“The organization [the PKK], which was founded in 1978, has been moving away from the Kurdish problem, and its priority now is to secure its own continued existence, as it exists in 36 countries, is in touch with many intelligence agencies and is almost like a multi-national corporation. It began under the control of the deep state [in Turkey]. Before founding the PKK, Ocalan had close relations with some elements in the M?T, who later supported his escape to Syria. With the Sept. 12, 1980 military coup, he became independent [of the M?T],” Tayyar writes in the book, which is titled “Kurt Ergenekonu” (Kurdish Ergenekon), in reference to the Ergenekon organization which is accused of attempting to overthrow the current Turkish government.
Tayyar further claims that state’s secret archives contain many documents regarding Ocalan, and journalist U?ur Mumcu was trying to obtain these documents prior to his assassination. “Ocalan was detained in 1972, and received only a three-month prison sentence. The claim is that it was the M?T which secured his release,” Tayyar writes. “U?ur Mumcu was killed as he was trying to uncover the truth behind that.”
Another of Tayyar’s claims is that according to a document called the “provocation letter,” dated June 3, 2000 and obtained from Ergenekon defendant Hikmet Cicek, an official from the Turkish Special Forces talked with Ocalan’s lawyer before Ocalan was expelled from Syria in 1999, and gave some money to Ocalan thorough someone called “Pilot Necati.”
Tayyar also points out that Kesire Yıldırım, who married Ocalan in 1978, was the daughter of Republican People’s Party (CHP) politician Ali Yıldırım, who “is known for his close connections within the state.” Suleyman Bilcano?lu, who went to middle school with Yıldırım, told Tayyar for the book that his friend ?evket Ozcan had seen Ocalan in an M?T building. “When terrorism increased before the 1980 coup, Ali Yıldırım moved to Ankara and continued his work for the M?T there. When his acquaintance ?evket Ozcan went to Ankara, he went to visit Yıldırım in an M?T building. While they were speaking Abdullah Ocalan came in. Yıldırım introduced Ocalan saying, ‘This is the fiancé of our Kesire,’ and when ?evket Ozcan later saw Ocalan’s pictures in newspapers, he recalled that introduction,” Tayyar writes.
The book also mentions a 2002 plan by President Abdullah Gul, who was prime minister at the time, to bring down PKK members hiding out in the mountains. According to the plan, 250 members of the PKK would be placed in neighboring countries and some others would be pardoned. According to Tayyar, Gul asked then-Chief of General Staff Gen. Hilmi Ozkok and M?T Undersecretary ?enkal Atasagun to prepare a plan to make this happen, and they both reported to Gul that “conditions [were] ripe” for such a move. “Talks with Ocalan, who was then in prison in Turkey, also supported this plan,” Tayyar wrote and added that the 2003 law allowing for the reintegration of former terrorists to society was born out of that plan. Tayyar writes that the PKK began to be critical of Ocalan’s imprisonment conditions, however, and launched a series of terrorist attacks, interrupting the plan. Tayyar, who has also written books on the Ergenekon network, writes that President Gul confirmed that such a plan existed.