29 April 2002

1. "EU to Put PKK on Terror List", the European Union will add the Kurdistan Workers' Party, which waged an armed campaign in southeast Turkey, on its common list of "terrorist" groups despite the group changing its name, EU diplomat said on Friday.

2. "EU finally to name PKK and DHKP-C as terrorists", EU officials say that there would not be any change in the EU position towards the PKK after changing its name into KADEK. The new group will also be considered as a terrorist group.

3. "Chomsky saves Turkish publisher from conviction", a turkish publisher accused of disseminating separatist propaganda was acquitted recently after one of his authors -- the celebrated American linguist and philosopher Noam Chomsky appeared in an Istanbul court and asked to be tried alongside him.

4. "Turkey: Pro-Kurdish leader criticizes premier for accusation of "separatism", HADEP [People's Democracy Party] leader Murat Bozlak reacted to [Turkish Prime Minister Bulent] Ecevit charging HADEP with "separatism".

5. "Turkey: Syrian, Lebanese Kurds celebrate founding of Kurdish party", the Kurds in Syria and Lebanon have enthusiastically greeted the establishment of the Congress for Freedom and Democracy in Kurdistan [Kadek]. The Kurds held meetings, seminars and music festivals in order to salute Kadek.

6. "Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan to sign security pact in summit next week", the presidents of Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan will hold a two-day summit next week in Turkey, during which the three neighbours are to sign a security accord, a Turkish presidential spokesman said Friday.

1. - Reuters - "EU to Put PKK on Terror List":

BRUSSELS / April 26

The European Union will add the Kurdistan Workers' Party, which waged an armed campaign in southeast Turkey, on its common list of "terrorist" groups despite the group changing its name, EU diplomat said on Friday.

The decision to include the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) to the list next week was sure to delight EU candidate Turkey which has long pushed for tougher European action against the organisation.

Germany and the Netherlands had until now resisted Ankara's call to put the PKK on the EU list.

The PKK decided earlier this month to cease activities and change its name to the Kurdistan Freedom and Democracy Congress, according to the Mezopotamya News Agency, which is close to the movement.

Turkey said the change of name did not mean the PKK had ceased to be "terrorist." But it was not immediately clear whether the EU's move to add the PKK to its "terror" list would mean any assets in the EU's 15 member states could be frozen following the PKK ceasing activities.

"It is true that the PKK is to be added to the list on Monday when the list is revised," one diplomat told Reuters.

The PKK launched its armed campaign for a Kurdish homeland in southeast Turkey in 1984 and more than 30,000 people have died in fighting between the group and Turkish forces.

Violence tapered off after PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan was captured in 1999. He has ordered his followers to withdraw from Turkey and to seek greater cultural rights for its estimated 12 million Kurds through political means.

2. - Turkish Daily News - "EU finally to name PKK and DHKP-C as terrorists":

BY SAADET ORUC / 29 April

EU officials say that there would not be any change in the EU position towards the PKK after changing its name into KADEK. The new group will also be considered as a terrorist group,

As a result of the months-long dispute between Turkey and some certain European Union (EU) member states, the 15-member bloc is to include the Turkish terrorist groups in a "famous" terrorist list.

The extraordinary meeting of the permanent EU representatives of the member states (COREPER), to be held on April 29-30, will reach a final conclusion on the revival of the terrorist list, which was initially shaped in December.

EU diplomats in Ankara, including the representatives of countries who have been opposing the inclusion of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party and Front (DHKP-C) into the EU terrorist list, told the Turkish Daily News that it was nearly certain, that these two groups would be named as terrorists.

News reports from Brussels-based Turkish correspondents were also in the same direction, however there was not any official announcement on the issue.

EU officials say that there would not be any change in the EU position towards the PKK, after changing its name into Kurdistan Freedom and Democracy Congress (KADEK).

The new group will also be considered as a terrorist group, diplomats say, adding that they would expect the Turkish authorities to present evidence that KADEK was just a change in the name of the terrorist organization.

Britain and the United States have been lobbying among the EU member states which have been dragging their feet, for not taking these groups into the list, according to the diplomats of these two countries.

The EU, at the same time, expects Turkey to fulfill the requirements of freedom of expression, while taking the anti-Turkish groups into the terrorists list.

3. - The Guardian News Service - "Chomsky saves Turkish publisher from conviction":

April 28

A TURKISH publisher accused of disseminating separatist propaganda was acquitted recently after one of his authors -- the celebrated American linguist and philosopher Noam Chomsky -- appeared in an Istanbul court and asked to be tried alongside him.

In a case highlighting the limited freedom of expression permitted in discussions about Turkey's treatment of its Kurdish minority, the director of Aram Publishing, Fatih Tas, escaped the one-year jail sentence he had been anticipating.

“The prosecutor clearly made the right decision,” said Professor Chomsky, who had petitioned to be named as a co-defendant.

“I hope it will be a step toward establishing the freedom of speech in Turkey that we all want to see. I am here to express support for the writers, journalists and human rights activists who are willing to take serious risks.”

A delighted Mr Tas, who last year published American Interventionism, a Turkish translation of Prof Chomsky's essays, declared after the trial: “If (he) hadn't been here ... we wouldn't have expected such a verdict.” Mr Tas still faces charges over books which question Turkey's human rights record.

In one of the essays, Prof Chomsky, who teaches at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, alleged that the Turkish government had “launched a major war in the south-east against the Kurdish population” and described the conflict as “one of the most severe human rights atrocities of the 1990s”.

The Kurds, he wrote, “have been miserably oppressed throughout the whole history of the modern Turkish state”.

Turkish security forces waged a 15-year campaign against Kurdish rebels which resulted in the deaths of more than 30,000 people and the destruction of thousands of villages. The fighting effectively ceased with the capture of Abdullah Ocalan, leader of the Kurdistan Workers' party, in 1999.

If Mr Tas had been convicted, it would have been a severe embarrassment for the Turkish government, which this week hosted a meeting of foreign ministers from EU and Muslim states.

Turkey is keen to develop its position as a bridge between the two civilisations. The parliament recently passed reforms aimed at permitting greater freedom of expression, to enhance Turkey's application to join the EU.

In October last year the government altered the constitution to legalise Kurdish-language television and radio broadcasts, in an attempt to conform to EU human rights standards. This week, however, Turkey's radio and television high council, which oversees the broadcast media, suspended the licence of a local TV station for a year for “playing music with Kurdish lyrics”.

Scores of Turkish writers and journalists have been jailed in the past under anti-terrorist laws which forbid criticism of the state's conduct of the war in the south-east.

4. - BBC Montoring Servive / Ozgur Politika - "Turkey: Pro-Kurdish leader criticizes premier for accusation of "separatism":

28 April

HADEP [People's Democracy Party] leader Murat Bozlak reacted to [Turkish Prime Minister Bulent] Ecevit charging HADEP with "separatism".

At his party's parliamentary group meeting the other day, Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said, referring to HADEP: "CHP [Republican People's Party] take the risk of collaborating with a separatist party for the sake of votes..."

Issuing a written statement yesterday, Murat Bozlak said that Prime Minister Ecevit's approach is a clear sign of his reluctance to see the efforts towards unity. Bozlak added: "The Prime Minister's said approach is not compatible with a democratic political understanding. Defining a party that is engaged in politics in the legal democratic arena as a "separatist party" is an approach that does not befit the responsibility of a statesman." Noting that the level of relations between HADEP and CHP is similar to the relations held with other political parties that are represented at the parliament, Bozlak's statement reads: "It is hard to understand how a politician, who has played a significant role in the country's political life and assumed highest-ranking offices for the past 40 years, can attack HADEP, whereas he - looking at Turkey's present situation - should be apologizing to the people for his failures. The reason behind the esteemed prime minister's discomfort at HADEP meeting with Turkish democratic forces is the government's failure and Mr Ecevit's party "fading away like bubbles."

Recalling that HADEP, conducting peaceful politics, aspires to unite Turkey with the respectable world, Bozlak stressed that HADEP conducts every effort towards the expansion of democracy and the unity of democratic forces. The HADEP leader ended his statement as follows: "Our party HADEP exerts efforts towards the implementation of the Democratic Turkey Project and the creation of a broad political structure. Democratic politics develop with dialogue and not with polemics. Therefore, I say again to the people that we follow a political approach that is based on dialogue and reconciliation..."

5. - BBC Monitoring Service / Ozgur Politika - "Turkey: Syrian, Lebanese Kurds celebrate founding of Kurdish party":

27 April

The Kurds in Syria and Lebanon have enthusiastically greeted the establishment of the Congress for Freedom and Democracy in Kurdistan [Kadek]. The Kurds held meetings, seminars and music festivals in order to salute Kadek.

Thousands of Syrian Kurds living in Damascus, Aleppo, Kamislo, Derik, Tirbesspi, Haseke and Afrin held festivities and meetings in order to salute Kadek.

The final declaration issued by the Kadek General Chairmanship Council was read during the festivities. The Kurds chanted slogans such as "Biji Kadek" [in Kurdish: Long live Kadek]", "Biji Serok Apo" [in Kurdish: Long live leader Apo - Abdullah Ocalan], and "Bi can bi xwin em bi terene ey Serok" [in Kurdish: We shall stand by you, our leader, with our souls and blood"] during the festivities. The speakers noted that the Kurdish national struggle, which was initiated by the PKK [Kurdistan Workers' Party], has led to a revolution and that an organization which had the structure of a congress was necessary to expand the scope of this revolution. The speakers added that in this regard, the Kurds living in Syria defined this step as historic and that they also saluted Kadek. Noting that the PKK had completed an important mission, the speakers stressed that Kadek was a national people's congress, which embraced the Kurdish people and all the peoples in the Middle East.

The other Kurdish organizations in Syria also saluted the founding of Kadek. Drawing attention to the fact that in addition to changing its name, the PKK has abandoned armed struggle and has decided to wage a democratic struggle, the Kurdish organizations in Syria defined this as a historic and an invaluable step. Stating that the PKK turned into the expression of an important process in the history of the Kurdish people, the Kurdish organizations in Syria explained that the establishment of Kadek proves to the entire world that the Kurds are in favour of peace and brotherhood.

Kadek constitutes a democratic force

The Kurds in Beirut, Lebanon, as well as in Bekaa and Tripoli also celebrated the founding of Kadek. Holding a meeting at the Lebanese Kurdish Culture and Humanitarian Aid Association, the Kurds noted that the establishment of Kadek symbolized a renewal in terms of the Kurdish national struggle. The majority of the speakers noted that Kadek would constitute an effective democratic force in Lebanon and in the entire Middle East.

Stressing that peace and democracy were of utmost importance in terms of the region, the Kurds said that the new strategy would lead to the unity and integrity of the Kurdish people and the peoples of the Middle East. Also calling upon the other Kurdish organizations, the Kurds stressed that the establishment of Kadek constituted an important opportunity in terms of bringing about national unity among the Kurds.

The Lebanese Kurds will also hold a picnic on 1 May in order to celebrate the establishment of Kadek.

6. - AFP - "Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan to sign security pact in summit next week":

ANKARA / April 26

The presidents of Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan will hold a two-day summit next week in Turkey, during which the three neighbours are to sign a security accord, a Turkish presidential spokesman said Friday.

The heads of state are scheduled to meet in the northeastern Turkish city of Trabzon on the Black Sea coast on April 29-30 to discuss economic cooperation, energy and transport issues and the fight against terrorism, spokesman Tacan Ildem told a press conference here. During the summit, the first of its kind, the interior ministers of the three countries will sign a cooperation agreement for a joint campaign against terrorism and organized crime, he added.

The proposal for a security pact was made by Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer last year after the September 11 attacks in the United States. Ankara has also proposed a security pact in the southern Caucasus in a bid to cool off hot spots in the volatile region. Turkey has developed intensive political, military and economic cooperation with Azerbaijan, which has close ethnic bonds with Turkey, and Georgia since they gained independence following the collapse of the Soviet Union.