Grey Wolves in Kosove?

[ozgurluk at xs4all.nl]

   ANKARA, Aug 18 (AFP) - A Turkish nationalist group has been  
recruiting volunteers to take part in a self-styled humanitarian aid 
mission in the war-torn southern Yugoslav region of Kosovo, the 
group's leader said Tuesday. 
   "We are seeking to create a 5,000-strong Kosovo Volunteers Army  
and have already recruited some 2,500 men whose conditions are 
suitable," Tuna Koc, head of the Nizami Alem (World Order 
organisation, told AFP. 
   "But do not be misled by the name, army. It will be an unarmed  
unit and will be involved in humanitarian missions. Our aim is not 
to fight the Serbs on the ground, but to provide the Kosovo refugees 
with humanitarian aid," he said. 
   "We did similar things in Bosnia and Chechnya in the past," Koc  
said without elaborating. 
   He charged that the "Serbs are committing the worst kind of  
crimes against the Albanian population of Kosovo and the western 
world is merely watching this. 
   "So we have to do something to relieve the plight of those  
suffering," he said. 
   "But we are waiting for the result of the planned peace talks  
for Kosovo. If they fail, we will step up efforts to send our men to 
Kosovo," Koc added. 
   The Turkish group's move came amid increased attacks by Serb  
troops against independence-seeking Kosovo Albanians, led by the 
Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA. 
   The KLA, which only a month ago claimed control of some 40  
percent of Kosovo territory, has suffered a series of blows after 
Serb forces launched a massive offensive aimed at securing major 
roads connecting the capital Pristina with the west and south of the 
province. 
   The Serb onslaught has caused tens of thousands of civilians to  
flee. International aid agencies put the figure at more than 
230,000. Kosovo's whole population is around two million. 
   The international community, headed by the United States, has  
been pressing Belgrade and ethnic Albanians to resume talks over 
restive Kosovo province, as NATO troops began manoeuvres in 
neighbouring Albania. 
   Turkey has special links with Kosovo as the region was part of  
the Turkish Ottoman Empire between the 14th century and late last 
century. 
   More than two million Moslem Albanians, many of them relatives  
of those in Kosovo, live in Turkey, according to ethnic Albanian 
groups in the country. 
   But despite its strong ethnic and religious ties with the Kosovo  
Albanians, Turkey has refrained from supporting the region's 
independence aspirations. Ankara instead favours the restoration of 
Kosovo's autonomy and a solution within Yugoslavia's territorial 
integrity. 
   However, this did not prevent Turkish President Suleyman Demirel  
from condemning Serb attacks as a crime against humanity and calling 
for western intervention during a visit to Albania last month. 
   Koc said his group did not want to undertake anything that might  
be viewed as an "illegal move in the eyes of the Turkish government 
and the United Nations, and will be seeking their green light before 
sending our men to Kosovo. 
   "If get that kind of green light, we will apparently not wait  
for permission from the Serb perpetrators," added the leader of the 
nationalist Turkish group. 
   But Turkish government officials ruled out any support for the  
initiative. 
   Koc's Nizami Alem is an organisation on the sidelines of the  
right-wing Grand Union Party, a seven-MP opposition group in 
Turkey's 550-seat parliament. That party supported an Islamist-led 
cabinet from outside the government when it ruled the country 
between June 1996 and June last year. 
-- 
Press Agency Ozgurluk
For justice, democracy and human rights in Turkey and Kurdistan!
Website: http://www.ozgurluk.org                          
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