We previously disclosed, together with the relevant documents, that PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan studied at Ankara University’s Faculty of Political Sciences between 1971 and 1975 on a scholarship from the Ministry of Finance; that he was arrested in 1972 for distributing a leaflet titled Şafak at the Faculty; that despite the testimony against him, the military prosecutor requested his acquittal; that Öcalan did not present a political defence before the court; and that his formal relationship with the university continued until 1984.
Our publication of these documented facts provoked a reaction among circles sympathetic to the PKK.
Documents concerning the character of Jalal Talabani, leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, and the CIA connections of Mullah Mustafa Barzani, the former leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iraq, were also enough to unsettle a morning owl and court jester who has performed somersaults through dark adventures stretching from Maoist organisations to the mountains of Palestine. This jester, whose sinister adventures have seeped into his soul, now serves as a “special courier” between Talabani and the presidential palace. Let us pin the identity card of this mega-jester—who is modest enough to compare himself with the celebrated American writer Hemingway in arts magazines—to one corner and continue on our way:
A journalist’s duty is to seek the truth. That is what we are attempting to do in this column regarding the Kurdish question. Who, for example, is Abdullah Öcalan? How was the PKK established? These are the questions we are investigating. In doing so, we are reading, above all, thousands of pages of PKK publications, Öcalan’s statements and the PKK’s “political reports” published in book form.
These publications are freely sold in Germany. Without reading them, how can one understand the PKK, the events of Newroz and Şırnak, or the actions of 1992 that the PKK called its “most glorious uprising”? How can a journalist be considered a journalist without investigating these subjects?
The starting point of these investigations is Öcalan’s identity.
It is clear that Öcalan was a “fortunate defendant” under the martial-law regime of 12 March. We are investigating the reasons for the good fortune he enjoyed during that period. The investigation is not yet complete.
Let us put a full stop here—or rather, a semicolon—and briefly examine the newspaper Aydınlık, which was published before 1980. We open its issue dated 2 September 1979 and read the statement issued by the “Tekoşin” (Struggle) group, which had broken away from the PKK:
“When we produced documentary evidence showing that the person who held an important position within the organisation and whose duty was to serve as a pilot was an agent of Türkiye’s National Intelligence Organization (MİT), and proposed that he be eliminated, Apo replied:
‘I agree with what you are saying. He is my lifebuoy. And you are among my most beloved militants. But if we kill him, the colonialists will eliminate us within twenty-four hours.’”
Who is this “pilot”? The claims made by Tekoşin are confirmed on page 5 of the September 1989 issue of Serxwebun, the PKK newspaper published in Germany:
“...Between 1970 and 1977, the agent provocateurs known as ‘Pilot’ and ‘Abdurrahman’ were infiltrated by the Turkish Republic for this purpose and caused considerable damage...”
The reasoned judgment dated 24 May 1983 and numbered 1983/34, issued by the Diyarbakır No. 2 Martial Law Court, also indicates that this pilot was “Necati from Ağrı.” (p. 49)
Who is this “Pilot Necati from Ağrı”?
Shortly after 12 March, Air Force Captain İlyas Aydın, who together with Mahir Çayan and his comrades abducted Elrom, Israel’s Consul General in Istanbul, was also alleged to be an agent. The captain was executed by firing squad in Palestine by his comrades who had fled Türkiye. The mountains of Palestine provided refuge not only to many young militants but also to numerous shadowy agents, such as Captain İlyas Aydın, who presented themselves as revolutionaries. Agents of every state, particularly CIA operatives, infiltrate organisations in the Middle East.
Was the PKK’s pilot also one of these agents? How did Öcalan meet “Pilot Necati from Ağrı,” who was alleged to be an agent? What operations did they carry out together? And despite the warnings, why did Öcalan feel the need to protect the alleged agent?
For the time being, it is impossible to know the answers. What is known consists of the allegations made against Öcalan in Aydınlık, whose editor-in-chief was Doğu Perinçek. Let us open the issue dated 6 August 1979 and read the article titled “Who Is Apo?”:
“...Apo formed his group with the young people he had gathered around him, who had themselves been expelled from AYÖD, and began acts of violence after 1977. It is claimed that Apo, who was said to have established contact with the ‘counter-guerrillas’ during this period, married a woman from Karakoçan named Kesire in 1977, whose father was also allegedly an MİT operative.”
The most striking of these claims is undoubtedly the allegation that “Apo cooperated with the counter-guerrillas.”
We retrieve these materials from the archives and publish them. Certain circles then attempt to intimidate us by saying, “You are inciting fraternal organisations against one another.”
Yes, who is this pilot alleged to have been an MİT agent? And who is Öcalan’s former father-in-law?
