Research Article: The Kurds in Turkey: the Capture of Ocalan

Abdullah Ocalan's arrest in February 1999, followed by his trial and death sentence, made front-page news of the long conflict between Turkey and the Kurds. While hostility between the Kurds and the Turks has simmered for centuries, the modern conflict dates from the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 which ended World War I. This treaty divided the lands where the Kurds lived among several countries including Turkey, Iraq, Iran, parts of the former Soviet Union, and Syria. In Turkey, the Kurds were ruled in an environment of Turkish nationalism; in 1937, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk proclaimed a secular country, outlawing public, cultural, and religious expression, including the very word "Kurd."

• Kurds are not allowed free religious and cultural expression within Turkey.
• Turks view a secularized society, free from symbols of religious and cultural differences, to be key to a stable society.

• Kurds are scattered over a mountainous region that spans several different countries; they view themselves as a people without a state.
• Turks view the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) as a terrorist organization trying to destroy Turkey.

• Kurds are generally poorer and have fewer opportunities than Turks in Turkey.
• A few Kurds have had very influential positions.

Until his capture by special forces in February 1999, Abdullah Ocalan was the most wanted man in modern Turkish history. Over the years, the authorities in Ankara, Turkey's capital, have labeled him "a communist," "a bandit," "a murderer," a "threat to...
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