17 May 2001

1. "Turkey says Kurdish state in northern Iraq grounds for war: report", Turkish authorities have said in a secret report that the proclamation of an independent Kurdish state in northern Iraq was unacceptable and would be seen as grounds for war, a Turkish newspaper reported Wednesday.

2. "EU calls for 'generous' prison reform in Turkey", the European Union called Wednesday for Turkey to implement prison reforms "generously and properly" to halt a mass hunger strike by inmates that has so far claimed 22 lives.

3. "Iraq's neighbours warned on sanctions", economic sanctions have caused great suffering in Iraq.

4. "ANALYSIS - Turkey's Dervis plots political "revolution", "In the longer run Kemal Dervis can bring the human face of capitalism to Turkey," academician Umit Cizre says.

5. "Societies exist with their identities", the second peace drive and declaration of identity begun by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) have found support amongst the Kurds living in Europe and created a new level of activity.

6. "U.S. questions Turkish F-16 contract to France", the United States has questioned the prospect that a French defense contractor would win a $300 million project to supply an electronic warfare suite for the F-16 fighter.

1. - AFP - "Turkey says Kurdish state in northern Iraq grounds for war: report":

ANKARA

Turkish authorities have said in a secret report that the proclamation of an independent Kurdish state in northern Iraq was unacceptable and would be seen as grounds for war, a Turkish newspaper reported Wednesday.

"The scenario which is impossible for us to accept is the declaration of an independent Kurdish state in northern Iraq. Such a declaration must be regarded as a reason for intervention," the report read, according to the mass-circulation Hurriyet daily. The newspaper quoted anonymous diplomats as saying that this amounted to "casus belli," a provocation which would justify military intervention. The report which was prepared by the foreign ministry had been sent to eight strategic institutions, including the powerful general staff and the Turkish secret service, by the prime minister's office, Hurriyet added. The document said that there were no signs currently that a Kurdish state would be proclaimed in the western-protected enclave, but it underlined the need to protect Iraq's territorial integrity should President Saddam Hussein be deposed.

Turkey has always opposed the idea of a Kurdish state in the mountainous north of Iraq on fears that such a move would fan a separatist campaign by armed Kurdish rebels fighting the Ankara government. Northern Iraq, which has been outside Baghdad's control since the 1991 Gulf War, is controlled by two main Kurdish factions which have recently agreed on a series of confidence-building measures to implement a long-delayed peace agreement, signed in 1998 after long years of feuding. The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of Massoud Barzani controls an area along the Turkish border, while the Jalal Talabani-led Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) administers a patch of land close to the Iranian border. Both groups have repeatedly said they supported Iraq's territorial integrity in a bid to allay Turkey's fears. The report also underlined the need to eliminate rebels of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), who are believed to have taken shelter in northern Iraq after offering a truce to Ankara to end their 15-year campaign for Kurdish self-rule in the country's southeastern corner.

"We should follow a strategy aimed at completely eradicating the PKK's military presence in northern Iraq," it added. The KDP has long supported Turkish cross-border operations against the PKK in northern Iraq, while the PUK has recently abandoned its close ties with the group and engaged in clashes with PKK rebels encroaching into its territory.

2. - AFP - "EU calls for 'generous' prison reform in Turkey":

STRASBOURG

The European Union called Wednesday for Turkey to implement prison reforms "generously and properly" to halt a mass hunger strike by inmates that has so far claimed 22 lives.

Speaking in the European Parliament, Sweden's state secretary for European affairs Lars Danielsson reminded Ankara that prison reform is one of the "priority areas" that it must address before EU accession talks can begin. The EU's Council of Ministers, bringing together the 15 member states, "deeply deplores the fact that hunger strikes in various prisons in Turkey are still leading to a loss of life," Danielsson said.

"This is a great human tragedy," he said, as he urged Turkey "to take all appropriate measures to avoid further deaths" and implement prison reforms "generously and properly" along guidelines set by the Council of Europe. Hundreds of mainly left-wing inmates launched the hunger strike in October last year against the introduction of new jails with tighter security where they feared they would be more vulnerable to ill treatment. More than 800 continue to refuse to eat their meals.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Guenter Verheugen told Euro MPs he discussed the hunger strike during a meeting Tuesday with Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem, who told him that prison reform laws were in the pipeline. A subsequent debate among the EU deputies on the hunger strike was briefly interrupted when two day visitors to the parliament burst into the chamber, screaming allegations that the EU was an accomplice of "fascists" in Ankara. Ushers hustled them out of the building. Neither were arrested.

3. - BBC - "Iraq's neighbours warned on sanctions":

Economic sanctions have caused great suffering in Iraq

Baghdad is threatening to halt oil exports to Jordan and Turkey if they co-operate with a US plan to replace sanctions on Iraq with a tighter arms embargo coupled with relaxed controls on civilian goods imports.

According to the US plan, Iraq's illegal and sanctions-exempt oil exports to its neighbours would be brought into a UN system to pay for humanitarian goods.

The new sanctions regime is designed to keep strict controls on the Iraqi Government while shoring up declining international support for the sweeping economic embargo that has caused suffering to the civilian population.
Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz made the threat to cut such exports to neighbours Jordan and Turkey in comments quoted by Iraqi TV.

Both countries currently pay for oil they receive directly to the government in Baghdad, rather than through an escrow account set up by the UN.

"If revenues of oil sales go to the escrow account, why should we sell oil at discounted prices or give it out free of charge?" Mr Aziz asked.

Diplomatic overtures

Diplomats say Washington has approached UN Security Council members about its new "smart" regime; the contents are expected to be incorporated in a UK-drafted resolution to be circulated next week.

Jordan imports 4.8 million tonnes of Iraqi crude oil and products annually, which has been an important prop to the country's struggling economy.

Jordan's public stance is that it wants sanctions on Iraq to be lifted to alleviate the humanitarian crisis.

Cheap oil

Amman has categorically denied reports that it is discussing modified sanctions with the US.
"Half of Iraq's oil exports to Jordan is free of charge... while the rest is sold at discounted prices," Mr Aziz said.

Iraq exports oil to Turkey on trucks and via a pipeline that carries about 40% of Iraq's 2.2 million barrels per day of UN-monitored oil sales.

Mr Aziz said the oil-for-food deal would become "meaningless" if previously exempted sales to Jordan and Turkey came under UN control.

4. - Reuters - "ANALYSIS - Turkey's Dervis plots political "revolution":

"In the longer run Kemal Dervis can bring the human face of capitalism to Turkey," academician Umit Cizre says.

ANKARA / by Ralph Boulton

Economy Minister Kemal Dervis won the blessing of world finance this week for his vision of a virtual revolution in the way Turkey is governed.

But through the swirling smoke and the cacophony of domestic debate, few could say with certainty whether the structure emerging under the steady blows of his mallet will be a platform for his own future or a political gallows.

"In the longer run Kemal Dervis can bring the human face of capitalism to Turkey," Umit Cizre of Ankara's Bilkent University said. "In the short term, there will be suffering in many sectors as old populist devices are abandoned.

"Much will depend on public willingness to trust and wait." Dervis, a senior World Banker summoned home from Washington to tackle a financial crisis, is uneasy with powers inherited without election. About his future he is coy, but he is seen, not least by detractors, as a key politician in waiting.

"We have a system in need of renewal, a hunger for younger politicians," he said.

Dervis, 52, won International Monetary Fund (IMF) support on Tuesday in the form of an $8 billion loan to reform finances, tackle debt and transform government culture. He faces a bigger challenge from home sceptics, notably in the nationalist wing of 75-year-old Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit's three-party coalition.

Strong vested interests

The media have echoed to accounts of resistance to Dervis's plans to reform and sell off landline monopoly Turk Telekom. A law passed on Saturday takes from the Communications Ministry, currently run by Ecevit's rightist Nationalist Action Party (MHP) allies, key powers including allocation of licences.

Newspapers said senior MHP figures had portrayed Dervis as loyal primarily to the IMF rather than Turkey and gone as far as weighing withdrawal from the two-year-old coalition. "The MHP is the only opposition in Turkey today," said Cizre. "They are not a spent force; not by any means."

The very public stand of MHP Communications Minister Enis Oksuz was not that of a lone eccentric. Many others in the government and bureaucracy view Dervis with deep suspicion, fearing a fire sale of Turkish interests to a ravening world.

"Under the guise of nationalism, a resistance to change is solidifying," analyst Erdal Saglam wrote in Hurriyet newspaper.

Dervis acknowledged on Tuesday he may have put some noses out of joint in rushing to meet IMF demands on key legislation.

"Maybe some things went too fast, weren't debated enough." Dervis strikes at the heart of the establishment in rooting out a system of patronage and populism born of the parties' hold over state funds. Ill-monitored subsidiary budgets, subsidized state bank loans and opaque government tender procedures have all contributed to profligate monetary policy and corruption.

What Dervis plans is radical change of the sort launched here in the past largely by military rather than civilian hand.

The army seized power in 1960 and promulgated a liberal political constitution before yielding power. Generals intervened in 1980, substituting an authoritarian constitution but ushering a new era of economic liberalization.

Both operations were to a greater or lesser extent "abortive revolutions". Dervis must carry both through, feeding off popular disillusionment with corruption and the momentum provided, this time, by an outside, foreign force -- the IMF.

Popular support runs high, with almost 60 percent expressing trust for Dervis in polls. For now, he towers above existing parties darkened by cronyism and by a financial crisis that has slashed living standards and cut the lira's value by 40 percent.

Seeds of a campaign

Media coverage has been relentless and largely sympathetic. Dervis jogs in Ankara streets. Dervis strolls along Istanbul's Bosphorus, he makes his own tea in the office. Dervis is seen with friends watching soccer on television.

The seeds of a campaign may be sown.

Implementation of reforms will require authority. Authority born of popular acclaim has a limited life span and, with the government in a frail state, polls may eventually loom.

The run-up to elections has in the past been marked by an explosion of inflationary spending by politicians eager to secure local support. Dervis's success would make elections less of a financial risk, depriving politicians of these funds.

"If Dervis can do that, we don't need to be afraid of an election," Selim Cevikel of Credit Lyonnais said.

If Dervis does have his sights on a political future -- he envisages a reunification of the divided centre-left -- he faces a harsh paradox. His success would also cause short-term hardship that could undermine his own popularity and "electability".

He has shown courage in identifying himself fully and publicly with the IMF-backed programme -- something the government did not do with a plan that collapsed in February.

But he risks becoming a victim of his own success. In agriculture, state grain purchase prices reflecting inflation would please farmers and the MHP farm minister, but increase pressure on prices across the board. If Dervis prevails and purchase prices are held down, farmers will protest.

Dervis predicts the economy will resume growth in the second half of the year, but unemployment seems certain to bite hard this year. Trade unions will also press wage demands.

Whether the frail three-party coalition hangs on or whether the country faces early elections, Dervis will have one weapon in reserve for any conflict. Opponents must always ask themselves in taking on the "outsider", what happens if he leaves, taking with him as he surely would the IMF's support.

"It's gradually being understood he's no 'college boy'," Hurriyet newspaper editor Ertugrul Ozkok commented.

5. - Kurdish Observer - "Societies exist with their identities":

The second peace drive and declaration of identity begun by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) have found support amongst the Kurds living in Europe and created a new level of activity.

The Confederation of Kurdish Associations in Europe (KON-KURD) called for the natural rights of the Kurds to be recognized. Kurds will struggle for the establishment of the legal basis to assure that the national-cultural rights of the Kurds are guaranteed in every country in which they live.

Honorable peace is mandatory

Releasing a written statement on the subject, KON-KURD noted that the Kurds had been fighting for many years for their natural and democratic rights. The KON-KURD statement said despite the fact that the Kurds had paid the price for their freedom, they still had not been accepted. The statement stressed, however, that the Kurdish people had reached a point at which they had arisen as a significant political and societal force.

KON-KURD said in its statement that the national democratic level achieved by the Kurds today was connected to their unity and loyalty to their leadership, adding the following: "The Kurdish people see the decisions made by its vanguard as the guarantee of its future, because for a quarter of a century, our people's leader and vanguard has never misled it."

The KON-KURD statement called for the war against the Kurds to end with a democratic solution and stressed that an honorable peace was mandatory. "Supporting the second peace drive of the Kurdish national movement is a necessity of respect for the people of Mesopotamia as much as it is of universal values."

Now is the time to discuss the contents of rights

The KON-KURD statement said that the Kurdish people had proven their will through the difficult struggle of a quarter of a century and that because of this, the next debate would far exceed the level of "Do Kurds exist or not?" It continued to stress that, "Therefore, from now on what will be debated is the contents and breadth of the Kurdish people's natural, legitimate and legal rights."

A society exists with its rights

The KON-KURD statement continued to say that a society could only exist with its rights and that Kurds, especially those in Europe, would continue to seek their rights wherever they lived. The statement made the following comments: "Our people will use to the full extent all of their legal and legitimate rights as secured in Europe by universal law. Let it not be forgotten that the struggle which our people has continued for a long time is primarily for national identity."

The statement said that there were prohibitions directed against the Kurds in some countries in Europe. It noted that every Kurd had the right to political preferences, just as the Germans or British, making the following points: "A German or British citizen has the right to be a member of a political party, association, or union, to feel sympathy towards them. That being the case, it is unacceptable that Kurds be denied the same right."

Kurds will create institutions

YEK-KOM administrative board member Ismet Celik, meanwhile, recalled that duties befell the Kurds in the new process, adding the following: "From now on, the identity, personality, social qualities, and system of the Kurds will gradually emerge. The Kurds will struggle to have themselves accepted by the world as a nation and a people."

Celik also recalled that they were carrying out a campaign to gain recognition of the Kurdish identity. He said they had made contacts with the government to have the Kurds accepted as a community in Germany, but said that they had not yet received a concrete answer.

Celik said that YEK-KOM had secured direct participation through KON-KURD's membership campaign, adding, "We have a congress coming up next month. Our entire plan and program will become clear at this congress."

We don't recognize the ban

In addition to Germany, Kurds in Britain have also given their support to the second peace drive. Kurds showed with their protest demonstration on May 8 that they would not accept the decision of the British government to ban the PKK in any form and are determined to continue protests after this.

Chairman of the British Federation of Kurdish Associations Ibrahim Akpinar noted that Kurds wanted peace wherever they lived, pointing out how meaningless the ban was.

Akpinar said that the May 8 march in London had been crowned by the May 12 march in Dortmund, and said that Kurds would continue to remain sensitive to every subject that effected them. "We began membership works in our three associations," Celik said, adding, "We are giving membership cards to our members and there is a great rush to our campaign. The British authorities know the power of the Kurdish masses and their sensitivity."

The potential of the Kurds will become official

The Swiss Federation of Kurdish Associations (FEKAR) is also making intensive efforts to have the Kurdish identity recognized. FEKAR Chairman Kemal Bindal said that they were carrying out comprehensive activities on the declaration of identity and that they would increase their efforts.

"Switzerland officially accepts the existence of the Kurdish people," Bindal said, continuing to note the following: "As a result of our efforts during the last census, an additional choice was added to the set of questions. In other words, the number of Kurds was made clear during the census."

Bindal said that they would speed up their initiatives after announcement of the census results and the strength of the Kurds became clear, but said that it was necessary for the Kurds to develop intensive cooperation on this subject. Bindal said that in this regard, all the campaigns were supporting each other, stressing that this work required a difficult struggle.

6. - Middle East Newsline - "U.S. questions Turkish F-16 contract to France":

WASHINGTON

The United States has questioned the prospect that a French defense contractor would win a $300 million project to supply an electronic warfare suite for the F-16 fighter.

U.S. officials said the U.S. Air Force is concerned that plans by the Turkish military to award the EW contract to the Paris-based Thales could threaten interoperability with U.S. fighter-jets. Turkey is a member of NATO and a major element in the Western security regime.

The U.S. Air Force has asked that Lockheed Martin, the U.S. producer of the F-16, be provided data on Thales's EW systems that would ensure that they would not interfere with other such jets in NATO. Turkey plans to install Thales's Fast 16-EW suite into 78 F-16 jets. Thales was formerly called Thomson-CSF.