Turks, Kurds and anyone else who did not line up behind the PKK had to be dealt with. In northern Iraq, the two major Kurdish political parties consider Ocalan and his supporters their bitter enemies. With scant support at home, the PKK has had to look elsewhere for financial and philosophical backing. Much of it comes from the rival countries of Syria, Iran and Iraq, which provide direct aid. Kurds living in Europe and North America also give their share, sending donations and organizing anti-Turkish demonstrations.
Money also pours in from organized crime.
In recent years, however, many old alliances have soured for Ocalan. Kurdish groups drove him out of northern Iraq in the early 1990s and last year, Ocalan became a fugitive when Syria refused to shelter him any longer. He was detained briefly in Italy, but it refused a Turkish request for extradition on the grounds that Ocalan would face the death penalty. He was taken to the residence of the Greek ambassador in Nairobi. Greece, fearful that news of Ocalan s whereabouts would leak out, tried to find an African country willing to take him off its hands.