February 21, 1999

1. SIRIUS, Feb. 16, 1999; The Kurdish PKK & the Albanian KLA
2. Note to people and WSJ Commentary of Nov 20, 1998; Ocalan --Craven Europe
3. AP, Feb. 16, 1999, Kurd Rebel Leader Brought to Turkey
4. Kurds Stage Europe-Wide Protests
5. AP, Feb. 16, 1999; Key Issues in Kurds Struggle
6. Reuters, Feb 16, 1999; ANALYSIS-Tough Turkish tactics triumph again
7. Feb. 16, 1999; Djurdjevic-Svobodny note on Kurd Websites
8. Feb. 17, 1999; Aart Brouwer Notes on Kurds-Amsterdam
9. Reuters, Feb. 17, 1999; FOCUS-Turkey says Greek aid for Ocalan ``grave''
10. AP, Feb. 17, 1999; 3 Dead in Kurd Shootout in Berlin
11. Reuters, Feb. 17, 1999; Kurds demonstrate in Kosovo peace talks town
12. Reuters, Feb. 17, 1999; ANALYSIS-Ocalan trial raises human rights concerns
13. AP, Feb. 16, 1999 Biographical Background on Ocalan
14. BBC, Weds. Feb. 17, 1999; How Turkey Got Its Man
15. AFP, Feb. 18, 1999; CIA, Mossad Connection to Ocalan Capture Alleged in Kenya
16. CSM, Feb. 20, 1999; Summary of followup and aftershocks
17. Reuters, Feb. 20, 1999; FOCUS-Turk forces in partial north Iraqi pull-out
18. AFP Feb 20; US Role in Ocalan's Capture, per NY Times
19. NY Times, Feb. 20, 1999; U.S. Played Key Role in Capture of Kurd Rebel, Officials Say
20. Note from Aart Brouwer, Feb. 20, 1999
21. Toronto Sun, Feb. 21, 1999; Ocalan as "charismatic" martyr; Kurds' story is a tragic and complex drama.

* * * *

The situations of the Albanian Gegs of the Balkans and the Kurds of the Middle East have similarities and differences. The Albanians have a homeland --Albania-- and the 25 million or so Kurds are divided among Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Azerbaijan.

Both have revolutionary movements that are violent and also involved in the Heroin trade.

This is a file on Turkey's apprehension of Abdullah Ocalan, founding leader of the Marxistg-Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) revolutionary movement of Eastern Turkey. There is some informal correspondence between me --the archivist-- and other journalists-analysts included, as a means of illuminating the research process.

Benjamin Works

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1. SIT-REP 2-16; February 16, 1999

What do the Kurdish supporters of Abdullah Ocalan want by storming Greek Embassies across Europe? Beyond this "retired" terrorist chieftan's release, this minority political element within the larger Kurdish population of Turkey wants an ethnically defined state for Kurds, where Kurdish, rather than Turkish is the official language. What these protestors want is the same thing that most people think the US and partners of the 6-nation Contact Group are attempting to impose in Kosovo. Like the Albanians of Kosovo, the Kurds hope to get through fraud what they cannot achieve by force and terror.

There is bound to be pious spouting by governments and Human Rights groups in coming days, so let us watch this public show with some important background.

While there are historical analogies between the mountain Gegs and the mountain Kurds dating to the Ottoman Empire, there are more interesting and immediate analogies between the ongoing Albanian conspiracy of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) to carve a "Greater Albania" out of Yugoslavia and Macedonia, and Abdullah Ocalan's Marxist Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) attempt to erect a Kurdish state out of Turkey, Iraq and Iran. As an aside, among their many enterprises, those Albanian Mafia gangs which smuggle Albanian refugees across the Adriatic to Italy also smuggle illegal Kurdish immigrants and Kurds are also involved in the production of opium and heroin which the Albanian Mafia smuggles and distributes in Europe and America.

Like the Albanian supporters of the KLA, the Kurd supporters of the PKK would love to see Europe and the US support a deal that could lead to the creation of an independent Kurdish republic so that Kurds could then carve out parts of Iraq and Iran, but in fact, the best deal the NATO powers could negotiate with Anakara would be to ease restrictions on the use of Kurdish as an "equal" second language for broadcasting and other media. This process will begin with some pious statements of principles from the foreign offices of the Western powers, dwelling on group "rights and duties." Again, the PKK is supported by a minority of the Kurds within Turkey; over half of whom now live outside Kurdistan and are reasonably integrated in the Turkish polity and economy.

Now at the core, the Kurds of Turkey do have a reasonable case for easing official restrictions on the use of Kurdish in broadcasting and print media. Turkey's modern Constitution, based on the US model, has sought to curb Kurdish ambitions towards a autonomous state since its inception in the early 1920s, after Attaturk defeated a Greek Army's attempt to conquer western Turkey and stimulate its further partition. But the Turkish Constitution empowered the Army as a fourth and co-equal branch of government to prevent erection of an Islamic state out of a secular republic and to prevent Kurdish secession. Viewing language rights as the "thin end of the wedge" leading to autonomy and independence, which in turn would upset Iran and Iraq as well, the Army dictated a ban on the unofficial use of Kurdish in the media and that was pushing too hard.

Both attempts are supported by violent-minded Muslim ethnic mountain peoples and both have very chauvanistic roots. Both have resorted to every level of violence and are sustained by Mafia gangsters and expatriate communities spread throughout Europe. Both seek to exploit the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights' (UDHR) evolving interpretation as a charter for group entitlements within larger nation states, rather than its more general purpose of outlining reasonable individual and group rights. Both movements ignore the duties of individuals and groups to the nation and their neighbors. Both are dangerous perversions of politics. Where the UN charter is being perverted today is in its use to justify groups refusing to live cooperatively with others in their larger nation-state polities; the UDHR is becoming an invitation for groups to assert a right to not cooperate, and even to misbehave.

To add further perspective, Ocalan's PKK is responsible for some 29,000 deaths (the Turkish Government's estimate, another estimate is 37,000) in the last 14 years. Turkey has frequently pursued the PKK into northern Iraq since the end of Desert Storm and the two major Kurdish factions (led by Barzani and Talibani) in Iraq do not support the Marxist KLA. Further details are to be found in five news articles appended to this website report.

In October 1998, fed up with Ocalan's ability to hide in Syria and the Bekaa valley of Lebanon, Turkey massed an army on Syria's northern border, forcing President Assad to eject Ocalan and shut down his training camps. He fled to Russia, but Turkey threatened Moscow, among other things, threatening to restrict traffic of oil tankers through the Bosporus from Black Sea Port. Ocalan fled to Italy which arrested him based on an outstanding German warrant, but Germany's new Leftist government refused to extradite him for trial, while under pressure from Kurds in the streets of Rome, the Italian government refused to extradite him to Turkey, based on Human Rights concerns about Turkey's death penalty. While in Italy and in an attempt to gain greater sympathy from European governments, Ocalan publicly renounced terrrorism as a means to political power and announced his retirement and abandonment of the PKK army and cause. This of course, was concurrent with English and Spanish Lefts' attempts to indict and extradite General Agosto Pinochet for genocide and other crimes against humanity. Violent Leftists are protected and less-violent Rightists are prosecuted.

The organized move by Kurdish expatriates against some 20 Greek Embassies across Europe today, demonstrates to Europe and America, just how well-organized Ocalan's support is among those communities. But this was also demonstrated on the streets of Rome in mid-November, when Italy held Mr. Ocalan under arrest (see the Wall Street Journal editorial of Nov. 20 attached to the website report). Italy passed the hot potato on, leading Ocalan to Nairobi, which is still smarting from the August 1998 bombing of the US embassy by Osama bin Laden's Arab terrorist allies.

Lastly, it is an interesting and misfortunate irony that Greek embassies were targeted by the Kurds, who are also reportedly threatening Kenyan embassies. It appears from later wire reports that the Greeks did not directly hand Ocalan over to Turkey; rather, Kenya did, after he left his refuge for a flight back to Europe where it is reported he expected official refuge in the Netherlands. When the dust settles, I expect this extreme PKK attempt at coercing support for its cause will backfire.

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To: Stella, Bobdj, Mike Lofgren Nov. 21, 1998

I thought you might find this of interest regarding the NWO situation in Europe. The Journal does not compare this to the Pinochet pickle, but I do and that makes for interesting hypocrisy as we watch the EU continue to pick on Yugoslavia and everybody else who do not follow its Social Democrat "imperialist" agenda. South Africa's national reconciliation pact is okay, but Chile's is not. Attempts to indict Pinochet have been filed by everyone in the world except us, it seems, while the Spanish Courts refused to indict Castro.

Odd as it may seem to Serbs, Turkey's more clearly on the pariah list, too. It is a shame Cyprus cannot get resolved, what with the attention Rugova gets. Hmmm... Guess Bonn doesn't mind helping keep Greece and Turkey at loggerheads, too.

Ben Works

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The Wall Street Journal - November 20, 1998

Review & Outlook

Europe should be rejoicing. Italy has captured Abdullah Ocalan, known as "Apo," leader of a bloody 14-year terrorist campaign against Turkey, a NATO country. Now he can be brought to justice, providing Europe with a victory over terrorism and demonstrating NATO solidarity with Turkey in its long struggle against Apo's PKK guerrillas.

Apo's capture came about because Turkey threatened to attack Syria for harboring the PKK. Syria thought it wise to take the threat seriously, so it evicted Apo. He later was arrested in Rome. Turkey immediately asked Italy to turn him over. Taking account of Italian objections to capital punishment, Turkey even set about to alter its laws to eliminate that possibility.

So the ball is in Italy's court, giving it a chance to strike a blow against terrorism and take a foreign-policy leadership role in Europe. But incredibly, instead of siding with Turkey, Europe's leaders are running for cover.

Germany has had an arrest warrant out on Ocalan for years, but Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer -- a former Communist revolutionary -- dismissed his arrest as "a matter for Italy" and lectured that Ankara must improve its human rights record and "make concessions to a minority." In Belgium, where the PKK maintains a parliament in exile, the response was even meeker: "We are having problems enough in Belgium [with the PKK]," said Belgian Foreign Minister Erik Derycke evasively.

In short, Ocalan's PKK, with cells among the Kurdish diaspora throughout Europe, has quietly developed a capability to intimidate European governments. To show off its power, its adherents descended on Rome after the arrest to conduct protests against Italian authorities. Rather than taking a firm stand on behalf of law enforcement, Roman officials hurriedly set up tents and toilets for the demonstrators.

The PKK shrewdly appeals to traditional leftist sentiments while exploiting deeply rooted anti-Turkish prejudices in Europe. Well-placed sympathizers on the European left, such as the widow of the late French President Francois Mitterrand, have lent it legitimacy, obscuring its terrorist methods. Ocalan has in recent months met with a number of European politicians and parliamentarians in Damascus, including Labor MP John Austin.

Apo chose carefully in picking Italy as his country of destination after being refused asylum by Russia. The parliament building in Rome had been made available to the Kurdish parliament-in-exile. Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema is a former Communist.

We may finally be witnessing the rotten fruits of the political legitimization of the likes of Gerry Adams, Yasser Arafat and even Slobodan Milosevic. Indeed, the most appalling official response has come from the Italian government itself. Prime Minister D'Alema told parliament that, in effect, the door was open to giving Ocalan political asylum -- provided Italy is convinced that Ocalan has indeed renounced terrorism. It takes a gravity-defying contortion of logic, law and common sense to suggest that Ocalan has even the tiniest case for political asylum. It would constitute a most dangerous legitimization of the kind of terror Ocalan specialized in.

The U.S. for its part weighed in Wednesday, somewhat tardily but at least on the right side, when James P. Rubin, State Department spokesman, said that the U.S. thinks Ocalan should be extradited. The U.S. has reason to fear an Italian capitulation to terrorism. In 1985, U.S. jets forced an airliner carrying four suspected hijackers of the cruise liner Achille Lauro to land in Italy. But the Italian government, over strong U.S. objections, released the suspected ringleader, Abul Abbas, even though the terrorists had cold-bloodedly killed an elderly, disabled American Jew, Leon Klinghoffer, by throwing him overboard. Two other terrorists, convicted in an Italian court, escaped under mysterious circumstances.

Mr. D'Alema, with his colleagues around Europe, may feel annoyed by the threatening insistence of Turkish officials. He may feel pressured by the presence in Europe of thousands of Kurdish supporters. But if he shows cowardice on this crucial matter he will be sowing dragon's teeth throughout the civilized world.

* * * *

By SELCAN HACAOGLU .c The Associated Press

ANKARA, Turkey (Feb. 16) - Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan's international quest for asylum ended today after Turkey's prime minister announced that Ocalan had been brought here to face justice.

''We had promised that the state would catch him, we have kept our promise,'' Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said. ''He will pay the price of his accounts to the independent Turkish courts.''

Ocalan's arrival marks a victory for Turkey, which wants to prosecute him for waging a guerilla war for autonomy that claimed tens of thousands of lives. He faces the death penalty if convicted.

Ecevit did not say when Turkey would put him on trial. Ocalan was once tried in absentia, but a verdict was never issued.

Before Ocalan's capture was announced, Kurds launched demonstrations across Europe and stormed Greek diplomatic compounds.

Ocalan, whose whereabouts had been unknown since he left Rome in January, arrived in Turkey today after surfacing in Kenya, Ecevit said.

Ecevit said his capture was the result of a 12-day covert operation, but gave no details. He did not say where Ocalan was being held.

Greek Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos said Ocalan arrived in Kenya on Feb. 2 and had been given refuge in the Greek embassy.

He said Ocalan left against the advice of his hosts, heading for the Nairobi airport on Monday to fly to the Netherlands. Pangalos said Greek authorities said they lost track of him after he left the Greek compound.

According to Pangalos, Ocalan's representatives had been negotiating independently with African governments for asylum.

Pangalos also hinted at possible American complicity. The United States regards Ocalan as a terrorist and had pressed Italy to extradite him to Turkey.

''I had contacts with the American government and asked it to use its agencies to find out exactly what happened, or, if it knows, to let us know and inform international opinion as quickly as possible,'' he said.

Turkey has maintained an uncompromising stance toward Kurds since 1984 when Ocalan's Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, launched a guerrilla war for autonomy on behalf of Turkey's 12 million Kurds. The Kurds are seeking, among other things, the rights to teach and broadcast in their own language.

The government has refused to negotiate with the PKK, which it calls a terrorist organization, and has rebuffed all calls for a cease-fire.

''Everyone must understand that no one can challenge our state and no one can get anywhere in Turkey with separatist terrorism,'' Ecevit said, his voice trembling with emotion.

He appealed to the guerrillas to lay down their arms and surrender. ''You have reached the dead end,'' he told them.

PKK has recruited around 10,000 guerrillas over the years, mostly from the remote poverty-stricken southeastern Turkey.

''While you were fighting in the mountains, Ocalan was living in luxury,'' Ecevit said. ''Say ''Enough!' to Ocalan and come and reunite with your mothers, fathers.''

Ocalan's capture could be a major blow on the PKK, which risks becoming mired in internal conflicts over leadership.

The rebel leader's odyssey began last fall after Syria, under threat of attack from Turkey, expelled him from his longtime base.

After a brief stay in Russia, Ocalan went to Italy in November and asked for political asylum. Italy refused to extradite him to Turkey because he faced the death penalty, but was unwilling to grant him asylum and asked him to leave. In January he left Italy and his whereabouts had been a mystery.

He was denied refuge in a number of European countries before going to Kenya.

On Feb. 2, he tried to fly to the Netherlands but was turned away and headed for Nairobi. Pangalos said Greece allowed Ocalan's private jet to refuel in Greece as a ''humanitarian gesture'' when he was enroute to Kenya.

AP-NY-02-16-99 0654EST

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Protesters Take Hostages in Greek Embassies to Demand a Safe Haven Rebel Leader

By ELENA BECATOROS

.c The Associated Press

ATHENS, Greece (Feb. 16) - Kurdish protesters burst into Greek embassies and missions around Europe today, taking hostages and threatening to set themselves on fire to demand a safe haven for a Kurdish rebel leader.

The Kurds' anti-Greek demonstrations in London, Moscow, Stockholm and other European cities came as Turkey announced it had captured Abdullah Ocalan and would prosecute him for waging a guerrilla war in southeastern Turkey that has cost 37,000 thousand lives.

Kurds had wanted Greece to grant Ocalan permanent asylum and quickly turned their fury against Greek diplomatic sites.

In a plush Hague neighborhood in the Netherlands, hundreds of angry Kurds burst through a police cordon and forced their way into the house of the Greek ambassador. They were holding three people hostage, including the ambassador's wife and their 8-year-old child, police spokeswoman Lineke Bennema said.

In Vienna, Kurdish protesters burst into the Greek and Kenyan embassies today and took five hostages at the Greek mission, including the ambassador, police said. Authorities cordoned off the site and were trying to negotiate with the protesters.

They threatened to set the Kenyan Embassy on fire unless their demands for talks were met.

About 50 Kurdish demonstrators who occupied the Greek Embassy in Brussels today doused themselves with gasoline and threatened to set themselves on fire if police attempted to drive them out, Belgian radio reported.

At the Greek consulate in Strasbourg, France, Kurds with gasoline cans threatened to burn down the building.

There were few large protests in Greece. Authorities had been given orders to immediately arrest any group of protesting Kurds, police sources said. At least 80 Kurds were reportedly detained.

All around Europe, security was increased around Greek institutions for fears of attacks or occupation attempts.

Greek Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos ordered Kurds to leave all Greek diplomatic areas or authorities would ''take appropriate action.''

Greek authorities claim they lost sight of Ocalan on Monday after he left the compound to travel to the Nairobi airport for a flight to the Netherlands, where his representatives had been conducting private negotiations for asylum.

''The Greek government ... granted him a place to stay in Kenya where he had traveled after his efforts to find permission to reside in various European countries,'' a government statement said.

Ocalan has been on the run since he was forced last year to leave his longtime base of Syria under threat of military action by Turkey. After a brief stay in Russia, he spent two months in Italy, but left Jan. 16.

Earlier Monday, a protester set himself ablaze outside the Greek Parliament to demand the country grant political asylum to Ocalan.

Kurds took control of diplomatic compounds in at least six German cities: Berlin, Bonn, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Hamburg and Duesseldorf. Kurds also occupied Greek diplomatic buildings in London; Marseilles, France; Stockholm, Sweden; and Zurich, Switzerland.

Serious security concerns were raised in Germany, which has the largest Kurdish population in western Europe, numbering 400,000 of its 2 million Turks.

In Denmark today, a Kurdish woman outside the Greek Embassy in Copenhagen set herself on fire and was seriously burned.

Another group of about 40 Kurdish protesters broke into the U.N. European headquarters in Geneva before dawn today.

AP-NY-02-16-99 0643EST

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5.. Key Issues in Kurds' Struggle

.c The Associated Press

Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan's futile search for a new base and his return to Turkey mark a new chapter in the Kurdish conflict. Some key facts about the Kurdish problem:

Q: Who are the Kurds and how many are there?

A: There are 20 million to 25 million Kurds spread out in Turkey, Syria, Iran and Iraq. About 12 million live in Turkey, most in the poor southeastern region. Kurds share a common language, related to Iran's Farsi, and are overwhelmingly Sunni Muslims.

Q: What is the legal status of Kurds in Turkey?

A: Kurds are not recognized as a minority - unlike Greeks, Armenians, Assyrians and Jews. Recognized minorities have the right to teach in their respective languages.

Q: What rights do Kurds have in Turkey?

A: A ban imposed by Turkey's last military government on the use of Kurdish in unofficial settings was lifted in 1991, but Kurdish is illegal in broadcasts, educational or political settings. A court case to ban Turkey's main pro-Kurdish party is under way.

Q: When did the Kurdish independence movements begin?

A: Kurds were promised a homeland in the 1920 Treaty of Sevres, which carved up Turkey after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, fought to regain the land, destroying plans for a Kurdish state. There have been numerous Kurdish revolts since.

Q: When was the Kurdish Workers Party, or PKK, created and what are its aims?

A: The PKK was established in 1978 and turned to armed struggle in 1984. Originally fighting for independence, the group now says it aims for an autonomous Kurdish state or a federation with Turkey.

Q: What's the toll of the conflict?

A: Close to 37,000 people have died. The PKK has waged a guerrilla war in the southeastern mountains and carried out attacks in western Turkey and Europe.

Q: What's the likelihood of the PKK's survival after its leader's capture?

A: Ocalan's capture is a major blow for the PKK. The group might fall into internal conflicts and face a leadership problem. More radical activists might opt for intensifying the armed struggle. Moderates might choose to concentrate on a political solution.

Q: How does Turkey answer accusations that it discriminates against Kurds?

A: Turkey insists that Turks and Kurds are equal and points to success stories of Kurds, including late President Turgut Ozal and Parliament Speaker Hikmet Cetin.

AP-NY-02-16-99 0636EST

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6. ANALYSIS-Tough Turkish tactics triumph again

By Paul Taylor, Diplomatic Editor

LONDON, Feb 16 (Reuters) - The capture of Kurdish guerrilla leader Abdullah Ocalan is a triumph for Turkey's tactics of using military threats, commercial pressure, street protests and political intimidation to achieve its diplomatic aims.

But analysts say the trial of ``the world's most unwanted man,'' seized in murky circumstances in Nairobi after four months of international buck-passing on his fate, may yet rebound on Turkey's military-dominated government, leading to more pressure for Kurdish autonomy.

To supporters, the Turkish authorities have played hardball skilfully to grab a ``terrorist'' chieftain they hold responsible for 29,000 deaths in a 14-year separatist war waged by his separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

To critics, they have bullied neighbours and NATO allies in a campaign that has dramatised the Kurdish cause, especially in Europe, rather than weakening it.

``On the face of it, this is a remarkable success for Turkey. The Turks will obviously now try to use Ocalan's trial to drive a wedge between the PKK and moderate Kurds,'' said Professor Keith Kyle, an expert on Greek and Turkish affairs at Britain's Royal Institute of International Affairs.

``But the Turks have not been very subtle about the way they have done this thing, and it is quite possible they will make a mess of it,'' he said.

James Ker-Lindsay, a specialist on Turkey-Greek relations at London's Royal United Services Institute think-tank, said that while Ankara had scored a big victory in snatching Ocalan, it had not won the battle to persuade international public opinion that the PKK was an unrepresentative terrorist group.

``The PKK has received lots of publicity and managed to get across its claim to the right of self-determination. Many people in Western Europe don't understand the issue and equate the PKK with the Kurds,'' he said. ``The most dangerous moment for Turkey may be now that he has been arrested.''

Instead of opening a dialogue with moderate Kurdish autonomists in the legal HADEP political party, the Turkish authorities were harassing and arresting its members and moving to possibly outlaw the group, Ker-Lindsay said.

Ankara massed troops and went to the brink of war with Damascus last October to force Syria to expel the Kurdish warlord it had long harboured, and to close PKK bases and supply lines to fighters in southeastern Turkey.

Alarmed by Ankara's increasingly close military cooperation with Israel, which raised the spectre of Syria's encirclement by hostile powers, President Hafez al-Assad backed down.

The Turks then turned pressure tactics on Russia, forcing Moscow to deny Ocalan asylum and put him on a plane to Rome in November despite an appeal from the Russian parliament.

Turkey then tried to use the same methods with Italy, which detained Ocalan on an old arrest warrant from Germany.

It barred Italian firms from defence tenders, encouraged a trade boycott and incited street demonstrations at home and in Europe, where PKK supporters in the large immigrant community staged counter-protests demanding Ocalan's freedom.

``Ocalan has become such a hot potato that no one wants to handle him,'' a senior European Union official said. ``No EU country wants to import a Turkish civil war.''

That appears to have been Greece's calculation in refusing to admit Ocalan when he landed on a Greek island on February 1.

Kyle noted that despite multiple disputes with Turkey, the Greek government had done Ankara a favour for the second time in weeks by refusing to admit Ocalan and making him go to Kenya.

In December, Athens helped defuse a crisis over the planned deployment by Cyprus of Russian anti-aircraft missiles, which Turkey had threatened to destroy, when it agreed to put them on the Greek island of Crete instead.

That was another victory for Turkey's tough tactics.

Greek analysts say Prime Minister Costas Simitis has given absolute priority to putting his country in the European Union's first division by qualifying to join the euro single currency by 2001 -- and all disputes have been put on hold pending that.

Ocalan's return to Turkey after a fruitless odyssey in search of a country willing to give him shelter leaves many unanswered questions:

What role, if any, did the United States or Israel play in locating and capturing him?

Both countries are strong supporters of Turkey and have the electronic eavesdropping and covert action capabilities to have helped in his abduction.

Washington officially called in November for Italy to hand Ocalan over to Turkey for trial and said it was working with its allies to achieve that aim.

But spokesmen for both the United States and Israel denied any role on Tuesday.

Did the Greek government, despite its denials, cooperate in Ocalan's arrest after he spent 12 days holed up in the Greek embassy in Kenya, and can Athens expect any quid pro quo from Ankara in return for incurring the PKK's wrath?

Why was the European Union, which aspires to a common foreign and security policy, unable to find any joint solution to the Ocalan affair, despite appeals from both Italy and Greece?

Will his capture end a crisis between Turkey and the EU, which began when EU leaders refused in December 1997 to consider the Turkish application for membership of the Union in the same category as those of even the poorest east European candidates?

Or will it fan widespread sympathy in Western Europe for the Kurdish political struggle and deepen the gulf with Ankara?

09:58 02-16-99

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7. Date: 99-02-16 15:26:42 EST

From: bobdj@djurdjevic.com (Bob Djurdjevic)

Bob:

If you think the media suppression of the serbs was bad, you should consider the kurds. I have tried to find one snippet of info from the kurdish point of view, in print or on the internet --- without success. Everything is ultimately traceable to turkish government sources. Some kurdish internet sites: pkk.org, kurdistan.com, have been shut down.

According to US and Germany, PKK are terrorist, while KLA are freedom fighters.

Tom S

----

Thanks for your feedback, Tom. Enclosed below is a copy of a report by Ben Works on some of the similarities and differences between the PKK and KLA. I am copying Ben on this message, in case he wants to add anything to your above note.

Best,

Bob Dj.

----

Gentlemen,

The more I think this PKK grab of embassies the more interesting it gets.

The Kurd and Albanian communities in Europe are in the same cities, such as Brussels...

There was a coordinated swoop on some 20+ Greek facilities on very short notice, showing they have good intel and have teams ready to go in a near instant. These guys are organized and imagine what they could do with bombs instead of gas cans.

We just got another interesting preview of increasingly agile info-age terror.

More soon.

Ben Works

* * * *

Date: 99-02-17 04:26:35 EST

From: brouwer@groene.nl (Aart Brouwer)

To: BenWorks@aol.com

Ben,

spare me the Playboy jokes, man. Let's have some U.S. inside info on the Kurds. You're absolutely right that the Kurds have a degree of coordination that surprises everyone. Wait till the bro's figure out the American assistance to the Turks in their tracking and arrest of Ocalan. Spoken to a Kurd over tea lately? Their point is that if we're going tits over arse over the rights of Kosovars, then why aren't we similarly

concerned over the rights of Kurds to an autonomous or independent territory?

Because of Turkey's pivotal role in stability in the Middle East and the Balkans at the same time. Sure, sure, that's the official line. But they would counter that there IS no stability in the Middle East or on the

Balkans. So let' have some creative thinking on a possible Kurdish contribution to future stability in the region. What if we DO grant the buggers an independent territory in the North of Iraq, maybe even split that country specially for them. Poor Saddam would cry all the way to Moscow, but who cares? This rump-Kurdistan would never make more than a weak buffer state and it would be bad for the oil industry,

but the rest of us might feel better and instead of destabilizing Turkey, it might actually divert a lot of negative vibes away from the Turks. Ecevit would be the right man for such a deal, because he is very experienced, smart and not a mere puppet of the generals.

Any suggestions?

Couple of pals and I have good Kurdish sources, we've been following developments for a year or so. Ocalan tried to apply for political asylum in Holland three times, allegedly because we have tolerant asylum laws. Truth is the bro's have their European nerve center here. We think we know where.

In Amsterdam. Hmmm...

'\o-o/`

* * * *

9. FOCUS-Turkey says Greek aid for Ocalan ``grave''

ANKARA, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Turkey said on Wednesday that rival Greece's hosting of captured Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan in its Kenyan embassy was a ``grave event'' and Athens had misled Ankara over its support for guerrillas.

``This person was hosted by the Greek embassy in Kenya which is a grave and thought-provoking event,'' Foreign Ministry spokesman Sermet Atacanli told a news briefing.

``It is understood that Greek official statements to us on the subject were incorrect and misleading,'' Atacanli said.

Greece, at odds with Turkey over Cyprus and territorial rights in the Aegean Sea, has consistently denied helping Ocalan's Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels, who have fought for self-rule in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast since 1984.

``We have taken note of the situation and we will make our position clear when the time comes,'' Atacanli said. Ocalan was apprehended by Turkey on Monday after being sheltered in the Greek embassy in Nairobi for 12 days.

The capture of Ocalan has sparked a wave of protests across Europe, with Kurdish demonstrators occupying Greek embassies, among others, for what they see as Athens' complicity in handing over the guerrilla chief to Turkey.

Atacanli said Ankara had repeatedly told European countries that ``going soft on 'terrorism' would make them the target of the terrorism one day.''

European Union nations have called for a fair trial of Ocalan, charged with treason for his role in the conflict which has killed more than 29,000 people.

Turkish police detained three lawyers for Ocalan who arrived in Istanbul late on Tuesday and told them to get on the next plane out of the country.

``We know their past records, they acted in the past as militants rather than legitimate lawyers,'' Atacanli said. ``Those who become a tool in the hands of the terrorist organisation will not be permitted to function in Turkey.''

He said Turkey would not allow foreign pressure groups to interfere with Ocalan's trial.

``The hearings are open to the public. Those who wish can participate as listeners but Turkey will not be warm to those who try to come here bearing a title which they have awarded themselves,'' Atacanli said.

The lawyers vowed to keep pressing Turkish authorities for access to their client.

``We are telling Turkey: 'We're on this case and we intend to stay on it','' Netherlands-based lawyer Britta Boehler told reporters at Amsterdam airport.

08:38 02-17-99

* * * *

.c The Associated Press

BERLIN, Germany (AP) -- Three people were killed today during a shootout involving Kurds at the Israeli consulate in Berlin, police said.

Further details were not immediately available.

The Interior Ministry increased security at likely targets of Kurd attacks after Kurdish demonstrators occupied consulates throughout Greece on Tuesday in protest of the arrest in Kenya of Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan. Ocalan was later delivered to Turkey for trial on capital charges of terrorism.

Israeli diplomatic missions around the world were placed on alert today for possible attacks. The move came after a news report claimed that Israel's famed Mossad agency helped Turkey track Ocalan. Israel has vehemently denied involvement in Ocalan's capture.

AP-NY-02-17-99 0846EST

* * * *

RAMBOUILLET, France, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Kurds incensed at the capture of guerrilla leader Abdullah Ocalan and his return to Turkey demonstrated on Wednesday in the French town where internationally-sponsored Kosovo peace talks are under way.

Ocalan, leader of the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), was spirited out of Kenya under mysterious circumstances after spending 12 days at the Greek embassy there and arrived in Turkey early on Tuesday morning.

Although no Greeks, Turks or Kenyans were known to be in Rambouillet, demonstrators said European officials were here and the protest was directed against the fact that no European country had been willing to grant Ocalan refuge.

``It's a demonstration against all Europe, because they sold our president,'' said Bulut Serdar, one of the protesters. ``France and Germany are accomplices.''

Turkey's most wanted man, Ocalan was forced out of Syria last October after living there for many years and then embarked on an odyssey around Europe, seeking refuge, before going on to Kenya.

The Kosovo peace talks are between Serbs and ethnic Albanians but have been organised by the big power Contact Group - France, Britain, Germany, Italy, Russia and the United States.

About 100 Kurds waving Kurdish flags and pictures of Ocalan, and some clad in national costume, chanted ``Free Ocalan,'' ``Solidarity'' and ``Long Live Kurdistan.''

Police confined them to a square at the far end of town from the chateau where the talks are going on.

It was business-as-usual for Rambouillet's 25,000 residents, who have already seen several demonstrations by ethnic Albanians and Serbs in recent days.

Kurds have been demonstrating and occupying Greek and Kenyan diplomatic missions in a number of European cities since news of Ocalan's capture broke on Tuesday.

08:06 02-17-99

* * * *

By Paul Taylor, Diplomatic Editor

LONDON, Feb 17 (Reuters) - The world will be watching the trial of captured Kurdish guerrilla leader Abdullah Ocalan as a test of Turkey's much criticised human rights record, and first signs are not encouraging, campaigners say.

Ocalan, whose Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) has waged a 14-year separatist war in southeastern Turkey in which at least 29,000 people have died, was seized in Kenya on Monday and spirited to Turkey to face trial and a possible death sentence on charges ranging from treason to murder.

Many Western governments, while relieved that an embarrassing international game of pass-the-parcel over Ocalan was over, have insisted that he be given a fair, public trial.

Given Turkey's documented record of torture of Kurdish guerrilla suspects, secret trials by state security courts and lack of an internationally accepted appeals procedure, human rights groups say they fear the worst.

Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit dismissed concerns voiced by France, Italy and Switzerland, saying: ``Nobody can deny Turkey has an independent and functioning legal system. No European country has the right to lecture us on this subject.''

But even the United States, Ankara's close ally which worked to help the Turks grab Ocalan, tempered delight at his arrest with a plea for even-handed justice.

``We certainly trust that Turkey will conduct a fair and open trial in a manner consistent with international standards of due process. We don't have any reason to expect otherwise. But cetainly the world community will be looking forward to a trial of that nature,'' State Department spokesman James Foley said.

The European Commission, in a progress review last November on Turkey's application for membership, criticised ``persistent violations of human rights and important deficiencies in the treatment of minorities,'' such as the Kurds.

Human rights and civilian control over the military are two major sticking points in Ankara's bid to eventually join the EU.

The European Court of Human Rights has repeatedly upheld complaints from Turkish Kurds on torture and the destruction of property, accepting that the Turkish legal system did not provide adequate remedy.

Pressure group Amnesty International wrote to Ecevit urging that Ocalan be given immediate and unhindered access to a lawyer of his choice and that ``all necessary steps be taken to assure his physical integrity'' -- a euphemism for not torturing him.

``Since all the world will be watching his trial, we would hope they would take every step to ensure it is not only fair but seen to be fair,'' said Anne Burley, director of Amnesty's European regional programme.

Amnesty said in November that Turkey's shaky human rights record had shown signs of improvement since March 1997.

However, Ocalan's defence has not had an easy start.

International lawyers working for Ocalan, led by Dutch-based German attorney Britta Boehler, were turned back at Istanbul airport and refused entry into Turkey on Tuesday, a spokeswoman for his German lawyers said.

Amnesty and the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) said they would try to attend his trial but the Turkish Foreign Ministry said international observers would not be permitted.

Ecevit said Ocalan was being held at an island prison in the Sea of Marmara and his interrogation had already started.

Asked when the trial would start and how long it would last, he said: ``It need not last too long because all the unlawful actions, the crimes of the PKK leadership are known.''

Given such statements, human rights activists are concerned that Ocalan will be presumed guilty until proven innocent.

Some campaigners said the nature of Ocalan's extra-legal abduction from Kenya was problematic in itself, while others said Turkey was entitled to capture and try him.

``There is a big question mark about how they assumed jurisdiction over him. It certainly was not a legal way of extradition,'' said Mona Rishmawi of the Geneva-based ICJ. ``In the light of these circumstances, can he have a fair trial?''

Rishmawi said it was vital that Ocalan be tried by a civilian court and not a security court, and that hearings be held in public, not in camera -- the normal procedure for security courts.

Amnesty's Burley said the London-based human rights group did not oppose Ocalan being brought to trial and had criticised abuses by PKK members.

However, she said Amnesty was very concerned about cases of people being convicted in Turkey on the basis of confessions or statements by witnesses extracted by torture.

Turkey's powerful military said last month it was making progress in efforts to prevent human rights abuses in the fight against Kurdish separatists.

But the country's top human rights activist, Akin Berdal, said he doubted there had been any improvement in the army's record on crimes such as torture and extrajudicial killings.

08:43 02-17-99

* * * *

By SELCAN HACAOGLU .c The Associated Press

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) -- Abdullah Ocalan -- using guns, bombs and an iron fist -- formed a guerrilla movement from a few Kurdish insurgents in Turkey's impoverished southeast that eventually stretched across Europe and the Middle East.

A college dropout and one of seven children from a poor farming family, Ocalan, 49, established the Kurdistan Workers Party in 1978 to seek independence for the Kurds.

The stocky, mustachioed rebel fled Turkey in 1979 and turned to armed struggle in 1984, recruiting thousands of young Kurdish men and women, driven by nationalism, poverty and anger over the feudal system still prevalent in the southeast.

He said the Kurds had been ``humiliated for centuries,'' and needed to regain their self-esteem. By the late 1980s, he was willing to accept an autonomous solution short of independence.

Ocalan ordered his fighters, schooled in Marxism, to kill Turkish teachers so that Kurds would not have to learn Turkish. But Ocalan himself reportedly knows little Kurdish and speaks Turkish.

Under Ocalan's leadership, the Kurdistan Workers Party set up political offices across Europe and the Middle East to win support from foreign governments and raise money from Kurds living in exile or working abroad.

Ocalan himself never fought in the battlefields, reportedly issuing orders from a villa in Syria, while his guerrillas lived on rice, and fought and died in snow-covered mountains.

The Turkish military has learned how to combat guerrilla warfare over the years and claims to have the upper hand against Ocalan's fighters. The conflict has cost nearly 37,000 lives.

Since Ankara forced Ocalan out of his long time base in Syria in October, Turkey has waged a diplomatic war in Europe and the Middle East to have him extradited to Turkey and tried on capital charges for ``atrocities'' it says his guerrillas committed in their 14-year war.

Ocalan, who separated from his wife in the 1990s, is said to have no children.

AP-NY-02-16-99 1117EST

* * * *

BBC Wednesday, February 17, 1999 Published at 13:59 GMT

World: Europe

As Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan languishes inside a Turkish jail, the mystery surrounding his capture in Kenya is taking on the appearance of an archaeological puzzle.

Piecing together the story of how Turkey's public enemy number one was finally caught entails as many official as unofficial versions.

So far, Kenya has dismissed any suggestion that it was involved with Mr Ocalan's refuge in the capital.

Nairobi is adamant that when it discovered that the fugitive Kurdish leader was staying at the Greek ambassador's residence, Athens was told to remove him from Kenyan territory.

The Kenyan Foreign Minister, Bonyana Godana, accuses the Greek ambassador of bringing the Kurdistan Workers' Party leader into Kenya illegally on 3 February.

The Greeks however say the Kenyans had everything to do with it. Athens says that Kenyan security forces drove Mr Ocalan to the airport where, he believed, he would fly to the Netherlands.

But the car was spirited away during the journey, Greek officials say, and the Kurdish leader ended up in Turkey.

Nairobi has hotly denied this and accused Athens of lying.

Now, there are also unofficial signs that the US might have been involved in the capture.

Robert Fox, an expert on diplomatic affairs, says it would be highly unlikely for Washington not to have known about Mr Ocalan's refuge, as one of the CIA's main stations is in Nairobi.

But Washington is sitting on the fence on this one. A spokesman for the Washington administration, which is desperate to retain Turkey's backing for its battle against Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, said that the US "had no direct involvement."

Meanwhile in Ankara, Turkish newspapers described the capture as a national triumph over arch enemy Greece.

They say that Turkish special forces flew to Kenya in an executive jet and snatched the leader from under the nose of the Greeks.

But the media reasoned that the Turks must have had help from someone, either Kenya or the US.

But questions remain: Did Greece know that Mr Ocalan was walking into a trap when he was escorted to the airport? Just how much help did Greece have from its US allies? And did Greece set aside its enmity with Turkey to hatch a deal with them to get their man.

The BBC Correspondent in Athens, Paul Wood, says a theory now emerging from diplomats and from the Greek media is that there must have been some kind of leak of information for the Turks to know of Mr Ocalan's whereabouts.

Mr Ocalan apparently started making threats. One suggestion is there was a telephone conversation with government ministers in Athens over an open telephone line.

And speculation in Athens suggests that it was decided in a rather hurried manner to take him to the airport to get him to the Netherlands.

It was during that journey, so the theory goes, that he was snatched.

Greek newspapers on Wednesday lambasted their government for allowing Ocalan to be delivered to Turkish authorities.

Analysts say Mr Ocalan's capture bears all the hallmarks of an Israeli operation, citing in particular the spiriting away 20 years ago of nuclear scientist Mordechi Vananu.

Israel denies any role in this latest operation but it would give the US great satisfaction to see Israel and Turkey cosying up together.

What is certain is that in early February with no European country wanting to give him refuge, Mr Ocalan decided to fly to Greece.

When he landed in Corfu, the Greeks decided they would try to take charge of matters.

They knew he could not stay in Greece because that would anger the Turkish Government, so the decision was made to fly him to Nairobi with the aim of finding an African government that would accept him.

If this theory of how Mr Ocalan was captured is close to the truth, it will be a major embarrassment for the Greek Government.

* * * *

Date: 99-02-18 09:28:32 EST

NAIROBI, Feb 18 (AFP) - Kenyan sources are claiming that America's CIA was involved in snatching Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan from Nairobi on Monday, and some maintain Israel's Mossad was also involved, but details of the abduction remain murky.

What has become clear is that Kenya's security services were deeply involved, despite point-blank denials by Foreign Minister Bonaya Godana at a press conference on Tuesday.

Both the US Central Intelligence agency and the Mossad have a strong presence in Nairobi, using it as their east African headquarters, intelligence sources say.

This presence has been beefed up since car-bomb attacks on the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam on August 7 last year which left 224 people dead, 12 of them Americans, and some 5,000 injured.

The following day, the Israelis sent a specialised army team to Nairobi which took over the search for survivors in the debris. Washington accuses fugitive Saudi Arabian multi-millionaire Osama bin Laden of masterminding the bombings, and the CIA and Mossad are concentrating their efforts here on monitoring Arabs in east Africa, and African Moslems who might have ties with Arab terrorists.

Intelligence sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, say it was the Americans who tipped off the Kenyans to Ocalan's presence here -- he was sneaked into the country by Greek diplomats, arriving on a private plane under an assumed name -- and that the Israelis were also aware of his presence.

The Americans and the Israelis then put diplomatic pressure on Kenya to return Ocalan to the Turks, they say.

Kenyan sources say Godana was opposed to handing him over, but was overruled by President Daniel arap Moi, who makes all major foreign policy decisions and is determined to remain on good terms

with the United States and Israel.

But this decision blew up in his face, with demonstrators attacking three Kenyan embassies in Europe, forcing Nairobi to temporarily close all its diplomatic missions abroad and face the prospect of future terrorist attacks.

Workers fled a central Nairobi building housing the headquarters of Kenya's immigration department on Thursday morning after an anonymous caller said a bomb had been placed there, but the bomb squad issued an all-clear after a sweep with sniffer-dogs. Various sources give the following scenario for Ocalan's

abduction.

The Kenyan government put pressure on Greek ambassador George Costorlas to expel Ocalan from his residence, where he had been sheltering since February 2, and issued a formal deportation order.

On Monday, Ocalan left the residence in a car driven by a Kenyan, and with a Kenyan security man sitting beside him.

The independent Daily Nation newspaper reported Thursday that "reliable Kenyan security sources said the (Kenyan) intelligence services played a crucial role in the arrest and deportation."

It quoted Greek diplomats here as saying Kenyan intelligence men seized Ocalan inside the residence.

Various sources here confirm the Greek version of what happened next -- that the car, which was accompanied by several others, left the convoy on the way to the airport.

Ocalan was then put aboard a plane, said to be a French-built Falcon jet owned by a Turkish businessman, and flown back to Turkey for trial, handcuffed and blindfolded.

The privately owned KTN television station reported Wednesday night: "sources now indicate that Ocalan's arrest was a well co-ordinated affair between four countries: the host, Kenya, the middle-men, Greece, Turkey -- which has been after Ocalan -- and the fourth country, the United States. On the alleged US link, sources say the US government had pressured Kenyan authorities to hand over

Ocalan to the Turkish intelligence."

Several other people who arrived in Kenya on February 2 with Ocalan aboard a private jet remained at the residence Wednesday, from where two gave telephone interviews to Greek media.

But officials later told Kenyan journalists they were holding four Ocalan associates, and it was not clear if any remained in the residence on Thursday.

Kenya asked for the ambassador's immediate recall after accusing him of lying about Ocalan's presence in his residence, but a security guard at the residence told an AFP photographer Thursday morning that the ambassador was still inside then.

--- ENDS ---

* * * *

16. Date: 99-02-18 18:42:42 EST

CSM

2/18/99

Compiled by Robert Kilborn and Lance Carden

From east africa, to Iraq, to central Europe, the fallout deepened over Turkey's capture of Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan:

*Turkey pledged that Ocalan would be given a fair trial, but said it would not tolerate foreign interference. Ocalan (above in blindfold and handcuffs) was being interrogated by intelligence officers at a high-security prison prior to his first court appearance - due in about two weeks. Meanwhile, hundreds of Kurdish activists were jailed following violent protests over the capture. And thousands of Turkish troops pushed into northern Iraq to attack Kurdish guerrilla bases in the hope that their quarry would be demoralized at Ocalan's arrest.

*In Athens, Greek Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos and two other Cabinet members resigned at the demand of Premier Costas Simitis. They were held responsible for allowing the Kurdish fugitive onto Greek soil and then to seek refuge in Greece's embassy in Kenya. Simitis ordered an investigation, but ruled out early elections because of the affair.

*Kenya's immigration chief was fired and the finance minister quit rather than accept a demotion in moves that analysts said were at least hastened by the Ocalan affair.

*Rioters and other Kurdish demonstrators targeted Turkish-owned businesses and cultural centers across Germany in a third day of protests over Ocalan's arrest. A Kurdish spokesman said Israel now would be the chief target of retaliation after three protesters were killed by security guards Wednesday as they tried to storm Israel's consulate in Berlin. Israel, meanwhile, denied reports that its Mossad intelligence agency had assisted Turkey in capturing Ocalan and said the guards had acted in self-defense. In Vienna, police cordoned off the UN complex after "50 to 70" Kurds forced their way inside to demand that a delegation go to Turkey to ensure Ocalan's health and safety.

NATO officials brushed aside warnings that Russia "will not allow" the use of force against Yugoslavia or Serb targets in Kosovo if no peace deal is reached over the troubled province by tomorrow. NATO was ready to strike quickly and hard unless the rivals negotiating outside Paris finished their work successfully, Secretary-General Javier Solana said.

* * * *

TUNCELI, Turkey, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Turkish forces have begun a partial withdrawal from northern Iraq where they had been attacking bases of rebels loyal to jailed Kurdish guerrilla Abdullah Ocalan, military officials said on Saturday.

Some 4,000 Turkish troops had been pulled back from the mountainous region, while other units were still sweeping the Kurdish-held enclave for the rebels, they said. Iraq reacted angrily to the incursion into territory it has not directly controlled since after the 1991 Gulf War.

The official said early reports indicated around 10 rebels of Ocalan's Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) had been killed in the operation started in the wake of Ocalan's capture in Kenya earlier this week.

Large quantities of equipment and ammunition had been captured from guerrilla bases. He did not mention any military casualties. Turkish warplanes were still carrying out bombing runs in support of the remaining forces.

The anti-rebel push appeared designed to hit the PKK while in disarray after the arrest of Ocalan, who founded and dominates the organisation. He is currently in detention on a prison island off Istanbul awaiting trial for treason.

Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit on Saturday urged PKK rebels to surrender to authorities. He said he had cross-party support to pass a law after April elections giving ``repentent'' rebels reduced punishments or amnesty.

Ankara keeps a military presence in the region to prevent the PKK guerrillas infiltrating into Turkey where they are campaigning for self rule in the mainly-Kurdish southeast.

Iraq on Thursday called for the immediate withdrawal of the force, but Turkey shrugged off the demand, saying that Baghdad understood the reasons behind such temporary incursions.

Relations between the two neighbours are also soured by U.S. and British jets based in Turkey that patrol the no-fly zone protecting northern Iraqi Kurds from Iraqi government attack.

The region is controlled by two Iraqi Kurdish factions.

Inside Turkey, troops killed three PKK guerrillas in fighting in the southeastern province of Sirnak, local authorities said on Saturday. It was not clear when the clashes took place.

More than 29,000 rebels, troops, militiamen and civilians have died in 14 years of conflict between Turkish security forces and the guerrillas.

06:33 02-20-99

* * * *

18. US helped Turkey capture Kurd leader Ocalan: NY Times

WASHINGTON, Feb 20 (AFP) - Top US officials say the US government used its diplomatic power and intelligence gathering capacity to help Turkey chase and capture Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan, the New York Times reported Saturday.

According to the Times, behind-the-scenes US diplomacy and intelligence helped force rebel leader Ocalan to leave a safe haven in Syria, and helped persuade nation after nation to refuse him asylum.

Ocalan, the leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), was apprehended by Turkish agents in Kenya Monday and brought to Turkey, where he is to stand trial in early April on terrorism charges.

The PKK has accused the US and Israeli intelligence services of helping Turkey track down and kidnap the rebel leader with the complicity of Greek and Kenyan authorities.

Ocalan is to be tried on charges of attempting to divide Turkish territory with the aim of setting up a separate state, for which the Turkish penal code stipulates capital punishment.

Meanwhile, Saturday, several shops and cars were torched overnight in Istanbul in a series of hit-and-run attacks by Kurds protesting Ocalan's arrest, the Anatolia news agency reported.

* * * *

19. The NY Times, Feb. 20, 1999;

By TIM WEINER

WASHINGTON -- The United States worked for four months to help Turkey arrest Abdullah Ocalan, the Kurdish rebel leader, U.S. officials said on Friday.

U.S. diplomatic pressure backed by intelligence gathering helped to put Ocalan in flight from a safe haven in Syria, to persuade nation after nation to refuse him sanctuary and to drive him into an increasingly desperate search for a city of refuge, the officials said.

"We as a government tried to figure out where he was, where he was going and how we might bring him to justice," a senior administration official said.

Like Turkey, the U.S. government, whose involvement in Ocalan's capture was reported on Friday by The Los Angeles Times, considers Ocalan a terrorist. He leads the Kurdistan Workers Party, which has waged a violent campaign against Turkey for 15 years, seeking autonomy for the Kurdish people. Some 37,000 people have died in that fight.

The United States has an increasingly close military and intelligence relationship with Turkey, a NATO ally that lets U.S. pilots fly missions against Iraq from a NATO base in Incirlik. That military post also serves as an electronic-eavesdropping station for U.S. intelligence to spy on Iraq.

Ocalan's arrest on Monday led to angry protests by Kurdish demonstrators, who attacked Greek consulates and embassies across Europe and tried to storm the Israeli Consulate in Berlin on the strength of rumors that Greece and Israel had been involved in his capture. So far, the United States has not been a target of their anger, although the State Department urged Americans traveling overseas to take precautions.

Since October, Ocalan had been on the run -- from Syria to Italy to Russia to Greece. He finally landed in the Greek Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, on Feb. 2.

It was a poor choice of hideouts. More than 100 U.S. intelligence officers and law-enforcement agents, along with Kenyan security officials, are in Nairobi investigating the terrorist bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, which took 213 lives in August.

Members of that team quickly discovered that Ocalan had arrived in Nairobi, U.S. officials said. They placed the Greek Embassy under surveillance and monitored Ocalan's cell phone conversations, while he placed calls to political contacts, seeking sanctuary.

Despite American insistence in the last few days that the United States had no "direct involvement" in the Ocalan case, the surveillance information gave Turkish commandos the chance to capture Ocalan with the help of Kenyan security officers, the officials said. The Turkish prime minister, Bulent Ecevit, said Friday that a Turkish commando team flew to Nairobi after receiving a tip from another country, which he would not identify. The commandos captured Ocalan after he agreed to be driven to the Nairobi airport by a Kenyan security officer working with the Turkish squad.

It was the end of a long journey, one that U.S. diplomatic and intelligence officers monitored closely. From October onward, as Ocalan sought shelter in Russia, across Europe and in Africa, U.S. diplomats and intelligence officers sought to cut off his escape routes, according to officials here.

They warned their European and Russian counterparts of the consequences of sheltering Ocalan, saying, "If you've got him, what are you going to do with him?" according to the senior U.S. official, who demanded anonymity.

Ocalan had spent much of the last 15 years in Damascus, Syria. In October, Turkey stepped up pressure on the Syrian government to expel him, threatening military action. The United States issued a parallel but private demand.

On Oct. 9, Syria put Ocalan on a plane to Moscow. Israeli intelligence monitored his departure from Damascus, officials said. But the Israeli role in the Ocalan case did not involve trapping him in Nairobi, according to U.S. officials, who would be unlikely to reveal such a role if it existed. Israel has taken pains to deny playing any part in his capture, including a rare statement from its foreign intelligence service, the Mossad.

On Nov. 2, after a month seeking a political base in Europe, Ocalan flew from Moscow to Rome and into the hands of the Italian authorities, who held him on a German warrant charging him with terrorism.

"We spent a good deal of time working with Italy and Germany and Turkey to find a creative way to bring him to justice," the senior administration official said.

But none was found. Germany dropped the charge, fearing the kinds of protests and riots that have erupted since his arrest. Italy was loath to turn Ocalan over to Turkey, where he could face a death sentence for treason.

Ocalan left Italy secretly on Jan. 16, flying to St. Petersburg, Russia, then seeking a way back into another European country, officials said. He found one on Jan. 30, when he flew to Athens, Greece, in a private plane obtained by Andonis Naxakis, a retired military officer who, like many of his countrymen, sympathizes with the Kurdish cause, according to Greek officials.

Two days later, on Feb. 1, Greek officials, uneasy with the fugitive on their hands, told him to try flying to the Netherlands, where he believed he could seek a hearing at the International Court of Justice. The Dutch authorities barred his plane, so Ocalan returned to Greece. The next day, he flew with a Greek official and four aides to Nairobi, where the Greek government had agreed to shelter him temporarily at its embassy.

The American and Kenyan intelligence and law-enforcement team in Nairobi quickly detected Ocalan's presence and reported it to Turkey, U.S. officials said.

After two tense weeks in the Greek Embassy, Ocalan was told he could fly to Amsterdam, Netherlands. He got into a jeep driven by a Kenyan security officer, supposedly bound for the airport.

"When he got into the car on his own, he looked worried," his interpreter, Nucan Derya, told Reuters, the news agency, on Friday. "I think he understood that there was something dangerous going on."

His instincts were good: the Kenyan driver delivered him into the arms of the Turkish commando team. He is now being held for interrogation and trial on a Turkish island in the Sea of Marmara.

Saturday, February 20, 1999

Copyright 1999 The New York Times

* * * *

20. Subj: Re: Offensive Banner

Date: 99-02-20 16:27:04 EST

BTW, I have to revise my impression on Turkish-Israeli-American cooperation in the Ocalan-case on the basis of this morning's New York Times. Seems the US have helped in "guiding" Ocalan out of Syria, then put pressure on European capitals not to grant him asylum (Italian slobs being the last to get the message last, as usual) and arranged for his deportation to the wuthering flats of Kenya where the CIA and Mossad have their African center of operations. So, if the US and not the Greeks have sold him to Ankara, what's the deal?

Maybe in the near future you could devote a sit-rep to Turkey's new assertiveness and it's increasing mportance tot US policy in the Middle East and beyond, right up to Xinjiang. A colleague of mine says we're witnessing significant Turkey-centered shifts in US policy toward both Europe and the Gulf.

Must hurry to appointment now. See you on the wires,

'\o-o/`

* * * *

TorSun: Kurds' story is a tragic and complex drama

Date: 99-02-21 18:02:07 EST

THE TORONTO SUN, Sunday, February 21, 1999 COMMENT

By ERIC MARGOLIS

Contributing Foreign Editor

ZURICH -- "We have no friends but the mountains." So say Kurds, a people whose long agony and national tragedy are only now coming to be known by the outside world.

Last week, in a stranger-than-fiction scenario, charismatic Kurdish rebel leader, Abdullah Ocalan, was kidnapped by Turkish commandos in Nairobi, Kenya, of all places, where he had been hiding in the Greek embassy, and flown back to Turkey to stand trial for his life.

The leader of the outlawed Kurdish Workers Party, or PKK, is Turkey's public enemy No. 1.

Turkey had no intelligence capability in East Africa. Ocalan was clearly tracked and shadowed by U.S. intelligence and, very likely, Israeli intelligence. Both services have important posts in Nairobi, and work closely to monitor East Africa.

Israel, Turkey's new strategic ally, provides Ankara with substantial anti-guerrilla training, equipment and interrogation techniques. The U.S. supplies Turkey's 525,000-man army with weapons, including armour and helicopters used to fight PKK guerrillas in eastern Anatolia.

Greece was enormously - and rightly - embarrassed by revelations it had been hiding Ocalan at its Nairobi embassy. Three senior government ministers resigned. Ocalan and the PKK are branded "terrorists" by NATO, of which Greece is a member. In fact, Greece has long secretly armed and financed the PKK to bedevil old foe Turkey. So have Armenian groups. Greece also covertly aids Serbia, in direct violation of a NATO boycott. When Ocalan was seized, he was carrying a Greek Cypriot diplomatic passport.

I've followed the Kurdish question for decades, and covered the 15-year old guerrilla war between the PKK and Turkey in bleak eastern Anatolia. This complex, tragic drama leaves me torn, and sympathetic to both sides. There are 25-30 million Kurds, spread across five nations, but they are most numerous in Turkey and Iraq, where they account for 20% and 23%, respectively, of the population. The world's second largest tribal society after Pathans, Kurds are of ancient Indo-European origin, with distinct society, customs, and language. Yet these courageous highlanders have never had their own nation.

President George Bush's foolish decision not to allow Saddam Hussein to pull out of Kuwait in 1991, the ensuing Gulf war, and creation of a U.S.-protected mini-Kurdish state in northern Iraq, let the Kurdish genie out of its bottle. The result has been a massive upsurge of Kurdish nationalism that destabilized Iraq and Turkey, the latter a close U.S. ally. While war bands, or Pesh mergas of "good" U.S. -backed Kurds battled Saddam, "bad" Kurds fought Turkey. But then Turkey battled "good" Kurds in northern Iraq, and so on.

Established nations

The legitimate desire of the long-suffering Kurds to have their own nation conflicts head-on with the fact they live in well-established nations who, while they grant varying degrees of autonomy to Kurds, will never voluntarily give up territory, some of it rich in oil, to a new Kurdish state. Kurds, for their part, have been unable to produce a common leadership or policy; like all mountain peoples, they spend as much time battling rival tribes as their lowland foes.

Kurds deserve better than PKK leader Ocalan, originally funded and armed by the Soviet Union. He is a ruthless, Kurdish Stalin, who terrorized his foes and exterminated all rivals within the party. PKK guerrillas slaughtered large numbers - up to 30,000 - civilians, many of them fellow Kurds who would not co-operate with PKK extremists. Any PKK members who "deviated" were summarily shot.

As I saw when covering the dirty war in Anatolia, the fierce Turkish Army was equally brutal battling the PKK. Guerrilla wars fought in the midst of civilian populations are always bloody, savage affairs. Supporters of Kurdish independence - or greater autonomy - have been frequently murdered by Turkish security agents, and by gangsters working for the Turkish government. Torture of arrested Kurdish suspects is common.

Ocalan's dramatic capture and trial in Turkey will focus world attention on the neglected Kurdish question. His probable subsequent hanging will only further inflame Kurdish nationalist passions, and make it even less likely Turkey will ever be admitted, as it so ardently desires, to membership in the European Union.

Ocalan has also become a new hero and martyr of Europe's left. When Ocalan sought refuge in Italy, he was allowed to stay for a time then depart - in spite of German arrest warrants - by Italy's communist-led government, which, ironically, cheered the detention by Britain of Chile's Gen. Augusto Pinochet on charges of human rights violations.

Interestingly, Turkey has cynically sided with NATO in attempting to deny Albanians of Kosovo their legitimate right to self-determination because Ankara fears its Kurds will seize such a precedent to press for their own independence. This weekend, at "peace" talks in France, Albanians, like Kurds, are once again being sold out by the great powers.

The PKK has been decapitated. Turkey has won a major victory and even managed to humiliate the Greeks. This triumph will embolden Turkey's real rulers, the military, to press the war against the Kurds. The day after Ocalan's arrest, Turkish troops once again invaded northern Iraq to fight Kurdish separatists. But Kurds are legendary fighters; they will battle on.

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