Ocalan Captured, Kurd Angry Protesters Storm Greek Embassies Across Europe
February 17, 1999 - 0:0
TEHRAN Turkey finally caught up with Kurdish guerrilla chief Abdullah Ocalan and brought him from Kenya on Tuesday to face trial. His capture precipitated a wave of impassioned demonstrations with a Kurdish rebel prisoner dying after setting himself on fire at a jail in the southeastern regional capital Diyarbakir. Another inmate was severely injured in a similar suicide bid and was being treated in hospital and tension is running high at the prison, Reuters reported.
In other countries, the Kurdish demonstrations were directed largely against Greece, which secretly sheltered Ocalan in its Nairobi diplomatic mission before he fell into Turkey's hands, by some sort of trick. The Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) Tuesday accused the United States, Israel and Turkey of a secret service action in the capture of its leader, the Kurdistan Information Center (KIZ) said.
The Kenyan and Greek governments were also responsible for the plot, the KIZ charged, quoting Nizamettin Tas, a commander of the PKK's armed wing ARGK. Kenya on Tuesday flatly denied sending Ocalan to Turkey and demanded the recall of the Greek ambassador, saying he deceived the Kenyan government by hiding Ocalan inside the country. Foreign Minister Bonaya Godana said the government demanded that Ocalan be flown out of Kenya on Monday after discovering he was being hosted at the Greek ambassador's residence in Nairobi. But he said Kenya had no idea that Ocalan was being taken to Turkey when he left on Monday night, and would not have agreed to sending him there.
Cyprus said Turkey's arrest of Abdullah Ocalan was a sad incident and expressed solidarity with Greece, whose diplomatic missions bore the brunt of Kurdish protests at his capture. Kurdish protestors stormed Greek embassies across Europe from London to Moscow on Tuesday in a massive and sometimes violent show of support for Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan. In London, Vienna and the Hague protestors seized hostages inside Greek diplomatic buildings, while in Bonn two hostages were held inside the Kenyan embassy.
Elsewhere, Kurdish protestors armed with petrol threatened to set themselves alight. A young Kurdish woman was seriously injured after she set herself on fire in Copenhagen and in Germany two Kurdish women, one in Berlin and the other in Hechingen, also
In other countries, the Kurdish demonstrations were directed largely against Greece, which secretly sheltered Ocalan in its Nairobi diplomatic mission before he fell into Turkey's hands, by some sort of trick. The Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) Tuesday accused the United States, Israel and Turkey of a secret service action in the capture of its leader, the Kurdistan Information Center (KIZ) said.
The Kenyan and Greek governments were also responsible for the plot, the KIZ charged, quoting Nizamettin Tas, a commander of the PKK's armed wing ARGK. Kenya on Tuesday flatly denied sending Ocalan to Turkey and demanded the recall of the Greek ambassador, saying he deceived the Kenyan government by hiding Ocalan inside the country. Foreign Minister Bonaya Godana said the government demanded that Ocalan be flown out of Kenya on Monday after discovering he was being hosted at the Greek ambassador's residence in Nairobi. But he said Kenya had no idea that Ocalan was being taken to Turkey when he left on Monday night, and would not have agreed to sending him there.
Cyprus said Turkey's arrest of Abdullah Ocalan was a sad incident and expressed solidarity with Greece, whose diplomatic missions bore the brunt of Kurdish protests at his capture. Kurdish protestors stormed Greek embassies across Europe from London to Moscow on Tuesday in a massive and sometimes violent show of support for Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan. In London, Vienna and the Hague protestors seized hostages inside Greek diplomatic buildings, while in Bonn two hostages were held inside the Kenyan embassy.
Elsewhere, Kurdish protestors armed with petrol threatened to set themselves alight. A young Kurdish woman was seriously injured after she set herself on fire in Copenhagen and in Germany two Kurdish women, one in Berlin and the other in Hechingen, also