29 August 2001

1. "Turkey bans planned peace day demo by pro-Kurdish party in Ankara": Turkish authorities on Tuesday banned a planned demonstration by the country's main pro-Kurdish Party on September 1 to mark world peace day because of fears it could spark disturbances. Ankara police said in a statement that the meeting "has been banned because it was deemed likely to lead to serious public disorder and cause unwanted incidents".

2. "Azerbaijan: Turkey Pursues Ambiguous Ties", Turkish aircraft visiting Azerbaijan have been portrayed alternately as an aerobatic group and a squadron of warplanes. The two countries seem to be willing to have it both ways following last month's Caspian confrontation with Iran. RFE/RL correspondent Michael Lelyveld reports.

3. "Thousands mourn murdered Turkish businessman", thousands mourned a top Turkish Jewish businessman stabbed to death at a deserted Istanbul cemetery last weekend in a murder many fear could be linked to political or business enemies.

4. "PKK holds its 6th conference", the Sixth PKK National Conference has been held in South [Iraqi] Kurdistan. Discussions were held in the light of the defense to be presented by PKK President Abdullah Ocalan in the European Court of Human Rights, while the decision to intensify political serhildans (popular uprisings) was underscored.

5. "Again Sirnak, again torture and death", the body of a 23-year-old was found in Sirnak, days after he had gone out to gather walnuts. The body of Zeki Olmez was found only 4 kilometers from the Habur security post, with its arms and legs broken.

6. "Difference between civilian and military bureaucracy increasing (1)", if you scrutinize Turkey's current situation you will see that the civilian bureaucracy is on the point of collapse as far as quality is concerned and in contrast to this the quality and thus the activeness of the military bureaucracy is increasing.


1. - AFP - "Turkey bans planned peace day demo by pro-Kurdish party in Ankara":

ANKARA

Turkish authorities on Tuesday banned a planned demonstration by the country's main pro-Kurdish Party on September 1 to mark world peace day because of fears it could spark disturbances. Ankara police said in a statement that the meeting "has been banned because it was deemed likely to lead to serious public disorder and cause unwanted incidents".

The statement also recalled that the Ankara hippodrome, the venue where the pro-Kurdish People's Democracy Party (HADEP) planned to stage its gathering, would be used for official celebrations on August 30 to mark Turkish forces' victory in the war of independence against Greek forces in 1922. "It would be difficult to pull back the military personnel and equipment deployed in the venue for Victory Day celebrations by September 1," it added. Interior Minister Rustu Kazim Yucelen also said in a circular that the venue would not be ready by the planned date.

HADEP said in a written statement that it had lodged an appeal with a local court against the "unacceptable" ban, arguing that both justifications put forth by police were "unrealistic". "The ban on the meeting ... interprets as the prevention of political party activities which are esential elements of democracy," the HADEP statement said. Earlier, a HADEP spokesman had told AFP that the sole aim of the planned demonstration was to "reinforce the atmosphere of peace". In 1981, the United Nations declared the day on which its general assembly opens its ordinary sessions should be marked as World Peace Day. This year's session opens on September 11 but Turkey nevertheless has decided it will mark world peace day on September 1.

Turkish authorities frequently take action against HADEP, detaining or jailing its members on suspicion of links to armed rebels who waged a 15-year armed campaign against Ankara for Kurdish self-rule in southeast Turkey. HADEP, which campaigns for a peaceful solution to the Kurdish question, denies the charges, but nonetheless faces a possible ban for alleged association with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

Turkey's normally tense southeast has been relatively calm since September 1999, when the PKK ended its armed campaign to seek a peaceful solution to the conflict following peace calls from its jailed leader, Abdullah Ocalan.


2. - Radio Free Europe - "Azerbaijan: Turkey Pursues Ambiguous Ties":

By Michael Lelyveld

Turkish aircraft visiting Azerbaijan have been portrayed alternately as an aerobatic group and a squadron of warplanes. The two countries seem to be willing to have it both ways following last month's Caspian confrontation with Iran. RFE/RL correspondent Michael Lelyveld reports.

BOSTON

Turkey's ambiguous signal of support for Azerbaijan over the weekend has stirred passions in both Baku and Tehran.
The two-day visit to Azerbaijan by the Turkish chief of General Staff, General Huseyin Kivrikoglu, was portrayed on the one hand as an event that had been scheduled for a year to mark a military school graduation.

According to this low-key interpretation, the squadron of fighter jets that also flew over Baku on the occasion was nothing more than a demonstration by the "Turkish Stars," an aerobatics team that has performed in many countries before.

But the event, coming one month after an Iranian gunboat threatened two Azerbaijani survey ships in disputed Caspian waters, also carried the connotation of a show of solidarity and force. Whether it was previously planned or not, the visit highlighted the closeness between Baku and Ankara.

Both Turkey and Azerbaijan seemed content to have it both ways.

Following an expression of "concern" by Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi, Turkey's Embassy in Tehran dismissed fears about the presence of the aircraft as "baseless," saying the planes had no military capability.

Novruz Mammadov, foreign relations adviser to Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliev, was also quoted by the "Turkish Daily News" as saying that the air show had no political aim. Cooperation with Turkey "is not against any third country," Mammadov stressed.

But in comments carried by Azerbaijan's Turan news agency, Mammadov struck a more defiant note, saying, "Azerbaijan is a sovereign country, and it has the right to cooperate with any country of the world." The position was underscored with ethnically linked Turkey, with which Azerbaijan follows a "one nation-two states' principle," Mammadov said.

In words aimed primarily at Armenia, Aliev said that military relations with Turkey had turned into "strategic cooperation," adding that Turkish forces were strong enough "to resist the biggest forces of the world," the Anatolia news agency reported.

While Turkish government officials were careful, the BBC reported that the planes were on a mission to "back up (the) Azeri position."

The British news network quoted an unnamed senior Azerbaijani official as saying that the visit was "a show of Turkish force in Azerbaijan's conflict with Iran." It also cited a retired Turkish general, Veli Kucuk, who said, "Azerbaijan's pain also affects us, and therefore we should remove that pain."

Former Turkish Prime Minister Tansu Ciller, head of the True Path Party, also praised her country's effort to preserve Azerbaijan's "sovereignty and independence."

The speeches reflected the sentiment that the Caspian confrontation was not simply about the long-stalled issue of how to divide the Caspian and Iran's claim to what Azerbaijan calls its Alov oil field. The issue now seems to have moved on to Azerbaijan's relative strength to deal with Iran as a credible power.

On 26 August, the English-language "Tehran Times" reacted angrily to the event in Baku. The paper said that Turkey's ambassador had been summoned to the Iranian Foreign Ministry to receive a protest against "the adventurous interference of Turkey in Iran-Azerbaijan relations" and "the political stunts staged by Turkish generals." The report was not carried by the official news agency IRNA, however.

The reaction may be in response to some of the more sweeping conclusions drawn by Azerbaijani commentators. The newspaper "Zerkalo" was especially outspoken, calling the visit a "warning" to Azerbaijan's enemies. "Zerkalo" said: "This warning cannot be regarded as purely 'Turkish.' In any case, NATO is behind it." The paper also quoted former Aliev adviser Vafa Guluzade, a longtime advocate of a NATO presence, saying, "A downpour starts with a drop."

While governments and diplomats may see the benefit of making their points through ambiguity, the Caspian situation remains sensitive and open to incitement on all sides.

On 24 August, Iranian President Mohammad Khatami declared his readiness to attend a Caspian summit in Turkmenistan in October. But yesterday, Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov announced that the meeting would be postponed indefinitely due to the country's 10th anniversary celebrations.

The cancellation may leave even more opportunities for discord in the Caspian. Cool heads will be needed to keep the situation under control.


3. - Reuters - "Thousands mourn murdered Turkish businessman":

ISTANBUL

Thousands mourned a top Turkish Jewish businessman stabbed to death at a deserted Istanbul cemetery last weekend in a murder many fear could be linked to political or business enemies.

The coffin of Uzeyir Garih, cofounder of the powerful Alarko Holding, was borne draped in the red Turkish flag in a hearse to the Neve Shalom synagogue, a modest grey-stone building on a bustling city street.

Party leaders, ministers and senior businessmen gathered to pay a final tribute to the man whose violent death has shaken the country, but the media were excluded from the ceremony.

"He knew it was a sacred duty to show Turkey's modern Western and honorable face abroad," Ishak Alaton, who built up the engineering to tourism group with Garih over decades, told mourners at a university earlier.

"We set sail on the sea of life together for half a century, this was God's greatest gift to me. I was always aware of this fortune and I thanked God for it. The Turkish nation and humanity has lost an excellent leader and a great person."

Alaton is and Garih was among the most prominent members of Turkey's 25,000-strong Jewish community, outspoken in their liberal views, often critical of the state and vigorous in attempts to build social pressure groups.

Their headquarters situated spectacularly on the banks of the Bosphorus strait is a frequent venue for visiting foreign groups.

Garih was stabbed to death in the city's Eyup cemetery on Saturday, suffering about 10 powerful blows. Within hours a teenage boy was arrested and the killing was portrayed as a wanton act of violence by a drug addict. That case quickly collapsed and the boy was released.

On Tuesday, an Interior Ministry official said the investigation focused on a soldier on the run and thought to have carried Garih's mobile phone. He said the soldier had taken the phone to the barracks and given it to a comrade. It was traced when that soldier tried to make a call.

He gave no further information.

Turkish media were critical of police conduct of the investigation, saying the scene of the crime had been left open for several hours between the arrest of the boy and his release.

"Absolute Fiasco," read a headline in Radikal newspaper.

The Israeli embassy, however, denied reports that Israeli security officers had arrived in Turkey to take part in the investigation.

"It is true that we have security cooperation with Turkey but it does not include incidents similar to this one," a spokeswoman said.

She said Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres had sent a condolence letter to the Garih family.
In the absence of any clear evidence, speculation in the press about a possible motive for the killing has been heated. Possible perpetrators have ranged from Islamist militants to gangland figures who can become a threat to any business.

A leftist group carried out the killing of another senior businessman, Ozdemir Sabanci, in his Istanbul office in 1996.

Anti-semitism shows no signs of being a serious problem in Turkey, though there have been very isolated cases of violence. Alaton himself has often asserted that being Jewish in Turkey raises no barriers.

Alarko, like other major companies, was badly hit by the economic crisis that struck in February, slashing some 50 percent off the value of the Turkish lira against the dollar. But the company continues to pursue interests in Europe and is ranked as one of the most successful Turkish enterprises.


4. - Kurdish Observer - "PKK holds its 6th conference":

The Sixth PKK National Conference has been held in South [Iraqi] Kurdistan. Discussions were held in the light of the defense to be presented by PKK President Abdullah Ocalan in the European Court of Human Rights, while the decision to intensify political serhildans (popular uprisings) was underscored.

MURAT SARAC / S. KURDISTAN

The PKK's 6th National Conference was held from August 5-22 in South Kurdistan with the participation of 138 delegates and a great number of guerrillas and audience participants. Serious discussions were held at the conference, leading to a series of decisions on the language and practice of the period, while there was a unanimous vote on the decision to engage in political serhildans.

Duran Kalkan gave the opening speech of the conference, which was also attended by PKK Council of Leaders members Osman Ocalan, Nizamettin Tas, Murat Karayilan, Nuriye Kespir, and Gulizar Tural. Kalkan concentrated primarily on administrative style in his speech, saying that the problems they had encountered had arisen from administrative mistakes. "Our holding a meeting during this period in which practical activities are intense is in order for us to play our role of leadership well," Kalkan said, stressing also the importance of creating the proper cadres for the new period.

More than one hundred decisions

The conference met with 17 issues on its agenda, and took up culture, art, press and media, international relations, and national unity, along with works for the people's movement. Delegates debated the issues in the light of the defense presented by PKK President Abdullah Ocalan for his case in the European Court of Human Rights and reached consensus on reorganizing in the framework of a joint life culture between peoples. The conference reached decisions on a series of activities to be conducted in the period ahead in the spirit of political serhildan, but they at the same time expressed their sensitivity on the issue of legitimate defense. Following debate of the issues, 12 commissions were established to draw up decisions. The commissions then met for a week, taking advantage of the decisions and plans already reached at the Press-Broadcasting Conference, to draw up new draft decisions to present to the conference delegates. Decisions were reached after these drafts were once again debated. Over one hundred separate topics were debated and voted on.

'The guerrillas' role is strategic'

The conference ended on August 22 with a talk by PKK Council of Leaders member Osman Ocalan. He said that preparations for the conference had lasted three months, which he called a great organizational initiative. Ocalan said that conference works had been discussed by over a thousand staff at conferences and meetings at various venues, and continued to say the following: "The aspects which have remained weak in responding to the process were uncovered with these works, problems of ours that had not been seen before were seen and strong answers were given to these problems. The PKK 6th National Conference was the foundation for all the works in the sense of carrying out the struggle against insufficient or incorrect approaches."

Osman Ocalan also called attention to the final defense of PKK President Abdullah Ocalan, saying, "Our leadership's new defense has let us reach a new ideological summit. It put forth our defense, tactics, and strategy in both a deep and a broad fashion."

Touching on the relation between political serhildan and the guerrillas, Ocalan said, "The basic special characteristic of our serhildans is the need felt to protect the guerrilla. The new period will develop with the guarantee and support of the guerrillas. On this basis, the guerrillas' role is strategic."

Serhildan for victory

The Parliamentary Assembly of the PKK released a final declaration following the completion of the 6th National Conference, stressing that "peace, democracy, and a free [voluntary] union solution will be realized with political serhildans." The statement continued to say: "Our party's 6th Conference set out a line of organization and action that will result in an encompassing democratic development of change and transformation, and took measures for political serhildans to continue in the broadest way. How to bring serhildan activity, which has been carried out in bits from time to time, to a sufficient level and the problems of carrying this out in a line of peace were taken up and solutions reached. It therefore became the summit of strongly bringing to life the power for democratic struggle of our people and the slogan of 'Either serhildan or freedom, now!'."

The declaration said that the conference had also made a comprehensive appraisal of the current period and situation, determining that the political situation had made democratic change and transformation mandatory and that, for this, political serhildans including the greatest possible masses of the people were necessary. The PKK PA statement said that the conference had particularly underscored the vital importance of replacing the oligarchic republic in Turkey with the creation of a democratic republic.

The statement said that the Kurdish people needed to be a vanguard for democratic development in Turkey and other countries of the region in the current period, adding that the entire efforts of the party were to bring the people to this level and to bring the assaults of the international conspiracy to naught.

The statement also referred to the defense of PKK President Abdullah Ocalan, saying it was of the quality of a "Middle East renaissance" and that they had completed preparations with the strength they took from the defense to turn the line of serhildans for victory into practice. The statement said that the campaigns under the mottoes of "Second Peace Drive," "Freedom for President APO" and "I want my national and political identity to be recognized" must be strengthened and spread to include Turkey, North Kurdistan, and other fields.

The statement concluded by making a call to political serhildans, stressing the following: "Our people must finally say what needs to be said. On this basis, we are calling our brave people to unite with the line of our party's national conference to write a new history and to carry out, continue, and lift up political serhildans. We are calling for brother peoples of the region, especially the Turkish people, to take action to develop democratic peace initiatives in line with a solution of peace, democracy, and free union; for the Republic of Turkey and other states of the region to act appropriately in order for problems to be resolved in a democratic fashion; and for international forces to support democratic development."


5. - Ozgur Politika - "Again Sirnak, again torture and death":

The body of a 23-year-old was found in Sirnak, days after he had gone out to gather walnuts. The body of Zeki Olmez was found only 4 kilometers from the Habur security post, with its arms and legs broken.

SIRNAK

The body of yet another missing person has been found in Sirnak, the city that has gone down in the record books as the "city of missing people." Zeki Olmez (23) went out to gather walnuts in the Uludere district on August 17, 2001. His body was found days later, on August 20. But it was found with numerous signs of severe blows, bruises and swellings all over and broken bones, and also found in a location very close to the Habur security post, thus increasing suspicions that the murder was carried out "by soldiers and through torture."

Zeki Olmez, from the Andac (Elemun) village of Uludere, left home on August 17 saying, "I'm going out to collect walnuts." Family members began searching for him when he did not return. But they did not find him. Olmez's body was found accidentally three days later by villagers out fishing in the Hezil stream. Those who found the body witnessed that its face was bruised and swollen, that there were bruises over the entire body, and that the arms and legs were broken. Olmez's family rushed to retrieve his body as soon as they heard the news, and wanted it to be brought to the hospital for an official report. But their wishes were ignored and Olmez was buried in a great hurry "because of a phone call that came" without notifying the Olmez family and before an autopsy had been performed.

Sadak: State officials must enlighten this incident

HADEP Sirnak Provincial Chairman Resul Sadak released a written statement calling on prosecutors and security and hospital officials to shed light on who had tortured and killed Olmez.


6. - Turkish Daily News - "Difference between civilian and military bureaucracy increasing (1)":

Opinion by M. Ali Birand

If you scrutinize Turkey's current situation you will see that the civilian bureaucracy is on the point of collapse as far as quality is concerned and in contrast to this the quality and thus the activeness of the military bureaucracy is increasing.

Almost everybody agrees that Turkey is being badly governed. If a country is unable to stand on its own two feet despite all its wealth and advantages and if it is constantly being buffeted between one crisis and the next, this means there is disease at the very core of the administration.

On the whole, most of us believe that this disease stems from the politicians and in particular from the leaders. We believe that provided we are governed by young, honest leaders with scruples, who are people of vision and who know a few languages and are well educated then the country will soon right itself.

We have been searching these ideal politicians and leaders for years on end.

Another one of our passions is the effectiveness of the military in the running of the country. Some of us applaud and some of us criticize. The military is in fact like the rest of us and wants to see Turkey governed well and made richer. They do not intervene in the administration trusting in the weapons at their disposal or out of any lust for power. They do so to fill the vacuums left by the civilian cadres, to clear the blockages and to overcome the problems left unresolved by the civilians.

But the crux of the matter lies in that we do not study this phenomenon well enough and openly ask: "Why is Turkey being badly governed? Why is the army so effective?"
Yet, the truth stands before us plain as day.

While the civilian bureaucracy has been losing quality steadily especially over the last 20 years, the quality of the military bureaucracy has increased over the same period.

Crux of problem is civilian bureaucracy

If Turkey is being badly governed today, if corruption is on the rise, if the gear wheels are not turning quickly and no formulas to fix matters are being produced then the primary reason for this is that the bureaucracy is falling apart at almost every seam.

Let us not forget that politicians are people that give a general sense of direction. They are not experts. Each and every minister's success or failure hinges on what the bureaucrats subordinate to him produce and how they work.

The sole prerequisite for the smooth running of the state is for it to have a civilian bureaucracy that is well educated and that knows its job well (I mean anyone that is paid by the state and municipalities with the exception of the military).

Ministers come and go. Bureaucrats stay on. It is they that know the files. It is they that create the solutions. Ministers simply choose a scenario from those put before them, nothing more.
The successful minister is one who works his bureaucrats well and who chooses the correct scenarios to meet the country's needs.

However, if the bureaucracy is rubbish, cowardly and does not work, what can a minister do by himself?

Unfortunately, Turkish bureaucracy is on the verge of collapse.

Every government puts its own men into the bureaucracy, fills up their own cadres and this over-politicising has led the country into the state it is in today.

Quality has slumped badly. People whom you would not give the most menial of tasks to in your own shops are in positions to take decisions on projects worth billions of dollars. Apart from a tiny minority that know what they are doing as experts, the rest fill up the buildings sitting around drinking tea, smoking and doing nothing else. They are not interested in the outside world and their knowledge of Turkey extends only as far as the villages and crofts they hail from. The sole aim of the great majority of them is to stay employed. As civil servants cannot be fired, the ranks are swelling to no end. As their ranks swell so the state becomes unable to pay them all. Consequently, some of them will not lift even a finger unless bribed to do so. Add the fear of responsibility to all this and you can see all the gear wheels getting completely clogged up.

Turkey's biggest problem is that it is vying with a bureaucracy that gets more and more rotten the further down the chain you go, that is cumbersome, ignorant, incompetent and that does nothing more than get paid but which feeds on bribes as this pay is not enough to begin with.
Among them are a tiny, dedicated minority that is skillful, knowledgeable and that loves their work. They see what is going on and feel terrible.

So, if Turkey is falling into an economic crisis, if the judiciary is not functioning as one would like it to be and the forces of law and order are ineffective, if the wheels of the state are not turning, then this is why.

The erosion within the bureaucracy is steadily getting worse.

The good and the skilled are running away, while an army of incompetents is getting more of a say in the running of the country.

All these examples are valid for the entire civilian bureaucracy.

We can elect the best politicians and leaders but when they have to work with such a mechanism and non-functioning system, it wouldn't do any good anyway.

So, what state is the military bureaucracy in?

As different as chalk and cheese. I will continue this same topic by studying the military bureaucracy tomorrow...