DIYARBAKIR, Turkey -- Her 19-year-old daughter "left
for the mountain" 10 days ago, the woman explained in proud tones, using a
euphemism for joining the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party.
The daughter's decision was driven by the recent death of a friend who was a
guerrilla with the PKK, which is fighting the Turkish army in the country's
volatile southeast.
The daughter, asked to prepare the body for burial, washed and
wrapped the corpse in a shroud but "could not wash away the marks of torture
and she was never the same after, talking about nothing but revenge," the
mother said.
The 50-year-old mother of eight agreed to talk only if her name were not
revealed so authorities couldn't identify her or her daughter. It is her
hope that after training, her daughter will return from the mountain -- and
go to war.
"You never know how you will be asked to serve," she said. "It may be that
she will work in the kitchen. But in my dreams, I see her carrying a gun and
avenging the deaths of her friends."
One military operation, one insurgent attack at a time, the fighting has
returned to this mostly Kurdish region, with casualties on both sides.
Although the army hasn't released official figures, a tally of the deaths on
the state-run Anatolian News Agency indicates that about 100 rebels and
soldiers have been killed in the last three months.
The violence has been accompanied by increased recruiting by the PKK in
southeastern Turkey, according to interviews with people familiar with the
group's tactics.
One switch has been the effort to draw young women into the group.
Although women's organizations challenge the notion of the PKK as
being in the forefront of women's rights, this mother said: "In our houses,
our villages and tribes, Kurdish women are oppressed by tradition. But in
the PKK, women are truly equal. After serving in the PKK, women can take
that authority back to their communities."
During a 15-year conflict that ended when the PKK called for a cease-fire in
1999, an estimated 37,000 people died, thousands of Kurdish villages were
destroyed and hundreds of thousands of people were displaced from their
homes.
In the last five years, Turkey has undertaken a series of reforms, including
allowing Kurdish to be taught in private schools and used in television and
radio broadcasting.
But local political leaders say Ankara's efforts, partly the result of
pressure from the European Union, are insufficient. They demand further
political and cultural freedoms, such as allowing the teaching of Kurdish in
public schools and a general amnesty for PKK militants.
The PKK called off its truce last summer, citing dissatisfaction with the
government's efforts. Now the conflict is intensifying. The army has beefed
up its outposts, redeployed fighting units and set up armed checkpoints on
the roads.
This month, the military launched another operation in the eastern province
of Bingol. During the funeral for Ahmet Okur, a PKK commander killed during
the operation, his father shed no tears but berated the Turkish government,
whose soldiers pelted the funeral with tear gas.
"I want peace and no more bloodshed," Haydar Okur was quoted in the Turkish
press as saying. "But the state is still denying the Kurds their full
rights."
Since the military attack in Bingol, the PKK has blown up a passenger train,
killing five passengers and injuring a dozen. A second attack on another
freight train resulted in injuries to railway staff. Last weekend, five
soldiers died in two land mine incidents and three police officers were
injured during an attack on the provincial governor's home in Hozat. On
Monday, Kurdish guerrillas abducted a Turkish soldier in the southeast,
government officials said.
Each side blames the other.
The PKK is acting only in "self-defense," said Hasan, a former PKK commander
who asked that his full name not be used. "Rising Kurdish nationalism can be
blamed directly on rising Turkish nationalism."
Serdar Irmek, director of the pro-Kurdish Dicle News Agency, said the
government has missed an opportunity to bring about a permanent solution to
the Kurdish problem.
"The PKK has done all it can to resolve the problems," Irmek said. "It
declared a cease-fire, its fighters left the country and they are willing
now to return to normal civilian life with a general amnesty. But the
Turkish government sees democracy for all its citizens as a threat."
Criticism of the PKK comes from a surprising source--another Kurdish group.
Halis Nezan, director of Rights and Freedom Party, which is supported by
Masoud Barzani, the northern Iraqi Kurdish leader, said the PKK has
suppressed democratic development in Turkey's Kurdish region.
