5 April 2002

1. "Denmark refrains from pledge on date for Turkey-EU talks", Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, whose country will take over the EU presidency in July, refrained Friday from making a clear pledge on Turkey's demands that a date be set for the start of its accession talks by the end of the year.

2. "U.S. delegation meets Kurds in northern Iraq", a U.S. State Department delegation met Iraqi Kurd leaders in the breakaway enclave of northern Iraq this week, a Kurdish party said Thursday.

3. "Turkey Tracking Reports Top Kurdish Rebel in Iran", Turkey said on Wednesday it was pursuing reports that a senior Kurdish rebel was in custody in Iran and had asked Iranian authorities to hand him over if they were holding him.

4. "Security Council members voice concern over slow progress of Cyprus talks", members of the Security Council today voiced concern over the current pace of progress in talks on Cyprus and urged the leaders to intensify their negotiations and resolve their differences in order to reach a settlement of the Cyprus problem by June this year.

5. "Turkey's Ecevit tones down "genocide" charge against Israel", Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit sought Friday to tone down the effects of accusations of genocide he had earlier levelled against Israel, saying he had not targeted the Israeli people but its government's policy.

6. "Afghanistan, Turkey Make Poppy Deal", Afghanistan (news - web sites)'s interim prime minister welcomed Turkey's plans to take over command of the international peacekeeping force and said Thursday the two countries would also cooperate in the fight against the production of opium.

1. - AFP - "Denmark refrains from pledge on date for Turkey-EU talks":

ANKARA / April 5

Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, whose country will take over the EU presidency in July, refrained Friday from making a clear pledge on Turkey's demands that a date be set for the start of its accession talks by the end of the year.

Speaking after talks here with his Turkish counterpart Bulent Ecevit, Rasmussen praised recent reforms to improve Turkey's much-criticized human rights record, but stressed the government should do more, particularly to expand the freedoms of its Kurdish minority. "Let me make it clear: It's up to Turkey herself when accession negotiations can start. Accessions negotiations with Turkey can start if and when Turkey fulfills the political criteria," Rasmussen said. His comments came in response to remarks by Ecevit, who renewed a request that the EU sets a date for the opening of the talks by the end of 2002.

"We recognize the progress made by the Turkish government to fulfill the political criteria. We consider the recent constitutional reforms a major step forward," Rasmussen said, adding that Brussels expected further democratization efforts from Ankara. "Denmark attaches utmost importance to human rights, including minority rights," he added. Turkey, an EU membership candidate since 1999, is the only country among the 13 hopefuls that has not yet accomplished the required reforms to start accession talks with Brussels.

Ankara has undertaken a series of democratic reforms, including a series of constitutional amendments, but EU officials as well as domestic critics have considered them inadequate. The need to improve the rights of the sizable Kurdish minority has proved particularly painful for Turkey, as many fear that such reforms could fan separatist sentiment among Kurds. The government of Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit has failed to reach an agreement on a key EU norm -- the abolition of the death penalty for all crimes -- and has so far been reluctant to take steps to legalize broadcasts and education in Kurdish.

2. - Reuters - "U.S. delegation meets Kurds in northern Iraq":

ANKARA / 4 April

A U.S. State Department delegation met Iraqi Kurd leaders in the breakaway enclave of northern Iraq this week, a Kurdish party said Thursday.

The Kurdistan Democratic Party, one of two factions that wrested control of northern Iraq from Saddam Hussein after the 1991 Gulf War, said the U.S. team had met its leader, Massoud Barzani, on Wednesday. The visit comes at a time when President Bush has sounded increasingly belligerent toward Iraq, which he dubbed part of an "axis of evil."

U.S. and British warplanes have patrolled a no-fly zone over northern Iraq since the Gulf War, and Washington brokered a 1998 cease-fire between the KDP and its rival, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.

"(They) held talks with KDP leadership on bilateral relations, the peace process, the implementation of U.N. oil for food humanitarian program in the three Kurdish provinces and national and regional policies," the KDP said in a statement.

There has been widespread speculation that Washington may turn its military might against Iraq after ousting the Taliban in Afghanistan, but officials have ruled out an imminent attack.

Both the KDP and the PUK have said they oppose Hussein's regime but are wary of Washington's "war on terror" spreading to Iraq.

The KDP said the delegation, led by Ryan Crocker, deputy assistant secretary for the Near East, and David Pearce, the director of north Gulf affairs, had also met PUK leaders during the visit to northern Iraq.

"The U.S. delegation was reassured of the commitment of the KDP-PUK leadership to implement the Washington peace agreement and to work together, confront terrorism and support Iraqi territorial integrity and seek a democratic, pluralistic and federal Iraq," the KDP statement said.

3. - Reuters - "Turkey Tracking Reports Top Kurdish Rebel in Iran":

ANKARA / April 3

Turkey said on Wednesday it was pursuing reports that a senior Kurdish rebel was in custody in Iran and had asked Iranian authorities to hand him over if they were holding him.

Iran and sources close to the rebel Kurdish group dismissed the reports.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Huseyin Dirioz said Turkey had been tracking information on top Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) official Cemil Bayik, whom Ankara considers a ''terrorist.''

Turkish media said on Wednesday that Bayik, a senior figure in the council that runs the PKK in Ocalan's absence, was in custody in the western Iranian city of Urumiyeh.

''From time to time there are such reports in the press. This is understood as intelligence information. In the framework of this intelligence information, of course our responsible officials are doing what's necessary,'' Dirioz told reporters.

Iran denied the reports. ''It's a baseless report. If it was true we would be the first to know about it and we don't have such a report,'' an Iranian Foreign Ministry official told Reuters in Tehran.

Kurdish sources in Europe, close to the PKK, also denied the reports.

The Turkish ambassador in Tehran said Ankara had made an official request for Iran to hand over Bayik, but declined to say whether he had been arrested.

''It's not my place to say whether he has been captured or not,'' ambassador Selahattin Alpar told Reuters. ''That is the duty of the Iranian authorities.''

Officially secular Turkey and Islamic Iran have never been comfortable neighbours and frequently accuse one another of backing each other's opposition groups.

But progress has recently been made on security cooperation and joint action against rebels on both sides of their border.

Sources close to Kurdish guerrillas in northern Iraq told Reuters the PKK had launched a new political party that would seek a democratic resolution of the Kurdish question, and of other ethnic and religious issues.

The Kurdistan Democratic Solution Party, or PCDK, will be based in northern Iraq but will be active in Kurdish areas in Turkey and Iran, according to Kurdish satellite broadcaster Medya TV, which serves as a PKK mouthpiece.

The PKK said last month it would change its name to show it was now seeking change through political means.

4. - UN News Centre - "Security Council members voice concern over slow progress of Cyprus talks":

4 April

Members of the Security Council today voiced concern over the current pace of progress in talks on Cyprus and urged the leaders to intensify their negotiations and resolve their differences in order to reach a settlement of the Cyprus problem by June this year.

"The members of the Council continued to give their full support to the negotiating process undertaken by the two leaders pursuant to their agreement of 4 December 2001; and to the spirit of cooperation shown by their involvement in the process," said Council President Sergey Lavrov of the Russian Federation in a statement to the press. "But they expressed concern that progress was slow and that a great deal of ground remained to be covered for the June target date for agreement, which the Council again strongly endorsed, to be met."

Ambassador Lavrov said the members "urged the leaders to intensify their negotiations in the period ahead and to bring to them the urgency, political determination, flexibility and spirit of give and take needed for differences to be resolved." He added that the leaders should "focus without delay on narrowing the differences between them on all issues that must be resolved, as part of a comprehensive settlement which takes full consideration of relevant UN resolutions and treaties."

The Council President's comments to reporters followed a closed-door briefing by Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Adviser on Cyprus, Alvaro de Soto. The members, Ambassador Lavrov said, "took note that this briefing was part of the review being conducted by the Secretary-General at approximately the half-way point between the opening of the face-to-face negotiations in January and the target date of June for agreement, referred to by each of the two leaders."

Members of the Council also reiterated their full support for Mr. Annan's mission and "called upon the parties to cooperate fully with the Secretary-General and his Special Adviser, and to look to them for assistance in order to move forward on the substance."

5. - AFP - "Turkey's Ecevit tones down "genocide" charge against Israel":

ANKARA / April 5

Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit sought Friday to tone down the effects of accusations of genocide he had earlier levelled against Israel, saying he had not targeted the Israeli people but its government's policy.

Ecevit said Thursday that "genocide is being carried out against the Palestinians before the eyes of the whole world."

But speaking to reporters Friday after talks here with visiting Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Ecevit sought to clarify the remark:

"In my recent statements I did not target the Israeli people, but today's Israeli administration attracts criticism from all over the world," he said. "My expression of our regret and expectations on the issue with words as clear as possible could have led to sensitiveness," he added, renewing a pledge that Turkey would do its best to achive dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians.

"We place a lot of significance on our relations with Israel," Ecevit said. The 'genocide' remark was the harshest criticism yet against Israel from Turkey, which has been the Jewish state's chief regional ally since 1996 when the two signed a military cooperation agreement, angering the Arab world and Iran. In a statement late Thursday carried by Anatolia news agency, Ecevit said his criticism had been "interpereted in some circles in a manner that goes beyond what I meant."

"I spoke about the grave consequences that the events in the Middle East could lead to. My words reflect the concerns in the region and in our country regarding the recent developments," Ecevit was quoted as saying. Along with its close cooperation with Israel, Turkey maintains full diplomatic ties with the Palestinians and supports their demands for statehood.

6. - AP - "Afghanistan, Turkey Make Poppy Deal":

ANKARA / By SUZAN FRASER / 5 April

Afghanistan (news - web sites)'s interim prime minister welcomed Turkey's plans to take over command of the international peacekeeping force and said Thursday the two countries would also cooperate in the fight against the production of opium.

Karzai arrived in Turkey as his government pledged to end the cultivation of poppies, a major source of income in Afghanistan and a huge problem for Turkey, through which much of the opium is smuggled.

"We asked the government of Turkey to cooperate with Afghanistan in the continuation of its fight against poppy cultivation and the smuggling and trading of it," Karzai said at news conference with Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit.

Ecevit said Turkey, which implemented measures to halt poppy cultivation under U.S. pressure in the 1970's, would share its experience.

Last weekend, Turkish police seized 7.5 tons of unrefined morphine, a poppy extract, which originated in Afghanistan. Police said it was the largest single haul of crude morphine ever.

Karzai, who arrived in Ankara on a private plane sent by the Turkish government, said he was pleased that Turkey would take on the peacekeeping mission. Turkey's military said Sunday that the country has agreed in principle to lead the force.

Karzai played down concerns Turkish troops would be embroiled in renewed unrest in Afghanistan.

"We do not think that there will be unrest in Afghanistan from now on. The Afghan people and the international community would resist it," Karzai said.

Karzai also thanked Turkey for its help training Afghanistan's new national army, and its offer to help rebuild the Afghan health and education systems.

"Our relationship in military aid, education and culture is a very deep one," Karzai said.

Turkey's offer to take over command of the peacekeeping force in Kabul came after lengthy negotiations with the United States and Britain. Ecevit said those discussions have resulted in agreement "to a great extent."

Britain, the current commander, wants to hand over command in April, before the mission's mandate expires in June. Turkey — while willing to take on the mission — has insisted that its conditions be met.

Turkey has asked the United States to provide cargo planes and Britain to leave behind some of the facilities it set up for the peacekeepers.

Turkey's demand for money appears to have been met. State Minister Yilmaz Karakoyunlu, a government spokesman, said earlier this week that a $228 million aid package promised by the Bush administration would meet Turkey's needs, though the package still needs approval by Congress.

The United States has also backed Turkey's demand for the force's geographical mandate to be limited to the capital, Kabul.

A military delegation, led by Gen. Akin Zorlu, left for Afghanistan late Wednesday to assess the situation there. Zorlu, who is expected to command the force, will determine the number of troops to be deployed.

Turkey has already sent 267 troops to join the peacekeeping force, becoming the first Muslim country to do so. Other troops in the force are from Britain, France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. Turkey was expected to raise its contingent to around 1,000 troops if it assumes command of the force.