{"id":5622,"date":"2008-10-17T05:51:14","date_gmt":"2008-10-17T02:51:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/?p=5622"},"modified":"2014-01-01T20:18:21","modified_gmt":"2014-01-01T18:18:21","slug":"terror-in-the-mountains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/2008\/10\/17\/terror-in-the-mountains\/","title":{"rendered":"Terror in the mountains"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"fly-title\">Terribly Misleading Economist Article on PKK Terror&#8211;Please Leave Your Comments<\/p>\n<p class=\"fly-title\">ykundupoglu [ykundupoglu@gmail.com]<\/p>\n<p class=\"fly-title\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"fly-title\">Turkey and the Kurds<\/p>\n<h1>Terror in the mountains<\/h1>\n<p class=\"info\">Oct 16th 2008 | ANKARA, DIYARBAKIR AND KARS<br \/>\nFrom <em>The Economist<\/em> print edition<\/p>\n<h2>Renewed violence raises new questions about Turkey\u2019s treatment of its Kurds<\/h2>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<div class=\"content-image-float\" style=\"width: 275px;\"><\/div>\n<p>HER boots caked in cow dung, her hands in soil, 80-year-old Xaje Artuget has but one regret. \u201cI wish all eight of my sons had gone to fight in the mountains,\u201d she sighs. In fact, \u201conly one\u201d joined the Kurdistan Workers\u2019 Party (PKK) and is now \u201csomewhere in northern Iraq\u201d. Similar feelings abound in many hardscrabble townships in eastern Turkey, where decades of repression and poverty have provided a steady stream of recruits since the PKK launched its violent campaign for independence in 1984.<\/p>\n<p>At least 44,000 people, mostly Kurds, have died in the conflict. The Turkish government says it has spent some $300 billion battling the terrorists. The results have been mixed. The PKK leader, Abdullah Ocalan, was captured in 1999, and several ceasefires followed. Yet the violence continues today\u201417 Turkish soldiers were killed in early October when some 400 PKK rebels raided a military outpost in Hakkari province, near the Iraqi border, and days later rebels killed four policemen in Diyarbakir. Sympathy for the PKK remains strong among Turkey\u2019s 14m Kurds.<\/p>\n<p>The Turkish parliament has now extended the army\u2019s mandate to bomb PKK targets in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq, and Turkish aircraft have been doing just that. Yet the latest wave of PKK attacks has embarrassed the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and raised new questions about the army\u2019s competence. The cries of incompetence grew louder when <em>Taraf<\/em>, a newspaper, published a leaked internal report showing that the army knew about the planned attack in Hakkari but did little to stop it. It did not help when the air-force chief was photographed playing golf a day later.<\/p>\n<div class=\"banner\">\n<div><script src=\"\/JavaScript\/adcode1.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><script src=\"http:\/\/ad.doubleclick.net\/adj\/main.economist.com\/worldart;abr=!webtv;sect=nonsubscriber;count=;sect=world;pos=v5_art350x300;sz=350x300;tile=1;;sect=europe;ord=9745920747584612?\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><!-- Template Id = 4439 Template Name = Image Banner - Open in New Window --><span style=\"color: #6291a5;\"> <\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><noscript><\/noscript><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>In an alarming twist, ethnic tensions are erupting in western parts of Turkey as well. Two people died in the town of Altinova recently when a Kurdish youth rammed a truck into a group of Turks who were taunting Kurds by playing loud nationalist tunes. The army was called in when Kurdish homes and businesses came under siege.<\/p>\n<p>The Kurds remain a huge problem for Turkey\u2019s government. The prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, raised hopes in 2005 when he said the state had \u201cmade mistakes\u201d in handling them. Steps to ease bans on Kurdish broadcasting and education followed, and vast sums were poured into Kurdish regions. The handouts included education subsidies for the poor, especially for girls. These helped the AKP to clobber the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) in much of the south-east in the July 2007 election. Yet to many the measures smell of vote-buying. \u201cI haven\u2019t received a penny for my girls\u2019 schooling since April,\u201d complains Sabiha Celik in Sason. \u201cI will never vote for the AKP again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, Kurdish support for the AKP has been fading ever since the government yielded to army pressure to resume cross-border operations against the PKK in northern Iraq. The generals are baying for a freer hand, prompting worries of a return to the human-rights abuses of the 1990s. Ominously, the Turkish Human Rights Foundation says that, this year alone, over 30 people have been killed in alleged police violence, mostly in the Kurdish region. The government had to apologise when Engin Ceber, a left-wing activist, was tortured and beaten to death by security forces recently in an Istanbul prison.<\/p>\n<p>AKP leaders, who narrowly escaped a constitutional court ban in July, have yet to utter a word about a similar closure case that is pending against the DTP on the ground that it is propagating separatism. DTP deputies spend lots of time lobbying for better prison conditions for Mr Ocalan. Many of them were handpicked by the PKK to run for parliament. Yet just as in the AKP case, much of the prosecution\u2019s argument rests on words rather than deeds. Moreover, any ban might just boost the DTP\u2019s popularity.<\/p>\n<p>Turkey blames some of its Kurdish woes on the West. \u201cWe are still seeing co-operation with the PKK, they are doing fund-raising in EU countries and there are many PKK terrorists living in Europe. This really bothers us,\u201d Ali Babacan, the foreign minister, claimed in an interview with <em>The Economist<\/em>. Similar harangues at the Americans have subsided since they agreed to let the Turks pursue the PKK in Iraq.<\/p>\n<p>There are some hopeful signs that Turkey is trying to make friends with the Iraqi Kurds. This week Turkish diplomats met Masoud Barzani, who heads the Kurdish regional government in Iraq. This has prompted speculation that Turkey could be thinking of reviving an amnesty for PKK fighters untainted by violence. As the winter cold sets in, many might be tempted. And, as Mr Babacan acknowledges, \u201ca military solution is not a solution.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"back-to-top\"><span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-admin\/#top\"><span style=\"color: #6291a5;\">Back to top ^^<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"add-comment-container\">\n<h2>Readers&#8217; comments<\/h2>\n<p id=\"art-comment-intro\"><em>The Economist<\/em> welcomes your views.<\/p>\n<div id=\"commentsBox\" class=\"clear\"><span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"http:\/\/www.economist.com\/world\/europe\/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12429572&amp;mode=comment&amp;intent=readBottom\"><span id=\"numberOfComments\">View all comments (14)<\/span><\/span><span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"http:\/\/www.economist.com\/world\/europe\/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12429572&amp;mode=comment&amp;intent=postBottom\">Add your comment<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><br \/>\n<!-- col --><\/p>\n<ul id=\"article_tools\" class=\"clear\">\n<li id=\"commentLink\" class=\"showcomm\"><span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"http:\/\/www.economist.com\/world\/europe\/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12429572&amp;mode=comment&amp;intent=postTop\">Comment (14)<\/span><\/li>\n<li id=\"recommendLink\" class=\"rec\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script>\n<div id=\"Recommend1224211555062\" class=\"Recommend\">\n<div style=\"display: inline;\">\n<div class=\"Recommend_Container\"><span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"http:\/\/www.economist.com\/world\/europe\/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12429572#none\">Recommend <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"email-this\"><span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/email\/emailafriend.cfm?story_id=12429572\">E-mail<\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script> <script type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><script src=\"http:\/\/s7.addthis.com\/js\/widget.php?v=10\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"related-items\">\n<h1>Related Items<\/h1>\n<h2>From <em>The Economist<\/em><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/world\/europe\/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11893707\"><span style=\"color: #6291a5;\">Turkey&#8217;s economy after the crisis <\/span><\/span><br \/>\n<span class=\"date\"><span style=\"color: #939997;\">Aug 7th 2008<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Country briefing<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/countries\/Iraq\/index.cfm\"><span style=\"color: #6291a5;\">Iraq<\/span><\/span>, <span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/countries\/Turkey\/index.cfm\"><span style=\"color: #6291a5;\">Turkey<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>More articles about&#8230;<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/research\/articlesBySubject\/display.cfm?id=1604388\"><span style=\"color: #6291a5;\">Terrorism<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Websites<\/h2>\n<p><span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"http:\/\/www.cfr.org\/publication\/14576\/inside_the_kurdistan_workers_party_pkk.html\"><span style=\"color: #6291a5;\">Information about the PKK<\/span><\/span> is available from the Council on Foreign Relations. See also the <span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"http:\/\/eng.akparti.org.tr\/english\/akparty.html\"><span style=\"color: #6291a5;\">Justice and Development Party<\/span><\/span>.<\/div>\n<div class=\"banner\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Terribly Misleading Economist Article on PKK Terror&#8211;Please Leave Your Comments ykundupoglu [ykundupoglu@gmail.com] \u00a0 Turkey and the Kurds Terror in the mountains Oct 16th 2008 | ANKARA, DIYARBAKIR AND KARS From The Economist print edition Renewed violence raises new questions about Turkey\u2019s treatment of its Kurds \u00a0 HER boots caked in cow dung, her hands in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":782149,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1280],"class_list":["post-5622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-pkk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/782149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}