10 April 2001

1. "Turkish prisoners' hunger strike claims fourth victim", a Turkish jail hunger strike in protest at prison reforms has claimed its fourth victim, a human rights activist said Tuesday.

2. "Europe's traditional foes look to disarm"; Greek foreign minister in Ankara for talks.

3. "'The real danger is state terrorism'", the subject "Terrorism? Or armed conflict?" was debated in the third week of continuing meetings of the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva. The meeting dwelt on the meaning of describing national liberation struggles as terrorism, and PKK President Abdullah Ocalan also came onto the agenda.

4. "Explosive anger", Barely coping with economic and social crises, the public no longer has any patience left for criminal acts.

5. "Dervis: Nobody interferes in Turkey's domestic affairs", in response to allegations the IMF told Turkey to cut back on military spending, Dervis says government able to answer IMF queries regarding the budget but that the program will be of Turkey's making.

6. "Sadam & the New Order", Former political leaders from around the world gathered in Kuwait in February to celebrate the 10th anniversary of its liberation from Iraq and the victory over President Saddam Hussein.

1. - AFP - "Turkish prisoners' hunger strike claims fourth victim":

ANKARA

A Turkish jail hunger strike in protest at prison reforms has claimed its fourth victim, a human rights activist said Tuesday.

"Gulsuman Ada Donmez died in hospital in Istanbul on Monday. She was in her '30s and was on hunger-strike for 147 days to support her jailed brother," a spokeswoman from the Turkish Human Rights' Association told AFP. Several other prisoners' relatives, who have been observing a hunger strike with Donmez, were in critical condition, the spokeswoman said. Since March 21, three prisoners have starved to death.

According to the human rights' association between 500 and 1,000 inmates are still on hunger strike, with some 120 in critical condition. Their action began last October to protest Turkey's plans to introduce new prisons with smaller cells for up to three inmates, replacing existing jails with large dormitories.

In December, Turkish paramilitary troops carried out nationwide raids on scores of jails across the country to break the hunger strike. The four-day crackdown left 30 prisoners dead, many of them by self-immolation. Two soldiers also died.

More than 1,000 inmates, meanwhile, have been placed in three of the new prisons, despite government pledges that they would not become operational until a social consensus had been reached on their introduction. Prisoners and human rights groups have sharply criticized the new jails, arguing that inmates are likely to be more vulnerable to mistreatment and torture when isolated in smaller units.

But the government maintains that the packed dormitories are the main reason behind the frequent riots and hostage-taking incidents in Turkey's jails.

2. - Frankfurter Rundschau - "Europe's traditional foes look to disarm":

Greek foreign minister in Ankara for talks

ISTANBUL

Defence policy is moving closer to the centre of discussions between traditional enemies Greece and Turkey. The topic is bound to have been in the forefront of talks between the NATO partners and neighbours, held on Friday in Ankara and attended by the Greek foreign minister Giorgos Papandreou and his opposite number Ismail Cem.

The two "arch enemies" spend more money on defence than any other NATO state. Ankara, for example, disburses more than three per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on national defence and Athens just under five per cent. The average for Europe's other NATO members is just 2.2 per cent of GDP.

Now, both countries have good reason to broach a wide-ranging reduction in defence spending. Turkey is mired in one of the worst financial crises in its recent history. Economics Minister Kemal Dervis has already warned of the risk of default, as well as that posed to democracy.
Greece, for its part, is forced to make swingeing cutbacks if it is to have any chance of achieving the required budget surplus this year. At issue, ultimately, are the country's recently acquired obligations as a member of the European single-currency project.

The Athens government already indicated at the end of March its intention to pursue this course by announcing it was to postpone the purchase of 60 Eurofighter combat aircraft until 2004, thus going back on a deal that appeared to be signed and sealed. It looks for all the world as if the 4.5-billion dollar acquisition programme has been ditched for good.

This week, the Greek prime minister, Costas Simitis, declared that he believed efforts to normalise relations between Greece and Turkey - which almost erupted into war at the beginning of 1996 over two disputed rocky islets in the Aegean - should also include accords on arms reduction.

Turkey is also hunting hard to make savings, with this year's defence budget expected to fall by about a third in real terms on last year's figure because of the lira's recent devaluation and rising inflation. Defence Minister Sabahattin Cakmakoglu has ordered a review of spending in the hope of finding holes to plug. This has already resulted in cutbacks. Ankara will now buy six AWACS aircraft instead of the originally planned eight, saving 460 million dollars.

An order for around a thousand tanks and 145 helicopter gunships is also being critically weighed.

Even Turkey's powerful armed forces chiefs seem to have realised that the crisis-shaken country simply cannot afford costly new weapons at present, announcing that acquisitions which are not a priority will be cancelled or at the very least postponed.

Foreign Minister Papandreou of Greece enjoys widespread sympathy among ordinary Turks and the press, and personal relations between Papandreou and Turkey's Ismail Cem are regarded as cordial. Istanbul daily Cumhuriyet approvingly dubbed Papandreou's visit a "peace message" from Athens.

Yet sceptics have not stayed silent. The Daily News dismissed the Greek proposals to disarm as a "honeyed propaganda pill" which the "cunning" Papandreou sought to foist on Turkey. When formulating its defence policy, Turkey, said the paper, must bear in mind that it not only borders Greece, but also Armenia, Iran, Iraq and Syria.

3. - Kurdish Observer - "'The real danger is state terrorism'":

The subject "Terrorism? Or armed conflict?" was debated in the third week of continuing meetings of the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva. The meeting dwelt on the meaning of describing national liberation struggles as terrorism, and PKK President Abdullah Ocalan also came onto the agenda.

ALI OZSERIK

In the third week of meetings of the United Nations Human Rights Commission which continue in Geneva, the issue of terrorism versus armed conflict was discussed. The debates which arise because of the varying interpretations of international conflicts by different countries and the situation of PKK President Abdullah Ocalan came onto the agenda.

Dr. Karen Parker from the International Education and Development Foundation, Francis Mackney, a human rights activist in Ireland, and Colin McNaughton, the director of the International Human Rights Council, participated in a special conference arranged after the UN Commission had brought the issue to the agenda.

War in 36 countries

Prof. Karen Parker noted in her speech that there were wars going on in 36 countries of the world and that foremost of those countries branding these wars "terrorism" were Turkey, Iran, Sri Lanka, India, and similar countries. Parker pointed out that it was more difficult being branded a terrorist than a war criminal and said that the most concrete example of this was seen in the approach taken towards PKK President Abdullah Ocalan. "The main danger from the standpoint of human life is not from 'terrorist' groups; the real danger is state terrorism," Parker said.

Irish human rights defender Francis Mackney, for his part, called attention to the fact that the Belfast Agreement which foresees peace in Ireland has still not been put into effect and said that the recent decision to ban 21 organizations in England had been due to US demands.

Debated in the commission also

Meanwhile, the same subject was debated in the UN Human Rights Commission meetings. Dr. Karen Parker gave a speech on this subject for the commission also and, referring to the report prepared by UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights and Terrorism Ms. Koufa, pointed out that the number of people being forced to leave their countries because of war, torture, and oppression was increasing. "It is terrorist states creating this situation," Parker said, continuing to say the following: "The foremost of these terrorist states are Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey (especially against the Kurdish people), India (against Jammu and Kashmir), Sudan, Somali, and Burma. The UN Special Rapporteurs are falling defeated to the polemic of terrorist states that 'your freedom fighter is my terrorist'. In places where state terrorism exists, it is inevitable that people will begin armed rebellions. According to the Geneva Accord, it is a crime for states to turn armed conflicts into 'terrorism' for their own political interests."

'We are working for international standards'

Meanwhile, Murat Sungar, speaking on behalf of Turkey at the meeting, explained work that Turkey was doing for legal changes and civil rights. Sungar said that Turkey had been working to use education to conform its domestic law to international standards and that it had established the Human Rights High Commission in the government in 1997 to this end. Sungar continued to say the following: "We are concentrating on constitutional and legal amendments. We are preparing repentance laws for some terrorist organizations. Among these works is lifting the death penalty. Despite the fact that F-type prisons are up to European standards and the living conditions are better, some 'gang-groups' began hunger strikes and death fasts. No matter how much the state wanted to bring this to a solution in a peaceful matter, this remained without results. These tragic events showed that Turkey urgently needed to undergo prison reform."

Turkey meeting

Meanwhile, a conference on the subject of "The European Union, Turkey, and the Copenhagen Criteria" will be held in the UN Geneva Center. Participating in the conference will be Human Rights Association (IHD) Chairman Husnu Ondul, European Parliament member Feleknas Uca, Chairman of the Movement for Friendship Between People Against Racism (MRAP) Jean Jacques Kihricharian, and representative of the Liberation organization Maggi Bowden. The conference is being organized by MRAP, Liberation, which is also the sponsor, and Interfaith International.

4. - Ozgur Politika - "Explosive anger":

Barely coping with economic and social crises, the public no longer has any patience left for criminal acts. The people of Susurluk gathered together upon news that the body of an 11-year-old girl had been found in a home in Susurluk, in the province of Balikesir. The crowd first closed the Izmir-Istanbul highway off to traffic and then rampaged a rest stop and set it on fire.

BALIKESIR

According to information received, the dead body of fourth-grader Avsar Caldiran, who had disappeared the day before, was found in the single-story home of Recep Ipek in Sultaniye district.

Upon news of the incident spreading through the district that evening, the people of Susurluk gathered around the house in which the child's body had been found and began to march. The crowd blocked off highway traffic and then marched to the Sahinler Rest Stop facilities, where Recep Ipek is employed, and broke tables, chairs and windows. The crowd also set fire to the facilities. Reinforcements arrived from Balikesir when police had difficulty intervening with the crowd.

While there were no deaths or injuries in the incident, which continued until 4:00 Sunday morning, security had great difficulty in dispersing the crowd. Meanwhile, it has been learned that Recep Ipek is missing, while searches to find him continue.

5. - Turkish Daily News - "Dervis: Nobody interferes in Turkey's domestic affairs":

In response to allegations the IMF told Turkey to cut back on military spending, Dervis says government able to answer IMF queries regarding the budget but that the program will be of Turkey's making

ANKARA

In response to allegations the IMF have asked Turkey to cut back on military spending in order to receive $12 billion in financial aid, and that when it found out Greece took the decision to cut back on its military spending, State Minister for the Economy Kemal Dervis said nobody was going to be able to interfere in Turkey's domestic affairs. During a visit to Parliament Speaker Omer Izgi, Dervis replied to waiting journalists' questions regarding the claims that had appeared in the Greek press: "Nobody will allow anybody to interfere in Turkey's domestic affairs. We are able to reply to any IMF question regarding the economy or the budget, but the program will be of Turkey's making. The IMF has questions regarding the overall balance, but the details are up to us. I would say all other countries are of the same opinion."

Stating they were entering a tough week, Dervis said they were drawing up the economic program. Noting it was necessary for the program to reflect the conditions in the country as well as the views of the many segments of society, Dervis said that from that perspective talks were still in progress. Dervis said Turkey had a very strong society and that it would definitely overcome the difficulties it faced. "However, it is imperative that all segments of society do the duty that falls to them to do. Turkey needs to start growing again and I don't mean negative growth. That is the heart of the matter," he said.

In reply to a journalist's question as to when the economic program would be announced, Dervis sufficed by saying, "As soon as possible." When asked whether he was still insisting on the passing of 15 laws in 15 days, Dervis said, "What is important is that the work is fast and the arrangements are carried out, and that Turkey's economy gets stronger."

Stating that some of the legal arrangements would be passed in the form of government decrees with force of law, Dervis said most of them were largely ready anyway. He said the laws in question were not recently invented, brand new, never-seen-before laws and said, "People are saying 15 laws in 15 days, but this could be 16 laws in 18 days, or 12 laws in 14 days."
In reply to another question, Dervis said he would definitely talk with the leaders of the opposition parties and that he would request an audience with them.

Parliament Speaker Omer Izgi, for his part said that Turkey was going to overcome its difficulties and that what was important was the rapid implementation of the program. Izgi said of Dervis he, "was an experienced bureaucrat, and I see his being a minister as good fortune for Turkey at the beginning of a successful program."

In response to news there was to be a cut back in the number of advisors, Izgi said Parliament was obliged to make sacrifices as was all of Turkish society in order to ensure the crisis was overcome. Stating these sacrifices would start at Parliament, Izgi said a proportion of the advisors there were going to stay on and that the remainder would be posted to different offices within the bureaucracy.

Dervis added that should the decision be taken to sell off official lodgings in Turkey, it would be parliamentary deputies' lodgings that would be the first to be put on the market.

6. - The Middle East - "Sadam & the New Order":

Former political leaders from around the world gathered in Kuwait in February to celebrate the 10th anniversary of its liberation from Iraq and the victory over President Saddam Hussein. In reality, few people see Saddam Hussein as any sort of loser. Indeed, in many quarters his popularity has never been stronger. Adel Darwish, who attended the celebrations, reports from Kuwait City.

The Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein has outlived another American administration. A new administration, headed by George Bush the younger, is coming in, bringing with it many old, familiar faces from 10 years ago. Down Memory Lane in Kuwait at the end of February, George Bush the father sat beside the Emir, Sheikh Jaber Al Sabbah, enjoying lunch with friends such as Margaret Thatcher, John Major, Carlos Menem and a bunch of other former world leaders who were Kuwait's allies in 1991, when they believed, or at least gave the impression they believed, they had defeated Saddam Hussein.

A decade on, only Saddam remains at the cutting edge of international politics, turning a deaf ear to American and British aircraft fighters screaming over Baghdad. The Iraqi leader laughed off an invitation by former president Bush to "come down and see for himself", made as Bush addressed cheering Kuwaitis while their military, joined by American and British tanks, held manoeuvres just a few yards away from the border with Iraq. "No thanks," Saddam responded. You are yesterday's man, I will talk to your son."

At present, Saddam earns about $1 billion annually from the smuggling of oil

Meanwhile President Bush the son, in association with Britain, came up with the concept of 'smart' sanctions in an attempt to 'officially' alleviate the suffering of the Iraqi people. 'Smart' sanctions - the expression leaves the sound of hollow laughter in ears already deafened by past boasting of 'smart' bombs, the very devices that, by the Pentagon's own admission, missed their target one out of four times. And that unnerving word 'smart' - doesn't its use imply we have just had 10 years of 'stupid' sanctions?

Former British prime minister Thatcher, the icing on the cake of Kuwait's double celebration of both its national day - 40 years of independence from British rule - and the 10th anniversary of its liberation from Saddam's occupation, stormed the British Embassy garden party after the Emir's lunch. It could have been the effect of the champagne, or the sun, or a cocktail of the two, that resulted in her issuing a diatribe to the effect that, had she been in power at the conclusion of the Gulf war, she would not have permitted George Bush, the father, to go wobbly and take his eyes off the target. She would have marched the troops right on to Baghdad to capture Saddam, she said.

After planting a tree in the embassy garden, former prime minister John Major - another leader Saddam watched come and go - quickly revoked Mrs. Thatcher's fatwa, saying the coalition had no legal mandate to occupy Iraq. The UN only authorised the liberation of Kuwait, not the ousting of Saddam, Major asserted.

Equally, there is no mandate to impose the no-fly zone to the south, a French journalist was quick to point out to a British diplomat, who shrugged, poured more champagne into his glass and talked about the weather.

It is the no-fly zone that gave the new Bush administration an excuse to, noisily, declare a new policy it hoped would scare Saddam off. American aircraft hit Iraqi radar installations on the outskirts of Baghdad - which is outside the no-fly-zone, just one week before a grand tour of America's Middle Eastern allied nations by Secretary of State Colin Powell - another one who failed to unseat Saddam in his previous military role as the boss of the biggest army in the world, a coalition of 28 nations, when it waged war against Saddam. Now incarnated as the world's top diplomat, Mr Powell is trying smarter ways of getting rid of the old foe.

Loud whispers from the corridors of power in Washington suggest, to the annoyance of Mr Powell, that the old and ailing Vice President Dick Cheney, who was defence secretary in the administration of Bush the father, is hoping to iron out unfinished business from 1991. He was behind the February air raids, although British Prime Minister Tony Blair wanted to take the credit for devising them.

There is no sign, as yet, of what the Anglo-US plan might be

Mr Powell heard a very different tune when he listened to wiser voices as he tried to peddle his 'smart' sanctions plan in Cairo, Amman and Riyadh.

With the bombing of radar sites near Baghdad and the Pentagon's admission that their 'smart' satellite-guided weapons missed 17 of their 25 targets, Saddam's credibility reached an all-time high on Arab streets.

It could be, some argue, that the American and - token - British bombing on 16 February was the beginning of something new, bigger and better. However, America's friends in the region, who are also becoming increasingly embarrassed by the way Saddam continually spits the US in the eye, see no sign, as yet, of what the Anglo-American plan might be.

In Jordan, where he held talks with King Abdullah, and in Syria, speaking to President Bashar Assad, Mr Powell made clear that solving the Israeli-Palestinian issue was not an American priority. The crisis that threatens to wreck the stability of the entire region appears to have been put to one side. Dealing with Saddam and saving the Iraqi people from both his dictatorship and the crippling effects of economic sanctions was clearly top of the US secretary of state's list of things to do.

There was anticipation in the air as British and other western reporters gathered in the garden of the massive, newly constructed American Embassy complex, waiting for the arrival of Mr Powell, but it was misplaced.

He came, made some tribute to the fallen heroes, applauded George Bush the father's sentimental speech, laid a wreath at the war memorial for Americans who fell during the liberation of Kuwait, and went without saying another word to the waiting press. Could his plan to overthrow Saddam be so tight that no one could 'read his lips'? Or could it be that he had no plan at all? '

In its smart way, America is now working for the relaxation of sanctions on Iraq. Sanctions could be lifted on up to 1,600 contracts for the sale of civilian goods to Iraq. This could even be extended to some items that could be used for military purposes.

After Kuwait, Mr Powell headed to Damascus where he attempted to persuade President Bashar Assad to turn off a pipeline through which Saddam has been smuggling oil.
At present, Saddam earns about $1 billion annually from the smuggling of oil, through pipes via Syria, trucks via Turkey and Jordan, and by barges huddled in Iranian territorial waters, away from the watchful eye of the US navy.

The Syrians will not help America for love

Cynics in the Middle East anticipated that the young Assad would be a chip of the old block. "Of course we will turn off," he would say to the American guest, they suggested, then turn the pipes on again once Mr Powell's plane was out of Syrian air space.

Nevertheless, Mr Powell still had a go, since the success of his 'smart' sanctions depends so heavily on persuading Iraq's neighbours, Syria, Turkey, Iran and Jordan - the Kuwaitis need no persuasion - to tighten their border crossings with Iraq. Now the UN inspectors are out, he needs their help to stop the smuggling of all materials that help Saddam build his weapons of mass destruction.

Saddam's earnings from smuggled oil sales are not channelled through a UN escrow account. Consequently, none of it goes to compensate victims of the Gulf war, and none can be used to buy food and medicine for his people. Saddam can spend all the earnings from smuggled oil on his programmes for chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, on the missiles to deliver them, and on his gaudy palaces.

Mr Powell wants to tighten up screening for weapons measures at Iraq's borders. Only the most incorrigible optimist would buy this solution. Past experience suggests Saddam will find ways to import all the items he needs for his weapons of mass destruction. And there are other reasons why Colin Powell's plan is doomed to failure

Firstly, we must consider the character of Saddam. Given that an Iraqi delegation at the United Nations has said inspectors will not be allowed to return to the country under any circumstances, what could possibly make him change his mind?

The Syrians will not help America for love. The US has no leverage over Syria and there is little it could offer as a 'carrot', since the Congress is unlikely to agree to an aid package anywhere near the size that would be needed for President Assad to start reading from an American script.

Mr Powell is trying smarter ways of getting rid of the old foe

Meanwhile, Turkey is either unable or unwilling to stop the smuggling of oil from Iraq. All the action is concentrated in Kurdistan where the Kurds have a good working deal with Saddam, indeed some would say they have never had it so good. They have a de facto self-rule; Saddam, for the first time since the Baath took power in Iraq in 1968, is not terrorising them; and they are economically prosperous thanks to massive revenue from smuggling. The profits are shared on the other side of the border with Turkey.

America has no influence over Iran and the Iranians have no desire to help the US or discontinue a good source of revenue for their southern and western shores communities. Such extra income elevates the burden that otherwise would have to be met by Teheran. Meanwhile, Saddam is no threat to Iran while he is making the right kind of noises against Israel and America.

For those who continue to nurture the hope that some form of uprising led by the Iraqi opposition will unseat Saddam - forget it. The Iraqis are so impoverished and so weakened by Saddam and by the sanctions to even think - let alone to act - against their leader.

Saddam has his officials decry the injustice of the UN sanctions, but deep in his heart, he knows the sanctions give him more control over his people, through the distribution of food and medicine. If he genuinely cared about the welfare of ordinary Iraqis, he would not have refused to spend the $4 billion earned under the UN's oil-for-food programme on food and medicine for Iraqi civilians, instead leaving it untouched on the pretence of some lofty principle.

Iraq's neighbours have a single criterion for appraising US policy. They want to know if Washington will liberate the Iraqis from their tormentor. If not - if the new Bush administration is going to leave Saddam in power with his Sarin gas, his anthrax spores, and his nuclear devices - then the neighbours don't want to bear the brunt of his rage after the Americans poke him in the eye.

There are people in Israel openly discussing re-occupying the territories

Meanwhile the policy of patrolling the southern no-fly zone is turning out to be more of a political aid to Saddam than to the people it was designed to help in the first place. The policy was adopted to prevent Saddam using fixed-wing aircraft to suppress his people. As it happens, he doesn't need such aircraft to do the job as he has other means at his disposal with which to terrorise the Shia population in the south, while he chose to make a deal with the Kurds in the north.

With every bomb dropped on Saddam - and only one in four will find its target - Saddam's popularity soars and his allies in France, Russia and China (who updated his radar systems with fibre optics and modern technology in breech of UN sanctions) shout louder and more vociferously for sanctions to be lifted.

Additionally, Saddam cuts an increasingly impressive figure with some Arabs by claiming to be a 21st-century Saladin, with his efforts to repulse Christian crusaders and his vow to liberate Palestine from the Jews.

He has already invited Yasser Arafat and his Palestinian Authority to relocate to Baghdad. The sweetener: $1 billion (including $10,000 to the family of each Palestinian killed in the intifada). Saddam did not have to remind Arafat it was Ariel Sharon's invasion of Lebanon in 1982 that forced him and his PLO fighters out of Beirut the following year.

However, of the $1 billion promised to Arafat by Arab Gulf nations to help build up the infrastructure and the economy of the Palestinian Territories, only $400,000 has so far been received.

Arafat is smart enough to avoid his mistake of 1990 when he wholeheartedly embraced Saddam after his invasion of Kuwait. Nevertheless, Saddam's meddling in such affairs could have dire consequences. With General Sharon - who is famed for his military toughness rather than his accomplished statesmanship - in power, there are people in Israel's corridors of power openly discussing the possibility of re-occupying the former Occupied Territories ceded to the Palestinian Authority. And who is to stop them?

Saddam claims to have one million volunteers already signed up for the campaign to liberate Palestine. Neighbouring Jordan, - which gets all its oil from Iraq, and with two thirds of its population of Palestinian origin - is sandwiched between Iraq and Israel.

The scenario recalls May 1967, when the late autocratic Egyptian leader Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser decided to conduct a sabre rattling exercise to keep the Israelis in check. He moved some 100,000 troops into the Sinai desert. The operation was a crazy excercise. Colonel Nasser had no intention of invading Israel, but the Israelis were taking no chances and launched the Six Day War, the consequences of which remain the basis for many of the Middle East's current problems.

Both Israel's General Sharon and Iraq's President Hussein have proved capable of writing some mad scenarios of their own, without giving due consideration to the possible outcome. Like Colonel Nasser before them, both Sharon and Saddam long to be heroes. It makes the prevailing situation both unpredictable and dangerous, a nightmare scenario, not just for America, but for the whole world.