DATE=2/19/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=TURKEY/KURDS (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-259352
BYLINE=AMBERIN ZAMAN
DATELINE=ANKARA
CONTENT=
Voiced at :
INTRO: Two Kurdish mayors were arrested Saturday over
their alleged links to the outlawed Kurdistan
Workers' Party also known as the PKK. As Amberin Zaman
reports from Ankara, Western diplomats and
Human rights groups say the arrests will likely
undermine Turkey's efforts to become a full member of
the European Union and harm its image abroad.
Text: Feridun Celik mayor of the largest Kurdish
dominated city in the southeast was arrested late
Saturday after meeting with Canadian diplomats in D-I-
y-a-r-b-a-k-I-r . Selim Ozalp mayor of Siirt, another
town in the mainly Kurdish southeast region, was also
arrested on charges of helping the outlawed Kurdistan
Workers' Party, the P-k-k.
Turkish officials confirm the mayors were detained
after they received information from captured PKk
rebels that the men had "acted in coordination with
the PKK." The mayors are also being accused of
transferring funds to the rebels and attending their
meetings in Europe.
Mr. Celik and Mr. Ozalp are among a group of Kurdish
mayors, who were swept to power during nationwide
elections held last April on the ticket of the pro-
Kurdish People's Democracy party or Hadep for short.
Hadep officials rejected the charges as "a total
fabrication" and said the arrests constituted a
serious setback to ongoing efforts for a lasting peace
in the largely Kurdish southeast region.
Nearly 40-thousand people have died in the civil
conflict.
Hopes for peace have been steadily rising following
the capture of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan by Turkish
special forces in Kenya a year ago. Ocalan who has
been handed the death sentence on treason charges
by a Turkish court has called an end to his bloody 15
year long armed rebellion, shelved his demands for
Kurdish autonomy and independence.
Clashes in the Kurdish region have all but ceased and
stringent security measures have been relaxed
creating an unprecedented atmosphere of peace.
Western observers say the mayors'arrests mark a shift
from the government's earlier overtures towards
Hadep, which makes no secret of its sympathy for
Ocalan and the PKK. Last September Turkish President
Suleyman Demirel met with a delegation of ethnic
Kurdish mayors led by Mr Celik, who pledged his
commitment to the unity of the Turkish state.
Recent moves by Turkey's Left of center prime
minister, Bulent Ecevit, to raise democratic standards
in his country were given a further boost when
European Union leaders agreed to include Turkey in the
list of countries with which it will open full
membership talks.
Some Western diplomats in Ankara say Saturday's
arrests may have been orchestrated by what they term
forces within the Turkish establishment who are
opposed to Turkey's European Union membership.
(Signed)
NEB/PT
19-Feb-2000 15:30 PM EDT (19-Feb-2000 2030 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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