General Joseph Ralston, the U.S. government’s special envoy for countering the PKK, spoke with Yasemin Çongar on CNN Turk
September 27, 2006 Washington, D.C.
ÇONGAR: General, thank you very much for talking with CNN Turk. It’s good to see you.
In a briefing, this morning, to the foreign press in Washington, you made it very clear that you are not a “coordinator,” that you won’t be talking to the PKK, and that you don’t like the term “coordinator.” Actually, you are the “Special Envoy of the US Government for Countering PKK.” But there is still some confusion in Turkey about what you will do, what your mission is exactly. So I would like to start by asking you about your area of responsibility, if you will. Does it involve in any way, shape, or form the PKK presence within Turkey, the PKK actions inside Turkey or the Kurdish question per se?
RALSTON: Well, back again to what you say, I am special envoy for countering the PKK. Our immediate focus is with the PKK in Northern Iraq. I have been given responsibility of trying to come up with a set of actions that the US government, the Turkish government and the Iraqi government could take to solve this particular problem. I am not here to get involved in internal matters within Turkey. Turkey is a democratically… is a democracy and that is up to the Turkish people, the Turkish government to decide what needs to be done inside Turkey. I’m concentrating on the PKK that happens to be in Iraq and needs to go away.
ÇONGAR: So General, do I understand you right? Is your job, your focus, exclusively on Iraq – on the PKK presence in Iraq?
RALSTON: My job is to counter the PKK and certainly the immediate area of concern is the PKK that is operating out of Iraq.
ÇONGAR: In answering a question at the briefing, you did not rule out meeting with “law-abiding citizens” of Turkey if they had anything to say that’s relevant to countering the PKK. The questions on everyone’s mind in Turkey is, Is he going to meet with DTP leaders? Is he going to meet the Kurdish political leaders in Turkey?
RALSTON: It is certainly my intent to work with General Başer who is my counterpart and was appointed by the Turkish government and to work with Turkish government. And to do the same thing with the Iraqi government and the counterpart to be named in Iraq. I have no plans to meet with political parties in Turkey. I said that I am not supposed to meeting with law-abiding citizens in any country anywhere if it’s relevant to what we need to do.
ÇONGAR: Let me go back to President Talabani’s statement to the Newsweek where he spoke of a ceasefire that the PKK might announce soon and suggested that he had, or they had, convinced the PKK to stop the attacks against Turkey. I know you don’t like the word “ceasefire” because it can very easily be misunderstood. So let us call it a “cessation of the PKK attacks” if you will. First of all, do you find credence in Mr. Talabani’s statement that the PKK would announce a cessation of attacks? And secondly, is seeking a cessation of the PKK attacks part of your agenda in Iraq?
RALSTON: First of all, countering the PKK is the mission. If the PKK lays down its arms and renounces violence, then certainly that is a good thing, that is a good step for any terrorist group anywhere to do that. I can understand the unease with the word ceasefire because that implies that two nations agreed to a ceasefire, and that’s not what we are talking about here. We’re talking about the laying down of arms and cessation of hostile acts against civilians. That’s a good thing to do whether that’s credible or not remains to be seen. We need to wait and see.
ÇONGAR: But even a temporary cessation of attacks at this point will help your efforts…
RALSTON: I think certainly that will help and most of all, it will help the Turkish people.
ÇONGAR: Again a question that’s on many people’s minds in Turkey is this: Concerning the PKK leaders in Northern Iraq, we can reach them, as journalists, we can go and interview them, we know where they live, we know their addresses, their phone numbers. Why is it so difficult to arrest them? Is there political difficulty in arresting the PKK leaders in Northern Iraq?
RALSTON: This was the reason of my trip to Iraq to talk to all of the governmental officials in Iraq to convince them of the need to eliminate the PKK presence in Iraq. Because it’s not in Iraq’s interest. Turkey is the best friend that Iraq will ever have in that part of the world. The economic ties between Turkey and Iraq are enormous and they will get bigger in time. The terrorist acts is not conducive to good economic conditions. This is what we really need to do. To improve the standard of living for Turkish citizens, Iraqi citizens and you do that through commerce, through economic ties. And any time you have a terrorist organization that is going around going at innocent people that is counterproductive to economic progress. And those were the messages I was carrying to the Iraqi leadership.
ÇONGAR: Along the line of thought of Northern Iraq not being a refuge for the PKK anymore, are you, in principle, for the closure of the Mahmur Kamp?
RALSTON: Absolutely. The UN has said that we need to close the Mahmur Camp. There are ceratın steps that you need to do in order to carry that out. And that’s certainly one of the things we’ll be talking to the Iraqi officials about.
ÇONGAR: Can we say that the Mahmur Camp will be closed in the foreseeable future?
RALSTON: I don’t know if you can say that or not. There are steps that have to be done in order to do it. It’s certainly the intention to close the Mahmur Camp as soon as possible.
ÇONGAR: From what you said earlier, I understand that, returning – if not militarily wiping them out — returning the PKK members to Turkey, getting them out of Iraq is a goal. Short of military action, can they be forced or lured to do that? Is there any way of encouraging them to go back to Turkey?
RALSTON: This is what General Başer and I and our Iraqi counterpart will be working on, weill be working very hard to go through what are the appropriate steps that are doable that can lead to countering the PKK and making the PKK go away as a terrorist organization, that’s our goal.
ÇONGAR: Is any kind of amnesty part of your discussions with Turkey?
RALSTON: That is not been part of my discussions with Turkey. This is an issue for the Turkish people.
ÇONGAR: Turkey has been very concerned lately that there might be an amendment to the Iraqi Constitution which is still being discussed and that might make the extradition of criminals, terrorists between Turkey and Iraq impossible. Do you think such an amendment would help the situation?
RALSTON: I have got enough problems with my own mandate without going into Iraqi constitution, so I’ll stay away from that.
ÇONGAR: Are you, or I should say, should we be satisfied with the level of dialogue between Iraq and Turkey, between Bahdad and Ankara and also between Northern Iraqi Kurdish leaders and Ankara?
RALSTON: I believe that there is room for improvement ın dialogue between the US and Ankara, there’s room for improvement between the US and Baghdad and there’s room for improvement between Baghdad and Ankara. So I think it’s incumbent upon all three governments to improve the level of understanding and level of cooperation between nations.
ÇONGAR: Would it help if Turkey was talking directly with Mr. Barzani?
RALSTON: Again, this is an issue for Turkey and the Iraqi government to decide.
ÇONGAR: OK. When are you going back to the region sir?
RALSTON: I will be going back to the region in less than two weeks.
ÇONGAR: To Turkey. And also to Iraq?
RALSTON: I am going back to Turkey initially.
ÇONGAR: And when should we expect a tripartite meeting on PKK, on security issues?
RALSTON: I don’t know. Whenever the appropriate time is. We have to properly prepare it and ww will do that whenever the time is right.
ÇONGAR: And that time has not come yet?
RALSTON: That time has not come yet.
ÇONGAR: You have spoken against military intervention, or rather, you have actually said that the military option should be the last resort. “It is on the table, all options are on the table, but the military option should be the last resort.” Are you confident, sir, that Turkey will have the patience to wait for the fruits, if you will, of your efforts and the efforts of others in the region and not to intervene militarily with the increase in the PKK attacks in Turkey?
RALSTON: Turkey is a sovereign nation and Turkey will have to make its own decisions. What I have said and I think too much has been said about it, I have said that all options are on the table. We need to look at a wide range of measures. Military action is ceratinly one of those measures. I merely said as a former militery officer and the same can be said of anyone who has ever worn a uniform, we all believe that use of force should be the last resort, not the first resort. That doesn’t mean that I have spoken against the military option. Quite the opposite; military option at times is necessary. And I haven’t been reluctant to use military action when it was called for. But I merely stated, as a principle, that military action should follow all other alternatives.
ÇONGAR: General Ralston, you have been very generous with your time. I have one last question. This week, there was a funeral – there are many funerals in Turkey these days as you know – and a Turkish soldier who was killed by the PKK was being buried. His father said “The US is responsible for the death of my son and I put the blame squarely on the US.” If you were to address that father who might be watching us tonight, sir, what would you tell him, what would you promise him that that the US government will do against the PKK in the region?
RALSTON: First of all, I would say not only to that father but to the families of the victims of the PKK terrorist acts, my deepest sympathies. I understand that. Every country in the world has problems with terrorists whether it is the US or Turkey. And that is why I came back to do this mission, not because I was looking for something else to do. But when I was asked would I go do it, the significance of trying to eradicate terrorism is so important to all our future, to our children, to our grandchildren, to the next generations, that it is worth making every effort we can to eradicate terrorism wherever it is.
ÇONGAR: And on that note, thank you very much General Ralston and good luck to you.
RALSTON: Thank you very much.
