Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris

REVUE DE PRESSE--PRESS REVIEW-BERHEVOKA ÇAPÊ-RIVISTA STAMPA-DENTRO DE LA PRENSA-BASIN ÖZETi
2 Turkish Probe October 5, 1993
The Kurdish Scene:
.Entering a Bot -- a Very Hot -~Winter
ismet G. imset
Last week's announcement by Kurdistan was to restore human rights, complete Turkey's de-
Workers' Party (PKK) leader Abdullah mocratization drive and bring b.ack stability to the
Öcalan declaring an all-out war on Turkey country. Frequently heard slogans at that time were:
and promising attackseven on foreign investments . "transparent" police stations, no more torture, a vofrom
now on indicate th~ approach of a hot, a very cal (konu~an) Turkey and last, but not least. support
hot, winter. What Öcalan said had no importance in for the Paris chart~r.
its literal sense because he appeared to be repeat- How long has it been since anyone has heard any
ing his earlier' threats and views. What mattered mention of these "main targets" or even of the Paris
more was the timing of his statement -- that it came charter? Not under Ti:msu Çiller's administration, at
days before Turkey launched its own massive least. When the first Mesut Yllmaz administration
crackdown in the Southeast.
took power in July 1991, it was greeted with a mili-
According to senior military. commanders, who tary proposal to begin an immense campaign in the
have more than once been quoted by the national southeast and east regions, directed at eliminating
press, the PKK must be crushed this winter even at the PKK en masse, grassroots and all.
the cost of risking many .r-----------------, But Y,lmaz did not survive
lives. According to Abdullah ~ long enough to implement
Öcalan, the PKK's new cam- .. The war has such a scheme. So, the
paign will claim as many as . same proposal was made to
50 lives a day. Already, the r,eached the p.oint of no Süleyman Demirel in late
death toll is up at around 20 r,etu1'"1'l. .. There is 1991 and his first resistance
per day and is rising steadily.
iasted only several months.
Looking at either side of genocide going on... His open support of the
the coin, the only thing that The (Turkish) chieifoF crackdown only led to mass
meets the eye is that a vast :J:J deàths and migration in
numberof civilians, perhaps staff said they wiU 1992, with two events which
hundreds more, will be vic- have since black-marked
tims of this undeclared war, wipe us out by next Turkey's human rights
which has already claimed March but they record. In the week following
over 7,300 lives.
the March 21 celebrations of
.Both sides are. heading to- cannot ... We are the Kurdish Newroz new
ward a collision course that ohhosin a this policy year, more than 100 demonwill
shatter all balances in '.I:'L' ~ strators were shot in the
the region and unavoidably with tremendous streets in the troubled region.
have repercussions in Anka- -es "stance..~ In August of the same year,
ra, where the civilian govern- , , ., troops literally tore apart the
ment already suffers from city of $rrnak, claiming that
administrative weaknesses. L..- ~ the PKK had half captured it.
The collision is expected to take place this month. More than 18,000 residents were forced to migrate
Some predict the campaign, launched by Turkey, then.
will last for at least three months. According to one And with Tansu Çiller now in power, similar sugview,
the operation will end .only in December, if gestions are being made within the Ankara adminissuccessful.
If no great success is achieved, some tration. It appears that the threat of martiallaw, and
politicians suspect the military will then use the pre- even a military memorandum to the government, is
teXt of terrorism, to first declare martial law through- tweaking some interest. It is in the form of a warnout
the region and then to deliver a letter of warning ing.
to the civilian administration -- taking over state According to ANAP's former minister and current
powers through that very administration, in the form parliamentarian Halil Sivgin, the military is now exof
a covert coup.
pected to concentrate on the region for the next
Turkey's new coalition government is nothing sim- three months, beginning in October.
. i1arto the one that was elected to power in the Oct. But if they do not succeed, he argues, they will
20, 1991 general elections. The names of the ruling deliver a memorandum to the government by Janu-
True Path Party (DYP) and the junior partner Social ary 1994 at the latest and demand that all control be ..
Democrat Peoples' Party (SHP) are the same. But put in their hands. "If they conclude that a parliatheir
leaders are different. What's more, their priori- mentary regime cannot solve terrorism," he said in a
ties are also different.
recent interview with TON correspondent Hayri Birl-
When the then Prime Minister Süleyman Demirel er, "they will introduce their own policies."
started off his "first 500 golden days," his priority What thèse policies will be or how different they
28