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

Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro de la Prensa-Baszn Özeti
INTERNATIONAL BOSTON - WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 1998
With Rebels on Run, Turkey Gets Tougher
• A successful Army offensive and arrest of a Kurd leader may undermine hopes for a
negotiated end to a guerrilla war.
",
SamiKohen
ISTANBUL, TURKEY
Special to The Christian Science Monitor . .
Turkey seems to have won the upper hand in its long and costly war agamst a Kurd separatIst movement.
And amid new military gains against the rebel group PKK, or Kurdish Workers Party, Turkey's position
has only hardened. .
The prospect of a negotiated settlement with the group, which seeks a homeland for the region's ethnic
Kurds, including 12 million in Turkey, appears to have faded.
Turkey is a key NATO ally that has increasingly sought to cement its special relationship with the United
States, particularly since being snubbed earlier this year for membership in the European Union. The EU
cited human rights concerns - including questions about Turkey's treatment of Kurds - as a reason it was
not admitted.
The recent capture of a top PKK commander, Semdin Silik, came amid an offensive in which Turkey's
Army also claims to have killed scores of rebels in Turkey's southeast.
'Brink
of collapse'
"The PKK has received a severe blowand is on the brink of total collapse," said a senior member of the
Army's general staff Aprill7, speaking on condition ofanonymity. "Now it is up to the government and
other civilian organizations to resolve the region's economic and social problems, which are the real cause
of the violence," he said.
Another military source, asked whether the "defeat" of the PKK might encourage Turkish authorities to
listen to recent PKK overtures for a settlement, was blunt: "No one in Turkey would agree to negotiate
with terrorists," he said. "We have always resisted any contacts with the PKK, and now that they are
crumbling, there cannot be any question of ... acceptance of their conditions."
A call has gone up among liberal Turks, however, to go beyond economic and social reform in the region.
There is debate over allowing Kurds to use theirJanguage in education, broadcasting, and official contacts.
"If we want this [military success] to be permanent, we have to deal urgently with other aspects of the
problem," wrote Hasan Cemal, a prominent columnist for the daily newspaper Sabah, on April 17. "To
secure economic well-being in the southeast is only one aspect; the other is to respect [Kurdish] identity
.and their rights to use their culture and language," he wrote.
Army and government still at odds
Tensions remain high between the Army, which regards itself as guardian of the secular state founded by
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk more than 70 years ago, and the civilian government. Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz
was not told about the raid to capture Mr. Sakik until the operation was over.
At the time the raid was being undertaken, PKK chief Abdullah Ocalan was making an appeal to both Mr.
Yilmaz and to Gen I. H. Karadayi, the Army chief of staff. Mr. Ocalan proposed a cease-fire followed by a
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