R 060830Z FEB 07
FM AMEMBASSY ANKARA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0987
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RUEHAK/USDAO ANKARA TU
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC//USDP:PDUSDP/ISA:EUR/ISA:NESA//
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC
RUEUITH/ODC ANKARA TU
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC//J-3/J-5//
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK
RHMFIUU/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RHMFIUU/425ABS IZMIR TU//CC//
RHMFIUU/39ABG INCIRLIK AB TU
RUEPGAB/MNF-I C2X BAGHDAD IZ

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 000339 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PTER PREL PGOV TU IZ
SUBJECT: PKK Issue: Update on Violence and Political Developments 
(January 16-31, 2007) 
 
REF: ANKARA 237 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`ency, and international wilties and are often otherwise 
unreliable. 
 
¶2. (U) During the January 16-31, 2007 period one Turkish security 
member was killed and a private was injured during a clash with the 
PKK in Diyarbakir province.  In the same incidents three PKK 
terrorists were killed.  A total of three PKK members were arrested. 
 Police arrested one woman PKKer in Istanbul, and the KDP turned 
over two others to the Turkish military at the border crossing near 
Silopi.  Security forces seized AK-47s, drums, cartridges, hand 
grenades, TNT, etc. at different PKK shelters in the region. 
 
¶3. (U) Following are political comments by Turkish and Kurdish 
officials, as well as other developments: 
-- TURKISH OFFICIALS: 
-- Public statements by GOT officials during this period chiefly 
centered around the Kirkuk issue and the Jan. 30-31 visit of Special 
Envoy for Countering the PKK Gen. (r) Ralston. 
- January 31 dailies quoted Turkish Special Envoy Baser as telling 
the media after his meeting with Ralston,  "We are to drive forward 
on the work that has been done until now.  We have made a certain 
amount of progress.  Although we would like to share many issues 
with you now, we cannot disclose these to the press because of the 
sensitivity of the matter.  We will give you better news in the 
future." When asked whether he was disturbed that his counterpart 
Ralston had a meeting with KRG President Barzani, Baser replied, 
"No." 
 
-- KURDISH VIEWS: 
 
- Dailies on January 17 reported that PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan has 
released a statement demanding administrative changes in the 
pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP). In line with Ocalan's 
desires, the party leadership agreed January 12 to hold an 
extraordinary convention to elect new leadership at the end of 
February. 
 
-- OTHER DEVELOPMENTS 
 
- January 17 dailies reported that Turkish government 
representatives would go to the US to discuss their concerns about 
PKK and Kirkuk.  FM Gul and Chief of the General Staff General 
Buyukanit were scheduled to hold contacts in Washington in February. 
  Before their visits, PM Erdogan decided to send Defense Minister 
Gonul to Washington.  Erdogan said that the visits will be used to 
discuss in detail Turkish concerns about Iraq. 
 
- "Sabah" on January 28 reported that officials of the Turkish 
Ministry of Justice and the U.S. Department of Justice held a round 
rist organizations. 
 
¶4. (U) Followin are selected columns and articles on the topic: 
 
- Enis Berberoglu in the January 16 "Hurriyet" wrote that  it might 
have been the U.S. that informed the GOT that Murat Karayilan had 
been injured and in a hospital in northern Iraq.  Berberoglu added 
that one should not question U.S. intentions.  He noted that this 
 
ANKARA 00000339  002 OF 002 
 
 
was important in order not to mislead the Turkish public. 
Berberoglu referred to the U.S. plan to tell European capitals that 
the PKK was a criminal organization and to stop the flow of money 
and human resource to the PKK in Iraq.  Berberoglu also commented 
about a possible cross border operation and argued that the best 
time would be in the spring, preferably after the Presidential 
elections. 
 
- Mehmet M. Yilmaz in the January 16 "Hurriyet" wrote that the 
Kurdish "Turkey Seeks Its Peace" conference was shallow, since the 
most basic problem of Turkish Kurds did not even come on the agenda. 
 Yilmaz stressed that romanticism, such as calling PKK-ers 
"guerrillas" instead of "terrorists," prevented discussion of the 
real issues.  Yilmaz asserted that the main problem was that the PKK 
took Turkish Kurds hostage and was not interested in their freedom. 
 
 
- Writing about the same conference, Hasan Cemal in the January 17 
"Milliyet" wrote that people should be able to discuss the PKK 
openly at such gath. is taking Turkey'sQconcerns seriously.  He reminded that the operation did not mean 
that the camp would be immediately closed.  He noted that soon there 
would be a survey in the camp to determine who the residents were 
and that Iraqi forces would control access to and from the camp. 
 
- Ismet Berkan in the January 19 "Radikal" compared the PKK to the 
IRA, and stressed that for the PKK to be able to defend its views 
peacefully in the political arena, it must lay down its arms. 
 
WILSON