1 February 2002

1. "Rift between coalition partners over article 312 grows", changes made to article 312 in the mini democracy package promote divisions in the coalition as ANAP says the article contradicts the EU objective while MHP defends draft as being better than the original.

2. "European court to hear case of murdered Cypriot reporter", the European Court of Human Rights is to open on Thursday a hearing into the case of Turkish Cypriot journalist Kutlu Adali, who was shot dead in the Turkish sector of the capital Nicosia in 1996.

3. "Turkey in between east an west", columnist Erol Manisali writes on Turkey's search for a new balance in foreign affairs.

4. "EU: We don't want to believe in the worst scenario", the recent messages from Ankara over the mini reforms package have been causing the European Union some concern, while senior EU diplomats comment that they don't want to believe in the worst scenario, vis-a-vis the relations between Turkey and the 15-member union.

5. "Ocalan to remain on Imrali", Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Turk said on Wednesday that Abdullah Ocalan, the head of the terrorist PKK organization, would continue stay at the Imrali Prison due to security reasons.

6. "Commander's KKTC warning", HURRIYET said: "Speaking in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC), Land Forces Commander Gen. Hilmi Ozkok said: 'Establishment on the island of a partnership based on two sovereign states is the only way of preventing a crisis.

1. - Anadolu Agency - "Rift between coalition partners over article 312 grows":

Changes made to article 312 in the mini democracy package promote divisions in the coalition as ANAP says the article contradicts the EU objective while MHP defends draft as being better than the original.

Changes made to articles of the Turkish Penal Code that deal with freedoms of speech and expression contradict the most important target of the government, membership to the European Union, the leader of one of Turkey’s coalition said Thursday.

Mesut Yilmaz, the leader of the Motherland Party claimed that changes made in articles 159 and 312 will not bring the country’s laws into line with those of the EU and that Union officials have already directly informed the government this.

However, Devlet Bahçeli, the leader of coalition’s the far right Nationalist Movement Party, addressing a meeting of his party’s parliamentary deputies on Thursday, said that the revised draft of article 312, which covers crimes of inciting hatred along religious, ethnic or class lines, was much better than the current one. The new version of the law would introduce concrete criteria for charges to be laid and remove ambiguity in the law, he said.

Bahçeli told his deputies that the article was not there to limit freedoms but to limit hatred and provocation.

The deputy chairman of the pro-Islamist Prosperity Party, Yakup Budak, also criticised the drafts for the new articles 159 and 312, saying that they had been devised by a mentality that longs for dictatorship. Budak claimed that the changes proposed in the two articles had as their objective the silencing of the voice and reactions of the people.

2. - AFP - "European court to hear case of murdered Cypriot reporter":

STRASBOURG

The European Court of Human Rights is to open on Thursday a hearing into the case of Turkish Cypriot journalist Kutlu Adali, who was shot dead in the Turkish sector of the capital Nicosia in 1996.

The case has been brought by the journalist's widow Ilkay Adali, who believes that either Turkey or the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) were behind the death of her husband after he had repeatedly criticised the policies of the TRNC government.

Adali worked for the Yeni Duzen daily, the organ of the Turkish Republican Party and had been cabinet secretary in the early 1980s under Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash. "He (Atali) believed that Cyprus should not have been divided and that Greek and Turk Cypriots should live together in a single pluralistic democracy," a court statement said.

Adali was machine-gunned in the head and shoulders in the Turkish part of Nicosia on July 6, 1996, an attack later claimed by the Turkish Revenge Brigade, an ultra-right nationalist grouping. Cyprus has been divided into seperate Turkish and Cyprian segments since 1974 when Turkish troops invaded the island following a coup d'etat by the

Greek nationalist Nicos Sampson which sought to unite Cyprus with Greece.

Turkish Cypriots declared the creation of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in part of the island in 1983. No country other than Turkey has granted diplomatic recognition to the TRNC. In recent weeks leaders of the Greek and Turkish communities on Cyprus have begun to tackle complex power-sharing issues in rigorous face-to-face talks aimed at reunifying the island.

The European Court of Human Rights is an emanation of the Council of Europe, a pan-European grouping of countries based in the eastern French city of Strasbourg. Although its rulings are not binding, they carry weight in the European

Union, which both Cyprus and Turkey are negotiating to join.

3. - Cumhuriyet - "Turkey in between east an west":

Columnist Erol Manisali writes on Turkey's search for a new balance in foreign affairs.

The new demands of the West have inevitably led Turkey to a search for a new balance in foreign affairs. While Turkey's interests are coming in conflict with those of the West, they become more in harmony with those of Asia.

Both Russia and China strongly opposed the US military presence in Asia. Both of them are against US intervention in Iraq and defend the territorial integrity of that country. European Union countries are putting obstacles in front of Turkey's active participation in Afghanistan. In a way, they are excluding Turkey. They don't want Turkey in Afghanistan despite the fact that they accepted it as a candidate country and are supposed to admit into the Union.

Their desire to exclude Turks from the Aegean and Cyprus is a matter of discussion today. The US is pursuing a policy completely at odds with Turkey's strategic interests regarding intervention in Iraq and northern Iraq. This has gone on for more than ten years, since the beginning of the Gulf War. When we take a look at the US and EU demands from Turkey regarding the region, we see that they are in conflict with Turkish national interests. In fact, disagreements go far beyond those conflicts.

For example, the US and Britain would like to divide Iraq and form a puppet government in northern Iraq. The puppet government is ready with all its institutions, save a proclamation. The infrastructure of this state was formed in detail following the Gulf War. Turkey, Syria and Iran are opposed to the division of Iraq, as are Russia and China. Turkey's interests are not in line with those of the West but with those of its regional neighbours.

On the other hand, Continental Europe would like to draw the PKK into the legitimate political arena, and hold a bridgehead in south-eastern Turkey versus the northern Iraqi Kurdish card played by the US and Britain. It is believed that Germany leads the other countries on the issue as the potential boss of the EU.

The Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) signed a framework agreement with Russia on Jan. 12, 2002 regarding the PKK. Both the PKK and Chechen separatists are recognized as terrorists. However, the EU refuses to accept that the PKK is a terrorist organization and would like it to enter the political arena. This puts Turkey and Europe at loggerheads. Furthermore, the EU would like to take Cyprus and with it the Aegean into the organization so that it will not have to admit Turkey into the Union as a full-member.

The US seems to be more moderate on the Cyprus issue and closer to Greece regarding the Aegean. On Armenia, both the US and the EU are pressuring Turkey. There is the resolution accepted by the EU Parliament, and also decisions by the local state legislatures in America. Turkey and the West are on opposite sides on this issue as well. All these problems show that the increasing demands of the West over Turkey can only be balanced by good relations with Asian and other countries in our region.

The balances which began to be altered towards the end of 1990 are leading Turkey to seek new avenues in foreign affairs. Turkey has to balance the demands and pressures coming from the West with its new policies pursued in Asia. There is no other way out.

4 - Turkish Daily News - "EU: We don't want to believe in the worst scenario":

ANKARA / SAADET ORUC

The recent messages from Ankara over the mini reforms package have been causing the European Union some concern, while senior EU diplomats comment that they don't want to believe in the worst scenario, vis-a-vis the relations between Turkey and the 15-member union.

A war of words between two deputy prime ministers, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli and Motherland Party (ANAP) leader Mesut Yilmaz and the stubbornness of the MHP side on reaching a reconciliation on the reforms, has caused a serious uneasiness in the European Union.

"We don't want to believe in the worst scenario," said a senior EU official, in reference to the refusal of the MHP to take steps back for the modification of the mini reforms package.

"We want to see as much progress as Turkey can realize. But we don't have an obsession for the first anniversary of the short-term criteria. The Progress Report to be prepared in October will be first official assessment of what was realized after the declaration of the National Programme by Turkey," a senior EU official said.

"The reason for the meeting between the EU troika and Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit, which was held on Friday, was the uneasiness of the European Union on the existing reforms package. If no modification will be made on the amendments, it is only natural that the European Union will continue to voice dissatisfaction," EU diplomats commented.

A number of official meetings will take place between Turkey and the European Union, which will be used as opportunities for the EU expectations to be once more reminded.

The EU Commissioner responsible for enlargement will be visiting Ankara on Feb. 14 and 15, as the first of the contacts.

MFA to brief EU embassies

Meanwhile, Selim Yenel of the EU Department of the Turkish Foreign Ministry will give a briefing for the EU embassies in Ankara on the recent Turkish-EU Association Committee meeting, which took place in Brussels on Jan. 24.

ANAP members meet with experts from the EU Secretariat General

A Commission headed by State Minister Nejat Arseven, formed for the draft on the harmonization laws, met with deputy secretary general of the EU Volkan Bozkir and two experts from Bozkir's office.

Senior ANAP members, such as Erkan Mumcu and Beyhan Aslan, were also present at the meeting.

It was decided that the text to be prepared would be shared by the MHP and the Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit-led Democratic Left Party (DSP).

The commission will present its conclusion to ANAP leader Mesut Yilmaz on Feb. 4.

5. - Anadolu Agency - "Ocalan to remain on Imrali":

ANKARA

Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Turk said on Wednesday that Abdullah Ocalan, the head of the terrorist PKK organization, would continue stay at the Imrali Prison due to security reasons.

Turk attended a ceremony at the Justice Ministry Conference Hall.

Responding a question which recalled the news that ''the head terrorist will be brought to the Sincan F Type Prison in Ankara'', Turk said that such a thing was definitely out of question and that they did not have such a plan.

Turk said that head terrorist Ocalan would continue to stay at the Imrali Prison due to security reasons.

6. - Turkish Daily News - "Commander's KKTC warning":

HURRIYET said: "Speaking in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC), Land Forces Commander Gen. Hilmi Ozkok said: 'Establishment on the island of a partnership based on two sovereign states is the only way of preventing a crisis.

'He stressed that Turkey would definitely oppose the Greek Cypriot side becoming a European Union member unilaterally before a solution is reached between the two communities."

ORTADOGU said: "Commander's strong-worded outburst, Gen. Ozkok warns the Greek Cypriots and the EU."