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DISASTER AT KIZILDERE 313
Douglas-Home had received assurances from Cheltenham, he
nevertheless asked Roderick Sarell to double-check that the security
precautions to protect the remaining personnel at Unye and
the two other Black Sea sites were indeed adequate. 41
The next day, Douglas-Home made an optimistic statement
in the House of Commons. He perpetuated the cover story that
the hostages were 'three Ministry of Defence civilian radar operators',
working with the Thrkish Air Force. 42 However, even as
he spoke, the Thrkish Prime Minister made a hard-hitting TV
address which closed the door on any bargaining with the
kidnappers over the impending death sentences. 'It is an empty
dream on their part,' he declared, 'to imagine that this kidnapping
will yield any result for them.' He was determined to resist
'blackmail', and insisted that the kidnappers would be 'hunted
down'. The law, he added, would be enforced 'to the bitter
end'.43 True to his word, a massive search of the area surrounding
the half-finished GCHQ facility at Carsamba was launched.
Commandos with helicopters were brought in, and by 29 March
the hide-out at Kizildere had been located. Operations on the
ground were led in person by the Turkish Interior Minister, Ferit
Kubat, who was accompanied by a posse of journalists. The
next day, at 5.30 in the morning, he began talking directly to
the terrorists through an open window in the Mayor's house.
When he told them to give up the hostages and surrender, the
terrorists insisted on the release of their three comrades awaiting
death in Ankara. Later they reduced their demands to their own
safe passage to the Syrian border. Kubat insisted that they
surrender unconditionally.
These tense personal exchanges continued for some time.
Ertugrul Kurku, one of the TPLA gunmen, recalls that at a
certain point in the proceedings, the terrorists brought the
hostage Charles Thrner, who was the leader of the GCHQ party,
to the window and allowed him to talk to the Interior Minister.
Thrner shouted anxiously, 'Don't fire. If you do so they will kill
us.' He explained that the kidnappers were desperate, and effectively
regarded themselves as a suicide squad, determined to