Subject: TURKEY FIGHTING BY LAURIE KASSMAN/DIYARBAKIR
Topic: voa
From: yanni@ix.netcom.com (Ioannis Bousnakis)
 
DATE=4/23/95
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
NUMBER=5-20280
TITLE=TURKEY FIGHTING
BYLINE=LAURIE KASSMAN
DATELINE=DIYARBAKIR
CONTENT=
VOICED AT: 

INTRO:  THE TURKISH MILITARY CONTINUES ITS OFFENSIVE IN SOUTHEAST
TURKEY AGAINST THE SEPARATIST KURDISTAN WORKERS PARTY, OR P-K-K, 
WHILE SOME 20-THOUSAND TROOPS ARE ATTACKING SUSPECTED P-K-K CAMPS
IN NORTHERN IRAQ.  THE P-K-K GUERRILLAS HAVE BEEN FIGHTING FOR 
MORE THAN A DECADE NOW FOR A SEPARATE KURDISH STATE.  V-O-A 
CORRESPONDENT LAURIE KASSMAN TRAVELED TO TUNCELI PROVINCE IN 
SOUTHEASTERN TURKEY, WHERE MOST OF THE RECENT MILITARY OPERATIONS
HAVE BEEN CONCENTRATED.  SHE REPORTS THAT FIGHTING NOW HAS MOVED 
FARTHER EAST AND NORTH FROM TUNCELI'S PROVINCIAL CAPITAL, MUCH TO
THE RELIEF OF RESIDENTS THERE.

TEXT:  /// OPENS WITH WILD SOUND, FADING UNDER ///

ON A LATE SATURDAY AFTERNOON, MANY OF TUNCELI'S 17-THOUSAND 
RESIDENTS SPEND THEIR TIME STROLLING ALONG QUIET STREETS, 
LISTENING TO MUSIC WAFTING FROM LOUDSPEAKERS IN NEARBY RECORD 
SHOPS.

/// MORE WILD SOUND, LAUGHTER, FADES UNDER ///

MEN SIT CHATTING AND PLAYING DOMINOES WHILE A DOZEN BLUE-BERET 
ARMY COMMANDOS LINE UP AT PAY PHONES NEXT DOOR TO CALL HOME.

THE TOWN IS QUIET, BUT THE BATTLE GOES ON LESS THAN 200 
KILOMETERS AWAY.  GUARDS AT A CHECKPOINT ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF TOWN
SAY THEY HAVE SEEN GUERRILLAS IN THE MOUNTAINS ABOVE THEM.

A TWO-WEEK AIR AND LAND ATTACK HAS JUST ENDED AGAINST P-K-K 
GUERRILLAS TRAPPED IN A STEEP RAVINE IN THE SNOW-CAPPED MOUNTAINS
170 KILOMETERS NORTH OF THE PROVINCIAL CAPITAL.

TUNCELI'S GOVERNOR ATIL UZELGUN TOLD V-O-A NEWS THAT 50 P-K-K 
MEMBERS WERE KILLED IN THAT OPERATION.  MANY OTHERS MANAGED TO 
ESCAPE.

FIGHTING IS REPORTED ELSEWHERE IN THE PROVINCE.  MILITARY SOURCES
TOLD REPORTERS OF CLASHES NEAR PULUMUR, SOME 75 KILOMETERS NORTH 
OF TUNCELI TOWN, WHERE P-K-K REBELS ARE REPORTED TO HAVE ATTACKED
A MILITARY BASE.

GOVERNOR UZELGUN SAYS THE ARMY HAS KILLED MORE THAN 300 P-K-K 
GUERRILLAS IN CLASHES IN TUNCELI PROVINCE SINCE LAST SEPTEMBER.  
HE SAYS 34 P-K-K FIGHTERS HAVE SURRENDERED.  THE MILITARY HAD 
BLANKETED THE AREA WITH LEAFLETS URGING THE GUERRILLAS TO GIVE 
THEMSELVES UP.

IN TUNCELI, THE POLICE CHIEF PRESENTED A FORMER P-K-K FIGHTER TO 
THREE FOREIGN REPORTERS.  THE P-K-K FIGHTER HAD SURRENDERED A FEW
DAYS BEFORE.

TWENTY-ONE-YEAR-OLD HUSAYN YANC SAYS HE ESCAPED FROM HIS UNIT 
JUST BEFORE THE LATEST OFFENSIVE AND WALKED SIX DAYS THROUGH THE 
MOUNTAINS UNTIL HE REACHED HIS HOME NEAR PULUMUR.  HE HAD BEEN 
WITH THE P-K-K FOR FIVE YEARS.

              /// ACT IN  TURKISH, FADES UNDER ///

"WHEN I CAME IN THE DOOR MY FAMILY CRIED," HE SAID.  "AND THEY 
CONVINCED ME TO SURRENDER, AND THEY CALLED THE POLICE.  THE 
SITUATION IN THE MOUNTAINS WAS BAD," HE SAID.  "WE HAD  NO  FOOD 
AND IT WAS DAMP AND DIRTY IN THE CAVES WHERE WE WERE HIDING."

GOVERNOR UZELGUN SAYS HE EXPECTS THE CONTINUING MILITARY 
OFFENSIVE IN HIS REGION TO MARGINALIZE THE P-K-K BY THE END OF 
THE YEAR, DESPITE THE THE LOW NUMBER OF REBEL CASUALTIES AND 
THOSE WHO SURRENDERED.

HE SAYS THE OPERATION IS GOING WELL.

THE MILITARY STEPPED UP ITS OPERATION AGAINST THE P-K-K A MONTH 
AGO, EXTENDING THE OFFENSE ACROSS THE BORDER INTO NORTHERN IRAQ. 
THAT BROUGHT AN OUTCRY FROM EUROPEAN ALLIES WHO SAID IT VIOLATED 
INTERNATIONAL LAW.  PRIME MINISTER TANSU CILLER SAYS SHE WILL 
PULL BACK THE TROOPS OVER THE NEXT WEEKS.

BUT THE OFFENSIVE IN SOUTHEAST TURKEY WILL CONTINUE.  (SIGNED)

NEB/LK/DW

23-Apr-95 1:14 PM EDT (1714 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America