10 years later, the story of Öcalan’s capture

Ten years have past since Öcalan was captured in Kenya. I’m sure you will remember. We first were astonished and could hardly believe it when Prime Minister Ecevit announced that Öcalan had been brought to Turkey. Within the past 10 years many articles, even books have been written on the period Öcalan left Syria and was captured. Developments were picked to pieces for detail. But publications in the 10th anniversary of his capture provide us with new information. We examine developments in a healthier way and, more importantly, obtain correct and better data.

Rıdvan Akar’s documentary aired on the program 32.Gün, Nur Batur’s series of articles in the daily Sabah and Hulusi Turgut’s narrative on Öcalan’s conveyance to Turkey in the daily Hürriyet are a treasure chest of information.

What I’m closely watching is Greece’s role in this event. Athens governments have used Öcalan for years. They protected the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK. A Kurdish lobby had been established. Governments even created funds for such activities. And a section of society consisting of retired military personnel or people who are enemies of Turks, excluding authorities, have rolled up their sleeves to use this money and take advantage of the prestige of activity against Turkey. They have offered important support ranging from visiting Öcalan, to training the PKK, to even receiving with open arms PKK refugees who fled Turkey to a camp called Lavrion near Athens.

Nur Batur’s series is very important, for she bases it on memoranda from the court that tried him for "The offense of entering Greece without a visa." There it is obvious that Öcalan’s biggest mistake was to believe his Greek friends.

The same memoranda also states that the Greeks were split in two.

On one side there was Prime Minister Simitis and those who thought like him, namely to get rid of the Öcalan problem, and on the other side there were those who wanted to use Öcalan against Turkey. In the end common sense won and the Öcalan lobby was wiped out.

I was always curious about Pangalos’s role in Öcalan’s capturing. And I repeatedly talked to him.

He says that his biggest mistake was to tolerate Öcalan’s stay at the Greek embassy in Kenya for a few days because it was planned that Öcalan would stay at a huge farm in South Africa owned by a South African of Greek origin; however, they could not obtain it so he had to stay in Kenya for a few days. According to Pangalos, Öcalan’s place of stay was identified because U.S. sympathizers in the Greek intelligence service sent reports to Washington. Whoever did what, he did the best. If Simitis was not in the seat of power there wouldn’t be winds of peace blowing in the Aegean today.


MİT traced Öcalan through informant

Two institutions played a very important role in delivering Öcalan to Turkey.

One of them was the Turkish National Intelligence Organization, or MİT, and the other the CIA.

Nobody in Ankara should expect credit for this. The MİT chased Öcalan step by step from the moment he left Syria and was delivered in Kenya. It knew every place where Öcalan had been. Neither the CIA nor any other intelligence service (especially the Israelis) could get ahead of the MİT.

The foremost reason for this was that there had been an MİT informant within the PKK. I don’t know if you read about it anywhere else. Maybe you are hearing it the first time but this informant who followed Öcalan’s steps and actions closely provided an incredible advantage.

Despite the fact that the CIA knew and mumbled about it, Washington was surprised to hear some information first hand from the MİT representative.

American superiority in Öcalan’s pursuit derived from an FBI agent at the Nairobi airport. The agent became suspicious about Öcalan being taken out of a side door and followed him. When he took a picture and sent it to Washington he raised hell.

You might ask: "What business does the agent have being there?"

During that time a huge assassination attempt was made on an American at the Nairobi airport and the Kenyan government allowed the FBI to monitor the airport. Öcalan got caught in this web. But again the first to find out where Öcalan was staying in Nairobi was MİT.

It all has to do with technical follow-up.

The delivery of Öcalan to Turkey was totally based on a decision made by former President Clinton.

The U.S. administration pressured Greece to expel Öcalan from the embassy in Nairobi and ensured the delivery of the PKK leader to air craft sent by the Turkish MİT after making a deal with the Kenyan government. If Washington had decided otherwise Öcalan would still be living some place else.