24. April 2002

1. "Council of Europe tells Turkey to end Ocalan's isolation", the Council of Europe called on Turkey Wednesday to Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan's solitary confinement after more than three years on a prison island.

2. "Council of Europe slams Turkish judicial detention horrors", Turkey must do more to improve the practices in its prisons and police stations where police brutality and maltreatment of women prisoners are carried out in torture chamber conditions, the Council of Europe's anti-torture committee said Wednesday.

3. "Armenian president addresses nation on genocide anniversary", Armenian President Robert Kocharyan stated today that " the introduction of the issue of international recognition of the Armenian genocide onto the foreign political agenda of Armenia is the display of the legislative rights and expectations of the Armenian people."

4. "KDP, PUK summit irons out differences", sides not committed to turning northern Iraq into a staging ground for anti-Saddam military operation, to jointly fight terrorism that threatens region. Attack against Barham Saleh work of group with Al-Qaida connections.

5. "Annan expects progress in Cyprus by June", U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan reiterated that he still expects progress by June in the Cyprus direct talks process between Turkish Cypriot President Rauf Denktas and his Greek Cypriot counterpart Glafcos Clerides.

6. "Letter to the parent of detained students by Security Director in Turkey", the parents of the 325 students, who petitioned for the right to have Kurdish as a subject at the Mustafa Kemal University, have received a letter from the Security Director of Hatay.

1. - AFP - "Council of Europe tells Turkey to end Ocalan's isolation":

STRASBOURG / April 24

The Council of Europe called on Turkey Wednesday to Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan's solitary confinement after
more than three years on a prison island.

"Solitary confinement can, in certain circumstances, amount to inhuman and degrading treatment; in any event, all forms of solitary confinement should be as short as possible," the Council's anti-torture committee said in a report published with the agreement of Turkish authorities.

"Mr. Ocalan should at the earliest opportunity be integrated into a setting where contacts with others inmates and a wider range of activities are possible," it said. Turkish agents captured Ocalan in the Kenyan capital Nairobi in February
1999 after he left his refuge in Greek diplomatic compounds, and brought him to Turkey where he was condemned to death in June that year for treason.

But Ankara suspended the execution of the sentence until the European Court of Human Rights rules on his complaints against Turkey. The PKK announced in 1999 that it was ending its 15-year armed struggle for self-rule in the mainly Kurdish southeast to seek a peaceful resolution of the Kurdish conflict, which has claimed about 36,500 lives.

In a follow-up decision this month, the group said it had ceased all its activities as the PKK and was reorganizing itself under the name of Congress for Freedom and Democracy in Kurdistan (KADEK) as part of a new strategy to campaign for Kurdish freedoms through democratic means. The report by the pan-European rights and democracy body followed a tour of Turkish jails in September.

2. - AFP - "Council of Europe slams Turkish judicial detention horrors":

STRASBOURG / April 24 (AFP)

Turkey must do more to improve the practices in its prisons and police stations where police brutality and maltreatment of
women prisoners are carried out in torture chamber conditions, the Council of Europe's anti-torture committee said Wednesday.

A team of committee experts, who visited forty Turkish detention sites last September, cited a "gradual improvement" in the situation but called for efforts to be made in several worrying areas, according to the report published with Ankara's agreement.

"In particular, resort to methods such as suspension by the arms and the application of electric shocks would appear to be far less frequent than in the past," but complaints of bad treatment remain numerous, although not all could be verified, the report said. The committee also regretted that nothing had been done to improve the condition of interrogation rooms in the east of the country which, it said, seemed designed to aid speedy confessions. The anti-terrorist section at the police headquarters at the Van women's prison was described as; "this long, narrow and sound-proofed room was
decorated entirely in black...

"Such an oppressive interrogation facility as that described above has absolutely no place in a modern police service," the anti-torture committee opined. Dormitories as well as the sanitary facilities were said to be infested with cockroaches and there were also clear signs of infestation. The atmosphere was described as sinister and an interrogation in such
conditions could be described as a type of psychological torture, according to the experts.

The detainees were also said to be physically tortured in the rooms, which were similar to others found in the towns of Agri, Elazig and Erzurum. The committee also denounced the use of blindfolds, preventing those questioned from identifying their torturers. "These are practices from another age and have no place in a modern police force," the report added. While the conditions for male detainees was also deplored, some of the worst criticism was of the horrors endured by women detained with young children.

In the village of Sanliurfa, eight women and six children, including a new-born and two other babies, shared eight beds, equipped with six mattresses. "No special food was provided for pregnant women, breastfeeding women and young children at Sanliurfa Prison, there was no special equipment available for young children, nor were there any toys for them."

In Van prison, 15 women were living in an an area measuring 20 square metres in equally unhygienic conditions.
The report also cited cases of brutality towards hundreds of African immigrants who were forced to cross a river in the Ipsala region during their expulsion. Several drowned in the process, according to witnesses.

3. - BBC Monitoring Service - "Armenian president addresses nation on genocide anniversary":

YEREVAN / April 24

Armenian President Robert Kocharyan stated today that " the introduction of the issue of international recognition of the Armenian genocide onto the foreign political agenda of Armenia is the display of the legislative rights and expectations of the Armenian people."

Robert Kocharyan's said this in his address to the nation in connection with the 87th anniversary of the 1915 Armenian genocide in Ottoman Turkey [24 April].

"Eighty seven years ago today, the arrest of the representatives of the Armenian intelligentsia and priests began and it marked the beginning of a crime planned on the government level and the most tragic page in the history of our nation," the Armenian president stated.

"Today the Armenians all over the world continue to expect the recognition and the condemnation of this crime against humanity. This has been dictated not by a wish to avenge but by an effort not to allow the repetition of similar crimes," Robert Kocharyan said.

4. - Turkish Daily News - "KDP, PUK summit irons out differences":

Sides not committed to turning northern Iraq into a staging ground for anti-Saddam military operation, to jointly fight terrorism that threatens region. Attack against Barham Saleh work of group with Al-Qaida connections.

ANKARA / 24 April / by Ilnur Cevik

Kurdish leaders Masoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani have reached an agreement at a recent summit in Frankfurt, Germany to iron out their differences while cooperating and coordinating their activities in northern Iraq against terrorism, a highly placed source who attended the meeting told the Turkish Daily News on Tuesday.

The summit meetings were held in several sessions under the auspices of the Americans.

The source who asked not to be named said Kurdistan Democracy Party (KDP) leader Barzani and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) chief Talabani also briefly discussed the future of Iraq but vehemently denied that they had committed northern Iraq as a launching ground for a military operation against Saddam Hussein.

"As Iraqi citizens, the two leaders of course touched upon the future of our country but the main issue of discussion was the disagreements between the KDP and the PUK," the source said.

Pointing to the reports that appeared in the Arab press, the source said, these were gross distortions and were being leaked by circles who wanted to sabotage relations between the Iraqi Kurds and Baghdad.

"These reports claimed that the Americans would use three air bases in northern Iraq to attack Saddam's forces which is absolute nonsense. Such things were never discussed in Frankfurt. Both the KDP and the PUK is approaching the issue with utmost caution and did not discuss using northern Iraq as a staging ground for an anti-Saddam military operation," the source said.

He explained that there were still outstanding issues between the KDP and the PUK on what to call the regional parliament, elections and even revenue sharing.

The Turkish Daily News had reported two months ago that the summit to iron out these differences would be held in Washington. But the two sides did not want to go to Washington. They could not meet in northern Iraq so Frankfurt was chosen as a venue and Barzani traveled to Germany via Syria and Talabani flew to Europe via Iran. The American side was represented by Ambassador Ryan Crocker, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Political Affairs.

Asked if the two sides had managed to iron out their differences, the source said they had managed to make serious headway in normalizing their relations but there were still a long way to go for the convening of the regional parliament or holding local elections.

He said the two leaders agreed that they were facing a common threat of terrorism and would cooperate and coordinate their anti-terrorism activities.

In early April, Islamic extremists tried to assassinate Barham Saleh, the head of the PUK regional government in northern Iraq, in Suleymaniyeh. Seven people were killed in a fierce gun battle after the militants opened fire on Saleh and his entourage.

Two gunmen and five of Salih's bodyguards were killed in the clash, while one of the assailants managed to get away. He was captured 14 hours later by PUK security. A score of people who provided logistic support for the attackers were also caught.

The assailant who was caught was reportedly the brother of another Islamic extremist who assassinated the governor ot Erbil last year. Erbil is the leading city in the area run by the KDP regional government. He had travelled to several Arab countries before the attack in Suleymaniyeh and was last seen in Yemen and Jordan. He was suspected of having links with the Al-Qaida terrorist group and had allegedly travelled to northern Iraq via Baghdad.

This meant Islamic extremists are targeting both PUK and KDP officials. So Barzani and Talabani took up the issue in Frankfurt.

The source also said sides agreed that while the Americans, as the only superpower, were important for them they were located 5,000 miles away from northern Iraq and that Turkey and Iran were vital and they attached great importance to maintain and enhance relations with Ankara and Tehran.

Talabani dispatched Saleh to Ankara to brief Turkish officials about the summit meetings. The Americans also scheduled meetings with Turkish officials to evaluate the summits.

Meanwhile, Talabani himself will travel to Tehran to inform the Iranians about the Frankfurt meetings. Barzani on the other hand will travel to Damascus on his way back to northern Iraq and meet Syrian officials including President Bashir Assad.

Necirvan Barzani, the prime minister of the KDP regional government, has returned to northern Iraq via Turkey in recent days. The reports that he had shunned Turkey and returned home via Damascus proved to be wrong.

5. - Turkish Daily News - "Annan expects progress in Cyprus by June":

ANKARA / 24 April

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan reiterated that he still expects progress by June in the Cyprus direct talks process between Turkish Cypriot President Rauf Denktas and his Greek Cypriot counterpart Glafcos Clerides.

In response to a question at a press conference at the New York headquarters of the United Nations, Annan said he expected that by the end of June there would be some tangible progress in the Cyprus talks.

He said that both leaders have indicated that they could complete negotiations by the end of June, and he believes that if they work intensely enough they may complete their task within that time frame.

Annan said he has been in constant contact with his special envoy, Alvaro de Soto, who has been attending the direct talks process on Cyprus and disclosed that De Soto also believed that some substantial headway could be achieved in the process by the end of June.

Denktas at ECHR

Meanwhile, Turkish Cypriot President Rauf Denktas, who has been in Strasbourg for contacts with European politicians and officials on the Cyprus problem, met Monday evening with Luzius Wildhaber, the president of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

Before the meeting, Denktas met with rapporteurs of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly at a working luncheon.

Denktas was the key speaker yesterday at a "Cyprus" panel at the "European Club.

The Turkish Cypriot president will meet with Council of Europe Secretary-General Walter Schwimmer today and will return to Nicosia on Thursday after holding a press conference in Strasbourg regarding his contacts in that city.

6. - Kurdish Media - "Letter to the parent of detained students by Security Director in Turkey":

LONDON / 23 April 2002 / by Robin Kurd

The parents of the 325 students, who petitioned for the right to have Kurdish as a subject at the Mustafa Kemal University, have received a letter from the Security Director of Hatay.

9 students who had sent their petitions to the head of the university have been expelled permanently while 116 students expelled for 6 months and 200 students for one month.

After the decision to expell the students from the university the parents of the 325 students have received letters from City Security Director, Ihsan Unal.

In the letters Unal notes, "Our universities are institutions that make it possible for the creation and the usage of knowledge, the harmony and happiness of our society". Unal continues in his letter by emphasising the idealist, utopian and emotional nature of the young generation that is against injustices, something that he shares with them.

Unal later says that, "these characteristics of the young are being specifically aimed for and exploited by different organisations which aim to educate them in the light of their own ideology."

Mentioning specifically the PKK, Unal noted that, "the abandonment of the armed struggle and concentrating on political struggle by the PKK is a tactic to put Turkey in a difficult situation". Unal argues that such tactics find itself in activities such as the petitioning campaing where they force the students to sign the petitions.

"Unfortunately some students of the Mustafa Kemal University have partaken in the campaign. The subject of this activity is illegal and the activists, though mildly, have been punished with the hope that these individuals can be won back into the society again", Unal hoped in his letter.