DATE=9/29/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=TURKEY / KURDS (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-254465
BYLINE=AMBERIN ZAMAN
DATELINE=ANKARA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
/// EDS: RE-ISSUING 2-254456 TO FIX SEQUENCE OF EVENTS
THROUGHOUT ///
Intro: At least five-thousand Turkish troops backed
by helicopter gunships have crossed into northern Iraq
in pursuit of rebels of the Kurdistan Workers Party,
or P-K-K. Amberin Zaman in Ankara reports the
offensive comes as the Kurdish rebels reject Turkish
calls for them to surrender unconditionally.
TEXT: Members of a pro-Turkish Kurdish militia and an
Iraqi Kurdish faction allied with Ankara are taking
part in the offensive, which is concentrated near
Haftanin and Metina along Turkey's border with
northern Iraq.
The troops were sent to help Turkish forces already in
the region. Turkey maintains a year round military
presence in the Kurdish-controlled enclave in northern
Iraq in an attempt to stop P-K-K guerrillas from
launching cross-border attacks against Turkish
targets.
Turkish officials describe the offensive as "routine."
It comes as the P-K-K's imprisoned leader, Abdullah
Ocalan warned that unless Turkey responded to his
recent peace proposals, violence in the largely
Kurdish southeast provinces could -- in his words --
spin out of control.
Ocalan has made a series of conciliatory gestures
since a Turkish court sentenced him to death on
treason charges last June. Critics of his movement
say the gestures are aimed at persuading Turkish
authorities to spare his life. But Ocalan insists his
only aim is to secure a lasting peace between Turks
and Kurds.
He has called on his followers to abandon their armed
struggle for Kurdish self-rule and to withdraw from
Turkish territory.
Last week, Ocalan appealed to a group of his followers
to surrender to Turkish authorities. But the Turkish
military says it will keep up its campaign against the
P-K-K until what it describes as "every last
terrorist" is neutralized.
Turkish officials say the P-K-K's peace overtures are
designed to hide what they term its near total defeat
at the hands of the powerful Turkish army.
Against this background, analysts say, hopes are
dwindling for an early end to the 15-year insurgency,
which has claimed more than 30-thousand lives. In a
statement carried Wednesday by the German-based
Kurdish news agency, D-E-M, the P-K-K declared it
would never surrender and accused the Turkish military
of pursuing a policy of "war over peace, surrender
over freedom, and oppression over democracy."
(Signed)
NEB/AZ/JWH/ENE/JP
29-Sep-1999 12:47 PM EDT (29-Sep-1999 1647 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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