2 April 2001

3. “Turkish prime minister calls for curb on Kurdish place names”, Turkey's prime minister has ordered government offices to avoid using place names in the Kurdish language, calling the practice an effort to "create an artificial separatist movement."

4. “Gangsters rule in lawless Kurd heartland“, Turks protest against hidden forces in the south-east.

5. “Turkey Weighs In on Strife Between Middle East Neighbors”, Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem said the Middle East was moving toward an explosion, not an implosion, if Palestinian-Israeli hostilities continued unabated and the moribund peace process remained without an active sponsor.

6. “Thousands in Turkey demonstrate over economic crisis”, Thousands demonstrated in Turkey this weekend demanding solutions to an economic crisis that has hit the country since February and denouncing corruption in parliament.

7. “Six Black Sea countries set up naval task force”, the six littoral states of the Black Sea set up a naval task force here on Monday to cooperate on humanitarian and environmental issues without citing any military objectives.

8. “Southeastern women see solution of problems in peace -- Part 1”, to be a woman 'there,' and to understand the local woman.

9. “Swedish team to question Ocalan about Palme murder", Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan is to be questioned by a Swedish team on Monday investigating the 1986 killing of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme, a Turkish justice ministry spokesman said.

10. “'Guinea pig' file lost!”, the investigation opened against First Lieutenant Hakan Basakci for using 17 villagers as "mine sweepers" has been dropped. The investigation file, meanwhile, has been lost somewhere between the Prosecutor's and Kaymakam's offices.

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1. - Ozgur Politika – „Like the MGK's spokesman”:

German Interior Minister Otto Schily ignored the steps taken by the PKK over the past two years that have secured peace when explaining the Federal Constitutional Protection Office report in Berlin the other day, and said, "There is no evidence that the PKK has taken the path of peace and politics. The PKK could return to the armed struggle in Turkey at any moment."

BERLIN

Federal Interior Minister Otto Schily asserted that "the PKK could take up the armed struggle in Turkey again at any moment and could begin incidents in Europe."

Schily made statements that could outdo even those heard after National Security Council (MGK) meetings in Turkey while explaining the Federal Constitutional Protection Office Report 2000 in the German capital of Berlin the other day. He asserted that there was no evidence that the PKK, which has been banned in Germany since 1993, has taken the path of peace and politics.

Speech with ulterior motives

The statement of the Interior Minister of Germany - a country which has supported groups that have opposed the PKK strategic change towards developing a peace process and which has supplied a great deal of the weapons used by the Turkish state in Kurdistan - to the effect that "the PKK could take up the armed struggle in Turkey again at any moment and could begin incidents in Europe" has been interpreted as Germany's support for renewal of war in Kurdistan.

Schily said that the number of foreign organizations in Germany had decreased from 59,700 the previous year to 58,800 in 2000. He said that extreme religious groups had a total membership of 31,450, leftist groups had a membership of 18,600, and that extreme nationalist groups had a membership of 8,750.

Schily said, "The National View, which wants to create a social order in accordance with the principles of Shariah [Islamic law] is the largest foreign organization with 27,000 members." He also noted that the Islamic/Sheriatist organization headed by Metin Kaplan, the son of the group's founder Cemalettin Kaplan, had been continuing its activities since Metin Kaplan received a four-year prison sentence a few months ago.

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2. – AFP – “US urges Turkey to continue economic reforms”:

WASHINGTON

The United States on Friday urged Turkey to continue its efforts at economic reform, as US Secretary of State Colin Powell and his Turkish counterpart Ismail Cem held wide-ranging talks here.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Powell told Cem that Washington was pleased with the direction of the reforms, but wanted them to continue as Ankara looks for billions of dollars in foreign assistance to help fix its moribund economy.

Powell expressed US support for the continuation of the reform process "and working with the (International Monetary Fund), as it goes forward," Boucher told reporters.

Turkish Economy Minister Kemal Dervis said in Washington on Tuesday that his country is seeking an additional 10 billion to 12 billion dollars in international aid to implement reforms needed to overhaul the battered economy, especially to cover huge losses of three public banks.

Powell and Cem also discussed US plans to modify UN sanctions against Iraq by allowing so-called "front-line states" like Turkey to trade with Baghdad under tight international restrictions, Boucher said.

"The Turks expressed general support for the direction," he said, adding that Washington and Ankara would be in close consultation as the new strategy is developed.

The United States would like to ease commercial sanctions on Iraq while tightening restrictions on military and technological items in order to salvage crumbling support for the sanctions regime, which has come under fire for hurting the Iraqi people.

In addition to Turkey's economy and Iraq, Powell and Cem also discussed Turkey's often-tense relationship with regional rival Greece, and the two countries' interests in the dispute over the divided island of Cyprus, Boucher said.

A senior State Department official said Powell had asked Cem for Turkey to use its influence with Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash to reverse his decision to boycott UN-mediated talks.

A sixth round of those talks had been expected to resume in late January, but Denktash's refusal to attend forced its indefinite postponement.Powell is set to meet other leading players on the Cyprus matter in the coming weeks when he sees Cypriot Foreign Minister Yiannakis Cassoulides on April 9 and Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou on May 21.

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3. – AP – “Turkish prime minister calls for curb on Kurdish place names”:

ANKARA

Turkey's prime minister has ordered government offices to avoid using place names in the Kurdish language, calling the practice an effort to "create an artificial separatist movement."

Officials should instead use Turkish, the national language, Saturday's Hurriyet newspaper quoted Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit as saying in a letter sent to government offices.

Ecevit's office confirmed he had issued the letter, which was sent Friday.

"Geographic and place names that are not Turkish are being introduced into the daily language," Ecevit said. "Circles that have designs over our country are trying to create an artificial separatist movement."

Turkey regards all Muslims in the country as Turks and therefore does not recognize Turkey's estimated 12 million Kurds as a separate ethnic group.

Speaking Kurdish -- a language distinct from Turkish -- was legalized in 1991. Although some Kurds refer to villages or cities by their Kurdish names, these are not recognized officially. Teaching and broadcasting in Kurdish is illegal.

Ecevit, a poet who is frequently praised for his immaculate use of the Turkish language, also warned that the use of English was eroding Turkish. Ecevit sent copies of a booklet with Turkish equivalents of widely used foreign words and asked government employees to use Turkish words in their place.

The letter comes two weeks after Turkey hinted that it may take steps toward granting cultural rights to Kurds as part of its efforts to join the European Union. The country also said that citizens are free to speak whatever language they like as long as the language is not used to promote separatism.

Last year, a court ruled that streets in the overwhelmingly Kurdish city of Batman could not take Kurdish names or be named after revolutionaries. The mayor of the city is appealing the ruling.

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4. – Guardian – “Gangsters rule in lawless Kurd heartland“:

Turks protest against hidden forces in the south-east

DIYARBAKIR

More than two years after the capture of the Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan, many people living in south-eastern Turkey are convinced that influential forces in the region are determined to maintain a permanent sense of instability.

"They like it this way," Hamdullah Aktas said in his tiny flat in the back streets of Diyarbakir. "It gives them the freedom to do what they like."

The war between the Turkish state and the Kurdistan Worker's party (PKK) has all but come to an end, and there are growing demands for political and social change. But the long years of conflict have made some people very rich, and they are reluctant to let democratisation get in the way.

"They are a minority, but they are very strong," Cuneyt Ulsever, a columnist with the newspaper Hurriyet, said.

"Peace could be bad for business."

In the south-east, the profiteers smuggle guns, migrants and, above all, drugs. It is a vastly lucrative business which produces billions of pounds in profits annually.

According to US government estimates, between four and six tonnes of heroin passes through Turkey every month on its way to Europe.

Powerful gangs control the trade and have the money to recruit whoever they choose, apparently including renegade members of the security forces, the PKK, and the Village Guards - private armies funded by the state and controlled by feudal Kurdish lords. They thrive in an unstable environment where guns wield more power than the law of the land.

Turkey's law enforcement agencies have stepped up their efforts against the smuggling, but their honest members are often overwhelmed. Last year they made more than 6,000 drug-related arrests and confiscated nearly six tonnes of heroin and 25 tonnes of hashish.

At the beginning of this year, there was a series of troubling incidents in Diyarkabir. Its popular police chief, Gaffar Okkan, who was trying to rebuild trust between the local people and the state, was assassinated in a professional ambush in the city centre.

In the same week two political activists who were about to open a branch office of the pro-Kurdish party People's Democracy in Silopi, a town near the Iraqi border, disappeared after being summoned to a local gendarmerie base. They have not been seen since.

The official explanation is that Okkan was murdered by the radical Islamic group Turkish Hizbullah. On the streets of Diyarbakir, however, nearly everyone seems convinced that what they call the "deep state" was involved.

"These incidents caused tensions among the people," the Kurdish mayor of Diyarbakir, Feridun Celik, said. "But there have also been big protests against what happened, and that is just as important. People are speaking out."

Thousands of Kurds paid their respects at Okkan's funeral in January: a rare tribute to a Turkish policeman in a part of the country which remains under emergency rule.

But protest meetings linked to the disappearance of the two Kurdish activists have also been supported by like-minded Turks in other parts of the country.

In Diyarbakir and elsewhere there is a desire for change. Tens of thousands of people demonstrated in support of peaceful reform during the traditional Newroz spring festival last week.

Standing against them, however, is a multi-billion pound smuggling network which will not give up its privileged position without a fight.

"There could be more efforts to destabilise our region," Mr Celik said. "We all have to stand together."

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5. – Washington Post – “Turkey Weighs In on Strife Between Middle East Neighbors”:

Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem said the Middle East was moving toward an explosion, not an implosion, if Palestinian-Israeli hostilities continued unabated and the moribund peace process remained without an active sponsor.

"We want the area to move beyond survival to a better quality of life. Stability is important. We want to go into the 21st century and not back into the 19th century," he told Washington Post reporters and editors. He said Turkey had been performing a "discreet" role of mediation between Palestinians and Israelis at their behest and had managed to help avert strong Israeli reactions to Palestinian agitation, thus preventing "some" bloodshed.

On another Middle East matter, Cem reiterated Turkey's long-standing position that its economy had been badly hurt by sanctions against Iraq, despite some smuggling through Kurdish-populated areas in the southeast. Cem and his deputy undersecretary, Ugur Ziyal, said that if a revised sanctions plan being finalized by the United States proposes that international monitors be stationed on Turkish soil, Turkey could not accept it -- but that such monitors could be placed on the border. In any event, they said, the U.S. proposal would have to be subject to U.N. and Iraqi approval.

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6. – AFP – “Thousands in Turkey demonstrate over economic crisis”:

ISTANBUL

Thousands demonstrated in Turkey this weekend demanding solutions to an economic crisis that has hit the country since February and denouncing corruption in parliament.

In Istanbul on Sunday a demonstration organised by the left-wing Party of Freedom and Solidarity and two trade union movements called for "an end to poverty and corruption."

"More democracy means less corruption," a party spokesman told the crowd. "Those in parliament are evading their responsibilities towards the people," he claimed.

Earlier this year President Necdet Sezer accused Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit of failing to do enough about corruption charges, some levelled at members of his own government team.

In the western town of Bursa on Sunday an estimated 10,000 small traders chanted slogans protesting that their business was in deep difficulties. "You can't claim tax when there isn't any income," they chanted.

One banner during an Istanbul demonstration on Saturday read: "Down with
the government, lackey of the IMF!"

Since February the country has been plunged into financial crisis after it allowed its currency, the lira, to float, causing it to lose some 30 percent against the dollar.

Ankara is drawing up a new economic programme after it abandoned its pegged currency rate and floated the lira.

The country appealed to the IMF in November for renewed help in a liquidity crisis which resulted in several financially unstable private banks being placed under strict state control.

The economic crisis has forced the government to give up a stabilisation plan started in 1999 with IMF help, and also to abandon a programme to reduce inflation.

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7. – AFP – “Six Black Sea countries set up naval task force”:

ISTANBUL

The six littoral states of the Black Sea set up a naval task force here on Monday to cooperate on humanitarian and environmental issues without citing any military objectives.

The accord, which was signed by Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine, envisages mutual help in search-and-rescue operations, humanitarian aid, mine detection and protecting the Black Sea environment.

The initiative, spearheaded by Turkey's former navy commander Salim Dervisoglu, marks the first joint undertaking by the country's naval forces since the end of the Cold War, during which they took part in opposite camps.

"This initiative aims to promote cooperation between the Black Sea countries and to contribute to peace and stability in the region," Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem said at the signing ceremony in Istanbul, Anatolia news agency reported.

"This accord will take forward the friendship and mutual understanding between our countries," he added.

The task force, named BLACKSEAFOR, will not have fixed personnel and equipment. In case of emergency, the participant countries will dispatch ships, equipment and personnel in line with the operation's type and size.

They will carry out joint exercises at least once a year, with the first drills expected to take place this summer on a search-and-rescue scenario."Our main objective is to improve coordination and inter-operability so we can act as quickly and effectively as possible when needed. The Kursk disaster last year showed how important this is," said a senior Turkish diplomat, who asked not to be named.

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8. – Turkish Daily News – “Southeastern women see solution of problems in peace”:

To be a woman 'there,' and to understand the local woman

Women from western Turkey were invited to Diyarbakir in order to meet at the common denominator of womanhood and further mutual understanding. As soon as we stepped into Diyarbakir, we noticed how removed we were from the lives of women from the Southeast

The women of Diyabakir look at us with curiosity and our eyes meet. Naturally, we look at one another. A little bit ashamed, we try to send the women the message that we are by their side. Nonetheless, we can do nothing but to just pass in front of them with a distorted smile like tourists

'We don't want Turks, Kurds or Armenians to cry. Let this dirty war end. I was born with this language. What is sinful or criminal about this language? "Let neither Turkish nor Kurdish mothers weep... All of the dead are our children'

'No one understands us because we know only Turkish. I don't want the doctor to insult my mother because she does not know Turkish. Our sick are treated on foot by paramedics because we cannot afford something better. There is neither work nor money. We don't have a green card and insurance benefits. I would like the press to aid us by making our problems public'

Women of the Carikli district complain about men and say that they become wiser by experiencing grief. They say that young people no longer wanted many children. They note that families with five to 10 children had a hard time making ends meet and that two-four children are normal. They oppose men marrying a second woman, but state that planned interfamily marriages still exist

ISTANBUL

This time the trip from Istanbul to Diyarbakir was for a permanent goal. The women who came together for "The Solidarity of Women for Peace" arrived in Diyarbakir early in the morning. A group of women consisting of journalists, writers, trade unionists, lawyers and artists including Duygu Asena, Perihan Magden, Zeynep Oral, Nilgyn Cerrahoglu, Sykran Soner, Guler Kazmaci, Zeynep Atikkan, Gul Demir, Sema Pekdas, Zeynep Avci, Halime Gyner, Saynur Varisli, Yasar Seyman, Vicdan Baykara, Fysun Sayek, Pinar Selek, Pelin Erda, Nemika Tugcu, Gulsen Alpay, Elif Ergun, Julide Kural, Ayse Duzkan and Zubeyde Atay went to Diyabakir in order to observe closely and share the emotion, joy and anxiety of southeastern women.

We owe this nice trip to Diyarbakir to an idea of Pinar Selek. Pinar took upon herself the organizational work and we embarked on a journey to a destination with which most of us were unfamiliar. The women of Diyarbakir encountered us with zilgit (a throaty sound made by Kurds to express joy and grief during important social occasions) in Diyarbakir in the early morning. It was as though the women who met us holding carnations and other flowers were welcoming the spring. As they extended their hands for "peace" they seemed to say, "You are welcome, come again." Their gaze expressed some curiosity and anxiety over whether we would understand them. Women from western Turkey were invited to Diyarbakir in order to meet at the common denominator of womanhood and further mutual understanding. As soon as we arrived in Diyarbakir, we noticed how removed we were from the lives of southeastern women. They gave us information about the places that we went by, and when someone said at a certain point, "This is where they assassinated Gaffar Okkan," we came face to face with the reality of the region. Visiting a foreign country, you are introduced by guides to historic or artistic sights. The difference in Diyarbakir is its being a huge city full with memories of extrajudicial killings and other murders.

First encounter with the women of Diyarbakir

The program starts with cries of "long live peace" by a large group of women in front of Diyarbakir municipality. We greet each other as they congregate in front of the municipality building and we stand in the balcony. Their looks express some confusion, timidity and anxiety. The women of Diyarbakir look at us with curiousity as we pass by them and then our eyes meet. A little ashamed, we try to send the women the message that we are on their side. Nonetheless, we can do nothing but to just pass in front of them with a distorted smile like tourists.

The women of Diyarbakir applaud us. The question that comes to our minds is if we deserve this applause... At the end, we have not been with them for years. We were removed from the daily experiences of southeastern women such as migration, sexual harassment and assault, in brief, their grief and their joy.

We had come together for a kind of peace where the search for identity was resolved, mothers did not sing dirges for their children, spouses and other loved ones and children woke up with nursery rhymes and songs instead of the sound of guns. The "Diyarbakir Women's Platform" organized a meeting at the municipality building, thinking that a solution could be found by discussing, writing and talking. With people excited to tell about themselves to the visiting journalists, writers and artists, the hall that normally accommodates 300 people was full to the brim with a crowd of nearly 500.

They expressed their problems in Kurdish. I cannot say that we were able to understand all of the women, young and old, through the translation. Those who grabbed the microphone expressed themselves through body language. The women spoke with such naturalness and sincerity. In fact, the relief over having expressed oneself was visible in the faces of some women as they took their seats afterwards. The Kurdish women were at ease with themselves. This is why they were reconciled with others as well and often said that they did not hold grudges. One woman said after expressing her grief, "We extend our hands and want you to reach out to us as well."

Journalist Sukran Soner, the moderator of the meeting said, "Let us touch on the problems associated with being women. Tell us about them." But confident that they could express themselves better by talking about prisons, death, sexual assault, harassment and torture, Kurdish women said, "Peace first!" An old woman with arm upward said: "We don't want Turks, Kurds or Armenians to cry. Let this dirty war end. I was born speaking this language. What is sinful or criminal about this language?"

"Let neither Turkish nor Kurdish mothers weep... All of the dead are our children," said a sad woman who had lost all of her four children in the conflict in the mountains. She said that she cried when she watched the mothers of martyrs on television, but that her grief was greater. There was not even a grave where she could visit her deceased son... She ended her words with a feminine statement, "I am ready to forget about my pain only if there will be no more repression and peace will come."

Another one said, "I was in the village in 1992. We were detained. Our village was burned down. We came to Diyarbakir. My husband and my daughter are in prison. I am happy to be a woman. I am glad that you are here. Women should support one another, if there is something to do, we should act together." A middle-aged women mutters to the women to her left and right, grabs the microphone and starts to talk with confidence: "We may regain what we lose in property, but life is different. We were unable to go out by ourselves. What to do next? Let's join forces. Kurdish women are ready and Turkish women should reach out. In order to stop the bloodshed, we ask for sincerity first of all from Turkish mothers and then from the authorities." She sits down and another woman takes the microphone. Her name is Pirozhan Dogru. She says that Leyla Zana is her sister. The hall reverberates with applause. She quickly ends her words and says "baris" (peace) in Turkish and utters the same word in Kurdish, "asiti."

Identity problems

Some of them are relatives of the disappeared, the villages of others were burned down and the relatives of still others died in mysterious murders. When the tragedy is the same, the stories also resemble one another and end with death and pain. They ask that proposals for solutions be devised. According to the women, the problem is war and the solution is peace. The question is asked about the increasing number of suicides in Batman and the region. Young girls commit suicide because of the lack of a social framework and of culture. One woman expresses the psychological situation of all the youth: "I cannot feel happy. Life conditions in the Southeast are hard. The future is the mirror of the past. I was sexually assaulted. Women cannot go around with ease in the evening. I cannot find my identity. I want to be a theater actress but my experience disturbed me. I cannot succeed in exams."

The first cause of suicide is rural migration. The second is adaptation problems and the third is forced marriages. Teacher Figen Aras said that besides suicide, one should not forget about street children. "These are not street children," she says, "They are our children, the children of those who migrated from the cities. The reason for the increase in number of children who inhale paint thinner is social conflict. After a certain point, depressed children started finding this natural."

One woman says: "In general the condition of the locals and the mothers should improve. We have health problems. We do not get a full examination when we go to the doctor. I don't want the doctor to insult my mother because she does not know Turkish. Our sick are treated on foot by paramedics because we cannot afford something better. There is neither work nor money. We don't have a green card and insurance benefits. I would like the press to aid us by making our problems public. We are expecting you to do something as a saviour. Make a dent in the Turkish media to tell the truth."

We were more free in our village

Ayse Ozkan from the Pazartesi magazine asks about the impact of rural migration on women. Some women say that they were more free in the villages because they were not imprisoned in their houses. Women were impacted twice from this migration which was outside their volition. First of all, they were politicized when they were taken away from the villages which represented their little worlds. They learned to express their anger and pain over injustice. On the other hand, homesickness led to problems like depression, adaptation problems and nervous illnesses.

Their experience is so different from ours and so cumbersome. Women of Diyarbakir were both close and far away from those of western Turkey. What was most interesting was an old woman holding my hand after the meeting and saying: "Do you know that they call us 'the spouse or mother of the enemy?' But we are not enemies, we are friends and sisters, so hold our hand." As I look at the tired and sad eyes of the person whose hand I feel in my palm, I ask myself if we will be able to do what they want.

Women in the Democracy Platform

The agenda of the European Union (EU) is to create an all-embracing democratic system in Turkey. The Diyarbakir Democracy Platform seeks to achieve this goal. As part of a group of women, we visited them for "peace, democracy and solidarity." In addition, we wanted to listen to the women who were unable to speak during the meeting because of the presence of state officials.

Twenty-eight civic associations make part of the Diyarbakir Democracy Platform, some of which are chambers of business, labor unions for public employees and the regional representatives of the Confederation of Employees' Unions of Turkey (Turk-Is). During the last one month, 33 people in different occupations in the Diyarbakir Democracy Platform were exiled. Seven of them are women. At least 478 people were exiled since 1991. The last exiles took place upon the orders of the governor of the Emergency Region (OHAL) because of the activities in which they were involved as part of the Diyarbakir Democracy Platform or the trade unions.

Teacher Figen Aras says that she was glad to come to Diyarbakir, but has now been exiled. She points out that the importance of the women's initiative was great and that the initiatives of civic associations are key.

Girls who are nothing short of fashion models

The second encounter with the women of Diyarbakir took place through art. The special night started with songs by Deniz Turkali. As Julide Kural read Nazim Hikmet's poem called "Tanya" during an artistic performance, no sound could be heard in the hall. The surprise of the night was the fashion show. The young girls who wore regional clothes with traditional motifs presented a fashion show which was nothing less than their elegant version in big cities. And which was the moment when the women found a common point despite all the problems and worries? What the women of Diyarbakir liked most was Guler Kazmaci trying to learn zilgit. Not even aware of the difficulty of zilgit, the women were laughing...

As we listen to the stories of the locals, we are sometimes saddened and at other times we have to laugh. Here are two stories... The painting teacher tells the children that they can paint whatever they want. When she looks at the paintings, the teacher is surprised to see that almost all of the students paint military planes and bombs. Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit visits a village on his trip to Diyarbakir. When the PM enters the village, the peasants shake the hand of the gendarmerie commander. No one is interested in the PM, for their contact has always been with the gendarmerie.

Let the bride price be annulled

The second day we were the guests of the Carikli district municipality. We entered Carikli with minibuses that seemed to make part of a wedding procession. We understood that when the women of Diyarbakir were unable to find a wedding for us despite our obvious interest, they prepared something akin. We were met by Mayor Sefik Turk and women in traditional attire dancing the halay. In one house, we had breakfast with real butter, that is the one without hormones, milk curdle, eggs, specially baked thin bread and milk. Despite the blatant poverty, the people in the district worried about offering us the best food. We were so distant from these feelings and this care. I hope that we will merit their sincerity. Then we went into the crowd that was dancing and playing the halay.

In the Carikli district as well, the speeches of some women were translated to us. Writer Perihan Magden said that this was the first time for her to go to the "East" and continued: "We are here because we also think that blood can be cleaned with water. When I saw these beautiful people and the land, I was ashamed to not have come here before. I will try to make the issues of the East better known, but there is unfortunately a major censure in the press. I hope that military expenditures will also fall after the economic crisis, this land deserves peace." An old woman gives Pinar Selek an embroidered headscarf. White doves fly in the air, there are discussions and more halay dances.

Women of the Carikli district complain about men and say that they became wiser by experiencing grief. They say that young people no longer wanted many children. They note that families with 5 to 10 children have a hard time making ends meet and that 2-4 children are normal. They oppose men marrying a second woman, but state that planned interfamily marriages still exist. They say that living under crowded conditions in a small room leads to incest. They don't want men to marry more than one woman. Monogamy appears as a respectable institution to them. Women say that there is opposition to men marrying more than one woman but planned interfamily marriages still exist.

Noting that young girls who have not married by the age of 15 are considered as spinsters, Dilan says that the bride price is about TL 1 billion. She says, "I hope that a law is enacted to put an end to the bride price." She laughs at our questions over sexuality and says, "We are not even allowed to experience our humanity." Saying that: "I was sold for very cheap. My family and myself did not ask for a bride price. I have the feeling that consequently, my value has depreciated," Gulsum explains that she got married in Nusaybin to a man from the Carikli district of Diyarbakir. Her husband betrayed her and unable to bear the humiliation, Gulsum returned to her father's house. One month later the man wanted to have her back, saying that he loved her and would not do the same thing. She dragged her feet first, because she said: "If I had returned right away, he would have done the same. This is why I did not return immediately. I wanted him to understand my worth."

The experience of the women of western and southeastern Turkey converges at one point. The common problems of women are articulated. We take our leave from Carikli as girls in traditional attire stand in a row and shake our hands. Promises are made that the conditions of women, which are considered natural despite the emergency measures reigning in the region, will not continue to be the same forever...

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9. – AFP – “Swedish team to question Ocalan about Palme murder":

ANKARA

Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan is to be questioned by a Swedish team on Monday investigating the 1986 killing of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme, a Turkish justice ministry spokesman said.

The spokesman said the investigators would quiz Ocalan, the leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) who is in a Turkish jail on a death sentence, over suspicions that Kurdish rebels were involved in the murder.

"A team headed by a prosecutor will take Ocalan's testimony in the scope of the ongoing case in Sweden on the Palme murder," the spokesman said by telephone.

Palme was gunned down in February 1986 by a still-unidentified assailant as he walked along a busy Stockholm street with his wife. Swedish police have over the past 15 years followed up thousands of leads and in February said they had been given permission by Turkey to grill Ocalan over the "PKK lead."

During the trial in which he was sentenced to death for treason and separatism, Ocalan accused a dissident Kurdish movement led by his former wife Kesire Yildirim of having assassinated Palme in order to discredit his PKK.The Turkish spokesman would not say how many people were on the Swedish team or how long the questioning would last. A lawyer for Ocalan said he had not been officially informed about the questioning.

"We are planning to contact the justice ministry today (Monday) for information and get permission for us to be present at the questioning in line with our client's demand," the lawyer Hatice Korkut told AFP.

Ocalan has been in solitary confinement on the prison island of Imrali in northwestern Turkey since February 1999 when he was captured in an undercover operation in Kenya, and hauled back to Turkey to face trial.

In June 1999, he was sentenced to death for treason and separatism for his role at the helm of the PKK's 15-year armed campaign for self-rule in southeastern Turkey.

The Turkish government put his execution on hold in January, 2000 pending an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.

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10. – Kurdish Observer – “'Guinea pig' file lost!”:

The investigation opened against First Lieutenant Hakan Basakci for using 17 villagers as "mine sweepers" has been dropped. The investigation file, meanwhile, has been lost somewhere between the Prosecutor's and Kaymakam's offices.

BATMAN

The investigation into the use of 17 villages in the Sason district of Batman as "live mine sweepers" has been dropped. While this inhumane crime, which was also determined by the Parliamentary commission, remains unpunished, the villagers, who wanted to obtain the file in order to open a new case, were told that the file was missing. Sason Prosecutor Umit Sahiner, who was carrying out the investigation, defended himself by saying, "In any case, this is a closed case."

17 people from the Tekevler (Gundenu) and Kelhasan (Kelhesne) villages in the Sason district of Batman were used as "live mine sweepers" five years ago when they were told to "go look for mines" in the Newalal Giyane zone. An investigation was opened against First Lieutenant Hakan Basakci, who was serving on the Sason Gendarmerie Command Unit, in connection with the incident. The investigation was dropped on September 21, 1999. But scandal was uncovered when the villagers requested the file in order to open a new case. The Sason prosecutor's office and the Kaymakam (district governor's office) both told the villagers "the file is missing."

Kaymakam didn't return it

One of the villagers who had been used as a "mine sweeper" Erol Kilic, met with Prosecutor Umit Sahiner on March 23 in order to open a new case, and said that the prosecutor had told him that the file might be with Kaymakam Mahmut Halhal. Kilic said that he then went to the Kaymakam, and relayed developments as follows: "The Kaymakam said he had obtained the file from the prosecutor's office in order to examine it, but that he had sent it back later. When we told him that the file had not reached the prosecutor, he answered to the effect, 'If it's not with the prosecutor, then the file is lost'."

They didn't listen to the villagers

Villager Erdal Kilic said that his statement was not taken down at any stage of the investigation and that he had also been threatened not to testify during that period by soldiers. Kilic said that the investigation into the incident had been opened and closed without their knowledge, adding, "Despite the fact that we were the victims in this incident, they didn't feel it necessary to apply for our statements. They carried out the investigation in secret, and now they say that the file is lost."

Prosecutor: The file is closed

Sason Prosecutor Umit Sahiner, who was asked his opinion on the lost file, said that they had thought it necessary to send the file to the Kaymakam in accordance with the law of the prosecution of state officials because the subject of the investigation was a first lieutenant. Sahiner said that this was completely his own doing, adding, "But I don't know what happened to the file. In all probability, it is still being held at the Kaymakam's office. The villagers are saying that when they inquired at the Kaymakam's office about the file, they were told that it had been lost. I don't have any information on this subject. In any case, it's a closed file."