11 July 2001

1. "European rights court condemns Turkey", the European Court of Human Rights Tuesday condemned Turkey over a case involving the murder of an ethnic Kurd in which it said civil guards were functioning as "quasi-police".

2. "KDP and Turkish military hold meetings to discuss fight against PKK", Turkish delegation to ease concerns of KDP.

3. "New commission set up to promote Turkish-Armenian relations", prominent Turkish and Armenian figures have set up a reconciliation commission after three days of talks here, aimed at paving the way for a new era in bilateral relations after nearly a century of conflict and mutual recrimination.

4. "The death fast in a cul-de-sac", the latest death of the death fast has brought the toll to 28, and many more inmates and their relatives who have been on the death fast to support the inmates are at death's door.

1. - AFP - "European rights court condemns Turkey":

STRASBOURG

The European Court of Human Rights Tuesday condemned Turkey over a case involving the murder of an ethnic Kurd in which it said civil guards were functioning as "quasi-police". The body of Mehmet Serif Avsar found on May 7, 1994 outside the town of Diyarbakir after he was seized by seven men, five of them civil village guards. Six years later, one of the guards was condemned to 20 years in prison for murder, while five other suspects were ordered to serve six years and eight months for kidnapping. A seventh suspect, an army sergeant, is still on the run.

In its ruling, the court said Turkish authorities "failed to carry out an effective and adequate investigation into the murder", and said the case highlighted the risks involved in using voluntary civil guards as "quasi-police". At the time of the murder, village guards were often used for all kinds of official operations, including the arrest of suspects, the court said. The court ordered the Turkish state to pay 80,000 pounds sterling (132,000 euros, 122,000 dollars) to the victim's family.

2. - Turkish Daily News - "KDP and Turkish military hold meetings to discuss fight against PKK":

Turkish delegation to ease concerns of KDP

ILNUR CEVIK

A Turkish Foreign Ministry delegation visited Salahaddin in northern Iraq to meet Masoud Barzani and his Kurdistan Democracy Party (KDP) officials to dispel ongoing rumors that there is a rift between the Iraqi Kurdish administration and Ankara.

Turkish officials told the Turkish Daily News that the visit was designed to reassure the KDP once again that Turkey is a friend of the KDP no matter what rumors were being spread in Ankara. KDP sources have said this is a welcome diplomatic step from Ankara.

Some Turkish newspapers have been claiming lately that relations between Ankara and the KDP are at an all time low for a number of reasons.

They say the lack of spring operations against Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants in northern Iraq, the negative approach of the KDP to a proposed second border gate in Habur between Turkey and Iraq bypassing the KDP authority, the alleged lack of cooperation on the revitalization of the Ankara peace process and Barzani's refusal to come to Ankara to meet his arch-rival Jalal Talabani have created a rift between Ankara and the KDP.

Sources in northern Iraq told the TDN that the KDP and Ankara have closely collaborated in the fight against the PKK and many young soldiers and peshmerga fighters have lost their lives in the process, "whilst others not only condoned the PKK but assisted them with logistics and sanctuary." The sources said today that thanks to the KDP's cooperation "confirmed by Turkish security experts" the PKK are defeated and are less of a danger militarily than they were five or ten years ago.

Sources said there seems to be differences of opinion between KDP peshmerga commanders and Turkish generals on how to handle the small pockets of PKK militants remaining in northern Iraq. According to local reports in southeastern Turkey there were security meetings between both sides last week in the border town of Silopi and both sides reached a series of agreements on how to deal with the PKK.

KDP officials say the PKK militants are now spread across the region in small groups and it is very hard to hunt them down due to the terrain.

As to the second border gate KDP officials said that under normal conditions when Baghdad had control of the whole of the country it was normal for Iraq and Turkey to deal directly on trade and other border matters. But as there is a unique situation where Iraq is not controlling the northern parts of the country and the area's administration is shared by the KDP and Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) the respective administrations have to regulate trade and transportation in the region.

The western powers as well as Turkey realize this reality and thus deal with Barzani, a KDP source said. He said Barzani's authority in the north controlling the 12 kilometers gap between Turkey and Iraqi controlled areas is a reality and has to be respected.

The KDP source also stressed that Barzani has guaranteed the security of the Turkish-Iraqi pipeline and the safety of the trade route between Turkey and Iraq, thus it is out of the question for a second border gate to be opened in Habur without consultations with the KDP.

Since 1994 the KDP and the PUK were involved in an internal dispute leading to major confrontations. In October 1996, a cease-fire was brokered by the United States, and the Turkish and British governments, known as the Ankara process, with several meetings held with high level diplomats from all three cosponsors and KDP and PUK senior officials at Ankara Palace. A year later the PUK reportedly violated the cease-fire and was officially condemned by the cosponsors.

The KDP moved against the PUK and the PKK positions and recaptured the positions taken earlier by them. Another cease fire was declared. The situation of no war no peace prevailed for almost a year. In September 1998, both leaders, Barzani and Talabani, were invited to Washington and signed an agreement known as the Washington agreement under the supervision of U.S. Secretary of State Madeline Albright. The agreement was regarded as a confirmation of the Ankara process.

A KDP source said that since then "certain positive steps are being taken by both sides and joint commissions are formed for various issues, POWs are released, some IDPs have returned to their places of origin, financial matters are resolved to a large extent, freedom of movement and trade is also resolved. ... a High Coordination Committee is formed from key leadership members from both sides and so far have met on regular basis. However, the issue of joint parliament meeting and new elections is not resolved yet."

Observers here said Ankara feels it is left out of the recent positive developments inside northern Iraq by both Kurdistan groups. Turkish officials are irked by regular visits of U.S. and U.K. diplomats which it feels is contributing to such progress and Ankara is no longer a player in the peace process.

3. - AFP - "New commission set up to promote Turkish-Armenian relations":

GENEVA

Prominent Turkish and Armenian figures have set up a reconciliation commission after three days of talks here, aimed at paving the way for a new era in bilateral relations after nearly a century of conflict and mutual recrimination. Although the two sides representing civil society have been meeting secretly in Vienna since earlier in the year, they spoke publicly for the first time on Tuesday at the Henri Dunant Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue. The new commission, whose 10 members include former ministers, diplomats, a lawyer and academics, aims to promote mutual understanding and encourage better relations.

It also aims to draw up recommendations that can be presented to the two governments, the parties said on Tuesday. Ilter Turkmen, a former Turkish foreign minister and UN official, told a news briefing the objective was not to come to a historical judgement, nor did they expect an immediate resolution of problems. "We are not starting this process which will take a long time in the hope that it will resolve immediately all the problems. Historical perceptions will not change from one day to another," he told reporters. He stressed the importance of dialogue, saying it was the first attempt at "structured dialogue" between the civil societies of Turkey and Armenia, and the Armenian diaspora. "For this very reason, it's an important initiative. It is in a sense a turning point in the relations between the two peoples," he said.

Armenia maintains that 1.5 million people died in orchestrated massacres under the Ottoman Empire in the early 1900s and wants it recognised as genocide. Turkey categorically rejects claims of genocide, saying that around 300,000 Armenians and thousands of Turks were killed in internal fighting when Armenians sided with invading Russian troops to carve out an Armenian state. Van Krikorian, chairman of the Armenian Assembly of America and a New York lawyer, said the genocide "is something that is very much fundamental to who we are." "It is also, we are finding, fundamental to a lot of other things," he told reporters, but added lack of direct contact between the two sides over the years had "hurt rather than helped" the situation.

Members of the group, who stressed they are working in an individual capacity, have agreed terms of reference for the reconciliation commission and will continue to hold meetings in coming months. They plan to review progress after one year. The commission aims to support dialogue and cooperation between the civil societies of Turkey and Armenia to create public awareness about the need for reconciliation, the two sides said. It will also support collaborative activities in fields such as business, tourism, culture, education, research, environment and media. The parties said they indirectly had the support of their governments. "They did not object to these meetings," Turkmen said. "The proof of the pudding is in the eating, they will wait and see if this forum produces some positive results." Turkey officially recognised Armenia shortly after its independence in 1991, but has never established diplomatic relations. The Henri Dunant Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, based in Geneva, has facilitated peace talks between the Indonesian government and rebels from the separatist province of Aceh since last year.

4. - Turkish Daily News - "The death fast in a cul-de-sac":

The latest death of the death fast has brought the toll to 28, and many more inmates and their relatives who have been on the death fast to support the inmates are at death's door. According to the Association for Solidarity for Inmates' Family (TAYAD), family member Fatma Sener and Sevgi Erdogan and Osman Osmanagaoglu, whose punishments were postponed because of their worsening health conditions, might die any moment. Sener has been on a death fast for 239 days, Erdogan for 249 days and Osmanagaoglu for 263 days.

The death fast, which was initially started by 800 inmates who are members of various leftist groups such as the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C), Turkish Communist Party-Marxist and Leninists (TKP-ML) and Turkish Communist Workers' Party (TKIP), has passed the 263rd day. Inmates initially demanded cancellation of the implementation of cell-based, F-type prisons, annulment of the state security courts (DGM) and formation of a commission that would include doctors, lawyers, prisoners' relatives and representatives of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to inspect the prisons.

The inmates who had softened their demands regarding the isolation and degrading treatment in F-type prisons, returned to their old demands following the transferring of inmates from large wards to the cell-based F-type as a result of operation "Return to Life" in November in which 37 people died. However, the people behind the death fast are asking for more deaths by returning to their previous demands.

Despite changes made to Article 16 of the Anti-terrorism Law and approved by Parliament, inmates have not accepted medical treatment and the death toll increases every few days. According to TAYAD, the inmates, who are members of various illegal leftist groups, did not give up their demands at the beginning of the death fast. The groups say that they have never given up their demands such as cancelling the implementation of F-type prisons and annulment of the DGMs.

The changes made in the Anti-terrorism Law would limit isolation by providing conditions for the inmates to come together for cultural, sports and social activities and would establish a commission to monitor prison conditions. However, other demands such as the annulment of DGMs have lead to a crucial disagreement between inmates on the death fast and the Justice Ministry.

The Justice Ministry's decision to postpone the punishment of death fasting inmates whose health condition is very bad did not stop the inmates who were released from continuing their death fasts. Punishment was postponed for the following inmates: Sevgi Erdogan, Madimak Ozen, Osman Osmanagaoglu, Ali Riza Demir, Zeynep Arikan, Ummus Sahingoz, Gulay Kavak and Yildiz Gemicioglu. These eight inmates have been continuing their death fasts in a "resistance" house in Kucukarmutlu.

The following relatives of inmates on the death fast have also been continuing their death fasts in the resistance house: Resit Sari, Fatma Sener, Hulya Simsek, Ayfer Guler, Arzu Guler, Serpil Donmez and Abdulbari Yusufoglu.

According to doctors, the health condition of inmates on the death fast is very bad. They suffer from extreme exhaustion, mouth sores, impaired vision, inability to walk, and Wernicke-Korshakoff syndrome, an inability to remember recent events, which develops after long-term starvation.

Following are the 28 death fasters who have died and the number of days of their fasts:

Erol Evcil -- 166 days, Celal Alpay -- 175 days, Abdullah Bozdag -- 175 days, Tuncay Gunel -- 115 days, Fatma Ersoy -- 171 days, Nergiz Gulmez -- 114 days, Cengiz Soydas -- 150 days, Adil Kaplan -- 170 days, Bulent Coban -- 170 days, Gulsuman Donmez -- 147 days, Fatma Ersoy -- 185 days, Sedat Gursel Akmaz -- 173 days, Endercan Yildiz -- 171 days, Murat Coban -- 167 days, Sibel Surucu -- 124 days, Hatice Yurekli -- 185 days, Senay Hanoglu -- 160 days, Sedat Karakurt 177 days, Erdogan Guler -- 147 days, Fatma Hulya Tumgan -- 187 days, Huseyin Kayaci -- 148 days, Cafer Tayyar Bektas -- 200 days, Ugur Turkmen -- 204 days, Veli Gunes -- 241 days, Aysun Bozdogan -- 183 days, Zehra Kulaksiz -- 221 days, Mahmut Gokhan Ozocak -- 202 days, Ali Koc -- 251 days.