10 July 2001

1. "Second trial of Abdullah Ocalan adjourned", a second trial of former Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan and 100 of his aides was adjourned Monday because the court had not received a written statement of defence from the main accused.

2. "Iraq plans to recapture the Kurdish autonomous zone in the north of the country", Kurdish as well as Iraqi government sources said President Saddam Hussein is preparing for an offensive to end Kurdish self-rule in the north.

3. "Turkey is in trial", Tomorrow (today) European Human Rights Court (EHRC) will pass a sentence on 20 cases which were opened against Turkey. The European Human Rights Court (EHRC) will pass sentences on 20 different cases against Turkey tomorrow (today). They include torture, killing, long detention period and expropriation.

4. "Battling to Save Turkey", Kemal Dervis provokes resentment and hope in a job that no one could envy.

5. "Turkey welcomes joint missile-defense offer", faced with a growing Iranian missile threat, Turkish defense officials have welcomed an Israeli offer to help set up a joint missile-defense umbrella employing the Arrow anti-ballistic system.

6. "Special teams positioned in the South", 500 special team soldiers of the Turkish military, along with tanks and armored vehicles, have been positioned in the South [Iraqi] Kurdistani town of Kanimasi.


1. - AFP - "Second trial of Abdullah Ocalan adjourned":

ISTANBUL

A second trial of former Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan and 100 of his aides was adjourned Monday because the court had not received a written statement of defence from the main accused.

"My right to visit Imrali," the prison where Ocalan is the sole inmate, "was refused for meteorological reasons, so I could not register the defence of my client and could not attend the hearing," Ocalan's lawyer Hatice Korkut said. Korkut said the hearing was adjourned to an as yet undisclosed date. The former leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) has been detained in Imrali prision, on the Marmara Sea, since he was condemned to death for treason and separatism in June 1999.

His execution was suspended in January 2000 pending a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights. However the case against Ocalan continues to be pursued, and he faces a catalogue of other charges. An Ankara court is also seeking a second death penalty against the former rebel leader.


2. - Middle East Newsline - "Iraq plans to recapture the Kurdish autonomous zone in the north of the country":

NICOSIA

Kurdish as well as Iraqi government sources said President Saddam Hussein is preparing for an offensive to end Kurdish self-rule in the north. They said Saddam has amassed up to 10,000 troops along the no-fly zone and near the town of Shihan.

The Iraqi plans have prompted alarm in both London and Washington. Kurdish groups have met British and U.S. officials to discuss the Iraqi threat.

The Saddam regime has acknowledged Baghdad's planned offensive. On Saturday, the "Iraq" daily said the Saddam regime will restore the Kurdish region to his control after a decade of autonomy. The newspaper said the autonomy undermines Iraqi sovereignty and will not last.

About five million Kurds are said to live in three northern provinces of Dhok, Irbil and Sulaimanya. Kurdish sources said Saddam has launched a policy of Arabization and his agents have acted against Kurdish separatists.

The Ankara-based Al Zaman daily said the United States plans to divide Iraq into three areas. The northern area would be reserved for Kurds. The southern area for Shi'ites and the central portion for Sunnis.

The newspaper said northern Iraq would be controlled by Kurdish leader Massoud Barazani with help from his longtime rival Jalal Talabani. U.S. and British officials are hoping to complete the plan within the next month, the daily said.

On Saturday, the Iraqi military announced that British and U.S. warplanes attacked facilities
in southern Iraq. The attack was not immediately confirmed by either the British or U.S.
militaries.


3. - Kurdish Observer - "Turkey is in trial":

Tomorrow (today) European Human Rights Court (EHRC) will pass a sentence on 20 cases which were opened against Turkey. The European Human Rights Court (EHRC) will pass sentences on 20 different cases against Turkey tomorrow (today). They include torture, killing, long detention period and expropriation.

HUSEYIN ELMALI

It is striking that the overwhelming majority of injured parties are people who has lived in Kurdistan. The names of the cases are as follows:

Kurkut, Deger, Avci, Orak, Boga, Dogan, Parlak, Kizilgedik, Boga, Demir, Senses, Avsar, Aydin, Ozcelik, Cagro, Ozarslaner, Mutlu, Yildiz, Yesiltepe, Cakmak, Kucuk ve Ertugrul.

Missing Avsar

One of the most important cases is M. Serif Avsar case who has been missing since 1994. He were last seen on April 22, 1994 while being at a white car togethet with 5 policemen. Avsar family applied to EHRC after fruitless efforts to Diyarbakir Security Directorate and Emergency Rule Governor.

Aydin case

Kasim Cemal Aydin and Sultan Aydin couple of Dersim (Tunceli) applied to EHRC because of mistreatment. 13 members of Aydin family made complaint against Turkey on the grounds of violation of their right to live, mistreatment, used up inner law, and that their homes and belongings were destroyed due to their Kurdish origin.

Ozarslaner case

The case includes the dossiers of Ferhan Turk, Sehmus Cagro, Sahabettin Ozarslaner and Hikmet Fidan.

HADEP Deputy Chairman Sahabettin Ozarslaner and administrator Hikmet Fidan were detained on the grounds of aiding and abetting to PKK on June 29, 1994. After being under detention for 12 days, they applied to EHRC. Turkey is expected to be convicted on the grounds of violation of Article 5 of European Human Rights Agreement which foresees fair trial.

Kurkut case

Nevzat Kurkut who is of Kurdish origin but born in Istanbul was detained in Istanbol on February 16, 1994 on the grounds of aiding and abitting to PKK. Being tortured and mistreated under detention, Kurkut applied to EHRC on the grounds of mistreatment and unfair trial. At the hearing Turkey is expected to be convicted.


4. - Time Magazine - "Battling to Save Turkey":

Kemal Dervis provokes resentment and hope in a job that no one could envy

It's hard to know what worries Kemal Dervis more - the amount of resentment he provokes among the distributors and beneficiaries of the Turkish state's largesse or the degree of hope he inspires in the reform-minded and the downtrodden. Critics say Dervis, the former World Bank vice president appointed in March as Minister of State with responsibility for the economy, doesn't really understand his homeland. He is, some contend, too "American" to deal with the political parties, bureaucrats and other entrenched interests that run the country's governmental and financial machinery. But Dervis' backers see him as the only hope of achieving a truly democratic society and a well-regulated market economy.

Supporters were prominent in the western textile-manufacturing city of Denizli three weekends ago when Dervis visited. An audience of businessmen vigorously applauded his recipe for getting Turkey out of its crisis. "You are our hope," Abdulkadir Uslu, chairman of the local chamber of commerce, told him. Nihat Zeybekci, head of Denizli's textile and ready-to-wear export association, was also impressed: "He was aware of even quite detailed problems of the region. He had his hand on the pulse."

Dervis himself is uncomfortable with all the attention. "It's not healthy to focus on one person," he muses. Dervis, 52, was lured to Ankara from the Bank's Washington headquarters to pull the country back from the economic brink. He stepped in last February after the markets concluded that Turkey's politicians had lost the will to end a vicious cycle. The government was paying astronomical rates to attract lenders and then still higher rates to roll over what they had just borrowed. When confidence snapped, the lira lost half its value. The IMF and the World Bank offered a record-breaking loan, but on strict condition that the government keep to a program of deep structural reform.

A political outsider, Dervis is an insider where it counts: in Turkey's critical relationship with international lenders. "I am hoping to concentrate on the success of this economic program," he says, "and that's really my only aim." Things are not quite so simple in Turkey, however, where economics and politics are tightly intertwined, where the machinery of state has long propped up corrupt or inefficient sectors, where opinion polls indicate that all political parties are loathed in roughly equal measure, and where 10 governments have come and gone in the last 10 years. The credibility of Turkey's economic program is in the hands of Dervis and his small team of advisers. If the program fails, Turkey will likely be a marginalized, economic disaster area for the foreseeable future. Success - virtually demanded under the IMF's stringent rescue conditions and a precondition of the country's aspirations to join the E.U. - will bring about a revolution in Turkish politics.

Dervis is pushing a program designed to bring down interest and inflation rates, stabilize the lira and stamp out corruption. Belt tightening is not enough. The country must radically restructure its institutions, committing itself to a long list of legislative and executive actions covering reform of the banking sector, rationalization of agricultural subsidies and preparation of Turk Telecom for privatization. Parliament has passed 17 laws to move Dervis' program along. "He understands better than anyone just what a macroeconomic restructuring entails," says Ajay Chhibber, the World Bank's country director for Turkey.

The high personal profile that helps Dervis sell his reforms irritates some of his government colleagues. "Anything the IMF says, you do," complains Aydin Ayaydin, a parliamentary deputy of the center-right Motherland Party. "Anyone would think you were taking orders from them." Many of Dervis' fellow politicians would clearly like to see him fail. "There is one person in Ankara who knows what he is doing and a hundred trying to stab him in the back," observes a Western diplomat.

Dervis' popularity with ordinary Turks - so far - indicates how tired they are of successive inept governments whose policies have drained their wallets and their savings. Dervis was mobbed by supporters on recent visits to the southern cities of Antalya and Gaziantep - prompting the leader of the radical-right Nationalist Action Party (M.H.P.) to accuse him of behaving like a party leader himself.

How firmly Dervis can steer Turkey through its economic woes remains unclear. The IMF and the World Bank have just postponed a meeting at which they were to consider releasing $3.26 billion, the second tranche of nearly $16 billion in emergency loans agreed in February. The IMF had demanded that a professional board of directors be appointed for Turk Telecom. The M.H.P. insisted that some political appointees be retained. Dervis conceded, and now finds himself trying to convince the lenders to approve the cave-in, which will not help investor confidence.

Devlet Bahceli, the M.H.P. leader, said of a reported threat by Dervis to resign: "Let him if he wants. It might even be a good thing." The only problem is, if he did go, he could well take the Turkish economy with him.


5. - The Jerusalem Post - "Turkey welcomes joint missile-defense offer":

ANKARA / By Arieh O'Sullivan

Faced with a growing Iranian missile threat, Turkish defense officials have welcomed an Israeli offer to help set up a joint missile-defense umbrella employing the Arrow anti-ballistic system.

In a one-day visit to Turkey yesterday, Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said it was agreed to seek US approval to sell the Arrow anti-ballistic rockets and the powerful Green Pine radar system to Turkey. The Turks said they were keen on the idea, Israeli defense sources said.

Israeli and Turkish officials have been discussing the matter for months, but it was only publicized yesterday.

The missile shield was just one of a number of breakthroughs for lucrative defense deals the visit managed to achieve.

The most promising of these is an offer to upgrade 170 Turkish M-60 tanks and co-production of the advanced Gil anti-tank rocket, defense officials said.

Israel also said that the offers to sell Turkey a spy satellite as well as attack helicopters were resurrected after France and the United States blocked the transfer of military knowhow due to Turkey's alleged human rights abuses.

"The purpose of this visit is mainly to strengthen the strategic ties between both countries and to encourage joint projects between the defense establishments," Ben-Eliezer said.

The defense minister added that land forces from both Israel and Turkey would soon hold joint maneuvers.

This follows three years of joint naval maneuvers and intensive joint exercises between the two air forces.

"The air forces train together, the navies train together, and I hope that soon the land forces will also train together. This strategic cooperation is coming to life," Ben-Eliezer said.

Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Shaul Mofaz is scheduled to pay a long overdue visit to Turkey on July 26. Defense ties have become so strong that the IDF recently raised the number of military attaches from one to three.

As Israel's second-most important strategic ally after the United States, Ben-Eliezer said he told his Turkish counterparts that Israel expects Iran to get hold of nuclear weapons in 2005, and Teheran has recently completed successful tests for the 1,300-km range Shihab 3 surface-to-surface missile.

"Just imagine that a nuclear weapon would be in the hands of what we call fundamentalist elements that will endanger not only Israel but in my opinion the whole of the Middle East and definitely the free world," Ben-Eliezer told reporters after his meeting with Turkey's powerful chief of staff, Gen. Huseyin Kivrikoglu.

Israel wants Turkey to purchase and deploy the Green Pine radar, the radar from the Arrow anti-ballistic missile defense system, against the Iranian threat.

But Turkey is undergoing a severe financial crisis and the lucrative multi-billion dollar defense deals that Israel had hoped to cash in on now appear frozen.

In fact, the purpose of former prime minister and defense minister Ehud Barak's trip here last August was to get negotiations back on track. But 11 months later, nothing has been decided and Israeli defense sources said that the Turkish military has not even earmarked funds for a theater missile defense system.

Still, Turkish Defense Ministry Sabahattin Cakmakoglu said the visit by Ben-Eliezer was a "stimulating point in our relations." The Turkish defense minister said the meeting yesterday "would bring a momentum to our bilateral and military relations."

Turkish officials also assured Israel that its firms had not been eliminated from at least four major tenders potentially worth over $4 billion.

The major deal is one by Israel to upgrade 170 Turkish M-60 tanks in a deal worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Israel is in competition with the US-based General Dynamics. Later this week, a delegation of Israeli experts on the tank upgrade will be coming to Turkey to talk price.

A second offer made by Israel was to jointly develop and produce the Gil anti-tank rocket. In a bid to sweeten its offers, Israel has proposed to Ankara that they then sell the Gil to a third country, senior Israeli defense officials said.

Another project resurrected during Ben-Eliezer's visit was the military intelligence satellite based on the Israeli Ofek 3.

France won the bidding on that deal last year, but Turkey canceled that agreement in retaliation for France's accusations that Turkey committed genocide against the Armenians. Israel Aircraft Industries is expected to resubmit its offer, worth some $270 million, when the tender is reopened.

The final deal involves a joint venture with Russia to sell Turkey 145 attack helicopters in a deal worth about $1.5 billion. Turkey had already announced it chose the US-based Bell firm, but has kept the Russian-Israeli consortium as the second option should Congress refuse the transfer of technology licenses to Turkey. There are indications that this may happen.

"I am not the man who came to sign deals now," Ben-Eliezer said.

But in closed-door meetings, the defense minister, accompanied by top defense officials, reviewed the $1 billion in defense deals already made with Turkey and went into details over the items on the agenda now.

"Having this giant country behind us not only as our friends, but as a strategic supporter is a great asset," Ben-Eliezer said.


6. - Ozgur Politika - "Special teams positioned in the South":

500 special team soldiers of the Turkish military, along with tanks and armored vehicles, have been positioned in the South [Iraqi] Kurdistani town of Kanimasi.

NURDOGAN AYDOGAN/S. KURDISTAN

In addition to US and Iraq military forces, movement of special war teams tied to the Turkish military is now on the agenda in South Kurdistan. Meanwhile, meetings between the PUK and KDP continue.

It was learned that the Turkish military has positioned a great number of soldiers, among whom are special teams soldiers, tanks and armored vehicles in the Behdinan region of South Kurdistan in the past week. A 500-strong group of special team soldiers from the Turkish army was settled in Kanimasi, while it was reported that special teams have been sent to the towns of Bamerni and Seladize also. It has additionally been reported that Turkish helicopters have been constantly coming and going from the city of Amediye in recent days and are preparing for an operation in the Behdinan and Avasin regions. It has been reported that the Kurdistan Democratic Party KDP) has been making announcements to the public from mosques, telling the people that there will be an operation and warning them not to go out to their fields.

Meanwhile, KDP and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) delegations met in the KDP-controlled city of Selahaddin on July 1 and decided to speed up work so that people who had migrated from their homes would be able to return. KDP and PUK delegations were expected to meet on Monday in Suleymaniya also.

Local sources also report that some of the Northern Watch forces currently stationed at Incirlik base in Adana will move to the South when a new airport goes into service. Construction on the airport was begun some time ago.

Trying to blame village evacuations on PKK

Meanwhile, in North [Turkish] Kurdistan, special war teams tied to the Turkish military continue to try to force villagers of the 5,000 villages that were forcibly evacuated, burned, and destroyed to sign documents that their villages were destroyed by the PKK. Particularly villagers from evacuated villages near Amed (Diyarbakir) have been reporting that they are being pressured by Turkish military forces to sign documents saying that "the PKK burned our village and forced us to migrate," while the promise is being made that those who sign the document will be allowed to return to their villages.

Villagers have shown angry reactions, saying that the state forced them to leave their villages during the war and is now trying to force them to sign these documents in order to clear itself. Villagers have called on all human rights organizations and political parties to be aware of this practice by the state and to assist them. They have said that, if necessary, they will apply to international courts if this practice does not come to an end.