Part of the Kurdish–Turkish conflict | |
Date | 17 February 1999 |
---|---|
Location | Israeli consulate, Berlin, Germany |
Coordinates | 52°29′00″N13°17′20″E / 52.48333°N 13.28889°E |
Type | Protests, vandalism, attempted raid |
Motive | Revenge for alleged Mossad involvement in the capture of Abdullah Öcalan |
Organised by | PKK supporters |
Outcome | See Aftermath |
Deaths | 3 |
Non-fatal injuries | 14 |
The attack on the Israeli consulate in Berlin was perpetrated by PKK supporters on the Israeli consulate in Berlin, Germany, on 17 February 1999. Three people were killed and 14 were injured after security forces at the consulate opened fire on the PKK supporters. [1]
In October 1998 Abdullah Öcalan, leader of the PKK, was forced to leave Syria for Moscow, Russia, where he was not allowed to stay, before flying to Rome, Italy. The Italian government did not want to allow Öcalan to stay, however they were legally not permitted to extradite him to Turkey, where he could face the death penalty. After being denied entrance to Germany, the Netherlands and France, Öcalan went to Greece on 1 February 1999. He was captured on 15 February 1999, while being transferred from the Greek embassy to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, in an operation by the Millî İstihbarat Teşkilâtı, with alleged help from the CIA and Mossad. [2]
Worldwide protests broke out after the news of Öcalan's capture, which took place in Kenya by Turkish intelligence, with cooperation of Greece. 55 to 200 PKK supporters armed with iron bars stormed the Israeli consulate in Berlin on 17 February, accusing the Mossad of allegedly helping the Turkish government in kidnapping Öcalan. When the protesters managed to break through police ranks and enter the consulate building, Israeli security opened fire on the attackers, killing three and injuring 14. Later, German police arrested 30 PKK supporters and cordoned off all area as helicopters circled over the consulate building. [3]
In the immediate aftermath, Benjamin Netanyahu defended the actions of the security guards, saying that protesters had attempted to take a weapon from them. Israel increased the guard on all its missions abroad. [4]
The Israeli ambassador to Germany at the time, Avi Primor, later disputed the contention that in shooting at the protestors, the security guards had acted in self-defence: "From today's perspective we can see that it was not a case of self-defence." [5]
The Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK is a Kurdish militant political organization and armed guerrilla movement which historically operated throughout Kurdistan but is now primarily based in the mountainous Kurdish-majority regions of southeastern Turkey and northern Iraq. It was founded in Fîs, Lice, Diyarbakır on 27 November 1978 and has been involved in asymmetric warfare in the Kurdish–Turkish conflict. Although the PKK initially sought an independent Kurdish state, in the 1990s its official platform changed to seeking autonomy and increased political and cultural rights for Kurds within Turkey.
Abdullah Öcalan, also known as Apo, is a political prisoner and founding member of the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
The history of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) began in 1974 as a Marxist–Leninist organization under the leadership of Abdullah Öcalan. In 1978 the organization adopted the name "Kurdistan Workers Party" and waged its low-level Urban War in Turkish Kurdistan between 1978 and 1980. The PKK restructured itself and moved the organization structure to Syria between 1980 and 1984, after the 1980 Turkish coup d'état. The Kurdish-Turkish conflict began in earnest in 1984. The rural-based insurgency lasted between 1984 and 1992. The PKK shifted its activities to include urban attacks against Turkish military bases between 1993–1995 and later 1996–1999. Öcalan was captured in Kenya in early 1999. After a "self declared peace initiative of 1999", hostilities resumed in February 2004. 2013 saw another ceasefire, but the conflict resumed again in 2015 and has continued since.
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This is the timeline of the Turkish-Kurdish conflict. The Kurdish insurgency is an armed conflict between the Republic of Turkey and various Kurdish insurgent groups, which have demanded separation from Turkey to create an independent Kurdistan, or to have autonomy and greater political and cultural rights for Kurds in Turkey. The main rebel group is the Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK, which was founded on November 27, 1978, and started a full-scale insurgency on August 15, 1984, when it declared a Kurdish uprising. Apart from some extended ceasefires, the conflict has continued to the present day.
People's Democracy Party was a Kurdish political party in Turkey. Murat Bozlak founded the party on 11 May 1994. The party disbanded in 2003.
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The February 1999 Kurdish protests were held by Kurds in Turkey, Iran and by the Kurdish diaspora worldwide, after Kurdistan Workers' Party leader Abdullah Öcalan had been captured at the Nairobi airport in Kenya, after having left the Greek embassy, and was brought to Turkey to stand trial for terrorism promoting separatism and treason.
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Abdullah Öcalan has been imprisoned on İmralı Island in the Sea of Marmara since February 1999. He is serving a life sentence for violating article 125 of the Turkish Penal Code. Initially he was sentenced to death but the conviction was commuted to a life sentence in October 2002.
The Kurdistan Workers' Party insurgency is an armed conflict between the Republic of Turkey and the Kurdistan Workers' Party, as well as its allied insurgent groups, both Kurdish and non-Kurdish, who have either demanded separation from Turkey to create an independent Kurdistan, or attempted to secure autonomy, and/or greater political and cultural rights for Kurds inside the Republic of Turkey.
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