Foreign Correspondence

[Amaunet]

Kurdish rebels reject appeal for cease-fire in Turkey


Associated Press
Jun. 14, 2004 07:45 AM


ISTANBUL, Turkey - Suspected Kurdish rebels killed three security guards in an overnight attack in southern Turkey, and a rebel commander Monday rejected an appeal to reinstate a five-year unilateral cease-fire that ended earlier this month.

The rejection by Murat Karayilan, a top Kurdish rebel commander, came in a statement to the Germany-based Mesopotamia news agency. Turkey's largest pro-Kurdish party, the Democratic People's Party, had appealed Saturday for the five-year truce to be restored.

Karayilan said Turkey must first end the isolation of guerrilla leader Abdullah Ocalan, who is the sole inmate on an island prison near Istanbul. He said Turkey must also end military operations against the rebels.

"We will respond to those who want to destroy us," the statement said. "If (Turkish) security forces show understanding, a controlled defense will be possible. But it is not possible to end our defense entirely."

The statement came as Turkish officials said Monday that three government-hired guards were killed in an overnight attack in Hatay province, some 440 miles southeast of the capital, Ankara.

Hatay Gov. Abdulkadir Sari said in a statement carried by Turkey's semiofficial Anatolia news agency that that three men were guarding a road-construction crew when the rebels opened fire. Another guard was injured and a bulldozer operator was shot in the knee, he said. An operation was under way to capture the rebels, he said.

On Sunday, rebels launched a rocket attack on a military officers' club in the southeastern city of Bingol, and troops killed two rebels in the ensuing clash. The Turkish military imposed an overnight curfew.

Two soldiers also were killed Saturday when their vehicle was attacked in nearby Tunceli province.

Kurds make up about 20 percent of Turkey's 68 million people, but are not officially recognized as a minority. Kurdish rebels fought a 15-year war for autonomy in Turkey's predominantly Kurdish southeast before declaring the cease-fire in 1999, shortly after the capture of Ocalan. Some 37,000 people were killed.

Under pressure from the European Union, which Turkey wants to join, Turkey recently granted the right for Kurdish-language broadcasts and is allowing private schools to teach the language.

More than 20,000 demonstrated Sunday for peace in Diyarbakir, the largest city in the southeast. Former lawmaker Leyla Zana, a Kurdish activist who was freed from prison Friday, urged rebels to resume the truce.



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