Kurds torch themselves in Moscow protest

[ozgurluk at xs4all.nl]

FOCUS-Kurds torch themselves in Moscow protest 
01:28 p.m Nov 17, 1998 Eastern 

MOSCOW, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Two Kurds doused themselves with petrol and
set themselves ablaze near the Kremlin on Tuesday to protest against
the treatment of Turkish Kurd separatist leader Abdullah Ocalan, who
has been arrested in Rome.

Part of a series of protests, including a suicide bombing in Turkey on
Tuesday, the self-immolations brought the issue back to the city
where, Kurdish activists said, Ocalan had been refused asylum.

He was detained in Italy last week after arriving on a flight from
Moscow. The Russian government had denied knowledge of his whereabouts
when accused by Turkey of harbouring Ocalan.

Makhir Valat, representative in Moscow of Ocalan's Kurdistan Workers'
Party (PKK), told a news conference to publicise the self-immolations
that the Russian government had been pressured into refusing him
asylum.

Another Kurdish spokesman said Ocalan had been in Moscow from October
9 until he left for Italy on November 12.

The two male protesters poured petrol over themselves and the road in
front of Russia's State Duma, the lower house of parliament, at 3:40
a.m. (0040 GMT) on a bitterly cold night, a police spokesman said.

They writhed and screamed as flames burned though their clothes and
lit up the street near the entrance to Red Square.

Police quickly extinguished the flames and the men were taken to hospital with
severe burns. 

A statement issued by a group calling itself the Kurdistan Committee
said the pair, whom it named as Dzhikhat and Taikhan, left a letter
saying they were protesting at efforts against Ocalan led by
``imperialist America, Israel and fascist Turkey.''

It said one of the men was in critical condition.

``They said they could no longer stand what is happening to the Kurds
so they burned themselves,'' Valat later told the PKK news conference.

Ocalan, founder of the leftist PKK, has led a long struggle against
Turkish authorities for Kurdish self-rule in which thousands have been
killed.

The Soviet Union was a Cold War-era ally of the PKK, and Ocalan was
widely believed to have fled to Moscow last month after Syria agreed
with Turkey to expel him from his base on its territory. Syria has
denied sheltering him on its territory.

Ocalan was captured in Rome's Fiumicino airport last Friday after
arriving on an Aeroflot flight with a false passport.

Turkey has demanded he be extradited. Kurds have launched protests and
hunger strikes in several European cities.

There has been speculation in the Russian press that Moscow assisted
in Ocalan's capture and may have received favours from Ankara in
return.

The daily business newspaper Kommersant, citing a source in Russian
security services, said: ``Ankara promised to decrease the activities
of its spy agencies in Russia, including (the breakaway Moslem region
of) Chechnya.''

Valat said Ocalan had tried to win political asylum in Russia but
failed.  ``Unfortunately, the Russian government, under world
pressure, wanted the leader of Free Kurdistan to leave Russia,'' he
said.

He added that Ocalan turned to Italy thinking that recent political
changes there would create a more hospitable climate for him to win
asylum. An Italian law barring the extradition of suspects to
countries which have the death penalty has complicated the issue of
extraditing him to Turkey.

List info: english-request at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl