Turks are irritated by poll monitors

A GAME of cat and mouse continued yesterday between self-appointed British election monitors and Turkish troops involved in the 10-year conflict in Kurdish areas of south-east Turkey.

Led by Lord Avebury, a human rights activist, small groups of pro-Kurdish students, nurses, Labour councillors and journalists have fanned across the mountains and plains to monitor the lead-up to Sunday's municipal elections.

They have found extreme tension in the region after the arrival of Turkish reinforcements. Two newspapers yesterday predicted that up to 250,000 soldiers would next week launch their biggest spring offensive yet against the 10,000 guerrillas of the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party.

The usual local clashes continue, but the security forces' defences are clearly being tested by Lord Avebury's groups. The Turks view the visits with even less enthusiasm than the British view American interest in Ireland. But so far they have only firmly but politely prevented the Britons meeting any Kurds they want.

The British group appeared satisfied that reports of their brief arrests have captured some headlines, though such incidents are a routine matter for foreign travellers in what is often little short of a war zone.

None of the monitors complained of mistreatment by the soldiers, rather of a surfeit of cups of tea, a scorpion and forced periods waiting in hotels and military barracks. 'I don't know how much impact we make here. But in Britain it brings it to people's attention. They've got to be more watchful in the way they behave,' said Mary Broadbent, a freelance journalist, phoning from Diyarbakir.

Ms Broadbent had been forced to return to her base yesterday when a Turkish army unit attempted to requisition their minivan. The day before she travelled by back roads to a 40-house Kurdish village that had recently been burnt down, apparently by security forces.

Another group travelling from Diyarbakir to Siirt was stopped by troops, forced to hire new minivans, to travel with a Turkish convoy through an exposed section of the countryside and to spend the night in a military compound. 'They said it was for our own safety,' said Peter Grant, a freelance photographer, 'but actually it made it far more dangerous, they made us a target'.