STATEMENTS BY U.S. OFFICIALS

Statement by Sean McCormack, Spokesman

Turkey: 22nd Anniversary of PKK Violence

Washington, DC, August 14, 2006

The United States notes the 22nd anniversary of the beginning of the Kurdistan Workers Party’s (PKK) campaign of terrorist violence against our ally, the Republic of Turkey, by calling upon the PKK to cease its terrorist actions and lay down its arms.

Since August 15, 1984, PKK violence has accounted for the deaths of more than 30,000 Turkish security forces and civilians. After a lull in violence for several years following the capture of the terrorist Abdullah Ocalan in 1999, PKK terrorism resumed in 2004 and has claimed over 500 victims so far this year. This violence undermines prospects for a more democratic and secure future for the people of Turkey and the region, and also significantly sets back the aspirations of Turkey’s ethnic Kurdish population that the PKK purports to represent.