US embassy cable - 03ANKARA4669

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 004669 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/23/2013 
TAGS: PREL, MOPS, TU, IZ 
SUBJECT: TURKISH INFORMATION ON IRAQI GOVERNING COUNCIL 
MEMBER MAHMOUD OTHMAN 
 
 
REF: ANKARA 4539 
 
 
(U) Classified by Charge d'Affaires Robert Deutsch, reasons 
1.5, b/d. 
 
 
1. (U) Baghdad minimize considered. 
 
 
2. (S) On July 23 the Government of Turkey passed to the 
Embassy the information below to support its claims that 
Iraqi Governing Council member Mahmoud Othman is closely 
affiliated with the PKK/KADEK.  (Note: KYB is the Turkish 
abbreviation for Talabani's PUK.) 
 
 
Begin Text: 
 
 
The information we have regarding Mahmoud Othman, who is one 
of the independent Kurdish Members of five Kurdish members of 
the interim administrative council established in Iraq, is as 
follows: 
 
 
1.1  He was born in 1939 in Suleymaniye, and he is a Sunni; 
1.2  He is a member of the Soran tribe; 
1.3  Between the years 1964 and 1975, he worked as the 
secretary of the KDP executive committee and as a politburo 
 
SIPDIS 
member; 
1.4  He was among the Kurdish leaders who held the secret 
meetings in June 1969 led by Molla Mustafa Barzani in Iraq 
called, "Kurdish Revolutionary Council" and "Meclis-I Tenfis" 
; 
1.5  In 1969, he worked as deputy head of the KDP foreign 
committee and attended the meetings under this title; 
1.6  He was a refugee in Iran from 1975 to 1976; 
1.7  Between the years 1976 and 1977, he carried out 
activities to establish the KYB together with leader of the 
KYB Celal Talabani in Syria; 
1.8  He was among the Damascus central administrators of the 
KYB in December 1977, and after he was replaced by another 
person he crossed to Iraq in 1978; 
1.9  In 1979, he carried out activities together with C. 
Talabani and worked as the General Secretary of the "Kurdish 
Country Union" established in January 1979 by C. Talabani; 
1.10  He attended the meetings held by Kurdish leaders in 
Iran in 1979; 
1.11  In November 1979, he was under the command of the KDP 
interim commandership; 
1.12  In January 1981, he conducted an armed attack against 
the Iraqi Government together with a force of 1000 
individuals; 
1.13  He became the leader of the Iraqi Kurdistan Socialist 
Party (IKSP) established in November 1981; 
1.14  He went to the USA in 1986 to provide cooperation 
between the Kurdish organizations; 
1.15  In 1989, he was in Paris for a while and attended 
various meetings and conferences, and at the same time he 
commanded the forces attached to him in Iraq/Mergasor Region; 
1.16  In April 1990, he attended the symposium on "Kurdish 
Issue" held in Switzerland/Lausanne; 
1.17  In December 1990, he was the official spokesman of the 
Iraqi Kurdistan front; 
1.18  He was General Head of the IKSP from 1990 to 1992, but 
due to some disagreements with the administrators, he left 
the IKSP and went to Europe; 
1.19  He attended the meeting held in Iraq/Selahattin on 10 
February, 1993 by Iraqi opponent organizations; 
1.20  He had direct contact with Abdullah Ocalan and members 
of the KADEK (PKK) administrative council, and in January 
1999, when A. Ocalan was in Italy and wanted to stay in 
Italy, he tried to have him stay and frequently talked on the 
phone with A. Ocalan during that term.  A. Ocalan said 
regarding him that, "everybody should benefit from his 
experiences and opinions." 
1.21  He attended the meetings, conferences and such 
activities held by subsidiary foundations of so-called, 
"Kurdistan National Congress (KUK)" and the KADEK (PKK) as a 
"Kurdish Politician"; 
1.22  He sometimes held negotiations with the high-ranking 
KADEK (PKK) members regarding the KDP and KYB developments 
and developments in Iraq; 
1.23  He had an active role during the preparatory stage of 
the "Kurdistan National Congress" established by the KADEK 
(PKK) as of 1977, and worked at "National Congress 
Preparatory Commission"; 
1.24  He attended the conference regarding the problems of 
Iraqi Kurds and establishing dialogue between Arabs and Kurds 
together with the authorities of the KYB and KDP held in May 
1998 in Cairo by Egyptian solidarity committee; 
1.25  During the "solving the Kurdish issue forum" held on 28 
and 29 July ---- by Washington Kurdish Institute, he made 
some statements regarding the situation in Iraq; 
1.26  He attended the International Conference named 
"Kurds-The People Who Do Not Have a State" organized by 
Brussels Kurdish Institute in Belgium/Leuven on 10 October 
1998 and made some statements that there should be permanent 
agreement between the KDP and KYB and in order to achieve 
this, he would continue acting as a mediator; 
1.27  He attended the 12th yearly meeting of the North 
America Kurdish National Congress (KNC) organized in the 
USA/Michigan from 30 July to 31 July 1999, and there he said 
that, "A. Ocalan and the Kurdish movement in Turkey should be 
supported by all the Kurdish parties, and they would not shut 
their eyes to the state terror in Turkey"; 
1.28  During the meeting named, "establishing peace between 
Kurds" organized by the KUK on 19 and 20 August 2000 in 
Brussels, a seven member committee was formed to establish 
peace between the Kurds in so-called northern Kurdistan, and 
to organize a conference called, "International Kurdish Peace 
Conference," and he was chosen as the head of the committee; 
1.29  During the disputes between the PKK and KYB occurred at 
the end of 2000, at the request of the PKK high-ranking 
administrators, he worked to establish dialogue between the 
PKK and KYB, and to reach his aim, he headed a group formed 
by Kurdish individuals residing in European countries, and on 
20 September 2000, he went to Suleymaniye.  But when he 
became unsuccessful as a mediator, he resigned from the 
"Council for Establishing Peace Between the Kurds"; 
1.30  He made a speech at the activity named, "Unity for the 
Kurdish Issue, National Conference for Peace and Democracy" 
organized by the KUK on 13 and 14 December 2001 in Brussels; 
1.31  He sometimes took part in some Media TV programs and 
put forward his views as a "Kurdish Politician"; 
1.32  He has direct contact with the high-ranking 
administrators of the KADEK (PKK). 
 
 
End Text. 
DEUTSCH