28. May 2001

1. "Turkish hunger strike against jail reform claims 23th victim", a hunger-strike over controversial prison reforms in Turkey has claimed its 23th victim with the death of a former inmate in the southern city of Mersin, a leading human rights group told AFP Monday.

2. "Turkish police seize protesters", thousands of public sector workers are descending on Turkey's capital despite television pictures showing hundreds of their colleagues being dragged away by police into buses.

3. "US defense secretary expected in Turkey for talks on European defense snag", US defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will come to Turkey early in June for talks centring on Ankara's blockage of an accord to tighten links between NATO and the EU, a Turkish diplomat said Thursday.

4. "EU will grant 140 million Euro for Turkey", Luici Narbone, Counselor of EU Representation in Turkey said that the European Union will give Turkey 140 million euro in its accession process.

5. "Ruling right-wing party in Cyprus concedes victory to communists in parliamentary election", the party of President Glafcos Clerides' conceded early Monday that the communists were the top vote-getters in parliamentary elections that could boost their chances in 2003 presidential elections in the Greek Cypriot portion of Cyprus.

6. "Allies to press Turkey over EU military veto", Turkey will come under renewed pressure from NATO allies this week to drop its opposition to lending alliance hardware to the European Union.


1. AFP - "Turkish hunger strike against jail reform claims 23th victim":

ANKARA

A hunger-strike over controversial prison reforms in Turkey has claimed its 23th victim with the death of a former inmate in the southern city of Mersin, a leading human rights group told AFP Monday.

Ugur Turkmen, who spent three years in jail for aiding an extreme left armed group had joined the months-long protest in prison and continued to fast when he was released in January under an amnesty bill, a spokeswoman for the Human Rights Association (IHD) said. He died late Sunday, she said. Turkmen, aged 29, was convicted for helping the outlawed Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C), Anatolia news agency reported. Out of the 22 other protestors who starved themselves to death since March, 18 were prisoners and four were relatives of inmates who joined the strike in solidarity.

The hunger strike was launched in October by mainly left-wing inmates to protest the introduction of new jails with tighter security where they fear they will be more vulnerable to ill treatment.


2. - Reuters - "Turkish police seize protesters":

ANKARA

Thousands of public sector workers are descending on Turkey's capital despite television pictures showing hundreds of their colleagues being dragged away by police into buses.

CNN Turk television revealed pictures of Public Sector Workers Union (KESK) members taking part in a sit-down protest in Ankara's main square before riot police bundled them on to the vehicles on Saturday.

Witnesses said hundreds of police were involved in the action in Kizilay Square, including some police on horseback.

The workers, who police say had gathered illegally, were demonstrating against a proposed law which they say will limit their rights to join unions and take future industrial action.

Police had set up roadblocks on the main roads into Ankara early on Saturday, denying entry to the estimated 3,000 people taking part in the initial wave of demonstrations, the Associated Press said.

Ankara police headquarters said about 500 people had been detained after they resisted efforts at being turned back, AP added.

But later Ankara authorities ruled the demonstration, which was gathering momentum with up to 10,000 workers arriving from around the country, could go ahead, the state-run Anatolian news agency said.

Busloads of workers were allowed to proceed towards the city centre, but it was not clear whether those who had been detained were allowed to join them, AP said.
"The public workers who are marching to Ankara from all sides of the country are now marching to Kizilay despite the numerous detentions," the teachers' union Egitim-Sen, which is part of KESK, said in a statement, according to Reuters.

Public sector workers have been hit by the recent financial crisis which has left the lira currency 40 percent weaker.

An agreement between the government and workers earlier this week to halt a proposal to impose a pay freeze has left workers unhappy. They say it falls short of demands for pay rises to match inflation.

They are also angry at the harsh economic programme requested by economy minister Kemal Dervis to secure a $15.7 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank as a result of the financial crash.


3. - Middle East Times - "US defense secretary expected in Turkey for talks on European defense snag":

ANKARA

US defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will come to Turkey early in June for talks centring on Ankara's blockage of an accord to tighten links between NATO and the EU, a Turkish diplomat said Thursday.

Rumsfeld is expected to meet Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit and defense Minister Sabahattin Cakmakoglu on June 4 to discuss a range of issues including the volatile Balkans and the escalating violence in the Middle East.

The main focus will be on proposals to allow EU full access to NATO assets, an issue that has led to tension between Brussels and Ankara, the diplomat said on condition of anonymity.

"Turkey's determined attitude is continuing. We will explain that to the defense secretary once again," he said.

Turkey, a NATO member since 1952 and a candidate to join the EU, has for months blocked a an accord on EU access to NATO strategic planning assets, insisting such access be decided on a case-by-case basis and not "guaranteed and permanent" as the EU wants.

Access to NATO strategic planning is considered vital to the EU's fledgling moves into the defense field, notably the setting up of a 60,000-strong rapid reaction force by 2003.

Turkey says it will not automatically allow NATO equipment and men to be used for the EU rapid reaction force unless it is allowed to take part in the decision-making process in EU-led operations that will use NATO assets.

The EU, on the other hand, is offering to hold consultations with non-EU member states which are members of NATO - such as Turkey - on their common defense policy, but opposes including these countries in the decision-making process.

Turkey said no to the proposal and has threatened to veto the European defense plans if its demands are not met.


4. - Turkish Daily News - "EU will grant 140 million Euro for Turkey":

Luici Narbone, Counselor of EU Representation in Turkey said that the European Union will give Turkey 140 million euro in its accession process.

Norbone visited Diyarbakir Mayor Feridun Celik on Friday and said the EU will continue to support cultural activities in Turkey.

"The EU will support a Culture and Arts Festival to be held in Diyarbakir. We hope that this kind of festival will continue. We see it as a positive development that the festival is permitted," he said.

Stressing that financial cooperation between EU and Turkey has improved, Narbone said the EU will grant 140 million euro to Turkey. "Moreover we will support cultural activities and participate in a cultural festival after this year, since cultural change is very important,"

Celik also expressed his happiness for EU's support and added that they will hold this festival at an international level in upcoming years.


5. - AP - "Ruling right-wing party in Cyprus concedes victory to communists in parliamentary election":

NICOSIA

The party of President Glafcos Clerides' conceded early Monday that the communists were the top vote-getters in parliamentary elections that could boost their chances in 2003 presidential elections in the Greek Cypriot portion of Cyprus.

With slightly more than half the votes counted, communist AKEL was leading with 35.3 percent of the vote, to 33.2 percent for Clerides' party, Democrat Rally.

Predictions based on the official results and exit polls indicated AKEL would maintain a lead of two or three percentage points in the final count. Final results were expected later Monday, officials said.

AKEL's slight edge was expected to give it one or two seats more than the 19 it had in the previous parliament, while the Rally would lose one or two of its 20 seats. The chamber has 56 seats.

The communist party's gains will have little effect on the remaining two years of Clerides' second, and final, five-year term. Both parties support joining the European Union.

Cyprus' government is run by a directly-elected president. The parliament reviews the government's policies, but generally is too fragmented to block the president's agenda and impose its own.

However, the election will factor into the 2003 presidential elections.

Since no Cyprus party can have its presidential candidate elected on the strength of its constituency alone, the parties form alliances during the presidential election season. The leverage of any party during these alliance negotiations is based on how they fared during the latest parliamentary elections.

"We will continue to strive for national unity to bring about the reunification of Cyprus on the basis of Security Council resolutions and for reconciliation with the Turkish Cypriot community," AKEL leader Dimitris Christofias told thousands of cheering supporters outside the party headquarters.

The election was restricted to the southern Greek Cypriot government controlled part of the island. The north has been under Turkish occupation since 1974.

Despite ideological differences, both major parties support the entry of Cyprus into the EU. The new parliament will have the task of approving the necessary legislation to make the membership possible by 2003.


6. - Reuters - "Allies to press Turkey over EU military veto":

BRUSSELS

Turkey will come under renewed pressure from NATO allies this week to drop its opposition to lending alliance hardware to the European Union.

NATO foreign ministers meet in Budapest on Tuesday for two days of talks rich in symbolism and expected to offer a key pointer to the shape of the alliance in the 21st century.

In their first formal talks behind the old Iron Curtain -- ex-Warsaw Pact member Hungary joined the Western military alliance two years ago -- NATO ministers will issue a first joint statement with the EU, urging "zero tolerance" of ethnic Albanian extremism in the troubled southern Balkans.

NATO and the EU, two heavyweight Brussels-based blocs that have hitherto led separate lives, are forging closer ties as the EU seeks a greater role in regional crisis management and in running peacekeeping operations, if need be, outside NATO.

A planned 60,000-strong European Rapid Reaction Force, to be ready by 2003 and wanting to use NATO planning and assets, is a major plank in EU security and defence policy.

Turkey, in NATO and an EU aspirant, insists it should be included in EU military planning if NATO assets are to be seconded.

The EU says it would consult Ankara ahead of any operations but argues Turkey should not have a veto on its plans.

Ankara fears that, if it has no say in the EU's use of NATO assets, the EU could conceivably use these in operations in Cyprus and the Aegean Sea where Turkey has long-running territorial disputes with neighbour and NATO ally Greece.

Few expect a breakthrough in Budapest, but there are frantic behind-the scenes efforts to broker a deal before President George W Bush attends an informal NATO "summit" in Brussels on June 13.

"Shredding trees"

"It would be nice to get a deal at Budapest but it won't be the end of the world if we can't," an alliance diplomat said.

"We're shredding a whole lot of trees on this," a NATO official said, referring to the volume of papers exchanged.

Officials said U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld would probably travel to Turkey ahead of Bush's European tour.

A first formal meeting of NATO and EU foreign ministers on Wednesday throws up a novel mathematical equation, with just 23 ministers representing 19-member NATO and the 15-nation EU.

All EU members, bar Sweden, Ireland, Finland and Austria, also belong to NATO.

Turkey aside, diplomats say NATO-EU cooperation is growing stronger every day.

This has been led by the diplomatic double act, particularly in Macedonia, of NATO Secretary General George Robertson and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.

The two have worked in tandem to try and stem the latest Balkan crisis, spreading the same message of military restraint and political dialogue.

"The more we engage in practical terms, and the two organizations agree they have a common cause, common objectives and common ideas, the easier it will get to resolve the remaining institutional problems," said another NATO diplomat.

Missile defence

NATO ministers, meeting for the first time since the Bush administration took power, are expected to press U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell for more details on Washington's plans for a missile defence system.

European resistance to Bush's reassessment of the global threat from weapons of mass destruction has dimmed since U.S. envoys fanned across the globe to explain the president's thinking and to open a consultation phase.

The issue will top the agenda at a separate Tuesday meeting of NATO ministers and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov.

NATO diplomats said that, despite Moscow's reservations about the alliance's planned enlargement towards the Russian border, relations between the two were vastly improved since they fell out over NATO's bombing campaign against Serbia's "ethnic cleansing" policy in Kosovo.

"Since the new (Yugoslav) government took office, there is very little that separates NATO from Russia," a diplomat said.

In another sign of better times, Yugoslav Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic will address ministers on Wednesday, the first time Belgrade has been invited to high-level NATO talks.