Digested Articles on the Kurds and Ocalan (Lies, Facts and Propagan
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Tue Nov 24 17:34:48 GMT 1998
Topics:
Turkey: Germany to seek extradition
Yilmaz drops insistence on extradition of Kurdish rebel to Turkey
Ankara softens line against Rome over Kurd rebel, but boycott deepens
No official boycott of Italian goods,says Ankara
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Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1998 9:34:31 PST
From: C-upi at clari.net (UPI)
Subject: Turkey: Germany to seek extradition
Message-ID: <Uocalan-germanyURDoz_8NO at clari.net>
Keywords: international, US government, non-usa government, terrorism
ANKARA, Turkey, Nov. 24 (UPI) -- Turkish Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz
says Germany might change its mind and seek the extradition of Kurdish
rebel chief Abdullah Ocalan from Italy.
Germany has a long-standing warrant for Ocalan, the leader of the
outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party or the PKK for attacks on Turkish
targets there.
Turkey blames Ocalan for the death of about 30,000 people and have
asked for his extradition.
Italy refused to hand over Ocalan saying Italian law banned handing
over a detainee to a country that has the death penalty. Turkey had not
carried out the death penalty for the last 14 years and is now preparing
a draft bill to abolish capital punishment.
Ocalan was arrested in a Rome airport on Nov. 12 after arriving from
Russia where he fled from Syria.
Yilmaz noted that Italy's freeing Ocalan would ``not only deeply
offend Turkish people but also be a blow to justice.''
``There are indications that Germany might extradite him,'' he told
his parliamentary group meeting.
Nationwide street demonstrations and protests against Italy continued
today.
People gathered in front of the Italian Embassy in Ankara and
consulate in Istanbul all day to show their anger chanting slogans
against Ocalan.
Earlier the Defense Ministry announced that Italian companies would
not be permitted to bid for Turkish government contracts for the sale of
$ 3.5 billion in defense equipment. Other state and private companies
doing business with Italy started announcing they would join the boycott
of Italian products.
Italian Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema was reported as saying that
Turkey's attempt to boycott Italian goods could lead to far larger
European reprisal.
He said Italy is a member of the European Union and it should be the
European Commission that deals with issues of trade relations.
Washington, which has condemned the PKK as a terrorist organization,
has sided with Ankara on the issue of Ocalan's extradition. Local media
reports speculated that U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was
urging Germany to request Ocalan from Italy, they said.
The European soccer organization UEFA, postponed for a week
Wednesday's scheduled European Champions' League match to be played
between Italian and Turkish teams over ``security concerns,'' they said.
The UEFA's decision further enraged the Turks whose soccer authorities
said they had taken measures to ensure safety. They accused the UEFA of
mixing politics with sports.
The nationwide reactions to Italy have overshadowed the government
crisis that now looms before the country, according to political
observers. The minority coalition government of Yilmaz is expected to
fall Wednesday when Parliament votes on censure motions submitted last
week by three opposition parties.
The leftist Republican People's Party, which was backing the
government from outside, had abandoned Yilmaz early this month accusing
him of tampering with the privatization of a state bank. Yilmaz denies
any wrongdoing in the sell-off of Turk Ticaret Bankasi, saying he had
intervened to stop the Bank going into the hands of an underworld boss.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1998 12:16:22 PST
From: C-afp at clari.net (AFP)
Subject: Yilmaz drops insistence on extradition of Kurdish rebel to Turkey
Message-ID: <Qkurds-turkeyURHoV_8NO.R3q3_8NO at clari.net>
ANKARA, Nov 24 (AFP) - Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz on Tuesday
relented on his insistence that Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan
be extradited to Turkey and said Ocalan could be extradited to
Germany or sent to a third country.
"Political asylum in Italy or extradition to Turkey are both
unlikely," the Anatolia news agency quoted Yilmaz as telling his
Motherland Party's parliamentary group.
"It is possible that he will be extradited to Germany or sent to
a third country," Yilmaz said.
The German government repeated its position that Ocalan's fate
was a matter to be settled between Turkey and Italy.
Turkish Justice Minister Hasan Denizkurdu said after a telephone
conversation with his German counterpart, Hertha Daeubler-Gmelin,
that Bonn wanted the matter to be resolved between Ankara and Rome.
Germany had no plans to become involved, Denizkurdu's written
statement said. On Monday, a German government spokesman in Bonn
stated that Germany was not planning to ask for Ocalan's
extradition.
Italy has called on Germany to take Ocalan off its hands.
Italian Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema is due in Bonn on Friday to
discuss the issue with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.
Yilmaz said he expected new developments in the coming days.
"Our foremost aim is to stop the separatist terror
organisation's actions," Yilmaz said. "Whichever country the head of
the terror organisation may end up in, we intend to stop him from
carrying on his actions of the past."
Ankara had so far insisted that the leader of the Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK), arrested in Rome earlier this month, be
extradited to Turkey. Italy's refusal to do so has embittered
relations between the two countries.
Yilmaz also called on the Turkish people to keep calm in the
dispute with Italy.
"Our countrymen must keep a cool head in their protests," he
said. "They are justified on this issue, but they must not put
themselves in the wrong."
Anti-Italian protests have been held all over Turkey for more
than a week, with an impromptu boycott of Italian goods and
services.
BA-san/mec
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1998 12:55:53 PST
From: C-afp at clari.net (AFP)
Subject: Ankara softens line against Rome over Kurd rebel, but boycott deepens
Message-ID: <QkurdsURRXo_8NN.RDEM_8NO at clari.net>
ANKARA, Nov 24 (AFP) - Turkey on Tuesday dropped its insistence
that Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan be extradited from Italy,
but hopes that Germany might intervene to end the growing row
faded.
Ankara holds Ocalan responsible for more than 30,000 deaths
since 1984 as leader of the Kurdish rebellion in south-eastern
Turkey.
The bilateral legal row has spilled out into politics, trade,
football and even pizzas.
Turkish demonstrators burnt jerseys of Italy's national soccer
team in front of the Italian embassy here Tuesday in protest against
the postponement of a match between a Turkish and an Italian team.
About a hundred protesters demanding that Italy extradite Ocalan
also kicked soccer balls against the closed gates of the embassy and
chanted slogans like "Leave Apo to us" and "Traitor Italy".
The European soccer federation UEFA decided on Monday to
postpone the European Champions League tie between Galatasaray
Istanbul and Juventus Turin over the Ocalan row.
Turkish Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz accused UEFA of mixing
sports and politics.
Meanwhile a boycott of Italian goods snowballed in Turkey
Tuesday, as Italy continued to refuse to extradite the Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK) leader.
However an official of the Turkish-Italian business council
warned that the growing boycott, launched at grassroots level, may
end up hurting economies in both countries.
"The boycott issue is a very sensitive one and could prove
harmful to both countries," Vahit Erdem, co-chairman of the council,
told AFP.
Another business association focusing on trade with Italy took a
less pessimistic view of the current tide of public feeling.
"The boycott movement is an emotional reaction from the man in
the street," said Claudio Petrini, general manager of the
Turkish-Italian Commerce Association in Istanbul.
"But much of the Italian imports are aimed at a market segment
well above those who are burning Gucci ties outside the Italian
consulates and refusing to eat pizza," he said.
In a bid to end the dispute, without the need for a climbdown
from either side, both Italy and Turkey had begun to talk of German
involvement in seeking a solution.
Ocalan was arrested in Italy on November 12 by police acting on
international warrants from both Germany and Turkey.
However hopes of a German solution fell sharply Tuesday when
Turkish Justice Minister Hasan Denizkurdu said after a telephone
conversation with his German counterpart, Hertha Daeubler-Gmelin,
that Bonn wanted the matter resolved between Ankara and Rome.
Germany had no plans to become involved, Denizkurdu's written
statement said.
In Bonn, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer called for
calm.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Italian President
Massimo D'Alema will discuss the problem in Bonn on Friday, he
said.
Ocalan, in an interview given to a Moscow daily, said Tuesday
that Russia had refused him political exile because of intense US
and Turkish diplomatic pressure.
His claim apparently contradicted public statements by senior
Russian officials that Ocalan had never been on Russian territory.
"The Americans put Russia under great pressure," Ocalan was
quoted as saying.
"Turkey offered financial aid and lucrative contracts and
promised to intervene positively in (the breakaway Russian republic
of) Chechnya," he told the paper.
Back in Turkey's troubled southeast, where the rebels' battle
for Kurdish independece is still being waged, regional officials
said that the Turkish army had killed 20 members of the PKK in fresh
fighting.
The prefecture of the southern town of Diyarbakir said three
Turkish soldiers were also killed in the latest clashes.
The new figures raises the number of PKK guerrillas killed in
the latest fighting to 43.
The Turkish army last Friday launched a major operation
involving around 30,000 troops in the eastern province of Tunceli,
to flush out an estimated 500 PKK rebels from positions in the
mountains.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1998 13:35:57 PST
From: C-afp at clari.net (AFP)
Subject: No official boycott of Italian goods,says Ankara
Message-ID: <Qkurds-turkey-boycottUR1GW_8NO at clari.net>
ANKARA, Nov 24 (AFP) - The Turkish Government has not imposed an
official boycott on Italian products despite the continuing row over
Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan, a spokesman said Tuesday.
"We have not decided on an official boycott of Italian products
... We have no responsibility for the Turkish private sector's
reaction towards Italian products," spokesman Sukru Sina Gurel said
here.
He was responding to a warning by EU Commission President
Jacques Santer on Tuesday that Brussels could impose economic
sanctions if the Turkish government, or publicly-owned companies,
boycott Italian companies because of Rome's refusal to extradite the
leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
"If such a boycott were officially decided, which I hope will
not happen, it would be important to organise consultations
immediately," Santer said.
If these did not produce a satisfactory result the EU "could
then decide on retaliatory measures," Santer said in Brussels.
After meeting Italian Premier Massimo d'Alema here, Santer said
a boycott would be a "clear violation" both of the 1963 EU-Turkey
Association Agreement and the customs union between them that was
introduced in 1996.
Turkey maintains that Ocalan, currently detained in a secret
location in Rome, is responsible for more than 30,000 deaths in the
PKK's 14-year armed campaign for a Kurdish homeland.
"Turkey is conscious of its obligations," Gurel said.
Meanwhile Turkey announced Tuesday it was extending for four
months from November 30 a state of emergency in six provinces in the
east and southeast of the country where PKK rebels are concentrated.
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End of forwarda10936 Digest
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