27 August 2001

1. "Turkey's Ecevit says military not meddling in EU reforms", Turkey's powerful military is not interfering in crucial constitutional reforms planned by the government to catch up with European Union norms, a Turkish news channel quoted Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit as saying on Friday.

2. "Security storm rumbles on", Deputy prime minister and leader of the Motherland party (Anap), Mesut Yilmaz, kicked up a storm in early August when, in a speech to his party congress, he questioned the obsession with "national security" in Turkish politics.

3. "Let war criminals be tried", Ocalan pointed out that thousands of villages had been evacuated and tens of thousands of people had lost their lives in the past 20 years, especially in the years 1993-96, and called on those responsible for this "dirty period" to be tried. Ocalan said that what had occurred could not be put down to "terrorism," and called on the ECHR not to neglect this historical fact.

4. "Women arrested in Turkey for chanting in Kurdish", Turkish riot police arrested 50 women in Istanbul's main Taxim Square on Sunday as they shouted Kurdish slogans, the state-run Anatolian news agency said.

5. "'Let them hold a peace conference', Ocalan called on the occasion of World Peace Day for Kurds to hold a peace conference, both domestic and with the related countries, to solve the problems through peaceful means. "We recommend a national and international peace conference of several sessions," Ocalan said.

6. "No Racism in Turkey, if You Say You're a Turk", ``I am Turkish. I am honest. I am hard-working.''. So runs the oath sworn in Turkey. Its basic assertions come easily to children, who yell them with gusto at assemblies in junior schools across Turkey each morning. But for many, particularly Kurds, it gets harder with age to accept the simplicities of the oath, based on a speech by national hero Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1933, and which ends: ''Happy is he who calls himself a Turk.''

1. - AFP - "Turkey's Ecevit says military not meddling in EU reforms":

ANKARA

Turkey's powerful military is not interfering in crucial constitutional reforms planned by the government to catch up with European Union norms, a Turkish news channel quoted Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit as saying on Friday.

"The army is not meddling," Ecevit was quoted by CNN Turk as saying in an interview with the station. Ecevit explained that the reform package was taken up at a recent gathering of the military-dominated National Security Council, but the discussions constituted only an "exchange of views," according to CNN Turk. He also said he did not expect any objections to the reforms by the military if parliament reaches consensus on their adoption when it convenes in September for a special session. "I am very optimistic on the passage of the amendments," Ecevit added. His remarks followed a row earlier this month between his deputy Mesut Yilmaz and the army after Yilmaz charged that Turkey's national security concept, whose main architect the military is, was blocking efforts to improve Turkey's crippled democracy.

The army hit back in a harsh statement, which reflected its worries that extended freedoms could play into the hands of separatist-minded Kurds and hardline Islamic movements, seen as principal threats to Turkey's stability. Turkey, a candidate to join the EU since 1999, must meet Union criteria on human rights and democracy before it can start membership talks. The government is planning to summon lawmakers in September, before the regular end of their summer recess, in order to pass the reform package. The aim is to adopt the reforms before the European Commission -- the EU's executive arm -- wraps up in November a report on Turkey's progress.

The 37-article draft includes major reforms such as the abolition of the death penalty except for times of war and crimes of terrorism, a provision designed to exclude condemned Kurdish rebel chief Abdullah Ocalan. It also envisages the lifting of a ban on using "forbidden languages" in the expression and dissemination of thought, which could allow the free use of Kurdish in the media. The package calls for tighter criteria to ban political parties and the inclusion of more civilian members to the National Security Council. Other proposals aim to improve freedom of expression and expand workers' rights to unionize.

2. - EIU ViewsWire Middle East - "Security storm rumbles on":

Deputy prime minister and leader of the Motherland party (Anap), Mesut Yilmaz, kicked up a storm in early August when, in a speech to his party congress, he questioned the obsession with "national security" in Turkish politics. He suggested that the military used concern about national security to slow down political reform. This is an on-going controversy that is inextricably bound to the debate over Turkey's EU accession and the constitutional amendments needed for that process to begin -- which are part of Mr Yilmaz's ministerial responsibilities.

Mr Yilmaz's remarks were similar in tone to his words at last year's Anap congress but they provoked a sharp reaction from the military. A statement from the General Staff said that it is "dangerous" to hold national security responsible for Turkey's troubles, which include an economy "on the brink of bankruptcy" while "no legal action is taken against those who are responsible for the current situation". It also complained that Turkey suffers weakened "national and moral values"; that "people with Middle Age mentalities" are appointed to government positions in a country which is striving to join the EU; that "political stability cannot be maintained due to personal ambitions"; and that "no economic or social measures can be taken to prevent separatist terrorism".

The prime minister, Bulent Ecevit, and the foreign affairs adviser to the president, stressed that Mr Yilmaz's comments were not government policy but Mr Yilmaz said he would bring them up in the August 21st meeting of the National Security Council (MGK), a half-civilian, half-military body. He repeated his view that "the limits of the concept of national security in Turkey are much broader than those in democratic countries" and that this may threaten the democratisation measures required of Turkey for EU accession.

Turkey's own National Programme for EU accession negotiations calls the MGK a "consultative body" and says that a review of the MGK's structure and functions is only possible in the medium term. It ignores the MGK's effective veto over all government decisions -- thereby making clear that the military does not yet intend to remove itself from the political process. The National Programme does not set out a timetable, or any definite commitments, on some of these key issues -- which is unsurprising given that there is no consensus on them within the government.

The economic crisis has distracted much attention from such matters. However, the government faces the major task in the second half of 2001 of producing the constitutional and legal reforms set out as a precondition for accession negotiations. Parliament is due to be recalled early, on September 17th, to begin debating a package of measures, including:

* changes to Articles 13 and 14 of the constitution, which currently put wide-ranging restrictions on freedom of expression, so that only statements or actions deemed injurious to "national security, public order, public security and territorial integrity" would be treated as unconstitutional;

* a change to the penal code Article 312, under which only allegedly pro- Islamist or pro-Kurdish statements which were likely to provoke "damage to public order" would be deemed illegal;

* altering Article 26 of the constitution to remove the ban on expression in Kurdish (although changes to the broadcasting law will also be required); and

* abolition of the death penalty.

If these measures are implemented, they will go a long way towards meeting the EU's Copenhagen criteria. But the governing parties, notably the Nationalist Action Party (MHP), may yet water them down even before they go before parliament. And with the military making clear that it is not happy with all the proposed changes, it is clear that "national security" issues will continue to block political reforms for some time to come. Mr Yilmaz's remarks were seen as inflammatory and ill-timed but he is at least addressing matters that are crucial for Turkey's EU aspirations.

3. - Kurdish Observer - "Let war criminals be tried":

Ocalan pointed out that thousands of villages had been evacuated and tens of thousands of people had lost their lives in the past 20 years, especially in the years 1993-96, and called on those responsible for this "dirty period" to be tried. Ocalan said that what had occurred could not be put down to "terrorism," and called on the ECHR not to neglect this historical fact.

PKK President Abdullah Ocalan noted that all Turkish officials had accepted that what had occurred over the last 20 years was a "low-intensity war/conflict" and called on those responsible for the "dirty process" in which thousands of villages were evacuated and inhumane means were used, most intense in the years 1993-1996, to be tried. Ocalan pointed out that, from this respect, his case coming up in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) was not just a personal case, and called for the whole truth to be brought out in the trial.

Making a statement from Imrali through his attorneys, Ocalan called for war criminals to be tried and made comments concerning the upcoming case in the Strasbourg Court.

A special court must be established

Ocalan noted that over 40,000 people had been killed and about 4,000 villages and hamlets forcibly evacuated during the 20 years of clashes, adding, "It cannot be me alone held responsible for this. An event that results in the forcible evacuation of nearly 4,000 villages and hamlets and over 40,000 deaths cannot be called terrorism. There are those who took part in this process and there are victims; they must be listened to as witnesses. The 93-96 period happened, it was a dirty period. All these must be brought out into the open." Ocalan said that if there were those who committed war crimes on both sides, then a special court must be established, according to the United Nations and European law. "The ECHR must conduct the trial without neglecting these facts," Ocalan said, adding, "Otherwise, it will open the path to a historical injustice."

Demirel called it extra-legal

The PKK President noted that even Turkish officials had all accepted that this had been a "low intensity war/conflict" and, referring to comments made by former President Suleyman Demirel, had the following to say: "Demirel called the environment of conflict 'non-routine,' and this means 'extra-legal.' Calling something extra-legal means it should be tried. For President Mr. Sezer to stress the state of law so much is quite important, from this respect."

200 years must be taken into account

Ocalan said that, taking all these facts into consideration, his case to be heard in the ECHR could not be taken up as a simple matter of the violation of a few articles of the European Accord on Human Rights, and stressed that treating it otherwise meant it would not go beyond a "classic trial." Ocalan called for a strong account to be taken of the past 200 years. He also said that the conditions did not exist to prepare an adequate defense and touched on some of the difficulties experienced in forwarding the defenses he had prepared.

Conspiracy is far beyond just personal

Ocalan said that he had also included the conspiracy process and the states that had taken part in it in his defense, and had the following to say concerning the aims of the international conspiracy: "This scenario goes way beyond me personally. It is the biggest game of the past 200 years. [It is] the policy of 'out of the frying pan and into the fire.' Thus, basically one honorable Kurd wasn't going to have remained; what was aimed was a horrible situation of conflict and after that would come deaths. All responsible circles in Turkey, intellectuals, democrats and patriots must understand this well. We here in this cursed situation are trying to solve this with great responsibility."

Understanding the issue

Ocalan pointed out that the conspiracy had aimed at drawing the Kurds into a blind rebellion. Ocalan said that the Kurds had always been in rebellion until today, that they had killed and been killed for thousands of years, but without knowing the reasons why, adding that it was necessary to understand this matter. He continued to say the following: "It is a matter of freedom, a good life, living one's identity freely, and saving one's dignity. The courage of those who don't understand is empty; their fear is very deep. Those who want to distort the democratization and peace process we began are false Kurdish nationalists. They want to pull us into a blind rebellion. They want to continue their own lives over blood, they want an ax to always be at our necks. They have been working tied to the oligarchy for 40 years. They don't want any honorable intellectuals, patriots, or lawyers to remain."

There is a free world to win

Ocalan also criticized the lack of exploratory spirit among the Kurds and called for nongovernmental organizations to be strengthened and become more widespread. "Let Kurds know who are their friends and who are their enemies and develop legitimate defense on the right basis," Ocalan said, continuing to add the following: "It is necessary to put their policies on the right foundation. It is necessary to strengthen civic society organization and make it more widespread. Those acting most appropriately to the spirit of Misak-i Milli [national pact that set down current borders] are us. Turkish and Kurdish people who are in favor of democratization and a free [voluntary] unity must strengthen in quantity and quality." Ocalan said that courage should not be viewed as a "course resistance" and called for securing a sound foundation of legitimate defense. The PKK President described the struggle for democracy as a "marathon race" and concluded by saying, "There is a free world to win. There is a free life to win."

4. - Reuters - "Women arrested in Turkey for chanting in Kurdish":

ISTANBUL

Turkish riot police arrested 50 women in Istanbul's main Taxim Square on Sunday as they shouted Kurdish slogans, the state-run Anatolian news agency said.

Police broke up the protest, which called for peace in Turkey's troubled southeast, as the women tried to make a statement to the press in Kurdish -- a language the Turkish state bans in public broadcasts.

Hundreds of women, largely mothers of rebels belonging to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), but also mothers of Turkish soldiers fighting the armed group, took part in the protest called the Mothers' Peace Initiative.

Ending the Kurdish language ban is a key condition for Turkey to join the European Union. It became an official candidate for membership in late 1999.

Turkey holds the PKK and its imprisoned leader Abdullah Ocalan responsible for a 17-year campaign of violence in which some 30,000 people have died, most of them Kurds.

Ocalan, sentenced to death for treason, wants the rebel group to turn to politics to win cultural rights for Turkey's 12 million Kurds.

5. - Ozgur Politika - "'Let them hold a peace conference':

Ocalan called on the occasion of World Peace Day for Kurds to hold a peace conference, both domestic and with the related countries, to solve the problems through peaceful means. "We recommend a national and international peace conference of several sessions," Ocalan said.

PKK Council of Leaders member Osman Ocalan called for an inter-Kurdish conference including the states concerned with Kurds to be held for September 1, World Peace Day in order to find a peaceful solution to the problems of the Kurds. "We recommend a national peace conference comprised of several sessions and including Turkey, Iran, Syria, Iraq, and an international conference including all the countries in which Kurds live," Ocalan said.

Ocalan stressed that it was necessary for all Kurds to get together for September 1 when he participated by telephone on the Kurdish-language "Rojev" program on MEDYA TV the other evening, where journalist Mecit Haso and YDK representative Cihan Garzan were present as studio guests. Ocalan pointed out that the Kurdish problem could not be solved in just one part [of Kurdistan], adding, "All Kurdish forces in all parts must act together for both domestic peace and peace in the region. For this, in addition to a national peace conference comprised of several sessions, we are suggesting an international conference of Turkey, Iran, Syria, Iraq, and all the countries in which Kurds live. Let these countries come together in a conference at which Kurds are represented also and let's debate a solution. This is this only solution, even if ten more years go by."

'Improve the conditions of our President'

Ocalan repeated the call they had made before to Turkish political and military officials for a peaceful and political solution to the Kurdish problem and said, "It must be known that the PKK is the basic force in solving this problem. These steps made by the PKK cannot be left unresponded to." Osman Ocalan also cautioned state officials concerning the improvement of the conditions under which PKK President Abdullah Ocalan is staying, continuing to say the following: "If our President's health deteriorates, it will negatively affect the peace process. The health of our President must be considered in this sense. Let them be aware of the sensitivity of the party, the guerrillas, and our people on this subject. Precautions must be taken. It is at least necessary to improve his situation. Transfers must be made to Imrali. It must be known that improvement of the conditions for our President will only positively affect the process."

'Let serhildans become continuous'

The PKK Council of Leaders member stressed that, just as the process begun by PKK President Abdullah Ocalan on September 1, 1998 had prevented tens of thousands of deaths, it had also developed a culture of peace between Kurds, Turks, and the peoples of the Middle East. Ocalan added the following: "An important foundation for peace was created in these three years. Again, some deficiencies were experienced in some respects, especially in the spread and continuation of political serhildans [popular uprisings]. Important gains can be secured in the years ahead of us if they spread and become continuous."

Campaign for the festival

Osman Ocalan also commented on the festival to be held in Cologne on September 1. "The final word concerning the freedom of our President and demands for national and political identity will be said on September 1," Ocalan said, adding, "The role and position of our people in Europe is important." Ocalan stressed the importance of activities for declaration of national and political identity developed by the Kurds living in Europe and the need to make them continuous. He concluded by saying the following: "The time has come to say the final word. September 1 must be when the start is given for serhildans to achieve the highest level. On this basis, it is necessary for all Kurds to mobilize for the festival. Our President wants this festival to be the biggest festival held up until today. The Cologne festival must be a beginning for this process."

6. - Reuters - "No Racism in Turkey, if You Say You're a Turk":

ISTANBUL / by Steve Bryant

``I am Turkish. I am honest. I am hard-working.''. So runs the oath sworn in Turkey. Its basic assertions come easily to children, who yell them with gusto at assemblies in junior schools across Turkey each morning.

But for many, particularly Kurds, it gets harder with age to accept the simplicities of the oath, based on a speech by national hero Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1933, and which ends: ''Happy is he who calls himself a Turk.''

For some, that careful wording makes being Turkish a matter of self-description, not birth, and is the heart of a country that is determined to allow no state discrimination between any of the myriad ethnic groups and minorities within its borders.

For others it amounts to forced assimilation.

Constitutionally, a Turk is defined as any citizen of Turkey -- Kurdish, Armenian, Greek, Chechen or, as is most often the case in this changing country, an ethnic mix.

``The founders of the republic, 60-70 percent of whom would have been minorities themselves, were making sure the word Turk would not be monopolized by ethnic Turks,'' says Professor Gun Kut of Istanbul's Bosphorus University. The objective, he says, was a state blind to ethnicity.

GROWING UP KURDISH

For Kurdish Institute Chairman Hasan Kaya, the oath is a daily reminder of an ``unconscious, unorganized mentality of racism.''

``If you look at the state textbooks and at the education system and read between the lines you find it all places a subconscious mentality of racism in the minds of children,'' Kaya says in small offices where scholars compose Turkish-Kurdish dictionaries and research Kurdish culture and language.

Kurds make up by far the largest ethnic group that does not have minority status in Turkey.
In keeping with its refusal to recognize ethnic difference, the Turkish state never asks people their racial background but various estimates put the ethnic Kurdish population at 12-15 million of the total Turkish population of around 65 million.

Kaya is on trial for allegedly teaching Kurdish without permission. Official curbs on Kurdish education and broadcasting stem from fears that awarding minority rights could fuel violent Kurdish separatism and lead to the kind of splits on ethnic lines that helped destabilize the Ottoman empire.

Born into a northern Iraqi Kurdish family with a tradition of political involvement, Kaya says he sensed at an early age that all was not right with the official, all-encompassing ''Turkishness.''

While a thousand official sayings and stories exalt ``the Turk,'' only playground insults deal with Kurds.Advocates of both positions will be representing Turkey at the United Nations ( - ) World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, which opens in Durban, South Africa on Friday (August 31).

Neither the Foreign Ministry delegation nor the representative of the Human Rights Association (IHD) expect Turkey's struggle with ethnicity to hit the agenda at Durban.

But if Turkey can resolve how to treat groups that wish to differ from the strict official vision of a country united by the one Turkish language and heritage, the country's path to European Union ( - ) membership would look more open.

A 17-year-old conflict with Kurdish rebels might fade, and Turkish Kurds might have TV and newspapers in their own tongue.

SHOOTING KANGAROOS

Official Turkey denies any race discrimination.

There was a prickly reply to a suggestion from the European Commission ( - ) Against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) that the country might benefit from laws preventing discrimination:

``Such provisions would suggest that there are such discriminations in the country. In the present setting this would be tantamount to prohibiting the shooting of kangaroos in Turkey,'' answered the Turkish officer on the commission.

The Kurdish activists who pass through courts and jails each year are in trouble for challenging the law and the state, not for their ethnicity, officials say. Even the activists say Turkey has little or none of the violent racism seen -- often directed against Turks and Kurds -- on the streets of western European cities.

There are outbreaks of violence against Kurds, such as rioting in the town of Susurluk in April when police found a young girl murdered in the home of a man thought to be Kurdish.

``Sparks fly and they are attacked. It has happened in a range of places,'' says Selahattin Esmer, who will represent the IHD in Durban. ``But despite a violent and lethal war (with Kurdish rebels), despite that, in the wide majority there is no enmity against Kurds.''

What many find is an undercurrent of prejudice against Kurds, many of whom have been driven to western cities by fighting in the southeast or have moved to Turkey from Iraq, fleeing gas attacks and the tanks of the Iraqi government.

While a U.S.-protected Kurdish enclave in northern Iraq now gives Kurds there a measure of stability and peace, in Turkey they find greater potential for economic success, as long as they are prepared to find happiness in calling themselves Turks.

ACCEPTANCE WITH CONDITIONS ATTACHED

``The so-called reality that 'there is no racism in Turkey' is constantly announced but is true only with this condition: that you accept Turkishness,'' says IHD chairman Husnu Ondul.

``If you accept you are a Turk, you can rise, you can be of Kurdish origin and be speaker of parliament or prime minister but the moment you say 'hello' in Kurdish, you're in the soup.''

Others question how far Kurds can really rise into the elites of the Turkish state and whether examples such as former parliament speaker Hikmet Cetin are exceptions.

``That's a great claim that needs proof,'' says Kaya. ``Let's look at the top ranks of the foreign ministry, the interior ministry, the military, the intelligence services and see.''

For decades, the existence of Kurds was officially denied and their language dismissed as a debased dialect of Farsi.

Kurds were described as ``mountain Turks,'' a clumsy formulation Professor Kut ascribes to the fact that rebellions and uprisings meant it was the security forces who formed the Turkish state's ambassadors to Kurdish regions.

``I do not blame Kurds who are offended by it but it is a misunderstanding on both sides,'' he said.

``In their simple way, the military said 'You are not different, you are the same people as us, you're Turks, in fact, you're mountain Turks!'. The effect has been tremendously negative,'' he said.

More than 30,000 soldiers, civilians, and rebels, most of them Kurds, have died in fighting with the Kurdistan Workers Party, which says it has now abandoned armed struggle in order to win Kurdish cultural rights peacefully.