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Al-Ahram Weekly 25 February - 3 March 1999 Issue No. 418 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 25 February - 3 March 1999 Issue No. 418
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Ankara luxuriates in 'victory' over Ocalan
By Amberin ZamanKurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan's arrest more than 14 years after he began his guerrilla campaign for Kurdish independence is regarded by the Turkish government as a resounding victory for it and a crippling blow to the rebels.
Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit, who has become a national hero since his emotional televised address on 16 February announcing news of Ocalan's seizure in a covert operation by Turkish Special Forces, has pledged that the Kurdish rebel chief will receive a fair and open trial. But he has made it equally clear that no foreign country should attempt to dictate how Turkey conducts its case against the man Ankara claims is responsible for the deaths of more than 30,000 people.
Prime Minister Ecevit said: "We had pledged that no matter where in the world he was, the terrorist would be brought back to face justice and pay for the crimes he committed; we have kept the promise that we made to the mothers of our martyred soldiers."
Several thousand pro-Kurdish demonstrators across the country have taken to the streets to protest at Ocalan's capture. More than 1,000 have been detained. The reaction to the arrest has been negligible compared to the mass protests, hunger strikes and even self-immolations which took place in Turkey's mainly Kurdish south-eastern provinces last November following news that Ocalan had been ordered out of his long-time sanctuary of Syria.
Ocalan's expulsion by Syria under Turkish military threats proved a crucial turning point in Turkey's 14-year-long hunt for the Kurdish rebel leader. Many Kurds are still reeling from the shock of seeing the man they once thought invincible in the hands of the Turkish authorities.
Kurds interviewed over the past week have expressed deep shame, and even disgust, over Ocalan's conduct since his capture. Footage of Ocalan, distributed to the Turkish media showing him on board the private jet which carried him to Turkey, reveals a confused, barely coherent and frightened man, declaring his "love" for the Turkish people and asking to be "of service" to Turkey. "He is a coward. I can't believe so many of our young people blindly followed this man to their graves," said a Kurdish medical doctor in Ankara, who declined to be identified by name.
Ocalan, who is being charged with treason, is likely to be handed down the death penalty by a special State Security Court.
Ecevit has repeatedly voiced his personal aversion to capital punishment. Legal experts say it is highly unlikely that Ocalan will be executed; firstly, because the death penalty has not been used in Turkey since 1984; secondly, because Turkey does not want to draw further Western criticism of its poor human rights record and, finally, because it does not want to make a martyr out of Ocalan.
Turkish officials have persistently evaded questions about the events leading to Ocalan's capture in the Kenyan capital Nairobi last week. But it soon emerged that Kenyan security officials had handed Ocalan over to a team of Turkish Special Forces who had been waiting at Nairobi airport for days.
The American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Israeli Mossad are widely believed to have played major roles in helping Turkey finally lay its hands on Ocalan, who is now awaiting trial at a prison island off the coast of Istanbul.
Senior Turkish officials were delighted at the resignation last week of Greek Foreign minister Theodoros Pangalos amid accusations that he had mishandled the Ocalan affair. The country's public order and interior ministers also resigned for their alleged role in harbouring Ocalan for 12 days at the Greek ambassador's residence in Kenya and in his eventual capture.
Ecevit said, "Greece is paying the price for supporting Ocalan. Let this be a lesson to any nation preparing to meddle in our internal affairs," he said.
Turkish President Suleiman Demirel on Monday threatened unspecified actions against Greece, saying that Turkey "reserves the right to take all precautions if Greece chooses to continue its illegal behaviour."
In a related development, a PKK spokesman said the group had declared Greece "enemy number one" for "selling Ocalan to Turkey." Speaking from Nairobi in an interview with Kurdish satellite channel Med-TV, Semse Kilic, who said that she had been with Ocalan after his disappearance from Rome on 16 January, accused Greece of betraying Ocalan. "It was a plot jointly hatched by Turkey, Greece, the United States and Israel," she said.
Western observers say they are encouraged by Mr Ecevit's pledge that PKK rebels who surrender to the government could benefit from a partial or full amnesty depending on their role in the 14-year-long separatist insurgency.
Ecevit said he had received the backing of all major political parties for the passage of a "repentance law" allowing leniency for fighters who lay down their arms and provide information about the PKK leader. Ocalan will not, however, be able to invoke the law once it is passed, Ecevit said.
It remains unclear how the rebels will respond to the government's appeals to turn themselves in. Osman Ocalan, the PKK leader's brother, who is apparently now commanding the guerrillas from a base straddling the Iran-Iraq border, has vowed to keep up the armed campaign against Turkey. But there are already widespread reports that his leadership is being challenged by two senior PKK commanders, Cemil Bayik and Murat Karayilan.
