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

REVUE DE PRESSE~PRESS REVIEW~BERHEVOKAÇAPÊ~RNISTA STAMPA~DENTRO DE LA PRENSA~BASIN ÖZETi
Turkish Probe December 2, 1993 3
they did not expect such a large-scale operation.
The real blow to the PKK was the show of politi- .
cal will by two major Western European countries
against them.
Similar actions are now expected by both Ankara
and by Bonn and Paris from other European capitals.
We can include London to that list. The British
government has not outlawed the PKK yet, but British
officials said that Scotland Yard is preparing a
special plan to prohibit the "illegal" activities of its
affiliated organizations.
A security-summit of the interior and justice ministers
of the 12 European Union countries has served
as a very good example of the pressure which has
started to be put on those countries not taking a
strong stand against the extensions of the armed
dissident groups, and those who think that the best
way to prevent their attacks is to be on good
terms with them. (Despite the fact that Europe
has seen the result of this attitude in
France. Because of the Armenian community
there, French authorities turned a blind eye
toward the armed activities of the illegal
group ASALA against Turkish targets from
the mid-1970s onwards, until the groups's
bombs started to claim the lives of French
people in mid-1980s.)
Belgium, for example, was strongly criticized
by Spain for sheltering two militants of
the secessionist Basque organization ETA. It
was again Belgium which was reluctant to
outlaw the PKK, saying that PKK activity in
that country had not reached the level seen in
Germany.
The headquarters of the ERNK, whose
branch in Germany was banned, was in Brussels,
and its spokesman Kani Yilmaz had
threatened European -- including Belgian -~
tourists that it may cost them their lives if they
travelled to Turkey next summer, in a Brussels
press conference a day before the summit.
Greece's attitude was the most typical and
exemplary. German Interior Minister Kanther
revealed after the summif that it was only
Greece which had opposed including the
PKK on the EU's list of "terrorist organizations."
Perhaps Turkey's allies in Athens plan
to use this double edged sword as their latést
weapon to weaken Turkey.
West European capitals started to give a
message to T.urkey by ~aking strong measures
against the PKK, hints of which were
contained in the statement by Kinkel after
Borm's decision to outlaw the PKK. He said
the German move on the PKK did not mean
that Germany was no longer interested in the
state of human rights of people of Kurdish origin
in Turkey.
Listening to the words of Ankara, European
capitals started to discriminate between the
PKK, that means political violence, and the Kurdish
problem.
Nowtheir message to Ankara is: we'll help you in
solving the PKK problem.
And you have to try means other than military
ones to solve the Kurdish problem. This seems essential
for Europe's security and stability as well, if
it is considered that the commercial borders of Europe
will include southeastern borders of Turkey
when the country adopts the customs union with
the EU in 1995.
The cost or perhaps the gift to Turkey of the European
contribution to solving the PKK problem
seems to be convincing Ankara of the need for a
political solution to the Kurdish problem, which will
possibly be a key factor in Turkey's political integration
with the EU.•
PROTESTING THE BAN- The German government's decision to outlaw
the PKK outraged Kurdish militants who occupied the banned associations,
displayed their flag and shouted chants condemning the
move. A PKK spokesman in Cologne denounced the decision as a
"grave political mistake" and threatened German interests. because
of their backing of Turkey. The photo shows a Kurdish militant shouting
slogans nextto a PKK flag. Reul« Wirephl'Ill
16