Malaysia denies participating in Ocalan's arrest

Malaysia on Wednesday denied news that it had participated with Turkey in the kidnapping of the leader of the Kurdistani Workers Party (PKK), Abdullah Ocalan, despite news reports which said that he was taken to Turkey on board a plane bearing the Malaysian flag.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid bin Syed Jaafar Albar said that Malaysia was not involved in Turkey's kidnapping of Ocalan from Kenya last week.

The Malaysian minister added that "information and pictures we got from the Turkish Foreign Ministry show that the plane used was a Falcon B 900 and is owned by a Turkish man and was painted in white with a red mark beneath."

The Malaysian minister stated that the real intention behind releasing such news without maintaining fact-finding aims at creating an atmosphere of misunderstanding and confusion and "to distort the image of our country."

Concerning statements published by the Turkish daily "Star" in its Wednesday issue, an official at the Malaysian embassy in Ankara said, "Malaysia was completely shocked by the news screened by Turkish television in which the Malaysian flag was shown on the plane which boarded Ocalan to Turkey."