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

FINANCIAL
TIMES
23.10.1984
.Turkey tries:
.to enlist
Iran against
Kurd rebels
by David Barchard in Ankara
Al 'KARA's relations with
Ira.l. normally cordial and
.buslnessllke. have been
strained by Tehran's apparent
reluctance to co.operate with
Turkey and Iraq In a crack.
'down on KurdlsJt rebels In
the mountainous region -
where the three countries
meet.
Turkey admits 18 soldiers
have died In dashes since
mld.August, though some offi.
claIs say privately that the
figure Is nearly twice that.
Mr All Tanrlyar, Turkey's
Foreign Minister, and Gen.
eral Necdet OrztofUn, the de.
puty Chief of General Staff,
were yesterday In Tehran.
to try to soften Iran's
opposition to cross-border
operations.
One factor In the recent
fighting seems. to have been
the displacement of large,
numbers of Kurdish tribes.
men from Iran into areas
south of Van In eastern
Turkey durlng.,,~~ summer.
"":Pdmé)\llDts~rUigU.t.
OZal
:!~L~.W'-~Itl_..'. __.Iéàtéd'. ::t!tl!t.;
Turkey might be ready, if
Baghdad agreed, to launch
operations into Ir~itl terri.
tory where large numbers of
fugitive Kurdish rebels are
believed to be based. Ot)icials
here still disclaim the sug.
gestion that Turkey has' made
any significant Incurston In.
to Iran of the
May Illst year.
sort seeD In
However, It looks as It
large-scale helicopter opera.
tlons In Turkey have forced
most of the Kurdish guerrilla
groups to lIee Into Iran or
Iraq, and that Turkish J)9l1cy
Is concentrating on long.
term solutions to avoid
future fiare-ups. ~
All the country's ,pôDtlcal
leaders have now paid visits
to the south.east, and the
area's SOcial and economic,
backwardness Is being
stressed In Press reports.
The underlying problem,
however, remalfis the virtual
Impossibility of sealing Off the
mountainous frontier. There
Is talk of shifting at least
;80me border villages to more
secul'é areas. At present It
'stllt'al,)pears poSsible fot local
'Kutdlsh groups to cross vir.
tually at will.
'. With nearly 8m Kurdishspeaker.
ID Its 47m population,
T1&rkeyhas always been
'worried about the, growth of
Kurdish separatist move.
ments •. ~. ._ __ .
The 1982 constitution aM
sub9équ~ legIslation stronlt'ly
discourages pUblic use of the
lan~uage, and ,emJlI,1~slselithe
need for assimilation.
Rerent guerrilla attacks
seem to havé beeu Inspired by
two ofthe six main separatist
fartions ......supporters of th~
sons of the late Mullah
Mustafa Barzanl and the>
Kurdistan Democratie Party,
and the PKK or Workers'.
Party of Kurdistan, a Marxist
group
In the
established
1970s.
In TurkeY'
'
• ...Mr Ozal Inaugurated one'
of turkey's principal ener~,
projects at the weekeud wh'en
the first untt of the lIgnrte-'
fuelled Afsin E,blstan power'
station went Ir,to operation.
The plant, which has four
units with a total capatlty, of.
,1àGO mW, has beèn u~et;
construction {or seven years,
with suPPOrt from the lv,orJd';
Bank, the European Invest.
ment Bank, and the Saudi',
Development Fund, as well as'
financial baCking from West:
Germany, F'rance,
U.S. and Jl!>pan.
Italy, the-'
The 'Prime Minister said the!
t01al cost of ihe project
would be around SI.3bn. .,
• A consortium of the'
Istanbul-based constOlctloJ1:
group, Enka, and % Bllt,
(Brown Boverl) has bllén',
awarded a $103m contract to
build a liquid petroleum gas.,
powered electrlrlty station at
Harnltabad il) Thrace, the'
site of Turkey's largest
ural /tas fields. _,
nat.~
26. 10.1984
.'Kurd& Said to .K.iU'$ Turkî6h Sôldiëios ::
. ,..ANKARA (AP} -:. :Kûrd'sb :gu