PULSE of TURKEY No: 71 ............................ NOVEMBER 20^th,  1998

The statement Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz read in Parliament in Ankara on November 18^th was a carefully written warning to Italy about its stance over the arrest of chief terrorist Abdullah Ocalan. It was an excellent diplomatic statement courteously drafted, but impossible for any civilized nation to digest. The gist is that Italy will be an accomplice to the PKK’s crimes if it accords Abdullah Ocalan political asylum. “Turkey cannot sit at the same table with terrorists whose hands are stained with blood,” was PM Yılmaz’s warning to Turkey’s ally, Italy, indicating how far Ankara is determined to go in NATO and other international organizations, if necessary, because the Turkish nation is up in the air with anger over this issue.

Italy finds itself in an unnecessary mess

PM Massimo D’Alema’s response in Rome was prompt. He said a few hours after PM Yılmaz that it was not the Italian Government that would decide this matter, but the Judiciary. The Government would only execute it. (The word “Government” is used here in the European sense to specify the Executive Power only. The Americans use it in a much wider context and talk of the “Executive branch of the Government”, apparently including the Legislature and maybe the Judiciary too within the Government. This is probably why there has been such confusion and misunderstanding of the matter throughout the world. Pulse)

In such claims of extradition, there is a tradition in world diplomacy. The Government concerned usually washes its hands of it by saying that the matter is sub judice and that they cannot interfere with the Judiciary.

In the case of Abdullah Ocalan, however, the roles were reversed. The Turkish Government was saying from the outset --even before Italian Government members began to announce that they would not extradite Ocalan-- that it was not for the Italian Government to decide this matter, but for the Italian Judiciary. PM D’Alema’s statement was, therefore, an improvement in coming round to the Turkish view. But it was still not totally correct. He was saying that the Italian Judiciary would decide upon it within Italian law.

That is another fallacy, according to Turkish sources. The Italian Judiciary will give its verdict according to an international rule which is above Italy’s domestic jurisdiction and there is another international convention about it, says Justice Minister Hasan Denizkurdu. What’s more the Italian Parliament has ratified this convention and the Italian Government cannot go against it now.

As for the possibility of Italy’s considering Ocalan a political criminal, Turkish experts dismiss that possibility, despite Rome’s mention of it, and point to the Convention for the Prevention of Terrorism adopted in 1991. Article 2 of this Convention affirms that terrorism cannot be regarded as a political crime. Both the United States and the European Union have declared that the PKK is a terrorist organization. So it disqualifies some Italians’ claim that, under Articles 5 and 13 of the 1957 Convention, Ocalan is a political criminal and should be extended political asylum.

Actually, Germany has also been seeking Abdullah Ocalan’s extradition for the murder of three people, even though in this case it has not hitherto sought for it, leaving the arena to Turkey. Even if Germany claims Ocalan’s extradition, however, it can hardly get it, because this matter is being handled within the 1957 Council of Europe Convention for the Extradition of Criminals. Article 17 of this Convention calls for certain criteria such as the nationality of the criminal, the seriousness of the crime, the first applicant and the location of the crime. All these criteria are in favour of Turkey in choosing among the applicants if there are more than one country seeking the extradition. What if there is a bilateral agreement between Germany and Italy for priority to one another in the case of multiple demands for extradition? Turkish experts say that it is not possible under Article 28 of the 1957 Convention.

The only thing against Turkey in the 1957 Convention is Article 11 which entitles the host country to refrain from extraditing the criminal if capital penalty exists in the destination country. However, European rules binding on Italy waive this article if the country concerned categorically pledges not to execute the criminal and Turkey is ready to make such a pledge when the time comes. Turkey has not resorted to capital penalty in the last 15 years anyway.

Ocalan’s changing status in the hands of Italian politicians

It has been reported throughout the world that Abdullah Ocalan went to Rome as a political refugee. This claim is not correct. Before leaving Moscow, he shaved off his moustache, tried to change his appearance as much as possible and landed in Rome Airport at 22.30 hrs CET (Central European Time) on November 12th with a valid Turkish passport which had been issued by the Turkish Consulate-General of Frankfurt to another PKK member. It was a false passport in that the bearer, Abdullah Ocalan, was an impostor. Turkish Intelligence was aware of this name and the date of his departure from Moscow, as well as his final destination, Libya, but not sure which route he would take. It could have been Greece, Italy, Germany or elsewhere. Turkish Interpol had issued a warning of the likely places through which Ocalan might pass. PM Simitis being shrewd enough to reject Ocalan’s application and Germany and Belarus being equally clever to keep away from illegalities, Italy was the victim of this whole set-up.

At the beginning Italy acted perfectly. The Italian police at Rome Airport promptly carried out their duty, took Ocalan into custody and sent a message to the Turkish Interpol confirming its compliance to the Turkish request for his arrest. At 13.35 hrs CET the following day, November 13^th, the Turkish Government was in possession of a message from the Italian Interpol that Abdullah Ocalan had been “arrested for extradition to Turkey”.

This responsible conduct on the part of the Italian authorities and police was to make a u-turn a few hours later and unhealthy voices were to rise from Rome, such as treating Ocalan as a political detainee and not extraditing him to Turkey. The Turkish Government’s response was that it was not the Italian Government that would decide on this matter nor the Italian law, but the Italian Judiciary and international conventions. After PM Yılmaz’s warning on Wednesday, his Italian counterpart, D’Alema, also came round to it partially, but is still insisting on ruling within Italian laws.

Meanwhile, Italy has changed its attitude towards Abdullah Ocalan, moved him from prison to a hospital where he has female company, receives visitors in his room and issues anti-Turkish statements to the world media. Also, thousands of Kurdish agitators from throughout Europe are being moved to Rome by coaches for public demonstrations against Turkey, after the first day’s fiasco of hardly a few hundred demonstrators having turned up for it.

Turkey’s cautious, but resolute behaviour

This red carpet treatment to Ocalan is clearly the limit for the Turkish nation and exitement is rising among the people who want to discharge their feelings in public demonstrations. Ankara first welcomed these mass demonstrations to show the nation’s feelings to the world, but when certain ultra nationalist “idealists” attempted to resort to violence and some small Kurdish groups engaged in provocative actions, the Turkish Government began to have second thoughts about it. It is feared that these demonstrations may get out of control and the unfortunate riots of September 6^th and 7^th of 1955 against the Greek minority in Istanbul may recur, along with the shame to the Turkish nation for not being able to prevent them. That is also the reason why Turkey is reluctant to host an Italian football team and PM D’Alema in İstanbul for a match with Galatasaray. Under these conditions who could control huge crowds when the Turkish public has sour feelings against Italy?

Now the tendency is to stage these Turkish demonstrations in Europe, especially in Italy with much bigger Turkish crowds if the Kurdish ones continue, along with their anti-Turkish publicity in the European media. Turkey is warning Rome and other Europeans against using such dangerous weapons like arousing the people’s nationalist feelings with such Kurdish demonstrations in Rome for publicity purposes against Turkey. It is a double-edged knife. So is harbouring terrorism.

A healthy side of these developments was that the British and especially the American Governments, public and media have acted quite responsibly towards Turkey and publicly advocated in favour of the Turkish outlook. Is it because they have a better sense of justice or do they have some other plans, Ankara is not sure, but is taking all possibilities into account.

Turkey’s deep-rooted suspicion, despite all the British and American assurances, is that the Anglo-Americans want to split up Iraq into five parts to found a Kurdish federative republic by eradicating Saddam Hussein with air raids from the Gulf. The Americans are still holding onto the alternative of striking Iraq without warning if the UN arms inspectors are not given an absolutely free hand there.

Another belief of the military in Ankara is that Ocalan’s disappearance from the battle front is a serious blow to the PKK, but its eradication in a short time should not be expected. Neither should Ocalan’s extradition be viewed as possible because when his second-in-command, Şemdin Sakık, was arrested by Turkish commandoes in Syria and brought to Turkey, invaluable information was gathered about the PKK and the forces behind it. If Ocalan is now handed back to Turkey to serve a life sentence in solitary confinement, he is bound to come up with his confessions about the details of these forces behind the PKK and some powerful forces cannot afford it. That is why it is not realistic to expect Ocalan’s extradition to Turkey. No one can possibly set him free either. Nor is it possible to keep him in Rome for long with this red carpet treatment. So what will happen? Whatever happened to Oswald or Ruby in the Kennedy affair, I suppose.

The Turkish military has come to believe that the PKK has been able to act within military tactics especially in the last 10 years even though it has been disbursed over a very wide mountainous area. This means that it has in its ranks some experienced soldiers in its headquarters. Certain countries supporting the PKK were supplying these military experts. Even though the Damascus headquarters is finished, the external support to the PKK is here to stay. That is why someone else may replace Abdullah Ocalan as the leader and this terrorism may continue, so long as the “marsh” near the Turkish frontier is not dried out. A military operation is now going on in Northern Iraq for this purpose, but in a limited area. So the PKK terrorism may continue for a while after Ocalan’s disappearance, according to their calculations.

Still the elimination of Ocalan after Sakık is a big blow to the PKK and the plans based on its continuation.

As for the claims in the world about transforming the PKK from the military to the political field, Pulse has nothing to say about it because it cannot find an expert in Turkey to explain what it means.

So we will end this article by quoting a high-level source, “Forget about it. There is no Kurdish problem in Turkey, there is terrorism problem and it will be eradicated sooner or later.” uras@ada.net.tr November 20^th, 1998

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