Ocalan
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Abdullah "Apo" Öcalan ([œdʒalan]; born April 4, 1948), is the founding leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which was founded in 1978 and has been recognized as a terrorist organization by the USA, EU and many other countries in the region and in the world.1 PKK has been leading an armed campaign inside Turkey since 1984.

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Biography

Abdullah Öcalan was born in Ömerli,2 a village in Halfeti, Şanlıurfa Province, in the southeast of Turkey. He studied Political Sciences at the University of Ankara.citation needed By 1973, he had organized APOCU's, a Maoist group that sought a socialist revolution in Turkey. In 1978, during the right-wing and left-wing armed conflicts which culminated in the 1980 Turkish coup d'état, Abdullah Öcalan founded PKK, and launched a war against Turkey in order to set up an independent Kurdish state.23

Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)

Main article: Kurdistan Workers Party

In 1984 the PKK initiated a campaign of armed conflict comprising attacks against government forces4567 in Turkey in order to create an independent Kurdish state. PKK also used force against competing Kurdish groups.

PKK soon acquired a reputation as an effective force for Kurdish rights, and also for social justice within the Kurdish communities. Its violent methods have caused United States, European Union, NATO, Syria, Australia, Turkey, and some others to include the PKK on their lists of terrorist organizations.8910

Capture and trial

The Turkish Government alleged that Öcalan was using a Cypriot passport and released this photo as evidence. The claim was rejected as propaganda by the Republic of Cyprus.11
Öcalan supporters in London, April 2003

Until 1998 Öcalan was based in Syria. As the situation deteriorated in Turkey, the Turkish government openly threatened Syria over its support for the PKK. As a result of this, the Syrian government forced Öcalan to leave the country, but did not turn him over to the Turkish authorities.

Öcalan went to Russia first and from there moved to various countries, including Italy and Greece. In 1998 the Turkish government requested the extradition of Öcalan from Italy. He was at that time defended by the high-profile German attorney, Britta Böhler who argued that he fought a legitimate struggle against the oppression of his people. He was captured in Kenya on February 15, 1999, while being transferred from the Greek embassy to Nairobi international airport, in an operation by the CIA.12 Speaking to Can Dündar on NTV Turkey, Deputy Undersecretary of the Turkish National Intelligence Agency, Cevat Öneş, said that Öcalan impeded American aspirations of establishing a separate Kurdish state so he was handed to the Turkish authorities, who then flew him back to Turkey for trial.13 His capture led thousands of protesting Kurds to seize Greek embassies around the world.1415

Since his capture Öcalan has been held under solitary confinement as the only prisoner on the İmralı Island in the Turkish Sea of Marmara. Despite the fact that all other prisoners formerly at İmralı were transferred to other prisons, there are still over 1000 Turkish military personnel stationed there guarding him. He was sentenced to death, but this sentence was commuted to life-long aggravated imprisonment when the death penalty was abolished in Turkey in August 2002.16 No one has been executed in Turkey since 1984.17 The Kurdish Human Rights Project (KHRP) aided this case's decision.18not specific enough to  verify

The decision not to proceed with the death sentence was met by protests by Turkish nationalist groups. Kurdish activistswho? regard him as their leader, a political prisoner and even a man of peace.citation needed In 2007, lawyers acting for Öcalan, claimed to have produced results from laboratory tests on his hair which appeared to show high levels of toxic metals. The Turkish government has sent a medical team to the imprisoned Kurdish separatist leader amid these claims and the tests found no indication of toxins or abnormalities.1920 A ministry statement suggested the lawyers were trying to revive international interest in their client after the Council of Europe ruled the previous month that the rebel leader was not entitled to a retrial.21 At 6. March 2008 the Committee for the Prevention of Torture declared that they didn´t find any proof for an intoxication of Abdullah Öcalan.22

Current situation

Contradicting his pre-capture policy of the use of power, Öcalan has, since his arrest in 1999, campaigned for a peaceful solution to the Kurdish conflict inside the borders of Turkey.2324252627 Öcalan called for the foundation of a "Truth and Justice Commission" by Kurdish institutions in order to investigate "war crimes" committed by PKK and Turkish security forces and a parallel structure began functioning in May 2006.28 In March 2005, Abdullah Öcalan released the Declaration of Democratic Confederalism in Kurdistan29 in which he asks for a border free confederation between the Kurdish regions of Turkey (called "Northwest Kurdistan" by Kurdish nationalists30), Syria ("Small part of South Kurdistan"), Iraq ("South Kurdistan"), and Iran ("East Kurdistan"). In this zone, three bodies of law would be implemented: EU law, Turkish/Syrian/Iraqi/Iranian law and Kurdish law. This perspective was included in PKK programme following the "Refoundation Congress" in April 2005.31

Since his incarceration he has significantly changed his ideology, reading Western social theorists like Murray Bookchin, Immanuel Wallerstein, Fernand Braudel,32 fashioned his ideal society as "Democratic Confederalism" and refers to Friedrich Nietzsche as "a prophet".33 He also wrote books34 and articles35 on the history of pre-capitalist Mesopotamia and Abrahamic religions.

In 2008, prosecutors investigating on the nationalist Ergenekon network, accused of terrorism and of conspiracy to destabilize the nation, were interested in Öcalan's contacts while in prison. Öcalan himself asked to be heard as a witness in this case.36 A retired intelligence officer, Bülent Orakoğlu, went so far as to accuse him of membership in the network.37

Calls for truce

Öcalan had his lawyer, Ibrahim Bilmez,38 release a statement 28 September 2006, calling on the PKK to declare a ceasefire and seek peace with Turkey. Öcalan's statement said, "The PKK should not use weapons unless it is attacked with the aim of annihilation," and that it is "very important to build a democratic union between Turks and Kurds. With this process, the way to democratic dialogue will be also opened".39

See also

  • PJAK, Iranian Kurdish militant group inspired by the philosophy of Abdullah Öcalan
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Bibliography

References

  1. ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_organizations_that_list_the_PKK_as_a_terrorist_group
  2. ^ a b Witschi, Beat (1999). "Who is Abdullah Ocalan?", CNN. Retrieved on 11 January 2008. 
  3. ^ "Kurdish leader Ocalan apologizes during trial", CNN (May 31, 1999). Retrieved on 11 January 2008. 
  4. ^ Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Turkey), The Workers' Party of Kurdistan (PKK), Federation of American Scientists
  5. ^ Letter to Italian Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema, Human Rights Watch, November 21, 1998
  6. ^ Turkey: No security without human rights Amnesty International, October 1996
  7. ^ Special Report: Terrorism in Turkey Ulkumen Rodophu, Jeffrey Arnold and Gurkan Ersoy, February 6, 2004
  8. ^ Foreign Terrorist Organizations U.S. Department of State, March 27, 2002
  9. ^ PKK & TERRORISM: A Report on the PKK and Terrorismdead link
  10. ^ Turco-Syrian Treaty, October 20, 1998
  11. ^ "TURKISH PROPAGANDA AGAINST CYPRUS IS REJECTED". United Nations (February 24, 1999). Retrieved on 2008-02-22.
  12. ^ Weiner, Tim (1999-02-20). "U.S. Helped Turkey Find and Capture Kurd Rebel", New York Times. Retrieved on 15 December 2007. 
  13. ^ "Öcalan bağımsız devlete engeldi" (in Turkish), Vatan (2008-10-15). Retrieved on 15 October 2008. "Öcalan yakalandığında ABD, bağımsız bir devlet kurma isteğindeydi. Öcalan, konumu itibariyle, araç olma işlevi bakımından buna engel bir isimdi. ABD bölgede yeni bir Kürt devleti kurabilmek için Öcalan’ı Türkiye’ye teslim etti." 
  14. ^ Kurds seize embassies, wage violent protests across Europe CNN.com, February 17, 1999
  15. ^ Yannis Kontos, Kurd Akar Sehard Azir, 33, sets himself on fire during a demonstration outside the Greek parliament in central Athens,Greece on Monday, February 15, 1999. Photostory, July, 1999
  16. ^ "Text of the Ocalan verdict". BBC News (29 June 1999). Retrieved on 2008-01-11.
  17. ^ "Turkey delays execution of Kurdish rebel leader Ocalan". CNN (January 12, 2000). Retrieved on 2008-01-11.
  18. ^ "Kurdish Human Rights Project".
  19. ^ A medical report says "no toxins", HaberX'.
  20. ^ Rainsford, Sarah (6 March 2007). "Turkish medics to examine Ocalan", BBC News. Retrieved on 11 January 2008. 
  21. ^ Rainsford, Sarah (1 March 2007). "Inquiry into Ocalan 'poisoning'", BBC News. Retrieved on 11 January 2008. 
  22. ^ "Addendum to the report on the visit to Turkey carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT)". CPT (6 March 2008). Retrieved on 2008-03-06.
  23. ^ REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS ON THE KURDISH QUESTION IN TURKEY by the international delegation of human rights lawyers, January 1997
  24. ^ Interview with Abdullah Ocalan "Our First Priority Is Diplomacy" Middle East Insight magazine, January 1999
  25. ^ Kurdistan Turkey: Abdullah Ocalan, The End of a Myth? The Middle East magazine, February 2000
  26. ^ Abdullah Öcalan proposes 7-point peace plan Kurdistan Informatie Centrum Nederland
  27. ^ van Bruinessen, Martin. Turkey, Europe and the Kurds after the capture of Abdullah Öcalan 1999
  28. ^ Öldürülen imam ve 10 korucunun itibarı iade edildi ANF News Agency, May 30, 2006
  29. ^ Demokratik Konfederalizm
  30. ^ PKK Program (1995) Kurdish Library, January 24, 1995
  31. ^ PKK Yeniden İnşa Bildirgesi PKK web site, April 20, 2005
  32. ^ Tarihli Görüşme Notları PWD-Kurdistan, March 16, 2005
  33. ^ Öcalan: Diyarbakır olayları boşanmanın ilanıdır ANF News Agency, May 20, 2006
  34. ^ "abdullah-ocalan.com".
  35. ^ "Rayedarên tirk mafên Rêberê KCK'ê Abdullah Ocalan gasp dikin". Retrieved on 2008-01-11.
  36. ^ Ergenekon indictment reopens gendarmerie major’s murder case, Today's Zaman, 13 August 2008
  37. ^ Soncan, Emre (2008-10-10). "PKK'nın elebaşısı Ergenekon üyesiydi" (in Turkish), Zaman. Retrieved on 10 October 2008. 
  38. ^ Kurdish leader calls for cease-fire NewsFlash
  39. ^ Kurdish rebel boss in truce plea, BBC News

Further reading

  • Özcan, Ali Kemal (2005). Turkey's Kurds: A Theoretical Analysis of the PKK and Abdullah Ocalan. London & New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415366-87-9.

External links
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