Kurd rebel chief denies he was kill

[kurdeng at aps.nl]

From: tabe at newsdesk.aps.nl
Subject: Kurd rebel chief denies he was killed
Reply-To: kurdeng at aps.nl

      id VT4031; Sun, 14 May 1995 18:21:14 -0800

Kurd rebel chief denies he was killed

    TUNCELI, Turkey, May 8 (Reuter) - A Kurdish rebel leader
reported possibly killed by the Turkish army last month is alive
and well, a Turkish journalist said on Monday.
    Ferit Demir, a part-time correspondent for Reuters, said he
talked to Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) regional commander
Semdin Sakik, also known as ``Fingerless Zeki,'' several times
over the last five days at various locations in the rugged
eastern province of Tunceli.
    Military officials and Sakik's bodyguard had said they
thought Sakik, one of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan's few trusted
commanders, had died when troops shelled a group of rebels in
Tunceli on April 19.
    ``I threw myself to the ground when the shells landed but I
wasn't even wounded,'' Sakik said. Several guerrillas were
killed in the shelling, he added. Clean-shaven and wearing khaki
fatigues and a hat, Sakik looked healthy and well-fed.
    The commander's bodyguard, Huseyin Yanc, had said after
being detained by security forces that he thought Sakik was
probably dead because he saw his body lying on the ground in a
pool of blood following the shelling.
    A pro-PKK Kurdish news agency in Germany had denied reports
Sakik, who earned his nickname after blowing off a thumb while
firing a rocket in northern Iraq, may have been killed.
    Demir was released by the PKK on Monday, having been
abducted on April 30 in order to be shown that Sakik was alive.
    Sakik was accompanied by groups of between 300 to 500
guerrillas most of last week and constantly moved from one
mountain location to another.
    He began operating in the mountains of Tunceli last year and
often personally leads raids on the army as well as attacks on
civilians, according to the military.
    He headed a 200-strong rebel group which ambushed an army
convoy in March, killing 18 soldiers. The attack cast doubts on
frequent government and military assertions the PKK was close to
collapse after more than 10 years of insurgency.
    More than 15,000 people have been killed in the rebels'
fight for a Kurdish state in southeast Turkey.
    Sakik's estranged brother Sirri was one of eight Kurdish
members of parliament sentenced by a Turkish court to up to 15
years last December for separatism and links to the guerrillas.
 REUTER
Reut07:50 05-08

Reuter N:Copyright 1995, Reuters News Service

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