18 December 2002

1. "Europe Is Courted by an Islamic Wolf in Secular Clothing", Turkish party leader espouses democracy but his past and plans speak otherwise.

2. "Accession to EU passes through respect to Kurds", Novelist Yasar Kemal stated that for democracy to be in force Kurds rights should be respected. Kemal pointed out that Kurdish courses alone would not be enough. The writer made a statement to the Italian newspaper La Republica, saying "Since Sultan Mahmut the Second we have been trying to access to Europe.

3. "Noam Chomsky: "Kurds will suffer more", linguist Noam Chomsky stated that the Kurdish population in the region would suffer bitterly from a possible Iraq war, drawing attention that all neighbors of Iraq would close their doors.

4. "The domino effect of EU's misgivings on Turkey", last weekend's summit meeting of the European Union in Copenhagen showed the EU a bit older, potentially much larger, but certainly no wiser. Ten new prospective members, mostly former states or satellites of the Soviet Union, were welcomed in a chorus of self-congratulations. But Europe failed to see why it would hasten to bring Turkey into the family.

5. "Kurds in Iraq Nervous About Possible War", the budding public alliance between Iraqi Kurds and more outspoken Iraqi opposition groups has civilians in this front-line city worried about the risks they'll face if the United States tries to overthrow Saddam Hussein.

6. "Turkey: Troops Would Halt Kurds", Turkey has plans to send tens of thousands of soldiers into northern Iraq if the United States attacks through the north, senior intelligence and military sources said yesterday.

7. "Turkey feels the heat on Cyprus", the EU's decision to admit Cyprus in 2004 -- with or without a solution to its 28-year division -- has weakened Turkey's hand in the dispute amid growing signs of a rift between Ankara and the Turkish Cypriots.

8. "Time ripe to solve Cyprus, Simitis says", ND not sure UN plan viable.

1. - The Los Angeles Times - "Europe Is Courted by an Islamic Wolf in Secular Clothing":

Turkish party leader espouses democracy but his past and plans speak otherwise.

17 December 2002 / by Amir Taheri*

He has a long history of Islamist militancy, for which he has spent time in jail, and he is still banned from public office because of it. And yet Recep Tayyip Erdogan, leader of Turkey's Justice and Development Party, has been touring the U.S. and Europe to portray his movement as "a branch of the Western democratic tree."

"We are the true secularists," he told a group of journalists in Paris.

What is going on? For almost eight decades, Turkey has proudly described itself as the first secular state in Islam, thus drawing fire from fundamentalists. And now we have Erdogan telling us that the Turkish state is not secular; it needs his party to make it so. What could he mean?

In 1924, Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Turkish republic, set up a Bureau of Islamic Affairs to assume some of the abolished caliphate's functions. The bureau has assets worth billions of dollars. It controls thousands of endowment properties, from apartment blocks in Istanbul to farms in Anatolia. It also owns about 80,000 mosques and builds an additional 1,500 each year. It employs almost 100,000 people, including 45,000 imam-khatibs who lead prayers at mosques and deliver religious sermons. A 100-man team of writers produces sermons that are approved by the authorities before delivery.

The bureau is the only authority in Turkey allowed to issue fatwas, or religious edicts, and is in charge of censuring publications that might stray from the official path in matters concerning Islam.

"In Germany, the government does not dictate what is said in church on Sundays," Erdogan says. "In Britain, girls can go to university wearing an Islamic hijab," the nun-like head covering that has become the symbol of militancy since the 1970s. "In Turkey, however, speaking of Islam in your own way could land you in jail. And girls can certainly not enter universities or government offices wearing the hijab."

The new Justice and Development government, headed by Prime Minister Abdullah Gul, has promised a series of constitutional amendments to change that.

Yet opponents of the party claim that Erdogan and Gul are playing the European card in a diabolical game aimed at removing barriers erected against radical Islamism over the decades.

The abolition of the Islamic affairs bureau would mean the transfer of huge assets to private religious groups that could interpret, promote and use Islam in whatever way they like, regardless of the interests of the state. Wresting away the control of state-owned mosques, shrines, holy places and businesses could provide the party with a strong and permanent presence in virtually every town and village. It could appoint thousands of its militants to influential and profitable positions and make sure that its preachers control all the mosques.

In Erdogan's system, the state and the mosque would be strictly separate, which would please some Westerners who support a secular system. But the party could control the mosques through its appointees and use the religious network to control enough of the electorate to keep itself in power for years.

Erdogan's appearance and discourse are deceptive. He has not grown a fundamentalist-style beard. And his wife wears a colorful headscarf rather than a hijab.

But Erdogan is as much caught in his contradictions as are his opponents because the whole debate about secularism is out of place in Islam. Secularism is relevant in a Christian context because Christianity regards the realms of God and of Caesar as distinct.

No such distinction is possible in Islam, in which attempts by either religion or state to impose itself on the other lead to discord and disaster.

When Erdogan and Gul say they want to make Turkey "fully European," they should carefully contemplate what this means. There may be no diabolical design, but a single political party controlling the nation's religious assets in the name of separation of mosque and state could undermine Turkey's multiparty democracy.

The way out must be sought within the Islamic tradition, which allows civil society to control the mosques and religious endowments but forbids their use for partisan political purposes.

* Amir Taheri is the author of "The Cauldron: The Middle East Behind the Headlines" (Hutchinson, 1995). E-mail: taheri@benadorassociates.com.

2. - Kurdish Observer - "Accession to EU passes through respect to Kurds":

Novelist Yasar Kemal stated that for democracy to be in force Kurds rights should be respected. Kemal pointed out that Kurdish courses alone would not be enough. The writer made a statement to the Italian newspaper La Republica, saying "Since Sultan Mahmut the Second we have been trying to access to Europe.

MHA/ROME / 17 December 2002

Novelist Yasar Kemal stated that for democracy to be in force Kurds rights should be respected. Kemal pointed out that Kurdish courses alone would not be enough. The writer made a statement to the Italian newspaper La Republica, saying "Since Sultan Mahmut the Second we have been trying to access to Europe. It was Ottoman's aspiration, then it was obstructed due to a number of reasons. Europe has right to make us wait. Turkey is not yet ready to access to Europe, because our democracy has still drawbacks."

Yasar Kemal continued with words to the effect: "We will improve our democracy till the dateline. We will be ready even before that date. But Ankara should respect the rights of Kurds. A real democracy is necessary, not the makeshift one in Turkey. I am repeating words of a certain minister, there are 20 million Kurds living in this country but they cannot enjoy education in their mother tongue."

3. - Ozgur Politika - "Noam Chomsky: "Kurds will suffer more":

Linguist Noam Chomsky stated that the Kurdish population in the region would suffer bitterly from a possible Iraq war, drawing attention that all neighbors of Iraq would close their doors.

DIHA/AMED / 17 December 2002

U.S. linguist, author and human rights activist professor Noam Chomsky said that the Kurds in northern Iraq would suffer seriously from a likely war in Iraq, emphasizing that hundreds of thousands of people would desert the region during the war, semiofficial Anatolia news agency reported yesterday.

Coming to Turkey in order to receive the Turkish Publishers' Union's 2002 Peace Prize, Chomsky went to Amed to deliver a lecture on the Iraqi war and world order.

Holding a press conference in the Turistik Hotel in Diyarbakir on Monday, Chomsky made comments about a likely U.S. operation against Iraq and its possible consequences. The conference was attended by Human Rights Association (IHD) Diyarbakir Branch Chairman Selahattin Demirtas, IHD Deputy Chairman Reyhan Yalcindag and journalist Ragip Duran.

Opponent writer Noam Chomsky stated that the Kurds would suffer bitterly from a possible Iraq war. Chomsky said that he believed that in future Kurdish and Turkish peoples would live together enjoying all democratic rights in Amed which he defined "a city of resistance and hope".

When asked a question about the Copenhagen Summit and the EU's decision about Turkey, Chomsky said that any other decision that would speed up Turkey's accession to the EU would have been better. Suggesting that the summit should not be handled as a very important issue, Chomsky noted that there would be no serious obstacle in front of Turkey's accession if the latter took positive steps on human rights issues.

"Nobody wants refugees"

Chomsky replied a question with words to the effect: "It is clear that the Kurdish population in the region will suffer bitterly from a possible war. The agreement between Talebani and Barzani has brought important gains for the Kurds there. But in North Iraq the situation is more critical. Immediately after the beginning of the war refugees will rush into neighboring countries. The worst possibility for the refugees is refugee camps established within Iraqi borders. Turkish military forces have been settled in North Iraq for a long time. Stressing that hundreds of thousands of people would desert Iraq once the war started, Chomsky said that Iraq's neighbors do not welcome to greet these people. Chomksy said the Turkish Armed Forces were in northern Iraq for a while, predicting that the U.S. and Turkish officials might capture Kerkuk in a possible attack.

Stressing that USA and Turkey would oppose to federation and autonomy in South Kurdistan, Chomsky said the following: "It is clear that even if US gives green light to federation there from time to time, it will oppose to such a solution as far as its relations with Turkey are concerned."

Chomksy said that it was very easy to find a reason to a U.N. decision about a war, stressing that even a biology lab of a university was evidence, which showed that country would produce biological weapons.

Emphasizing that the U.S. and the U.K. were determined to start a war against Iraq from the very beginning, Chomsky said he also supposed that Saddam Hussein was producing mass destruction weapons. Recalling that the U.N. stipulated disarmament in the region, Chomsky said, "Israel has thousands of nuclear weapons. Saddam Hussein is not the sole problem of the region."

Touching on the possible consequences of the war, Chomsky stated that nobody could know how the war would end at present. He noted that the Kurdish groups living in northern Iraq made considerable progress and added that the overall situation in this region was very frail and sensitive.

"Amed, a city of resistance and hope"

Following the press conference Chomsky delivered a talk. There he was given a human rights award. The writer said that being in Amed, a city of resistance and hope, at the last day of the Human Rights Day was very pleasing. "I have seen an unforgettable thing in this city: spirit of resistance. I believ that in future Kurdish and Turkish peoples will live together enjoying all democratic rights."

4. - The Christian Sience Monitor - "The domino effect of EU's misgivings on Turkey":

WILTON, CONN. / 17 December 2002 / by Richard C. Hottelet*

Last weekend's summit meeting of the European Union in Copenhagen showed the EU a bit older, potentially much larger, but certainly no wiser. Ten new prospective members, mostly former states or satellites of the Soviet Union, were welcomed in a chorus of self-congratulations. But Europe failed to see why it would hasten to bring Turkey into the family.

One consequence, felt right away, is indefinite delay in resolution of the Cyprus problem, leaving serious uncertainties hanging loose in a continental community trying to button itself up.

It should have been quite clear in Copenhagen that Turkey is engaged in what could be a historic transition holding enormous stakes for Europe as well. This fall, the Turkish people swept away the political parties whose incompetence and corruption stood in the way of economic revival and social stability. A free election gave the moderate Islamist AKP - the Justice and Development Party - a huge parliamentary majority and a mandate, the first to a religion-based group, to govern the country.

The AKP's victory is, however, somewhat conditional. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, decreed it be a secular state. The Army, a dominant power in the land, sees its duty as preserving this legacy, and has over the years removed a number of governments that aroused its disapproval.

Together, with those who suspect the AKP of having a hidden activist Islamist agenda, it is watching the new government very closely. Nationalist elements, including hard-liners who, among other things, want no relaxation of Turkey's hold on northern Cyprus, have mounted vociferous opposition.

Internationally, election of the AKP, with its pro-Western orientation and willingness to make far-reaching democratic reforms, offered the chance of a settlement in Cyprus. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan contributed a compromise plan to end the military stalemate between the Turkish and the majority Greek Cypriots. Carefully crafted to meet the basic demands of both sides, it is the first realistic comprehensive design to bring them together as autonomous but equal parts under a common roof after nearly 30 years of forced separation. The Annan plan remains on the table. Meanwhile, as Greek Cyprus joins the EU, Turkish Cyprus remains isolated, unrecognized by the world except for Turkey.

Before Copenhagen, it seemed that Ankara was ready to challenge the nationalists by persuading the hard-line Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash to drop his veto.

But the new government needed help to strengthen its hand, specifically through the EU at last setting a date to start negotiating Turkey's own admission to the EU. Membership is a longstanding aim and a high priority for the new regime as well as for significant segments of public opinion.

The Europeans, who work by consensus, waffled. Some felt queasy about having Turkey, a Muslim state of 70 million, added to historically Christian Europe.

Others are uncomfortable rubbing elbows with the 15 million or so Muslims who already live in Europe. And then, there are official requirements for EU membership that apply to all applicants, such as transparent, democratic government; civil control of the military; respect for human and minority rights; stable finances; a market economy; and a free press.

Turkey has long been deficient in many respects and the role of the military, above all, will not soon change.

But since August, parliament has been working on reform legislation. The new government has been especially diligent, from ending jailhouse torture to planning a new European-style constitution. A start has been made on relaxing fierce official restrictions on the large Kurdish minority.

Keeping Turkey out of Europe was never an option in Copenhagen, but some sought to delay starting the membership process. Germany and France proposed late 2005. Others, including Greece, Turkey's ancient foe, wanted quicker action. The summit finally settled, gingerly, on December 2004.

There is something unreal in the EU's misgivings about Turkey. The fear of millions of Turks streaming in, looking for jobs and upsetting the European order is ridiculous. Turkey has long been part of Europe in its most essential aspects, such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (which preserved Western Europe's freedom in the cold war and remains a foundation of European unity) and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, a broad-based political action body.

But with practically a whole political and economic system to be overhauled, it will be 10 or 15 years before Turkey is a full member of the EU. By then it is likely to be in many ways a different country.

What the Copenhagen summit has done is to give the emerging forces of change in Turkey a focus for their energy and a prospect of reward (in the process maybe even resolving the Cyprus dilemma).

This is an approach that holds promise elsewhere, too - and nowhere more than in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict not far away.

*Richard C. Hottelet was a long-time correspondent for CBS.

5. - Associated Press - "Kurds in Iraq Nervous About Possible War":

DOHUK / 18 December 2002 / by Borzou Daragahi

The budding public alliance between Iraqi Kurds and more outspoken Iraqi opposition groups has civilians in this front-line city worried about the risks they'll face if the United States tries to overthrow Saddam Hussein.

Until recently, many Kurdish leaders had feared taking a strong position in favor of ousting Saddam for fear of reprisal, but with a possible regime change looming many believe it is now worthwhile.

"The situation here is a little scary," says Babekir Zebari, military commander for the city and province of Dohuk, one of three Kurdish provinces protected by U.S. and British aircraft patrolling the northern no-fly zone.

"When we join in slogans calling for Saddam's downfall, we become legitimate targets when the war starts," Zebari says. "He will have a right to attack us. And there's no doubt that he will."

Dohuk, a densely populated city of 250,000 about a mile from Saddam's forces, lies perilously close to the demarcation line between the Kurdish self-rule area and Iraqi forces. The line was drawn up hurriedly after a Kurdish uprising against Baghdad was crushed toward the end of the 1990-91 Persian Gulf war (news - web sites).

The poorly equipped Kurdish militiamen who guard the line know they are no match for Saddam. They call themselves Peshmergas — literally "those who face death."

"Anytime he decides, he could destroy this city in five minutes," says Shawkat Bamarni, an adviser to the Kurdish Democratic Party. "He doesn't even have to invade. He can just use cannons and artillery."

Many Kurdish political leaders believe the U.S. threat of war against Baghdad leaves them no choice but to join with the Iraqi opposition groups.

They say the 11-year experiment in self-rule has reached an economic and political dead end and cannot grow except as part of a unified Iraq.

"For the sake of safety were supposed to say nothing and accept Saddam?" says Bamarni, the Kurdish political adviser. "We think it's worth the risk."

As Kurds watched nervously, their leaders joined a London conference of exiled Iraqi groups that have long advocated the overthrow of Saddam.

With Masoud Barzani of the Kurdish Democratic Party and Jalal Talabani of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan attending, the London meeting agreed Tuesday on the basic outline of a would-be post-Saddam government. Exiled opposition leaders were expected to hold another session Jan. 15, this time at Irbil, in the Kurdish autonomous zone.

Many Kurds are terrified of Saddam, whose regime has admitted spraying chemical weapons on Kurds in the northern city of Halabja in 1988. But even if Saddam forgoes weapons of mass destruction, Kurds admit they're too weak — even with their 70,000-man militia — to defend themselves against Baghdad's army.

If war erupts and Saddam attacks Dohuk, a scenic trading city with a large middle class, officials expect civilians will flee into the mountains as they did in the 1991 crisis when thousands of Kurds died of exposure and malnutrition.

"This is the closest place in Iraq to Saddam's forces," says Abdullah Said, a deputy commander at a Kurdish outpost near the demarcation line.

The Peshmergas, armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles and a 15-year-old anti-aircraft artillery piece wrapped in plastic to prevent rust, have neither helmets, walkie-talkies nor medical equipment.

"I'm not afraid," says one, 35-year-old Issa Yassin Taha. "If there's an attack we won't be alone. Others will come join us. We will fight if we have to."

6. - AP - "Turkey: Troops Would Halt Kurds":

DIYARBAKIR / 18 December 2002

Turkey has plans to send tens of thousands of soldiers into northern Iraq if the United States attacks through the north, senior intelligence and military sources said yesterday.

The troops would aim to prevent the formation of a Kurdish state and a possible flood into Turkey of Kurdish refugees, the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

About 4,000 Turkish troops, including engineers, have been sent to the mountainous border region so that they could quickly be rushed into northern Iraq if there is a conflict, said the sources, who have been part of the Turkish planning.

U.S. officials reportedly have asked Turkey to let tens of thousands of U.S. soldiers pass into Iraq if there is a war. Turkish military officials have said that if there is an attack through the north, Turkey plans on sending its own soldiers into the region. A leading daily newspaper, Hurriyet, reported yesterday that Turkey would send 65,000 to 70,000 troops into northern Iraq if there is a massive U.S. assault from the north.

A senior Turkish intelligence official confirmed the report, saying Turkey is especially concerned that if Iraq disintegrates, Iraqi Kurds could seize the key northern city of Mosul and the oil center of Kirkuk.

Control of those cities would make the Kurds a significant regional power.

If sent to Iraq, Turkish soldiers likely would secure northern areas, while avoiding combat against Iraqi troops.

Northern Iraq is controlled by ethnic Kurds, many of whom have for decades sought an independent state. Turkey is concerned that if Saddam Hussein is ousted, the Kurds might declare independence and inspire greater nationalism among Kurds in southern Turkey.

In 1991, at the end of the Persian Gulf War, about 500,000 Kurds fled to Turkey after Hussein crushed a Kurdish uprising.

7. - AFP - "Turkey feels the heat on Cyprus":

ANKARA / 18 December 2002 / by Sibel Utku

The EU's decision to admit Cyprus in 2004 -- with or without a solution to its 28-year division -- has weakened Turkey's hand in the dispute amid growing signs of a rift between Ankara and the Turkish Cypriots. Turkey's top leaders and military chiefs were to meet Wednesday to discuss the Cyprus question, a major stumbling block for Turkey's own aspirations to join the European Union.

The stakes are high for Turkey, whose troops have been stationed in the Turkish Cypriot northern part of the Mediterranean island since 1974, when they invaded in the wake of a coup staged by Greek Cypriots with the aim of uniting Cyprus with Greece. The United Nations has urged the Turkish and Greek sides in Cyprus to reach a deal on reunification before February 28, under a timetable aimed at bringing a united Cyprus into the EU in May 2004.

"If a solution is not reached, it will be a disaster," the daily Sabah newspaper said Wednesday. If the island is not reunified in time, the EU will admit the internationally-recognized Greek Cypriot side and Turkey will find itself in the position of an occupier of EU territory -- a recipe for crisis between Ankara and Brussels. Turkish observers say the decision at last week's Copenhagen summit to admit Cyprus to the European Union has cornered the Turkish side, while
handing a major diplomatic victory to the Greek Cypriots and Greece.

With EU membership in their pocket, the Greek Cypriots are now likely to be less amenable to compromise, analysts say. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has submitted a settlement plan to the two sides, under which the Turkish and Greek sectors of the island would be joined in a "Swiss-style" federation. Dubbed Turkey's "national cause," Cyprus has long been a rare issue of unity among political forces in the country, and between Ankara and the Turkish Cypriots.

But years of international isolation and economic hardship have exasperated the Turkish Cypriots, whose Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus declared in 1983 depends totally on Turkey, which itself faces severe economic difficulties. Eager to join the EU together with the more prosperous Greek Cypriots, the Turkish Cypriots have stepped up pressure on their hawkish leader Rauf Denktash to reach a compromise. Pressure has also grown since the Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power in Turkey last month, with an openly-declared resolve to settle the Cyprus question.

AKP leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan acknowledged on Wednesday the urgency of the economic problems facing Turkish Cypriots. "The climate in northern Cyprus is not pleasant... There are economic difficulties and they (the Turkish Cypriots) are unable to clearly see their future. Turkey is a power, that's OK, but being powerful does not keep your stomach full," Erdogan told the Milliyet daily.

Speculation is rife here that the Ankara government is exerting strong pressure on Denktash, who is 79 next month and in poor health, to reconcile with the Greek Cypriots and even to step down. "Everybody must expend the utmost efforts for a solution before February 28, with or without Denktash," Sabah said in a dismissive tone against the veteran leader who has long enjoyed the status of a national hero in Turkey.

8. - Kathimerini (Greece) - "Time ripe to solve Cyprus, Simitis says":

ND not sure UN plan viable

18 December 2002

The time is ripe for a solution to the Cyprus issue, Prime Minister Costas Simitis told Parliament yesterday during a debate that followed the island's invitation to become a full member of the European Union and other results of last week's summit in Copenhagen.

New Democracy party leader Costas Karamanlis, who had not congratulated the government on helping achieve Cyprus's unconditional accession, managed to include it among the agents of victory. «We believe that work was done by all - the government, the Foreign Ministry, the diplomats. We all contributed - you in government and all of us in the opposition,» he added. But he stressed that the person ultimately responsible for Cyprus's accession was his namesake, the late statesman Constantine Karamanlis, who got Greece into the European Community in 1981.

Simitis said that Cyprus's accession would help end the island's division. He has been pushing for the two sides on the island to reach agreement by Feb. 28 on a proposal presented by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. «Conditions have matured for the last wretched loose end in Europe, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, to be tied up,» Simitis told Parliament. «We believe in the need for a constructive negotiation, not just any negotiation, but one aimed at a viable, just and functional solution to the Cyprus problem,» he said. Turning to the role Turkey can play, and its effort to get closer to the EU, Simitis said, «The Green Line on Cyprus separates Ankara from Europe.» Stressing the need for a deal, he said, «All problems have a time for their solution, otherwise new dangers arise.»

Karamanlis said he did not believe Annan's proposal, as it stands, made for a just and viable solution. He said that a painful compromise could lead to further trouble. Communist Party leader Aleka Papariga repeated her party's claim that the Copenhagen summit «had made official the division of Cyprus as only 62 percent of the island has acceded to the EU.» She also criticized Annan's proposal. Left Coalition leader Nikos Constantopoulos said conditions were now better for relations between Greece, Turkey and Cyprus.