Turks, Syrians Discuss Kurd Crisis
Monday, 19 October 1998
A N K A R A , T U R K E Y (AP)
DEMANDING THAT Syria end its support of Kurdish rebels, Turkey
warned Monday that current talks were Syria's last chance for a peaceful
solution to the crisis.
"We have tried all peaceful ways, we are now trying out the last one,"
President Suleyman Demirel said during a ceremony at a university in the
southern province of Hatay. "Turkey is determined not to bear this
suffering any longer."
"No one should test Turkey's power," Demirel said.
Turkish and Syrian officials met Monday at a secret location to address
Ankara's claims that Syria is sheltering rebels, the Foreign Ministry
reported. It said the talks would continue Tuesday.
Turkish officials said they want proof that Syria is closing alleged Kurdish
rebel camps in the Syrian-controlled Bekaa Valley in Lebanon.
NTV television said that during the meeting, Syrian officials handed over
information aimed at proving that the country does not support the rebels.
The report said the Syrians invited Turkey to inspect locations where it
alleges rebels live and provided a list of Kurdish insurgents arrested in
Syria.
If diplomacy fails, most analysts believe Turkey may stage pinpoint attacks
on Kurdish rebels in Syria or Syrian-controlled Lebanon.
About 37,000 people have died since Kurds began battling for autonomy
in Turkey's southeast in 1984.
"Syria must stop sheltering the leader and the camps (of the rebels) and put
an end to all moral and material support to the bloody movement," Demirel
said.
Defense Minister Ismet Sezgin said that bodies of Syrian officers have
been found alongside rebels after attacks by the Turkish army.
Turkey also accuses Syria of sheltering Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah
Ocalan. In a statement Monday, Ocalan denied he was in Syria.
"It is true that from time to time I visit the Kurdish people (in Syria)
independently from the Syrian government. However, I am currently not in
Syria, I am in Kurdistan and carrying out my duties," he said in reference to
a region inhabited by Kurdish populations in Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran.
Relations between the two neighbors have deteriorated sharply in recent
weeks after Turkey suggested it might take military action against Syria.
Fears of a regional conflict have led to various mediation attempts by
Egypt and Iran. |
