Turkey 431 The Hagia Sophia mosque in Istanbul, Turkey Though a secular state, Turkey is a Muslim nation (mostly Sunni, but significant Shi’i, Alevi, and Sufi communities are present), where only 0.2 percent of the population are Christian or Jewish brought the PKK beyond the sphere of Turkey The PKK also received support from Kurds living in Europe The PKK used guerrilla warfare to launch attacks within Turkey The Turkish army responded brutally to the terrorist attacks Villages thought to be harboring PKK terrorists were destroyed, and thousands were arrested, detained, and tortured Many innocent people were killed and their homes destroyed After the U.S defeat of Iraq in 1991, Turkey feared the creation of a Kurdish state in northern Iraq that would be used as a base for Kurdish attacks on Turkey Subsequently, President Özal officially recognized the existence of Kurds in Turkey and implemented a bill that would allow the Kurdish language to be used in everyday conversations but not in business, government, or any other official agency Despite this, the PKK stepped up their campaigns against the Turkish government, committing more atrocities, which further enraged the Turkish public Öcalan was captured in Nairobi, Kenya, by Turkish commandos in 1999 He was sentenced to death and imprisoned on an island in the Marmara Sea, where he remained for years In 1993 the True Path Party came into power, and Tansu ỗiller became the first female prime minister of Turkey Necmettin Erbakan was the leader of Refah, which was supported by the young, professional middle class and students Erbakan did not engage in a radical Islamic changeover He personally championed reforms to change the working hours during Ramadan and loosen control of the Directorate of Religious Affairs to make it harder for the government to monitor Islam Erbakan also proposed lifting the