Abdullah Öcalan

Abdullah Öcalan
Abdullah Öcalan
Born 4 April 1948 (1948-04-04) (age 63)
Ömerli, Şanlıurfa,[1] Turkey
Nationality Kurdish
Occupation Founder and leader of the terrorist group Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)[2], Political activist, Ideologue, Writer, Prisoner, Terrorist
Organization Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK)

Abdullah Öcalan (born 4 April 1948), is a Kurdish politician[2] who founded the separatist organization called Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in 1978.[3]

Öcalan was captured in Nairobi and extradited to the Turkish security force, and sentenced to death under Article 125[4] of the Turkish Penal Code, which concerns the formation of armed gangs. The sentence was commuted to aggravated life imprisonment when Turkey abolished the death penalty in support of its bid to be admitted to membership in the European Union. From 1999 until 2009, he was the sole prisoner [1] on the İmralı island, in the Sea of Marmara.[5] Öcalan admitted to the violent nature of the PKK,[6] and that he personally approved and organized attacks and executions.[7] The conflict between Turkey and the PKK has resulted in over 40,000 lives being lost, including PKK members, the Turkish military, and civilians, both Kurdish and Turkish.[8]

From prison, he has published several books, as recently as 2011.

Contents

Biography

Abdullah Öcalan was born in Ömerli,[9] a village in Halfeti, Şanlıurfa Province, in the Eastern part of Turkey.[10] The oldest of seven children,[11] Öcalan has one brother, Osman, who was a PKK leader until defecting with several others to establish the Patriotic and Democratic Party of Kurdistan.[12]

After graduating from a vocational high school in Ankara (Turkish: Ankara Tapu-Kadastro Meslek Lisesi), Öcalan found employment at the Diyarbakir Title Deeds Office. He was relocated one month later to Bakırköy, Istanbul. Later, he entered Istanbul Law Faculty but transferred after the first year to Ankara University to study political science.[13] His return to Ankara (normally impossible given his condition[notes 1]) was facilitated by the state in order to divide a militant group, Dev-Genç. President Süleyman Demirel later regretted this decision, since the PKK was to become a much greater threat to the state than Dev-Genç.[14]

In 1978, in the midst of the right- and left-wing conflicts which culminated in the 1980 Turkish coup d'état, Abdullah Öcalan founded the PKK, and launched a war against Turkey in order to set up an independent Kurdish state.[9][15]

Turkey-PKK conflict

Main article: Turkey – Kurdistan Workers' Party conflict

In 1984, the PKK initiated a campaign of armed conflict comprising attacks against government forces[16][17][18][19] in Turkey in order to create an independent Kurdish state. The PKK was linked to extortion rackets and drug trafficking in order to raise funds, which resulted in the United States, European Union, NATO, Syria, Australia, Turkey, and many other countries including the PKK on their lists of terrorist organizations.[20][21][22] However, in 2008, the PKK was removed from the European Union's terror blacklist.[23]

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.[24]
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.[citation needed] 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 ethnic Kurds.

He was captured in Kenya on February 15, 1999, while being transferred from the Greek embassy to Jomo Kenyata international airport Nairobi, in an operation by the Millî İstihbarat Teşkilâtı with debatable help of CIA.[25] The Greek consul who harboured him, George Costoulas, said that his life was in danger after the operation.[26]

Speaking to Can Dündar on NTV Turkey, Deputy Undersecretary of the Turkish National Intelligence Organization, 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.[27] His capture led thousands of protesting Kurds to protest at Greek and Israeli embassies around the world. Kurds living in Germany have been threatened with deportation if they continue to hold violent demonstrations in support of Kurdish separatist leader Abdullah Ocalan. The warning came after three Kurds were killed and 16 injured while storming the Israeli Consulate in Berlin. [28][29] During the flight from Kenya to Turkey, a video recorded by Millî İstihbarat Teşkilâtı officers. Ocalan stated that his mother is of Turkish origin and that he was ready to serve the people of Turkey in any way.[30]

After his capture Öcalan was held in solitary confinement as the only prisoner on İmralı island in the Sea of Marmara. Despite the fact that former prisoners at İmralı were transferred to other prisons, there were still over 1,000 Turkish military personnel stationed on the island to guard him. He was sentenced to death, but this sentence was commuted to life-long imprisonment upon the abolition of the death penalty in Turkey in August 2002.[31] No one has been executed in Turkey since 1984.[32] The Kurdish Human Rights Project (KHRP) may have aided this case's decision.[33]

In November 2009, Turkish authorities announced that he would be relocated to a new prison on the island and that they were ending his solitary confinement on transferring several other PKK prisoners to İmralı, and that Öcalan would be allowed to see them for ten hours a week. The new prison was built after the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture visited the island and objected to the conditions in which he was being held.[34][35]

In 2005, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Turkey had violated articles 3, 5 and 6 of the European Convention of Human Rights by granting Öcalan no effective remedy to appeal his arrest and sentencing him to death without a fair trial.[36] Öcalan's request for a retrial was refused by Turkish court.[37]

Proposal for political solution

File:AbdullahOcalan-Serok-Apo.jpg
A painting of Abdullah Öcalan, in Armenia

Abandoning his precapture policy which involved violence targeting civilians as well as military personnel, Öcalan has advocated a relatively peaceful solution to the Kurdish conflict inside the borders of Turkey.[38][39][40][41][42] 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.[43] In March 2005, Abdullah Öcalan issued the Declaration of Democratic Confederalism in Kurdistan[44] calling for a border free confederation between the Kurdish regions of Turkey (called "Northwest Kurdistan" by Kurdish nationalists[45]), 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.[46]

Since his incarceration he has significantly changed his ideology, reading Western social theorists like Murray Bookchin, Immanuel Wallerstein, Fernand Braudel,[47] fashioned his ideal society as "Democratic Confederalism" and refers to Friedrich Nietzsche as "a prophet".[48] He also wrote books[49] and articles[50] on the history of pre-capitalist Mesopotamia and Abrahamic religions.

Öcalan had his lawyer, Ibrahim Bilmez,[51] 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".[52]

On May 31, 2010 however, Öcalan said he was abandoning attempts to start dialogue between the PKK and Turkey saying that "this process is no longer meaningful or useful" and that he would leave the top PKK commanders in charge of the conflict. However, he also said that his comments should not be misinterpreted as a call for the PKK to intensify its armed conflict with the Turkish state.[53]

Publications

Abdullah Ocalan is the author of more than 40 books, four of which were written in prison. Many of the notes taken from his weekly meetings with his lawyers have been edited and published, notably:

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Normally, students can only transfer between like departments, otherwise the student must retake the university entrance exam. Moreover, Öcalan was awarded a scholarship by the Ministry of Finance, despite being ineligible due to his age, and the fact that he had participated in political demonstrations. He had also been tried and acquitted by a martial law court. The public prosecutor had asked for the harshest possible sentence.

References

  1. ^ http://www.nndb.com/people/488/000162002/
  2. ^ a b Paul J. White, Primitive rebels or revolutionary modernizers?: the Kurdish national movement in Turkey, Zed Books, 2000, "Professor Robert Olson, University of Kentucky"
  3. ^ Powell, Colin; Powell, Colin (2001-10-05). "2001 Report on Foreign Terrorist Organizations". Foreign Terrorist Organizations. Washington, DC: Bureau of Public Affairs, U.S. State Department. http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/rpt/fto/2001/5258.htm. 
  4. ^ Belgenet Öcalan Davası Gerekçeli Karar
  5. ^ Marlies Casier, Joost Jongerden, Nationalisms and Politics in Turkey: Political Islam, Kemalism and the Kurdish Issue, Taylor & Francis, 2010, p. 146.
  6. ^ Council of Europe, Parliamentary Assembly Documents 1999 Ordinary Session (fourth part, September 1999), Volume VII, Council of Europe, 1999, p. 18
  7. ^ Mag. Katharina Kirchmayer, The Case of the Isolation Regime of Abdullah Öcalan: A Violation of European Human Rights Law and Standards?, GRIN Verlag, 2010, p. 37
  8. ^ "Bir dönemin acı bilançosu" (in Turkish). Hürriyet. 2008-09-16. http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/gundem/9914612.asp?gid=0&srid=0&oid=0&l=1. Retrieved 2008-09-17. 
  9. ^ a b Witschi, Beat (1999). "Who is Abdullah Ocalan?". CNN. Archived from the original on 2000-08-16. http://web.archive.org/web/20000816095333/http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/1999/ocalan/stories/ocalan.profile/. Retrieved 2008-01-11. [dead link]
  10. ^ "ABDULLAH ÖCALAN MI YOKSA ARTİN AGOPYAN MI?" (in Turkish). Blogcu. 2008-05-22. http://atlantisece.blogcu.com/abdullah-ocalan-mi-yoksa-artin-agopyan-mi_16780491.html. Retrieved 2009-01-15. 
  11. ^ Aliza Marcus, "Blood and Belief", New York University Press, 2007. (p.16)
  12. ^ Kutschera, Chris (July 2005). "PKK dissidents accuse Abdullah Ocalan". The Middle East Magazine. http://www.chris-kutschera.com/A/pkk_dissidents.htm. Retrieved 2008-12-22. 
  13. ^ Koru, Fehmi (1999-06-08). "Too many questions, but not enough answers". Turkish Daily News (Hürriyet). http://arama.hurriyet.com.tr/arsivnews.aspx?id=-513250. Retrieved 2008-12-22. 
  14. ^ Cicek, Nevzat (2008-07-31). "‘Pilot Necati’ sivil istihbaratçıymış" (in Turkish). Taraf. http://www.taraf.com.tr/haber.asp?id=13608. Retrieved 2009-01-04. "Abdullah Öcalan’ın İstanbul’dan Ankara’ya gelmesine keşke izin verilmeseydi. O zamanlar Dev-Genç’i bölmek için böyle bir yol izlendi... Kürt gençlerini Marksistler’in elinden kurtarmak ve Dev-Genç’in bölünmesi hedeflendi. Bunda başarılı olundu olunmasına ama Abdullah Öcalan yağdan kıl çeker gibi kaydı gitti. Keşke Tuzluçayır’da öldürülseydi!" 
  15. ^ "Kurdish leader Ocalan apologizes during trial". CNN. 1999-05-31. Archived from the original on 2002-02-06. http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/meast/9905/31/ocalan.02/. Retrieved 2008-01-11. 
  16. ^ Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Turkey), The Workers' Party of Kurdistan (PKK), Federation of American Scientists
  17. ^ Letter to Italian Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema, Human Rights Watch, November 21, 1998
  18. ^ Turkey: No security without human rights Amnesty International, October 1996
  19. ^ Special Report: Terrorism in Turkey Ulkumen Rodophu, Jeffrey Arnold and Gurkan Ersoy, 6 February 2004
  20. ^ Foreign Terrorist Organizations U.S. Department of State, 27 March 2002
  21. ^ PKK & TERRORISM: A Report on the PKK and Terrorism
  22. ^ Turco-Syrian Treaty, 20 October 1998
  23. ^ "EU court annuls PKK terror ruling". BBC News. 2008-04-07. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7328238.stm. 
  24. ^ "TURKISH PROPAGANDA AGAINST CYPRUS IS REJECTED". United Nations. 24 February 1999. http://www.un.int/cyprus/pr240299.htm. Retrieved 2008-02-22. 
  25. ^ Weiner, Tim (1999-02-20). "U.S. Helped Turkey Find and Capture Kurd Rebel". New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E03E3D8143DF933A15751C0A96F958260. Retrieved 2007-12-15. 
  26. ^ Ünlü, Ferhat (2007-07-17). "Türkiye Öcalan için Kenya'ya para verdi" (in Turkish). Sabah. Archived from the original on February 24, 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080224134429/http://www.sabah.com.tr/2007/07/17/haber,025EFB746B684ED8B16B1759BE71DE6F.html. Retrieved 2008-12-18. 
  27. ^ "Öcalan bağımsız devlete engeldi" (in Turkish). Vatan. 2008-10-15. http://haber.vatanim.com.tr/haberdetay.asp?detay=Kurt_sorununun_cozumu_teroru_bitirir_203724_1&Newsid=203724. Retrieved 2008-10-15. "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." 
  28. ^ Kurds seize embassies, wage violent protests across Europe CNN.com, February 17, 1999
  29. ^ 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
  30. ^ Apo'nun yakalanisi Youtube.com, March 03, 2009
  31. ^ "Text of the Ocalan verdict". BBC News. 29 June 1999. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/monitoring/380845.stm. Retrieved 2008-01-11. 
  32. ^ "Turkey delays execution of Kurdish rebel leader Ocalan". CNN. January 12, 2000. Archived from the original on 2006-05-26. http://web.archive.org/web/20060526031932/http://archives.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/meast/01/12/ocalan.01/. Retrieved 2008-01-11. [dead link]
  33. ^ "Future of justice, equality and the rule of law". Kurdish advocacy. London: Kurdish Human Rights Project. 2010-09-21. http://www.khrp.org/. Retrieved 2010-11-27. 
  34. ^ Villelabeitia, Ibon (2009-11-18). "Company at last for Kurdish inmate alone for ten years". The Scotsman. http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/world/Company-at-last-for-Kurdish.5833050.jp. Retrieved 2009-11-27. 
  35. ^ Erduran, Esra (2009-11-10). "CoTurkey building new prison for PKK members". Southeast European Times. http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/features/2009/11/10/feature-02. Retrieved 2009-11-27. 
  36. ^ ECtHR Grand Chamber judgment in case 46221/99
  37. ^ Press release of ECtHR, 16.07.2010.
  38. ^ REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS ON THE KURDISH QUESTION IN TURKEY by the international delegation of human rights lawyers, January 1997
  39. ^ Interview with Abdullah Ocalan "Our First Priority Is Diplomacy" Middle East Insight magazine, January 1999
  40. ^ Kurdistan Turkey: Abdullah Ocalan, The End of a Myth? The Middle East magazine, February 2000
  41. ^ Abdullah Öcalan proposes 7-point peace plan Kurdistan Informatie Centrum Nederland
  42. ^ van Bruinessen, Martin. Turkey, Europe and the Kurds after the capture of Abdullah Öcalan 1999
  43. ^ Öldürülen imam ve 10 korucunun itibarı iade edildi, ANF News Agency, May 30, 2006.
  44. ^ "PKK ilk adına döndü" (in Turkish). Hürriyet. 2009-01-09. http://webarsiv.hurriyet.com.tr/2005/04/04/622724.asp. Retrieved 2009-01-09. 
  45. ^ PKK Program (1995) Kurdish Library, January 24, 1995
  46. ^ PKK Yeniden İnşa Bildirgesi PKK web site, April 20, 2005
  47. ^ Tarihli Görüşme Notları PWD-Kurdistan, March 16, 2005
  48. ^ Öcalan: Diyarbakır olayları boşanmanın ilanıdır ANF News Agency, May 20, 2006
  49. ^ "abdullah-ocalan.com". http://www.abdullah-ocalan.com/index1.htm. 
  50. ^ "Rayedarên tirk mafên Rêberê KCK'ê Abdullah Ocalan gasp dikin". http://www.denge-mezopotamya.com/besataybet/news_detail.asp?newsid=-769564977&pg=1. Retrieved 2008-01-11. 
  51. ^ Kurdish leader calls for cease-fire NewsFlash
  52. ^ Kurdish rebel boss in truce plea, BBC News
  53. ^ http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=pkk-steps-up-attacks-in-turkey-2010-05-30

Further reading

  • Özcan, Ali Kemal (2005). Turkey's Kurds: A Theoretical Analysis of the PKK and Abdullah Ocalan. London & New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-36687-9.

External links


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