A shelter for the PKK: North of the 36th Parallel

When the number of Kurdish refugees fleeing from Iraq in the immediate wake of the Gulf War reached alarming levels, a safe zone was set up on the Turkish-Iraqi border. In April 1991, the U.S. government warned Iraq not to engage in any activity by land or air in the north of the 36^th Parallel, where the Kurds were. The area north of the 36^th Parallel being closed to Iraqi planes, a multinational force known as the Combined Task Force being installed in the region and subsequent developments led to the emergence of a de facto Kurdish administration in northern Iraq. In July 1991, a Poised Hammer Force consisting of 77 planes and helicopters and 1,862 military personnel from countries such as Turkey, the U.S., Great Britain and France was installed inside the Turkish border for the protection of the no-fly zone set up for the Kurds. The presence of the Hammer Force guaranteed special protection for this Kurdish zone.

The Hammer Force based in Turkey’s İncirlik Base in the immediate wake of the 1991 Iraq War. The picture shows foreign troops. Inset is an aerial view.

This period represented the start of an enforced change of tactics on the part of the PKK, which had suffered serious losses and casualties. The north of the 36th Parallel, included in the no-fly zone and under U.S. control, represented a golden opportunity for the PKK. In this way, the PKK acquired an area in which it could be accommodated, strengthened and even trained. However, in order to be able to make use of these opportunities, it needed to do something to curry favor with the anti-communist U.S. It became essential for it to adopt a pro-American guise and to make it forgotten that it had committed terror in the name of communism. If it could succeed in that, it would enjoy the support of a superpower. And by a strange coincidence some circles in the U.S. were working, just like them, to establish a Great Kurdistan in Turkey.

For these reasons, the PKK changed its language, tactics and flag. From being a supporter of Russia and China, it suddenly became pro-American. It adopted a deceptive imperialist mask. This in fact served the interests of the American deep state apparatus, which was actually well aware of the reality of the PKK. That deep state apparatus wanted to believe in that imperialist mask. It saw nothing wrong in using the PKK to establish a Kurdish state in the region.

From being a supporter of Russia and China, the PKK suddenly became a supporter of the U.S. and falsely adopted an imperialist mask.

These words by Öcalan, intended to curry favor with the U.S., which he had always regarded as imperialist, clearly reveal the dimensions of that mask:

This nation that was deemed forgettable and deniable by Islam, will take side mainly with Christians and Jews during Armageddon against all sectarian formations.

The tactic was a familiar one; Öcalan criticized Islam to curry favor with the U.S., denies the presence of Kurdish people living by Islam and appears to support Christian and Jewish belief, as if he had the slightest faith or respect for any religious belief. Particularly noteworthy was his cunning emphasis on Armageddon, which Christian Evangelicals were expecting to see in Mesopotamia.

Burhan Semiz, PKK ve KCK'nın Din Stratejisi (The Religious Strategy of the PKK and KCK), p. 210

The PKK grew stronger in the wake of the Hammer Force and returned to its terrorist actions, having rearmed, on Turkish soil. Twenty PKK camps suddenly appeared to the north of the 36th parallel, and by means of a purely superficial change of tactics they received backing from the U.S. and the coalition.

This impression was an exceptionally deceptive one. Indeed, 70 PKK camps suddenly sprung up north of the 36th Parallel, breaking away with a special administration. The researcher Jay Walker set out his observations in the PKK camps in a piece titled "Kurdish uprising in Turkey"; "… I have seen 20 PKK training camps by the border. In these camps, they were eating French cheese and drinking American cacao and coffee."

During this time, the PKK was reinforced especially against Iran, which the U.S. perceived as a major threat. The no-fly zone in question literally served as the PKK’s private territory, in which the terror organization, previously on the brink of collapse, could re-arm, train and pull itself together.

As a result, immediately after the establishment of the Poised Hammer Force, the PKK returned stronger and re-armed for its acts of terror in Turkish territory. As a matter of fact, the 1990s in particular were when the PKK committed the most attacks and bloodshed in Turkey.

Let me make it clear that we have no objections to the Kurds setting up their own state. There is already an autonomous Kurdish state in the north of Iraq, and Turkey has excellent relations with it. Head of state Masoud Barzani and Prime Minister Nechervan Barzani are both sincere and devout leaders. Of course we would always wish to see countries’ territorial integrity maintained, but if an independent Kurdistan is to be founded under Barzani’s leadership in northern Iraq as a result of the current turmoil in that country, then of course we will support it. However, it is essential that the threat of the PKK be eliminated from the region first, and that the threat be lifted from the Barzani family in particular.

Our objection is not to the establishment of a Kurdish state, but lies in these two very important points;

1.) covetous eyes being cast on Turkish territory and
2.) the desire to realize the dream of a state of Kurdistan by means of the PKK.

Cevdet Saral, Terörün Gizli Efendileri (The Secret Lords of Terror), Kripto Yayınları, Ankara, 2012, p. 265

Ibid., p. 266

The Kurds are a source of pride and honor for us. They are a symbol of well-manners, honesty, respect, and love. Communist traitors will never drive a wedge between the Kurds and us.

The sinister days in Turkey when people were oppressed because of their ethnicity, religion or beliefs have now come to an end. Of course, we are aware of the sufferings that occurred in the past, but the time has now come for all our people to live in freedom, democracy and happiness. No force that seeks to prevent this will ever succeed.

Turkey is a single whole together with the Kurds. Kurds and Turks have lived together in these lands for a thousand years, and are brothers. No Kurd in Turkey has any intention of breaking away from his motherland. Neither have the Turks any intention of abandoning the Kurds. Our Kurdish brothers need not be alarmed; we are well aware that the Ergenekon terror organization that infiltrated the Turkish state, and whose members are currently on trial, for years adopted a discriminatory and repressive policy toward the Kurds. This is discussed in detail in subsequent chapters, and the steps needing to be taken by the Turkish government and nation are also set out.

However, it should be known that it would be a grave error to blame all of Turkey for the actions of the Ergenekon terror organization. Division is something that the PKK terror organization has been talking about since the very beginning. This terror organization has absolutely nothing to do with Kurdish nationalism. On the contrary, this terror organization has always oppressed the Kurds. The idea that there is an ethnic Kurdish group in the Southeast of Turkey that wishes to break away from the country is therefore a total falsehood. It is true that the Kurds generally live in the Southeast of Turkey but there are also Kurds everywhere else in Turkey. There are also Zaza, Turkmen, Arab, Assyrian and Armenian populations in the Southeast. Turkey is therefore an integral whole with different populations all over it, and in which all its peoples are interconnected. Kurdish separatism has always been brought up by the Ergenekon and PKK criminal organizations. It appeared in the minds of mentally ill people engaged in racism. There has never been any distinction between Turks and Kurds in daily life; we would never allow it. Kurds constitute some of the jewels in the crown of Anatolia. They are important symbols of such values as friendship, honesty, spirituality, self-sacrifice and loyalty. The mindset that seeks to break our Kurdish brothers away from us will never succeed, and will always eventually end in disappointment.

Turkey will therefore never be part of the Great Kurdistan dream planned by the American deep state. The greatest mistake made by the American deep state and those of the European countries that support it is to imagine that their dream of Kurdistan can be made a reality by means of the PKK. That is a mistake because the PKK is still a Marxist organization, maybe more so than ever before. Its adoption of an imperialist mask is a cunning tactic employed by all notorious communists of the past.

Kürşad Berkkan – Cenk Eğilmezbilek, Başkan Öcalan “PKK ile mücadeleden müzakereye”, İstanbul, 2013, s. 37Altemur Kılıç, Büyük Kürdistan Büyük İsrail, Buğra Yayınları, İstanbul, s. 181Cemal Temizöz, Siyasallaşan PKK Terörü, Togan Yayınları, Bakırköy, Şubat 2012, s.81A.g.e. s.82Viladimir İ. Lenin, Toplu Yazıları, cilt 9, Haziran-Kasım 1905Burhan Semiz, PKK ve KCK’nın Din Stratejisi, s. 98Özgür Yaşamla Diyaloglar, s. 201Kürdistan’da Halk Kahramanlığı, s.78Elif Çalışkan Polat, PKK Terör Örgütüne Dış Destek, Çatı Kitapları, 2013, s. 34Bartu Soral, Paralel Kürdistan Kumpası, s. 65 (Rafet Ballı – Kürt Dosyası)Burhan Semiz, PKK ve KCK’nın Din Stratejisi, s. 210Cevdet Saral, Terörün Gizli Efendileri, Kripto Yayınları, Ankara, 2012, s. 265A.g.e. s. 266