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

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Turkey scores win in anti-rebel
Kurd fight
14 April1998
Web posted at: 18:23 CESI', Paris time (16:23 GMf)
ANKARA (Reuters) - The Turkish military's dramatic abduction in
northern Iraq of a Kurdish guerrilla mastemlind was hailed Tuesday as
a sign of Turkey gaining the upper hand in its bitter fight against armed
separatism.
Special forces troops swept 43 miles deep into Iraq in U.s.-made
helicopters to snatch Semdin Sakik, for years the main field commander
in the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebel group. He was flown back to
Turkey for questioning.
'The capture of Sakik ... is a turning point in the military struggle
against the PKK,"liberal columnist Hasan Cemal wrote in the Sabah
daily.
Sakik, nicknamed "Fingerless Zeki" after losing his right thumb in
combat, was the highest-ranking rebel captured in 13 years of conflict.
Following the rebel commander's arrest. Turkish troops backed by
planes launched an operation against rebel bases along the Iraqi border
Tuesday, Anatolian news agency said.
It said planes took off from two separate bases early in the morning and
bombed the area around Cudi Mountain close to the Turkey's rugged
border with Iraq. It was not immediately clear if there were any militafj'
or rebel casualties.
Sakik split with PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan last month in a dispute
over tactics. His downfall underscored Turkey's assertions that the rebel
group is falling apart under military assault.
"It is one of the symptoms of (Turkey's) success," Cemal wrote.
Despite Sakik's reputation for ruthlessness, Ocalan had publicly berated
him for a poor showing against NATO member Turkey's well-equipped
military. .
A rough count compiled sharp increase in the rebel death toll in recent years and a slowing down
mainly from government figures shows a
of PKK attacks.
More than 27,000 troops, civilians and rebels have died since the PKK
took up arms for Kurdish independence in 1984.
Rebelleader Ocalan last week repeated assurances that he no longer
sought to wrench the l11h :>uuthedtit dWd)' trum lhe re:,l ut
the country.
"Following a realistic policy of Kurdish independence does not mean
changing the borders," he said in a call to military and civilian
authorities for a cease-fire.
Politicians leave the fight against Kurdish separatism mostly to the
generals, at a high cost diplomatically. Accusations of human rights
abuses in the southeast have hindered Turkey's attempts to join the
European Union.
Foreign analysts say Turkey will still have a Kurdish problem while the
southeast remains an impoverished region denied the chance to assert
its own ethnic identity.
"You can cut the PKK right down to the bone militarily but you may yet
have millions of Kurds whose aspirations are not being satisfied," a
Western diplomat said.
Previous attempts to capture or kill Sakik failed but he finally fell to a
well-executed raid, dubbed "Operation Bal."
Turkish airborne troops, dressed as Iraqi Kurdish militiamen, landed
near a road outside the northern Iraqi town of Dohuk early Monday
morning, set up a roadblock and pulled the guerrilla from a car several
hours later.
"Sakik bent down on his knees and put his hands up as soon as he
stepped out of the car," the Sabah daily said. Nobody was wounded in
the abduction, carried out in deepest secrecy.
wounded in the abduction, carried out in deepest secrecy.