PKK Issue: Update on Violence and Political Developments

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 005871

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PTER PREL PGOV TU IZ
SUBJECT: PKK Issue: Update on Violence and Political Developments
(September 14 to 30, 2006)

REF: ANKARA 5398 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 September 14-30 period, the PKK killed four
Turkish security members and wounded three. In clashes, the PKK
killed one soldier and a village guard in Van. Another soldier was
injured when a mine went off in Diyarbakir province. During the
same period, Turkish security forces killed eight PKK terrorists in
clashes in Van and Sirnak provinces. Meanwhile, one boy was killed
and two were injured when they played with an explosive on the
Siirt-Eruh highway. Security forces detonated or seized landmines,
hand-grenades, RPGs, rifles and C4 and A4 plastic explosives in
different locations. On September 15, a bomb went off in a minibus
near the police recreation building in Igdir as the police were
watching a movie on the big screen. Many sportsmen, police officers
and teachers were injured. The Igdir Police Chief alleged that it
was a PKK bomb; he guessed that it was either A-4 or C-4. There
have been no reports on arrests.

3. (U) Following are political comments by Turkish and Kurdish
officials:
-- TURKISH OFFICIALS:
- Retired General Edip Baser, Turkey's special envoy for
anti-terrorism, on September 15, shared with the press his
impressions of the meeting he had with Joseph Ralston, his US
counterpart. Baser said that Ralston was determined to wage a
struggle against the PKK. "I know him as an honest and trustworthy
person. I got the impression that the United States shares Turkey's
determination," he said.
- Land Forces Commander General Ilker Basbug, speaking at a murdered
soldier's September 16 funeral service, said, "The struggle of the
security forces is an armed struggle, and it will continue until
this bloody terrorist organization has been eliminated, and until no
terrorists remain either in the rural areas or in the cities. Let
no one have the slightest doubt on this. Other modes of action that
could be contemplated apart from this merely amount to concessions
to the terrorist organization." (COMMENT: In the past, Basbug has
spoken publicly about the need for non-military solutions to the PKK
problem. END COMMENT.)
- In a September 25 speech in New York, Foreign Minister Gul noted
that the PKK had operated for years in an unfriendly regime
(Saddam's Iraq),but now it continued its acts in a friendly country
administered by allied countries (e.g., the Coalition) of Turkey.
"This situation is very dangerous. I cannot understand why the
terrorist organization is active in a country which is under
control," Gul said. "We expect our friends and allies to assist
Turkey in its fight against terrorism," he stressed.
-- KURDISH VIEWS:

- DTP Chairman Ahmet Turk on September 11, 2006, made an appeal to
the PKK for a ceasefire. He said, "The PKK would abide by this call
which was not an empty appeal. Weapons must be silenced but
everyone should not just sit and do nothing only because a ceasefire
is achieved. After the violence stops a democratic solution should
be found to the Kurdish problem for violence not to ever come
back."


4. (U) Following are selected columns on the topic:

- Enis Berberoglu in September 23 "Hurriyet" wrote that the security
officials believed that by the end of the month the PKK would
declare an unconditional ceasefire indefinitely. All indications
reportedly showed that guns might be silenced. He asserted that the
decrease in the number of coffins coming from the Southeast would

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allow politics to take a deep breath but the risk of terrorism would
continue. Berberoglu stressed that the politicians should not be
remaining idle during a ceasefire since the life of the GOT then
might not be as long as a ceasefire.

- Ibrahim Karagul in September 26 "Yeni Safak" accused the U.S. of
telling lies to Turkey on the PKK. He alleged that certain circles
in the Iraq-Turkey-U.S. triangle were dragging Turkey to sit at a
negotiation table. Karagul referred to two options for thousands of
troops that Turkey deployed along the border: These troops would be
used either in a U.S.-Israel operation against Iran, or participate
along with Iran and Syria in a major operation.

RICE