16. August 2002

1. "Turkey did not block Kurdish leader Barzani from attending US talks: KDP", the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) on Thursday denied press reports that its leader Massud Barzani had been prevented by Turkish authorities from attending talks in Washington last week between Iraqi opposition parties and senior US officials.

2. "Turkey's Islamist former PM to defy ban, stand in polls", former prime minister Necmettin Erbakan, one of Turkey's best-known Islamic leaders, plans to run in early elections despite a five-year ban on political activity for anti-secular activities that got him ousted after a one-year term, a close colleague said.

3. "Turkey's Dervis stumbles in bid to unite center-left for snap poll", a bid by Turkey's former economy minister Kemal Dervis to build a center-left alliance for snap November polls faltered Thursday, but the popular leader said he would continue with efforts to form a bloc to counter a rising pro-Islamic party.

4. "No preparations for transfer of Ocalan to F-type prison", Justice Ministry said on Thursday that Abdullah Ocalan who was being kept in Imrali Prison, was not given any privileges different to the treatment towards other inmates.

5. "Civil society in Northern Cyprus", a civil initiative in Northern Cyprus concerning the island’s future

6. "Ecevit surprised at Dervis’ comments", the Prime Minister said that he wasn’t planning to stand in elections if they were held as scheduled, but said the calling of early polls convinced him to stay on.

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, right here in the internet at www.flash-bulletin.de as usual.

the staff

1. - AFP - "Turkey did not block Kurdish leader Barzani from attending US talks: KDP":

ARBIL / August 15, 2002


The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) on Thursday denied press reports that its leader Massud Barzani had been prevented by Turkish authorities from attending talks in Washington last week between Iraqi opposition parties and senior US officials.
Arab and Turkish newspapers have reported that Barzani did not travel to the United States for the talks on the overthrow of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein because Ankara prevented him from transiting Turkish territory and withdrew the diplomatic passport it granted him several years ago.
"Barzani didn't ask Turkey to transit its territory and he doesn't need a Turkish passport," a KDP spokesman in the Iraqi Kurdish town of Arbil told AFP.
"Turkish authorities have never over the past years turned down party leaders transiting their authority. But on the contrary, they have offered them many facilities," he said.
The KDP and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) led by Jalal Talabani are the two Kurdish parties that control the Western-protected enclave in northern Iraq, which has been off-limits to the Baghdad government since the end of the 1991 Gulf War.
Talabani took part in the Washington talks, while the KDP's official for international relations, Hoshyar Zabari, represented Barzani.

2. - AFP - "Turkey's Islamist former PM to defy ban, stand in polls":

ANKARA, August 15, 2002

Former prime minister Necmettin Erbakan, one of Turkey's best-known Islamic leaders, plans to run in early elections despite a five-year ban on political activity for anti-secular activities that got him ousted after a one-year term, a close colleague said.
"Erbakan said he has been told by attorneys that there is no obstacle preventing him from standing as an independent candidate," said Recai Kutan, head of the pro-Islamic Felicity Party (SP), one of the successors to Erbakan's banned Welfare Party.
Kutan, who spoke on Turkish television late Wednesday, said Erbakan would consult first with colleagues before announcing in which province to run.
The November 3 election comes at a crucial moment with Turkey, the only Muslim member of NATO and a candidate for EU membership, mired in economic and
political turmoil triggered by the illness of 77-year-old Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit.
Mainstream parties are also fractured, leaving a pro-Islamic group that also has roots in Welfare topping the polls for the election, which was moved ahead 18 months after Ecevit's coalition lost its majority in parliament.
Erbakan, 76, is one of the country's pioneers in trying to integrate Islamic measures into Turkey's strictly secular regime -- a bid that got him in trouble when a military-led campaign forced him to step down in 1997 after only a year as modern Turkey's first Islamic premier.
The following year the Constitutional Court banned him from politics for five years and dissolved the Welfare Party for "anti-secular" activities.
But he is known as a tough political survivor and Turkey's electoral officals are to rule on whether he can stand in the upcoming vote.
After it was outlawed, Welfare regrouped into the Virtue Party, which was also banned for anti-secular activities a year ago.
Its members then split into two rival groups: Kutan's Felicity Party, which has 46 deputies in the 550-member parliament, and the Justice and Democracy Party (AK), which has 25 seats and is now topping opinion polls.
According to press reports, Erbakan wants Felicity to form an election alliance with the pro-Kurdish People's Party (HADEP), a group threatened with closure for alleged links with Kurdish rebels in the southeast.
Kutan said his group had "not yet had contacts with any party to create an alliance but that does not mean we won't form one."
HADEP failed to pass the 10 percent mark to get seats in parliament in the last election in 1999, but won several municipal polls in the Kurdish majority southeast.
In what was seen as a direct reference to HADEP and AK, Ecevit recently warned that any gains by pro-Islamic and pro-Kurdish parties in upcoming elections could have "grave consequences" for the country.

3. - AFP - "Turkey's Dervis stumbles in bid to unite center-left for snap poll":

ANKARA / August 15, 2002

by Sibel Utku

A bid by Turkey's former economy minister Kemal Dervis to build a center-left alliance for snap November polls faltered Thursday, but the popular leader said he would continue with efforts to form a bloc to counter a rising pro-Islamic party.
Dervis' planned unity grouping suffered a heavy blow when the New Turkey party formed by former foreign minister Ismail Cem said it would stand alone in the election rather than join the popular former economy minister.
Dervis, a technocrat credited with rescuing Turkey from financial collapse, responded by saying he would therefore not join Cem's New Turkey party.
He had earlier supported the movement in the hope that Cem would back plans to form a union to head off an election challenge by the pro-Islamic Justice and Development Party (AK).
"I was saddened by New Turkey's declaration that it is not interested in alliances. Under these conditions it is not possible for me to join this party," Dervis told reporters.
Failing to join with the influential Dervis could leave New Turkey below the 10-percent threshold required to sit in parliament, analysts warned.
Shares at the Istanbul stock exchange plunged 3.6 percent as Dervis's bid for a center-left bloc faltered and the currency lost more than one percent against the dollar with investors fearing that the polls would fail to end political instability in Turkey and further damage the crisis-hit economy.
Dervis, the much-respected architect of far-reaching IMF-backed economic reforms, resigned from the government last Saturday with an ambitious plan to bring together old-time political rivals on the center-left and install a stable pro-Western government after the November 3 vote.
The failure to forge electoral alliances could propel to power the opposition Justice and Development Party, whose Islamist roots are a source of widespread suspicion in the mainly Muslim but strictly secular country.
A stable pro-Western government in NATO member Turkey is seen as vital to advance the country's bid to join the European Union, tackle severe economic problems, and minimize the political and financial fallout of a possible US strike against neighboring Iraq.
Dervis had pressed for a union between New Turkey, which was set up last month by about 60 MPs who ditched embattled Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit amid
a government crisis, and the Republican People's Party (CHP) of Deniz Baykal.
Baykal appealed to New Turkey Thursday to give up their party and join the CHP, whose popularity has risen since a 1999 election when it was left outside
parliament.
New Turkey, however, described the proposal as pre-election "tactics" and said it "will participate in the elections with its own party and identity."
Dervis said Baykal's appeal was "very important."
"It has opened the door for bringing together the social democrats. Efforts for this should continue. I guess we will be working together (with Baykal) in this direction," he added.
The non-party technocrat said he had no immediate plans to formally join a political party.
"I am not undecided. Being stubborn (in seeking an alliance) is not indecision," he said.
Speculation that Dervis could give up politics for good if he loses hope of a solid electoral bloc contributed to the fall at the financial markets, experts said.
Turkey's political fragmentation, which is also plaguing the center-right, has enabled the AK party, an offspring of a banned Islamist movement, to lead in opinion polls with only some 20 percent of the vote.
Support for other parties is dangerously floating around the 10-percent national threshold required to enter parliament.
"Having Dervis out of politics means no balancing power to the AK party," Sengul Dagdeviren, an economist at Oyakbank, said.
Many observers said New Turkey should join the CHP, which is Turkey's oldest party and has a nationwide network in contrast to New Turkey's poor infrastructure.
Political uncertainty has haunted Turkey since May when Ecevit fell ill and his fragile three-way coalition hit a deadlock over EU-oriented democracy reforms, which were finally passed earlier this month.
The turmoil resulted in a decision to bring election forward from April 2004.

4. - Anadolu- "No preparations for transfer of Ocalan to F-type prison":

ANKARA / August 15, 2002

Justice Ministry said on Thursday that Abdullah Ocalan, the head of the terrorist organization who was being kept in Imrali Prison, was not given any privileges different to the treatment towards other inmates.
A statement of Justice Ministry said that some press organs published or broadcast claims ''that misled the public and that were against the realities.''

The statement noted that claims about a privileged treatment and allegations that preparations for transfer of Ocalan to Sincan F type prison had been accelerated were unfounded.

The ministry was not carrying out such initiatives, the statement stressed.

The statement said, ''keeping Ocalan in Imrali prison, which is a secure place, was considered as appropriate because of Ocalan's legal status and the security risks. Our country is a side to European Convention on Human Rights and it has to implement basic inmate rights set by international prison standards and rules in Imrali prison as in all other prisons.''

''To this end, the mentioned inmate has the rights to receive medical treatment, feed, receive visitors, meet with lawyers, read newspapers and books, and listen to radio as other people convicted of terrorist crimes do. He is not given any other privilege than all these rights which are granted to all the other inmates,'' the statement noted.

The statement added, ''so, the claims which have implied privileged treatment and allegations that preparations for transfer of Ocalan to Sincan F type prison which is still under construction are unfounded. Such issues are not on the agenda of our ministry.''

5. - Milliyet- "Civil society in Northern Cyprus":

A civil initiative in Northern Cyprus concerning the island’s future

August 15, 2002 / by Sami Kohen

Although the media paid little attention to it, a very meaningful and important joint declaration called ‘Common Vision’ was issued in the "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus TRNC" this week by over 80 nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and prominent figures, among which there were trade unions as well as women, youth, and business organizations plus writers and artists.
This movement, which is the very first of its kind in the TRNC, represents some 80,000 people. Thus, the views and proposals stated in the declaration must be given serious consideration both by Lefkosa and Ankara.
Two very basic matters are underlined in the declaration: a solution to the Cyprus issue and the European Union. The solution proposal is initially built on the criteria of equality and sovereignty, which the Turkish side has also put forward.
Accordingly, a common state composed of two component states, one in the north and the other in the south, both of which have certain sovereign rights as well as clearly defined obligations, must be formed. This common state should be represented as one in the international community and also should have the adequate legislative, executive and judicial organs sufficiently empowered to deal with the EU.
This general framework is actually in line with the Turkish stance; the strategy and targets are similar. But in the declaration, a different kind of tactic and a flexible attitude to the issue is proposed. The head of this movement, Ali Erel, the chairman of the Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Commerce, states that a solution cannot be reached unless the Turkish side abandons its insistence that the TRNC first be recognized and its sovereignty over the north of the island be accepted.
This tactic, Erel says, has been used for years but it has proved fruitless; thus, instead of this, the Turkish side should display a flexible attitude and by so doing it will be able to direct international pressure and expectation to the Greek side.
On Sept. 6, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, will meet Turkish Cypriot President Rauf Dentas and Greek Cypriot leader Glafcos Clerides. It seems to me that after this meeting important steps can be taken towards a solution on the island.
Yet, Ankara should also make an attempt to encourage the civil initiative’s effort. We don’t have the luxury of missing any more opportunities.

6. - NTV Turk - "Ecevit surprised at Dervis’ comments":

The Prime Minister said that he wasn’t planning to stand in elections if they were held as scheduled, but said the calling of early polls convinced him to stay on.

August 16, 2002

Statements made by former Economy Minister Kemal Dervi?, including his decision not to join the New Turkey Party (YTP) and his backing the Republican People’s Party (CHP), were very surprising according to Turkey’s Prime Minister.

Speaking on NTV’s Political Arena program on Thursday night, Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit said that many of the deputies from his Democratic Left Party (DSP) had resigned at the instigation of Dervi?, who then had turned his back on the YTP that the dissidents had formed.
On Thursday afternoon, Dervis announced that he would not be joining the YTP, led by former Foreign Minister Ismail Cem, as it had rebuffed his efforts to form a united bloc of parties of the political left.
Ecevit said that the situation had become rather confused, and suggested that Dervi? had by his actions shown himself ignorant of Turkish politics and its recent history.
“Some interesting things have happened, the New Turkey Party (YTP) was founded,” the Prime Minister said. “Then the Secretary General of this party Talay said they were not leftists. A few days later Cem said ‘I think we are democratic left.’ All these of course surprised me. They also got closer to the centre right Democratic Turkey Party (DTP), which is a new party.”
“Dervis is saying that all the leftist parties should unite with (Deniz) Baykal (the leader of the CHP) but Baykal divided his parties several times in the past. He had broken his ties with another social democrat party. He was never consistent. But Dervis, maybe because he doesn’t know our political history well, made the CHP look like the most consistent party among other. I’ve been in politics actively for half a century and I never witnessed such surprising things.”
As to his own political future, Ecevit said he had not intended to stand for re-election if polls had been held as scheduled in 2004.
“I wasn’t going to run in 2004 elections but now if my health permits, I’ll try to do my job,” he said. “I’ll do my best to prepare the (DSP) to become a government after me. Even without me, I believe that my friends in the DSP will run the party very successfully. I already started seeing the proof of that and this is enough for me.”
He also said that his physical condition was improving.
“I feel good now. I was able to climb the stairs of Anitkabir (the tomb of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey) without any help. I went to Istanbul and these encouraged me. I couldn’t stand the army of reporters so I took a risk of not seeing doctors.”