The letter, dated Oct. 13, was published in Turkish newspapers and the Arabic daily Al Hayat a week ago. . A White House official, who wished to remain anonymous, similarly told the Turkish press that they had no information about the alleged letter from Ocalan and there was no way they could act as an intermediary between the PKK and Turkey as requested in the letter. If it has anything to settle, it should settle it with Turkey.
Action speaks louder than words.
Certain observers in Washington claim that, if President Demirel's visit to the White House had not been cancelled, the surfacing of the letter would have coincided with his visit. The Moscow-based official, who did not want to be identified, said the proposal was one of many being discussed with Russian, Kazakh and Azeri officials on how to transport oil output from big international joint ventures in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan to the West. Interfax news agency quoted a Russian foreign affairs ministry official as saying a Turkish delegation recently met officials in Moscow from Russia's oil sector and from state pipeline company Transneft to discuss the proposal. Turkey earlier proposed building a pipeline linking Baku to the Turkish port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean. The proposed line could handle both Azeri and Kazakh output, the official said.