Kurdish rebels abandon truce

[Skunk]

The main militant Kurdish group in Turkey says it is ending a unilateral ceasefire declared after the capture of its leader, Abdullah Ocalan, four years ago.
A spokeswoman for the group, which has been pressing the government to announce a truce of its own, accused the authorities of failing to grant Kurds greater political and cultural rights.

However, she said she did not expect a return to all-out conflict.

More than 30,000 people were killed over a 15-year period as the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) fought for autonomy in the overwhelmingly Kurdish south-east.

The announcement came as thousands of Kurds staged a demonstration in Diyarbakir - the biggest city in the south-east - to press for more rights and to urge a general amnesty for Kurdish prisoners.

Last month, the government introduced a partial amnesty aimed mainly at the PKK but it did not cover the group's leaders.

The Kurds are Turkey's biggest ethnic minority, estimated to make up about one-fifth of the population of around 70 million people.

Reforms 'fall short'

The PKK, which last year changed its name to Kadek (Congress for Freedom and Democracy in Kurdistan) said it had become impossible to maintain the ceasefire called after Abdullah Ocalan's arrest in February 1999.

"It is announced that the unilateral ceasefire has come to an end as of 1 September and that the ceasefire can only continue bilaterally," a statement from the group was quoted as saying.

Kadek had previously threatened to end the ceasefire at the start of September if Turkey did not respond to its calls for a truce.

"I foresee some sort of low-intensity warfare," Mizgin Sen, a spokeswoman for the group said.

She accused the Turkish Government of failing to fully address demands for Kurdish cultural rights, constitutional changes and freedom of expression, despite the passing by parliament of a number of laws removing restrictions on Kurds.

"Taking decisions is one thing. Implementing is another... There are still serious problems concerning the Kurdish issue," she told the BBC.

The spokeswoman said Ankara had recently stepped up operations against the group's guerrillas.

She also insisted there had been no "military activities" by the PKK, although the rebels have been blamed by unnamed officials for some recent violence in the south-east.

The group declared its ceasefire in September 1999 after the capture of Abdullah Ocalan, saying it would use political channels to resolve the conflict with Ankara.

However Turkey - which along with the US and many European countries regards the PKK as a terrorist organisation - has repeatedly rejected calls to negotiate a solution to the Kurdish conflict.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3200907.stm

Guess that we should have seen that one coming.

"We want our own state and are prepared to fight for it...
Hey! Isn't there a Kurdish area just over the border in Iraq? Now if you were to give us that as our own autonomous state, we might just stop the terrorist attacks..."

One extra complication to the Iraq crisis coming up...

[Timber Loftis]

I saw this one coming before the first days of Shock & Awe. I think we had a few threads on Turkeys millions of repressed Kurds.

Of course, the whole "the cease fire is off, but we're not at war" thing is BS. Either declare war or don't. Don't be a frikkin terrorist. "Oh, we're civilians. No, now we're soldiers. Now we're bombers." Whatever. Put up or shut up -- don't talk out of both sides of your face. Or, if you do, prepare to be treated as a terrorist.

[antryg]

The really horrible part of this is that the US has to keep looking over it's shoulder so that Turkey doesn't "liberate" the Kurdish part of Iraq. I guess they feel it better if they (ie Turkey) oppresses the Kurds instead of Iraq. Kurds fighting against Turkey and Iraq as they attempt to carve out their own homeland is a very real possibility as soon as US troops leave Iraq.

[Timber Loftis]

Originally posted by antryg: The really horrible part of this is that the US has to keep looking over it's shoulder so that Turkey doesn't "liberate" the Kurdish part of Iraq. I guess they feel it better if they (ie Turkey) oppresses the Kurds instead of Iraq. Kurds fighting against Turkey and Iraq as they attempt to carve out their own homeland is a very real possibility as soon as US troops leave Iraq.

Or sooner. A Kurdish state would most certainly annex part of Turkey -- so Turkey has a strong vested interest in preventing a Kurdish state, and was explicit at the outset that such a thing would *never* happen.