Babur Han
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PKK leader hints at alliance with Turkish religious group
Thursday, December 9, 2010
ISTANBUL - Radikal
Jailed PKK leader Öcalan is considering cooperation with the group.
The convicted leader of Turkeys most prominent outlawed group has reiterated plans to extend a unilateral cease-fire until June while also opening the door for potential cooperation with an influential religious community, daily Radikal reported Thursday.
Noting that he had been misunderstood by reports that quoted him as saying the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, would only extend its unilateral cease-fire until March 1, 2011, convicted leader Abdullah Öcalan said, The final date of the decision is June.
The pro-Kurdish Fırat News Agency ran a story Wednesday quoting the PKK chief as saying: The issue of March 1 should not be misunderstood. In March, I will make a comprehensive assessment in light of the developments. So will [the PKK leaders in] Kandil. Thats what I meant by March. Our highlighting of March 1 was for democratic mobilization. The Truth Commission must be established by March.
Öcalan also suggested Kurdish people living in large cities in western Turkey should return to their hometowns.
Calling both the PKK and the religious Gülen community dynamic powers, Öcalan said they could solve Turkeys fundamental problems if there was mutual understanding between them, daily Radikal's Cevdet Aşkın reported.
An estimated 5,000 PKK members are reportedly based in the Kandil Mountains in northern Iraq.
In addition to requesting the prompt production of a documentary about him, Öcalan also addressed the issue of internal migration within the country. Kurds do not need to go to regions like the Aegean or Black Sea any more, he said. Kurds living in Turkish metropolises can return to their hometowns.
Öcalan requested the establishment of provincial councils in addition to city councils. City councils are crucial. We are experiencing an operational process. Therefore, we cannot afford to waste time.
The PKK is recognized as a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.
Gülen movement important for the region
Making a comprehensive assessment of the movement led by U.S.-based religious leader Fethullah Gülen, Öcalan described the Gülen community as an important nongovernmental organization throughout the Middle East.
I consider them neither a sect nor a congregation. According to me, they are more of a nongovernmental organization across Turkey and Middle East. Their role is important. They have quite a dynamic power and we are also a dynamic power. If these two dynamic powers have a mutual understanding and cooperation, many fundamental problems in Turkey will be solved, he said.
Hüseyin Gülerce, a columnist at daily Zaman and an important figure in the Gülen community, met Öcalan's lawyers in Yalova on Sunday. He reported in his column that Öcalan's lawyers had been having such meetings with other columnists for the last two years.
Öcalan had previously signaled Nov. 26 the pushing back of the armistice declared by the PKK until the passing of the 2011 elections, saying: If the government does not take a step in three months, clashes might start again. The countdown to March 1 has started.
However, his continued highlighting of June as the period until the cease-fire will extend demonstrates that he believes to have evoked the reaction he desires in the public and that his message has been delivered to Ankara, Radikal reported.
Öcalans discussion of the provincial commissions, in addition to the city councils, implies political control is desired in hand with the provincial councils, which seem to possess a deeper organizational and homogenous structure than the city councils, which operate at the center of provinces involving people from all political backgrounds, the daily reported.
The declarations Öcalan has made since he started negotiations show that İmralı is engaged in proceeding jointly with the mass pressure from the grassroots and the state institutions, as well as politics itself, for the solution of the Kurdish issue, Radikal said.
Öcalans plain call for an alliance with the Gülen movement stems from this engagement, the daily said, adding that Öcalan was thus trying to prevent this power, a power neither he nor the PKK has taken a stance against but regard as a serious political rival, from being influential on his own grassroots.
The Fırat News Agency is sympathetic to the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party, or BDP, and often carries announcements from the PKK.
PKK leader hints at alliance with Turkish religious group - Hurriyet Daily News and Economic Review
