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Dianne Wampler  10/30/2006 05:44:29 PM  From  DB/Inbox:  Dianne Wampler

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UNCLAS        ANKARA 06140

SIPDIS
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    ACTION: POL
    INFO:   PA MGT DAO CONS TSR PMA ECON DCM AMB RAO FCS

DISSEMINATION: POL /1
CHARGE: PROG

APPROVED: POL:JGWEINER
DRAFTED: POL:JERSOY
CLEARED: POL:DBURGER

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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 006140 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PTER PREL PGOV TU IZ
SUBJECT: PKK Issue: Update on Violence and Political Developments 
(October 1-15, 2006) 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
REF: A. ANKARA 5871 and previous 
¶B. Ankara 6014 
 
(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 October 1-15 period -- following the ceasefire 
declared by the PKK as of October 1, 2006 -- the PKK killed three 
Turkish security members and wounded six.  During the same period, 
Turkish security forces killed five PKK terrorists in clashes in 
Mardin, Sirnak, and Siirt provinces.  A total of 11 PKK members 
surrendered.  Security forces detonated or seized landmines, 
hand-grenades, RPGs, rifles and C4 and A4 plastic explosives in 
different locations. 
¶3.  (U) Following are political comments by Turkish and Kurdish 
officials: 
-- TURKISH OFFICIALS: 
- TGS Chief GEN Yasar Buyukanit on October 2 addressed the War 
Academies in Istanbul and said, "Turkey has conveyed its 
determination about fight against terrorism on many occasions. We 
will keep up with this determination until the time we eliminate the 
existence of terror in the country. However there are many groups 
who have been talking about a possible ceasefire.  PKK announced a 
ceasefire yesterday. However, TAF will continue fighting against 
terrorism until the day we eliminate all of the terrorists. In the 
past we witnessed that the PKK tried to bargain with the government 
by using ceasefire as a political tool...." 
- October 8 papers reported that DYP (center-right party) leader 
Mehmet Agar, during his trip to the Southeast, said that if 
necessary the GOT should consider amnesty for PKK members.  He 
added, "Turkey cannot subcontract its own problem to outsiders. ... 
This issue cannot be subcontracted to either the U.S. or Iraq.  Even 
if they might be of help, we should have the initiative.  Turkey 
should rid itself of the fear of becoming divided." 
 
- TGS Chief Buyukanit responded strongly to Agar's remarks: "This is 
an appeal for a general amnesty. I deplore it strongly."  For 
further reporting on Agar's remarks, see ref b. 
 
 
 
- Gen. (R) Baser, Turkey's Special Envoy to Fight Against 
Terrorism,told NTV that that in the GOT's joint work with the U.S. 
and Iraqi representatives, the first thing they would do would be to 
cut the international financial and political ties of the PKK.  When 
asked whether he had any requests from elected officials such as 
Diyarbakir Metropolitan Mayor Osman Baydemir who was present in the 
studio, Baser said, "Within this capacity (as the Special Envoy) I 
certainly won't have a request from them.  But as a citizen, I can 
have a request and that is the fact that he is the elected mayor of 
a province (sic) of Turkey.  The entire nation expects terrorism to 
end as soon as possible.  Unfortunately some remarks and actions by 
some elected officials, politicians are testing the patience of the 
public on this issue." 
 
-- KURDISH VIEWS: 
 
- DTP (largest Kurdish party) Vice Chair Aysel Tugluk said, "For the 
process to proceed, we can talk to the U.S. and the EU, and if 
necessary, to the PKK."  Tugluk held a press conference on October 
12, with DTP party assembly members and mayors in Diyarbakir and 
said that for the ceasefire to last, they were ready to meet with 
the PKK.  Tugluk said that during this process they would also meet 
with Barzani and Talabani. 
 
¶4. (U) Following are selected columns on the topic: 
 
- Mehmet Ali Birand on October 11 in "Posta" wrote that nobody could 
have predicted such a move to come from Mehmet Agar, who proposed an 
"amnesty" for bringing PKKers down from the mountains.  Birand 
stressed that Agar's past (as interior and later justice minister 
Agar endorsed harsh tactics in the battle against the PKK) gave him 
enough credibility against being attacked for "relaxing" in the face 
of the PKK.  He added that Agar, with his remarks, had strengthened 
his party's political position. 
 
- Asli Aydintasbas on September 12, in "Sabah" wrote that the DYP 
used to get votes basically from rural areas and not the big cities 
but with its leader's recent remarks the party might get votes from 
such towns as well.  Aydintasbas also referred to those who argued 
that Agar would lose votes for his remarks.  She also commented that 
Agar, who earlier claimed that he was the sole person who had the 
legitimacy to resolve this issue, might actually be thinking beyond 
immediate election concerns and assuming a historic mission. 
WILSON