EUROPE’S SUPPORT OF ÖCALAN AND SÈVRES

President Demirel tries to curb PKK activities in neighbouring countries. Kurdish activities abroad are viewed by the Turkish Government as Europe’s wish to revive the Sèvres Treaty. The TGS and President Demirel stand firm against European help to the PKK with warnings. Italy makes proposals to Turkey about Öcalan. The United States puts down its weight in Turkey’s favour on the Öcalan issue, but expresses doubt about the Ecevit Government.

President Demirel paid a two-day official visit to Romania on December 3^rd-4^th, as part of the program for regular top-level consultations between the two countries. There were many official statements and extensive publicity about the excellent relations and cooperation that exist between the two countries. Bilateral trade has already reached $750 million and is heading for $1 billion. Turkey has made $500 million investments in that country and 50,000 Turks now live and work in Romania. The Turkish brewery that President Demirel inaugurated in Romania along with President Constantinescu is a $64 million investment symbolizing Turkey’s cooperation with the former communist bloc countries and its contributions to their adaptation to the free market economy system.

The main reason for State visit is to prevent efforts to revive Sèvres 

These State visits will clearly make these rapidly developing relations flourish even further in the years to come. But the importance of the visit from Turkey’s angle was deeper than improving mutual relations. The core of the visit was to take measures to curb Europe’s efforts to move Kurdish terrorism into the political arena. Naturally Turkey's neighbours are most important in these efforts and the PKK’s existence and activities in Romania have long been disturbing Ankara.

At their tête-à-tête in Bucharest, President Demirel explained once again to President Constantinescu the PKK’s activities in Romania and the aim of and forces behind them. He related that the PKK resorts to extorting money from Turks living in or passing through Romania. It engages in robberies and drug trafficking in that country and all these illegal activities by Kurdish terrorists go scot-free, he complained. He underlined the festivities staged in Romania to celebrate the 20^th anniversary of the PKK on November 27^th, almost at the same time the President of Turkey was paying a State visit there. He gave examples of the PKK’s relations with the political parties in Romania and its activities in favour of these parties in the elections, with the funds the PKK receives from the West. The Romanian President promised to prevent them, but it was not much of a consolation for President Demirel because such promises make transitional improvements according to Ankara’s experience. As the former Eastern Bloc countries move towards the West they find it difficult to prevent such PKK infiltrations, believes Ankara.

President Demirel told Turkish journalists during the State visit to Romania:

“The PKK is being governed from a secret place in Europe. This is Sèvres. (The Treaty of Sèvres split up the Ottoman Empire in 1920 but remained as a dead letter in view of the Turkish war of independence.) The idea is to establish a Kurdish State to the east of the River Euphrates. It is an effort to destabilize and weaken Turkey. Whenever we explain terrorism to them they oppose it maintaining human rights and democracy. I am certainly for democracy and human rights. But I have never forgotten what Kissinger once said. He said, ‘We destroyed the Soviet Union with human rights.’ We must always bear that in mind.”

During the State visit President Demirel advised Turkish journalists, “We have to enter the year 2000 strong. We must base ourselves on democracy, forget about past fights, hostilities and even our previous faults.” This was a remark in answer to a question why he had gone out of his way to make Ecevit the Prime Minister while in the seventies and eighties they had waged bitter fights against one another in Turkish politics.

Europe can keep the EU to itself, says President Demirel

President Demirel strongly reacted to the European Parliament’s call on December 3^rd for “an international conference on the Kurdish question”. He said, “If they are telling us to put Turkey’s integrity on the conference table and discuss it before they admit us into the European Union, they can keep the European Union to themselves.”

President Demirel told Turkish journalists on board the aircarft on his way back from Romania, “On September 17^th, 1992 the European Parliament took a resolution which is the same as this one, word for word. Again on July 15^th, 1993 it took a similar resolution. Now this is the third time they are doing the same thing. Let it be for the good of the European Parliament and the Council of Europe.”

Asked if it was the same old Sèvres story, he said, “Yes, the same old story. Nothing has changed. Since Sèvres they have taken several resolutions but they have all remained in the air. It is an outright interference in Turkey’s domestic affairs.” He emphasized that interferences in Turkey’s territorial integrity, sovereignty and domestic affairs were unacceptable.

Back in Ankara, Foreign Ministry spokesman Necati Utkan said that the European Parliament had always approached Turkey with prejudices. “It has fallen into the position of a spokesman for anti-Turkish axes,” he emphasized. Spokesman Utkan said that the European Union had once again failed to take a stance to improve its relations with Turkey. By calling an international Kurdish conference in disregard of the terrorism that has been going on for 14 years at the expense of killing tens of thousands of Turkish citizens, the EU was putting itself under a heavy responsibility, said the spokesman.

TGS on “web of indirect aggression against Turkey” from Europe

A much more weighty response to the efforts to internationalize the PKK came from the military in Ankara.

The TGS (Turkish General Staff) published a document about PKK terrorism and pointed out that it is an “organization of terrorism and organized crime”. Turkey would not allow the foundation of a marxist-leninist Kurdish State in southeastern Turkey at a time when East European countries are exerting efforts to become democratic governments.

Following the European Parliament’s resolution to call an international Kurdish conference, the TGS issued a strongly worded warning about the EU stressing that Turkey has become the target of an indirect web of aggression. “Under these conditions, Turkey is entitled to take every measure to defend its territorial integrity, national unity and political sovereignty.”

The TGS report issued on the evening of December 4^th gives a list of the PKK’s murders of over 11 thousand civilians. The PKK spreads its partizans throughout Europe in an organized way through claims of asylum. “Some western countries take no heed of these activities by the terrorist organization, the PKK, and allow their propaganda activities,” it affirmed.

The TGS declaration points out that terrorism is the visible part of the iceberg. The real mass unseen under the water concerns “the collaborators’ section which engages in propaganda, recruiting members to the organization, financial support, intelligence and logistics support”. These people use democracy and human rights as a pretext, it stated.

“It is practically impossible to engage in education or television broadcasts in the Kurdish language, because there are five different dialects and very many variations of that language. Also, it is not compatible with the Constitution’s rule of equality and the principle of the national curriculum in education to accord privileges to Turkish nationals of Kurdish descent,” reads the TGS statement.

Four factors in PKK terrorism and Italian proposals about Öcalan

According to the 13-page document prepared by the TGS on “PKK Terrorism”, there are four factors:

• Violence,
• Propaganda,
• Disinformation and
• External support.

The violence factor has, by and large, been eliminated thanks to the successful and self-sacrificing fight of the Turkish Armed Forces. “But it cannot be claimed that the same success has been achieved on the other three elements of PKK terrorism – propaganda and disinformation activities, and external aid to the organization.”

The TGS publication notes that with the ERNK offices opened abroad constant disinformation is disseminated worldwide by exploiting the civilized world’s high values such as peace, democracy and human rights. Great material support is also provided to the organization.

Meanwhile, Turkey’s effort about Abdullah Öcalan’s extradition has made some progress at the contacts made with Italian Ministers during the Galatasaray-Juventus football match in Istanbul, but it was short-lived. The Italian Trade Minister, El Fassino, who came to Istanbul for the match, was PM D’Alema’s consultant on international affairs. He and the other Italian Minister, Melandri, told Justice Minister Hasan Denizkurdu during the match that Italy had a four-point proposal for Turkey about Öcalan. They also gave a pledge that Italy would do nothing about Öcalan before securing Ankara’s consent about it and that Öcalan would not be permitted to make propaganda against Turkey through interviews to the media. The four alternatives Italy offered to Turkey are:

1. Extradition to Turkey. This is not possible because there is capital penalty in Turkey and for some other reasons. In other words, Italy was noncommittal about the extradition even if Turkey abolished the death sentence.
2. Bringing Öcalan to justice in Italy. This will cause friction and tension between Turkey and Italy, considering that mutual relations have already been greatly strained.
3. An international trial for Öcalan. There is no such international tribunal in existence and it is not feasible to do it quickly. Furthermore, Turkey is strongly objecting to this alternative because, as Foreign Minister Ismail Cem said in so many words, it sees it as an effort to internationalize the PKK issue.
4. Sending Öcalan to a far off country such as North Korea. Italian Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini denied claims of sending Öcalan to North Korea. He said they never made any contacts with North Korea or considered it. But sending Öcalan to another country is very much on the agenda in Italy. Libya is high on the list, but the United States objects to his extradition to Libya, as does Turkey. So the Italian Ministers sought which country was acceptable for Turkey at the football match.

American efforts for Turkey, despite unbelievable remark by Albright’s spokesman

As things stand at the moment, Washington has actively stepped into this affair, stressing Öcalan’s terrorist identity with American documents and pressing for his extradition to Turkey. Various alternatives are being reviewed in Europe with suggestions about sending Öcalan to Sweden or France, now that Germany has declined to put him on trial.

The Chief Prosecutor of Sweden, Jan Danielsson, told the German press that they were examining the files about Öcalan for his extradition to Sweden. In 1984 former PKK member Enver Ata was killed in Uppsala and in 1985 Çetin Güngör in Stockholm, both by the PKK. The PKK was also involved in PM Olof Palme’s assassination in 1986.

France has similar files about the PKK’s crimes and it is also in touch with Italy about Öcalan’s extradition. In other words, the Öcalan affair is progressing in the direction of bringing him to justice somewhere in Europe. Turkey may concede to it as it believes that no judiciary can possibly acquit him under any pretext if it sees the evidence of the inhumane crimes he has committed over the last 14 years and, in addition to Turkey, the USA has also prepared such a document now.

Everything now depends on the formation of the new Government in Turkey and PM designate Ecevit has made his contacts with DYP Chairperson Tansu Çiller after PM Mesut Yılmaz in an effort to form a tripartite coalition. Çiller emphatically said that her party had no objection to Bülent Ecevit, but it was against the procedure followed by the President in this regard. At the time of writing this article Çiller’s answer or the future of the Ecevit Government was not known, but one thing is certain, the alternative to the Ecevit Government is another Ecevit Government - that by Çankaya under articles 114 and 116 of the Constitution. It is simply because Europe is bent on reviving Sèvres and an Ecevit Government is the best way of fighting these efforts under the existing conditions, believe the President and the security forces, as seen from Demirel’s statements.

Apparently unaware of these intricacies of Turkish politics and the Constitution, a high-level member of the American delegation under Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said to the press in Brussels, “I have my doubts about Ecevit becoming the Prime Minister. It is still unclear. There are technical and political difficulties about forming the coalition government. We, the USA, will definitely work with him if he forms the government and receives the vote of confidence.” (Hürriyet, December 6^th).

It is certainly unwise to claim “100 per cent certainty” because there is no such categorical assurance in Turkish politics and Pulse has committed that blunder in its last article because it was a matter of reviving Sèvres or not. At such a critical time one can easily talk of 100 per cent certainty in Turkey’s future political developments if one is following the developments closely. We will see before long who is mistaken. uras@ada.net.tr, December 8^th, 1998