Turkey: PKK not involved in latest bombings; possibly Turkish military agents

Rome, 18 April (AKI) - The recent spate of bombings and shootings in Istanbul and other Turkish cities could be the work of a renegade Kurdish militant group or even elements within Turkey's military establishment, but do not involve the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), a spokesman for a Kurdish rights group in Italy said on Tuesday. Mehmet Yuksel of the Office for Information on Kurdistan in Italy, in an interview with Adnkronos International (AKI) denied claims by Ankara that the PKK was behind the blasts.

"The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons, an autonomous group founded when some militants broke away from the PKK, say they are behind the bombings. This group acts in a totally autonomous way and has no links with the broader Kurdish liberation movement," Yuksel told AKI.

"However, the attacks may have been carried out by military secret agents serving the interests of those in the Turkish military who want to keep tensions high to justify the continued repression of the Kurdish people in Turkey," he said.

While the PKK opposes attacks against civilians, the Turkish government has intensified its attempts to brand the Kurdish movement as a terrorist group, at a time when support for the PKK among Kurds is growing, Yuksel argued.

"The PKK was able to mobilise more than one million people to join street celebrations for the [March 23] Newroz Kurdish New Year celebrations. That shows the extent of the support that exists for the PKK," Yuksel said.

He dismissed suggestions that the upsurge in violence benefits those on both sides of the conflict who feel threatened by a negotiated peace settlement.

"The PKK has said that the rights of the Kurdish people cannot be won through armed conflict, it is the government that keeps branding it as a terrorist group in an attempt to justify its military intervention in Turkish Kurdistan," said Yuksel , referring to what Kurdish rights activists say is the deployment in recent months of 100,000 Turkish troops in the Kurdish populated areas along Turkey's border with Iraqi Kurdistan.

The Rome-based Kurdish rights activist also cast doubt over the importance of what many see as a landmark switch in Ankara's Kurdish policy - a speech late last year by Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan when he said that Turkish governments have made "mistakes" in dealing with the Kurdish issue.

The massive military deployment in Turkey's Kurdish areas follows a meeting between Erdogan and the National Security Council, an influential body which groups together military and political leaders. This meeting, and hence the decision to despatch the soldiers took place before recent rioting in Kurdish populated southeastern Turkey, which has been cited by the government as the reason for its increased security activities, Yuksel said.

"Erdogan is already campaigning for re-election and he is trying to win votes with those in Turkey who don't want to make concessions to the Kurdish people. Elections are due at the end of 2007, but the they could be held earlier," he said.

The rioting began earlier this month in Diyarbakir - the biggest city in Turkey's Kurdish-majority southeast - during the funerals of four PKK fighters shot dead by Turkish security forces. some 20 people were killed in the violence which also spread to nearby towns and villages.