KONGRA-GEL's Legacy of Violence

08/10/2004

KONGRA-GEL terrorists ended their ceasefire in June and resumed attacks on Turkey's armed forces in the southeast. Amid global security concerns and domestic reforms, however, the group finds itself increasingly isolated and confused.

By Vahit Bora for Southeast European Times in Istanbul - 08/10/04

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul held talks with US counterpart Colin Powell at the UN General Assembly. [AFP]

At the UN's 59th General Assembly earlier this month, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul discussed a number of key issues with his American counterpart, Colin Powell -- including the Kurdistan Freedom and Democracy Congress, or KONGRA-GEL. During the talks, Gul asked Powell for further US assistance in dealing with the terrorist group, which ended a five-year ceasefire in June and resumed attacks on Turkey's armed forces in the mainly Kurdish-populated southeast. Clashes in July and August reopened the bitter wounds of the last 20 years.

Abdullah Ocalan founded the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) as a Kurdish separatist movement in 1978. Captured in 1999 in Kenya and brought to Turkey, he was charged with killing thousands of people since the PKK began its campaign of violence in 1984. The Supreme Court approved the death sentence for Ocalan in June 1999, but after the death penalty was abolished, his sentence was converted to life imprisonment. He has been imprisoned for five years at Imrali Island.

In October 1997, the United States identified the PKK as one of the 30 main terrorist organisations in the world. After Ocalan's capture, the group entered a period of disarray and attempted to shift to the political arena, changing its name first to the Kurdistan Freedom and Democracy Congress and then, last year, to KONGRA-GEL. Both successor groups were placed immediately on the US terror list. The EU placed them on its terror group list in March.

In addition to clashes with the Turkish military, KONGRA-GEL has carried out assassinations of well-known personalities and attacks on diplomatic, consular, commercial and tourist missions abroad. According to official figures, 5,300 security personnel were killed and 10,600 were injured in attacks between 1984 and 1999. The civilian casualties amount to 4,600 killed and 5,500 injured.

For years, Syria was the principal country supporting the PKK. However, after the Adana Memorandum was signed on 20 October 1998, the Syrian connection ended.

The group has been active in other neighbouring countries, including Iraq and Iran, as well as in Europe. Its main base in Europe was Germany, with its large Turkish and Kurdish populations. However, Romania, Holland, Bulgaria, Italy, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Spain all once housed PKK information offices or related associations.

Proceeds from organised criminal activities -- mainly drug trafficking and arms smuggling -- have constituted the bulk of PKK's revenues. According to British security services, the PKK has been responsible for as much as 40 per cent of the heroin sold in the EU.

Rising global security concerns and policy changes have marginalised the group, however. Judicial reforms, especially in the area of human rights, have helped defuse tensions. Turkish state television has begun broadcasting in Kurdish -- a move virtually inconceivable five years ago.

Kurdish activists are calling for peace and condemning the recent bloodshed. Meanwhile, KONGRA-GEL appears to be divided about its own future and increasingly isolated from the Kurdish population for which it claims to be fighting.