NEW YORK - Omer Onhon, the Turkish Consul General in New York, said on Saturday that the cooperation of international community in fight against terrorism had not reached a satisfactory level yet.
Speaking at a conference at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice of the City University of New York, Onhon said that terrorism was the most serious threat of the 21st century.
''Our investigations revealed that all acts of terrorism and terrorist organizations targeting Turkey were supported by foreign countries. Leftist organizations of terrorism, Armenian terrorist organization ASALA and the terrorist organization of PKK caused grave pains in Turkey. Turkey became the target of terrorism supported by foreign intelligence organizations because of its important strategic position,'' he said.
Noting that ASALA was supported by foreign intelligence units, Onhon said that Abdullah Ocalan, the head of the terrorist PKK, had been sheltered in a neighboring country for years.
''Although terrorist organizations succeeded in setting up a perfect cooperation among themselves, cooperation of international community in fight against terrorism had not reached a satisfactory level yet. If we fail to develop our cooperation against terrorism, we will lose our struggle,'' he said.
Onhon kept on saying, ''during the Cold War, there was a polarization between the Eastern Block and the Western Block. Now, a polarization has emerged between the Islam World and the Western World. It is totally wrongful. If there should be a polarization, it should be between the whole world and terrorism. We should prevent all kinds of double-standard in fight against terrorism.''
Upon a question, Onhon said, ''although the PKK is included in the U.S. State Department's list of terrorist organizations, it maintains its acts in northern part of Iraq which has been under control of the United States. This is a dilemma. Turkey is extremely uneasy about it, and expects the United States to do something.''