist release
Turkish Daily News
. ANKARA- A five-member delegation
of Italian lawmakers headed
for Turkey this weekend in a bid to
free two of their nationals, who
among seven foreigners held hostage
by the outlawed Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK) since last
month, the Associated Press said...
. AP said the five Italian members
of Parliament, Including conservatives,
communists and a Greens
party member, aimed to establish
contact with thePKK militants to
, secure the release of Angelo Palego
and Anna d'Andrea.
Two Germans, two Swiss and a
New Zealander are also among
those being held by the Kurdish
separatisis, who reportedly seized
them on Mount Ararat during August..
,
, After arriving in Ankara, the five
lawmakers were scheduled to fly to
another area to meet Kurdish representatives,
the Italian news agency
ANSA said. '
Unidentified sources quoted by
ANSA. said the Turkish government
had agreed to suspend its of-
fensive in the area where the hostages
were being held. .
The mission follows contacts
with the Kurds in recent days by
Roberto Formigoni, undersecretary
of the environment, ANSA said.
Last Monday Italy freed a PKK
spokesman, Ali Sapan, after arresting
him the week before at a Rome
news conference in which he urged
1t~ly to establish (Iirect .contact
with the Kurds to negOllate the
hostages' release. Sapan is wanted
for sedition and weapons ~ossession
in Turkey, but an Itahan appeals
court said the statute of limitations
on the charges had èxpired.
Hürriyet withdraws atlas on mention of
Kurdistan in Turkey's southeast region
Turkish Daily News
. ANKARA- Turkey's mass circulation
daily Hürriyet this weekend
withdrew all copies of an example
print of the Turkish world atlas
'Grosser Weltatlas" after realizing
that it contained a region in Turkish
territory called "Kurdistan."
The private InterStar television
reported this weekend that Hurriyet
on Saturday had sent all newspaper
sellers and kiosks nationwide copies
of the Atlas it will be giving
to readers in return for 40 coupons.
. .
The newspaper announced earlier
that anyone with 40 Hürriyet
coupons could get the world's lead-
ing atlas.
InterStar reported that after copies
of the atlas were distributed,
Hürriyet offi,cials realized it contained
the word "Kurdistan"
marked across southeast Turkey. It
was withdrawn and the mistake
will be corrected, the television
news said.