.PKK: German hostages in good condition
ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) - Kurdish rebels refused Thursday to release three Germans hostages kidnapped this week until Berlin renounces a crackdown on the guerrilla group.
The rebels kidnapped the three climbers from Mount Ararat in far eastern Turkey late Tuesday, authorities said. A spokesman for the Kurdistan Workers' Party, known as the PKK, said the Germans were in good condition.
PKK spokesman Ahmed Danas told The Associated Press by telephone from northern Iraq that the group wants the German government to "change its policy" toward it.
"The German government treats us like enemies, and we don't want that," he said. "We ask them to change their policy. If they don't, we won't release the German hostages."
In Berlin, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier called for the immediate and unconditional release of the hostages, saying Germany "will not let itself be blackmailed."
PKK rebels have been fighting for autonomy in eastern Turkey since 1984. In the early 1990s, militants abducted foreign tourists and climbers to draw world attention to their cause; all were freed unharmed.
The PKK is banned in Germany, where authorities have arrested and tried suspected PKK members.
In Berlin, the Foreign Ministry warned that Germans face a further risk of "acts of revenge" following a government decision last month to ban all "economic support" for Roj TV, a station that Turkey says is a PKK propaganda machine.
Germany also warned against travel to Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeastern provinces. Britain also warned its citizens against "all but essential travel" to Mount Ararat.
The kidnapped Germans were part of a 13-member team of climbers camped at 10,500 feet. Mount Ararat is traditionally considered the site where Noah's biblical Ark ended after the great flood.
Danas refused to say whether the climbers were being held in Turkish or Iraqi territory.
Turkish paramilitary forces were scouring Agri province for the hostages, said Cemal Kaya, a top aide to the regional governor. In Berlin, a government spokeswoman said officials were "working intensively" for a resolution to the crisis.
MyWay
Not a good idea, this is not the way to make friend, it can only confirm to the Germans that you are an enemy
The rebels kidnapped the three climbers from Mount Ararat in far eastern Turkey late Tuesday, authorities said. A spokesman for the Kurdistan Workers' Party, known as the PKK, said the Germans were in good condition.
PKK spokesman Ahmed Danas told The Associated Press by telephone from northern Iraq that the group wants the German government to "change its policy" toward it.
"The German government treats us like enemies, and we don't want that," he said. "We ask them to change their policy. If they don't, we won't release the German hostages."
In Berlin, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier called for the immediate and unconditional release of the hostages, saying Germany "will not let itself be blackmailed."
PKK rebels have been fighting for autonomy in eastern Turkey since 1984. In the early 1990s, militants abducted foreign tourists and climbers to draw world attention to their cause; all were freed unharmed.
The PKK is banned in Germany, where authorities have arrested and tried suspected PKK members.
In Berlin, the Foreign Ministry warned that Germans face a further risk of "acts of revenge" following a government decision last month to ban all "economic support" for Roj TV, a station that Turkey says is a PKK propaganda machine.
Germany also warned against travel to Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeastern provinces. Britain also warned its citizens against "all but essential travel" to Mount Ararat.
The kidnapped Germans were part of a 13-member team of climbers camped at 10,500 feet. Mount Ararat is traditionally considered the site where Noah's biblical Ark ended after the great flood.
Danas refused to say whether the climbers were being held in Turkish or Iraqi territory.
Turkish paramilitary forces were scouring Agri province for the hostages, said Cemal Kaya, a top aide to the regional governor. In Berlin, a government spokeswoman said officials were "working intensively" for a resolution to the crisis.
MyWay
Not a good idea, this is not the way to make friend, it can only confirm to the Germans that you are an enemy
posted by madtom at 3:58 PM
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