Turkey's powerful army has said that the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) is still a threat for the country despite its peace bids and warned against politicization efforts by the guerrillas.
"There are some 4,500 terrorists left and they continue to constitute a significant threat even though most of them are abroad," a general staff report said, according to the Anatolia news agency.
"The Turkish armed forces are determined to continue the struggle until this threat is eradicated, that is, until the last terrorist is rendered ineffective," the report added.
In September 1999, the rebels said they were halting the armed campaign and retreating from Turkey to seek a peaceful resolution to the Kurdish conflict upon peace calls from condemned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan.
Ankara says that rebels who left Turkey are now based in northern Iraq, an area outside Baghdad's control since the 1991 Gulf War that the PKK has used as a springboard for attacks on Turkey.
The army said the PKK still entertained separatist ambitions and kept its troops as a "trump card" against Turkey despite its peace bid, which was a cover-up for its goal to convert into a political organization.
"In its (politicization) efforts, the PKK uses slogans highlighting ethnic identity, education and broadcasts in Kurdish and a need to strengthen local administrations," the report said.
Turkey's accession process to the European Union had encouraged the rebels to seek a new platform for themselves within the country's drive for democratic reforms, it added.
The public had serious doubts that some EU countries provided direct or indirect support to the PKK, the report said without elaborating.
The army, however, acknowledged that the PKK was less active this year when compared to the past.
The number of PKK attacks dropped to 45 from 3,298 in 1994. They claimed the lives of 15 civilians and 29 troops, while 1,479 civilians and 1,145 troops were killed in 1994.
Around 36,500 people have been killed since the PKK took up arms in 1984 for self-rule in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast -- ANKARA (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
