Hakan Aydin

As the death toll in Turkey keeps increasing due to the terrorist attacks of one of the worlds worst terrorist organizations, PKK, it may be time to look at the history of this terrorist group and ‘remember’ its supporters.

The PKK was formally established on November 7, 1978 by the chief terrorist Abdullah Ocalan. Since then, the group has evolved into a deadly insurgence against Turkey, reaching a strength of some 5,000 by 1992. So far, since the beginning of its operations in 1980, the PKK is primarily responsible for a war that has left some 30,000 people dead in Turkey and a number of murders abroad, primarily in Germany. PKK has been labelled a terrorist organisation by several states and international organizations including Turkey, the United States, the European Union, Syria, Canada, Iran and Australia.

For almost two decades, Ocalan has operated from Syria and Syrian-occupied Lebanon. As the situation got worse in Turkey, the Turkish government openly threatened Syria over its support for the PKK and nearly went to war against Syria. The Syrian government backed down and expelled Öcalan, instead of handing him to the Turkish authorities.

Here is where it gets interesting: Öcalan went to Russia first and asked for political asylum. While the Russian government denied any knowledge of his whereabouts, on November 4 the Duma unanimously voted to demand that he be given asylum. From there he moved to Italy. In 1998, while in Italy, the Turkish government requested the extradition of Öcalan. He was at that time counselled by the high-profile German attorney, Britta Böhler, then by Failos Kranidiotis, a Greek lawyer. The attorney argued that he fought a legitimate struggle against the oppression of his people. Instead of handing him to Turkish authorities, Italy also chose to expel him. Later, the Greek Parliament issued an invitation to Ocalan to come to Greece. Ocalan was brought to Greece and eventually found his way to the Greek island of Corfu. He arrived on a Lear jet provided by retired Greek Admiral Antonis Naxakis, one of Ocalan’s closest friends. Greece also refused to hand the terrorist to the Turkish authorities and offered to find him another ’safe haven’. Then, while being transferred from the Greek embassy to the Nairobi international airport, by a joint operation between the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and the Turkish National Intelligence Agency, he was eventually captured in Kenya on February 15, 1999 and was flown back to Turkey for trial. As he sat strapped into the seat of a jet en route to Turkey, his face dripped with sweat and his eyes blinked nervously while he told his captors how much he “loved” Turkey and how eager he was to “render services” to them.

The Italian refusal to extradite Ocalan irreparably damaged the European Union’s pontifications about “human rights” and international law. Moreover, the Turkish government provided substantial evidence that Greece supports PKK activities, particularly in the Mediterranean resorts of Turkey. First, there are admissions by certain PKK members that members of this organization are permitted to travel to Athens through some of the Aegean islands and then to a camp 75 miles outside the city. Second, Western observers including the American intelligence community openly argue about the existence of a PKK camp in Greece. Finally, pictures of several Greek deputies with Apo and permission in 1995 for the ERNK to maintain an one in Athens further arm the conviction that Greece is also behind the PKK. Although the Greek government deny supporting PKK at a state level, they do not rule out a possible link between some Greek private citizens and the PKK. One official clearly pointed out the existence of a “traditional” animosity between Greeks and Turks and that some Greek nationals may assist PKK terrorists based on this fallacious reasoning (“the enemy of my enemy is my friend”). It should be noted that the chief terrorist Abdullah Ocalan was caught with a Greek Cypriot passport, which was made available to the media by the Turkish Intelligence Agency.

Once again, the European capacity for political hypocrisy has been proven.