Iran's capture puts Ankara on alert

Questions swirl in the capital over the weekend about the identity of a ‘number-two’ terrorist leader allegedly captured by the Iranian forces. A senior Iranian lawmaker’s claim that the number-two figure in a terrorist group had been captured by Iranian security forces put Ankara on alert Sunday due to ambiguity over the identity of the captured terrorist. The state news agency claimed the figure was Murat Karayılan, the number-two in the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, after imprisoned leader Abdullah Öcalan. Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu stepped in to clarify the confusion through a phone call to his Iranian counterpart, but received only a denial that Iran had captured Karayılan, with no more information on whom the country might have arrested. The development has added fuel to Turkish officials’ contention that there is a lack of cooperation between the two countries in the fight against the PKK and the Party for Free Life in Kurdistan, or PJAK, a banned group with alleged links to the PKK. Two media outlets with alleged links to the PKK, the Fırat News Agency and Roj TV, denied reports of Karayılan’s arrest while promising to broadcast an interview with the PKK number two late Sunday. With all relevant parties having denied the capture of Karayılan, questions remained about who was taken into custody by Iranian forces. There was no report identifying the captured senior terrorist but some sources said he could be the PJAK’s number two responsible for operations in Iran’s Mako region.