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

REVUE DE PRESSE-PRESS REVIEW-BERHEVOKA ÇAPÊ-RWISTA STAMPA-DENTRO DE LA PRENSA-BASIN OZETi
4 Turkish Probe February 24, 1994
Special Report
Turkey and the Middle East:
Hostages to the PKK?
Ismet G. Imset
Part 3: Meeting the Iraqi Kurds
he PKK's relations with the Iraqi Kurdish
T movement is quite old, starting all the way. in
southeastern Turkey in the 1970s but gaIning
momentum only after the organization's leader
Abdullah Öcalan moved out to Syria and Lebanon.
When the organization launched its first activities
in the Turkish Southeast as early as 1978, it also
entered a competition with local Kurdish movements
which had connections with those in neighboring
Iraq. Many families had relatives on both sides of
the border and this was a convenient way of expanding
ties. By the time the PKK entered the scene
of Kurdish activity, Iraqi Kurdish groups already had
their own extensions in these territories and this resulted
-- at times -- in armed conflict with the "Apoeus"
or followers of Abdullah. In the later years, as
Öcalan directly contacted the Iraqi Kurds, relations
developed. First there was contact with Patriotic Union
of Kurdistan (PUK) leader Jalal Talabani. Then a
protocol was signed with Masoud Barzani's Kurdistan
Democrat Party (KDP). Camps were opened in
Iraqi territory and, as the years went by, the PKK
even established contact with Baghdad. Looking
back at relations with Iraqi Kurds, what has to be
emphasized is that although Talabani has always
been more sympathetic and closer to the PKK, compared
to Barzani he was perhaps the least affecte~
directly by the conflict in Turkey. At least, up until
1994 when Turkish jets struck a major camp in Talabani's
territory.
Areas used in northern Iraq by the PKK to shelter,
train and carry out cross-border assaults into Turkey
have -- since the ruthless 1975 campaign of Iraqi
troops in that territory -- been under the control to a
large extent of the KDP of Mullah Mustafa Barzani
and after 1979, his son Masoud, who inherited the
movement.
Thus, whenever Turkish forces attacked this territory
or whenever the PKK had armed conflicts
with the local Kurds. the KDP was directly effected
whereas the PUK or Talabani's movement,
which has control more to the south and southeast
of the region, has always been a safe distance
away. .
The camps which the PKK occupied in northern
Iraq have almost always been villages evacuated by
Barzani's people and the villages hit by Turkish warplanes
have always been those of the KDP, including
Barzan, the hometown of Barzani.
The beginning of relations
In 1983, when the PKK was still an unprofessional
organization without local support and depending
much on the amount of foreign support it could get,
it was Turkey -- not any other regional country --
which literally thrust this organization into the lap of
Iraqi Kurds and which triggered a period in which
the PKK would grow, professionalize in guerrilla
warfare and use the territory of a neighboring country
extensively for attacks which have claimed 5,000
lives in nine years. If a summary of the PKK's links
with the Iraqi Kurdish movement needs to be given,
it could be seen that this relationship began on the
formal level only in July 1983 with PKK leader Abdullah
Öcalan and KDP leacler Masoud Barzani
signing what was then called a protocol on "the solidarity
principles of the KDP and PKK," which
marked the beginning of an alliance. This protocol,
bearing the signatures of Abdullah Öcalan and Masoud
Barzani, was actually a document of understanding
that the two organizations would cooperate
in their struggle against the Turkish and Iraqi regimes.
The alliance would, with its ups and downs, last
four and a half years without any serious problems,
until1987, when the KDP pOlitburopublished its first
warning, reprimanding the PKK for not abiding by
the principles of the protocol. However, relations between
the PKK and KDP continued and only ended
after two years when the KDP openly branded the
former as an organization acting against Kurdish interests
and heavily criticized it for killing Kurdish
people, including civilians. In this period, though, the
PKK became stronger and, from an organization depending
on foreign support, it turned into an organization
depending on its own people. Relations were
established with various other organizations in
northern Iraq, and Öcalan personally met with Talabani
as well as other senior Kurdish leaders. In
most talks related to the future of Kurdistan, PKK
envoys were present and were also allowed to
speak up their minds.
In other words, the establishment of relations with
the KDP alone may have changed the whole history
of the organization. How then did this relationship
truly begin and how much was Ankara -- unaware of
what damage it would cause -- involved in the pro
cess?
The best way to answer this question is to look at
the overall situation in the early days of 1980: