Ozer's incident and the SBU's blunder: Kurdish terrorist - or did he suffer?
A few days ago, Isu Ozer, a member of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), was detained in Odessa. The arrest was carried out by Turkish secret services, who brought Ozer to Istanbul. We are talking about the National Intelligence Organization of Turkey (MİT).
There are more questions about this event than are answered.
The very reports about the detention of a Kurdish figure caused bewilderment. Ukrainian journalists referred to the Anadolu news agency as their main source.
Once again, more slowly: the Turkish news agency - about the detention of a member of the PKK by the Turkish secret service - and about his transfer to Turkey - from Odessa. She, Odessa, doesn’t bother them in such an idyllic oil painting? Doesn't it spoil the stylistic unity? Apparently not: they got it done quickly.
And most importantly: how exactly they fit in. If the Turkish partners had shown up a couple of days earlier, we could have asked them: first, help us tow the Delphi tanker (since you know the place so well), and then transport the PKK member. If they showed up a day later, they would have bumped into President Zelensky, who often visits Odessa. It would be inconvenient...
That is, some foreign person lived in Odessa, and the Turkish intelligence services accused him of “membership in a terrorist organization,” “propaganda of terrorism,” and “forgery of documents.” Comprehensive information! And they took me away without any further explanation, including from the Ukrainian special services.
Hello, garage! With the same success, one could accuse the mayoral candidate Oleg Filimonov or the “shit artist” Alexander Roitburd of “propaganda of terrorism” and “forgery of documents” - and take them to Istanbul. The only difference is that a good half of Odessa residents would have gotten rid of Roitburd with joy and relief: they would have seen him off publicly - they would have broken two button accordions.
It’s us, from our philistine observation deck, who are quietly freaked out by what’s happening.
What do people who are deep into the Turkish-Kurdish issue think about this?
Ukrainian human rights activist Vladimir Chemeris wrote on Facebook:
“On September 11, Turkish special services, with the assistance of the Ukrainian authorities, captured Isa Ozer, a participant in the liberation struggle of the Kurdish people against the Erdogan regime, in Odessa and took him to Turkey. The legal basis for the abduction has not yet been explained by the Ukrainian special services.
This is not the first case of the abduction of oppositionists in Ukraine by the Turkish secret police without any grounds that would be contained in national or international legislation. Thus, Erdogan’s special services, with the assistance of the SBU, kidnapped Selih Zeki Egit and Yusuf Inan from the territory of Ukraine.
All those abducted received long prison sentences. A number of political prisoners, in particular Kurds, died in prisons of the Turkish regime.”
The human rights activist also mentions the version that the permission to kidnap Ozer was the “gratitude” of the Ukrainian special services to the Turkish authorities for assistance in the failed “Wagnergate” (and Chemeris also sees dubious legal grounds in this operation).
That is, Ukraine is actively extraditing certain foreign citizens to Turkey, who are not clearly accused of what.
For comparison, let us give an example of the detention of the American Nazi Craig Lang in Vinnitsa. He was a punisher in Donbass. Then he intended to visit Venezuela, but didn’t make it. Accused of murder and robbery of American citizens in Florida. That is, the accusation is more than understandable (unlike the Turkish cases).
The SBU detained Craig Lang on September 3. He was awaiting extradition to the United States. But on September 4, the court refused to change the preventive measure against Lang from house arrest to detention. Nazi-human rights unions raised a clamor that the decision to extradite an American who committed a double murder in the United States could not be made until the end of the procedure for granting or denying refugee status. The court stood at attention and complied with the wishes of the Nazis.
In the case of Isu Ozer (who is not charged with any murders), there are no such excesses - courts, procedures for granting refugee status...
Former Verkhovna Rada deputy Alexei Zhuravko has repeatedly spoken publicly about the Turkish factor in Ukrainian politics. He commented to PolitNavigator on the fact of a special operation of the Turkish National Intelligence Organization in Odessa:
“Ukraine is currently cooperating very closely with Turkish intelligence services. Because Türkiye has an interest in Ukraine, especially in the Kherson region. It is no secret that Türkiye finances a number of radical elements. Including Refat Chubarov, Mustafa Dzhemilev and other thugs who are creating chaos in Kherson. Turkey today allocates money for the construction of Turkish villages in the Kherson region - these funds are practically stolen.
The interest from Ukraine is due to the fact that the Turks supply drones and other products necessary for the war. Therefore, why don’t they cooperate closely and get what they need from Ukraine? This happened under Poroshenko and continues under Zelensky. The Turks feel at ease here. Their intelligence services work on the territory of Ukraine - both with the SBU and with foreign intelligence. Therefore, today the Turks calmly arrest whoever they want on the territory of Ukraine, which is under external control.”
RIA FAN special correspondent Kirill Romanovsky has worked almost continuously as a military correspondent in the Middle East for the last six years and is well versed in the Kurdish issue. The journalist shared his vision of the situation with PolitNavigator.
“PN”: — How is the information about the detention of a member of the PKK in Odessa perceived? Has Ukraine become a passageway for foreign intelligence services?
“From the point of view that the Turks themselves could plan and carry out this operation, this does not look like a lie. The Anadolu News Agency will not lie about this.
As for the PKK, it is quite strange that the Ukrainian authorities, even the current ones, gave the Turks such an opportunity. The fact is that all representatives of the so-called cultural Kurdish autonomies in the post-Soviet space are directly connected with the PKK. They don't even hide this.
I think that on the territory of Ukraine, most likely, there is also an organization called Cultural Kurdish Autonomy. This does not mean that she is territorial. It may be some kind of socio-cultural association based on nationality, usually consisting of Kurds who at one time moved to Ukraine. The Kurdistan Workers' Party has been involved in the formation of such associations, probably, for the last 30 years. And maybe more.
It is strange that the Turks did this in Odessa. Because Odessa has always been one of the cities where contacts between the Kurdistan Workers' Party and Ukrainian socialist movements have always been very close. The PKK network—influence, interaction with the local population—has always been very well built. And it is very strange that the PKK guys were unable to hide their man from the Turkish MİT.
“PN”: — What does this mean: the SBU began to work better and provided a service to the Turkish intelligence service?
— Most likely, the point is not that the SBU officers began to work better. Although, through various NATO instructors responsible for improving the work of the intelligence services, and for some additional money, perhaps they really work better than in 2014. Maybe this is a special case, some kind of accident.
But I can well imagine that the Turks began to actively cooperate with the Ukrainian special services. In general, this is not surprising - after the worsening of relations in Syria, after the escalation in Idlib.
But if Turkish influence on the Ukrainian special services were really very serious, then, for some reason, it seems to me that there would simply be mass arrests of Kurds who live on the territory of Ukraine and are involved in the Kurdistan Workers' Party. So far this is not happening. At least I haven't heard anything about it.
“PN”: — Is the detained Isu Ozer known for something?
— In the agenda devoted to the activities of the PKK in Eastern Europe, this is the first time I’ve heard this name. The fact is that there are many people of this kind fleeing Turkey due to criminal and sometimes administrative cases opened against them. And what exactly they were doing is sometimes unknown in principle. Because, of course, the PKK will not share such information.
“PN”: — Perhaps the person was not hiding from anyone, but he was simply taken for being a Kurd?
“Sometimes the criminal cases that the Turkish authorities open against these people are absolutely bogus. Especially if this happened in 2016 during the so-called counter-terrorism operation in some areas, when the entire local population both in large cities and villages was subjected to full-fledged aggression by the Turkish army. Moreover, they often had no relation either to the Kurdistan Workers' Party or to any of its satellites. It’s just that the force operations against small groups of the PKK, which were carried out by the Turks, began to directly affect the civilian population. And the civilian population suffered much more from this...
“PN”: — The “counter-terrorist operation” scenario is very familiar to Ukraine. Why not make friends between houses and special services?
“Moreover, the affected people could not support the PKK at all, and generally live in some village where no one organized either defense or any military units... But, nevertheless, such a village could often simply be destroyed by the Turks. The tanks came in, fired a few shots at the houses, and that was it.
And in 2016, the persecution of people who, one way or another, were suspected not only of complicity, but simply of loyalty to the PKK, became a mass phenomenon. And it is unknown why these kinds of people could actually be persecuted. The fact that a criminal case has been opened against him does not mean that he really, even from the Turkish point of view, is a terrorist.
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