PKK’S COOPERATION WITH THE GREEKS
Ali KULEBÄ°

Dogan Daily News
Monday, September 10, 2007

A possible withdrawal of Turkish troops from northern Cyprus will
not only facilitate the goals of imperialist Western nations, but
it will also jeopardize the future of our kinsmen and strengthen PKK
terrorists on the island

European Union is a union that always gives importance to human
rights. But ironically, one of two EU member states, Greek Cyprus, is
basically founded by so-called leaders with acknowledged backgrounds in
terrorism. The other one is Greece, whose spoiled acts and support of
terrorism ironically do not disturb the so-called Western civilization
either. This is the Greece that surpassed European states in practicing
double-standards, injustice and atrocities by prohibiting our kinsmen
living in Western Trace to be called ‘Turk’ and establishing their
own associations under the name ‘Turk’ in spite of the decisions
of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), and appointing Muftis
(religious leaders) from Athens forcibly and not letting the Turks
to choose their own Muftis.

Our relations with Greeks and Greek Cypriots, who are protected
by hypocritical West, are managed despite their hostile efforts to
collaborate with the Armenians to spread libelous and false news and
engage in defamation campaigns.

Hypocritical Western world cannot answer this issue, which best
exemplifies its injustices: "Why could Czech and Slovak communities,
which are very similar in terms of ethnicity, religion, language,
history and culture, secede from Czechoslovakia in one night and
this was welcomed. Or why Yugoslavia was allowed to split into seven
peoples and seven republics, while two hostile societies [in Cyprus],
which do not have any relations and do not have any common aspects
in terms of ethnicity, religion, culture and history, are tried to
be hold together forcibly?"

What are the goals of Western nations in this compulsion?

Hypocritical Western states have to explain why they disregard the
support of Greece and Greek Cyprus for terrorism, while they always
express their disapproval of terrorism.

As a matter of fact, it would be naïve to expect those, mostly NATO
member EU nations, which support the terrorism of the Kurdistan
Workers’ Party (PKK) militarily, politically and economically in
various degrees, to condemn Greece and Greek Cyprus about such support.

Greece’s support for the PKK:

It is obvious that the PKK is supported by Greece, considering the
PKK’s historical development with major support from Greece. Greece
has always intended to damage Turkey in every way and seize a portion
of our land as a part of its ‘great idea’, "Megali Idea".

To this end, Greece initially helped the establishment and assistance
of ASALA, the Armenian Terror Organization, with the agony she
experienced after our 1974 Peace Operation in Cyprus. Following our
state’s strike against ASALA, Greece changed her tactics and started
to play its cards on Kurds.

In this context, first it initiated the "Lavrion Camp" near
Athens. Ayfer Kaya with the code name Rozarin, who was responsible for
military training at the Lavrion Refugee Camp that was once used to
treat foreign refugees, told in an interview with the Time Magazine
that Kurdish young men coming to the camp receive military training
under the auspices of Greek officers. They are then they sent to
Turkey for terrorist activities.

It was known that until the 1990s, Lavrion was one of PKK’s most
important training bases along with Bekaa Valley. Those activities
in Lavrion, which is still known to function, are continuing right
in front of the secret services of our so-called NATO allies. This
point, and the fact that our allies are trying to take advantage of
the PKK card for their intentions about Turkey, is more obvious when
the origins of the guns captured from the PKK are considered.

It is an acknowledged fact, that Lavrion and the support given to the
PKK is a national policy of Greece and it is backed by every Greek
government and the deputies of PASOK, DIKKI and the YDP.

Following developments and information about the PKK’s active presence
in Greece as a result of Greeks’ and Greeks Cypriot’s vengeance pursuit
for their defeat in 1974 are presented in various media agencies:

· Stelyos Papathemelis, who was a member of the Greek Parliament, was
a PASOK member who nourished and directed ASALA’s and PKK’s activities
against Turkey. In 1978-1979, he joined and represented his party in
the conventions organized by ASALA in various European countries,
and made speeches such as: "Turks are enemies of all of us. They
only understand violence, so their blood has to be shed in order
to bring them to their knees." During his two terms of Public Order
Ministry in the PASOK government, Papathemelis supported terrorism
against Turkey in Greek Cyprus. In October 29, 1994, while Turks
in northern Cyprus were celebrating their "Republic Day Festival",
Public Order Minister of Greece came to the island and participated
in a convention in LefkoÅ~_a (Nicosia). In the convention, he got
together with representatives of the PKK, ASALA and a Greek terrorist
organization functioning in Cyprus under the name of "Committee of
Solidarity with Kurdistan". In the convention, the future terrorist
activities in Turkey for the year 1995 were discussed and decisions
were made.

· Another person who was helping the terrorist activities of the PKK
was a PASOK politician Panayotis Sguridis, who was the vice president
for the president of the Greek Parliament, Apostolos Kaklamanis. He was
a fan of terrorist chief Abdullah Ocalan, who killed 35,000 innocent
people. Sguridis paid countless visits to PKK camps in Syria and
Lebanon and met Ocalan there.

· Among the other Greek politicians who supported the PKK terrorist
organization, were PASOK deputy Dimitrios Vunatsos, Greek Parliament
President Apostos Kaklamanis, ex-Minister of Education Dimitrios
Arsenis, ex-Minister of National Defense Tsohazopoulos, ex-Minister of
Foreign Affairs Pangalos. During the first term of the Prime Minister
Andreas Papandreou, PKK’s activities in Greece, which used to be an
important educational and logistical base for the PKK, were moved to
Greek Cyprus as a result of pressure from Turkey and reactions from the
world. As Greek Cyprus started to reach some of it goals in accessing
the EU in the mid-1990s, it got encouraged and intensified the support
for the PKK that it once gave to ASALA as a so-called state policy,
in accord with hostility toward Turkey and the goal of capturing the
whole island to itself.

In this context:

· In 1990, offices of Kurdistan National Liberation Front (ERNK)
and Kurdish Democratic People’s Unions (YDK) opened in LefkoÅ~_a.

· Following this, Kurdistan Culture Association Office was opened
in Limassol.

· Trodos, Mashera and Stavrovoru terrorist camps were built in order
to train PKK members and send them to Turkey to commit terrorist
activities. The camp in Trodos was built on the land that belongs to
the Greek National Church.

· Moreover, two offices in Limasol and LefkoÅ~_a that belonged
directly to PKK were opened with special help from Cypriot Greeks.

· It was confirmed that in the March of 1996 Greek Orthodox Church
invited the head terrorist Ocalan to city of Baf (Paphos) and gave
him a significant amount of money.

· It was known that in 1990s, the PKK was smuggling arms over Lazkiye
Harbor while trafficking drugs to Europe through Greek Cyprus.

· It is was also known that Greek Cyprus was a first stop for the
guns that the PKK acquired from several countries. The allegations
about transportation of the arms that the PKK purchased from Russia,
which included $7 million-worth of guns and 8 SAM-7 ground-to-air
anti-aircraft missiles, by a Greek Cypriot flagged ship called Nissos
to Greek Cyprus and then to the PKK over Syria exemplify this point.

· There are more allegations that Greek Cyprus carried out those
activities more secretly after its accession to the EU.

· It is known that in the early 2000s, about 500 PKK militants took
shelter in Greek Cyprus and took payment from the Greek Cypriots
under the name of social assistance.

· It is known that institutes and terrorists of PKK extensions
received support from European and Greek Non-governmental Organizations
(NGO) and in addition to this, the Greek Administration supported
those extensions in terms of material and political assistance.

· In line with Greek Cypriot National Policy, the Democratic Center
Union Party’s (EDEK) and Greek Communist Party’s (AKEL) common policy
was that "Turkey is the common enemy of the Kurds and Greeks" and
therefore the PKK should be supported in every way.

This particular point shapes the Greek-PKK relations.

· It is known that wounded PKK terrorists in our southern borders
were most of the times treated in Greek Cypriot hospitals.

· The most solid example of Greek’s hostile policies against Turkey
is the fact that when terrorist Abdullah Ocalan was apprehended in
Kenya on February 16, 1999, he had a Greek Cypriot passport arranged in
the name of Lazaros Mavros, who was a columnist in the Fileleftheros
Newspaper, published in Greek Cyprus, and the head terrorist is taken
from the Embassy of Greece in Kenya.

· It is rather meaningful that right after this incident,
Representatives House of the Greek Cyprus has taken decisions
that condemned the arrest of the head terrorist and declared the
continuation for the support given to the PKK.

It is obvious that enemies of Turks, who clearly have common goals
about Turkey, are going to take advantage of Greek Cyprus, which is in
a strategically important location because of its proximity to Turkey,
Syria and the Middle East. This is important because as the PKK cannot
continue its activities in Syria and Lebanon freely it will use the
island as a base thanks to special efforts and support from the Greeks.

Escalation of PKK Activities in KKTC

It is especially attention attracting that since the gates opened in
Cyprus on April 23, 2003, Greek agents and PKK elements, who can freely
enter northern Cyprus, increased their terrorism serving activities in
northern Cyprus. It is also striking that PKK-related associations and
institutes in Greek Cyprus have increased their propaganda aimed for
Kurdish-descendant students and citizens in northern Cyprus and have
started to provide those students with financial assistance. The PKK
militants among the Kurdish construction workers on both sides of the
island have intensified PKK propaganda and recruitment efforts under
the Greek Administration’s watch and support, facilitated by the free
passage through the borders and the present indifferent policies of
the northern Cyprus administration. Another important point is that
all anti-Turkish activities in the world are controlled and directed
from Greece, and PKK militants take their orders from their so-called
commanders in Greece.

Efforts for the withdrawal of the Turkish troops from the island

The common and most important aim of PKK militants and some similar
groups in northern Cyprus and Greek Cypriots as well is the ‘withdrawal
of the Turkish troops from the island’.

Our kinsmen in Cyprus are intensely propagated, and they are tried
to be deceived about this issue by false and very unfair news.

However, there is a historical fact that has to be remembered: the
massacres Greek Cypriots committed against our kinsmen in 1963 and
in 1967, which were performed according to the Akritas Plan. However,
the Turkish Armed Forces saved our kinsmen from almost being totally
massacred in 1974 after a Greek coup, which was a part of a second
plan called Ifestos. Therefore, it is necessary to mention that a
possible withdrawal of the Turkish troops from the island will not
only facilitate the goals of imperialist Western nations, but it will
also jeopardize the future of our kinsmen and will help to strengthen
the presence of PKK terrorists on the island.

* Ali Kulebi is acting president of the Ankara-based TUSAM
(National Security Strategies Research Center). He can be reached
at akulebi@tusam.net

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