Terrorism

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30 August 2006
State's Fried Discusses PKK-Sponsored Terrorism in Turkey

By Jeffrey Thomas
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- The U.S. has been working intensely with the governments of Turkey and Iraq to counter PKK-sponsored terrorism in Turkey, a senior State Department official said August 30. That cooperation "will intensify," Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Daniel Fried said during an interview with CNN Turk.

The United States has condemned the latest PKK-sponsored attacks in Turkey and called on the Kurdish terrorist group to stop all hostile actions against the Turkish people. Fried reiterated that condemnation, calling the attacks “outrageous” and “utterly unjustifiable.”

The full text of Fried’s interview with CNN Turk is available on the State Department Web site.

The full text of Wilson’s interview with BBC Radio is available on the Web site of the United States Embassy to Turkey.

Seven bombings occurred in the Turkish cities of Istanbul, Adana, Marmaris and Antalya between August 25th and August 28th, injuring 60 or more people, including foreign tourists, and killing three Turkish nationals. The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons, also known by the Kurdish acronym TAK, have claimed responsibility for many of the explosions. The TAK is believed to be an affiliate of the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK), a terrorist organization, according to the U.S. State Department, which issued a public announcement aimed at U.S. travelers in the region on August 29.

Approximately 4,000 to 5,000 people, primarily Turkish Kurds, are believed to belong to the PKK, which formally changed its name to Kongra-Gel in 2003. The State Department’s 2005 Country Reports on Terrorism estimates that the majority of PKK members – between 3,000 and 3,500 -- are operating out of the Kurdish region of northern Iraq.

In his interview, Fried reiterated U.S. solidarity with Turkey. “If Turkey is threatened by terrorism, so is the United States. We are in this together. We must find a solution,” he said.

The United States has “been frustrated by the continuing attacks from the PKK and very frustrated by this recent increase [in attacks],” he acknowledged. “We have been working with Turkey and the Iraqi government intensely in recent weeks.”

“It's the nature of this kind of cooperation that you don't talk as much as you act, but the actions will intensify,” he said.

Asked about continuing rumors the United States is engaged in direct talks with the PKK, Fried denied there was any truth to them with a “flat no.”

“They’re a terrorist group. The only way we want to meet them is to arrest them,” he said.

Fried also discussed the recent appointment of retired U.S. Air Force General Joseph W. Ralston as U.S. special envoy for countering the PKK. (See related article.)

Ralston, a former deputy chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a former NATO supreme allied commander, will “have a very wide mandate” and serve as a U.S. government special envoy, not simply a representative of the State Department, Fried said. Although he will report to the secretary of state, he will work very closely with the Defense Department, the U.S. military, the National Security Council and the White House.

In a separate interview, U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Ross Wilson provided additional information on Ralston’s role as special envoy.

Ralston will be the U.S. representative to trilateral talks involving Turkey, Iraq and the United States,” Wilson told BBC Radio in an interview August 29. “He will also coordinate U.S. efforts to counter the PKK and to eliminate the threat of the PKK operating out of northern Iraq and across the border into Turkey.”

Wilson said the United States and Iraq agree with Turkey “there should be no use of northern Iraq as a sanctuary for the PKK or as a base of PKK attacks.”

“So, our solution is to try to work together and cooperatively to deal with this,” Wilson added.

Asked about the U.S. view on Turkish cross-border strikes against PKK camps in northern Iraq, Wilson said, “Of course the Turkish authorities have a right, indeed an obligation, to defend their people. We accept that and we understand it and in fact we support it as allies of Turkey.”

Pressed for further clarification, Wilson said the United States has “urged some caution with respect to cross-border attacks” on PKK camps by Turkey, which, he said, the United States considers “unwise.”

“We have pointed instead to a cooperative effort that would help to support the sovereignty and the territorial integrity and, frankly, the success of the new government in Iraq, which is important to all of us,” Wilson said.

While on a visit to Turkey in April, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice similarly urged Turkey to work with the Iraqi government to address cross-border terrorism by the PKK. (See related article.)

“But of course we want anything we do to contribute to the stability in Iraq, not to threaten that stability or to make a difficult situation worse,” Rice said, responding to a reporter’s question about a buildup of Turkish forces near the border with Iraq at that time.

In his CNN Turk interview, Fried likewise said “cross-border attacks are not going to help … but that does not mean there is nothing that can be done.”

Fried said the solution “has to involve the provincial government” in northern Iraq, which has “a responsibility to see to it that their territory does not provide sanctuary or safe haven for a terrorist group attacking Iraq’s friend, Turkey.”

The State Department public announcement for travelers is available on the State Department Web site.

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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