05. August 2002

1. "Kurdish classes could be launched in Turkey within three months", Kurdish language courses, which were once punishable by lengthy prison terms, could be launched in Turkey within three months after parliament passed a series of ground-breaking reforms, Education Minister Necdet Tekin said Monday.

2. "Kurdish rebel leader's family welcomes death penalty abolition", the family of Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan on Sunday welcomed the abolition of the death penalty in Turkey, a move that has saved him from the gallows, the Anatolia news agency reported.

3. "A Microcosm of Terror in a Torn Kurdish City", more than a decade after Saddam Hussein's warplanes dropped poison gas canisters here, killing perhaps 5,000 people in one of the worst such attacks since World War I, this city was still struggling to get back on its feet.

4. "Turks May Face Long Road to the European Union", even if Turkey truly resolves two deeply controversial issues - abolishing the death penalty and expanding the civil rights of a restive Kurdish population - it may be misleading to think that membership in the European Union is just around the corner.

5. "Turkey and EU hesitate to tie the knot", in spite of reforms, both sides have reservations about membership

6. "Turkish nationalists aim to halt reforms", the leader of Turkey's nationalists says he will try to overturn the abolition of the death penalty and reforms granting minority rights to Kurds - measures passed in parliament to further Ankara's attempt to join the EU.

7. "Saddam wants Kurds neutral", Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has stepped up efforts to persuade Kurdish rebels to remain neutral if the United States attacks his regime, a move that is complicating U.S. planning for a possible invasion, U.S. intelligence officials say.

8. "Let village guards clear the land mines", Hasan Atsiz, Chairman of ORKAM-SEN Diyarbakir Branch, asked for village guards to undergo rehabilitation.

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the staff

.1. - AFP - "Kurdish classes could be launched in Turkey within three months":

ANKARA, Aug 5, 2002

Kurdish language courses, which were once punishable by lengthy prison terms, could be launched in Turkey within three months after parliament passed a series of ground-breaking reforms, Education Minister Necdet Tekin said Monday.
The reforms adopted Saturday are aimed at bringing Turkey closer to the European Union and also include the abolition of the death penalty in peacetime and the legalization of Kurdish broadcasts for the country's sizeable Kurdish minority.
The legislation now needs to be published in the official gazette and the approval of the president, both largely ceremonial moves, to come into effect.
Tekin told Anatolia news agency that after the legislation formally becomes law, his ministry would prepare the necessary decrees to regulate private Kurdish courses.
"I see this (preparation) period as three months. Maybe they (the decrees) could be released even earlier," he said.
The new laws, which aim to pave the way for the opening of accession talks between Turkey and the EU, marked a radical reversal of rigid state policy which has long denied Kurds cultural rights on the grounds that such freedoms could play into the hands of Kurdish separatists.
The Turkish army has fought armed Kurdish rebels seeking self-rule in the mainly Kurdish southeast since 1984, in a conflict which has claimed about 36,500 lives.
Dozens who have demanded broadcasts and courses in the Kurdish language in the past have ended up in prison for propagating separatism.

2. - AFP - "Kurdish rebel leader's family welcomes death penalty abolition":

ANKARA, Aug 4 2002

The family of Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan on Sunday welcomed the abolition of the death penalty in Turkey, a move that has saved him from the gallows, the Anatolia news agency reported.
The brother and sister of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader sacrificed an animal -- a traditional offering of thanks to God -- at a family home in the southern Turkish province of Adana, it said.
The abolition of capital punishment except in times of war or near war was the most controversial article in a set of democracy reforms adopted by parliament on Saturday aimed at boosting the country's lagging bid to join the European Union.
Ocalan, Turkey's number one hate figure, will now remain behind bars until
the end of his life with no chance of an amnesty.
Ocalan was sentenced to death in June 1999 for treason over the PKK's 15-year armed campaign for self-rule in the mainly-Kurdish southeastern part of Turkey although his execution was put on hold pending a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights.
However, Ocalan's fate remains highly controversial in a nation traumatized by the loss of more than 36,000 lives in the bloody conflict.
"It is wrong to evaluate the decision (to lift the death penalty) according to just one person. This a decision benefiting the entire Turkish public," Ocalan's brother, Mathmet Ocalan, told Anatolia.
The abolition of the death penalty came despite efforts to block the legislation by the Nationalist Action Party (MHP), the ruling coalition's senior partner and the biggest party in parliament.
The MHP wants to see Ocalan executed and is also opposed to another article in the democracy package which gives the country's sizeable Kurdish minority the right to language course and broadcasts in their own language.
The nationalists claim that the reforms will fan separatism in the Kurdish areas and rekindle ethnic violence.

3. - The New York Times - "A Microcosm of Terror in a Torn Kurdish City"

Alabja / August 3, 2002

By JOHN F. BURNS

More than a decade after Saddam Hussein's warplanes dropped poison gas canisters here, killing perhaps 5,000 people in one of the worst such attacks since World War I, this city was still struggling to get back on its feet.
Then, thousands of miles away, came the events of Sept. 11. Within weeks, a battle wrested this city from deeply conservative mullahs and restored secular control. But an Islamic breakaway group known as Jund-ul-Islam, or Soldiers of God, sharply stepped up a string of ambushes, bombings and assassinations from bases east of Halabja, threatening to paralyze life anew here, Kurdish leaders here say.
Kurdish leaders contend that this group has ties both to Al Qaeda and to Mr. Hussein, who lost control of the territory after a 1991 uprising caused the region's 3.6 million Kurds to be put under Western protection. But American officials appear skeptical about the Kurdish claims of outside assistance for the militants, and have rebuffed the Kurds' appeals for the kind of direct military help the United States has given the Philippines and Yemen since Sept. 11.
The Kurdish leaders say that in the villages under their control, the militants have established a pocket version of Afghanistan under the Taliban, with heavily bearded mullahs imposing a way of life patterned on the village culture of ancient Islam.
In June, officials here say, the group narrowly missed assassinating the leader of the Kurdish regional government based in Sulaimaniya. Five guards were killed in the attempt on the leader, Barham Salih, who was preparing for a meeting with a senior State Department official, Ryan Crocker, at the time.
For Halabja, the situation has meant a shattering of fragile hopes.
A ghost town for the first years after Mr. Hussein's chemical attack in March 1988, the city had slowly begun reviving, until its population by the late 1990's had recovered almost to its pre-1988 level of 75,000. By then, fears of toxic residues in the environment had begun to recede.
But now, families fearful of attacks by the militants are once again heading west into the heartland of the Kurdish enclave, which occupies the three northern provinces of Iraq.
The reverberations reach back to Washington, where President Bush's vow to overthrow Mr. Hussein, possibly with an American military invasion, has stirred intensifying debate. Mr. Bush has cited the Iraqi leader's action in "gassing his own people" in Halabja as proof of his evil. Mr. Bush has also suggested that Iraqi success in developing biological, chemical and nuclear weapons might one day enable Mr. Hussein to hand the weapons over to terrorists.
Kurdish leaders have deep reservations about Mr. Bush's plans for action against Mr. Hussein, fearing Kurdish aspirations for autonomy within Iraq might suffer in the upheaval. When American officials have come here in recent months to discuss ways in which the Kurds could help oust Mr. Hussein, the Kurds have responded with appeals for more limited American military action, against the militants.
Since 1991, the Kurdish territory has effectively been in rebellion against Mr. Hussein's government, which has never tired of seeking ways to subvert Kurdish rule. The Kurdish leaders claim to have captured militants who have told them of secret meetings with agents of Mr. Hussein's secret police.
Mr. Hussein has been condemned as a Muslim apostate by Islamic militant leaders, including Osama bin Laden, but Kurdish officials say religious politics mean little to the Iraqi ruler when he sees an opportunity to strike his enemies.
"Look, this is a man who helped Islamic militant groups in Syria when he wanted to destabilize the government there, and who wraps himself in the cloak of Islam every time he looks for support from across the Arab world, even though he's ordered the killing of some of the most important Muslim leaders in Iraq," said one senior Kurdish leader. "So why wouldn't he help Jund-ul-Islam, if he thought it would help him?"
The Kurds also contend that Jund-ul-Islam appears to have links to Al Qaeda that flow, in part, from the geography of the Kurdish enclave. Halabja is flanked on three sides by mountains forming Iraq's border with Iran. This proximity was at the root of its suffering in 1988, when an alliance between Kurdish separatist groups and Iran's ayatollahs during the Iran-Iraq war was the trigger for the poison gas attack here, and for similar attacks elsewhere that some blamed on Iran.
Now Jund-ul-Islam has built a fortified network of villages and outposts deep in the valleys running eastward from Halabja toward Iran. The villages cover only a small area, perhaps as little as 100 square miles, but Kurdish officials believe access to the border could explain the recent growth of the group. They contend that as many as 120 Arabs and other non-Kurdish militants have arrived from Afghanistan to reinforce the 400 to 500 Kurds who are said to form the group's core.
The Kurdish claims tally with earlier concerns about Qaeda fighters fleeing Afghanistan, which at its closest point lies about 1,300 road miles east of here. After the Taliban's collapse under American bombing last winter, American officials said Iran was allowing Qaeda fugitives to flee into its territory.
Iranian officials have issued vehement denials, but the Kurds say some men who reached Iran moved into northern Iraq, drawn by the region's isolation. The 17,000-square-mile Kurdish territory, protected by an American and British "no-flight zone," has only a lightly equipped militia, with virtually no counterterrorism training or equipment.
The Americans' reasons for not wanting to go after this group now, Kurdish officials say, appear to include an unwillingness to offer Mr. Hussein a pretext for attacking the Kurds before a potential American invasion, and a reluctance to provoke nearby Iran.
But Kurdish officials say the group poses an immediate threat. "These are very dangerous people, and more so with every passing day," said Karim Sinjari, interior minister in the regional government established by one of the two major Kurdish factions, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. "So if the Americans are going to help us, they should help us now, before the problems become worse."
The officials' claims about the group's outside links have proved impossible to verify. The officials say they are holding 10 or more Arabs from Jund-ul-Islam's ranks and that some of them have confessed to training with Al Qaeda. But requests for interviews with the prisoners were turned down, with Kurdish officials saying that sensitive intelligence matters were at stake.
American officials who question Jund-ul-Islam's links to terrorist networks beyond Afghanistan, and to Mr. Hussein, point to a history of Islamic militancy in Halabja. After a 1991 uprising against Mr. Hussein among the Kurds, this city became the bastion of the Islamic Movement of Kurdistan, a deeply conservative group that that drew support from Iran during the Iran-Iraq war.
In the turmoil that followed the poison gas attack and the uprising, the Islamic Movement seized control of the city and held it for 10 years. But the movement split several times, culminating in the break that spawned Jund-ul-Islam. Two weeks after Sept. 11, forces of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan stormed Halabja, displacing the Islamic Movement.
Just about everyone here would welcome the end of Mr. Hussein. But most Halabjans see the American concern as coming years too late. Grasping for answers, many have fallen into the fatalism common to survivors of disasters.
"God has never been very kind to the city of Halabja, and we have no reason to expect any change," said Dr. Serwer Arif, a 32-year-old surgeon working at the Swedish-built Qandil hospital, which handles some of the cancers, respiratory illnesses and congenital deformities that people here attribute to the poison gas attacks. With a fleeting smile, Dr. Arif recalled his mother's reaction when he told her last year, in Sulaimaniya, that he had been posted here. "She looked at me as if she would never see me again," he said.
In Halabja, joblessness is chronic, so Aras Abed, a 32-year-old man who lost both his parents and all 10 of his brothers and sisters in the attack, considers himself lucky to have a $50-a-month job with a British relief organization. But years later, he remains haunted by memories of stumbling into a basement near his home three days after the attack and finding his relatives piled together, horribly disfigured by their death agonies.
Mr. Abed has his own family now, living in what was his parents' house. He has considered leaving but remained, he said, because he has an income and because he wants to be near his family's common grave.
Asked about the militants, he shrugged and said: "I learned what terrorism is on the day Saddam Hussein sent his planes. These new terrorists are the same, all they bring is death."

4. - The New York Times - "Turks May Face Long Road to the European Union":

Istanbul /August 4, 2002

By DANIEL SIMPSON

Even if Turkey truly resolves two deeply controversial issues - abolishing the death penalty and expanding the civil rights of a restive Kurdish population - it may be misleading to think that membership in the European Union is just around the corner.
The government remains divided, though polls show that two-thirds of Turks support membership, primarily in the hope of a much needed economic lift. But, as one Western diplomat put it, "there are few signs that Turkey has the collective will to adopt the common practices of the European Union."
The European Union is in the midst of an expansion into the former Communist countries of Eastern Europe, but its commitment to Turkey remains in doubt. "It's not just a problem of Turkey's seriousness about reform; the E.U. is not all that serious either," said another diplomat from the European Union. "There's a lot of doubt among member states about whether Turkey really belongs in the club."
Turkey has advanced markedly, both economically and politically, since the military dictatorship of the early 1980's, leaving many Turks with little patience for lectures from Brussels bureaucrats, whom they often accuse of failing to understand them.
But beneath the veneer of Turkish democracy lies a society where the generals, who have seized power three times, still hold sway.
Freedom of expression is restricted to muzzle Kurdish separatists and anyone who tries to mix religion with politics, while torture remains an accepted weapon of the security forces in certain circumstances.
Many Turks are frustrated with their leaders, whose feuding, cronyism and over-borrowing are blamed for plunging the economy into a downturn that led Turkey to seek a $16 billion International Monetary Fund bailout last year.
Runaway inflation and the austerity demanded by the fund have cut real wages and increased unemployment. People are now pinning their hopes on the European Union, Turkey's main trading partner, hoping for a quick fix.
"Joining the E.U. has become a national obsession, which everyone seems to believe will solve all of Turkey's problems at a stroke," said Umit Ozdag of the Center for Eurasian Strategic Studies in Ankara.
Early elections are scheduled for November, with the new Parliament determining who will be prime minister.
Ismail Cem, the Europhile foreign minister who resigned after nationalists blocked reforms, has formed a new party, called New Turkey. It is dedicated to integration with the European Union and is likely to attract urban voters, particularly businesspeople.
A rival party, the Justice and Development Party, features figures from two parties that previously were outlawed for their Islamist overtones. It is very popular but has far fewer Western friends than Mr. Cem. The Justice Party has also rattled both secularists and generals in Turkey.
The party's leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was jailed as a religious fundamentalist in the 1990's after publicly reciting a poem that was deemed seditious. He was mayor of Istanbul at the time and could be banned from holding office again.
Abdullah Gul, who would stand to succeed him, is campaigning on an anticorruption platform and supports European Union membership, partly because it would guarantee religious freedom. "I don't want to establish religious rule," he said. "Turkey is getting more and more open. We can't turn things back."
The treatment of Turkey's Kurds, whose guerrilla movement ended a 15-year rebellion in the southeast in 1999 after 30,000 deaths, is another hindrance to European Union membership. Not long ago, a minibus driver was convicted of supporting terrorists after an army sergeant objected to Kurdish music being played to his passengers.
Turks are not convinced that the European Union would accept a Muslim country as one of its biggest members.
"Most people in the E.U. are not prepared to stomach the idea of having borders with Iraq, Iran and Syria," said Hasan Unal, an international relations expert at Bilkent University. "Even if they do let Turkey join, it will not be for another 20 years."

5. - International Herald Tribune - "Turkey and EU hesitate to tie the knot":

Istanbul / Monday, August 5, 2002

by Daniel Simpson

In spite of reforms, both sides have reservations about membership

Even if Turkey truly resolves two deeply controversial issues - abolishing the death penalty and expanding the civil rights of a restive Kurdish population - it would be misleading to think that membership in the European Union was just around the corner.

Early Saturday morning, after a raucous all-night session, Parliament approved a package of reforms, including abolishing the death penalty in peacetime, giving language rights to the Kurds and easing restrictions on freedom of speech - all aimed at meeting EU requirements for membership. But the reforms could still be scuttled, as the deputy prime minister, Devlet Bahceli, the leader of the nationalists in Parliament, said he would ask Turkey's highest court to overturn them.

Polls show that two-thirds of Turks support EU membership, primarily in the hope of an economic lift from Turkey's economic crises. But, as one Western diplomat put it, "There are few signs that Turkey has the collective will to adopt the common practices of the European Union."

The EU is in the midst of an ambitious expansion into the former Communist countries of Eastern Europe, but its commitment to Turkey remains in doubt. "It's not just a problem of Turkey's seriousness about reform," said another EU diplomat. "The EU is not all that serious, either. There's a lot of doubt among member states about whether Turkey really belongs in the club."

After Parliament adopted the reforms, a spokeswoman for Javier Solana, the EU foreign policy chief, praised the vote but remained cautious. "The European Union very much welcomes the entire package of reforms," she said. "We must congratulate the Turkish government and encourage it to continue on the path of reform."

Turkey has advanced markedly, both economically and politically, since the military dictatorship of the early 1980s, leaving Turks little patience for lectures from Brussels bureaucrats, whom they often accuse of failing to understand Turkey.

But beneath the veneer of Turkish democracy lies a society where unaccountable generals, who have seized power three times, hold sway.

Freedom of expression is restricted to muzzle Kurdish separatists and anyone who tries to mix religion with politics, while torture remains an accepted weapon of the security forces in certain circumstances.

Many Turks are frustrated with their leaders, whose feuding, cronyism and overborrowing are blamed for plunging the economy into a downturn that led Turkey to seek a $16 billion International Monetary Fund bailout last year.

Runaway inflation and austerity demanded by the fund have cut real wages and increased unemployment. People are now pinning their hopes on the European Union, Turkey's main trading partner, hoping for a quick fix.

"Joining the EU has become a national obsession, which everyone seems to believe will solve all of Turkey's problems at a stroke," said Umit Ozdag of the Center for Eurasian Strategic Studies in Ankara.

Early elections are now due in November, with the new Parliament determining who will be prime minister.

Ismail Cem, the Europhile foreign minister who resigned after nationalists blocked reforms, has formed a new party, called New Turkey, dedicated to integration with the European Union. He is likely to attract urban voters, particularly businesspeople.

A rival party, the Justice and Development Party, featuring figures from two parties previously outlawed for their Islamist overtones, has far fewer Western friends than Cem.

The Justice party has also rattled both secularists and generals in Turkey. The party's leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was jailed as a religious fundamentalist in the 1990s after publicly reciting a poem that was deemed seditious. He was then mayor of Istanbul and could be banned from holding office again. But Abdullah Gul, the man most likely to succeed Erdogan, says he is no more threatening than the average Western conservative.

Gul is campaigning on an anti-corruption platform and supports EU membership, partly because it would guarantee religious freedom. "I don't want to establish religious rule," he said. "Turkey is getting more and more open. We can't turn things back."

The treatment of Turkey's Kurds, whose guerrilla movement ended a 15-year rebellion in the southeast in 1999 after 30,000 deaths, is another hindrance to EU membership. Not long ago, a minibus driver was convicted of supporting terrorists after an army sergeant objected to Kurdish music being played to his passengers.

Turks are not convinced that the European Union would accept a Muslim country as one of its biggest members.

"Most people in the EU are not prepared to stomach the idea of having borders with Iraq, Iran and Syria," said Hasan Unal, an international relations expert at Bilkent University. "Even if they do let Turkey join, it will not be for another 20 years."

6. - The Guardian - "Turkish nationalists aim to halt reforms":

Monday August 5, 2002

by James Helicke

The leader of Turkey's nationalists says he will try to overturn the abolition of the death penalty and reforms granting minority rights to Kurds - measures passed in parliament to further Ankara's attempt to join the EU.
The deputy prime minister, Devlet Bahceli, whose nationalists make up the largest bloc in parliament, branded the reforms rash and vowed to ask the highest court to annul the legislation.
The ailing prime minister, Bulent Ecevit, and other politicians praised the reforms, saying the legislation assured Turkey a place in Europe.
Legislators rushed to pass the legislation on Saturday fearing that elections in November could halt reforms, which include granting Kurds the right to broadcast in and teach the Kurdish language.
Critics claim that the reforms reward Kurdish rebels who waged a 15-year battle for autonomy in the south-east.
Mr Ecevit said he didn't have "any doubts" about the legislation and that passing the reforms had earned Turkey international esteem. "Now, nobody can say Turkey doesn't deserve full membership," he said. "From now on, Turkey is more free, more democratic, more European."
Turkey, a candidate to join the EU since 1999, has been under pressure to improve its human rights record. But some EU diplomats warn that Ankara is decades away from fulfilling all the requirements. One of the stiffest tasks, implementing the reforms, still lies ahead. It was, for example, not clear if Kurds could immediately open language schools. The country must also address claims of widespread torture. Turkey's year-end inflation target of 35% is also far off what is required to join the euro.
By Sunday, the EU debate had spilled onto the campaign trail. Reformist and pro-European Ismail Cem called on Turkish voters to support him in the November 3 ballot to further the country's EU drive.
He said Turkey's EU accession "depends on Turkey. To a large degree, it depends on what we do on November 3."
An EU summit in December is expected to decide on expanding the 15-nation bloc, and could set a date for talks on Turkey's possible entry.

7. - USA TODAY - "Saddam wants Kurds neutral":

Washington / by John Diamond

August 04, 2002

Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has stepped up efforts to persuade Kurdish rebels to remain neutral if the United States attacks his regime, a move that is complicating U.S. planning for a possible invasion, U.S. intelligence officials say.

In the latest sign that he is taking President Bush's threat to oust him seriously, Saddam has used intermediaries in northern Iraq in recent weeks to appeal to the rebels he terrorized for decades.

The Kurds, who are 15%-20% of Iraq's population, seek independence and have cooperated with the United States. But now they are enjoying an unusual degree of autonomy and revenue from Iraqi oil with Saddam's tacit blessing.

Saddam has signalled the Kurds that they will continue to be able to govern themselves, teach their children the Kurdish language, collect taxes on commerce passing through the region and get a share of Iraq's oil revenue only if they do not support U.S. efforts to remove him, two U.S. intelligence officials say.

Since those signals, operatives of the Central Intelligence Agency and Defense Intelligence Agency in northern Iraq have reported that they are having increasing difficulty securing commitments from Kurdish leaders to support U.S. action, the officials say.

The development adds to war planners' doubts that the Kurds would join any effort to overthrow the Saddam regime. Although few expect the Kurds to back Saddam instead, the growing expectation that they would sit out a U.S.-Iraq conflict is one factor driving draft Pentagon plans that call for as many as 300,000 troops for the mission, the officials said.

The Kurds hate Saddam, but they have been burned by past U.S. promises of assistance against Iraqi oppression. The most recent example was in 1996, when Iraqi forces moved north and shattered a CIA covert operation to generate internal opposition to Saddam, then executed scores of Kurds who were helping the spy agency.

Neighbouring Turkey, a NATO ally and one possible launching pad for a U.S. assault on Iraq, has demanded and received assurance from Washington that a post-Saddam Iraq would not be broken up into multiple states. The Turks fear that Kurdish independence in Iraq would inflame their own Kurdish minority.

Vincent Cannistraro, a former CIA counter terrorism chief, says that for the Kurds, "there's nothing yet to be gained and a lot to be risked" in backing the United States. "They're being very, very cautious. They have long memories."

Saddam's forces crushed Kurdish bids for independence in 1975, again in the 1980s by killing thousands with poison gas and also in 1991 after the Persian Gulf War. In each case, Kurds accused Washington of ignoring their plight. Since the episode in 1991, the United States and Britain have patrolled the skies of the northern and southern thirds of Iraq to protect minority populations from Saddam's forces.

8. - Kurdish Observer - "Let village guards clear the land mines"

DIHA/ AMED

August 02, 2002

Hasan Atsiz, Chairman of ORKAM-SEN Diyarbakir Branch, asked for village guards to undergo rehabilitation. "They can be employed in clearing the fields of land mines on borders to agricultural areas" he said.

Hasan Atsiz, Chairman of Forest Employees' Union (ORMAN-SEN) Diyarbakir Branch, stated that first of all village guards should undergo rehabilitation, adding, "then they can be employed in preparing the fields with land mines on borders to agriculture." The Chairman continued to say the following: "They are criminals as they have been given guns. They should be treated psychologically for they have been engaged in robbery, gangs, abduction, setting village on fires, usurpation, drugs, smuggling, killings and rapes"

Atsiz stressed that there were many production areas for their employments after their rehabilitation, and offered the following: "employing them in planting trees to places where forest have been set into fire in provinces where village guards system is still continuing, in clearing land mines on border provinces and using them as agricultural fields, in encouraging stock raising."