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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 006590 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PTER PREL PGOV TU IZ
SUBJECT: PKK Issue: Update on Violence and Political Developments 
(November 16-30, 2006) 
 
REF: ANKARA 6508 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 November 16-30 period three Turkish soldiers died, 
including two in clashes in Bingol and Sirnak and one who fell into 
an abyss during a search operation in Sirnak.  Ten soldiers were 
injured when they stepped on PKK mines in Tunceli and Sirnak, and 
two were injured in clashes in Bingol and Sirnak.  During the same 
period, Turkish security forces killed 12 PKK terrorists in clashes 
in Bingol and Sirnak provinces.  Authorities arrested nine PKK 
members, including four who were turned over to security officials 
by the KDP.  Security forces detonated or seized landmines, 
hand-grenades, RPGs, rifles, RPG-7 rocket ammunition, electrical 
fuses, bullets and C4 and A4 plastic explosives in different 
locations. 
 
¶3. (U) Following are political comments by Turkish and Kurdish 
officials: 
-- TURKISH OFFICIALS: 
- The Turkish press widely reported that PM Erdogan told PM Maliki 
during his Nov. 16 visit to Ankara, "Ending the presence of the 
terrorist organization [PKK] in northern Iraq is vitally important. 
We must act in cooperation on this issue that hurts our relations." 
Erdogan reportedly stressed that the PKK was a threat not only for 
Turkey but for Iraq as well.  He asked his Iraqi counterpart to 
swiftly implement the measures that the GOI had recently promised 
and exhibit determination on this issue.  Erdogan reportedly told 
Maliki that Iraqi action against the PKK would strengthen 
cooperation between the two countries. 
 
- Dailies on November 17 quoted TGS Deputy Chief GEN Ergin Saygun as 
saying that Turkey would continue the fight against the PKK until 
the last terrorist is rousted from the mountains.  Saygun, who was 
in the U.S. for an official visit, added, "We continue giving 
messages to Washington on the PKK.  The process is continuing."  He 
expressed hope that the efforts of the two special envoys would bear 
fruit. 
 
- Turkey's Special Envoy on the PKK, GEN Baser, told the National 
Security and Strategic research Association (UGSAD) in Nov. 17 
remarks that Turkey will not be able to eradicate armed militants 
without taking measures necessary to deal with the economic, 
psychological, logistical and political support dimensions of 
terrorism. 
 
--KURDISH VIEWS 
 
- "Milliyet" columnist Derya Sazak wrote November 30 that 
pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) leader Ahmet Turk visited 
the "Milliyet" staff and asked for support for the ceasefire 
process.  Despite Ocalan's announcement that the ceasefire will end 
in May absent action by the GOT to reach out to Turkey's Kurdish 
population, Sazak wrote that Turk believed that the ceasefire would 
continue nonetheless.  Turk stressed the importance of silencing all 
guns, including military operations, but neither the GOT nor the 
main opposition party was very willing on this issue.  Turk stressed 
that the DTP did not favor a "federation" for Turkey, adding that he 
did not attend a recent conference organized by a Kurdish NGO for 
this reason.  Turk explained that in response to the wishes of the 
party's grassroots, DTP candidates might run independently in the 
2007 parliamentary elections.  He claimed that they would get at 
least 23 seats in parliament.  Turk stressed that now nobody wanted 
clashes anymore, and that if all sides stood behind the ceasefire, 
 
ANKARA 00006590  002 OF 002 
 
 
peace might be achieved. 
 
¶4. (U) Following are selected columns on the topic: 
 
- Metehan Demir in the November 20 edition of "Sabah" commented on 
GEN Ralston, the U.S. Special Envoy on the PKK.  He cited foreign 
media reports that Ralston, as a board member of F-16 producer 
Lockheed Martin, was devoting part of his time to the company rather 
than putting all his energy into the fight against terrorism.  Demir 
added that Ralston also was a member of the Cohen Group, a lobbying 
firm.  Demir claimed that the TGS and President Sezer had therefore 
distanced themselves from the Ralston process.  He asserted that the 
USG had appointed Ralston only to buy time.  Demir added that during 
Ralston's term as Special Envoy, one Turkish soldier had been killed 
and 15 wounded in only the past three days. 
 
- Cuneyt Ulsever in the November 21 "Hurriyet" argued that Iran was 
the country that pursued the shrewdest policies following the 
occupation of Iraq.  He expressed concern that Iran was expanding 
its influence in the Middle East, whereas Turkey's is waning. 
Ulsever continued that the new U.S. Secretary of Defense, Bob Gates, 
was known to favor closer U.S. relations with Tehran.  He also 
predicted that the Baker-Hamilton report would recommend 
negotiations with Iran. Ulsever complained that Ankara was pursuing 
a passive Iraq policy, and that for this reason Turkey was not the 
first country that came to mind in the international arena to be 
consulted in shaping new policies in this area. 
 
WILSON