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Viewing cable 07ANKARA750, PKK Issue: Update on Violence and Political Developments

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
07ANKARA750 2007-04-02 13:23 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Embassy Ankara
VZCZCXRO1802
RR RUEHBC RUEHDA RUEHDE RUEHIHL RUEHKUK
DE RUEHAK #0750/01 0921323
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 021323Z APR 07
FM AMEMBASSY ANKARA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1547
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RUEHAK/USDAO ANKARA TU
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC//USDP:PDUSDP/ISA:EUR/ISA:NESA//
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC
RUEUITH/ODC ANKARA TU
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC//J-3/J-5//
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK
RHMFIUU/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RHMFIUU/425ABS IZMIR TU//CC//
RHMFIUU/39ABG INCIRLIK AB TU
RUEPGAB/MNF-I C2X BAGHDAD IZ
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 000750 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PTER PREL PGOV TU IZ
SUBJECT: PKK Issue: Update on Violence and Political Developments 
(March 1-15, 2007) 
 
REF: ANKARA 486 and previous 
 
(U) Sensitive but unclassified - please protect accordingly. 
 
1. (SBU) This is another in a series of periodic reports on PKK 
violence in Turkey.  Our primary sources for these reports are 
mainstream Turkish press services, such as the Anatolian News 
Agency, and international wire services.  While these are more 
reliable than most Turkish press sources, they are not necessarily 
unimpeachable.  Another source is the Turkish Armed Forces General 
Staff (TGS) website which documents contacts/clashes with the PKK. 
Press services sympathetic to the PKK, such as Neu-Isenburg People's 
Defense Forces and Firat News Agency, tend to report higher numbers 
of the Turkish Security Forces casualties and are often otherwise 
unreliable. 
 
2. (U) During the March 1-15, 2007 period two village guards died in 
clashes with the PKK in the mountainous regions of Sirnak province 
on March 9.  Two sergeants were injured when they stepped on a PKK 
land mine in Mardin province on March 1.  Clashes occurred between 
security forces and PKK terrorists Sirnak and Mardin.  The bodies of 
seven PKK terrorists were found during searches in the rural areas 
of Diyarbakir.  Authorities arrested 13 PKK terrorists Sirnak and 
Hakkari provinces, including four who turned themselves in. 
Security forces seized booby-trapped land mines, Kalashnikov rifles, 
drums, cartridges, hand grenades, a pistol, 17 kgs of plastic 
explosives, night vision binoculars and radios in PKK shelters and 
caves in the region. 
 
3. (U) Following are political comments by Turkish and Kurdish 
officials, as well as other developments: 
-- TURKISH OFFICIALS: 
- Dailies on March 1 quoted Government Spokesman Cemil Cicek as 
saying that U.S. Secretary of State Rice's reference to "Kurdistan" 
was "unacceptable." He added that the southern neighbor of Turkey 
was Iraq.   In a statement at a Senate meeting, Rice said PKK was 
"an organization active at the border between Turkey and Kurdistan," 
newspapers reported. 
- Dailies reported in early March on claims by certain Kurdish 
politicians that jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan was being 
poisoned by the authorities.  "NTV" quoted Deputy Prime Minister 
Mehmet Ali Sahin March 3 as describing these statements as 
"provocation." 
- March 13 dailies quoted the Bursa prosecutor as stating that the 
medical tests have shown that jailed PKK leader has not been 
poisoned.  Medical tests indicated no sign of poisoning. "Tests 
prove that the poisoning allegations were completely unfounded," the 
Bursa chief prosecutor's office said in a statement. 
- March 11 gave extensive coverage to the strongly worded warnings 
by Land Forces Commander General Basbug during a visit to 
Diyarbakir.  Basbug said Nevruz festival should be celebrated 
joyfully by the people but not be turned into a platform for 
separatist demonstrations.  He warned that promulgating terrorist 
propaganda was crime, and added that carrying symbols of terror 
organizations or chanting slogans in support of such organizations 
is also illegal.   He stressed that as a sovereign state Turkey 
could undertake the necessary measures against PKK terrorists in 
northern Iraq. 
-- KURDISH OFFICIALS: 
 
- March 1 dailies reported that at the pro-Kurdish Democratic 
Society Party's (DTP) extraordinary convention, co-chair Aysel 
Tugluk said PKK should be allowed to participate in Turkish 
politics.  At the convention, DTP Chairman Ahmet Turk announced that 
DTP will seek alliance with other parties or will support 
independent candidates in parliamentary elections later this year. 
 
- DTP Chairman Turk told "Milliyet" March 15 that "The issue is not 
the PKK.  As long as there is chaos in the Middle East, Turkey does 
not want to leave aside the Kurdish card that it is holding.  Thus, 
it is not taking a democratic step in the resolution of the Kurdish 
issue and at the same time trying to prevent an establishment in 
northern Iraq." 
 
4. (U) Following are selected columns and articles on the topic: 
 
 
ANKARA 00000750  002 OF 002 
 
 
- In the March 1 "Posta" Mehmet Ali Birand wrote that Washington was 
putting direct pressure on the PKK and -- indirectly -- Barzani, by 
insisting that the PKK maintain its ceasefire.  Meanwhile, the PKK 
was considering whether to pursue a political path in Turkey. 
 
- Metehan Demir wrote in "Sabah" March 1 that Ankara prepared a file 
proving Barzani's relations with the PKK.  This file, which Turkey 
would provide to the U.S., included documents showing that Murat 
Karayilan appeared on a Barzani-controlled TV on October 26.  The 
report claimed that Barzani was using the PKK as a trump card 
against Turkey, which was itself concerned with Kurdish efforts to 
change the demographic structure of Kirkuk. 
 
- In March 15 "Milliyet" Hasan Cemal asked for how long Turkey would 
continue to use "stick diplomacy" with northern Iraq.  He quoted 
Talabani associate Ahmet Bamarni as complaining to him, "Turkey 
keeps showing the stick and one is tempted to say, 'Go ahead and 
give a blow.'"  After listing all the reasons why Turkey should not 
carry out a military operation in northern Iraq, Cemal wondered why 
Ankara still waving a stick.  He concluded that using arms and 
violence would only obstruct Turkey's march toward the EU. 
 
WILSON