Kurdish leader calls on Jews to push Turkey for settlement

LONDON, Feb. 28 (JTA) — A senior Kurdish political source with close ties to the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party is calling on Jewish leaders throughout the world to pressure Turkey to seek a political settlement with the separatists. The call comes after three supporters of the PKK, as the Kurdish party is known, were killed by Israeli security guards when they attempted to storm the Israeli Consulate in Berlin earlier this month. A fourth died of his injuries over the weekend. The Feb. 18 attack on the consulate came in the wake of reports that Israel had helped Turkey capture PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan in Kenya. Ocalan is now in Turkey, where he faces charges of treason stemming from the 14-year-old Kurdish separatist struggle against Turkey. In an interview with JTA in London, the source conceded that it had been a mistake to target the Israeli consulate. But he said there was no doubt in the minds of PKK followers that Israel was implicated in Ocalan’s capture — despite the repeated denials from Israeli officials. The source said there had been a marked increase in Turkey’s actions against the secessionist PKK during the past two years, which he linked directly to the close military cooperation that has developed between Jerusalem and Ankara during that period. But PKK leaders “will understand it has made a mistake by making an enemy of Israel,” he said. They “will soon realize it is not in their interests to open a new front.” The source acknowledged that the PKK — which Turkish officials claim has been responsible for some 37,000 deaths since the early 1980s — cannot continue fighting against the world. “In the very short term, this feeling against Israel will cool down and the PKK will once again focus on the right target — Turkey.” Just the same, he said, “The PKK has expectations of the Israeli state. It will expect Israel and Jewish leaders throughout the world to put political pressure on Turkey to reach a political settlement with the PKK. “Israel could present itself as a model to Turkey of how a state comes to negotiate with ‘terrorists,’ ” he added, in an apparent reference to Israel’s willingness in 1993 to begin talks with PLO leader Yasser Arafat. In a related development, Turkey is praising Syria for ensuring that its embassy in Damascus was not attacked during demonstrations protesting Ocalan’s abduction from Kenya. Last October, Turkey threatened military action against Syria unless Syrian President Hafez Assad clamped down on PKK terrorists operating against Turkey from Syrian soil. Ankara had also demanded that Syria expel Ocalan, who had found a safe haven at the time in Damascus. Speaking after a meeting in Damascus last week of the Syrian-Turkish security committee, which was set up in the aftermath of the October crisis, Turkish sources said their delegation had expressed “satisfaction” with the way Syria handled the situation. The sources said the talks constituted a “step in the direction of promoting [bilateral] ties and cooperation.” Syria is still reportedly refusing to hand over PKK fighters held in Syrian jails, despite demands for their extradition by the Turkish delegation.