MIT (Turkish intelligence service) administrator Aydin Gunel arrested by the PKK stated that MIT Operations Bureau Chief Mehmet Levent Turkgucu and MIT Coordination Bureau Chief Yusuf Serkan Paksoy attended the meetings they held with PKK deserter Nizamettin Tas in 2017. “Efforts for an alternative party to the PKK” were discussed in these meetings.

TAS MET WITH MIT ADMINISTRATORS TWICE

High ranking MIT official Aydin Gunel who was arrested by HPG forces in Southern Kurdistan in August 2017 spoke to ANF about their meetings with the PKK deserter Nizamettin Tas. According to Gunel, Tas and MIT administrators met twice in 2017 and the meetings were held in the Salahaddin province of Southern Kurdistan, facilitated by the KDP’s intelligence organization Parastin. Nizametin Tas proposed a project to the MIT administrators about “a party [they] want to found against the PKK”, and this project was approved by the MIT.

MEETING IN PARASTIN HEADQUARTERS

MIT administrator Aydin Gunel, who was arrested in Southern Kurdistan in August 2017 in the Martyr Sakine Cansiz Revolutionary Vengeance Operation, spoke about the joint efforts with persons who fled the PKK and started working against the Kurdish freedom struggle. According to Gunel, Nizamettin Tas is leading the group who want to build an alternative party to the Kurdish Freedom Movement in North Kurdistan. Tas and MIT administrators met twice in 2017 with this agenda, and the meetings were held in the Parastin headquarters in the province of Salahaddin.

MEETING WITH MIT OPERATIONS CHIEF MEHMET LEVENT TURKGUCU

MIT administrator Aydin Gunel said the following on the matter: “Nizamettin Tas, code name Botan, said he wanted to meet with us. The meeting request was relayed by the KDP’s intelligence organization Parastin, who relayed the information to the MIT Undersecretary through the consulate in Erbil. We then travelled to Erbil with MIT Operations Bureau Chief Mehmet Levent Turkgucu in March 2017 to meet with Nizamettin Tas in the Parastin offices in Salahaddin. Salih Barzani from the Parastin PKK Desk, MIT Erbil Representative Selcuk Senel and a translator were present in the meeting.

Aydin Gunel continued to say that Tas spoke about his views on the developments in the region and added that they wanted to found a party in Turkey and Northern Kurdistan to “be an alternative to the PKK”, and they wanted support from the MIT. According to Aydin Gunel, Nizamettin Tas said he broke away from the PKK in 2004 and that the organization named PWD they founded together with Osman Ocalan and Hidir Sarikaya didn’t achieve the goals, adding that they have been wasting time “for nothing” even though they were under the KDP’s supervision for 13 years.

PKK DESERTER NIZAMETTIN TAS PROPOSED NEW PARTY

Nizamettin Tas told the MIT administrators the following on the new party they wanted to found: “We want to found a new party in Turkey, bringing parties like Hak-Par, PAK and PWD. We have been holding meetings under the lead of the KDP for a long time. The goal of this party would be to break the PKK’s influence in the region. There are clans and families of village guards who support us. Some cadres from the founding period of the PKK are with us. We will organize efforts in Turkey, we will focus on university students and we will have media, like a television, etc.”

Nizamettin Tas reportedly said they will send some cadres to Turkey after founding the party, and asked for the MIT’s help in resolving the “legal issues” of people they will send to Turkey, and in protecting these individuals.

Tas told the MIT administrators that the KDP has been supporting them financially.

In the meeting held in March 2017, Nizamettin Tas said there were some issues in the efforts for the party, and added that the party bylaws have already been prepared.

REPORT SUBMITTED TO THE MIT

According to MIT administrator Aydin Gunel, the MIT administrators submitted a report to their superiors upon returning to Ankara and stressed that the project Nizamettin Tas proposed is at the beginning stages and offered their opinion that the efforts should be monitored, the list of people Nizamettin Tas requested protection for be heeded and communication continued.

PROJECT FELL APART WHEN MIT MEMBERS WERE CAPTURED

Another meeting was held in June 2017 through the Parastin again. MIT Coordination Bureau Chief Yusuf Serkan Paksoy was present in this meeting and read reports from the previous meeting in March beforehand. Upon his return to Ankara, Paksoy said Nizamettin Tas didn’t tell him anything new and only added that the bylaws for their proposed party were ready and that they would be submitting their application after the Eid. Gunel said they participated in the meetings for the new party, but the meetings were cut short when they were captured by the PKK in August 2017 and were only limited to the two meetings, and added that he didn’t know how the issue progressed after their arrest. Looking at Gunel’s statements, it would seem that the project fell apart after the capture of the MIT members who were dealing with Nizamettin Tas.

THE POLITICAL WILL BROUGHT KEMAL BURKAY TO TURKEY

MIT administrator Aydin Gunel added that the MIT always has ongoing efforts to create an alternative to the PKK in Northern Kurdistan: “The political will brought Kemal Burkay to Turkey. It was a display of power. They wanted to say that there was an alternative Kurdish organization to the PKK. But those efforts failed.”

MIT administrator Erhan Pekcetin spoke about the same matter and said he was aware of the meeting: “Chief Serkan said we should follow the new party to be founded. He was talking to Chief Levent was speaking of 300.000 dollars for the new party, they were considering this amount for the founding costs.”

WHAT HAD HAPPENED?

MIT administrators Aydin Gunel and Erhan Pekcetin were captured in a special HPG operation in August 2017 in Southern Kurdistan near Sulaymaniyah where they went to coordinate attacks against PKK administrators. Footage from the capture of these MIT administrators was published in recent months.

MIT administrators Gunel and Pekcetin gave important information on the January 9, 2013 Paris Massacre and confessed how the massacre of Sakine Cansiz, Fidan Dogan and Leyla Saylemez was organized by the MIT headquarters in detail.