30
th March 2001
1. "Turkish minister optimistic
over foreign aid for economy", Turkey's Economy Minister
Kemal Dervis expressed optimism on Friday that Ankara would get foreign
aid to overhaul its battered economy, and urged quick legislative action
on a series of bills at the core of an economic recovery programme.
2. "At Iraq's Backdoor, Turkey
Flouts Sanctions", deep in the dusty southeastern corner
of Turkey, closer to Baghdad than to Istanbul, a line of 200 aging tanker
trucks stretches for half a mile along the highway as drivers wait to
unload Iraqi diesel fuel at a depot run by the Turkish government.
3. "Dam construction on act of
war? Turkey, Iraq, Britain battle over life's most precios resource",
the planet's most precious resource -- water -- has become the latest
point of conflict in the Middle East, as the UK and Arab nations in
the area battle over a proposed dam in Turkey, a facility that could
cause the perpetual flooding of countless Kurdish villages in the region.
4. "MGK will discuss the PKK", The
MGK will discuss a report completely aimed at shaping opinion on Friday.
The report in question works the themes of the PKK and nationalization
and cannot overcome the viewpoint of 'classical' theses.
5. "Cem boasting about the 'National Playing for
Time Program'", despite the fact that the National Program
presented to the EU has not even yet been examined by the necessary
commissions, Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem is asserting that it
has generally been found acceptable. Various circles have called the
National Program prepared by Turkey a "Playing for Time Program"
because it is an empty program.
6. "Call for a National Peace Conference",
the Kurdistan National Congress (KNK) announced its peace project to
all Kurdistani parties at the national level and the concerned circles.
The KNK said that approaches that damage national values must be abandoned
immediately in order to secure democracy and peace amongst the Kurds
and called for a National Peace Conference.
1. - AFP - "Turkish minister optimistic over foreign
aid for economy":
ANKARA
Turkey's Economy Minister Kemal Dervis expressed optimism on Friday
that Ankara would get foreign aid to overhaul its battered economy,
and urged quick legislative action on a series of bills at the core
of an economic recovery programme.
"I am very optimistic that we will receive foreign financial support,"
Dervis told reporters in Istanbul after returning from a tour of Germany,
the United States and France to seek emergency funds.
But he underlined that the amount and nature of the foreign aid would
become clear only after Ankara announced its new macro-economic targets.
"Foreign circles are waiting for the new parts and figures of the
economic programme," said Dervis, a former World Bank vice president
appointed economy minister last month to tackle a raging crisis.
The minister had previously pinned down the amount of aid Ankara needed
at 10 to 12 billion dollars.
He added that Ankara also needed to generate funds at home, and said
that although undecided yet, the government might opt to introduce additional
tax. "Tax rates in Turkey are very high. What we need to do is
to widen the tax base and get every citizen to pay tax," Dervis
said.
He appealed to the Turkish parliament once again to adopt 15 priority
bills, aimed mainly at reforming Turkey's ailing banking sector and
speeding up privatization, by mid-April.
"I am optimistic that the bills can be passed in 15 days. We have
to finalize them as soon as possible," he said.
The bills are an essential part of a new economic programme which Ankara
is drawing up after it abandoned a pegged currency rate and floated
the lira last month.
The decision, taken to contain a severe cash crunch triggered by fears
of political instability, broke the backbone of a three-year disinflation
programme backed by a four-million-dolar loan from the International
Monetary Fund.
Last week, Turkey and the IMF agreed on the framework of a revised plan,
which is expected to be finalized by mid-April and submitted to the
Fund for a final approval in late April.
The IMF said Tuesday that its future financial assistance to Turkey
would be determined by the content of the new economic reform package.
"The next step is for the government to formulate the program and
translate it into fiscal terms and then we'll see what that implies
for financing," IMF spokesman Thomas Dawson told a press briefing
in Washington.
2. - New York Times - "At Iraq's Backdoor, Turkey
Flouts Sanctions":
HABUR
Deep in the dusty southeastern corner of Turkey, closer to Baghdad
than to Istanbul, a line of 200 aging tanker trucks stretches for half
a mile along the highway as drivers wait to unload Iraqi diesel fuel
at a depot run by the Turkish government.
The trucks are returning from Iraq with full tanks on the last leg of
a journey that openly flouts the United Nations economic embargo against
Baghdad. It is sanctions- busting smuggling regulated and taxed by the
Turkish government and tolerated by the United Nations and the United
States.
Estimates on the volume of Iraqi oil and diesel fuel passing through
Habur Gate, the only legal crossing between Iraq and Turkey, range from
$300 million to $600 million a year. Western diplomats calculate that
the illicit business puts $120 million a year in the pocket of President
Saddam Hussein.
"This trade is outside the sanctions system," said a senior
Turkish government official, who spoke on the condition his name not
be used. "But I would say it is indispensable for Turkey, and we
are sensitive not to allow it to help Iraq acquire weapons of mass destruction."
There is, however, no way to monitor what Iraq does with the revenue.
Western diplomats say the trade has increased as oil prices have climbed.
They justify turning a blind eye because the money helps the battered
economy in this volatile region of Turkey, an important American ally.
The trade also is the chief source of income for northern Iraq's Kurdistan
Democratic Party, which opposes Mr. Hussein.
Because of the political considerations, the smuggling continues and
underscores a quandary confronting the Bush administration as it shapes
its sanctions policy.
The United States and Britain have been under pressure from other members
of the United Nations Security Council to ease the sanctions. One contention
is that the borders are porous anyway; experts say illegal goods and
oil flow overland from Jordan and Syria and by boats in the Persian
Gulf. Another argument is that the sanctions have inflicted the most
damage on the Iraqi people and neighboring countries.
Turkey has been hard hit by the embargo. Iraq was not only a major trading
partner, but also a conduit for getting Turkish agricultural products
into the Middle East. Turkish officials say the embargo has cost the
economy $35 billion to $40 billion, and the country's current economic
crisis has increased pressure to expand trade with Iraq.
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell is trying to develop sanctions that
will allow more consumer goods into Iraq and tighten the rein on Mr.
Hussein's ability to buy weapons. But any attempt to loosen controls
is likely to face opposition from hard- liners at the Pentagon and conservative
Republicans in Congress.
Edward S. Walker Jr., assistant secretary of state for Near East affairs,
traveled to Ankara this month to assure Turkish officials that the administration
is studying ways to reduce the impact of sanctions on Iraq's neighbors.
"It's going to mean that we're going to have to change the way
we deal with the border," Mr. Walker said.
Iraq is allowed to sell oil under United Nations supervision only through
a pipeline to Ceyhan on Turkey's Mediterranean coast, and by ship through
Mina al Bakr, a Persian Gulf port. Proceeds go into an account administered
by the United Nations to buy food, medicine and other goods and pay
war reparations.
To gain more control over its oil revenues, Iraq has been sending oil
through an unauthorized pipeline to Syria. It also increased sales of
low- grade fuel oil and diesel fuel to the truckers who ply their trade
through Habur Gate.
Turkish and Western government officials as well as truckers said the
oil and diesel fuel were sold by Iraq to the Kurdistan Peoples Party,
despite its opposition to Baghdad. The party is an independent force
that controls the border on the Iraqi side.
Masoud Barzani, the head of the Kurdish party, marks up the price, adds
a tax and resells it to truckers. The revenue helps Mr. Barzani cement
his control over the border area and makes it relatively prosperous,
diplomats said.
A 31-year-old Turkish truck driver said he paid 14 cents a liter for
diesel fuel in Iraq, including a 2-cent tax. He said he often waited
at least three days to load because the lines were so long.
Once loaded, truckers said, 2,000 or more trucks are often lined up
at the border because Turkey allows only 450 tankers a day back into
the country. Turkish officials said the limit was necessary so trucks
can be inspected for other smuggling.
The volume of tankers remains far below pre-embargo levels, and the
landscape is dotted with thousands of rusting tankers, described by
an official as "martyrs to the embargo." Officials estimate
that 40,000 to 50,000 trucks now haul oil and diesel fuel from Iraq
into Turkey.
3. - World.Net.Daily.com - "Dam construction on
act of war? Turkey, Iraq, Britain battle over life's most precios resource":
KARS
The planet's most precious resource -- water -- has become the latest
point of conflict in the Middle East, as the UK and Arab nations in
the area battle over a proposed dam in Turkey, a facility that could
cause the perpetual flooding of countless Kurdish villages in the region.
It has long been thought that oil would bring about the next great war
in the Middle East. In reality, however, the next conflagration will
most likely be fought over something more basic to survival and prosperity
in the region -- water resources.
Some nations, like Iraq and Turkey, are rich in water resources. Others
in the region, like the Jordanians and Palestinians, lack water. Israel
also is rapidly running out of water.
Now, a new development is emerging in the area. After interviewing scores
of Iraqi and Kurdish dissidents in Scandinavian refugee camps, WorldNetDaily
has identified one of the pillars undergirding Iraqi President Saddam
Hussein's intentions in Kurdistan -- it involves the construction of
a dam.
Kurdistan is a dangerous and rugged place. The Kurds are persecuted
by Iran, Turkey and Iraq. They have no homeland. The area is believed
to be home to the biblical Noah's Ark, yet the Kurds can find no safe
refuge, as did Noah and his family. The U.S./UK bombings of Iraq and
the northern "No Fly Zone," as well as United Nations sanctions
and other actions to help the Kurds, have proven futile. Saddam's mega
corporation "Asia" has made him a billionaire as he sends
consumer goods, oil and water through Turkey via Kurdistan to beat the
ineffective U.N. sanctions on Baghdad. There is also uranium in the
region. The Iraqis seek control of both uranium and water resources.
Turkey wants to build dams on the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers. Those
rivers are the keys to the water supply of the entire Middle East. One
of those dams will be called Ilisu Dam, near the border to Syria and
Iraq.
According to Anna Van Meter, a Scandinavia Red Cross worker currently
working in Kurdistan, "When the dam is completed, it will flood
over many Kurdish cities, including one of Kurdistan's oldest cities.
But that is just one of many water dams which Turkey has planned over
the next 20 years."
Van Meter continued: "Turkey will make electricity, and lots of
it, at plants it hopes to construct on the river. The financiers of
the project are from Great Britain. And Norwegian engineers will bring
the project to life. Syria, Iraq, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates
have now made an official complaint to Great Britain and warned Turkey
that the construction of this dam is an act of war. Some of the Christian
Kurds told me this is the fulfillment of a prophecy of the book of Revelation,
that the Euphrates River will be tied up so the 200-million-man armies
of China and south Asia will enter into the Middle East."
The Socialist Labor government of Tony Blair has been criticized by
some members of Parliament over the UK's backing of the Ilisu dam project.
According to The Guardian -- a British newspaper that shocked Parliament
by exposing the existence of the project and that the UK would fund
it -- members of the Trade and Industry Select Committee said plans
to spend 200 million of taxpayers' money on the dam would have to be
dropped unless the Turkish government agreed to certain guarantees.
The main stumbling block is trade secretary Stephen Byers' insistence
that Turkey consult Syria and Iraq on its proposal to restrict the flow
of the Tigris into their territory. Turkey will not do so, according
to Olcay Unver, president of the Turkish administration in charge of
the project.
The British Parliament seems to have conceded that British commercial
interests in Turkey and political relations between the two countries
would be damaged if Britain did not pledge the 200 million.
"At the same time, it would be quite wrong to go ahead regardless
of the potential ill effects of the dam in the hope that matters would
sort themselves out," said one committee member.
The committee demanded that Byers obtain assurances from the Turkish
authorities that they had consulted downstream neighbors before agreeing
to the project.
"Objections from neighboring states, however charged in the political
context, deserve to be taken seriously," the committee stated.
MPs said their worst fears were for the Kurdish people whose homes would
be drowned and their livelihoods lost. The failure to consult even the
mayors of the affected towns was "lamentable."
The committee said: "The principal result of the dam will be the
movement of yet more people from the land to overcrowded cities ...
and the absence of remedies in the courts for those aggrieved will leave
many people without access to justice."
The committee "shares the view of ministers that the greatest remaining
obstacle to granting export credit for the dam is the prospect of a
program of displacing thousands of local residents without proper consultation,
compensation and resettlement."
On the issue of secrecy, some Parliament members demand that those involved
in the scheme "address the deplorable and counter-productive lack
of transparency in the way in which documentation has been kept from
the public on the Ilisu dam project."
Some MPs also criticized the government's delayed publication of environmental
and resettlement reports until just before Parliament adjourned for
the Christmas recess so MPs could not raise any issues involved.
Tony Juniper, policy director of Friends of the Earth, said: "This
report highlights how the government's commitments to the environment,
human rights and democracy and ethical foreign policy are not reflected
in the policies of the ECGD. Mr. Byers should refuse support for the
Ilisu dam and instead concentrate on overhauling the rules that decided
which British companies gain taxpayers' assistance for their work overseas."
4. -Kurdish Observer - "MGK will discuss the PKK":
The MGK will discuss a report completely aimed at shaping opinion on
Friday. The report in question works the themes of the PKK and nationalization
and cannot overcome the viewpoint of 'classical' theses.
Despite the change in strategy accepted by the PKK and remedial democratic-peaceful
steps it has taken, certain influential centers of power, particularly
within the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK), who have declared the PKK an
"enemy" have prepared a report entitled "Actions Towards
Nationalization and State-Building of the Terrorist Organization."
The report in question, which is to be discussed at the
National Security Council (MGK) meeting to be held at the Cankaya presidential
palace on Friday, has been called "a very important report"
by military officials and certain civilian observers in Ankara.
The report prepared by the TSK was drawn up with a completely
subjective approach from beginning to end and the resulting work can
be termed nothing more than an effort in molding opinion. It asserts
that claims that the PKK President Abdullah Ocalan has abandoned establishing
a separate state and is now discussing a "democratic republic"
are not correct and gives organizations and institutions which use the
word "Kurdistan" in their names and which are alleged to be
tied to the PKK as examples to illustrate this thesis.
The report asserts that PKK Council of Leaders member
Riza Altun has established a "Diplomacy and Institutional Political
Activities Coordination Board" in Paris, and says the following
concerning the board: "It was decided at a meeting of this board
for foreign relations bureaus to carry out diplomatic activities at
the international level, for the bureaus in question to carry out the
duties of Kurdish diplomacy, and for the Kurdish National Congress under
the chairmanship of Ismet Serif Vanli to establish a Kurdish government
in exile in Europe within two at the latest in order to secure Kurdish
national unity. The meeting was held with the knowledge of French intelligence."
The report asserts that the PKK is taking advantage of
legal vacuums in Turkey. It says that Kurdish language courses arise
from that legal vacuum and asserts that language activities were being
carried out in order to "complete the nationalization process."
The concluding section of the report takes a completely
one-sided approach and gives room to the following "classic"
evaluation which has been used for 15 years: "All these truths
demonstrate that the terrorist organization has not distanced itself
from its aim of dividing Turkey. It is not possible for, not just Turkey,
but for any of the democratic countries to address this organization
with 5,000 members and a bloody past. What needs to be done is not for
the terrorist organization to threaten Turkey with their potential actions
but to call on the terrorist organization to surrender."
5. - Ozgur Politika - "Cem boasting about the
'National Playing for Time Program'":
Despite the fact that the National Program presented to the EU has
not even yet been examined by the necessary commissions, Turkish Foreign
Minister Ismail Cem is asserting that it has generally been found acceptable.
Various circles have called the National Program prepared by Turkey
a "Playing for Time Program" because it is an empty program.
WASHINGTON
Turkey's Ambassador in Washington, D.C. arranged a reception at
his residence the other evening in honor of State Minister Kemal Dervis
and Foreign Minister Ismail Cem, who are in Washington to attend the
annual American Turkish Council (ATC) meeting and for various other
contacts. Answering reporters' questions concerning the National Program
(NP), Cem defended the following view: "The European Union Council
and the Commission made statements. So did [EU Commission responsible
for enlargement Guenther] Verheugen. One could generally call it positive.
In any case, it could not be expected that everyone would be pleased
with every page and every line of the national program in the same way.
But there is a general acceptance. Verheugen said this himself."
Messages of support from ATC
US Ankara Ambassador Robert Pearson said they would make
a contribution to efforts in every field for establishment of a civil
aeronautics agency in Turkey, from missile production to launching satellites.
The yearly ATC meeting, which continues in the US capital
Washington, released a statement which included important statements
in the defense section by Corps General Resat Turgut, who is department
chief of General Staff's office of planning and principles.
General Turgut said words to the effect that, "any
foreign intervention into Iraq's internal affairs will accomplish nothing
but to increase the enmity between the political groups."
US Assistant Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, speaking
at the opening of the annual meeting, said that they support the European
Security and Defense Identity (ESDI), adding, "But, like Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said, this initiative must not undermine the
existence of NATO and NATO must remain the basic force in Europe's security."
Turkey's former Ambassador to Washington, Sukru Elekdag
said that it was a great sin to block Turkey's path to EU membership
by using fears that the country would be divided, while former commander
of the Turkish Air Force, retired Full General Halis Burhan, said that
the EU was acting with a narrow mind and not developing relations with
Turkey as much as is necessary.
6. - Kurdish Observer - "Call for a National Peace
Conference":
The Kurdistan National Congress (KNK) announced its peace project to
all Kurdistani parties at the national level and the concerned circles.
The KNK said that approaches that damage national values must be abandoned
immediately in order to secure democracy and peace amongst the Kurds
and called for a National Peace Conference.
HAYRETTIN KARA
The Kurdistan National Congress (KNK) released its "Peace Project
for Democracy and National Unity Amongst the Kurds" on Wednesday
and called on all Kurdish political parties, organizations, and political
circles to exert efforts to secure national peace.
The KNK pointed out in its peace project that the existing
situation and partitioning had been established against the will of
the Kurdish people. It also noted that, despite the fact that there
were very few peoples which had paid as heavy price for their own freedom
as the Kurds had, the Kurds had still not been successful, and stressed
that among the major reasons for this were the deficiencies which had
been experienced in securing national unity.
The KNK recalled that, because of the existence of this
fragmented situation, the Kurdish movements usually found themselves
under the control of outside powers and were used against each other.
"Just as these politics developed with outside powers have not
been a solution, they are constantly the cause of internal war,"
the statement said, continuing, "Internal war is causing the division
and shattering of national dynamics."
In its "Democracy, Unity, and Peace Project"
which it presented to all the national powers, the KNK stressed that
the Kurdish Struggle for Liberation was necessary for victory, national
unity, and internal peace and drew attention to measures that urgently
need to be taken.
Administration in South Kurdistan
The KNK recommended a restructuring in South [Iraqi] Kurdistan,
where the long-standing dual style of administration has resulted in
a vacuum and division, and called for the Southern forces to show sensitivity
to the peace project. The KNK said in the Peace Project that the environment
secured by the parliament and government established after elections
held in 1992 in the South had not been preserved and noted the following:
"The situation established did not last long. Internal war broke
out and the region was split in two as a result, the parliament and
government were fragmented. Two governments, one in Hewler [Arbil] and
one in Suleymaniya, were established. This situation continues today."
The project stressed that this situation had allowed great
problems to arise and permitted enemies to enter between the Kurds.
It noted that the administrative system was not operating effectively
in the South and that the people felt great discomfort over this. "Above
all else, this part of our country needs peace," the KNK noted
in its project.
In addition to suggesting restructuring with coalition
in administration and government, the Peace Project made recommendations
on subjects such as showing respect for human rights, social equality,
and women's rights in order to secure a lasting peace in the South.
Put an end to domestic clashes
The KNK made recommendations also for urgent measures
to end domestic clashes and to resolve differences through political
and peaceful means, and renewed its call for the Kurdistan Democrat
Party (KDP), the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), and the Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK), along with other Kurdish forces experiencing difficulties
amongst themselves, to begin negotiations for an agreement. It also
called for the Kurdish parties to put an end to provocative propaganda
against each other. The peace project called for the the Kurdish parties
to unconditionally release the captives they held as a first step for
the victory of national peace.
National Peace Conference advised
The Peace Project also recommended a National Peace Conference
to bring Kurdish groups together. It noted that its urgent measures
for the democracy, peace, and national unity project had been presented
to all national forces and called on the Kurdish organizations and parties
to make their positions clear to accomplish a lasting peace. "Let's
meet in a peace conference of Kurdish parties, organizations, and institutions
and bring results on this important agenda," the KNK called.
Warm reception for KNK
Meanwhile, the KNK delegation is continuing it round of
visits with a series of contacts in Vienna, Austria. The delegation
of Haydar Isik and Nizamettin Toguc met with a number of representatives
of political parties represented in the Austrian parliament, including
Parliamentary Speaker Dr. Heinz Fischer, and with the Austrian press.
The KNK delegation was accompanied during its meetings
in Vienna by Dr. Ender Karadas, a representative of the Federation of
Kurdish Associations in Austria. The delegation met with Social Democrat
Party (SPO) deputy Hannes Swoboda, former Interior Minister Caspar Einem,
International Secretary Albrecht Konenci, Greens Party deputy and Chairman
of the Human Rights Commission, as well as member of the Council of
Europe, Tresija Stoisits, and deputy of the Austrian Freedom Party Mag.
Beate Hartinger.
The KNK delegation met with representatives of all parties
other than the Austrian Populist Party. It stressed in these meetings
that the National Program presented to the European Union by Turkey
was not acceptable from the Kurds' viewpoint, calling attention that
the National Program contained denial, but no measures taking development
of democracy and human rights as a basis.
The delegation also brought up the assassination plans
against PKK President Abdullah Ocalan in its meeting with parliamentary
spokesperson for human rights Tresija Stoisits. Stoisits presented views
on this subject, and pointed out that an environment of chaos would
be created in Turkey without Ocalan.
The delegation also brought up repression against the
People's Democracy Party (HADEP) in its meetings and how the Kurds had
carried all their demands for peace and democracy out into the streets,
particularly in their Newroz celebrations. The delegation met with Austrian
Parliamentary speaker Heinz Fischer on Wednesday evening.