WikiLeaks’ Turkey partner, the daily Taraf, has published U.S. cables on alleged connections between the U.S. and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which is recognized as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the EU and the U.S.
Taraf recalled a photograph published in the daily Milliyet by journalist Can Dündar on Jan. 23, 2003, which allegedly featured PKK members and “U.S. officials” in a conference. Both Washington and then-U.S. Ambassador to Ankara W. Robert Pearson denied the allegations but Dündar stood by his story, claiming Turkey had official intelligence reports on the ties between the two parties. Taraf also noted the same photo was mentioned in an October 2010 interview by journalist Ertuğrul Mavioğlu with PKK official Murat Karayılan. He also denied the photo, saying it was computer generated, but confirmed the PKK was speaking to the U.S. in 2003-2004.

A secret cable from Pearson to Washington stated the allegations of the U.S. collaborating with the PKK were mostly mentioned by the weekly magazine Aydınlık, a publication affiliated with the Labor Party, or İP. It was stated that both the circulation of the magazine and the public support for the party were low but the alleged cable noted the magazine’s ideas were viable among Turkey’s ruling class and intellectuals. İP leader Doğu Perinçek, currently under arrest as an Ergenekon suspect, was mentioned as “a well-known leftist-nationalist gadfly” with connections in military and intelligence circles.

The WikiLeaks cables also state U.S. officials did not publicly deny the allegations but diplomatically protested them to the Turkish authorities. U.S. Ankara Embassy official Robert Deutsch sent a cable to Washington on July 8, 2003, complaining about the daily Milliyet continuing to dig into the PKK-U.S. relations matter and called Dündar “a channel for anti-American news many times.” Taraf noted that the tone regarding Dündar changed in later cables, where he was mentioned as “respected journalist and documentary filmmaker” when he was on the agenda for a documentary film on Turkey’s founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

A secret cable written by then-U.S. Ambassador Richard Barkley on March 24, 1994, to then-Secretary of State Warren M. Christopher, who recently died, states the relationship between the U.S. and PKK in earlier days. In the short telegram, Barkley thanked Christopher for the “directive text of the ministry on the official contacts of the U.S. government with PKK.” Barkley offered the opinion that the U.S. should continue to converse with PKK representatives to hear about their cause. However, he also warned that since a PKK spokesperson was murdered after meeting with a Cyprus-based U.S. official, they had temporarily halted contacts and recommended other embassies act accordingly.

Taraf said there are not many cables from Washington to Turkey in the WikiLeaks cables but one sent by Christopher to the embassies in Ankara and Yerevan on July 20, 1993, was noteworthy. The minister stated the allegations of Armenians aiding the PKK was a “cause of worry” for Washington and said if there was evidence they would apply great pressure on Yerevan but this matter would not be mentioned to Turks before being discussed with the Armenians. Other cables from the following years state the PKK exists in Moscow and in southeastern Cyprus, where the terrorist organization receives support.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/