Articles About Terrorist Activities

Hurriyet

PKK, the terror organization, said three German tourists abducted in Turkey last week are in good health but demanded Ankara halt military operations in the area where they were siezed.

“The PKK is ready to release the three German tourists on the condition that Turkey halts its military attacks in the area where they were captured,” a PKK member was quoted as saying by AFP.  

“The area… is a war zone. We demand that there be a ceasefire in the area so we can release them,” he told reporters late on Sunday. AFP said he is a “spokesman” of the PKK.  

Five PKK separatists on Wednesday abducted the climbers, part of a group of 13 mountaineers from their camp at 10,500 feet on the mountain in Agri, while the other mountaineers returned to Germany.

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Hurriyet

A Turkish soldier died in clashes with outlawed PKK separatists in clashes in the southeastern province of Sirnak, the Anatolian Agency reported on Saturday.

One PKK separatist was also killed in the clashes that took place in the Beytussebap town of Sirnak, the agency added.

The PKK is considered a terrorist organisation by Turkey as well as the many memberst of the international community including the United States, the European Union.

Source: arama.hurriyet.com.tr/arsivnews.aspx?id=9422454

By Philipp Wittrock in Berlin, Spiegel Online

While the PKK concentrates on non-violent activities and propaganda work in Germany and Europe, in Turkey it is involved in a violent struggle for an autonomous Kurdish homeland. The kidnapping of three German tourists has put the issue firmly back on the political agenda in Berlin.

“Germany has declared war on the PKK. We can fight back. Every Kurd is a potential suicide bomber.” These combative words were spoken by Abdullah Öcalan, head of the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) back in 1996, three years after the group had been banned in Germany.

Öcalan soon watered down his statement: The PKK only wanted to fight Turks in Germany, not Germans, he said. Nevertheless the banning of the Kurdish separatist group was still interpreted as a declaration of war. It was a sign that Berlin had chosen Turkey’s side in the Kurdish conflict that had been raging since the early 1980s.

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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN)

Turkey and Iraq signed an agreement Thursday that tightens and streamlines their working relationship in a range of areas, including the volatile issue of border security and the promise of a fruitful trade relationship.

 The signing comes as Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan begins a two-day visit to Iraq, which Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki called historic.

The two signed a joint political declaration on the establishment of a “high-level strategic cooperation council” between the governments that will help forge a “long-term strategic partnership” and then spoke to reporters.

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Hurriyet

Terrorism has been the biggest threat for global peace and security in the age of globalization, Turkey’s Chief of Turkish General Staff Gen. Yasar Buyukanit told on Tuesday at a security conference.

 
It has been impossible to counter terrorism on a national level with national policies, Buyukanit told at the “Silk Road – 2008 General/Admiral Seminar” held in the southern province of Antalya in Turkey.   

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Hurriyet

A senior US general arrived in Turkish capital of Ankara on Thursday on a a one-day visit for talks with his Turkish counterparts on efforts to root out the outlawed PKK separatists based in northern Iraq, a US embassy official told the AFP.

General James Cartwright, vice chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, will “discuss standard issues that concern both militaries, including the ongoing struggle against the outlawed PKK and ongoing intelligence sharing,” an embassy spokeswoman told the AFP.

Cartwright would meet with the head of the Turkish army, General Yasar Buyukanit, and his number two, General Ergin Saygun, she said.

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Hurriyet

A Turkish soldier was killed on Wednesday by a landmine planted by the outlawed PKK in a southeastern province of Turkey, Turkish TV channels reported.

A Turkish soldier was killed on Wednesday by a land mine planted by the outlawed PKK in the town of Beytussebap of the Sirnak province of Turkey, Turkish TV channels reported.

The PKK frequently uses remote-control landmines to attack Turkey’s security forces.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey as well as the most of the international community, including the EU and the U.S.

Source: arama.hurriyet.com.tr/arsivnews.aspx?id=9338292

Fulya Ozerkan-Umit Enginsoy, Ankara/Washington

U.S. Ambassador to Ankara Ross Wilson denied allegations that his country has been collaborating with PEJAK, or Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan, to take down the Iranian regime from inside.

“The United States is not cooperating with PEJAK. We do not have any relationship with PEJAK. We consider it a terrorist group,” Wilson told reporters in Ankara yesterday.

U.S. intelligence and special operations forces have ties with the Iranian arm of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, as part of the Washington administration’s clandestine operations inside Iran aimed at destabilizing the religious regime there, according to a published report.

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