24 July 2001

1. "Council of Europe urges Turkey to respect rights court rulings", the Council of Europe Monday called on Turkey to urgently take measures to erase a number of convictions considered violations of freedom of expression by the European Court of Human Rights.

2. "Turkish prosecutor seeks trial for human rights MP", a Turkish prosecutor is preparing to try an MP known for her human rights campaigns on the grounds that she obstructed justice by not revealing the identitites of prisoners who claimed to have been tortured, the Anatolia news agency reported on Tuesday.

3. "Assyrian-Syriacs march to Lausanne", the march from Bern to Lausanne by Assyrian-Syriacs living in Switzerland has finished its third day. The march's Planning Committee said that the aim of the activity was to have the treaty reviewed and for the Assyrian-Syriacs to be granted their rights. Assyrian-Syriacs living in exile are marching from Bern to Lausanne to protest the Lausanne Treaty, which was signed 78 years ago.

4. "Fischer condemns Turkey's veto", Fischer: Turkey's veto for ESDP is not reasonable

5. "Kurdish Rebels Kill Turkish Official and Guide", Kurdish rebels killed a Turkish gendarmerie officer and a former rebel guide in fighting in the east of the country at the weekend, security officials said on Monday.

6. "Turkish president says EU accession talks should begin in 2003", Turkey should strive to begin accession talks with the European Union in 2003 before the 15-Nation bloc accepts new members, Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer said Monday.

1. - AFP - "Council of Europe urges Turkey to respect rights court rulings":

STRASBOURG

The Council of Europe Monday called on Turkey to urgently take measures to erase a number of convictions considered violations of freedom of expression by the European Court of Human Rights. The council's Committee of Ministers adopted a resolution urging "Turkish authorities, without further delay, to take ad hoc measures allowing the consequences of the applicants' convictions contrary to the" the European Convention on Human Rights "to be rapidly and fully erased," the organisation said in a statement.

The resolution included a list of 11 rulings of the European Court of Human Rights condemning convictions in Turkey from 1998 until January 2001. Many of the cases involve politicians, journalists, poets or writers convicted in Turkey for having mentioned the problems of ethnic Kurds in "articles, books, leaflets or messages addressed to, or prepared for, a public audience."

The committee, whose duties include monitoring the implementation of rulings of the Strasbourg court, also appealed to Ankara to "bring to a successful conclusion the comprehensive reforms planned to bring Turkish law into conformity with the requirements of Article 10" of the European Convention on Human Rights, which deals with freedom of expression. The 43-member pan-European Council of Europe serves mainly as the continent's human rights watchdog.

2. - AFP - "Turkish prosecutor seeks trial for human rights MP":

ANKARA

A Turkish prosecutor is preparing to try an MP known for her human rights campaigns on the grounds that she obstructed justice by not revealing the identitites of prisoners who claimed to have been tortured, the Anatolia news agency reported on Tuesday.

The report said prosecutor Bekir Selcuk had prepared a writ against Sema Piskinsut, a former head of the parliamentary human rights commission, demanding that her immunity be lifted so she can be tried for concealing information from the judiciary.

The charge stems from two reports the commission issued under Piskinsut's leadership consisting of interviews with prisoners in the eastern provinces of Erzurum and Erzincan. In the reports, prisoners -- whose identities were not revealed but who were identified only through numbers -- claimed of torture at the hands of the Ankara police. According to Selcuk's writ, Piskinsut declined to a request from the Ankara prosecutor's office to reveal the identities of the prisoners so that an investigation could be launched into the torture claims.

Piskinsut said she had promised the prisoners not to disclose their identities. The prosecutor accused Piskinsut of concealing information from the judiciary and thus aiding the alleged torturers. Under Turkish law, the writ will be sent to parliament where lawmakers will vote on whether to lift Piskinsut's immunity. Piskinsut, 49, won widespread praise during her three-year term as the head of the human rights commission with her daring investigations and midnight raids on police stations and prisons.

3. - Kurdish Observer - "Assyrian-Syriacs march to Lausanne":

The march from Bern to Lausanne by Assyrian-Syriacs living in Switzerland has finished its third day. The march's Planning Committee said that the aim of the activity was to have the treaty reviewed and for the Assyrian-Syriacs to be granted their rights. Assyrian-Syriacs living in exile are marching from Bern to Lausanne to protest the Lausanne Treaty, which was signed 78 years ago.

HAYRETTIN KARA

The march, organized by the Beth Nahrin (Mesopotamian Freedom Party), started out for Lausanne from in front of the Federal Parliament in Bern.

The marchers had reported marched past the Civil Defense Center in the village Flamat, near the city of Friburg, the other evening.

In a statement to our newspaper, the march Planning Committee stressed that the Lausanne Treaty had led to the Assyrian-Syriacs being torn from their own land and that their aim with the march was to let the world know about the historical injustice which had been committed against them.

The statement said that their message was not only for Turkey but also for all the countries which had signed the treaty that led to the people being driven from their own land.

The statement said that the march, which had begun with 150 people the other day, had grown to 180 people with new participants along the route. It was reported that the marchers were approaching Bulle on Sunday, and they are expected to arrived in Lausanne on Monday. They will hold a meeting on July 24, which will be the 78th anniversary of the Lausanne Treaty, in front of the historic chateau in which the treaty was signed. The Assyrian-Syriacs will call to the Western countries at the meeting, asking them to review the treaty which brought them repression and denial

'Lausanne must be rewritten'

Iskender Denho from the Assyrian-Syriac Lausanne March Planning Committee and Kurdistan National Congress (KNK) member George Aryo stressed, in statements they made to our newspaper, that the Lausanne Treaty was unjust and that they would continue activities to overcome this injustice.

'Our activities will continue'

Making a statement to our newspaper on behalf of the Planning Committee, Denho said that the Lausanne Treaty had ignored the people and minorities and left them faced with policies of denial.

Denho called attention to the conditions under which the treaty was signed, noting that despite the fact that France, England and other states which preserved their presence in the region had given various promises to the Assyrian-Syriac people, they had not fulfilled those promises even though 78 years had passed. Denho said that they would continue their activities to get all international institutions to take action for the rights of their people.

Denho noted that Turkey was able to carry out any type of denialist and repressive practices it wanted because the countries which had signed the agreement had not stood behind their promises, adding, "It is out in the open that there was ethnic cleansing as a result. Thus, we, as Assyrian-Syriacs, will continue our activities to protest this situation and decipher it."

KNK member Aryo: We support it

KNK member George Aryo stressed that they thought the Assyrian-Syriac march was appropriate and well timed, and said that the KNK supported the march. Aryo noted that articles 35 and 37 of the Lausanne Treaty had granted certain rights to the Christian people but that only the Armenians, Greek Orthodox, and Jews, who were officially recognized as minorities in the treaty, were able to take advantage of those rights, while the Assyrian-Syriac people had never been able to make use of the same rights.

Aryo said that compensation for what had been brought by the Lausanne Treaty could only be realized by completely invalidating the treaty and creating a new international agreement with representatives of the people.

Aryo said that these types of activities were new for the people, adding the following: "They may not immediately realize its value. But, in our opinion, this is a historic event. It is a great sacrifice. This activity is a recognition, reaction, rebellion against the injustice done to our people by the countries which signed the Lausanne Treaty. It is an appropriate event and we support it."

4. - Turkish Daily News - "Fischer condemns Turkey's veto":

Fischer: Turkey's veto for ESDP is not reasonable

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said on Monday that the Constitution of the European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP) cannot be hindered.

He held a press conference for foreign correspondents in Berlin and answered reporters' questions.

Asked what he thought about Turkey's opposition to the ESDP, Fischer replied that the Turkish veto over NATO-EU cooperation was not reasonable.

"This is a very difficult question I have to evaluate on this issue," said Fischer when he asked what would happen if the Greek Cypriot administration become an EU member.

Stressing that the federal government has done a very successful job, Fischer maintained: "For the success of the government it is enough to look at the increase in the number of foreigners who became German citizen, migration policies, decreasing unemployment numbers, social security reforms and EU enlargement process."

Speaking on the Middle East violence, he claimed that the EU is closer than the United States to the region but they support the Mitchell report.

He also said that he found the Genoa events as exaggerated and said 100,000 youths had shown excessive and unnecessary reaction against the G-8 summit. "It is a great sorrow to lose a youth, therefore, leaders should carefully consider how they will arrange this kind of summit in the near future," he said.

5. - Reuters - "Kurdish Rebels Kill Turkish Official and Guide":

DIYARBAKIR

Kurdish rebels killed a Turkish gendarmerie officer and a former rebel guide in fighting in the east of the country at the weekend, security officials said on Monday.

They said the gendarme and his guide, a former Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerrilla, came under fire from PKK rebels during a patrol of the Alacakaya region of the province of Elazig. Security forces had stepped up operations in the area to isolate the group of rebels, the sources said.

Fighting between Turkish forces and the PKK has decreased dramatically since Turkey captured PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan and he ordered his forces to abandon the armed struggle and fight for Kurdish rights through political means.Turkey does not recognise the rebel ceasefire and has said it will kill any PKK fighters who do not surrender to the authorities.

6. - CNN - "Turkish president says EU accession talks should begin in 2003":

ISTANBUL

Turkey should strive to begin accession talks with the European Union in 2003 before the 15-Nation bloc accepts new members, Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer said Monday. "The EU is expected to name its new members at the Copenhagen summit in 2002. Thus the new members will join the Union in 2004 or 2005," Sezer told a conference on Turkish-EU relations here. "In the light of these developments, it is a must for Turkey to open accession talks in 2003 or before the new members take their place inside the Union," he added.

Turkey was declared a candidate for EU membership in December 1999 at the Union's Helsinki summit after two years of frosty ties between Brussels and Ankara over a previous EU rejection of its membership bid. But the EU made it clear that it will not open negotiations before it sees Ankara making real progress on bringing Turkey's political system and economy up to western European standards.

In March, Turkey unveiled a programme of reforms to gain its long-sought membership, including steps to improve freedom of expression, eliminate torture, and improve prison conditions. But the plan fell short of key EU demands in the political field such as the expansion of Kurdish cultural freedoms, abolition of the death penalty and the curbing of the political role of the military. In June, Turkish MPs drew up a package of constitutional amendments, which lift the death penalty except in times of war, an immminent threat of war and for crimes of terrorism.

The draft also proposed 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 government is planning to summon lawmakers back to parliament in September before their summer recess ends to take up constitutional amendments.