January 18, 2012 ANKARA, Heron UAVs helped PKK set up bases in Hatay province, Turkish intelligence report says according to 'Today's Zaman' Israeli unmanned aerial vehicles seen hovering over parts Turkey have gathered intelligence for the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK), Turkey's Today's Zaman reported Tuesday according to Turkish intelligence agencies. The report claimed that Israeli Heron drones helped the PKK gather information on the Hatay province, bordering Syria, to determine the locations for establishing training bases. Turkish military sources reported sighting an Israeli Eitan (Heron) drone in the sky on January 4, 2011 above the Turkish Hawk Brigade 14 stationed on the northern Syrian border at Kirikhan in the Hatay district of southern Turkey. The Israeli drone was said to have hovered over the encampment for four hours. Today's Zaman failed to say whether the Turkish report implicated Israel in aiding the PKK in any specific attack, many of which result in the deaths of Turkish soldiers. It claimed, however, that Kenan Yıldızbakan, a PKK member that organized an assault on a naval base in 2010, had visited Israel a number of times, lending to suspicions of collusion. The decades-long conflict between Turkey and Kurdish separatists located largely along the Turkish border with Iraq and Syria has resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of Kurds, and over 10,000 Turkish soldiers and police. The Turkish intelligence report underlines the low in diplomatic relations between Israel and Turkey, which nosedived when Israel announced it would not apologize officially for the deaths of nine Turkish activists aboard the Mavi Marmara. Turkey downgraded military, political and economic ties with the Jewish state in the wake of the diplomatic row. Since it was established in 1984, the Kurdistan Workers' Party PKK has been fighting the Turkish state, which still denies the constitutional existence of Kurds, to establish a Kurdish state in the south east of the country, sparking a conflict that has claimed some 45,000 lives. But now its aim is the creation an autonomous Kurdish region and more cultural rights for ethnic Kurds who constitute the greatest minority in Turkey, numbering more than 20 million. A large Turkey's Kurdish community openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK rebels. PKK's demands included releasing PKK detainees, lifting the ban on education in Kurdish, paving the way for an autonomous democrat Kurdish system within Turkey, reducing pressure on the detained PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, stopping military action against the Kurdish party and recomposing the Turkish constitution. Turkey refuses to recognize its Kurdish population as a distinct minority. It has allowed some cultural rights such as limited broadcasts in the Kurdish language and private Kurdish language courses with the prodding of the European Union, but Kurdish politicians say the measures fall short of their expectations. Sources: jpost.com | ekurd.net | debka.com
