PKK's Murat Karayilan brushes off $5mn US bounty on his head

[Anthea]

Bounties on PKK leaders a strange move by US
By DAVID ROMANO

This week the United States announced that it was offering a bounty of several million dollars for information leading to the arrest of three top Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leaders. A “bounty” of $5 million dollars was placed on People’s Defense Forces (HPG) leader Murat Karayilan, $4 million for Cemil Bayik, and $3 million for Duran Kalkan.

The bounties are part of the US State Department’s “Rewards for Justice” program. Established by the 1984 Act to Combat International Terrorism, the program states that “the Secretary of State may offer rewards for information that leads to the arrest or conviction of anyone who plans, commits, aids or attempts international terrorist acts against US persons or property, that prevents such acts from occurring in the first place, that leads to the identification or location of a key terrorist leader, or that disrupts terrorism financing.”

The US State Department’s website claims that since the start of the program in 1984, “the United States has paid in excess of $125 million to more than 80 people who provided credible information that brought terrorists to justice or prevented acts of international terrorism worldwide. The program played a significant role in the arrest of international terrorist Ramzi Yousef, who was convicted in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. Today, the Rewards for Justice Program continues to play a critical role in US counterterrorism initiatives around the globe.”

At any one time, up to 25 “wanted individuals” are placed on the State Department’s list of people it will pay a reward for information leading to arrest. Before the addition of these three PKK leaders, the list included various al Qaeda leaders, Taliban leaders, Islamic State (ISIS) leaders, a Hamas operative, several Hezbollah operatives, the unknown killers of an American in Yemen in 2012, and smugglers of ISIS-captures oil and antiquities.

Since the program began, all of the named individuals on the list appear to have been responsible for killing, or plotting to kill, Americans. Hamas suicide bombings killed many American citizens in Israel over the years, and Hezbollah famously drove a bomb-laden truck into a US Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983, killing 241 US service personnel. The Taliban, al Qaeda and its affiliates have likewise targeted Americans on more occasions than can be enumerated here. These are the kind of enemies that the program was intended to go after.

This is what makes the addition of PKK leaders to the list strange. The PKK has never targeted Americans or even threatened to target Americans. After the mid-1990s, the PKK even disavowed and generally ceased attacks on civilians in Turkey (with some debatable but rare exceptions), which is the usual definition of terrorism. The State Department announcement on Karayilan, Bayik and Kalkan in fact had to go all the way back to this era to find any wrongdoing against Americans, however unintentional and minor: the program’s website accordingly states that “In 1993 the PKK kidnapped 19 Western tourists including an American and in 1995 two Americans were injured in a PKK bombing.” That’s it. The tourists were released unharmed, and the two Americans injured in the 1995 bombing were not even the intended target.

The PKK and its affiliates have also been very important for the war against ISIS in both Syria and Iraq. At a time when many in Europe are calling for the removal of the PKK from various terrorism lists, deeming the group to be guerrillas in a war with the Turkish state and its security forces rather than terrorists who target civilians, it thus seems bizarre for Americans to announce this bounty. Since when does the State Department’s program target the enemies of other states? The US has much better allies than Turkey, whose support of jihadists in Syria and recent invasion of Afrin, according to a US Defense Department report also released this week, seriously compromised the war against ISIS. Yet none of these countries’ enemies who have nothing to do with America ever appeared on the State Department’s list.

The decision to add PKK leaders to the “Rewards for Terrorism” list probably came from some misguided State Department official’s idea to try and mollify the Turks, who are angry about American cooperation with PKK-linked Syrian Kurdish groups. The ploy will achieve nothing, however, beyond making Americans look stupid. Turkish officials hardly proved very grateful for the American capture of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan in 1999, and their response to this gesture was similar: they called the move “late” and stated that “It does not change Turkish policy on east of the Euphrates.” This means Turkey still intends to attack Syrian-Kurdish US allies in Syria, amongst whom American forces are embedded.

It would have made more sense for the US to announce a bounty for information leading to the arrest of Turkish president Erdogan’s bodyguards, who on more than one occasion intentionally assaulted and injured peaceful American demonstrators in Washington, D.C.

http://www.rudaw.net/english/opinion/08112018

[Anthea]

London against the US decision and isolation of Öcalan

In London, Kurds and lawmakers have protested against the decision of the US to put a bounty on three PKK senior figures as well as the isolation in Imrali.

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Sadly only a very small number of protesters

The Kurdish People's Assembly organised a protest against the isolation imposed on Kurdish people's Leader Abdullah Öcalan and against the US decision to put a bounty on three PKK senior figures.

After a first action, on Tuesday in front of the Scottish Parliament, hundreds of people gathered on Wednesday in front of the British Parliament. The people were supported by several deputies.

Labor Party Lloyd Moyle Russell MP, Scottish National Party Chris Williamson MP, Sinn Fein Francie Molloy MP, Lord Hilton, Reverend Joe Ryan and artist and politician Dirk Campbell (father of YPJ martyr Anna Campbell) joined the action.

Participants in their speeches condemned the isolation imposed on Öcalan as well as the destruction policies of both Turkey and the United States.

The protest ended with a call for further action

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Good part is Kurds have finally remembered that Rojava is actually WESTERN KURDISTAN

Bad part is Kurds must have stopped having babies as the figure of 40 million Kurds has been used for 20 YEARS

[Anthea]

People of Kobanê protest against Turkish attacks and US decision

Kobanê people protested against the attacks of the Turkish state’s attacks against Western Kurdistan and the US decision targeting leaders of the Kurdish freedom movement

Click on photo to enlarge


Thousands took to the streets in Kobanê on Thursday in protest at the occupant Turkish state’s attacks against North and East Syria. People also gave the message “No to the US decision against leaders of Kurdistan Freedom Movement”.

‘ISIS IS REVIVING’ WARNING

The mass marched from Jina Azad (Free Women) Square to Şehîd (Martyr) Egîd Square, chanting “Attack on Kobanê is attack on humanity”, “Attack on Kobanê revives DAESH (ISIS) gangs”, “No to international silence”.

Demonstrators also carried photos of 6 years old Sara Mustafa who was killed by Turkish attack on Girê Spî (Tal Abyad).

“THE TURKISH STATE WANTS TO CREATE A CONFLICT”

Kobanê Canton Council Co-president Mistefa Ito and Kongreya Star executive Almaz Romi addressed to the crowd joining the demonstration. Speakers condemned the Turkish state’s attacks and killing of Sara Mistefa. They stressed that with these attacks, the Turkish state targets the democratic project and create a conflict among the peoples of the region, and aims to revive the ISIS gangs.

Speakers also condemned the US putting a bounty on three senior leaders of the Kurdistan Freedom Movement, Murat Karayılan, Cemil Bayık and Duran Kalkan.

The Turkish state attacked Kobanê and Girê Spî in late October, killing 6-year-old Sara Mustafa and two fighters of the Self-Defense Forces.

[Anthea]

PKK's Murat Karayilan brushes off $5mn US bounty on his head

The PKK is unfazed by bounties put on the heads of three senior leaders by the United States government

"This decision of America has no importance for us,” Murat Karayilan told pro-PKK channel Sterk TV in an interview.

Earlier this month, the US announced a bounty of up to $5 million for information on the whereabouts of Karayilan, head of the PKK’s armed wing the HPG. It also offered $4 million for information on senior executive member of the PKK-umbrella group KCK Cemil Bayik and $3 million for KCK co-chair Duran Kalkan.

The PKK is bigger and stronger than these three leaders, said Karayilan, drawing comparisons to the arrest of PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan (affectionately known as Apo to his followers) in 1999.

"The PKK won't be destroyed through these three individuals, nor will it be weakened. If the PKK were to be destroyed in this way, when America, through an international conspiracy, handed over Leader Apo to Turkey, PKK would have been destroyed then,” he said.

Instead, 20 years on from the arrest of Ocalan, the PKK is even stronger, he claimed, describing the organization as "an ideology, a philosophy, a spirit," with ten thousand cadres.

The Kurdish nation is "an old nation and societal reality" in the Middle East, and they are leading the fight against those who try to "wipe us out on our land," Karayilan asserted, saying they haven't hurt anyone or destroyed anyone's house.

The PKK has struggled for 40 years for greater political and cultural rights for Kurds in Turkey. It is considered at terror group in Turkey and the US.

Karayilan said the US decision to target the three leaders, made at a time when Turkey is threatening military action against Kurds in northern Syria and the Kurdistan Region, affects not just the PKK.

"This decision is a stance against the Kurdish cause. Through this method, there are attempts to bury the Kurdish cause. This decision, which signifies an attack on the Kurdish nation and its struggle, is shameful. It has no legal or ethical aspects."

Analysts have argued that Washington turned up the heat on the PKK in an effort to appease Ankara, which is opposed to US support for Kurds in northern Syria.

Karayilan said the winner from the US decision is Recep Tayyip Erdogan, repeating a charge that the Turkish president has supported ISIS.

"Those fighting against ISIS today are punished because the Kurdish nation fought against ISIS,” he said. “If it hadn't been for the Kurdish nation and the PKK, ISIS would have established its empire."

http://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast ... /201120182