Senior PKK leader denies claims on lawyers’ acts

ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News

A senior commander of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) denied claims the organization’s jailed leader Abdullah Öcalan relayed directives to militants through his lawyers, alleging instead they received Öcalan’s letters from state officials.
“Now, we are currently in possession of nearly 10 letters handwritten by Öcalan. None of these letters, however, were conveyed to us by these lawyers. The letters have all been handed over to us by the state delegation itself,” PKK commander Murat Karayılan said in a written statement circulated by the organization.
Öcalan’s lawyers were entirely unaware of these letters but sensed there was a different channel apart from them, Karayılan said.
Some 42 lawyers were detained Nov. 22 in connection with the ongoing Kurdish Communities Union (KCK) trials on the grounds they were transmitting Öcalan’s commands to the PKK.