1
August 2002
1. "Turks face snap poll that may put Islamists in power", political upheaval in Ankara threatens $16bn IMF rescue package and democratic reforms needed for future EU membership.
2. "The new Turkey should be welcomed into Europe", the Turkish parliament voted last night to call an early general election at the beginning of November. Necessitated by the increasing physical and political debility of the prime minister, Bulent Ecevit, this decision is proof that clouds can still have silver linings. (...) Charismatic and religious ex-mayor is the front-runner: Under Mr Erdogan, Turkey's Islamists have started a public relations drive to drop their dour, dated and ultra-religious image. Youthful, college- educated professionals have replaced the old leadership.
3. "Turkey deals a blow to action against Saddam", Ankara parliament sets date for early elections in response to political crisis. The Turkish prime minister, Bulent Ecevit, said yesterday that he is trying to dissuade the US from taking military action against Iraq.
4. “State of Emergency Rule mentality should be lifted”, in Dersim and Hakkari (Turkey / Northern Kurdistan) State of Emergency Rule (OHAL) was lifted after 23 years and they are now "neighbouring provinces." Hakkari and Dersim were introduced to "extraordinary" regimes in 1978.
5. "Iraqi Kurds aiming for final agreement next week", the two main Kurdish factions sharing control of northern Iraq will meet again next week to finalize an agreement on the implementation of a 1998 US-brokered peace deal, an official of one of the groups said Wednesday.
6. "Unconventional Turkish poet used soft voice to seek justice", UNESCO names 2002 Hikmet’s year.
Dear reader,
Due to the holiday time our "Flash Bulletin" will not be forwarded to email addresses from August 1, 2002 until August 25, 2002. It can be viewed, however, in the internet at www.flash-bulletin.de as usual.
1. - The Independent - "Turks face snap poll that may put Islamists in power":
Political upheaval in Ankara threatens $16bn IMF rescue package and democratic reforms needed for future EU membership
ISTANBUL / 1 August 2002 / by Pelin Turgut 
Turkey will hold to early elections on 3 November, after MPs voted
overwhelmingly yesterday for snap polls to end a drawn-out crisis that
has seen the ruling coalition crumble and the economy held hostage to
political upheaval.
The vote quashed ailing prime minister Bulent Ecevit's battle to keep elections on course for 2004. He has argued that early polls will disrupt a $16bn (£10bn) IMF loan deal to pull the economy out of a devastating recession, and could bring the popular pro-Islamic opposition to power.
But Mr Ecevit has long lost any leverage. His three-way coalition has been hanging by a thread after losing its majority since a mass exodus of Mr Ecevit's MPs. The defectors resigned to protest at the 77-year-old's refusal to step down, despite a bevy of ailments that saw him hospitalised in May and left him weak and often visibly confused.
The political crisis may be over, but Turkey faces another test closely watched by Europe. The question is whether MPs will hold off election campaigning for a few days to pass a set of democratic reforms that must be rushed through if Ankara is to join the next round of accession talks with the EU. The reforms were being voted on at a parliamentary commission and should come before the assembly later this week.
Turkey has long dreamed of EU membership but it is the first time real progress could be at hand. The reform package contains changes such as cultural rights for minorities that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago during a long-running conflict with Abdullah Ocalan's Kurdish rebels that cost 30,000 lives.
All parties in parliament, with the exception of the far-right Nationalist Action Party (MHP), have said they are pro-Europe. Now they must deliver. "If they keep their word, the way forward will open up," ran the banner headline on the Radikal newspaper.
Other changes include abolishing the death penalty and allowing Kurdish language education and broadcasts.
The nationalists are now the largest party in parliament and deeply suspicious of Europe. They see lifting the death penalty as a ploy to save Mr Ocalan, currently on death row in an island jail. They are also against cultural rights for Kurds, arguing it will foster separatism. But, even without the MHP, the other parties could still muster the majority needed to pass the laws.
Although the number of MPs who have pledged to back the bill ought to guarantee its passage, suspicion runs high that many, aware of the looming election, will balk at backing such controversial plans. Fears are that MPs may prefer to start election campaigning immediately and not show up for a vote on the EU laws. Missing the boat on the next round of candidates would be a setback to Turkey's European dream.
Polls show around 56 per cent of Turks are in favour of joining the EU. The past few weeks have seen a flurry of pro-Europe campaigning, including a nationwide awareness-building campaign by a group called the Movement for Europe 2002. Billboards, posters and newspaper advertisements have proclaimed that it is now or never for Turkey but will Turkish MPs agree?
Radikal columnist, Ismet Berkan, wrote: "I am not so optimistic. I hope our parliament doesn't make us ashamed."
Investors had fretted the political paralysis brought on by Ecevit's health problems and government infighting could wreck a $16bn IMF lending pact to overcome the recession.
Fight for power - the political heavyweights
Bulent Ecevit
The
refusal of the 77-year-old prime minister to resign after months of
failing health, was a large factor in the political crisis. The leader
of the centre-left Democratic Left Party (DSP) fought to keep the polls
on their scheduled date in April 2004.
Ismail Cem
Before
he resigned earlier this month, he was one of Turkey's longest-serving
foreign ministers. The liberal is also seen as one of the most pro-European
figures from the Ecevit government. He has set up New Turkey, a rival
social democratic party.
Devlet Bahceli
Mr
Bahceli, 54, is the leader of Turkey's far-right nationalists, now the
biggest part in parliament. Under his leadership, the MHP confounded
expectations to come second in 1999 elections. He is the only party
leader opposed to joining the EU.
Kemal Dervis
The
Economy Minister, a former World Banker and the author of Turkey's standby
agreement with the International Monetary Fund. He openly backs Ismail
Cem in his bid to set up a rival party to the prime minister's Democratic
Left Party.
Tayyip Erdogan
The former mayor of Istanbul leads the Justice and Development
Party (AKP). Polls suggest he will be the main beneficiary of an early
ballot. Although the party rejects the label "Islamist", Mr
Erdogan has his political origins in an Islamic political movement.
Tansu Ciller
Opposition
leader of the True Path Party. She was Turkey's first female prime minister
from 1993-96, and has been central in Turkish politics since then. After
scandals and blunders, her political career has been rejuvenated and
is a genuine contender.
2. - The Independent - "The new Turkey should be welcomed into Europe":
1 August 2002
The Turkish parliament voted last night to call an early general
election at the beginning of November. Necessitated by the increasing
physical and political debility of the prime minister, Bulent Ecevit,
this decision is proof that clouds can still have silver linings. The
election offers Turkey an opportunity to tackle much-needed reforms
some 18 months earlier than would have been possible under the previous
timetable. It also gives Turkey and its voters the chance to demonstrate
their European credentials.
Not so long ago, a Turkish political crisis would have fuelled rumours of a military coup, if not an actual takeover. The rush of defections from Mr Ecevit's shaky coalition which precipitated the drama brought instead pressure for new elections and the formation of a new party, committed to Turkey's entry into the European Union.
In Ankara yesterday, the process continued, with the tabling – if not yet the passage – of measures that would answer many of the questions that still surround Turkey's claim to European credentials. Among the proposed new legislation is the replacement of the death penalty with life imprisonment, legalisation of Kurdish-language broadcasts and education, and reducing restrictions on freedom of assembly.
Mr Ecevit and his dwindling supporters have warned that elections could impede Turkey's shift towards Europe, bring victory for the pro-Islamic (but far from fundamentalist) Justice and Development Party and jeopardise a promised $16bn IMF loan package. The coming campaign gives Turkey's voters a chance to show that these fears are misplaced.
Surprise election results have precedents – Mr Ecevit's 1999 victory was itself unpredicted, so victory for the pro-Islamic party cannot be taken for granted, nor should the appeal of Ismail Cem's proposed new pro-Europe grouping be written off. In the meantime, it is up to the EU not to push Turkey away by seeming to dismiss the progress it has made. We should hail Turkey's command of the multinational peacekeeping force in Afghanistan as encouraging. We should reassure Turkish voters that if their country can meet the conditions for EU membership, it would be welcome.
Charismatic and religious ex-mayor is the front-runner
Clad in a bright blue bikini, Merve may look as if she's just appeared
in an MTV Grind exercise video. But even at the beach, this vivacious
international law student is earnest when debating Turkey's political
future. Piercings and all, she is on a mission. As soon as she finishes
university in America, she's heading home to join the ranks of the pro-Islamic,
conservative Justice and Development Party (AK).
"It is not Islamist," she insists, echoing the party line. "It is pro-religious freedom. And it's the only party in Turkey that is not corrupt and wants to get things done."
She is not alone. Led by Tayyip Erdogan, the youthful and charismatic former mayor of Istanbul, AK enjoys a 24 per cent popularity rating. No other party comes close to matching it. Mr Erdogan is the new kid on the Ankara block, unscarred by the graft scandals that dog most other party leaders. And unless the staunchly secular establishment finds a way to bar him, he could become Turkey's next prime minister.
Under Mr Erdogan, Turkey's Islamists have started a public relations drive to drop their dour, dated and ultra-religious image. Youthful, college- educated professionals have replaced the old leadership. Gone are the calls for solidarity with the Libyan leader, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, pan-Islamic unity and isolationist economics. In their place are choreographed press calls with leading businessmen and a pro-European Union agenda.
Mr Erdogan, 48, who was once jailed for inciting religious hatred, says he has changed. "A lot has changed in the world. Ideology is a thing of the past." He likened the transformation to that of communists turning capitalist. He is now apparently in favour of Europe, globalisation and even the International Monetary Fund.
Mr Erdogan and colleagues have learnt to tread carefully. Political Islam in Turkey has had to contend with successive bans over the years. In 1997, the country's first Islamist-led government was ousted by the military and its Welfare Party banned by the courts.
Erdogan is trying to reposition AK as a centre-right party with a "family values" spin, and has called for a referendum to limit alcohol sales.
A recent survey showed that only 28 per cent of the people who said they would vote for AK previously voted Islamist. Butmany secularist Turks believe that once AK takes power it will unveil an Islamist agenda.
Mr Erdogan is facing treason charges for criticising the army in a speech in 1992. He is also the focus of a corruption inquiry for a tender awarded during his time as Istanbul's mayor.
On the street, how can the other political parties hope
to beat AK?AK has succeeded where the tired ones have failed at grassroots
organising and, in November's elections, is poised to reap its fruits.
3. - The Guardian - "Turkey deals a blow to action against Saddam":
Ankara parliament sets date for early elections in response to political crisis
ANKARA / 1 August 2002 / by Jonny Dymond
The Turkish prime minister, Bulent Ecevit, said yesterday that he
is trying to dissuade the US from taking military action against Iraq.
He told the Turkish media that his government is "trying to convince the US administration to give up the operation".
"We can," he said, "make a concrete contribution towards peace in Iraq alongside the United States without a military operation."
The prime minister made the announcement as parliament voted to call an early election on November 3. Mr Ecevit's government has been in turmoil since the resignation of senior cabinet ministers and the defection of more than half his party over the past three weeks.
Rumours abounded in Istanbul yesterday of discussions between the American and Turkish governments.
The US ambassador, Robert Pearson, had been to the foreign ministry on Tuesday, and reports in Turkish newspapers suggested that he had passed on a request to station American land forces in Turkey and use airbases other than Incirlik, which Britain and the US already use to enforce the no-fly zone in northern Iraq.
Although Turkey remained a non-combatant during the Gulf war, it allowed alliance forces to fly from its airbases at Incirlik, Batman and Diyarbakir. The move was particularly unpopular among the military's general staff, but it was overruled by the civilian government.
Turgut Ozal, the prime minister at the time, believed that the country could gain from the Gulf war, but the government now says it lost up to $50bn (£32bn) as a result of the conflict and the ongoing trade embargo with Iraq.
As well as concern over further damage to its already battered economy, Turkey is afraid of the impact of another war on the Kurdish population in northern Iraq. It has sought - and received - assurances from the US administration that an independent Kurdish state in northern Iraq would not be countenanced.
But for all the rhetoric from Turkey's politicians - and the almost certain opposition of the military - observers suggest that Turkey may become an unwilling partner to the US.
General Arman Kuloglo, who left the military in 1999 and now heads the Eurasian Strategic Studies Institute in Ancara, believes that Turkey will be forced to participate whether it wants to or not. "If the US wants it, Turkey cannot sit on the outside," he said. "It will have to take part or risk losing all influence over what might come afterwards."
Gen Kuloglu also believes that Turkey might end up occupying part of northern Iraq.
"Turkey may go up to the 36th parallel," he said. "It will want to control the area because of refugees and because it also doesn't want the towns of Kirkuk and Mosul to fall to the Kurds."
Both towns are rich in oil, and their status has been mentioned in the media as part of the conditions demanded by Turkey in exchange for any assistance in a US operation.
The early elections are unlikely to affect Turkey's position
on Iraq. None of the political parties that might constitute a new government
has voiced any enthusiasm for US action. Should an Islamic or pro-Islamist
party take power, it may take a firmer line against Turkish cooperation.
4. - Kurdish Observer - “State of Emergency Rule mentality should be lifted”:
In Dersim and Hakkari (Turkey / Northern Kurdistan) State of Emergency Rule (OHAL) was lifted after 23 years and they are now "neighbouring provinces." Hakkari and Dersim were introduced to "extraordinary" regimes in 1978.
FRANKFURT-MHA / 31 July 2002
In Dersim and Hakkari (Turkey / Northern Kurdistan) State of Emergency
Rule (OHAL) was lifted after 23 years and they are now “neighbouring
provinces.” Hakkari and Dersim were introduced to “extraordinary”
regimes in 1978.
HADEP (People’s Democracy Party) administrators, calling attention to the problems the people in the region had suffered because of OHAL, stated that the mentality which had caused OHAL should be eliminated.
HADEP Dersim Provincial Chairman Alican Onlu said that lifting of OHAL was not sufficient in itself. He emphasized that they expected from the state to take steps towards solving problems democratically and peacefully. “The people in Dersim are yearning for a climate in which they can express themselves freely” said the Chairman, adding that the people in Dersim had suffered repression due to their political, national and religious identities. Onlu pointed out the Dersim people had struggled for societal peace and as a consequence they had lost their closed ones, and been put into prison. For Onlu steps towards democratisation could not be thought independent of a general amnesty and lifting of capital punishment.
Saying that Munzur Festival was postponed to August 1 in order to observe it without OHAL, Alican Onlu had this to say: “We do not want to live under such a repression leave alone celebrate a festival. The festival will be observed as a fest of end of OHAL.” The Chairman also called on non-governmental organizations to make more efforts and be a compelling dynamics for steps towards a civil life in Dersim.
“Now practical steps should be taken" 
And HADEP Hakkari Deputy Provincial Chairman Musa Ciftci, stressing
that the people were deprived of a normal life, said, “We are delighted
that OHAL is ended but it should be stay only as a discourse. As long
as the mentality is not changed, anti-democratic pressures continue
under a different name.” Ciftci continued to say the following:
“First of all obstacles before return back to village should be
lifted and villages should be re-built. The land mines should be cleared.
Village guard system should be abolished. People should express themselves
freely and have right to association.”
First intervention on books
Policemen confiscated some books on the stands in Dersim
before the 3. Munzur Festival. Although there is no order of confiscation,
policemen confiscated a number of books including “Dersim”,
“Dersim’de Alevilik (Alaouites in Dersim) and Partizan (Partisan).
5. - AFP - "Iraqi Kurds aiming for final agreement next week":
ARBIL-NORTHERN IRAQ / 31 July 2002
The two main Kurdish factions sharing control of northern Iraq will
meet again next week to finalize an agreement on the implementation
of a 1998 US-brokered peace deal, an official of one of the groups said
Wednesday.
Officials from the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of Massoud Barzani
and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) led by Jalal Talabani "made
progress" toward settling the remaining issues in dispute during
a five-hour meeting in KDP-controlled Salahuddin, the two sides also
said in a statement. 
But they could not wrap up an agreement and will meet again to find
"final formulas" for resolving the contentious provisions
of the deal signed in Washington four years ago, the statement said.
The talks to overcome remaining obstacles to a final agreement are expected to take place next week, a KDP official said.
The Hawlati newspaper, published in PUK-controlled Suleimaniya, said on Monday that the two parties had agreed to hold elections for a new regional parliament within six to nine months, "conditions in the area permitting", and to allow each faction to reopen offices in the zone controlled by the other.
The KDP and PUK often fought each other in the past for predominance in the Western-protected enclave in northern Iraq, which has been off-limits to the Baghdad government since the end of the 1991 Gulf War.
But Barzani and Talabani agreed during a meeting in Germany in mid-April to complete implementation of the 1998 peace accord and pool their resources to combat Islamist radicals in the area.
The KDP-PUK rapprochement comes against the backdrop of
US threats to launch a military strike against Iraq and topple the regime
of President Saddam Hussein.
6. - The Daily Star - "Unconventional Turkish poet used soft voice to seek justice":
UNESCO names 2002 Hikmet’s year
1 August 2002 / by Heather McCaw
“How many others are in this place?
“I don’t know.
“I’m alone far from them …
“To talk to anyone besides myself is forbidden.
“So I talk to myself.”
To read the poetry of Nazim Hikmet is to hear a soft voice disturb the quiet of a stone prison cell in Bursa, Turkey.
His words are intimate and personal, and carry the force
of a conviction that only increased during years of confinement.
Born in Salonika in 1902 to a bourgeois family, Hikmet grew up in Istanbul.
He began writing patriotic poetry at an early age, inspired by the struggle
to throw off the military occupation of Turkey by Greek and British
forces.
What followed was an unwavering, lifelong fight for universal social justice under subsequent Turkish governments by the “romantic communist” who believed that living and writing poetry were the same thing.
Imprisoned several times by the Turkish government, Hikmet was freed for good in 1950 following a campaign led by the artist, Pablo Picasso and the philosopher, Jean-Paul Sartre but he was forced to live the rest of his life in exile in Russia.
Through his work as a poet, political activist and iconoclast, Hikmet introduced lasting innovations to Turkish poetry before his journey ended in Moscow with his death in 1963.
The poetry of Hikmet, who sustained a lifelong hope for the global spread of communism, has been acclaimed for its international nature. For this reason, UNESCO declared 2002 the year of Nazim Hikmet, after the man who has been called Turkey’s greatest modern poet. In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of his birth, a ceremony was held at UNESCO headquarters in Paris on March 21, World Poetry Day.
The work of Hikmet has managed to retain its relevance 100 years later as his country strives to find its place on today’s world stage. Turkey currently wavers between obtaining European Union membership and the effects of the increasing influence of the more conservative and Islamist parties in its government.
The Islamist parties in particular represent the poor
classes to whom Hikmet devoted much of his poetry and political work.
According to Victoria Holbrook, a specialist in Turkish literature and
a professor at the Ohio State University, “Nazim’s influence
in Turkey cannot be overstated.” She added in a recent e-mail interview
that Hikmet “has symbolized patriotism and freedom of thought for
generations on every side of political divides.”
In honor of the poet’s birth this year, new publications of his work are on the market and his plays can be seen in Turkey’s state theaters.
On the international level, Hikmet’s appeal has proved enduring. Talal Halman, a professor at Bilkent University in Turkey, confirmed in an e-mail interview “in the past 50 years, nearly 15 books featuring his selected poems came out in England and the United States.”
Halman, who wrote the introduction to the January 2002 English collection of Hikmet’s works, Beyond the Walls, added that this book was one of two collections in English published this year.
During his lifetime, Hikmet exemplified nonconformism.
He became an ardent Communist and in 1922 he went to study
in Moscow, where he was exposed to the rolling, free verse of Vladimir
Mayakovsky and the Russian theater, which was dominated by playwright
Vsevolod Meyerhold.
His travels through Russia persuaded him to abandon structured, metered
verse, which he felt was inadequate for creating the images that he
wished to invoke in his work, for a free-verse style:
“Hungry people, lines of hungry people! “Not men, not women, not boys or girls “Skin and bones “Bent twisted branches of bent twisted trees!”
The years following Hikmet’s return to Turkey were frequently interrupted with prison sentences, including his stint at Bursa between 1939-50. They were the result of his work on a leftist newspaper and as a rebellious Communist who attacked even the status quo within the party itself.
Hikmet’s most contentious poetry was devoted to the Turkish masses he wished freed of the remnants of feudalism, and to his homeland itself.
In Plea, he wrote:
“Bloody wrists, clenched teeth “Bare feet, “Land
like a precious silk carpet “THIS HELL, THIS PARADISE IS OURS.”
But even poems by Hikmet set outside Turkey landed him in trouble with
the authorities.
His famous poem, Gioconda and Si-Ya-U, is the tale of a young Chinese man and his love affair with Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of Lisa Gherardini del Gioconda, better known as the Mona Lisa.
She falls in love with the Chinese revolutionary whose visits break up the monotony of her life in the Louvre. After he is kicked out of France and branded a troublemaker, she resolves to follow him to Shanghai only to witness her lover’s execution. Gioconda herself is put on trial by a French military court and sentenced to burn to death.
The poem itself is not only a celebration of the Communist revolution, but also a celebration of Gioconda as a female revolutionary. Behind her cracked paint, Gioconda is resentful of the frozen, famous smile with which Leonardo cursed her. It is only as she is burning that she wears a smile of pure happiness.
However, it is the imagery of confinement within the walls of the Louvre, in this case that characterizes this poem and much of Hikmet’s other poetry.
In 1938 he wrote Letter From a Man in Solitary, a poem in the form of letters to his wife at the time. It offers poignant, simple images of spring unfolding outside the prison walls. Finally, he is taken into the sunlit prison courtyard for the first time:
“And I just stood there, struck for the first time
in my life “By how far away the sky is, “How blue “And
how wide.”
During a long sequence of letters between 1943-50, Hikmet told his son
Memet Fuat, from behind bars: “I have tied my life and my art to
the lives of the masses of people and their creative power.”