Turkish Forces Continue Onslaught Against Kurds

Turkish helicopters and warplanes pounded Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq on Thursday, while at home police arrested hundreds of Kurdish activists in the wake of violent protests over the capture of rebel chief Abdullah Ocalan.

The security forces apparently sought to strike a decisive blow against the Kurdish guerrillas and their sympathizers after the loss of Ocalan, who was interrogated Thursday at an island prison.

Turkish police arrested an unspecified number of Ocalan supporters in Istanbul after four buses and two cars were torched and windows on other cars were smashed by protesters overnight.

Kurdish protests in Turkey flared even as those in Europe died down. Kurds holding the Greek Embassy in London for three days left voluntarily Thursday and were arrested. It was the last of more than 20 diplomatic sites across Europe seized by Kurds infuriated over Ocalan’s capture. The rebel leader was brought to Turkey after a commando team captured him in Nairobi, Kenya, where he was in hiding at the Greek Embassy.

In Germany, where three young Kurdish protesters were shot to death by Israeli security agents when they stormed the Israeli Consulate in Berlin on Wednesday, angry outbreaks were stifled by a ban on public demonstrations, but violent reprisals continued to rattle the country.

At least 2,000 Kurds demanding freedom for Ocalan surrounded the Stuttgart headquarters of the environmentalist Greens party after about a dozen others had penetrated the building and taken 15 employees hostage. The captives were released after several hours when the demonstrators were allowed to leave peacefully and without apparent legal consequences.

As German officials responsible for public safety continued to urge restraint among police in responding to outbursts of Kurdish anger and violence, security was visibly beefed up Thursday at potential targets in the most vulnerable cities.

The political fallout of Ocalan’s capture spread Thursday to the Greek government as its foreign minister and two other Cabinet members resigned. Ocalan’s capture by regional rival Turkey was an enormous humiliation for Greece, which secretly sheltered Ocalan for two weeks at its embassy in Nairobi.

Those resigning were Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos, Interior Minister Alexandros Papadopoulos and Public Order Minister Philippos Petsalnikos. Pangalos was in charge of the attempt to hide Ocalan at the Greek ambassador’s residence in Nairobi and find him political asylum.

The Turkish military, meanwhile, pushed about six miles inside northern Iraq on Thursday while helicopter gunships and warplanes struck suspected rebel bases, the official Anatolia news agency said. No casualty figures have been released.