Leonard Doyle examines the role of the Greek intelligence service.
Ever since the Greek terrorists known as the Revolutionary Movement 17 November gunned down the CIA station chief in Athens a few days before Christmas 1975, the shadowy group has managed to strike with impunity at its chosen targets. Western intelligence agencies have long suspected 17 November of acting at the behest of prominent left-wing Greek politicians. The little that is known about the organisation is that it is nationalistic, left wing and likes to issue rambling communiques that quote Balzac. But in Washington and London it has long been suspected of being the cats paw of a radicalised Greek intelligence service, the GYP. Washington made its frustration's with Athens clear in its most recent world terrorism survey, where it stated: "The Greek government continues to make no headway in its pursuit of Greek terrorists, in particular, the Revolutionary Organisation 17 November that is responsible for numerous attacks against US interests, including the murder of four US officials." Until today's Observer revelations, a direct link between 17 November and the Greek secret service had not been established. The Kurdish bomber Seydo Hazar has told the Observer that:
The Observer's evidence directly implicates the 17 November in sheltering the PKK by providing housing and training facilities for its guerrillas.The PKK bomber has told the Observer that Kurdish agents could not train and pass through Greece without direct government backing. "The Greek intelligence service were organising the chemicals, the high explosives, for example they were giving people in the (Kurdish) "home office" Greek passports," Hazar said.
The name 17 November comes from the day in 1973 when the Greek Colonels sent tanks and soldiers to smash a student uprising at Athens Polytechnic University, killing 34 young people. It was Europe's Tiananmen Square and out of it grew a terrorist organisation. Highly nationalistic, the group is anti-Greek establishment, anti-US, anti-Turkiye, anti-Nato; it is committed to removing US bases and the Turkish military presence from Cyprus, and to severing Greece's ties to Nato and the European Union. 17 November's operations are always planned and carried of with military precision. First there is the "hit", carried out with the same small collection of Colt. 45 and Smith and Wesson revolvers. The Colt. 45 that dispatched the CIA man, Robert Welch, in 1975 was used again last June to murder Cosfi Peraticos, scion of a Greek shipping family, which bought the privatised Elefsis Shipyards in 1992. British diplomats, businessmen and interests have also been singled out by 17 November; most recently the HMS Ark Royal which was targeted with rockets when it docked in Pireaus in 1994 with a crew of 1,000. Heavy rain prevented the rockets detonating, but there were other successful rocket attacks that day against American and German interests.
The 17 November communiques, with a five-pointed star and the name "17N", typically come from the same typewriter that issued the movement's first proclamation in 1975 shortly before Welch's execution. But again, the Greek authorities have never come up with any leads.
This summer, the US government renewed the reward for the capture and conviction of 17 November terrorists (it is now worth $2 million), implicated in the deaths of four Americans, injuries to 28 other Americans and a rocket attack on the US embassy compound in February 1996. What distinguishes the 17 November from other terrorist organisations is that in 22 years not a single member of the group has been arrested. Indeed, the identity of no member of 17 November is said to be known to Greek, American or European police and intelligence agencies. It is a claim no other terrorist group can make.
1.INTRODUCTION
Greece, with its complex and problematic relationship with Turkiye, has traditionally adopted a supportive attitude towards elements hostile to Turkiye, inspired by the motto "my enemy's enemy is my friend". In view of its long-standing policy to tolerate the activities of various terrorist groups on its territory, Greece has readily extended its hostility towards Turkiye into this domain. Greece's past record in its fight against terrorism is most revealing. The findings of consecutive annual reports on terrorism by the US State Department have not only categorically described Greece "to be a venue for a large number of international terrorist attacks", but also have underlined the failure of the Greek governments in taking appropriate measures in combating terrorism and the toleration shown to terrorist groups active against Turkish interests. Taking into consideration Greece's disposition to harm the interests of Turkiye, it was not a coincidence to witness the escalation of terrorist attacks against Turkish targets including the assassination of a large group of Turkish diplomats and other government officials abroad by the infamous Armenian terrorist organisation ASALA during the years following the Turkish intervention in Cyprus in 1974, in the wake of the Greek coup d'état designed to annex the island. Various interviews with members of the ASALA who took part in the heinous murders of Turkish diplomats serve as an eye-opener.
Greece provides facilities on its soil to the PKK, a notorious terrorist organisation, in the form of providing shelter, training and logistics for its activities aiming at the dismemberment of Turkiye. Greece's support to the PKK dates back to the late 1980s. Each time Turkiye voiced its resentment and concern for the support given by Greece to the PKK, the Greek governments while denying the charges have insisted on the need for Turkiye to prove its claims with concrete evidence. Yet it is not easy at all for Turkiye to provide Greece with such evidence since Turkiye does not, in contrast to the Greek practice, conduct intelligence operations on another NATO country's territory. Nevertheless, front organisations of the PKK have been given permission to establish themselves and function in major cities of Greece. Furthermore, abundant number of testimonies by the captured PKK terrorists contain detailed accounts of the training that they have been given in various camps in Greece and the logistical support that they have been provided with. These constitute evidence, which cannot be ignored. Greek governments have in the past made unconvincing statements to condemn terrorism in a somewhat ambiguous fashion. Besides, they have been careful not to condemn the PKK by any explicit reference. After the arrival in Rome of Abdullah Ocalan, the ringleader of the PKK, Greece came up in front to voice its sympathy for the "Kurdish cause" and started to campaign for the convening of an international conference to discuss the so-called "Kurdish question", which it claimed to be a matter of great interest for Europe, while underlining the systematic support of Greece to the rights of the Kurds to their national self-determination. Although the official statements insist that Greece does not allow the PKK to operate on its soil, the undeniable facts prove the contrary. The latest example to a series of incidents in that direction has been the recent visit to Athens of Kani Yilmaz (also known as Faysal Dunlayici), a member of the PKK leadership and its representative for Europe. During this visit, in an interview to the Greek press, Yilmaz stated that he and the PKK support violence, and that violence will be extended to the major cities of Turkiye such as Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir. Greece has indicated publicly and repeatedly in the past that it does not condone violence, and that it does not allow any activity on its soil aimed at the use of force against third countries. It remains as a legitimate question as to how this official line of Greece is compatible with the fact that a PKK representative for whom the Greek government has been duly notified by an Interpol arrest warrant could have the freedom to travel to Greece and to make statements inciting violence against Turkiye.
Greek involvement in terrorist activities is not restricted to the provision of a propitious environment for the activities of the PKK only. Turkish diplomats in Greece were the targets of numerous attacks carried out by a terrorist organisation, "17 November", which resulted in loss of life. Consecutive Greek governments have not traced this organisation for more than two decades. Yet there have been repeated speculations in the Greek press with respect to the structure, composition and objectives of this organisation. The latest fatal incident came just after a list of addresses and car license plate numbers of the Turkish diplomats serving in Greece, which had been communicated to the Greek security authorities, was published in the Greek press.
There are a number of international instruments to which Greece is a party and is under the obligation to combat and cooperate effectively against terrorism. Greece is also duty bound according to the agreements that it has signed not to permit terrorist organisations and their affiliates to operate on its territory. Given its record Greece is in blatant violation of these commitments.
Against this backdrop, it is not surprising to see the name of Greece being mentioned in connection with terrorism. Yet, it is known how serious a threat terrorism constitutes for the contemporary world. Increasingly violent acts of terrorist organisations and the ever growing links between terrorism and organised crime such as drug trafficking, money laundering, extortion and smuggling of people and weapons point clearly to the need for concerted action in combating and suppressing terrorism. In spite of the abundance of statements, resolutions, conventions and other documents regarding co-operation against terrorism adopted at various international fora, including the United Nations, Council of Europe, NATO and the OSCE, a number of countries, including Greece, persistently ignore their international commitments in combating terrorism and do not refrain from lending moral and material support to various terrorist organisations.
The pursuit of policy of hostility to Turkiye has long been a misconceived cornerstone of Greek foreign policy. In the hope of taking advantage of any instability that might be instigated in Turkiye, in flagrant disregard of its obligations as a NATO member and under international conventions, Greece has rendered encouragement and support to the terrorist organisation PKK. In return, the notorious head of the PKK, Abdullah Ocalan, does not miss any opportunity to express openly his gratitude for the continuous sustenance its organisation receives from Greece. In an interview published on 13 September 1998 in the Greek Cypriot daily Simerini, Ocalan took the occasion "to pass his thanks to the Greek and (Greek) Cypriot people for their devoted support" and noted that "only a joint combat would bring about victory."
MEGA-TV, a Greek private TV station, broadcast an interview with Ocalan on 15 September 1998, whereby the head of the PKK proposed a joint military doctrine among the Middle Eastern countries, including Greece, against Turkiye, similar to the one between Greece and the Greek Cypriot Administration in South Cyprus. Ocalan also promised victory to Greece in a possible Turco-Greek war, which he volunteered to command and claimed that if the (Greek) Cypriots cooperated with the Kurdish militants, the war would last for years.
These outrageous flirtations of the terrorist gang leader with Greece and the Greek Cypriots preceded his escape from his long time hideout in Syria in October 1998 in search of a new safe haven. It is revealing to note that Athens was Ocalan's first preferred destination where he went and sought political asylum. Providing sanctuary to such a terrorist would have entailed a high price to pay for Greece by totally exposing its policies in support of PKK terrorism. Therefore, Ocalan's request was not granted, but ample support continued to flow to him from Greece, notably from the ruling Pan-Hellenic Socialist Party (PASOK), during the following episodes of Ocalan's flight first to the Russian Federation through Athens, then to Italy and back to the Russian Federation again.
The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the Greek support to the PKK, which is a well established, but so far not a widely known fact. This strange phenomenon - support given by a NATO member to a separatist Marxist-Leninist terrorist organisation against another NATO member - deserves to be seriously studied because of the paradoxes it creates and the questions it poses, in the first instance for Greece itself as an EU and NATO member. In the following sections, the evolution of Greece's PKK-inspired policy toward Turkiye is examined. While it merits being the subject of a particular study, there are unavoidable references in this paper to the Greek Cypriot Administration in South Cyprus because of Greek Cypriot involvement and support for terrorism along similar lines with Greece.
2. THE ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE OF THE PKK IN GREECE
The PKK carries out its activities in Greece through two ERNK (Kurdish acronym of the PKK's propaganda wing, "National Liberation Front of Kurdistan") offices, two "Kurdistan Committees", one "Kurdistan Cultural Centre" and a "Kurdish Red Crescent Office", which are all subsidiaries of this terrorist organisation. Through these so-called offices, committees and centres the PKK has established in Greece a network which serves its logistical and operational needs as well as its propaganda in its terrorist campaign against Turkiye.
Due to its geographical position, Greece serves as a bridge in the transit of PKK militants between Western Europe and the Middle East. In this regard Greece plays for the PKK a role comparable to that of Syria and territories under Syrian control where the head of the PKK and PKK militants have for years benefited from the sanctuary and facilities provided to them. Since the agreement reached between Turkiye and Syria on 20 October 1998 in Adana, Turkiye, whereby Syria designated the PKK as a terrorist organisation and undertook to eradicate PKK presence and activities on its territory, Greece stands alone among the neighbours of Turkiye where the PKK has an officially sanctioned free hand.
Greece is a country where the PKK militants are sheltered and given terrorist training in safe-houses, in camps disguised as "Refugee Treatment Centres" or "farmhouses" on a temporary basis for periods of 2-3 months. This is a very serious violation of international rules and norms, involving the use of Greek territory by a terrorist organisation to prepare acts of terror against its neighbour.
Ocalan is on record to have said that he and the leadership of the PKK had been invited to relocate in Greece by the Papandreu Government. He has added that geographically Greece would not be convenient for conducting PKK activities in Turkiye, but that efforts would be underway to establish PKK training camps in Greece and particularly in South Cyprus by August 1994. This invitation must have left an unforgettable mark in Ocarina's mind as it was Greece where he sought sanctuary and political asylum when he was forced to leave Syria in October 1998 and again when he was desperately seeking a safe haven for himself in January 1999 before being squeezed out of Rome.
On 5 April 1994, the PKK was allowed to open a representative office of its own in Athens, called "the ERNK representation in Athens and the Balkans." The PKK banner was hoisted in front of this ERNK office. A number of well-known Greek politicians attended the office's opening ceremony, including Panayiotis Sgouridis, Deputy Speaker of the Greek Parliament, and four other members of parliament -- Dimitrios Vounatsos, Michaelis Galeneanos, Yiannis Spathopoulos and Maria Mahera Haralambidis. A senior member of PASOK's Central Committee was also present in the ceremony.
Greek officials have persistently attempted to depict the ERNK, the facade behind which the PKK criminal network operates in Europe, as a "Kurdish political organisation" with a view to concealing their support to the terrorist organisation. In a 1988 document entitled "The Mass Character of Our Party and Front", the PKK describes the duties of the ERNK under ten headings. According to this illuminating document, among other duties of the ERNK, special emphasis is placed upon issues such as organising mass activities (raids, occupations, demonstrations), recruiting militants to turn them into "fighters", providing combat training to these terrorists, maintaining contacts with other armed groups, gathering intelligence and creating financial resources for the terrorist organisation through extortion, drug trafficking and human smuggling. In PKK's own words, its militants are "fighting under the flag of the ERNK and armed with the weapons of the ARGK (the armed wing of the PKK).
Another ERNK office under the name of the so-called "Kurdistan Solidarity Committee" has also been operating in Thessalonica (Egnatia Street No.75) since 14 November 1994. This ERNK office has been active in particular in organising PKK's propaganda campaigns.
These ERNK offices in Greece see no harm in even openly selling the propaganda documents of the terror organisation and issuing receipts printed under the name of ERNK, given in return for the so-called "donations" that are in fact forcibly collected. Some have been mailed also to the Turkish Embassy in Athens.
3. PKK'S ACTIVITIES IN GREECE
The head of the PKK, Abdullah Ocalan, said in an interview published by the Greek daily "Eksusia" on 23 December 1998 the following: "...Greece has played a great part in my decision to go to Europe. Let me put it clearer: If there had not been my Greek friends, I would never have been able to come to Europe...If we did not have this friendship with Greece, I could not come to Europe...My friendship with Greece encouraged me in making my decision to come to Europe... We opened a gateway in Europe (meaning his arrival in Italy). If we succeed going through this gateway, a political solution to the problem would then be found. This would be a political success for Greece ... as well."
He also confirmed press reports that three members of the Greek parliament, including Deputy Speaker Sgouridis, visited him in Rome. In the same interview, Ocalan implied Greece's continuing support to the PKK with the following words: "Greece has always supported us morally... By allowing us to sell the magazines, which we publish in Greece, it is also lending support to us economically..."
The PKK was allowed to engage in extensive propaganda activities against Turkish tourism in Greece in the summer of 1993. PKK posters asking tourists not to travel to Turkiye were displayed all around Athens. A PKK militant, calling himself the spokesman of the ERNK, held a press conference in the island of Samos and openly called for a boycott on travel to Turkiye. Such campaigns of the PKK against Turkish tourism continue unabated, and are bolstered by certain Greek quarters that hope to benefit from the possible negative consequences PKK's anti-Turkish propaganda might inflict on Turkiye's image abroad.
Brian Murphy of the Associated Press has reported, in an article entitled "Kurdish Rivalries Boil Over at Key Stop in Refugee Trail," published in the Greek daily Athens News on 11 August 1998, that the Greek government acquiesced in the PKK militants using the Iraqi Kurdish camps in the country as centres for fund-raising and propaganda activities. Based on interviews conducted in the "Kurdish" refugee camp in Patras, Greece, Mr. Murphy has pointed to the Iraqi Kurds' claim that they have been forced to pay "PKK taxes" and "protection money" while they waited for political asylum or transfer to another European country. Mr. Murphy has indicated that PKK members who demand commissions from the profits of the human smugglers and beat or murder those who refuse to cooperate reportedly pressured many Kurds in the camp into submission.
Donations of various Greek circles and sale of propaganda publications are also among the sources of income of the PKK.
4. GREEK AUTHORITIES' SUPPORT TO THE PKK
Three months later, Greek authorities permitted the PKK to open a "Kurdish Red Crescent Society" in Athens, whose stated objective was to "offer medical treatment to Kurdish guerrillas wounded in the continuing war in Turkish Kurdistan and to help the spouses and children of Kurdish guerrillas held in Turkish prisons."
On 8 July 1993, the Greek government permitted the ERNK to hold a provocating press conference on Cos, one of the Dodecanese Islands only a few miles from the Turkish coast. Several observations on Greece's refugee policy would also be in order. Greece has its own arbitrary criteria for treating illegal migrants asking for asylum. In this context, it accepts on its territory those terrorists, fugitives and other people especially of Kurdish origin coming from Turkiye, whom it believes, can be manipulated for its propaganda activities against Turkiye. At the same time, it deports immigrants and asylum seekers coming from countries like Iraq, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. This inhumane Greek policy is a blatant violation of the fundamental principles of international law, which regulate the rules of a just treatment for asylum seekers, but, at the same time, categorically deny to terrorists the right of asylum. This is true particularly for the provisions of "The United Nations General Assembly Resolutions on Measures to Eliminate International Terrorism" and the "European Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism." Greek Government's support for the PKK reached its peak point on 30 April 1998, when the PKK was allowed to open an "official" representation in the centre of Athens, called "PKK Representation of Balkans." The opening ceremony was "honoured" by the participation of MPs from both the government and the main opposition parties. This was the first time that the PKK had opened an official representation under its own name in any country. The Greek authorities deny that such a representation bureau was opened, but the evidence clearly indicates otherwise.
During the latest crisis with Italy over Ocalan that was triggered by the arrest of PKK's head in Rome on 12 November 1998, government officials, almost all political parties and the media in Greece called on the Italian authorities to reject Turkiye's demand for the extradition of Ocalan and to grant him political asylum. The Government Spokesman Mr. Dimitris Reppas stated on 14 November 1998 that "Greece has systematically supported the right of the Kurds to their self-determination", making null and void all the previous Greek statements on respect for Turkiye's territorial integrity. George Papandreou, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, asserted in Rome on 17 November 1998 that "the crisis over Ocalan is not a problem of Italy but that of Europe" and called on the European Union to act in solidarity and cooperation with Italy on this issue, while Stelios Papathemelis, PASOK Deputy and former Minister of Public Order, hoped that "the Italian government will not yield to the unbelievable demands of certain countries, which, motivated by intrinsic Turkophile sentiments, want to try a fighter as though he was a terrorist or a murderer." Furthermore, the Minister of Defence Akis Tsohatzopoulos expressed his hope that Ocalan's request for political asylum from the Italian authorities will pave the way to "the political settlement of the Kurdish question."
The words of Greek Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, George Nicolaidis, in his interview published by the Riyadh Daily on 8 December 1998, leave no room for doubt with regard to Greek official attitude to the PKK terrorism: "...PKK is a political organisation and also a military one. It fights for the liberation of Kurdistan. So, it is a liberation movement. It has a political office in Greece, which, you know, is a free country..." With these words, Ambassador Nicolaidis also acknowledged unequivocally the presence of the terrorist organisation PKK in Greece. Among Ocalan's lawyers, there are also two Greeks, Thrasinoulos Kontaksis and Yeorgios Adamapoulos. According to these lawyers who expressed their views in the Greek daily Eleftherotipia on 3 January 1999, "it is the Turkish State, but not Ocalan, that is to be labelled as terrorist". One of them, Kontaksis, in the same interview that upon Ocalan's arrival in Rome, "PKK's Balkans Representation" in Athens contacted him to ask "his legal advice with regard to the presence of President (Ocalan) in Italy." These words of Kontaksis revealed unambiguously once again the fact that contrary to the persistent denials of Greek authorities; the PKK has a presence in Athens under the name of "representation" which operates without any restriction.
At an annual Foreign Press Association luncheon held on 26 November 1998, Prime Minister Simitis claimed that the PKK is an "organisation fighting for the rights of the Kurdish minority and using various means to reach this end." Mr. Simitis also said, "Greece is in favour of political asylum being given to Ocalan. Italy has handled the matter properly". These words can be considered as nothing but an unambiguous attempt of the Greek Government to justify PKK terrorism which has resulted, to date, in the death of thousands of people, including many civilians mostly of Kurdish origin in Turkiye.
On 22 December 1998, Greek Foreign Minister Pangalos participated in a demonstration at Lavrion camp, one of the main terrorist training facilities of the PKK in Greece. On this occasion Mr. Pangalos made a speech at the camp, full of baseless accusations against Turkiye, in front of PKK demonstrators carrying photographs of Ocalan and posters against Turkiye's national unity and territorial integrity. Mr. Pangalos did not refrain from instigating the crowd against Turkiye with the following words: "The great powers, which had recently decided on pressing the trigger (British backed American air strikes against Iraq), do not show the same sensitivity on the right to a free life of Kurdish people on its own territory..."
In February 1993, a second group of Greek Parliamentarians attended the self-styled Kurdish diaspora assembly in Brussels. They reportedly "exchanged views with the Kurds on the subject of genocide committed by the Turkish Army."
On 20-21 September 1994, Greek parliamentarians held another meeting with PKK representatives. Three PASOK deputies, Costas Badouvas, Dimitrios Vounatsos and Hristos Kipouros, travelled to the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, to attend a pro-PKK meeting. With them travelled a retired admiral and well-known PKK supporter, Naksakis and Dimitrios Martos, the representative of the "League for People's Rights and Liberation." Once again the Greek deputies publicly affirmed their solidarity with the PKK.
In November 1994, Kani Yilmaz, "PKK's representative in Europe", was arrested in London. On 17 November 1994, 22 Greek deputies signed a joint letter circulated in other European capitals, denouncing the arrest.
Early in 1995, the PKK moved to set up a self-styled "Kurdistan Parliament in Exile." On 12 April 1995, the PKK organised a meeting in The Hague to launch the so-called "parliament" with the participation of seven members of the Greek Parliament - Dimitrios Vounatsos (PASOK), Yiannis Statopoulos (PASOK), Costas Badouvas (PASOK), Leonardos Harziandrou (PASOK), Nicholas Conomipoulos, Payiotis Camenos (PASOK) and Petros Taulis.
On 26-29 June 1995, Yasar Kaya, the titular head of PKK's self-styled "Kurdistan Parliament in Exile", visited Athens with two of his supporters. They were given an official welcome and received by Panayiotis Sgouridis, the Deputy Speaker of the Greek Parliament. Some Greek parliamentarians once again met with the PKK members in Syria on 12 June 1995. This time the delegation consisted of the representatives of all the mainstream Greek political parties and was headed by the Deputy Speaker of the Greek Parliament. The delegation expressed its support for the "PKK's struggle" and awarded Ocalan a plaque. Photographs of the meeting, published in the Turkish daily newspaper Milliyet in July 1995, depicted one of the Greek deputies presenting Ocalan with a blue flag symbolising Greece's territorial aspirations against Macedonia. A second picture showed Ocalan with one of the other Greek deputies in front of a map portraying alternative routes for the proposed oil pipeline from the Caspian basin to the Turkish Mediterranean coast.
Mihalis Haralambidis, a member of the Central Executive Board of PASOK, said the following in a speech he delivered during a conference held for "National Day" on 25 March 1997: "In order to solve the Kurdish issue, it is necessary for Greece to spend efforts to hold a 'European Kurdish conference' and for the Greek Government to invite Ocalan officially."
With the initiative of Mr. Haralambidis, 110 (afterwards this number increased to 178) deputies of the Greek Parliament signed a joint letter on 11 April 1997, addressed to the President of the Parliament, requesting that Abdullah Ocalan be invited to visit Greece. The letter contained glowing praise to Ocalan. In response, Ocalan sent a letter to Mr. Haralambidis, thanking him for the invitation.
In this context, the participation of a Greek parliamentary delegation headed by Deputy Speaker Sgouridis, along with his several other colleagues in the third anniversary meeting of the so-called, self-proclaimed "Kurdish Parliament in Exile," the propaganda wing of the PKK, constitutes another example of the support given by the Greek Parliament to the PKK. In that meeting, held on 12 April 1998, Mr. Sgouridis and other members of Greek Parliament made speeches reaffirming their support to and solidarity with the PKK. Costas Badouvas, Greek MP and former minister, made a speech during a PKK-led demonstration in Rotterdam on 12 September 1998 and held that "Kurdish people's struggle", which he claimed was gaining momentum, would not be defeated. Mr. Badouvas also wanted Turkiye to respond to PKK's so-called cease-fire calls.
On 12 November 1998, Ocalan was arrested in Rome on his arrival from Moscow. PASOK MP Badouvas went to Rome on 13 November 1998 to present Ocalan with a letter, which had been signed by 109 Greek MPs, inviting the terrorist to Greece. In the letter, which was also signed by three deputy speakers of the Greek Parliament, Ocalan was referred to as "the legitimate representative of the most repressed people of the world standing between liberation and genocide."
Furthermore, some PASOK MPs, academics, artists and journalists established "the Committee of Solidarity with the Kurdish Leader", aimed at supporting Ocalan's application for political asylum in Italy.
In addition to these initiatives, the Governor of Korfu, Andreas Pangratis, sent a letter to the Greek Government on 30 May 1997, in which he stated that he supported the initiatives of the Greek deputies to invite the head of the PKK to Greece, and that in case Ocalan came to Korfu, they would be pleased to host him and to organise in Korfu a Europe-wide conference on Kurds. The Greek authorities also permitted the PKK to hold a meeting in Thessalonica from 19 to 21 September 1997, organised by the Kurdistan Solidarity Committee and called "an international festival of peace and solidarity with the Kurdish people," at which the PKK engaged in propaganda for its terrorist activities. Greek officials, including the Governor of Thessalonica and representatives of political parties, participated in the so-called festival.
According to the Greek press news of 15 September 1998, Dilan (Semsin Kiliç), known as "PKK/ERNK's representative in the Balkans", participated in the panel organised by the Municipality of Veria, Greece, and the "Kurdish Solidarity Committee" and put out anti-Turkish statements such as the following: "Our war has been serving the interests of the peoples of the region. Escalating this war will make a positive contribution to the peaceful coexistence of the Kurds, the Turks, the Armenians, the Hellenes of Pontus and other peoples..." At the meeting Mihalis Haralambidis, member of PASOK's Central Committee, claimed that the rapprochement between the Greeks and the Kurds could be achieved only after the liberation of "the peoples of Asia Minor".
On 7 December 1998, the Sikies Municipality of Thessalonica issued a communiqué, forwarded to the Greek Government and Parliament, in which it called for granting Ocalan the right of political asylum and asked the Greek Government to take all necessary initiatives to bring to the international platform the issue of recognition of Kurdish people's right of having their own territory.
5. INTERNATIONAL PUBLICATIONS AND PRESS REPORTS
In view of all this, it comes as no surprise to read in a report on the "Patterns of Global Terrorism," published annually by the U.S. State Department that Greece is "a venue for a large number of international terrorist attacks." The report comments that "the Greek authorities made little progress against terrorist groups in 1994, in part due to ambivalent Government attitudes toward counter-terrorism. Greece still lacks a new anti-terrorism law to replace legislation repealed in 1993 by the in-coming PASOK Government." The 1996 issue of the report, published in April 1997, continues to include the PKK among the main international terrorist organisations and goes on to say that " ...Greek Government also continues to tolerate the official presence in Athens of two Turkish terrorist groups- the National Liberation Front of Kurdistan, which is the political wing of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), and the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C) -- formerly Devrimci Sol -- which is responsible for the murder of two US Government contractors in Turkiye..." It should be emphasised in this regard that the PKK and the DHKP/C are among the four top terrorist groups that conducted 51 percent of all international terrorist attacks in 1996 and they also accounted for 60 percent of international terrorist activities in 1995. The PKK and the DHKP/C together were responsible for almost 25 percent of all the international terrorist activities in the same year. As seen from these figures, the activities of the PKK terrorist organisation extend far beyond Turkiye.
The Observer in its 28 September 1997 issue, published an interview entitled "Poison Bomber Offers Secrets for Sanctuary" wherein a member of the PKK, named Seydo Hazar, revealed from his hideout in Greece the secret plans of the terrorist organisation and its connections with the Greek Government and other terrorist groups. The following are some of the highlights of the information revealed by PKK member Seydo Hazar whose identity and terrorist connections have been verified by a number of security sources in Europe:
The Observer's interview is only a confirmation of what is already known. Not surprisingly, the Greek government denied The Observer reporting claiming that: "everything mentioned in the report is false, unsubstantiated and made up." Nevertheless, it was learnt that, following the revelations of Seydo Hazar, the Greek Intelligence Service began to apply pressure on PKK members in order to make them observe strict secrecy. The campsite at the Psahna town in Evia Island was evacuated on 13 November 1997, as were the safe-houses near Athens used by the PKK members, with the help of PASOK MP Badouvas.
There is substantial evidence shared within the Interpol mechanisms underlining the fact that the PKK is actively involved in human trafficking as well as other organised crimes. A striking example of the PKK involvement in human trafficking was given in the "Report" program aired by the German ARD television channel on 19 January 1998 which included statements by a gang member convicted of human trafficking. In his own words, the convict said: "Our organisation in not directly linked with the PKK, but on several occasions we had to pay ransom to the PKK in order to do our job. The PKK itself is also involved in human trafficking. In Greece there is no permission to the others. My organisation can only smuggle people into Greece, but from Greece onwards, it is exclusively a PKK job."
Another international press report on the Greek support to PKK terrorism was published in the 30 March 1998 issue of TIME magazine entitled "A Hellenic Haven: The flight of Kurdish refugees to Greece adds to a cycle of violence and vengeance". The report explains in detail how the vicious terrorist organisation, the PKK, has been given in Greece a free hand in recruiting and training new cadres and in planning its terrorist activities. The text of the TIME article is in Press Review.
6. TESTIMONIES OF PKK MILITANTS EXPOSING THE GREEK INVOLVEMENT IN PKK TERRORISM
Testimonies of PKK militants apprehended in Istanbul and Izmir at the end of 1994 and the beginning of 1995 revealed that the terrorists were trained in a camp near Athens before they were sent to Turkiye to organize violent attacks on tourist installations. PKK militants, Sakine Dönmez, Atilla Kaya and Abdurrahman Yaruk, caught after a bomb attack on Istanbul's famous covered bazaar, Kapaliçarsi, on 2 April 1994, causing several deaths, confessed that they were trained in explosives in Greece. Testimonies of other PKK terrorists apprehended in Turkiye confirmed undeniably the previous revelations. According to these testimonies, PKK members are given "political" and "military training" at two camps within 200 kilometres of Athens -- the Lavrion Refugee Camp and the Lamia-Halkida Camp -- where PKK members have been sheltered and trained to use explosives and firearms.
Dozens of PKK militants arrested in Turkiye have unveiled that former Greek military officers have trained them in explosives and military tactics in camps near Athens. In June 1997, the Greek Cypriot press published photographs of a retired Greek Admiral training PKK terrorists at a camp in northern Iraq. There are also several reports stating that PKK members are serving as agents of the Greek Intelligence Service, acting on its behalf against Turkiye.
The confessions made by PKK militant Fethi Demir, who surrendered to the Turkish security forces on 6 March 1998, and by Semdin Sakik, PKK's "second man", who was captured in northern Iraq in April 1998, have exposed that the Greek support to PKK terrorism goes far beyond what was formerly known. Excerpts from the testimonies of PKK terrorists on the Greek support given to the terrorist organisation are at Appendix 2.
7. CONCLUSION
Terrorism has been universally condemned and, under the relevant international agreements, all countries have committed themselves to combating and cooperating effectively against terrorism. They have undertaken not to permit their territories to be used by terrorist organisations. There is no doubt that Greece is in blatant violation of its commitments.
A study on terrorism and organised crime entitled "Terrorism And Organised Crime: Preparing NATO For Future Security Threats", made by Mr. Larry C.Johnson and Ambassador Morris D.Busby, concluded that "...Less well known but more disturbing is the support that Greece, a member of NATO, has given to the PKK. The Deputy Speaker of the Greek Parliament, accompanied by several colleagues, visited PKK leader Ocalan at his headquarters in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley in June 1995. A similar visit was made in the summer of 1997. In addition, 110 members of the Greek Parliament and the Deputy Speaker called for PKK leader Ocalan to be officially invited to Athens. Dozens of PKK operatives arrested in Turkiye claim former Greek military officers at camps near Athens trained them in explosives and military tactics. In June of 1997, the Greek Cypriot press published photos of a retired Greek Admiral training PKK terrorists at a camp in northern Iraq. There also are several press reports that PKK members are agents of the Greek Intelligence Service, acting on its behalf against Turkiye. In addition, PKK front groups operate openly in Greece and members of the ruling party, PASOK, have met on several occasions with PKK leaders...
Put in less diplomatic terms, the government of Greece either turns a blind eye to the activities of the PKK on its soil or in the worst case actively supports the PKK with training and logistics. According to US Government sources. which spoke on the condition of not being identified, Greece deserved to be included with Iran and Syria as a sponsor of terrorism, but US political considerations have precluded this sanction.
In the past, the issue of Greek support of the PKK appears to have been widely viewed as an extension of the long-standing political dispute between two NATO members. This situation is awkward for NATO and is usually only dealt with in unavoidable circumstances. However, given the PKK's terrorist and criminal activities throughout Europe, it poses a real threat to the security of several NATO members. Indeed. the PKK probably is the major terrorist and organised crime threat to NATO. At a minimum, NATO should call on the member nations to cooperate in reducing or removing this threat through collective action. In addition, NATO should convene a plenary session to review and discuss the threat the PKK represents in Europe. Such a forum would permit close scrutiny of Greece's policy of supporting a terrorist group while focusing NATO members on the meatier issue of taking collective action to confront a new kind of threat."
These are far from being the full story. But all the available information unmistakably sheds light on the extent of the Greek policy of hostility towards Turkiye, a policy that has been stretched to the point of trying to undermine Turkiye's stability by supporting the terrorist activities of the PKK.
EPILOGUE
As this publication shedding light on the background of Greek involvement with PKK terrorism went into print, unfolding events totally exposed the protection and physical sanctuary provided by Greece to Abdullah Ocalan. It was established that despite persistent official Greek denials, Ocalan was in fact brought to Athens at the end of January 1999 under the knowledge of the Greek Government which also arranged the safe passage of this terrorist to Africa and harboured him in the Greek Embassy in Nairobi from 2 to 16 February 1999 while concealing his identity from the Government of Kenya. This shocking behaviour is a unique case of flagrant contravention of international law and rules of international conduct, in particular among members of NATO and the European Union, which deals a serious blow to the standing and credibility of Greece as a law abiding state.
This further episode of Greek involvement in PKK terrorism will be dealt with in greater detail in a separate publication. The readers will find in the final pages on this publication self explanatory material originating from Greece itself and the Government of Kenya in order to bring to light the dark and unacceptable role played by Greece to help the head of a brutal terrorist organisation which has claimed thousands of lives in Turkiye escape justice.
PRESS REVIEW
Our disclosure today that the Kurdish PKK separatist group has ambitions to use poison bombs against tourists and British interests is part of this wider picture. It is extremely disturbing. European governments are committed to fighting terrorism together but, as we reveal, some groups have been able to operate within Greece. Worse, it appears some elements in the Greek secret service have connived in the PKK's operations and are alleged to have offered funding. This is a grave charge, but the evidence of our informant, and Greece's failure to deal with the 17 November terrorist group, requires more than ritual denials.
The story of Seydo Hazar offers evidence that terrorists can produce homemade nerve agents like sarin or biological weapons, which utilise deadly bacteria. The way they go about it of course cannot be kept a secret. It is already available in patent offices and on the Internet. Theory, it seems, has too easily been allowed to become practice.
The new upward ratchet in the terrorist threat to civilians is alarming. But so are the close links, previously only speculation, between German neo-Nazi, the PKK, Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka and the Palestinian Hamas Organisation. Weapons are being traded between groups with murderous results.
National rivalries have no place in the joint fight against terrorists. This lesson has to be learned above all in Greece, where a faction-riven secret service seems to bear some responsibility for exposing citizens to PKK terrorists-its rivalry with Turkiye persuading wilder fringes of its secret services to sponsor the cell on the principle that my enemy's enemy is my friend. Our evidence shows its assurances to the United States that these activities would stop are not seen as credible. The US has threatened sanctions if Greece does not fulfil its responsibilities. Now Greece's European Union and Nato partners must reinforce the message.
For the past four weeks a dark young man in blue shorts and green bandanna has wandered the Greek islands, trading jokes with the German and Scandinavian tourists who throng the Aegean at summer's end. None guessed that Seydo Hazar is a desperate man who fears death at the hands of the terrorists he served as a bomb-maker, who imagines an executioner in every bar and hotel corridor, and wants to trade his secrets for a new life.
He sits on the bed of his simple hotel room on the island of Naxos and talks of a career that has resulted, he says, in the murder of 60 fellow Kurds and of a young woman killed when one of his bombs exploded in the Turkish holiday resort of Bodrum in July. He warns of a ruthless new round of terrorist attacks aimed at tourists, including Britons which may involve chemical weapons.
He chain-smokes and his dark hooded eyes glance restlessly round the room. His paranoia is infectious. He catches my arm and, saying we are both in mortal danger, insists that we toss a coin to decide who goes through the door first.
The patio outside is empty, but he regards the most innocent encounter with suspicion. When South African holidaymakers invite us to join them for a drink, he looks petrified and scurries away. Only when he is reassured that they are tourists does he join us briefly to watch the dusk descend on the island that has given him brief sanctuary but no peace.
In the past 48 hours he has managed to leave Greece and is now believed to be hiding for his own safety somewhere in Western Europe. He contacted the Observer through an Irish intermediary, insisting he wanted to reveal how his former terrorist masters had now switched their targets to civilians, and that a new wave of atrocities was planned to begin as early as next month.
His identity and terrorist connections have been verified by a number of security sources in Europe.
The story of how Hazar, 31, became involved with what is reputed to be one of the deadliest terrorist organisations in the world has elements of the classic Faustian bargain. The master from whom he is fleeing is the Kurdistan Workers Party, the PKK.
Since the early Seventies, this Marxist-Leninist group has sought a separate Kurdish state in southeast Turkiye. Its reputation is that it uses terror without compunction, settles its own internal quarrels with summary violence and controls many of Europe's drug cartels.
He believes he is being hunted by two other deadly enemies. The first is the little known but highly dangerous 17 November left-wing Greek terrorist group, which he says has been involved with the PKK in training Kurds in Greece for missions in Turkiye. In 1975 it murdered the CIA's Athens station chief, Richard Welch, and it has since killed about 20 more people, including three other American officials, two diplomats from Turkiye and 13 Greeks.
The other enemy is the Greek secret service, the GYP (pronounced Kip), which stands to be seriously embarrassed by Hazar's disclosures. It has been waging a secret war against Greece's traditional enemies, the Turks, by helping the Kurds with their bomb making and weapons training.
...Seydo Hazar, 31, says he and his group were protected by the shadowy Greek Marxist Revolutionary Organisation 17 November and funded by elements close to the Greek security services while preparing terrorist outrages in London and on European tourists...
...Western intelligence agencies are taking the allegations seriously...
...Hazar has gone public because he is disgusted by the targeting of civilians by a splinter group of the Marxist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)...
...His claims provide the most complete picture yet of the close collaboration between international terrorist organisations, as well as disturbing evidence that one NATO power may have been harbouring militants from a group waging a war against the government of another NATO member.
...11 Stinger missiles, manufactured under licence in Greece, were sold by his group to the Tamil Tigers and subsequently used to shoot down military transport planes over Sri Lanka...
...He says that the splinter unit of the PKK in Greece has the means to destroy entire population centres, as well as contaminating beaches and fresh produce in pursuit of their deadly aims...
...when he lived in a PKK safe house in the village of Drosia (Greece), he left behind a large cache of explosives, including TNT and Amonal, as well as the precursors for chemical and biological agents. These include the nerve agent sarin and laboratory facilities for producing the E-coli and botulism bacterias...
... The allegation that Athens has been turning a blind eye to PKK guerrillas using its territory for training and crossing to Kurdish frontline areas has surfaced before, only to he flatly denied in Athens as Turkish propaganda.
On Friday, the Observer gave the Greek government the specific locations of the two sites identified by the bomber as the weapons dumps. As turned out, PKK arms had already been discovered at one of the locations and three people taken away for questioning. There were no arrests, however...
...The US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is also understood to have raised the question of Greece's support for Kurdish militants on her most recent visit to Athens. In confirmation hearings before Congress, Washington's incoming ambassador to Greece, Nicholas Burns, put the war against terrorism as a top priority.
"They said so many innocent Kurds had died, it made no difference if innocent Turkish and foreign civilians died as well"
... According to Hazar, a retired Greek naval officer pays all the Kurds' expenses in Greece and even acts as an informal censor of their newspaper, Voice of Kurdistan, 'so as not to spoil the good relations between Greeks and Kurds'.
....and regional ally. Last year the US formally warned Greece, a fellow Nato member, that if these activities continued it might be declared a 'state sponsor of international terrorism'.
...To avoid harsh US economic sanctions, Greece was reported to have given assurances that PKK activities would be curtailed and its bases and training camps in Greece closed....
....He does not deny suggestions that he was picked up and trained by the secret police of the former East Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Hazar will admit only that he has lived in Poland...
...Hazar was persuaded to leave Germany and go to Athens by an inner elite within the PKK, known as the "home office" (Ülke Bürosu in Turkish).
...Soon after his arrival in Athens last February he was taken to a farm near Triada, north of the city. This was a training camp run by a Greek called Dimitri and his partner Martha. Hazar believes Dimitri to be the leader of 17 November and that the couple also has good connections with the Greek secret service.
...Greek authorities were training and equipping Kurdish guerrillas for missions in Turkiye.
...A small flat was founded for him near the Hotel Pefkakia in the village of Drosia, about 12 miles north of Athens....
...unprimed bombs are given to three separate couriers to see which one was caught, or if any in the PKK group in Greece had betrayed them.
...I didn't mind at all about hitting the Turkish army because that was a legitimate military target.'
...was planned for Antalya, close to where former Turkish Prime Minister Tansu Ciller's family owns a holiday resort. Another bomb was planned for the beaches of Marmaris, popular with British tourists.
...half a litre of sarin, a deadly nerve agent...
...for the Ankara mausoleum of Kemal Atatürk,...
...28 October
The P.K.K. recruitment of Kurds in Greece is an overlooked link in the vicious cycle of refugees and revolution across Europe's southeastern frontier. In January, an influx of thousands of Kurds into Italy and Greece reminded the rest of the EU how permeable its borders really are. But not all Kurdish asylum seekers end up in Western Europe. Some join the P.K.K. and return to would-be Kurdistan to fight, fuelling more Turkish repression and a new flood of refugees and a new flood of refugees and potential PKK. recruits. With the Greek government turning a blind eye, P.K.K. representatives claim the recruiters are free to start the process over again. The latest refugee crisis says one senior Western diplomat in Athens, who specialises in terrorist issues, "unveiled Turkiye's appalling human rights record and revealed the porous frontiers of Greece and Italy." But, he says, "It also took the wrappings off Greece's tolerance of rebel Kurds."
The E.R.N.K's induction ceremonies are just the tail end of the process for turning refugees into revolutionaries. The real indoctrination and recruitment goes on at places like Lavrion, 45 km southeast of Athens, one of about five main refugee camps for the 100 or so Kurdish asylum seekers arriving each month. Although hardly lavish, the camp boasts an 18-inch colour TV with a satellite dish to receive daily broadcasts from MED TV, the Kurdish news station. Kurdish camp leaders use cell phones for calls to their "brothers in battle," as they describe their cohorts on the outside. The crumbling walls are hung with pictures of P.K.K. strongman Abdullah Ocalan and martyrs to the Kurdish cause.
"This is the greatest help that Greece is providing us," says Ferzeyn Iskender, a self-proclaimed P.K.K. loyalist at Lavrion. "It is here away from their homeland that the Kurds nurture their ethnic identity, learn who they are, what they stand for, how they've been abused by the Turkish authorities." He points to a group of children playing in the compound's concrete courtyard. . "Listen," he says, "They're singing Ey Ragip." P.K.K. tutors arrive twice a week, according to camp leaders, to teach the history of Kurdistan, its language, customs and traditions, subjects that would be illegal in Turkiye. But P.K.K. activists at the camp quickly turn such topics into propaganda. The E.R.N.K.'s Laser admits that her success in recruitment "is the result of a process of ideological training."
Turkiye says Greece is aiding and abetting the P.K.K, citing the confessions of P.K.K. members as proof. "We are just stating what P.K.K. terrorists captured in Turkiye are saying," says Sermet Atacanli, a spokesman for Turkiye's Foreign Ministry. "They have been trained in Greece, both ideologically and militarily." "Lies, lies, lies!" responds Greece's fiery Foreign Minister, Theodore Pangalos, to accusations of Greek involvement. Western diplomats monitoring the P.K.K. say there's no hard evidence substantiating such accusations, but that "there is a grey area in the field of financial support."
Much sympathy and support comes from the Greek population itself, which sees parallels between the Kurdish nationalist movement and their own 1830 liberation from the Ottoman Empire. "The same thing is happening now with the Kurds," says English teacher Kaiti Piperopulou as she delivers school supplies to Lavrion. "We must help them." The P.K.K. builds on that backing, circulating fundraising leaflets festooned with symbols of Greek, Kurdish and Greek Cypriot unity and bearing slogans like, "The solution to the disputes in the Aegean and Cyprus goes through Kurdistan." The leaflets always include the bank account numbers for the E.R.N.K. "We are not hiding what we are doing," says Lavrion's Iskender.
In the U.S., such open P.K.K. activities would be a breach of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1996 and would bring prison sentences of up to 10 years for those perpetrating them. But in Greece, the P.K.K.'s terrorist fire spreads virtually unchecked. Across the border, Turkiye fans the flames with its draconian treatment of the Kurdish minority, and year by year more Kurds are drawn into the conflagration.
- Reported by Anthee Carassava/Athens
The Government also established that the names of the persons used in the Greek Embassy's Note Verbale seeking clearance were fictitious. The Greek Ambassador was at pains to explain why the names appearing in the Note Verbale were different from the persons at the Embassy.
After intervention with the Greek Ambassador, it was confirmed that Mr. Ocalan was in the Ambassador's residence. The Government immediately requested for his expatriation from the Country to which the Greek Ambassador agreed after consultations with his Minister in Athens. The Embassy undertook the responsibility to pay for their Expatriation expenses. Consequently, Mr. Ocalan departed the country yesterday, the 15th of February 1999, at about 7:30 p.m. local time, for a destination known to the Greek authorities.
The Government has established that the Mr. Ocalan arrived in the Country from Milan, Italy. According to the Greek Ambassador Nationals from the following Countries accompanied Mr. Ocalan: Sweden, Germany, the United Kingdom, Belgium and Greece. The entry of Mr. Ocalan into the country appears to have been well known to the Greek Government. We are puzzled as to why Kenya was chosen as a destination for Ocalan. It is possible that the Greek authorities may have taken advantage of the strong friendly relations existing between our two countries, which raises serious questions about their sincerity and trustworthiness.
The Greek Government must be aware that Kenya was recently a target by terrorists who bombed the United States Embassy on August 7th, 1998, causing heavy loss of life and extensive damage to property in Nairobi. The presence of Mr. Ocalan in the country, therefore, raises serious security concerns. We would not have expected a friendly country like Greece to subject Kenya to such an awkward situation giving rise to suspicion and possible attack.
The Government is, therefore, taking up the matter with the Government of Greece with a view to ascertaining the full circumstances and reasons leading to the illegal entry of Mr. Ocalan to Kenya. The Greek Ambassador H.E. Mr. George Costorlas was at hand to meet the group at the J.K.I.A. He briefly boarded the aircraft and left with passengers without following any of the formalities. No immigration arrival cards were filled as the passengers were simply walked through. Initially when the Government got wind of Mr. Ocalan presence in the Ambassador's residence the Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the Ambassador to explain, but he vehemently denied. However, when he was confronted yesterday concrete evidence, he owned up, setting into motion the process of his departure as outlined above.
In view of the above, it is no longer possible to trust the Ambassador as serious doubts about his credibility have been created. Accordingly, the Government had demanded his recall with immediate effect.
The Government of Kenya wishes to emphasise that the Government had no role whatsoever to play in Mr. Ocalan presence in Kenya.
16th February, 1999
NAIROBI
Speaking at a hastily convened emergency news conference in Athens yesterday morning, an irate Pangalos threatened to take "merciless" action at home and abroad against Kurdish activists unless hostages held in Greek embassies around Europe were released by noon, implying that there could even be mass deportations of Kurds in Greece.
"We are giving them an ultimatum," Pangalos told the special news conference. "Our behaviour will be merciless if they do not leave by 12 noon," he warned. In the wake of persistent official government denials concerning the whereabouts of Ocalan, Pangalos admitted for the first time that Greece had given Ocalan "temporary residence, for humanitarian reasons" at the residence of the Greek ambassador in Kenya.
Pangalos, admitting that Greece had sheltered Ocalan in a Greek diplomatic building for the past 12 days, said that Ocalan himself, in spite of Greek advice to the contrary, decided to attempt to leave Kenya and go to Holland. The foreign minister said that contact with Ocalan was lost during his transfer by car from the Greek ambassador's residence to the airport. Ocalan's car was being followed by a number of Greek embassy cars, including that of the Greek ambassador, which "lost visual contact" with Ocalan's car.
Pangalos said that Greece had informed the Kenyan authorities and awaited their update on exactly what happened, adding that contact had also been made with the EU presidency, the German foreign minister and the American government, asking them to intervene in order to find out what exactly took place. He added that he would also be contacting the British and Italian foreign ministers.
At the same time Pangalos said that he had sent a strict telegram to the PKK leadership, asking it to order its members to withdraw from occupied Greek embassies and consulates by midday. Pangalos characterised as an "act of extreme brutality" the taking of hostages, including women and children, at the Greek embassies in The Hague and Vienna.
Accepting that Greece has always respected the struggle of the Kurdish people and support for human rights, Pangalos reiterated that Greece " never considered, or would consider, as expedient or useful the presence of Ocalan on Greek territory for reasons concerning both the interests of the Kurdish people and security and stability in the region". He repeated that no application for granting political asylum to Ocalan had been made to Greece, "and if such a request had been submitted, under the 1991 Dublin Treaty on political asylum, such a request would have been referred to Italy, which was the first European country that Ocalan went to after his departure from Syria".
Replying to reporters' questions, Pangalos openly admitted for the first time that Ocalan's plane had touched down at an airport in western Greece in order to refuel after his failed attempts to land in Holland before proceeding to Kenya.
Pangalos also revealed that Ocalan's presence on Greek territory in Kenya was the exclusive knowledge of himself and the leadership at the Greek foreign ministry. Finally, Pangalos reiterated that Greece should not have been and should not be part of the Kurdish problem, which he described as an internal Turkish problem that should not become part of a Greek-Turkish dispute.
Two hours after Pangalos' impromptu press conference, the national defence ministry's crisis management team held an emergency meeting to " assess the situation following the attacks against the Greek embassies abroad by protesting Kurds". According to media reports, the crisis meeting was attended by the army, navy and airforce chiefs of staff, national defence general staff senior officers and high-ranking officials from the foreign ministry and Greek intelligence service (EYP).
Later in the day, government spokesman Dimitris Reppas, who had persistently denied government involvement in the prickly Ocalan saga, requested clarifications from the Kenyan government concerning the circumstances surrounding the capture of Ocalan. Reppas said that the Greek government places exclusive responsibility for the latest developments, including Ocalan's falling into the hands of the Turkish authorities, with Ocalan himself, who negotiated with the Kenyan authorities in person. Reppas also suggested the means of Ocalan's transfer to Nairobi be such that it was open secret.
Reppas said Ocalan refused to leave Kenya for one of a number of unspecified African countries that were willing to grant him asylum, as had been suggested by the Greek side, instead choosing to seek asylum in Holland, at which time the Greek authorities ceased to have any participation in where the Kurdish leader would go.
A stern faced Reppas, who faced a barrage of reporters' questions during his daily scheduled briefing, said that Ocalan had been in direct contact with Kenyan government officials - in whom the Kurdish leader had "shown trust" - with the aim of travelling to the Netherlands. The Greek government, he added, has no information about "the way things turned out" and bore no responsibility from the moment of Ocalan's departure "from where has was, with the responsibility of the Greek side" to an unknown destination. The handling of the issue by the foreign ministry and jointly competent ministries was entirely successful, Reppas said.
Naxakis told SKAI television channel that, on Friday 29 January, he chartered a private jet with the help of an unnamed Greek businessman and following consultations with Kurdish representatives, transported Ocalan from Leningrad to Athens. According to Naxakis, the Kurdish leader was in dire danger from the Russian Mafia and had to leave Russia urgently. The Russian secret services had apparently alerted Greece, but Naxakis party escaped through the VIP exit of Hellinikon Airport. The retired officer initially transported Ocalan to the house of Voula Damianakou in Nea Makri, east of Athens, where he spent the night, and took him to his own house on Saturday 30 January.
At this stage, Naxakis tried to bring Ocalan in touch with the Greek foreign ministry so that he could apply for political asylum. Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos allegedly agreed to visit the Kurdish leader on that particular Saturday, but sent the head of the Greek Information Agency (EYP) instead. EYP subsequently assumed the responsibility of safeguarding Ocalan, and Naxakis told reporters that he felt indirectly responsible for what happened next, since he had arranged for the meeting.
Naxakis claims that on Monday 1 February the Greek government guaranteed that Ocalan would be safely transported to a place of Greek sovereignty, but the Kurdish leader discovered that they were referring to the embassy in Nairobi just before he boarded the plane that was to take him there on Tuesday. Naxakis' role ends at this point, but the tale is continued by Failos Kranidiotis, one of Ocalan's lawyers, who gave a full account of events as from Wednesday 10 February. On that day, Kranidiotis was summoned to a secret location in Brussels for consultations with PKK members, who told him that their leader was in danger of being discovered and sent him to Nairobi.
Kranidiotis spent the weekend with Ocalan and was present as the Kurdish leader conferred with Greek representatives on what to do next. Ocalan's presence had become known in the Kenyan capital, and Athens wanted him out of the embassy. According to the lawyer, Ocalan was offered the options of being taken to a house in the Kenyan countryside, or to be granted a temporary refuge by a local Greek Orthodox Church. The Kurdish leader ruled out both plans, allegedly stating that "Greece has brought me here under guarantee, and it should get me out of here under guarantee".
In conversations with the head of the Greek foreign ministry's diplomatic office, Ocalan asked for Greek Funds to buy a new passport, a joint Greek-Kenyan guarantee of his safety, and a Greek plane-with a government official on board - to fly him out of Nairobi. He also reportedly made a fresh request for political asylum, which the Greek foreign ministry apparently turned down as "disgraceful". The Kurdish leader was also informed that four Greek security personnel were being sent to the embassy to make sure that he left. At this point, one of the two female fighters guarding the PKK leader pulled out a gun and threatened to commit suicide. Kranidiotis was then sent to Athens with another request for political asylum. Before he left, Ocalan allegedly told him that he was caught between Turkiye and Greece, "the bandit state on the one hand and the comedy state on the other". He was intercepted on his way to Nairobi airport and was informed by the Kenyan authorities that the President, Arab Moy, was fully aware of Ocalan's presence.
All contact with the Kurdish leader was broken off on Monday 15 January, with the well-known results. PKK sources insist that their leader was forced to leave the Nairobi embassy, despite the Greek government's protests to the contrary, and that he was led away by Kenyan police. Similar fears are voiced by his lawyers. Giuliano Pisapia, Ocalan's legal representative in Italy, who visited his client during the weekend, stated yesterday that there had been an operation to capture the Kurdish leader as early as Sunday 14 February, but that it had been called off due to the lawyer's presence. Eberhardt Schulz, Ocalan's lawyer in Germany, claimed that his client had been tricked into surrendering to the Kenyan authorities and had been dragged out of the embassy by local forces. Meanwhile, the Italian news agency ANSA reported on Monday that Ocalan had been handed over to the Kenyans by the Greek embassy's staff
APPENDIX 1:
LAMIA HALKIDA CAMP: This is a farmhouse 200 kilometres away from Athens, used by the terrorist organisation PKK. The farmhouse is surrounded by barbed wire fences. About 300-400 militants from different terrorist groups are being sheltered at the camp. The militants attend both political and military training in two different phases. The military training includes all forms of bomb making and planting explosives. The owners of the camp (farmhouse) are two Greek citizens known as Dimitri and Marta. Two PKK terrorists trained at this camp and apprehended by Turkish Security Forces have confessed that the owners help the members of the PKK in the camp by all possible means; they let the terrorists use their vehicles and they supply logistic needs of the terrorists.
THE PKK CELL IN AHARNON/ATHENS: According to the testimonies of the PKK terrorists apprehended in Turkiye, the PKK uses as a cell a flat on the 5th floor of the building, next to the station, at the very corner of the road opposite the Saint Pandalemonas Church.
THE PKK CELL IN DAFNI/ATHENS: The location of this cell is described by the terrorists as follows: "Take the Dafni bus. Get off at the Saint Ionia stop. Walk up from the second street. Before you reach the end of the street, the cell is on the third road across the street." In this cell the PKK militants coming from Turkiye are trained on explosives and attend a 15-day political training.
THE PKK CELL IN THESSALONICA: This PKK cell is depicted by the militants as follows: "In a hilly district of the Thessalonica Bazaar, there is a supermarket and a gas station next to the Goody's Hamburgers. If you turn the corner from the cafe there, the second floor of the building number 16 is the PKK cell."
1- TESTIMONY OF SEYITHAN SAMACAN (CODE-NAME AHMET-MAHMUT-SEYDO) FROM SIVEREK/SANLIURFA APPREHENDED IN BATMAN ON 27 DECEMBER 1993:
"I went to the Samos Island from Kusadasi/Turkiye with a group of friends by a boat. We surrendered to the Greek police who later took us to the Lavrion camp in Athens. A PKK member code-named Deniz took me to the PKK bureau in Athens. The PKK members were presented with Greek passports and sent to the Bekaa Valley/Lebanon. We were always in contact with the Kurdistan Solidarity Committee in Greece. (Phone:003013634905)"
2- TESTIMONY OF GIYASETTIN ALTUN FROM VARTO/MUS APPREHENDED IN ISTANBUL ON 11 MAY 1994:
"I went to Athens from Germany by plane with a group of friends. We were taken to a PKK cell in Athens and then to somewhere 200 kilometres away from Athens for training. A terrorist code-named Faik was responsible for training in the camp where there were about 20 militants. In the camp we were trained on explosives to conduct terrorist attacks against military, economic and tourism targets."
3- TESTIMONY OF IMAM GÜR (CODE-NAME AKIF) FROM BEYDOGMUS/ELAZIG, ARRESTED ON 5 JUNE 1994:
"I went from Germany to Athens where I was provided with a false passport. I was first taken to a cell and then to a camp with the others I had met in the cell. In the camp we were trained on explosives (bombs) and instructed to go to Turkiye, in order to attack public buildings and tourism facilities. We were provided with the phone numbers of the militants in Germany to get in touch if necessary."
4- TESTIMONY OF VEYSEL BOZALI (CODE-NAME SAHIN-SEHMUZ) FROM BINGÖL, APPREHENDED IN ISTANBUL ON 12 MAY 1994:
"I went to Athens from Germany where I was provided with a false passport. In Athens, a PKK member code-named Cemil met me and took me to the Kurdish Committee. Then, a Greek lady took me and 10 other fellows to a hilly area 200 kilometres away from Athens. We stayed at a house in a forest. For 2 months we were trained on explosives. A PKK member code-named Faik was responsible for the training. We were instructed to attack military, economic and tourism targets in Turkiye"
5- TESTIMONY OF AHMET AKKURT (CODE-NAME CIHAN- ALI-HASAN) FROM IDIL/SIRNAK ARRESTED IN ISTANBUL ON 22 JUNE 1994:
"I went to Athens from Germany with a false passport and was taken to the camp. The camp was about 3 km away from the Aegean cost and was surrounded by hills. We were given training on explosives for a month. A PKK militant code-named Faik who was responsible for training told us that we would be sent to Turkiye to hit economic and tourism targets."
6- TESTIMONY OF ATILLA TEKEL FROM ELAZIG WHO SURRENDERED TO THE TURKISH SECURITY FORCES DURING THE OPERATION HELD IN NORTHERN IRAQ ON 21 MARCH 1995:
"I went to Athens from Germany with a group of friends. A 35-year old man approached me at the passport checkpoint at the airport and asked us whether we were Turkish or Kurdish. We said that we were Kurds. Then we were taken to an office without any passport control and were given some food. The Greek agent dealing with us phoned a PKK militant code-named Rojhat. Rojhat came and took us to Heyva Sor ('Kurdish Red Crescent', one of Pak's front establishments) which is 15 kilometres from Athens. Rojhat was a Syrian about 30 years old and spoke Greek. Later on he took us to a PKK camp, 154 kilometres away from Athens, on the way to Macedonia. The camp was about 6,000 square meters large and called Ibrahim Incedursun camp. In February 1995 there were about 40 terrorists in the camp. For 3 months we received political and military training to conduct terrorist attacks in Turkish cities. The camp was being run totally under the umbrella of Greece. Greek parliamentarians and the public were providing material support to the PKK. The publications of the PKK are sold mostly from Greece to Europe. Lavrion Camp is 1.5 hours away from Athens. It is close to the seaside. Its full capacity is 400 militants. Apart from the PKK, militants of extreme leftist terrorist organisations such as TKP/ML, DEV SOL, TDKP, TKIP, TKEP, TKP/KIVILCIM were trained in the camp."
7- TESTIMONY OF CANSUR KIRT (CODE-NAME KAWA REMZI) FROM LICE/DIYARBAKIR, APPREHENDED IN IZMIR:
"I crossed the River Meriç to Greece with my friend code-named Bozan. We were intending to go to Germany. A villager from whom we asked for some food took us to a Greek police station. We told the Greek police that we were Kurds and PKK members. We were sent to Athens and transferred to the Lavrion Camp. In the camp there were about 30 other militants. The police collected our ID's and questioned all of us one by one. The representatives of each terrorist organisation in the camp asked us to which organisation we belonged. For three months we took political training in the camp. One day we were taken to a forest, 5-6 hours away from the camp where the PKK militant code-named Faik trained us on the use of explosives and firearms. Faik instructed us to go back to Athens and then to Turkiye to conduct terrorist acts."
8- TESTIMONY OF MEHMET KAVAK (CODE-NAME ÇIYA) FROM CEYLANPINAR/SANLIURFA APPREHENDED IN IZMIR ON 5 MAY 1995:
"I went from Cologne to Athens on 31 December 1994. The police officer at the passport check told me that I could not enter Greece since I did not have a visa. Upon the instructions I had received from the PKK, I told that I was a Kurd and was to be met by the members of the Kurdish Committee. Then the police changed his attitude and helped me. I spent the night at the airport. Then, a PKK member came and took me."
9- TESTIMONY OF METIN SAGLAM FROM ERZURUM APPREHENDED IN ISTANBUL ON 8 AUGUST 1995:
"I swam across the River Meriç to Greece in 1994. I was arrested by the Greek police. I told the police that I was a PKK member and I sought political asylum. I was questioned by the Greek intelligence and police before being taken to the Lavrion camp. In the camp there were members of the PKK and extreme leftist Turkish terrorist groups. I stayed in the camp for 15 days. Then I went to the PKK cell in Athens. After that I was taken to a farmhouse which belonged to a Greek couple. The camp representatives, code-named Cemal and Faik, gave political and military training to us. Faik taught us to make and plant different kinds of bombs."
10- TESTIMONY OF MEHMET ÇEKIÇ (CODE-NAME HÜSEYIN YILMAZ) FROM ADIYAMAN:
"I went from Frankfurt to Athens with a false Dutch passport. I gave the numbers of the Heyva Sor (Kurdish Red Crescent) to the customs officer in Athens and entered Greece. A PKK courier came to pick me up. This courier talked to a Greek parliamentarian with white hair called Dimitris. We went to the Heyva Sor building in Athens. Soon I was sent to a camp. While I was in the camp I heard that another PKK affiliated association called 'Kurdistan Centre' was opened."
11- TESTIMONY OF FADIK ISIK (CODE-NAME SAHIN-RAMAN) FROM KAHRAMANMARAS, APPREHENDED IN ANTALYA:
"I was sent to Bucharest/Romania in April 1994. Under the auspices of the ERNK Bucharest representative Ömer Agaoglu, I was sent to Thessaloniki in January 1995 for training on explosives. Then I was sent to Athens. From Athens a PKK member took me to a camp about 20 km. away where the PKK members were receiving military and political training. In February 1995, a man who was said to be a Greek deputy came to the camp and visited the PKK representatives in the camp. Greek media members, MED TV reporters, former MPs Remzi Kartal and Zübeyir Aydar of HEP and Necdet Buldan, (a fugitive wanted by Turkiye) visited the camp."
12- TESTIMONY OF EMINE DIDEM MARKOÇ (CODE-NAME NELA FILIZ AYTEN) FROM ARDAHAN, APPREHENDED IN ADANA ON 24 JUNE 1996:
"We came from Frankfurt to Athens. Greek police arrested me with four of my friends. A PKK member code-named Rojhat came and told the police that we are PKK militants. Then the police released us although they had realised that we had false Dutch passports. One evening we were taken to the PKK camp in Halkida/ Lamia. We had political training for 45 days. After the political training we had military training. Then I was sent to the PKK cell in Aharnon/Athens. Meanwhile I had an operation at the Evangelismos State Hospital, due to a throat illness. The bill for the operation was issued on behalf of Menal-Dilxwvaz who was from the ERNK Balkans Representation. Thanks to the ERNK document, the hospital bill was paid by the Greek Ministry of Health. Soon I had a second operation which was also paid by the Greek Ministry of Health."
13- INFORMATION DERIVED FROM THE TESTIMONY OF SEREF KILIÇ (CODE-NAME YALÇIN) WHO WAS CAUGHT IN THE GARDEN OF THE TURKISH CONSULATE GENERAL IN URIMIYAH/IRAN AND BROUGHT BACK TO ANKARA FOR INTERROGATION ON 23 DECEMBER 1997
Seref Kiliç has established contact with PKK members in the Çanakkale prison while he was a student in Çanakkale 18 March University and joined the organisation.
He went to Romania via Bulgaria on 10 March 1997 with Hanim Demir and Orhan Yüce who were friends from the university and following their stay in Romania for some time, they came back to Bulgaria. They passed to Athens from Bulgaria by motorway on 27th-28th March with Hamza (code-name) (ERNK Bulgarian Responsible), Orhan Yüce and Hanim Demir. Hamza took them (S. Kiliç H.Demir and O.Yüce) to a PKK house and introduced them to the militants; Rojhat, Hatip, and Pino (code-name).
Mahir (code-name), who was the General Coordinator of the Balkan Province at that time, Sait Ali (code-name) and Ilgaz (code-name), who were Revolutionist People Party (DHP) militants, came to the house in question and Mahir, after taking them to a separate room, told them that they had to act in accordance with the organisation's demands, collected their passports and ID cards, and then requested Sait Ali to take them to the building where they would receive training. At 24:00 on the same day's night (27-28 March 1997) S. Ali took them with a white "Tempra" automobile to a white, three-storey building which was on a side street in the centre of Athens. A total of 45 people, made up of 3 teams consisting of 15 persons each, inhabited the building used by the organisation for political training and one or two members stood guard around the clock for security. 40 of the total of 45 persons receiving training were university students.
In the beginning of June 1997, in order to receive combined military and political training, they were taken by a minibus to a campsite in the countryside 3 hours from Athens which was still under construction. 45 persons in the form of 3 teams, settled in the encampment in the mountainous area, and every morning they continued with the political courses that they had been receiving earlier, and in the afternoons they were being given military courses on ambush, penetration and raids by militants named Cemal and Çektar (code-names).
These courses lasted from the beginning of June until the beginning of September 1997. As the militants dwelled in the encampment, two Greek citizens Memo (code-name) and Dilan (code-name) (woman) carried food to a place 1 km. away from the camp, each time with different vehicles. Seref Kiliç decided to escape from the camp with Rabia Coskun, but they were noticed and captured while trying to communicate through passwords since it was forbidden to talk with each other. After this incident, Rabia Coskun was sent to Athens, and Seref Kiliç was "put into practice" (which meant, "cell imprisonment" in the PKK jargon). He was "kept in practice" for 40 days, and within this period some of his friends with whom he had arrived in the camp were periodically transferred to the "front". In the beginning of September 1997, as this camp place has been exposed, encampment was transferred to another mountainous place 50 km away, and political and military training continued. In this period, Çektar and Cemal were replaced by two other militants code-named Deniz and Ilgaz (woman). From time to time, they were also instructed by a militant named Necmi. The number of militants increased up to 85 with new arrivals. Most of these militants were university students. Students of Eskisehir Anatolian University also existed within the group. In the beginning of November 1997 Deniz and Ilgaz announced that the training was completed and that they would be transferred to northern Iraq. They took all of the 60-65 militants then in the camp to Athens. In Athens, after driving for about 1 km. from the club named "Riba's" that is located in the city centre, they arrived at a building complex. There war a meter high stone wall in front of the complex, which consisted of one three-storey and six single-story buildings. The other sides were surrounded by barbed wire. The three-storey building was used by a retired Greek general who used to come to this place from time to time, stay for a few hours and communicate with the high ranking militants of the terror organisation in Greece.
According to the statements of Seref Kiliç, the house he was taken to on March 27-28, 1997 for training was located at Praksiteuls Road. No: 28 in Athens. The daily schedule applied during political training, the harsh attitude towards people that were being trained (seizure of their ID Cards, not being allowed to speak with each other or to leave the camp) confirm the statements given by more recently arrested members of the terror organisation. It transpires that the campsite where they were taken for military training, 3 hours to Athens by minibus, is the mobile camp at a mountainous area to the north of the Phasna town at Evia island. The campsite where they were taken in early November 1997 is the "Haki Karaer" camp which is also described in the statement of Dr. Serdar (code-name) Hasan Belli who surrendered to the Turkish Consulate in Piraeus on 8 December 1997 and who was interrogated at the Edirne Police Headquarters after he was taken to Turkiye with a temporary travel document.
14. TESTIMONY OF ULAS AKBAL (CODE-NAME DURAN-ARTES-MAHIR) FROM DIYARBAKIR: " - In the Association of "Komal Mezopotamya" functioning in Lavrion, the periodical "Fonito Kurdistan" in Greek was sold in order to collect money to the organisation. A group of 50 persons were given political training in a house in Athens. In the Lavrion Refugee Camp, training on explosives was given by Serdar (code-name). Militants were trained for bomb attacks in the big cities in Turkiye.
15. TESTIMONY OF 1970 BORN FETHI DEMIR (CODE-NAME MAHIR) WHO SURRENDERED IN BINGÖL/GENÇ ON MARCH 6, 1998: "The names of the PKK militants, who would come to Greece from Turkiye or from other European countries, were given to the Greek Ministry of Public Order. The Ministry transmitted their names to the relevant authorities at the border or in the airports and they facilitated their passage to Greece. PKK militants met me at the Athens Airport and took me to a house belonging to the PKK. There I was told that there were other houses like this on Tiriyö Septen Biriyö Street 154, Vasilik Sophias Street 154, Omonia Square, Kipseli district). We went to a training camp approximately two hours away by car from Athens. At the Ministry of Public Order there is a separate section dealing only with matters concerning the PKK. Militants who crossed the Turkish border to Greece were taken by the Greek police to the Lavrion Camp and from there they were picked up by a PKK militant and accommodated in different PKK houses in Greece. Political training was given at the Greek Island Evia. Local police and intelligence service supported us. Logistics of this camp were supplied by two Greek nationals called Dimitri and Martha. We rented a building in the centre of Athens with the help of Thedor Susanoglu who had worked for the Greek Consulate General in Izmir in the 1980s. Militants that came to Greece were provided with "Refugee Passport". Using these passports they could travel to all Schengen countries and if they had to travel to another country, necessary visas were provided by the help of the Greek Consulate General in the country concerned. For those militants operating in Greece, Greek language courses were given in Athens Pandion University. The Greek Intelligence wanted us to select 7 persons. They would give them special intelligence training. PKK terrorist organisation was in close contact with three Ministers in the Greek government. Foreign Minister Pangalos, Education Minister Arsenis and Defence Minister Choxarcopoulos gave us continuous and wide support. Funds were provided to the PKK from the budget of the Greek Parliament. Among other high ranking officials who directly supported the PKK were the Former Minister of Interior Baduvas (we always contacted him when we had problems with the Greek police or border units), retired General Naksasis (he was responsible for our connection with the Greek Intelligence Service), Thedor Susanoglu mentioned before, who could speak excellent Turkish and was responsible for all kinds o correspondence between PKK leadership and Greek officials and translation of letters etc. The PKK terrorist organisation operated in Greece during 1996-1997 through the following organisations, ERNK Office (Andresis Vasilisis Sophias Street 54, Phone N:724 7022), Heyva Sor Kurdistan (Kaningos Street, Athens), Kurdish Culture Association, Greek Representation of Derri Agency, Kurdish Solidarity Committee in Thessalonica.