Qaddafi, Muammar

(1942- )

   Colonel Muammar Qaddafi seized power in Libya in 1969 and has ruled there ever since as an eccentric, radical Arab leader. Until recently his support for international terrorism and isolation from most other world leaders because of his maverick reputation made him an easy target for international sanctions from the United States acting through the United Nations. Despite these unsavory characteristics, Qaddafi was and remains admired by some as a sincere, romantic Arab nationalist. He certainly is not the notorious killer and danger to world peace Saddam Hussein was. In recent years, Qaddafi largely managed to shed his terrorist image and reach an accommodation with the United States and the rest of the West. In February 2009, he was elected chairman of the 53-state African Union.

   For the Kurds Qaddafi has long held a unique place among Arab leaders as the only one who has called for Kurdish independence. In October 1996, for example, Qaddafi caused an uproar in Turkey when he told the visiting Turkish prime minister, Necmettin Erbakan, that Turkey's Kurds should have independence. Many, however, simply dismissed this position as another example of Qad-dafi's eccentricity.

   When Turkey finally captured Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in February 1999, Qaddafi released a lengthy statement comparing Ocalan's capture to earlier failed Ottoman attempts to stamp out Arab revolutionaries. The Libyan leader then declared: "To my Kurdish brothers . . . do not weaken or be sad for the more your enemy spills your blood the more he adds fuel to the fire of the Kurdish revolution. Denying the right of nations to independence constitutes an act of ignorance and shows superficiality, selfishness and ignorance of history."