MESOP : TRUE OR FAKE STORY : The removal of Turkish policemen involved in KCK operations: ex-intelligence

Zaman 19 Mar 2015 – ANKARA,— The former head of the intelligence department of the National Police Department, Omer Altiparmak, has said that the jailed Kurdish leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Abdullah Ocalan, wanted the recent removal of Turkish police officers who carried out operations against the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK).KCK, which the PKK is alleged to have established with the aim of creating its own political system in the Kurdish region in southeast of Turkey.The KCK-trial began on October 18, 2010 when a Turkish court began the trial of 152 high profile Kurdish politicians and rights defenders, accused of being the urban wing of the outlawed separatist Kurdish PKK rebels. Over 7748 people were taken into custody over the past years, pro-Kurdish politicians said.

Altinparmak’s remarks came during the second hearing of a trial in which he is accused of illegal wiretapping along with 17 others. During his statements at the Ankara 12th High Criminal Court, Altiparmak said soon after Ocalan said those who carried out KCK operations would be removed, investigations were launched into all police officers involved in these operations and they were eventually removed from their posts. He added that recent operations targeting dozens of police officers on charges of illegal wiretapping were launched with the orders of Interior Minister Efkan Ala, who recently said he does not recognize the Constitution.

The former intelligence chief earlier said then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan himself had him carry out an operation against the KCK.

Altiparmak went on to claim that a settlement process which the government says will solve the country’s Kurdish issue is actually “a process of treason.”

Stating that he witnessed the plan to divide the country during secret talks took place between Turkish intelligence officials and members of the PKK in Oslo in 2010, Altiparmak claimed that concessions were made during these talks. “These confessions were release of terror chief [Ocalan] from prison, amending the constitution and integrating PKK terrorists on the mountains with the public as police force of the PKK,” he said.

“Those who negotiate with terrorists are killing of those who fight with terrorists,” he said, referring to the government.

Altiparmak is among dozens of police officers recently targeted in a series of police operations. The operations, which prosecutors say were launched after allegations of spying and illegal wiretapping were made, are widely believed to be an act of government revenge for a corruption investigation that went public on Dec. 17, 2013. The graft investigation resulted in the detentions of dozens of people, including businessmen close to the government, senior bureaucrats and the sons of three then-ministers.The operations are also widely seen as targeting the faith-based Hizmet movement, which President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other government officials have described as a “parallel structure.” Erdogan accuses the movement of being behind a plot to oust him from government. The movement denies the accusation.On December 3, 2014, The KCK Istanbul case where 205 Kurdish defendants are facing trial for being a member of “terrorist” organization has been transferred to Constitutional Court, a process similar to KCK media case previously.