15. April 2002

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1. - AFP - "Turkish police detain 12 anti-prisons demonstrators":

ISTANBUL, April 14

Turkish police detained 12 people Sunday during a demonstration for a reduction in solitary confinement for hunger-striking political prisoners, the Anatolia news agency said.
Police stopped the protestors, mainly family and friends of the prisoners, from holding up banners and distributing leaflets, it said.

Twelve demonstrators, who were gathered in the European centre of the city, were taken away by police for questioning.

A Turkish human rights group IHD Friday held a demonstration which passed off without incident, calling for communal free time for all political prisoners.

Prisoners launched their hunger strike in October 2000 to protest against the introduction of high-security prisons, in which cells for one to three people replaced large dormitories for dozens of inmates.

Backed by rights groups, protesters say the new arrangement leaves them socially isolated and more vulnerable to torture and maltreatment.

The government, however, has categorically ruled out a return to the dormitory system, arguing that it was the main reason behind frequent riots and hostage-taking incidents in the country's unruly jails.

The death toll from the strike has reached 50, and includes both prisoners and outside supporters of the movement, as well as four police officers killed during disturbances related to the strike.

Four prisoners burned themselves to death in support of the strike and another four people died last November in a police raid on an Istanbul house occupied by hunger strikers.

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2. - Kurdish Media - "Ocalan and PKK sold for huge sums of cash by Syrian officials":

KurdishMedia.com April 13/14

Two Syrian high ranking officials who took part in Adana Negotiation on 19-20 October 1988 between Turkey and Syria to decide the fate of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and its president, Abdullah Ocalan, confiscated huge sums of the PKK cash in Syrian funds, well-informed sources within the Syrian government reported to KurdishMedia.com.

The Syrian offices were:

- Muhammad Harba, Minister of Interior, who is known to Arabs and Kurds as Mr ’Aurfy or Martial’ because his record of oppressing people under martial laws.

- General Adnan Bader al-Hassain, head of Political Security Department in Syria, who has a infamous record of oppressing Kurdish national and responsible for substantial number vicious crimes against Kurds.

As they agreed on stop the Syria support for the PKK and its leader Ocalan, the Syrian officials had their own plan. They confiscated 180 million Syrian lira (about 3.6 million US dollars) and 4 million German marks (about 2 Million US dollars) of the PKK fund in Syria, total about 5.6 million US dollars.

These sums were "donations" by Kurds in the West and in Syria.

It is not known yet how much of this fund was given to other officials within the Syrian authorise. What is known is that the Syrian state is corrupt top to bottom. “When an officials shakes your hand, he expects few dollars in your hand,” reported to KurdishMedia.com by people recently left Syria.

PKK continuously had to bribe Syrian officials with presents, mainly whiskey and Western cigarettes, and cash to keep them quiet about the PKK’s presence in Syria.

On 20 October 1998, Turkey and Syria signed an agreement between them, accordingly Syria stop supporting the PKK. What Syria, as a state, has got out of this contract, not certain yet, but water resources must have been on the table.

On 15-16 February 1999, after spending two weeks in Kenya, Ocalan is kidnapped in the course of a joint operation mastered by several foreign countries, including Israel and the US, and is flown back to Turkey. On 23 February 1999 Ocalan is charged with separatism and treason by unlawful Turkish court, which lacked every standards of democratic world’s procedures and regulations. Kurds were not impressed with Ocalan’s performance in court.

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3. - Kurdish Media - "Medes Air: national success for Kurds and humiliation for Turkey":

London, 14 April 2002

In the last several years hundreds of thousands of Kurds have arrived in South Kurdistan via Turkey, but Turkey behaved worse than Saddam’s regime, reported to KurdishMedia.com in numerous occasions.

KurdishMedia.com provides some real scenarios that have occurred on the international border between Turkey and Iraq or the border between South [Iraqi] and North [Turkey’s] Kurdistan.

- Kurds have retuned back all the way to Europe or America form Xabur border for simple reasons. Some had wrong names, such as “Kurdo” or ”Kurdistan”; these are popular names in Kurdish. Others returned back because their ethnicity was denoted in their Western pastors as “Kurd” or the country of birth denoted as “Kurdistan”.

- “In front of my two British born children, 4 and 8 years of age, the Turkish soldiers on the border started beating up a young man with boots, guns and hands. My children were terrified, as they have seen nothing like it in Sweden. Here in the West they thought at school that the arm forces protect people. They did not understand that scenario and I could not explain.”

- “A man’s son was born in Urumiyeh, in East [Iranian] Kurdistan. And the soldiers claim that only people born in the region can visit. He was told that he couldn’t go back. But all they wanted was a bribe. He paid $100US, and all settled.”

- “Turkey decontaminated Turkomen community in Kurdistan. Turkey has employed Turkomans agents who read every single letter and documents leaving South Kurdistan. I have some local postcards. They were all confiscated under pretext of being illegal. These Turkomans agents also worked as spies to recognise Kurdish activist in Europe or in Kurdistan.”

- “I am a Swedish national. Turks could not do much, but confiscated all my video and still films, which I have taken in South, mostly family snaps and videos. Turks also kept me on the border for one week just to punish me. I lost my flight. This year I go back either via Iran or Syria.”

- “When one travels in a taxi towards South Kurdistan border, it is guaranteed that one would be fined by the police. Normally you have an option. You either give ”bakhshish” or you pay ”fine”. Bakhshish is cheaper. So most Kurds go for the bakhsish.”

- “Other distressing phenomenon is that when you travel you see all the remains of all the Kurdish villages in North Kurdistan totally destroyed under Ataturk regime.”

Everyone KurdishMedia.com has talk to agree that no modern state can function in the manner of Turkish state, let alone one that wishes to be a member of the civilised EU.

So why do Kurds want to go through this trauma - not anymore. Now Kurds fight back.
Kurds have established a company ”Medes Air Company” to take Kurds to Kurdistan under the motto "go to Kurdistan" without acquiring a visa from Iran. The company’s first flight was at 15:30 hours local time of 7 April. It is reported that the cost of a flight between Dusseldorf and Urumiyeh is 700 Euros. The company reportedly aims to transport almost 80,000 passengers in the area. The price is high, which may hamper its efficiency.

Turkey will loss millions of US dollars a year in revenue from Kurdish travellers, if Medes Air route proven to be effective.

Most importantly, the fact that Kurds can fight back Turkish terror is significant for Kurdish national movement.

Turkey has already lost one VIP passenger. Mr Barzani, the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), is perhaps one of the early Kurdistanis who changed the route to the outside world. Barzani for the first time leaves to Washington via Syria, not Turkey. This is an interesting development. Talabani, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), however leaves via Turkey.
Recently, it has been noticed that the number of Turks and Turkomans have increased in the City of Sulemani, PUK’s stronghold. Kurds hope that there is no secret plan behind this.
The Kurdish leaders are on an official visit to Washington.

Turkey already feels the pain. Turkish Milliyet newspaper said, "With these flights, Iran will both earn the income that the north Iraqis passing through Turkey to Europe would leave during entrance through the Habur gate and would support the PKK militants, who aim to access the camps in the north Iraq and Iran regions from Europe."

If this is the case, Turkey then must behave like a civilised nation, and learn that Kurds and Kurdistan are realities. Turks must live with them.

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4. - BBC Monitoring Service - "Turkey: Kurds issue declaration calling for reforms":

London / April 14

The mass nature of the Nowruz [Kurdish New Year] celebrations in 2002, and the demands that were put forth, have caused the forces of democracy in Kurdistan to go into action. Within this framework, the Diyarbakir Democracy Platform last week drew up a declaration entitled the "Peace and Democracy Declaration" which takes account of the calls for peace and democracy heard on Nowruz.

The draft of the declaration has been sent to the Democracy Platforms, political parties, and professional organizations and chambers in the various Kurdish provinces so that they might also participate in it. The declaration, which will take its final form as a result of the suggestions and criticisms to come from these groups, will be sent to the president, the Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly, the prime minister and the general chairmen of the various political parties...

The declaration, which stresses that the desire for peace has been voiced by all the various sectors that make up society, states: "With the weapons having fallen silent and violence having being eliminated as a method, not to be utilized again, a historic opportunity has been created from the standpoint of establishing a lasting peace." Noting that both developments relating to the EU [European Union] and Turkey's commitment to adhere fully to the Copenhagen Criteria have led to yet further expansion of society's demands in terms of democratization, the declaration states that Turkey's accession to the EU will be a significant step forward in this context...

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5. - Turkish Daily News - "EP calls for continuation of reforms in Turkey":

Apr 13, 2002

A report prepared by the Foreign Affairs Commission of the European Parliament (EP) on the enlargement of the European Union has demanded Turkey continue its reforms.

The report, prepared by the EP Foreign Affairs Commission Chairman German Christian Democrat Elmar Brok, which investigates the conditions of 12 candidate counties of the EU, will be discussed in the Commission and will go to the vote on April 15.

In the draft of the decision, there are just one paragraph on Turkey. In this paragraph, Ankara is requested to continue constitutional reforms which constitute a base in respect of democratization. By stating that some positive results have been taken, the report reiterates the expectations for concrete and real developments in the field of human rights.
The report also calls on Turkey to give support to the Cyprus talks.

Cyprus perspective

In the chapter of the report on Cyprus, the pleasure on the continuation of direct talks between Denktas and Clerides is reflected, saying, "Giving a membership perspective to the Cypriot Republic has had a positive affect in direction of the solution to the Cyprus problem."
It is stated in the report that, "The membership is open for just one sovereign Cyprus state, however this state may be bi-regional and bi-communal, and should be one entity in the international arena and in decision making."

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6. - Reuters - "Turkey says Cyprus EU entry could cause crisis":

April 14

Turkey said on Saturday the pending entry of Cyprus into the European Union could trigger a crisis if a deal over the future of the divided Mediterranean island is not reached beforehand.
In an interview published in the Greek weekly newspaper Ependytis, Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem said his country would act strongly if Nicosia joins the 15-nation bloc.

''If there is no agreement, and if there is a one-sided accession of one part of the island representing the whole...then we will act strongly and energetically and that will cause problems for all of us,'' he was quoted as saying.

Cyprus has been partitioned since Turkey invaded in 1974 in response to an Athens-backed coup. Only Ankara recognises the self-declared Turkish-Cypriot statelet in the northern third of the island.

Cypriot President Glafcos Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash resumed U.N. sponsored face-to-face talks early this year to meet a June deadline for agreement.

Many see their talks as the last chance for a settlement before the EU accepts Cyprus as a member, probably in 2004 or 2005.

Asked wether the Cyrpus talks and its pending EU entry could cause a crisis, Cem said: ''Yes there is the potential for a crisis.'' He did not elaborate.

The EU has said it favours a solution to the division prior to Cyprus' entry but that it will accept the island with or without a settlement.

President of European Socialist Party against Turkish threats on Cyprus

President of the European Socialist Party and former Foreign Secretary of Britain Robin Cook has said that Turkey's threats that it would annex Cyprus' Turkish occupied territory to mainland Turkey oppose the policy of Britain and that of the European Union.

Speaking to Cyprus News Agency, Cook extended hope that "Ankara will not take such a step" and added that Britain and the EU "want to see a solution to the problem of Cyprus. We do not want to see the division made deeper and more difficult to remove for the future. It is not in the interest of people living in the north of Cyprus that this should happen".