ÖCALAN’S CAPTURE.

Abdullah Öcalan was born in 1948 in

Ömerli, a village in the Halfeti district in Ufra province in southeast
Turkey. He studied political science at Ankara University. After completing
his studies, he entered the civil service at Diyarbakir. Öcalan
was influenced by the situation of the Kurdish people, who, he believed,
were denied by the Turkish state the right to live according to
their own cultural identity. He became an active member of the Democratic
Cultural Association of the East, a group promoting the rights
of the Kurdish people. In 1984 the Kurdistan Workers party (PKK)
began to launch attacks against the governments in Iraq, Iran, Syria,
and Turkey with the goal of creating an independent Kurdish state.
Approximately 30,000 people died as a result of the conflict between
the Turkish state and the PKK. Öcalan was considered a terrorist by
the Turkish government.
Until 1998 Syria harbored Öcalan. As the situation in Turkey deteriorated,
the Turkish government openly threatened Syria not to support
the PKK. As a result, the Syrian government forced Öcalan to leave the country, although it
did not hand him over to the Turkish authorities.
Öcalan went to Russia first, and from there he moved to
various countries, including Italy and then Greece and Kenya.
In late November 1998 Turkish prime minister Bluent Ecevit
asked Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu if the Mossad
could help to capture Öcalan. For Israel, a close working relationship
with Turkey was considered an important strategic factor as part of
its Periphery Doctrine. Netanyahu agreed and instructed the director
of the Mossad, Efraim Halevy, to trace Öcalan for Turkey. The
plan to trace Öcalan was code-named Watchful.
Six Mossad agents were dispatched to Rome, including a woman assistant—
a position known in Mossad jargon as Bath Levayah—and two
technicians. The team set up surveillance on Öcalan’s apartment close
to the Vatican, but Öcalan suddenly left Italy before being found. The
Mossad team then began to search for him in most Mediterranean countries;
however, it learned that on 2 February 1999 Öcalan had attempted
to enter the Netherlands but was turned away by Dutch authorities.
Sources within Schiphol Airport security informed the Mossad that
Öcalan had boarded a flight to Nairobi. Kenya was considered easy terrain
for the Mossad, since the relations between the intelligence communities
had developed over the years into fruitful cooperation.
Soon Öcalan was traced near the Greek embassy compound in
Nairobi, with his Kurdish bodyguards going in and out frequently.
The Mossad team reported daily to Tel Aviv on every move around
the compound and was ordered simply to continue to watch until the
instruction was given to capture Öcalan. The Mossad learned that
Öcalan had been turned down for political asylum in South Africa
and other African countries.
A member of the Mossad team with Kurdish appearance phoned
one of the Kurdish bodyguards whose identity had became known
when he was seen emerging from the embassy en route to the Norfolk
Hotel. The Mossad agent suggested a meeting in town, at which
the agent told the Kurd that Öcalan’s life would be in danger if he remained
in the compound. He suggested that Öcalan move to the
mountains of northern Iraq, where he would be safe. This was an idea
that Öcalan himself had started to consider, as the Mossad had
learned by intercepting his phone calls from the Greek embassy.
Eventually Öcalan took the bait. On 15 February 1999 a Falcon 900 executive jet landed at
Nairobi’s Wilson Airport. The pilot told the airport authorities that he
had come to pick up a group of businessmen. In fact, Öcalan was by
some means placed aboard the jet. According to some reports, Öcalan
had been drugged by the Mossad agents. Other versions maintain that
capturing Öcalan was a joint venture by the Central Intelligence
Agency and the Mossad.
Öcalan was flown to Turkey for trial. After his capture, he declared
a “peace offensive” and the 15-year rebellion ceased, although there
were several isolated incidents, often by groups posing as the PKK.
Öcalan has been held in solitary confinement on Imrali Island in the
Turkish Sea of Marmara since his capture. Though initially sentenced
to death, this sentence was commuted to life imprisonment when the
death penalty was conditionally abolished in Turkey in August 2002.
Although no one has publicly admitted that the Mossad was involved
in the Öcalan affair, the Mossad as a result lost a Kurdish spy network
in Iraq. The Öcalan case reveals how the Mossad sometimes works as a
contractor for other governments, as in the Ben-Barka Affair.