March 21 (Bloomberg) -- The leader of Turkey's main pro- Kurdish party warned
that the arrest of top party officials during the past month may rekindle
separatist violence that has led to thousands of deaths in the past two decades.
The crackdown could also cost Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose party
holds a majority of parliamentary seats in the largely Kurdish southeast,
support in elections later this year.
``If our party, which is committed to a peaceful resolution, is unable to
function, it says to Kurds that the political arena is shut to them,'' said
Aysel Tugluk, co-chairman of the Democratic Society Party or DTP. That may lead
Kurdish guerrillas to call off their seven-month unilateral truce as they
``assess how effective this cease-fire has been,'' she added.
A resumption of fighting could lead to tensions with the European Union, which
is calling on Turkey to peacefully settle a two-decade long conflict with
Kurdish guerrillas that has left some 40,000 people dead and large sections of
the southeast desolate. It may also cause friction with the United States, which
has close ties with Iraqi Kurds across the border.
Turkish police have raided dozens of party offices and detained top national
leaders and branch heads in several cities, said Tugluk, adding that she can't
keep count of the number of cases pending against her and other party leaders.
The arrests come as Kurds mark the new-year festival of Newroz today, a holiday
that in the past has been marred by violence and protests.
Police Skirmishes
Tens of thousands of Kurds attended the celebrations in Diyarbakir, the largest
city in the southeast, with many chanting slogans in support of the guerrillas.
About 70 people were detained, according to DTP officials, including about 20
who brandished pictures of Kurdish rebels killed in recent clashes with the
Turkish army, and then became involved in skirmishes with police.
Ahmet Turk, the other co-leader of the DTP, told the rally that 250 party
officials have been detained and 72 charged in the latest crackdown.
Hundreds of people have been prosecuted since the conflict began under Turkish
anti-terrorism laws for showing support for Kurdish nationalism or speaking
respectfully of Ocalan or his guerrillas. In Turkey it was illegal to speak
Kurdish until 1991. Turkey says it will not negotiate with the guerrillas, who
it considers terrorists, and several pro-Kurdish political parties that pre-date
the DTP have been closed by the courts.
Jail Sentences
Tugluk, 41, and her co-chairman, Turk, 64, were sentenced by an Ankara court to
1 1/2 years in prison on Feb. 27 after party workers distributed pamphlets in
the Kurdish language. Turk was then sentenced by a court in Diyarbakir to
another six months for calling Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed leader of the
guerrilla Kurdistan Workers Party or PKK, ``Mr. Ocalan.'' The two are free
pending an appeal to a higher court.
A court on March 19 jailed Metin Tekce, mayor of the city of Hakkari, to seven
years after he told a parliamentary commission that the PKK was not a terrorist
group and that he was proud to be Kurdish.
``This is a significant crackdown on the DTP,'' said Wolfango Piccoli, a Turkey
analyst with the Eurasia Group in London. It ``makes it increasingly likely that
the PKK will resume attacks in the coming weeks.''
Nationalist Backlash
Any rise in violence could lead to a nationalist backlash and harm the prospects
of Erdogan's Justice and Development Party in a general election scheduled for
November.
``There is a strong nationalist wave in Turkey right now, and if the PKK begins
killing soldiers, this will strengthen the right,'' Piccoli said.
Dengir Mir Mehmet Firat, a deputy chairman of Erdogan's party, said the
government has ``no constitutional authority to intervene'' in the probes. ``The
judiciary in Turkey is independent. These operations are being carried out by
police under orders from prosecutors,'' Firat said.
Turkish politicians have accused the DTP of maintaining direct links with the
rebels, a charge that Tugluk denied. She said that members of her party may have
``sympathy'' for the rebels and some have relatives who fought with the
guerrillas.
The crackdown comes as the snows in the mountainous southeast begin to thaw,
opening up mountain passes that the guerrillas have often used to infiltrate
into Turkey from northern Iraq, where they are based.
Troop Deployment
The army has deployed an additional 20,000 troops to the border with Iraq, where
it estimates 4,000 PKK guerrillas are based, Vatan newspaper reported yesterday.
Turkish generals have threatened to send forces into northern Iraq, a warning
that Gen. Ilker Basbug, head of land forces repeated on March 9. That would
likely anger the United States, which considers Kurdish-run northern Iraq one of
the only stable areas of that country.
The arrests may also be aimed at hurting Kurdish chances at the ballot box,
Tugluk said.
In the last election in 2002, the pro-Kurdish party won enough votes to gain 54
seats in parliament if it had passed the 10 percent nationwide threshold. Since
it dropped short of that, most of the seats went to Erdogan's party.
Tugluk said her party may field independent candidates in this year's election
to run in districts, circumventing the 10 percent rule, which only applies to
parties.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ayla Jean Yackley in Istanbul at ayackley@bloomberg.net
