RRT ERBIL: KURDISH PUBLIC SYMPATHETIC TO PKK

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BAGHDAD 000774

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/21/2019
TAGS: PGOV IR SY TU XF IZ
SUBJECT: RRT ERBIL: KURDISH PUBLIC SYMPATHETIC TO PKK
CAUSE, NOT ITS TACTICS


1. (U) This is an Erbil Regional Reconstruction Team
cable.


2. (SBU) SUMMARY: Even those Iraqi Kurds who disagree with
the Kurdistan Workers' Party's (PKK) methods find it
emotionally difficult to separate the PKK cause from the
larger struggle for Kurdish rights and the hope for Kurdish
unity. There is no evidence of local wide-scale material
support to the PKK fighters encamped in the Kurdistan Region
(KR). Trapped between sympathy for the PKK's cause and
distaste for its tactics, the public tolerates the fighters'
presence. END SUMMARY.

THE PKK ISSUE
--------------


3. (SBU) The presence of PKK fighters in the KR is a major
issue in the nascent relationship between the Kurdistan
Regional Government (KRG) and the Government of Turkey (GoT).
Recent events in Erbil highlighted both the progress in
KRG-GoT relations and the strong emotional ties Kurds have
for the PKK cause. On February 14, Turkey's ruling AKP
party-aligned Abant Foundation organized a conference in
Erbil for Turkish and Iraqi-Kurdish academics on ways to
improve GoT-KRG relations. The conference was attended by
more than 150 academics and described by local press as "the
first of its kind" and indicative of "political will from
both entities to move closer and towards better
understanding." Only two days earlier, an unauthorized
pro-PKK demonstration had taken place in front of the KRG
Ministry of Human Rights, commemorating the tenth anniversary
of the arrest of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan. Demonstrators
(some from the Makhmour refugee camp) were aggressively
dispersed by Kurdish security forces.


THE FRONT-LINE: SOLDIERS AND BORDER PATROL SOUND OFF
-------------- --------------


4. (SBU) Border officials and Peshmerga commanders believe
that public opinion of the PKK varies according to proximity
to the PKK. Villagers displaced by PKK hostilities are
believed to be more hostile toward it. City-dwellers,
removed from the effects of PKK occupation, are generally
more sympathetic to the PKK cause. Particularly for Kurdish
soldiers involved in the fighting against the PKK in the 90s,
a return to armed Peshmerga confrontation with it is out of
the question.


5. (SBU) Colonel Hussein, Commander of the Dohuk Brigade of
the Iraqi Department of Border enforcement (DBE),is from one
of the areas routinely shelled by the PKK. He fought the PKK
as a Peshmerga during the period of KRG-GoT cooperation, but
now believes that military action against the PKK is both
futile and hard to sustain. The PKK's actions, he said, have
greatly worsened his life and those of his fellow villagers,
souring public opinion toward it. He acknowledged that there
"may be" some who provide material support to the PKK, but he
believes that such support is rare. Hussein's counterpart in
Sulaimaniyah, Brigadier General Amin, agrees that material
support to the PKK is rare or non-existent. He reiterated
the emotional conflict that many Kurds feel toward the PKK.
"We have sympathy toward them because they are Kurds, even if
we disagree with their tactics and wish that they would leave
Iraq."


6. (C) Dohuk Peshmerga Fermanda (General) Ali, commander of
all Peshmerga forces in Dohuk Province, remembers when the
Peshmerga and Turkish military combined forces to fight the
PKK. He disagrees with Colonel Hussein's assessment of
public opinion of the PKK. Ali said, "The PKK has become
very skilled at combining their cause with the struggle for
Kurdish rights. Besides, there are over 25 million Kurds in
Turkey and all of them cannot all be terrorists." (note:
QTurkey and all of them cannot all be terrorists." (note:
ORA estimates the number of ethnic Kurds in Turkey to be
approximately 15 million. End note.) Ali believed the
people would not support direct Peshmerga military action
against the PKK. "The people do not want Kurds to fight
other Kurds. Our leaders will not use violence to push the
PKK out. In the past, our enemies have used us against one
another."


7. (SBU) Ali's has ordered his troops to prevent PKK
fighters from seeking or receiving Iraqi support. RRTOFF was
informed that those found attempting to provide such support
are turned over to the Asaish (Kurdish security police).
Saeed Shingari, Head of the Dohuk Division of the Asaish,
says that at least two people were taken into Asaish custody
in Dohuk during 2007. But neither Ali nor Shingari believe
that the PKK receives much material support from Iraqi Kurds,
estimating that 80% of the supplies consumed by the PKK in
northern Iraq come from other PKK fighters.

BAGHDAD 00000774 002 OF 003



THE PEOPLE: AGAINST THEIR METHODS, NOT THEIR CAUSE
-------------- --------------


8. (SBU) Many residents of the KR consider the presence of
the PKK in northern Iraq a costly burden, while others
believe the PKK's activities are part of the greater struggle
for Kurdish rights and recognition. Still others dislike the
PKK altogether, but do not see anyone else standing up to
Turkey on behalf of the Kurds who live there. These
different beliefs are often not mutually exclusive, even in
areas that have seen the worst effects of the PKK presence.
As Dohuk Provincial Council Chairman Fadl Omer told RRTOff,
"When I used to travel to Turkey in the 1990s, Kurds there
would ask me, 'why are you killing our PKK fighters when they
are fighting for Kurds?' They didn't understand that just
because I don't want the PKK in our Kurdistan does not mean
that I don't support the rights of Kurds in Turkey. A little
of that mentality is in Iraq, too."


9. (SBU) Displaced villagers from the Amedi and Zakho
districts of Dohuk are upset with the PKK for the havoc the
group wrought on their lives. Some have been unable to
return to their homes since 1992 due to PKK encampment in
their areas and the resultant Peshmerga, Turkish or Iranian
pursuit. But their unhappiness is not as strong as their
aversion to fighting other Kurds. A 62-year-old man from
Barche says, "We villagers hate PKK now. But I will never
support any fight between Kurds for any reason. Any fight
between Kurds will be a disaster." Many villagers still feel
compassion toward the PKK, despite the harm that its
occupation has done to their lives. A 54-year-old woman from
the Bare Gare Area of southeastern Amedi district (which was
destroyed by the PKK in 1996) reflected on the time when PKK
members lived among the Iraqi-Kurdish population as friends.
"We were treating them like our kids and always felt pity for
them. Many times, we offered them food and they were gentle
with us." "But," she continued, "after 1996, they totally
changed, inflicting great violence on Iraqi-Kurds. This
woman also said she would never support fighting between
Kurds. A 31-year-old man from Siyare echoed the same
sentiments. Not a single villager interviewed said that they
would support the use of violence against the PKK.


10. (SBU) Raben Rassan, Director of the NGO American Society
of Kurds (ASK),believes the vast majority of the Iraqi
Kurdish population sympathizes with the PKK's cause. Rassan
and other contacts agree that the PKK's support grows in
Turkey and Iraq every time it offers to renounce the use of
violence in exchange for amnesty, only to have its offers
refused by the GoT.

THE YOUTH: TERRORISTS OR FREEDOM FIGHTERS?
--------------


11. (SBU) With few exceptions, youth interviewed in all three
KR provinces were passionately sympathetic to the PKK.
(Note: Officials tell RRTOff that Kurdish youth may have
romanticized views of the PKK, since very few of them have
personally experienced the hardship of prolonged armed
conflict. End Note) Said a fourth-year engineering student
at the University of Sulaimaniyah, "their leader has been a
political prisoner for ten years. They are not allowed to
speak the Kurdish language or learn Kurdish history in
school. They are right to fight. Turkey is forcing them to
do so." Another engineering student in the same meeting
described what he called the GoT's hypocrisy: "The (GoT)
calls the PKK a terrorist organization. But at Davos,
Turkish PM Erdogan stormed out of the meeting because he said
QTurkish PM Erdogan stormed out of the meeting because he said
he wanted to show solidarity for the residents of the Gaza
Strip. Israel says they committed those actions against Gaza
because of Hamas. Hamas . . . has used more violence than
the PKK." Several students said they either would attend a
PKK demonstration or had already done so.


12. (SBU) Students conveyed feelings of both strong
solidarity with the Turkish Kurdish population -- for whom
the PKK claims that it is fighting -- and conflict over
whether the PKK's cause or its tactics are the more important
to consider when judging the PKK. Said one first-year
student at the University of Kurdistan-Hawler in Erbil,
"Asking us whether we support the PKK despite their use of
violence is like asking us whether we love our moms or our
dads more. We do not like their tactics, but they have no
other means by which to defend the rights of Kurds in
Turkey." A first-year student at the University of Dohuk
summarized the views of most students when he said: "Kurds
are Kurds no matter where they are. I am against the PKK
because they are hurting our Kurds in order to help their
Kurds. But I cannot be against the Kurds whom the PKK is
helping just because I do not like the PKK. Those Kurds
still deserve their rights." Most students interviewed said

BAGHDAD 00000774 003 OF 003


that they would not support a policy that advocates force to
compel PKK to leave northern Iraq.

THE KRG: PKK IS TURKEY'S PROBLEM
--------------


13. (SBU) The official KRG public line on the PKK is
straightforward and oft repeated: The PKK is a Turkish
problem. The KRG strongly disagrees with the PKK's tactics
and will not offer them any assistance, but will not fight
the PKK on Turkey's behalf any more. The Kurds lost 3,000
Peshmerga fighting the PKK in the nineties. The KRG believes
that the solution to the PKK problem lies in diplomatic and
political engagement of all involved, rather than violence
and hard-line positions. KRG officials hail recent GoT
overtures toward Turkish Kurds, such as a new national
television station that broadcasts in Kurdish, and permission
to teach the Kurdish language in Turkish universities.
However, they believe that this is only the beginning of what
the GoT must do to compete with the PKK message. Minister of
Interior Karim Sinjari mentioned in a March 3 meeting that
the KRG would be hosting a meeting of all the Kurdish parties
(in and outside Iraq) to drive home the message to the PKK
that a peaceful, negotiated solution is the only answer.

COMMENT
--------------


14. (SBU) The views described above paint a clear picture of
broad sympathy for the PKK as Kurds and defenders of Kurds,
ambivalence or criticism of the PKK's tactics, and a
rejection of further Peshmerga military action against the
PKK presence in northern Iraq. In addition to the costly,
failed attempt to compel the PKK to leave northern Iraq, the
PUK-KDP civil war in the nineties (in which the PKK was also
involved) adds to popular aversion of further fighting among
Kurds. As the KRG considers how to contribute to the
resolution of the PKK problem, we believe it will weigh
public opinion carefully. END COMMENT
BUTENIS