28 August 2001

1. "Turkish authorities believe murder was political hit", Police believe the murder of one of Turkey's leading businessmen may have been a political killing, after no evidence was found to confirm initial suspicions that he was killed by a mentally disturbed teen-age drug addict, reports said Monday.

2. "Turkish PM Ecevit backs businessmen in anti-dollar campaign", Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit lent his support on Monday to a campaign by Ankara business leaders to stem increasing use of the dollar in domestic trade and promote the nosediving Turkish lira.

3. "Turkish soldiers clash with PKK in northern Iraq-TV"; Turkish security forces have clashed with Kurdish separatists in northern Iraq, but it was not immediately clear how many casualties either side suffered, a Kurdish television channel said on Monday.

4. "Execution and punishment system more important than type of prisons", a report prepared by professional unions in Izmir has said that the type of prison was not important, but punishment and execution systems should be discussed. The death fasts, held by leftist prisoners for more than 200 days in protest against the cell-based F-type prisons, and the construction and health standards of the F-type prisons were discussed in the report.

5. "Only four days left to September 1...", HADEP has made 105 thousand posters, 225 thousand announcements, and 17 thousand 500 flags for September 1, World Peace Day. Party headquarters across the country have mobilized to bring thousands of people to Ankara.

6. "Analysis: The portrait of a young man as a politician - Recep Tayyip Erdogan",
One of the most popular and curious characters in Turkey these days is obviously Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He is the leader of a new party. He is not new himself but the party he recently established is. There are many rumors about him.

1. - AP - "Turkish authorities believe murder was political hit":

ISTANBUL

Police believe the murder of one of Turkey's leading businessmen may have been a political killing, after no evidence was found to confirm initial suspicions that he was killed by a mentally disturbed teen-age drug addict, reports said Monday.

Uzeyir Garih, 72, chairman of the ALARKO business group and a prominent member of Turkey's Jewish community, was found dead in an Istanbul cemetery on Saturday. He had been stabbed several times.

Police arrested seven people near the scene of the crime Saturday, including a 13-year-old boy said to be a drug addict who was considered the key suspect. However, police released all seven suspects late Sunday, and Turkish media said Monday that the investigation was examining the possibility of a political motive for the killing.

An examination of Garih's wounds has led police to suspect that three people may have been involved in the stabbing, daily Radikal reported Monday. It said the knife-wounds had come from three different directions. Police are searching for a knife or knives that may have been used in the killing, Radikal said.

Police said Monday they were questioning six suspects in the case. Two of them were detained late Sunday, and four more on Monday. One of the six suspects is a woman, private NTV reported.

Garih had been visiting the grave of Kucuk Huseyin Efendi, an Islamic religious leader who had been close to Garih's father, daily Sabah said Monday. Garih was known for his interest in Islam and other religions.

Police found a piece of sackcloth in the cemetery near Garih's body which had the word Allah, or God, written on it in Arabic in blood, Sabah reported. However, police said Monday that the item was a piece of cloth used by a policeman arriving at the cemetery to cover one of Garih's wounds, the Anatolia news agency reported. Police said the blood on the cloth was Garih's, and did not mention any writing on the cloth, Anatolia said.

Police are investigating the possibility that the killing was carried out by an extremist Islamic group opposed to Garih's belief in communication between different faiths, Sabah said.

In his columns for the English-language Turkish Daily News, Garih had voiced support for Turkey's close relations with Israel and Turkey's efforts to join the European Union.

Hasan Yilmaz, the prosecutor directing the inquiry into the killing, said the fact that Garih's wallet, gold chain and watch had not been taken suggested the killing was not motivated by money. He said only Garih's mobile telephone had been taken. Police said they had attempted to trace the phone but had lost track of it Saturday afternoon, a few hours after the murder.

Garih's ALARKO group is a heating, ventilating and air conditioning concern which does construction in Turkey and central Asia, and also has operations in the tourism and seafood industries.

Garih's funeral will be held Tuesday at the Neve Shalom synagogue in Istanbul.

2. - AFP - "Turkish PM Ecevit backs businessmen in anti-dollar campaign":

ANKARA

Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit lent his support on Monday to a campaign by Ankara business leaders to stem increasing use of the dollar in domestic trade and promote the nosediving Turkish lira. Ecevit was the first to sign a petition calling on Turkish traders to stop using dollars amongst themselves, as part of a campaign dubbed "Respect for the Turkish lira" initiated by the Ankara chamber of trade (ATO).

The Turkish currency has lost about 50 percent of its value against the US unit since February, when a severe financial crisis hit the country. With government credibility badly damaged, Turks have rushed for dollars and businesspeople have increasingly used the US currency in a bid to safeguard themselves against other possible economic shocks. Amid a highly volatile environment on financial markets, even the slightest indication of a political or economic snag has caused the lira to fall sharply. "We think that Turkey will be rescued from a life of dollars, that it will stop depending on dollars," ATO chairman Sinan Aygun told reporters after meeting with Ecevit.

Several prominent businessmen and dozens of non-governmental organizations across Turkey have backed the campaign. The ATO board has decided to expel member companies which did not heed the anti-dollar appeal, Aygun was later quoted by Anatolia news agency as saying. The board also planned fines of 400 million Turkish lira (about 274 dollars) for those who did not respect the decision. Aygun said they would ask businesspeople to post a notice in shops and offices which read: "We do not do business in foreign currency." The campaign is to be officially launched next Sunday.

3. - Reuters - "Turkish soldiers clash with PKK in northern Iraq-TV":

TUNCELI

Turkish security forces have clashed with Kurdish separatists in northern Iraq, but it was not immediately clear how many casualties either side suffered, a Kurdish television channel said on Monday. Turkish forces regularly pursue Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters across the border into the breakaway region of northern Iraq, outside of Baghdad's control since the end of the 1991 Gulf War. Two Kurdish factions now administer the region, patrolled by U.S. warplanes based in southern Turkey.

"Turkish soldiers have launched an intense operation in northern Iraq that involves a group of at least 400 soldiers and a group of PKK fighters. The operation continues," Europe-based Medya television channel said, quoting a PKK statement. Medya said the fighting broke out on Saturday across the border near the Turkish province of Sirnak, site of clashes between security forces and the PKK that killed one soldier last week. Several Turkish soldiers were wounded by landmines during the clashes, Medya said, and a number of guerrillas were also hurt. The channel did not say how many were wounded.

The PKK launched an armed campaign in 1984 for self-rule in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast, and more than 30,000 people have died in the conflict. But fighting has been reduced to sporadic clashes since the 1999 capture of rebel commander Abdullah Ocalan, now on death row for treason. Ocalan, who has appealed his death sentence to the European Court of Human Rights, has ordered his followers to withdraw from Turkey and instead pursue cultural rights for Turkey's 12 million Kurds through political avenues.

Ankara sees Ocalan's change of heart as a ruse to escape the noose and has said it will not negotiate with the PKK until it surrenders or is "neutralised."

4. - Turkish Daily News - "Execution and punishment system more important than type of prisons":

A report prepared by professional unions in Izmir has said that the type of prison was not important, but punishment and execution systems should be discussed. The death fasts, held by leftist prisoners for more than 200 days in protest against the cell-based F-type prisons, and the construction and health standards of the F-type prisons were discussed in the report.

It was alleged that the problem did not come from the type of prison, the main problems causing riots and bickering in the prisons were the policies on execution and punishment implementations. Various professional unions prepared reports in their own fields. The Izmir Bar Association prepared a report on jurisprudence, Construction Engineers prepared a report on the inner design of prisons and the physicians union prepared a report on health conditions within the prisons. Their reports were merged to be published as a booklet. The final report has been prepared after long evaluation and investigation into the current situation of the prisons.

The report stated that the prisons, developed by the Justice Ministry, were not hotels, but the prisoners have social and cultural rights during their stay in the prisons.

Construction and health conditions

The report also contains the datum of report on prisons, which was prepared by the Human Rights Commission of the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM). Inner design of the prisons was evaluated in the report, focusing on the Kiriklar F-type prison. Dangerous prisoners have been identified by the objective criteria in democracy, the basic principles to identify the prisoners were listed in the report:

"A proper system should be provided for prisoners to express their grievances and report violations subjected to themselves and enmities among themselves. Measures have to be taken to reduce the bickering and enmity among prisoners. They should be given the opportunity to act freely, and security measures should be taken if there are any dangerous event. Implementation of the security measures must be only toward the dangerous prisoners.

"The implementation of the F-type prisons could cause isolation, and due to this isolation serious health problems could be experienced. Toilets have been designed to double as shower rooms which may cause infections among the prisoners.

"Qualified personnel should be appointed to the prisons and practically experienced professionals should be employed by the prisons to carry out executions. Both personnel and the prisoners have a right to participate the administration of the prison. Different execution judiciary should be established in the prisons."

Pertaining to the health conditions and medical rights of the prisons, the report said: "Medical treatment of prisoners should be given to sick prisoners, the kind of the treatment should be told to prisoners. The health service must be available equally to each prisoner. Prisoners must be informed before all medical treatments. Professional independencies of the doctor and other personnel who work in the prisoners have to be ensured."

The conclusion of the report said that the construction of the F-type prisoners should be up to modern standards, and the reform of the prisons should be probed by all authorities.

The report, consisting of 77 pages, explains how the prisons have been designed. It states that some 250 prisoners have died since 1981 for various reasons. The creator of the report said that the prisons have been considered problematic because of the execution and punishment policies.

"It has been announced by the Justice Ministry, referring to the reform on the prisons, that the F-type prisons in Turkey are up to European standards. F-type prisons are not hotels, they were built to house dangerous criminals. It is the highly established security execution methods," they added.

557 prisons in Turkey

According the report there are some 557 prisons in Turkey now, containing 72,000 inmates, the total capacity of prisons is around 73,000. Some 11,000 have been convicted of terrorist crimes, and 2,000 of Mafia crimes. It was claimed in the report that only these 13,000 prisoner should be kept in the F-type prisons.

5. - Kurdish Observer - "Only four days left to September 1...":

HADEP has made 105 thousand posters, 225 thousand announcements, and 17 thousand 500 flags for September 1, World Peace Day. Party headquarters across the country have mobilized to bring thousands of people to Ankara.

AYDIN BOLKAN

The People's Democracy Party (HADEP) is speeding up its final preparations for the "Hand in Hand for Peace" meeting it will hold in Ankara on September 1, World Peace Day. As technical preparations continue, application has also been made for authorization for the meeting. A statement released by HADEP said, "Peace is the problem of everyone living in Turkey. We are inviting all democratic forces and everyone who calls himself human to our peace activity. We are calling on everyone to cooperate as the architect of peace."

The Planning Committee at HADEP's Ankara headquarters has applied to the Governor's Office for use of the Hippodrome in Ankara, where it plans on celebrating World Peace Day this Saturday with a huge public gathering. In addition to filing formal application, HADEP General Headquarters officials had preliminary meetings with Ankara Security officials. A HADEP delegation also requested an appointment to meet with Interior Minister Rustu Kazim Yucelen.

Meanwhile, HADEP Central Headquarters prepared 105,000 posters, 225,000 announcements and 17,500 flags, which it sent to regional headquarters for hanging and distribution. It also made 23 large banners with mottoes and slogans written on them to be hung in various places. HADEP General Headquarters, which is intensely continuing its final preparations for the "Hand in Hand for Peace" gathering, is also continuing meeting with various artists and musical groups.

5,000 busses

In accordance with priority aims set out by general headquarters, it is expected that over 5,000 bus-loads of people from the provincial organizations will come to Ankara for this gathering. A memo sent out to the local party organizations, from which people traveling to Ankara will set out on August 31, has asked for those bringing the HADEP members and returning them home to take all necessary precautions for a safe trip. The local organizations have also been asked to document their own trip and the gathering in Ankara, which is expected to pass in a festival atmosphere, and send their film and pictures to general headquarters in Ankara afterwards.

'Don't forget your IDs'

The circular sent to local party organizations by HADEP headquarters asked for people to set out on the road early, in case delays occur en route. It also noted that HADEP administrators and mayors must travel in the same vehicles as the people and that those participating in the gathering absolutely must bring their identification cards along with them.

The circular also pointed out the routes specified for various groups. Those vehicles coming from Amed and Adana routes will be met at Golbasi by administrators and other persons on duty to direct them to the right spot on the gathering field. Those coming from the direction of Izmir, Eskisehir, and Antalya will be met by officials in Polatli, and those coming from Van, Mus, and Bingol at Elmadag, while vehicles coming from Istanbul will be met at the freeway turnstiles.

Meanwhile, it has been learned that HADEP General Chairman Murat Bozlak will give a press conference on August 29 to give full information concerning the peace gathering.

Guests who have been invited

AUTHORS, POETS, JOURNALISTS: Ahmet Altan, Ismet Berkan, Ahmet Soner, Mehmet Altan, Ataol Behramoglu, Avni Ozgurel, Mihri Belli, Aydin Engin, Nadire Mater, Ayse Duzkan, Can Dundar, Celal Baslangic, Oral Calislar, Perihan Magden, Erdal Oz, T. Ziya Ekinci, Gulay Gokturk, Vedat Turkali, Varlik Ozmenek, Vivet Kanetti, Guler Kazmaci, Hayri Kozanoglu, Yasar Seyman, Eren Keskin, Pinar Selek, Fatos Guney, Gani Savata, Nur Surer, Nese Duzel, Vicdan Baykara, Suavi, Edip Akbayram, Sadik Gurbuz, Halil Ergun, and Ali Balkiz.

DEPUTIES: Hasim Hasimi, Zulfikar Izol, Kamer Genc, Bahri Zengin, Mehmet Ali Irtemcelik, Mukadder Basegmez, Ridvan Budak, Ahmet Ozal, Korkut Ozal, Sema Piskinsut, Omer Ertas, Yahya Cevik, Evliya Parlak, E. Cenap Gulpinar, Husamettin Korkutata, Sebgetullah Seydaoglu, Nurettin Dilek, Ataullah Hamidi, Fettullah Erbas, Dengir Mir Firat, Abdulbaki Erdogmus, Abdulsamet Turgut, and Salim Ensarioglu.

POLITICIANS: DTP leader Husamettin Cindoruk, ODP leader Ufuk Uras, EMEP leader Levent Tuzel, SIP General Chairman Aydemir Guler, TSIP General Chairman Turgut Kocak, KESK General Chairman Sami Evren, TMMOB General Chairman Kaya Guvenc, DISK General Chairman Suleyman Celebi, Enerji Yapi Yol-Sen General Chairman Cengiz Faydali, SES General Chairman I. Hakki Tombul, Genel-Is General Chairman I. Hakki Onal, IHD Honorary Chairman Akin Birdal, BES General Chairman Aziz Yildirim, Tarim Gida Sen General Chairman Mihdi Perincek, DiSK Yeralti Maden-Is General Chairman Cetin Uygur, Oleyis General Chairman Enver Oktem, Sine-Sen General Chairman Yusuf Cetin, MKM General Chairman Turkan Cetin, Dicle Women's Cultural Center, TOHAV General Chairman Niyazi Bulgan, Community Centers, CHD General Chairman Ali Esin Gur, IHD General Chairman Husnu Ondul, Mazlum-Der General Chairman Yilmaz Ensaroglu, Hak-Is General Chairman Salim Uslu, Turk-Is General Chairman Bayram Meral, Ziya Halis, Ercan Karakas, Fikri Saglar, CHP former General Chairman Altan Oymen, and Murat Karayalcin.

Peace Day repression stepped up

Meanwhile, the Governor's Office in Mersin has denied permission for provincial party offices to hang posters prepared by central party headquarters for September 1 World Peace Day. Also, the Provincial Headquarters in Bingol, has been raided twice in the space of one week, while headquarters in Batman's Besiri district were also raided and its administrators detained.

The Governor's Office in Mersin gave a negative response when the HADEP Mersin Provincial Organization applied for permission to hang posters reading, "We are in Ankara on September 1 World Peace Day - Hundreds of thousands, hand in hand for peace - HADEP." A communique signed by the Deputy Governor of Icel, Unal Erdogan, asserted that posters concerning a meeting planned to be held Ankara could only be hung within Ankara provincial borders, and permission would therefore not be granted for them to be hung in Mersin. The Governor's Office also warned that legal steps would be taken should the posters in question be put up.

At the same time, the HADEP Batman Provincial Organization, which also petitioned regional security for permission to hang posters for the gathering in Ankara, was raided twice in just a week. Police raided district and provincial offices this weekend, and following ID checks and a search, confiscated all brochures, announcements, and signs for which permission had been requested.

The HADEP building in the Batman district of Besiri was also raided Sunday afternoon. Police took District Chairman Dervis Bulut and party members Cevdet Ozkok, Izzettin Kaya, and Mahsun Tograp into custody. Ikikopru Township Chairman Zeki Kanas and Accountant Sabri Aksoy, who had been detained and held the previous evening, have been released.

6. - Hurriyet - "Analysis: The portrait of a young man as a politician - Recep Tayyip Erdogan":

Opinion By Dr. Cuneyt Ulsever

One of the most popular and curious characters in Turkey these days is obviously Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He is the leader of a new party. He is not new himself but the party he recently established is. There are many rumors about him.

The party has a new and very different program compared to what Recep Tayyip Erdogan represented before. Some claim that the old Tayyip and the new one are not exactly the same personalities. They say he has a new face compared to the old days. He was once an Islamist politician but according to these people who believe that he has changed, "he is no more an Islamist, but a liberal." He calls himself: conservative democrat!

On the other hand, there are also those who simply believe that he has not changed at all. According to this group, he is pretending that he has changed. He acts as if he has changed because he now knows that he can only reach power by cunning before the established system which is completely closed to an Islamist state.

According to this opposition, we will soon realize that all he wants is Shariah and we will see his real face when and if he gets to power. Thus, in order to protect the system from this potential threat, we must take the necessary precautions before it is too late!

The opponents also know that he may get more than 30 percent of the votes if he is permitted to participate in the next elections.

During the past weekend, I had the luck to interview Erdogan on an individual basis. We sat down together for more than three-and-a-half hours and discussed nearly everything about him. According to him it was the first time he had given a personal interview and will be the last one for some time. I asked him every possible question I could imagine and he answered all of my questions.

Those who can read Turkish can find the interview both in yesterday's and today's edition of Hurriyet. But knowing that Erdogan is also an interesting phenomenon for some foreigners who do not read Turkish but are interested in both Turkey and Islam, I thought that I could share my impressions with them. Here is a summary of my impressions:

Erdogan now knows that the post of prime minister may be as close to him as the next elections are. He has also learned that there are strict rules of the pertaining system that must be totally obeyed in both becoming and acting as prime minister. These rules cannot be overcome by an individual such as himself or groups such as his new party, the Justice and Development Party (AKP, or AK Party).

He now knows that these rules are well protected, not only by the military but also by the majority of the people. We know that even 76 percent of those who voted for the religious Welfare Party (RP) in 1995 also believe that the republic has positively contributed to the country.

Thus, the call of the wild for Erdogan is now to compete for the government and he is well aware of the rules. But experience has also taught him that the only way to maximize a religious way of "personal life" is only possible through democracy protected by secularism. He said there is no other possible way.

"Your religion is yours, mine is mine!" He accepted that the young Erdogan was more radical but denies that he was ever for Shariah rule. He said there were times in Turkey when secularism was taken as a new religion completely against Islam. His reaction was against this hostile manner of those secularists who wanted to blame everything reactionary on Islam. He also said that, in the past, some in the European Union also declared that the values of the union are those of only Christian values.

He added that both of these prejudices against Islam are now more or less overcome, both internally and externally. The new Erdogan is still a very religious person in his personal life, but is aware that the rules of personal life and public life are not exactly the same. He now calls himself a conservative democrat!

According to his new conceptualization, he and his party are completely for the Copenhagen criteria and if one studies the AK Party program, one can openly see that the program is largely shaped by those criteria. According to him:

-One has to accept the criteria totally. If one denies even 10 percent of the criteria, that means one has denied them all.

By that he means he has to accept the criteria in total even if there are rules among them that he does not agree with.

In line with the criteria, concerning the decision of the European Court of Human Rights in approving the closure of the RP -- his old pro-Islam party -- he accepted the final decision which says that even if only some individual members of a party speaks in favor of the Shariah and the party does not negate these speeches and warn or punish or expel the speaker even though the party has nothing to do with the Shariah, the party implicitly accepts the threat to democracy.

His only reaction to the court's decision was that although the Turkish Political Party Law states that the prosecutors have to warn the party about these beyond the line personal speeches, this has never happened, that is the republic's attorney general directly opened the case against the RP demanding the closure of the party without any prior warning.

According to Erdogan, the court has not taken this factor into consideration.

Erdogan openly stated that the economic rules of globalization are only a reality for Turkey and Turkey has to take its measures to adjust to the rules of globalization as fast as possible in order to reap the benefits of the new world order.

His only warning against globalization was a largely shared hesitation about the possible effect of globalization:

"Will it deny cultural differences?"

Has Erdogan changed in his intellectual inner world?
I still do not know the answer.

But I am sure that he certainly different to what he used to be.