'*Political PKK' issue sparks controversy in political arena 

State Minister Mehmet Kececiler's statement, "We would beat the PKK at the ballot box" has sparked a new controversy in the political scene in the midst of the silent Eid al-Adha religious holiday. 

The words of Kececiler fueled a new controversy during the religious holiday, known as the period of reconciliation and peace among people. Turkish politicians were still busy wrangling on the lifting of capital punishment, an issue which is seen as a matter of executing the imprisoned leader of the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan. 

Kececiler's statement opened a new front in the issue. 

"It would be better for the PKK to be in politics rather than out in the mountains. People would not elect them. We would beat them at the ballot box," Kececiler said in an interview with the Aksam newspaper. 

Junior coalition partner Motherland Party (ANAP) member Kececiler has created a new tension in the three-way coalition. ANAP has been at odds with its partners, especially with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). 

Ultra nationalist MHP's Deputy Chairman Nazif Okumus said that the PKK had never had a political base, and had been only involved in terrorist activities for the last 15 years. 

The PKK and its leader Ocalan have been held responsible for the conflict in Turkey's southeast which has claimed the lives of more than 35,000 people. 

Another MHP member, Ismail Kose, accused Kececiler of confusing the people living in the southeastern region with PKK terrorists. 

ANAP's other coalition partner Democratic Left Party (DSP) Deputy Group Chairman Aydin Tumen stated that Kececiler had made a radical statement. 

Tumen claimed that if separatist movements took the stage in the political arena, it would adversely effect political life. 

DSP's Uluc Gurkan also reacted against the statements of Kececiler by saying that it was a wrong move to call on a terrorist organization to become a political party. 

Mass circulation newspaper Hurriyet reported that Kececiler had said: "I say, let them come out and take part in the elections under the existing laws, that is, the Election Law and the Political Parties Law. I am not saying let us have the PKK come and take part in the elections as it is, under that name. Has this not been like that anyway all these years? Were not the Democracy Party (DEP) and People's Labor Party (HEP) affiliated with the PKK?" 

Both DEP and HEP were banned by the Constitutional Court and there is an ongoing closure case against their successor, the People's Democracy Party (HADEP), at the Constitutional Court on charges of having links with the PKK. 

PKK aiming to become a political movement 
Ocalan was sentenced to capital punishment in 1996 in a trial on the prison island of Imrali on charges of treason, and later in November of 1996, the Court of Cassation approved the decision of the State Security Court (DGM). After the sentencing of Ocalan, the PKK intensified its activities throughout Turkey, especially in the cities. It tried to show that the PKK hadn't finished committing suicide attacks. 

But after Ocalan's call to PKK members to organize a peace conference swiftly, and to end the armed struggle, urging the PKK to carry out their activities abroad, the PKK went through an image change. 

The PKK, between 1991-2001, has concealed its terrorist identity and made moves in an effort to give a nice image to the European Union, an organ which can force Turkey to take decisions in harmony with the expectations of the PKK. Let us note the members of the PKK who staged a demonstration in front of the hotel hosting the EU's Helsinki Summit, opening banners, saying "Take Turkey to the EU," as a part of this plan. 

Although there is some information revealing that the PKK still has terrorist camps in Iraq and Iran, it wears a different mask in Europe. It's new strategy is carrying out a political campaign rather than terrorist activities. 

Turkey gives major importance to its relations with the EU, and has some expectations from the EU just as the EU has some expectations from Turkey. Both sides moves cautiously. Turkey has achieved a number of reforms and Ankara has fulfilled the majority of promises that it made as part of the Accession Partnership Document. But the death sentence of Ocalan has kept its place as one of the most sensitive issues between the two sides. 

Although the PKK is on the U.S. list of terrorist groups, the list of the European Union does not include the PKK, which means that Ocalan is not a terrorist in the eyes of the EU.