Kurds in Sydney support PKK leader

Kurds in Sydney support PKK leader

By Rupen Savoulian

SYDNEY — Activists with the Australian Kurdish Association here reject Turkish government charges that Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), is a "terrorist".

"Far from being terrorist, the PKK under Ocalan's leadership has defended Kurds from the state terrorism of the Turkish government", said an activist with the Kurdish Association.

In September, the PKK declared a cease-fire, inviting the Turkish government to negotiate. In response, the Ankara regime tried to assassinate Ocalan, who was based in Syria.

Turkey's military rulers talked of attacking Syria, demanding that it hand over Ocalan and cease harbouring PKK guerillas.

In mid-October, the Turkish and Syrian foreign ministers signed an agreement in which Syria undertook to prevent cross-border attacks by the PKK, shut down PKK camps on its territory and refuse asylum for Ocalan.

The Turkish foreign minister, Ismail Cem, also said that Syria would officially designate the PKK a "terrorist" organisation.

Kurdish activists in Sydney are planning to join Kurdish hunger-strikers in front of the federal parliament in Canberra. They began an indefinite hunger strike on November 18, and urge Australian activists to support them. The hunger strikers are demanding an immediate end to all economic cooperation between the Australian and Turkish governments.

From GLW issue 342