PKK Issue: Update on Violence and Political Developments

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 006590 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PTER PREL PGOV TU IZ SUBJECT: PKK Issue: Update on Violence and Political Developments (November 16-30, 2006) REF: ANKARA 6508 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 November 16-30 period three Turkish soldiers died, including two in clashes in Bingol and Sirnak and one who fell into an abyss during a search operation in Sirnak. Ten soldiers were injured when they stepped on PKK mines in Tunceli and Sirnak, and two were injured in clashes in Bingol and Sirnak. During the same period, Turkish security forces killed 12 PKK terrorists in clashes in Bingol and Sirnak provinces. Authorities arrested nine PKK members, including four who were turned over to security officials by the KDP. Security forces detonated or seized landmines, hand-grenades, RPGs, rifles, RPG-7 rocket ammunition, electrical fuses, bullets and C4 and A4 plastic explosives in different locations. ¶3. (U) Following are political comments by Turkish and Kurdish officials: -- TURKISH OFFICIALS: - The Turkish press widely reported that PM Erdogan told PM Maliki during his Nov. 16 visit to Ankara, "Ending the presence of the terrorist organization [PKK] in northern Iraq is vitally important. We must act in cooperation on this issue that hurts our relations." Erdogan reportedly stressed that the PKK was a threat not only for Turkey but for Iraq as well. He asked his Iraqi counterpart to swiftly implement the measures that the GOI had recently promised and exhibit determination on this issue. Erdogan reportedly told Maliki that Iraqi action against the PKK would strengthen cooperation between the two countries. - Dailies on November 17 quoted TGS Deputy Chief GEN Ergin Saygun as saying that Turkey would continue the fight against the PKK until the last terrorist is rousted from the mountains. Saygun, who was in the U.S. for an official visit, added, "We continue giving messages to Washington on the PKK. The process is continuing." He expressed hope that the efforts of the two special envoys would bear fruit. - Turkey's Special Envoy on the PKK, GEN Baser, told the National Security and Strategic research Association (UGSAD) in Nov. 17 remarks that Turkey will not be able to eradicate armed militants without taking measures necessary to deal with the economic, psychological, logistical and political support dimensions of terrorism. --KURDISH VIEWS - "Milliyet" columnist Derya Sazak wrote November 30 that pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) leader Ahmet Turk visited the "Milliyet" staff and asked for support for the ceasefire process. Despite Ocalan's announcement that the ceasefire will end in May absent action by the GOT to reach out to Turkey's Kurdish population, Sazak wrote that Turk believed that the ceasefire would continue nonetheless. Turk stressed the importance of silencing all guns, including military operations, but neither the GOT nor the main opposition party was very willing on this issue. Turk stressed that the DTP did not favor a "federation" for Turkey, adding that he did not attend a recent conference organized by a Kurdish NGO for this reason. Turk explained that in response to the wishes of the party's grassroots, DTP candidates might run independently in the 2007 parliamentary elections. He claimed that they would get at least 23 seats in parliament. Turk stressed that now nobody wanted clashes anymore, and that if all sides stood behind the ceasefire, ANKARA 00006590 002 OF 002 peace might be achieved. ¶4. (U) Following are selected columns on the topic: - Metehan Demir in the November 20 edition of "Sabah" commented on GEN Ralston, the U.S. Special Envoy on the PKK. He cited foreign media reports that Ralston, as a board member of F-16 producer Lockheed Martin, was devoting part of his time to the company rather than putting all his energy into the fight against terrorism. Demir added that Ralston also was a member of the Cohen Group, a lobbying firm. Demir claimed that the TGS and President Sezer had therefore distanced themselves from the Ralston process. He asserted that the USG had appointed Ralston only to buy time. Demir added that during Ralston's term as Special Envoy, one Turkish soldier had been killed and 15 wounded in only the past three days. - Cuneyt Ulsever in the November 21 "Hurriyet" argued that Iran was the country that pursued the shrewdest policies following the occupation of Iraq. He expressed concern that Iran was expanding its influence in the Middle East, whereas Turkey's is waning. Ulsever continued that the new U.S. Secretary of Defense, Bob Gates, was known to favor closer U.S. relations with Tehran. He also predicted that the Baker-Hamilton report would recommend negotiations with Iran. Ulsever complained that Ankara was pursuing a passive Iraq policy, and that for this reason Turkey was not the first country that came to mind in the international arena to be consulted in shaping new policies in this area. WILSON