Our decision is a warning to all those who threaten the national security of the United States and its allies, Szubin stressed.

After OFAC’s decision on Wednesday, the aforementioned names with links to the terrorist organization PKK may face a penalty of 1.075 million USD and up to 30 years in prison.

Source: Cumhuriyet
URL: http://en.cumhuriyet.com/?hn=312586

Speaking to AA correspondent, Hakkari Governor Muammer Turker said 13 including three police officers were injured in the explosion according to the preliminary information.Turker said the blast took place on Bulvar Street in the city center when a police vehicle was passing by.

The cause was of the explosion was unknown currently, he said.

Source: Cumhuriyet
URL:http://en.cumhuriyet.com/?hn=309228

COPENHAGEN- “The court finds it has been proven that T (used in the court documents to refer to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK) was a terrorist organisation,” the ruling said.

The Copenhagen court said the station “supported the organisation’s activities” from February 2008 to September 2010.

The ruling was based on a series of programmes aired by Roj TV that “relayed in a biased and uncritical manner the (PKK’s) messages, including incitement to uprisings and to join the organisation”, according to the court documents.Danish authorities first filed charges against

Roj TV in 2010 after a five-year probe into its broadcasts, alleging it supported the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist group in Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

The trial opened last August. The two companies behind the broadcaster, which airs in 68 countries, were each sentenced to fines totalling 5.2 million kroner (700,000 euros, $895,000).

Defence attorney Bjoern Elmquist described it as a “bad” ruling, but said it would be up to the broadcaster if it wanted to appeal. He did however hail the court for not following the prosecution’s call to withdraw Roj TV’s licence.

“It would have been shameful if they had encroached on freedom of expression and press freedom just because the Turks and the Americans want them to,” Elmquist told public broadcaster DR.

The PKK took up arms in the Kurdish-majority southeast of Turkey in 1984, sparking a conflict that has claimed about 45,000 lives.

Turkish ambassador Ahmet Berki Dibek said the ruling did not go far enough. “The PKK will probably pay the fines,” he told reporters as he left the courthouse, calling for the prosecution to appeal and try again to have Roj TV’s licence revoked.

Turkey’s foreign ministry hailed the court for exposing what it said were links between the media and the PKK, adding: “It is undeniable that this ruling will create a precedent in the global fight against terrorism.” However the ministry lamented an “incomplete ruling,” saying the station’s broadcasting licence should be withdrawn.

Source: Cumhuriyet
URL: http://en.cumhuriyet.com/?hn=306994

U.S.-Turkish relations are experiencing a period of close cooperation. At the same time, Turkey’s ties with its European allies are under pressure. The presence of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Europe is fast becoming a prism through which the Turks view their ties with Europe, especially in Germany, where the PKK has a significant infrastructure. The United States can encourage action against PKK networks in Germany and subsequently take credit for such action with the Turkish public, thus preventing further deterioration in ties between America’s European allies and Turkey at a time of improving U.S.-Turkish relations.

Deterioration of Turkish-German Relations

The PKK issue has eroded rapport between the Turks and Germans. On October 31, 2011, two German attorneys filed a case against Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, accusing Turkey of “state terrorism against the Kurdish people” and demanding that Erdogan be arrested on those charges. This action followed Erdogan’s earlier assertion that “German foundations have extended financial assistance to the terrorist organization PKK.”

Since the early summer, the PKK has killed more than 130 Turks across the country. With anger rising inside Turkey, the country has pointed a finger at Germany. As a result, PKK funding and propaganda networks in Europe are under scrutiny by Turkish public agencies, especially in Germany. On October 2, Erdogan asserted that “German foundations lend money to [Kurdish nationalist] Peace and Democracy Party (BDP)-controlled local governments within Turkey, which relay the money to the PKK.”

PKK Organizational and Propaganda Networks in Germany

Although the German media has rejected allegations of lending support to PKK entities, Germany appears unwittingly to be the PKK’s economic center. In 2007, the German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) published a report outlining the ways in which the PKK uses Germany as a base to ensure its financial survival.

According to the BfV, the PKK in Germany is divided into three regions, or serits: North, Central, and South. These serits are subdivided into a total of twenty-seven areas. Moreover, several civic associations related to the PKK have been established in major German cities. These associations belong to the Federation of Kurdish Unions in Germany, aka Yekitiya Komalen Kurd Li Elmanya (YEK-KOM). Additionally, Germany is home to organization Yekitiya Xwendekaren Kurdistan (YXK). These groups are involved especially in organizing concerts and festivals, such as the annual ZILAN Women’s Festival established in 2006, and the annual International Kurdish Culture Festival in Gelsenkirchen, which in 2007 boasted attendance of 40,000.

As outlined in BfV reports, the PKK’s media presence is tremendously important for the ideological indoctrination of Kurds in Germany as well as for propaganda directed at non-Kurds. Such indoctrination is achieved through various media outlets, including the pro-PKK newspaper Yeni Ozgur Politika (New Free Politics), the PKK’s publishing house, Mesopotamia, in Cologne, the Denmark-based network Roj TV, and Firat News Agency, stationed in the Netherlands.

PKK Funding in Germany

According to the European Union’s Terrorism Situation and Trend Report (TE-SAT) 2011, funding from Germany plays a highly important role in supporting PKK activities in Turkey. The report states: “The PKK collects money from its members under the rubric of ‘donations and membership fees’ in lieu of extortion and illegal taxation. In addition to organized extortion campaigns, there are indications that the PKK is actively involved in money laundering, illicit drugs and human trafficking, as well as illegal immigration inside and outside the EU.”

These facts are well known by German authorities. German prosecutors and police have tried to inhibit PKK activities, most notably through crackdowns in recent years against the PKK network in Germany. On October 12, 2011, following Erdogan’s latest accusations of German support to the PKK, the German police reacted immediately by arresting Ali Ihsan K, PKK’s chief of North Germany, on charges that he was running the organization’s extortion and illegal taxation operations inside Germany.

According to the official website of YEK-KOM, the PKK’s civic arm, a number of German politicians, officials, and even members of the Protestant-Lutheran Church seem to be unknowingly supporting PKK-related activities. In February 2011, for instance, YEK-KOM organized a congress on the property of a Protestant-Lutheran church in Dortmund. Notable politicians attended, such as Guntram Schneider, minister of Labor, Integration, and Social Purposes for the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia along with — from the same state — Dr. Stefan Romberg, a Free Democratic Party politician, and Bernhard von Gruneberg, a Social Democratic Party politician. Several labor union representatives attended as well. In addition, Ludwig Vollmer, the former German minister of state at the Department of Foreign Affairs, has taken part in the annual International Kurdish Culture Festival organized by YEK-KOM in Gelsenkirchen.

Many Germans are aware that YEK-KOM is the civic arm of the PKK in their country, a fact attested to by YEK-KOM’s official website. Additionally, the Ministry of Domestic Affairs of the German state of Lower Saxony affirms that YEK-KOM is a PKK-related organization. Yet such knowledge has done little to hinder support for the PKK among numerous German public figures.

What Can Be Done?

Washington has an interest in weakening the PKK’s influence in Germany because it threatens ties between Turkey and Germany, two valuable U.S. allies. What is more, since the Turks view outside actions against the PKK as a sign of friendship, Berlin and Washington can improve their standing in Turkey by taking credit for such actions. This step would especially benefit the United States at a time when the White House is interested in seeing an improvement in popular Turkish support for the United States parallel to the closer relations between Washington and Ankara.

For their part, German security forces and officials are concerned about the PKK’s activities in Germany, and Turkish officials have gained valuable insights on the party and its activities in Germany through close and formidable cooperation with their German counterparts. But on the political level, a lack of will on the German side and a lack of trust on the Turkish side have undermined cooperation. Erdogan’s accusations targeting German foundations resulted from resentment against German domestic policy and attitudes toward the PKK, even though no explicit evidence proves that German foundations in Turkey directly support PKK activities.

Given this background, the following are recommendations for the three major players:

Berlin: Germany has already taken positive steps to win back Turkey’s trust, and these efforts could be built upon. The German newspaper Tageszeitung reported that German chancellor Angela Merkel, in response to Erdogan’s call for “support” in Turkey’s “war against terrorism,” declared that Germany “is on Turkey’s side in its fight against terrorism.”

Berlin can also take smart financial action to block pro-PKK media. In this regard, recent U.S.-supported action against the Libyan Jamahiriya Broadcasting Corporation (LJBC) can serve as an example. During the Libyan rebellion against the Qadhafi regime, Washington convinced its European allies to black out LJBC broadcasts in Europe. Ankara would be appreciative if PKK-linked broadcasting were similarly shut down.

Ankara: In the Kurdish opening of 2010, Turkey promised to grant cultural rights to the Kurds. Full implementation of this promise would do much to impress German opinion. An important element of such an effort would be inclusion in the new Turkish constitution now under debate of broader individual rights for the country’s citizens , such as expanding freedom of expression, including the Kurds. A liberal charter including broadly defined freedoms would also facilitate Turkey’s aspiration to become a beacon of democracy in the Middle East, especially as Turkey seeks to lead during the unfolding Arab Spring.

Washington: The United States should encourage Germany and Turkey to take collaborative action against PKK networks in Germany. A key component of such an endeavor would be close cooperation among U.S., Turkish, and German police and intelligence officials.

* Cuneyt Yilmaz, a graduate of the University of Bayreuth in Germany, has been an intern for the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, and various U.S. public policy institutions.

Source: Washington Institute, Cuneyt Yilmaz.
URL: http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/templateC05.php?CID=3438

A written statement issued by the Bingöl Governor’s Office stated that security units conducted an operation in Görese Mountain, located near Diyarbakır’s Dicle district and captured two terrorists while they were attempting to flee in a car. One of the terrorists, who goes by the codename Zildan, was reportedly involved in terrorist attacks against the security forces when the Karlıova Gendarmerie Command was attacked by terrorists in July. Zildan is also being accused of killing a village guard, Hacı Alan. The other terrorist, codenamed Şiyar, is reported to be Syrian.

During the interrogation of the terrorists, Zildan and Şiyar gave the location of the largest underground bunker of the PKK, which has an administration room, a training room, two rooms large enough to sleep 15 people, two stock rooms with five tons of food, 150 meters of fabric, 10 sweat suits, 50 pairs of shoes, two generators, a sewing machine, various medicines and many day-to-day items.

Security forces also found two Kalashnikov rifles, hundreds of bullets, a radiophone, an undisclosed amount of dollar bills and some documents pertaining to captured terrorists.

The statement also said that gendarmes conducted surprise raids on 16 locations in Bingöl province as part of an operation carried out by the Bingöl Gendarmerie Command. During these raids police arrested 16 suspects, including three muhtars (village heads).

The number of PKK terrorists who have surrendered or were captured alive has increased since the government began to offer partial amnesty for those who leave the PKK. Dozens of terrorists who refused to surrender were killed in November and December. Turkish losses were minimal in these encounters.

That losses were kept at a minimum is mostly due to the joint efforts of the police force and military units, who have been cooperating for the first time since the Feb. 28, 1997 coup. With this new strategy the PKK has suffered major blows in northern Iraq and Turkey, such as in the November raids on the Kavaklı and Kazan camps in the southeastern province of Hakkari, where the terrorist death toll reached 300.

Not a single Turkish soldier was killed in the special forces operation in Kazan, where 54 PKK terrorists were killed in their hideout in early December.

The conflict with the PKK has claimed tens of thousands of lives and cost Turkey billions of dollars. The group is labeled a terrorist organization by the European Union and the United States, which has supplied Predator drones to Turkey to assist in its fight in the rugged Southeast.

Source: Todays Zaman
URL: http://www.todayszaman.com/news-266827-largest-pkk-bunker-found-following-captured-terrorists-testimonies.html

Toprak noted that the terrorist groups in the region were seen by unmanned aerial vehicles, and an operation was launched on December 16.During the five-day operation, security forces found a main shelter and seven camps as well as food, weapons, equipments, documents and blueprints belonging to terrorists, noted the governor.

Toprak added that according to images collected by unmanned aerial vehicles, 40-50 terrorists had been taking shelter in the region, and 21 of them were killed in the operation.

Source: Cumhuriyet
URL: http://en.cumhuriyet.com/?hn=302308

Governor Mustafa Hakan Guvencer said that security forces staged an operation against the terrorist organization PKK in Karliova town’s Suduragi village.
“In their operation, security forces killed one terrorist and arrested seven others,” Guvencer told AA correspondent.

Guvencer said operations continued in the region.

Source: Cumhuriyet
URL: http://en.cumhuriyet.com/?hn=298958

“I will not give a name, but a high-ranking PKK member was captured in Istanbul,” Arınç said while explaining the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) actions in its fight against the militant group.Arınç did not give any information as to when the PKK member was captured.

The interview was broadcast by “Bursa TV” station in the northwestern province of Bursa.

“All operations conducted by security forces in the last three months have resulted in success,” Arınç said.

“The Amanos mountains [a mountain range on Turkey's southern border with Syria] have been cleared of terrorist entities. Other operations in urban areas in the southeastern provinces of Bitlis, Hakkari and Şırnak are continuing with success.”

“We will not hear of another terrorist attack in the Amanos mountains,” Arınç said.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

Source: Hurriyet Daily News
URL: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/PrintNews.aspx?PageID=383&NID=8464

President Gul met U.S. Vice President Joe Biden in Ankara on Friday.

“Our meeting was longer than expected as we knew each other for some time. We discussed terrorism in detail in our meeting, Gul told reporters.
Gul and Biden know each other since Biden was the chairperson of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

President Gul said the United States would totally withdraw from Iraq in 2012, and they debated Iraq’s situation after 2012.

Gul said they mainly focused on regional issues, and had the opportunity to debate files that had a significant place in Turkish-American relations.

“Our fight against PKK will continue in a strong way,” President Gul also said.

Source: Cumhuriyet
URL:  http://en.cumhuriyet.com/?hn=297540

The landmines were reportedly activated by alleged members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) while an army vehicle was passing through. The explosion left five of the soldiers wounded, who were taken immediately to nearby hospitals.

Operations began in the area to find those responsible for the attack.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist group by the United States, European Union and Turkey.

Source: Hurriyet Daily News
URL: www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=five-soldiers-wounded-in-mine-attack-2011-11-29