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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 005871 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PTER PREL PGOV TU IZ
SUBJECT: PKK Issue: Update on Violence and Political Developments 
(September 14 to 30, 2006) 
 
REF: ANKARA 5398 and previous 
 
(U) Sensitive but unclassified - please protect accordingly. 
 
1.(SBU) This is another in a series of periodic reports on PKK 
violence in Turkey.  Our primary sources for these reports are 
mainstream Turkish press services, such as the Anatolian News 
Agency, and international wire services.  While these are more 
reliable than most Turkish press sources, they are not necessarily 
unimpeachable.  Another source is the Turkish Armed Forces General 
Staff (TGS) website which documents contacts/clashes with the  PKK. 
Press services sympathetic to the PKK, such as Neu-Isenburg People's 
Defense Forces and Firat News Agency, tend to report higher numbers 
of the Turkish Security Forces casualties and are often otherwise 
unreliable. 
 
2.(U) During the September 14-30 period, the PKK killed four 
Turkish security members and wounded three.  In clashes, the PKK 
killed one soldier and a village guard in Van.  Another soldier was 
injured when a mine went off in Diyarbakir province.  During the 
same period, Turkish security forces killed eight PKK terrorists in 
clashes in  Van and Sirnak provinces.  Meanwhile, one boy was killed 
and two were injured when they played with an explosive on the 
Siirt-Eruh highway.  Security forces detonated or seized landmines, 
hand-grenades, RPGs, rifles and C4 and A4 plastic explosives in 
different locations.  On September 15, a bomb went off in a minibus 
near the police recreation building in Igdir as the police were 
watching a movie on the big screen.  Many sportsmen, police officers 
and teachers were injured.  The Igdir Police Chief alleged that it 
was a PKK bomb; he guessed that it was either A-4 or C-4.  There 
have been no reports on arrests. 
¶3.  (U) Following are political comments by Turkish and Kurdish 
officials: 
-- TURKISH OFFICIALS: 
- Retired General Edip Baser, Turkey's special envoy for 
anti-terrorism, on September 15, shared with the press his 
impressions of the meeting he had with Joseph Ralston, his US 
counterpart.  Baser said that Ralston was determined to wage a 
struggle against the PKK.  "I know him as an honest and trustworthy 
person. I got the impression that the United States shares Turkey's 
determination," he said. 
- Land Forces Commander General Ilker Basbug, speaking at a murdered 
soldier's September 16 funeral service, said, "The struggle of the 
security forces is an armed struggle, and it will continue until 
this bloody terrorist organization has been eliminated, and until no 
terrorists remain either in the rural areas or in the cities.  Let 
no one have the slightest doubt on this.  Other modes of action that 
could be contemplated apart from this merely amount to concessions 
to the terrorist organization."  (COMMENT: In the past, Basbug has 
spoken publicly about the need for non-military solutions to the PKK 
problem. END COMMENT.) 
- In a September 25 speech in New York, Foreign Minister Gul noted 
that the PKK had operated for years in an unfriendly regime 
(Saddam's Iraq), but now it continued its acts in a friendly country 
administered by allied countries (e.g., the Coalition) of Turkey. 
"This situation is very dangerous. I cannot understand why the 
terrorist organization is active in a country which is under 
control," Gul said. "We expect our friends and allies to assist 
Turkey in its fight against terrorism," he stressed. 
-- KURDISH VIEWS: 
 
- DTP Chairman Ahmet Turk on September 11, 2006, made an appeal to 
the PKK for a ceasefire.  He said, "The PKK would abide by this call 
which was not an empty appeal.  Weapons must be silenced but 
everyone should not just sit and do nothing only because a ceasefire 
is achieved.  After the violence stops a democratic solution should 
be found to the Kurdish problem for violence not to ever come 
back." 
 
¶4. (U) Following are selected columns on the topic: 
 
- Enis Berberoglu in September 23 "Hurriyet" wrote that the security 
officials believed that by the end of the month the PKK would 
declare an unconditional ceasefire indefinitely.  All indications 
reportedly showed that guns might be silenced.  He asserted that the 
decrease in the number of coffins coming from the Southeast would 
 
ANKARA 00005871  002 OF 002 
 
 
allow politics to take a deep breath but the risk of terrorism would 
continue.  Berberoglu stressed that the politicians should not be 
remaining idle during a ceasefire since the life of the GOT then 
might not be as long as a ceasefire. 
 
- Ibrahim Karagul in September 26 "Yeni Safak" accused the U.S. of 
telling lies to Turkey on the PKK.  He alleged that certain circles 
in the Iraq-Turkey-U.S. triangle were dragging Turkey to sit at a 
negotiation table.  Karagul referred to two options for thousands of 
troops that Turkey deployed along the border:  These troops would be 
used either in a U.S.-Israel operation against Iran, or participate 
along with Iran and Syria in a major operation. 
 
RICE