Öcalan's capture 'did not end foreign support to PKK'

The jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Abdullah Öcalan, was captured and brought to Turkey on Feb. 15, 1999. Turkey had taken the risk of going to war if necessary when it called on Syria to return Öcalan, according to a retired ambassador who was the deputy undersecretary of the Turkish Foreign Ministry at the time. His capture, however, did not end the support of foreign powers to the PKK, Uluç Özülker has told the Daily News in a recent interview.