Theodorakis and the Kurdish Drama

A) Antenna: News in English (PM)
99-03-01

[03] Dillan's accusations

Semsi Dillan-Koullouch, one of the three Ocalan associates who were with the Kurdish leader in Kenya - raised a storm of controversy Saturday, when she publicly accused the Greek prime minister of being involved in an international conspiracy to see that Ocalan ended up in the hands of Turkey.

Dillan-Koullouch spoke after making her statement to the prosecutor handling the Ocalan investigation.

At a press conference Saturday, Dillan-Koullouch, granted police protection in Greece when she arrived in Athens from Kenya Friday night, pointed an accusing finger at prime minister Kostas Simitis and former leading cabinet members.

Simitis, and three of his ministers - all forced to resign after the Ocalan abduction - gave Ocalan over to the Turks, said Koullouch, a leading member of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, PKK, outlawed in Turkey.

Dillan-Koullouch, Ocalan's secretary, added that the Kurdish leader's abuction was the climax of an international conspiracy that Simitis and then- foreign minister Theodoros Pangalos were part of.

So were Alekos Papadopoulos - then-interior minister, then-public order minister Fillipos Petsalnikos, and the former head of the Greek secret service. The conspirators included the American CIA, the Israeli Mossad, and the Turkish MIT, and the Russians.

Dillan-Koullouch also maintained that Pangalos never informed Ocalan that he was being sent from Greece to Kenya.

The PKK spokeswoman's comments left many prominent Greeks irate, and feeling that Dillan-Koullouch is lacking in gratitude to the country that's helped her. Government spokesman Dimitris Reppas called her remarks a delirious anti-Greek outburst.

Adding that Greece will never stop providing humanitarian help to oppressed peoples, he also insinutated that Dillan-Koullouch had gone to far, calling on the Kurds to refrain from taking on roles that belong to the Greek people - meaning the right to judge the country's leaders.

Composer Mikis Theodorakis was thrown into an indignant rage by Dillan-Koullouch's press conference. Calling her an ingrate, he cancelled his decision to perform at a concert Monday night intended as a show of solidarity with the Kurdish people.

Theodorakis said Dillan-Koullouch's comments were an attack not just on the government, but on the Greek people as a whole.

The Greek people, he concluded, need to pull together against such attacks.

Thanking Theodorakis for his intervention, justice minister Evangelos Yiannopoulos said he could understand Dillan-Koulouch making the outrageous and unsubstantiated claims - it was, he said, an expression of her pain.

Pasok MP Yiannis Kapsis, an opponent of the prime minister within Pasok, called Dillan-Koullouch's accusations unfounded and arbitrary. They raise serious questions about the credibility of the Kurdish leadership, he said.

Later Saturday, Dillan-Koulouch said that her initial remarks were being distorted. She reminded her detractors that she had thanked the Greek people for their support - her criticism was of five specific people, no one else.

In a derisory response to Theodorakis, she referred to him ironically as a defender of downtrodden peoples. And she thanked him, again ironically, for at last referring publicly to the Kurdish plight - even if in a negative context.

After Koullouch's comments, New Democracy leader Kostas Karamanlis repeated his call for the prime minister to resign.

But another leading party member, former New Democracy leader Miltiades Evert took a different view Monday. Worried about the potential damage the Ocalan affair to Greece, Evert believes that this is not the time to attack the government. What's important is to determine whether or not mistakes were made in the Ocalan case and, if so, how they can be avoided in the future.

The other parties were critical of the government. Democratic Movement leader Dimitris Tsovolas said the only service the Simitis government can perform for the nation now is to call for a general election.

And Political Spring leader Antonis Samaras said the Dillan-Koullouch press conference only confirmed what everyone already knew: that Simitis and Pangalos gave Ocalan to the Turks.

[04] Concert

As we heard earlier, there was a concert in solidarity with Ocalan and the Kurdish people in Athens Monday evening.

Forty singers took part in the open air concert attended by thousands of people.

Composer Mikis Theodorakis and several other artists withdrew from the concert after Kurdish spokeswoman Semsi Dillan-Koullouch accused the prime minister of being part of an international conspiracy against Ocalan.

Some of the performers who took part in the event said that while they can understand Theodorakis's feelings, Dillan-Koullouch's comments don't change anything: their efforts were on behalf of the oppressed Kurdish people.

_(c) Antenna 1999_

Macedonian Press Agency: News in English
99-02-28

Öcalan aide alleges Greek officials took part in capture plot

Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) leader Abdulah Öcalan aide Dylan Semse Kilits on Satruday claimed that Prime Minister Costas Simitis, former Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos, former Public Order Minister Philippos Pestalinikos and the head of the Greek secret service played an active role in realising the plans of the United States, Israel and Turkey, regarding Öcalan's fate.

Kilits reiterated earlier PKK allegations, failing however to provide evidence for the accusations levelled against the Greek, U.S., Israeli, Russian and Kenyan governments, during a press conference in an Athens hotel.

Kilits, who is a Belgian passport holder, requested several times that the reasons for Mr. Pangalos' visit to Kenya more than one and a half month ago.

She also said that "such an important issue (as the Öcalan case) it could not have been possible for the premier not to know."

Kilits also noted that Turkish newspaper reports she did not identify reported that the US$50 million reward the Turkish government had posted was paid to secret services she also did not identify.

She repeatedly accused the US, Israel and Turkey of conspiracy and added that the Greek government was part of the successful efforts to capture Öcalan.

Kilits one of the three Öcalan aids to be flown to Greece from Kenya spoke through a translator, while the other two women, Nucan Derya, 23 and Melsa Deniz, 19, who were given political asylum in Greece were not present.

Mikis Theodorakis, the composer of such classics as Zorba the Greek, said he and his orchestra would not be participating in a planned solidarity with the Kurds concert on Monday evening, following Kilic's claims.

"Greece has never found itself on the side of the oppressors but has always supported the oppressed and the victims," Theodorakis said on Saturday evening.

He called Kilic's comments "slanderous and ungrateful" and that the "unsubstantiated claims heard (from Kilic) are not relevant only to Mr. Simitis and Mr. Pangalos but to the entire Greek people".

In statements later on Saturday, after testifying to a court inquiry on the details of the Öcalan affair, Kilic said her comments had been misinterpreted and thanked the Greek people and Foreign Minister George Papandreou for their help.

*********************************************

Macedonian Press Agency: News in English
99-02-28

[05] Mikis Theodorakis incensed over PKK member's ingratitude

Web Posted: 17:27 GMT+2

Athens, 28/02/1999 (MPA). Greece's famous composer Mikis Theodorakis made a rare television appearance yesterday evening where he expressed his chagrin over the sense of ingratitude displayed by PKK member Semsi Kilic who, a mere few hours after her successful evacuation from the Greek embassy in Nairobi, accused the Greek government of espionage and betrayal.

Obviously distraught, Mr. Theodorakis (who is a known liberal) stated that Ms. Kilic's words were an insult to all of Greece, a country that has always stood by victims, not the persecutors, as history attests.

He said that her accusations are unfathomable and announced that, as much as he feels for the Kurdish people and their plight, he and his orchestra will cancel their participation in tomorrow's concert held in support of the PKK leader.

A.F.

*********************************************

Macedonian Press Agency: News in English
99-03-01

[11] Concert to be held in support of Kurds tonight in Athens

Athens, March 1 (MPA)

Featuring a pantheon of Greek artists, musicians and intellectuals, all participating on a volunteer basis, Athens will host a free concert this evening at Constitution Square, held in support to the Kurdish people.

However, on the aftermath of the allegations made by Semis Kilic -the secretary of Kurdish Leader Abdullah Ocalan- against Greece, some of the previously-willing participants have cancelled their appearance. Among them are Greece's famous composer Mikis Theodorakis, singer Maria Faradouri and actor Stavros Paravas.

A.F.
 

[01] PKK member's press conference brings on flurry of reactions

Athens, March 1 (MPA)

After an aide of PKK leader Abdulah Ocalan hurled an array of espionage and betrayal allegations against the Greek Prime Minister and a number of government officials, a flurry of reactions came forth throughout Greece, led by the Premier Kostas Simitis who said that "some people are attempting to blacken the image of Greece. Our country over the years has helped at its cost those who are persecuted and suffering. Look around you at the thousands of Kurds, the hundreds of thousands of Albanians and compare Greece to the other countries of the European Union," Mr. Simitis said.

Famous composer Mikis Theodorakis also expressed his chagrin over the sense of ingratitude displayed by the PKK secretary Semsi Kilic who levelled the undocumented accusations , a mere few hours after her successful evacuation from the Greek embassy in Nairobi by the Greek government. Obviously distraught, Mr. Theodorakis stated that Ms. Kilic's words were an insult to all of Greece.

Meanwhile, the PM expelled deputy Kostas Badouvas from the ruling party's Parliamentary Group since he espoused the accusations made by Ms. Kilic.

Main opposition party leader Kostas Karamanlis accused the Premier of subjecting the country to risks and international isolation, calling on him to resign.

A.F.

Athens News Agency: News in English (AM), 99-02-28 & 99-03-01

Theodorakis will not join concert

Mikis Theodorakis, the noted Greek composer of the musical score for the film "Zorba the Greek", among others, said late on Saturday he and his orchestra would not participate in a planned solidarity concert for the Kurds on Monday evening, following Ms Kilic's claims.

"Greece has never found itself on the side of the oppressors but has always supported the oppressed and the victims," Mr. Theodorakis said.

He also called her comments "slanderous and ungrateful" and that the "unsubstantiated claims heard (from Kilic) are not relevant only to Mr. Simitis and Mr. Pangalos but to the entire Greek people".