17 July 2002

1. "Turkey's ailing PM says government will push on with EU reforms", Turkey's ailing Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said Wednesday that his embattled coalition would try to push through parliament EU-required democracy reforms before the nation goes to early polls.

2. "Turkey: Early Polls Seem Likely As Ruling Party Loses More Deputies", uncertainty over Turkey's immediate political future heightened yesterday when Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit publicly acknowledged that his coalition government could collapse. The veteran leader's position looked ever more precarious as the exodus from his Democratic Left Party, in power for the past three years, reached a total of 69 deputies.

3. "The goal is power", Osman Ocalan, member of KADEK Council of Leaders, stated that the Kurdish movement should play its role, emphasizing that it should aim to take power and not only to enter into parliament.

4. "KADEK: We will give support if resolution taken as fundamental", KADEK General Chairmanship Council Member Murat Karayilan has stated that, in the event that a resolution of the Kurdish issue and the Copenhagen Criteria are accepted as fundamental, the group will offer its support to Ismail Cem, who will lead the new [political] formation.

5. "In Turkey, Kurds are arrested for trying to study their own language", the police here in southeastern Turkey will no longer arrest someone simply for speaking Kurdish. But when university students across the country circulated petitions, requesting optional courses on the Kurdish language, the authorities clamped down hard.

6. "No State for Iraqi Kurds, U.S. Aide Assures Turks", Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz met with Turkish leaders today to gather support for possible military action against neighboring Iraq.

1. - AFP - "Turkey's ailing PM says government will push on with EU reforms":

ANKARA / 17 July 2002

Turkey's ailing Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said Wednesday that his embattled coalition would try to push through parliament EU-required democracy reforms before the nation goes to early polls.

"We (the three coalition leaders) have reached a compromise on reforms demanded by the European Union... The laws will be passed by parliament before elections," Ecevit told the mass-circulation Sabah daily. The compromise was reached in Tuesday's criticial government meeting in which the coalition partners decided to call snap polls on November 3, more than a year ahead of schedule. The parliament, currently in summer recess, is scheduled to convene in an extraordinary session on September 1 to vote on early elections. Even if lawmakers take a quick decision on polls, time is running out to make way on key democracy reforms Turkey must fulfill to advance its EU membership candidacy since 1999, Ecevit admitted.

"We have very little time. We will take care of whatever we can. We will deal with the most sensitive ones," the prime minister said, adding that the reforms to be brought to parliament would be determined in detail later. Ecevit also said that he did not see any possibility of convening lawmakers earlier than September. A deep government rift over basic EU reforms, such as the abolition of the death penalty and legalization of broadcasts and education in Kurdish, is seen at the core of the current political crisis along with Ecevit's failing health, which has kept him away from office since early May. The reforms have been deadlocked by stiff opposition from the coalition's far-right wing, the Nationalist Action Party (MHP), on the grounds that they would fan ethnic separatism and harm Turkey's unity.

But MHP leader Devlet Bahceli, who has openly declared that his party would not support the reforms, has nonetheless allowed its coalition partners to bring them to a vote in parliament. The junior partner in the government, the centre-right Motherland party (ANAP), has also announced that it would make intense efforts to push the reforms through parliament. Turkey, lagging behind other EU candidates, wants a date for the start of accession talks by the end of the year. But it has been clearly told by its European partners that it must fulfill the Union's political criteria before it can sit down at the negotiating table.

2. - Radio Free Europe - "Turkey: Early Polls Seem Likely As Ruling Party Loses More Deputies":

PRAGUE / 17 July 2002 / by Jean-Christophe Peuch

Uncertainty over Turkey's immediate political future heightened yesterday when Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit publicly acknowledged that his coalition government could collapse. The veteran leader's position looked ever more precarious as the exodus from his Democratic Left Party, in power for the past three years, reached a total of 69 deputies.

The parliament's leadership also said it would go ahead with plans to call an emergency debate to discuss the possibility of early polls.

With no more absolute majority left in parliament, cabinet dissidents eyeing a rise to power and the prospect of early elections looming large, Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit's three-party coalition cabinet faces an uncertain future.

Already plagued by a 17-month-old economic crisis, Turkey has been plunged into political turmoil in recent days after a hemorrhaging of deputies and ministers from Ecevit's Democratic Left Party (DSP), once the largest group in the 550-seat Turkish parliament, the Grand National Assembly.

Within a week, a total of seven ministers and 52 other deputies resigned from the DSP, bringing the party to fourth position, far behind the far-right Nationalist Action Party (MHP) of Deputy Prime Minister Devlet Bahceli, which has 127 seats.

All ministers in the present cabinet also hold parliamentary seats, the only exception being State Minister Kemal Dervis, a former World Bank director who returned to Turkey last year to take over the reins of the economy. Unlike other ministers, Dervis is not affiliated with any political party.

All seven cabinet members who resigned from the DSP over the past week have also relinquished their portfolios.

Most defectors are likely to join a new social-democrat movement launched last week by outgoing Foreign Minister Ismail Cem and former Deputy Prime Minister Husamettin Ozkan, a one-time close aide to Ecevit who also resigned last week. The group, described by most of Turkey's mainstream media as the "party of hope," is due to seek formal registration and hold its founding congress within the next few days.

With only 69 seats left as of today, the DSP is now 16 seats behind the main opposition group, the True Path Party (DYP) of former Prime Minister Tansu Ciller.

The ruling coalition made up of Ecevit's DSP; Bahceli's MHP; and Deputy Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz's conservative Motherland Party (ANAP), which has 79 deputies in the legislature, now has only 275 seats in parliament and may be forced to step down if an absolute majority of deputies passes a vote of no confidence.

Turkey's Constitution reads that, in case of censure, the president shall appoint a new prime minister to form an interim cabinet within 45 days until new elections are held.

The 77-year-old Ecevit, whose faltering health sparked the current crisis, is facing growing pressure from the vast majority of parties, business groups, trade unions, and the media to step down amid concerns that the political uncertainty might derail Turkey's membership bid in the European Union and, more crucially, a $16 billion recovery program approved by the International Monetary Fund. The IMF program is aimed at helping Ankara sort out its worst economic crisis since the end of World War II.

The head of government has repeatedly said that he has no plans to step down before his mandate expires in April 2004 with that of the current legislature. Yet in an interview with the U.S. television news channel CNN International yesterday, Ecevit admitted to the possibility of the ruling coalition collapsing.

He said his own preference is to have the government stay in office for its full five-year term, i.e., until April 2004. But he said that "does not seem to be feasible." Later, however, Ecevit said that if a change of government is possible, it is not inevitable.

Almost all political groups now agree that polls are, indeed, inevitable, though there is no consensus on a time frame. Most recent opinion polls suggest that elections might benefit the Islamic opposition to the detriment of more traditional, secular parties.

On 1 July, parliament went on a three-month summer recess, but MHP Parliament speaker Omer Izgi said yesterday that in line with a 125-signature petition filed by Bahceli, the legislature will hold an emergency session on 1 September to discuss the possibility of polls on 3 November. However, for this session to take place, a quorum of 184 deputies, or one-third of parliament, has to be met.

Yilmaz, who oversees relations with Brussels in the cabinet, has criticized Bahceli's move, saying the time frame proposed by his rival coalition partner would not leave parliament enough time to pass laws required to qualify for entry into the European Union. Yilmaz is generally not favorable to early polls, but he has argued that should they become necessary, they should either take place as soon as possible to allow Turkey to meet the EU deadline, or after legal changes are voted on by parliament.

Brussels wants Ankara to further democratize its legislation before agreeing on a date for the start of accession talks. The European bloc is expected to review the progress achieved by all candidate members in mid-October and decide on the first wave of enlargement at a summit in Copenhagen in December.

Turkey, which applied for membership in 1987 and stands last among 13 would-be members, knows it stands no chance of being listed among countries that will be admitted to the EU in 2004. However, Ankara would like to start accession talks as soon as possible for entry into the bloc by 2010 at the latest.

Ecevit has argued that early polls may jeopardize achievements reached so far on the path toward the EU and believes no elections should be held, at least before the Copenhagen summit.

On 12 July, Ecevit appointed DSP Deputy Prime Minister Sukru Sina Gurel, a man known for his uncompromising attitude regarding the Cyprus issue, to replace outgoing Foreign Minister Cem. In an obvious attempt to reassure the EU, which has expressed concern over the current political turmoil, Gurel yesterday pledged there would be no substantial changes in Ankara's foreign policy. "There are traditional foundations in Turkey's foreign policy. No matter who the foreign minister is, the only changes in state policy can be nuances," Gurel said.

In an apparent bid to cut short rumors about his health, Ecevit gave a 45-minute live interview on 12 July to Turkey's NTV private television channel, in which he defended his choice of Gurel as foreign minister, saying it would not affect relations with Brussels. The prime minister also responded to critics who accuse him of clinging to power by claiming that his reluctance to call early polls is motivated by concerns over Turkey's future, not by political considerations. "We are not opposed to early polls in terms of our party's needs. But [our] government has launched very successful reforms in Turkey, which are being implemented at a fast pace. We are also considering adopting other reforms. Unfortunately, none of this will remain on the agenda because, if elections are to be held in early November, parties will be unable to think about reforms. They will be busy with the election campaign and Turkey, therefore, will lose a lot of time," Ecevit said.

Both Bahceli and Yilmaz have insisted that early elections should be held under the present cabinet. Yet, there was widespread speculation in Turkey in recent days that ANAP might decide to withdraw from the present coalition to precipitate the electoral process in a bid to turn early polls into a referendum on the EU.

Ecevit needs the support of Yilmaz and his fellow deputies to secure a parliamentary majority for his cabinet. However, ANAP's 79 votes in the legislature could also prove a valuable asset to the opposition should the latter attempt to topple the prime minister.

Yet, ANAP's defection would not necessarily mean the end of the cabinet.

Political experts point out that Turkey's political practices would then allow Ecevit to seek support outside the coalition, including among Ciller's opposition True Path Party, and replace outgoing ministers with representatives of other political groups.

By all accounts, much depends now on Ecevit's nationalist senior coalition partner.

In an interview published yesterday in the "Milliyet" daily newspaper, the prime minister candidly acknowledged that the future of his coalition is largely reliant on Bahceli's next steps.

Asked by columnist Derya Sazak about State Minister Dervis's political future, Ecevit reiterated that he wants his former economic adviser to remain in the cabinet for fear that his departure might derail the IMF-backed recovery program. But he added, "If Mr. Bahceli insists on saying that Dervis should resign, I will reassess my position."

The 53-year-old Dervis delivered his resignation to Ecevit on 11 July in a bid to join Cem and other DSP dissidents. But President Ahmet Necdet Sezer dissuaded him from leaving the cabinet after consulting with army chief of staff General Huseyin Kivrikoglu.

Ecevit, who warned earlier that Dervis would not be allowed to stay in the cabinet if he sides with the opposition, eventually fell in with Sezer and asked his minister to stay.

On 12 July, Bahceli described Dervis's overt support for Cem's political movement as "unethical" and demanded his departure. Speaking to reporters yesterday at the MHP's Ankara headquarters, the far-right leader reiterated his opposition to Dervis's remaining in the cabinet. "Minister Dervis was brought into [our] government as a technocrat. We believe his quest for political identity is natural. However, Mr. Dervis should be the first to realize the absurdity of the situation that will be created if he chooses to enter politics with a political identity. He should assess his position by drawing the necessary conclusions. We have said in the past that [his] situation is incompatible with political ethics, and we do not find it moral. We have not changed our position on this issue. It is up to the prime minister to evaluate Mr. Dervis's position," Bahceli said.

In remarks published on 13 July in the "Hurriyet" daily, Dervis said he would remain at his post "for the time being." But he made it quite clear that, if only for Ecevit's fresh hostility toward him, his days in the cabinet were numbered.

Dervis told "Hurriyet" that continuous squabbling among Ecevit's ill-assorted coalition represents an obstacle to reforms. All the country needs, he stressed, is "a political majority" to spearhead its efforts toward economic recovery and EU membership.

3. - Kurdish Observer - "The goal is power":

Osman Ocalan, member of KADEK Council of Leaders, stated that the Kurdish movement should play its role, emphasizing that it should aim to take power and not only to enter into parliament.

MHA/FRANKFURT / 16 July 2002

Osman Ocalan, member of KADEK Council of Leaders, drew attention that the Kurdish movement should play its role in the elections, emphasizing that it should aim to take power and not only to enter into parliament.

Participated by telephone in the "Acilim" program on Medya TV the other day, Ocalan stated that the Kurdish movement's politics had proved itself for three years, adding that the elections would lead to democratisation of Turkey. The Kurdish leader pointed out that the Kurdish movement had the vote potential reaching to 25%, continuing with words to the effect: These elections will lead to democratisation. We have a vote potential reaching to 25%. In case that the socialist movement supports us or we can establish an alliance, we may be a partner of the power."

Efforts of Cem and Dervis

Osman Ocalan expressed that they found the efforts of Ismail Cem and Kemal Dervis positive. Stressing that those parties which tried to make the existing system continue were now in the process of liquidation, Ocalan said that efforts of the said politicians and also of right-wing parties ANAP and DTP were of importance. The Kurdish leader saw social democracy in a disarray and CHP as not being able to represent social democracy in Turkey.

"Democratic Iraq"

Osman Ocalan also brought up the subject of an attack on Iraq. He pointed out that one of the reasons was the resistance of nationalistic right-left power against it. Ocalan added that in case that Turkey was not convinced, the politics would be interfered: "In fact the attack was to be made a year earliar but the power in Turkey exhibited a serious resistance to it. It is said that the latest crisis is in a sense an intervention of USA and EU and it bears a certain fact. There will be a loss of authority in power and in such a climate the operation will be made. Because without power Turkey cannot resist it seriously."

"First of all Kurds should be democratic"

The Kurdish leader mentioned that what was important would not be the change of hands in power but to establish democracy in Iraq. Drawing attention to the democratisation of forces in South Kurdistan, Osman Ocalan demanded that first of all Kurds should be democratic. Ocalan concluded his speech with words to the effect: "It is certain that there will a step towards solution of the Kurdish question in East and South Kurdistan if Kurds are reasonable. In case that there is a reactionary regime, a conflict will be possible. We will try our best to avoid it. If there is a development towards democracy in Iraq, it is out of question for us to clash with Iraq, on the contrary we will contribute to a democratic Kurdistan."

4. - Ozgur Politika - "KADEK: We will give support if resolution taken as fundamental":

MHA / FRANKFURT / 15 July 2002

KADEK General Chairmanship Council Member Murat Karayilan has stated that, in the event that a resolution of the Kurdish issue and the Copenhagen Criteria are accepted as fundamental, the group will offer its support to Ismail Cem, who will lead the new [political] formation.

Freedom and Democracy Party of Kurdistan (KADEK) General Chairmanship Council Member Murat Karayilan, who participated by telephone on the "Rojev" program on Medya TV the evening before last, made statements regarding the most recent developments in Turkey, as well as regarding likely developments in Iraq and Southern Kurdistan. In his remarks, Karayilan declared that, in the event of both the resolution of the Kurdish issue and the Copenhagen Criteria being accepted as fundamental, the group will offer its support, for the sake of democratization, to Ismail Cem, who has resigned from both his party and his position as Foreign Minister.

Karayilan said that the failure to resolve the Kurdish question has placed great pressure on the government, and that the real blockage has been experienced among nationalist circles; he also stated that "The political turmoil in Turkey has come about as a result of the inability to bring about a democratic transformation." Stating that the impasse in the Kurdish question has been the determining factor in things coming to this point, Karayilan said that the government, through its policies of annihilation and denial, has prepared its own end. Stressing that an early election would be an opportunity for the development of a common will among the forces of democracy, Karayilan said that "The demands for change coming from both international forces and the domestic democratic forces are united on this point."

"Common will must be developed"

Karayilan, stating that the MHP and the DSP have encountered an impasse on the basis of nationalism, pointed out that Cem's initiative had developed as a liberal understanding of politics in opposition to this, and said that "If Cem and his colleagues take the resolution of the Kurdish issue and the Copenhagen Criteria as fundamental, then we will offer them every sort of assistance based on KADEK's principle of democratization." Stressing that the interim process applied during the 57th government has reached its endpoint, Karayilan said that Turkey must choose between democracy and a policy of annihilation. Chairmanship Council Member Karayilan, pointing out that certain circles in Turkey such Ciller are still pushing for war, declared that his group has sufficient strength to defend itself if there should be insistence on a policy of annihilation. Stressing that the democracy front has also been gaining in strength, and that an election will provide an opportunity for the formation of a common will on the democratic front, Karayilan said that "The Kurdish people as well must make preparations to represent its own will in the Assembly, on the basis of partnership with other forces."

"Let plots be abandoned!"

KADEK General Chairmanship Council Member Murat Karayilan also made statements regarding likely developments in Iraq and Southern Kurdistan. Reminding his listeners that the United States is engaged in making practical preparations vis-à-vis Iraq, Karayilan spoke as follows: "Turkey, in particular, wants to develop the war via the Kurdish forces. Turkey is working to develop a plot just like that of the year 2000. It is working to drag the Kurdish forces in the region into this. Ciller's speech was directed toward this. They want to carry out an annihilation effort aimed against all Kurds, and particularly against KADEK. They want to weaken the Kurdish forces in the region. They want to foment conflict between KADEK and certain other forces. There is the situation of the PUK. The PUK has made preparations to enter into cooperation with Turkey; it has not yet made its decision, but there are preparations for this.

" Declaring that his group is ready to do everything possible so that the Kurds gain autonomy at an international level in the South, Karayilan made reference to the efforts of the PUK and continued as follows: "You are preparing assassinations aimed against members of the Council. Why are you distributing the leaflets that Turkey has prepared? Why are you putting pressure on the villagers in an effort to use them against us? We don't want a civil war. We are open to dialogue. Every day Turkish military officers arrive and carry out reconnaissance against us and track us; what does this have to do with the interests of the Kurds? These things are a plot. Our people in Southern Kurdistan should be aware that we want friendship. We made an agreement, two of the articles of which dealt with friendship, but the PUK did not adhere to this, and instead attempted assassination operations against us. We are once again making our appeal: We want friendship; let us have a common strategy, and let our people of the South be alert to these sorts of developments."

5. - Chronicle of Higher Education - "In Turkey, Kurds are arrested for trying to study their own language":

DIYARBAKIR / 16 July 2002 / by Burton Bollag

The police here in southeastern Turkey will no longer arrest someone simply for speaking Kurdish. But when university students across the country circulated petitions, requesting optional courses on the Kurdish language, the authorities clamped down hard.

More than 1,300 students have been detained by police -- often while trying to present the signed petitions to the rectors of the universities they attend. According to human-rights activists, more than 200 students have been accused of violating anti-terrorist laws. Often the formal charge is supporting an illegal organization, in this case the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK.

Three years ago, after the PKK's leader, Abdullah Öcalan, was captured and sentenced to death -- a sentence not yet carried out -- the group called off a bloody 15-year rebellion for self-rule for the Kurdish-populated southeastern region of the country. But the Kurds, who make up about 20 percent of Turkey's 65 million people, continue pressing for more rights.

The students who have been arrested recently are being tried at special state-security courts across Turkey and face a maximum prison sentence of seven and a half years. In separate university disciplinary actions, about 300 students have been expelled or suspended from their studies.

"I can speak Kurdish, but I can't read Kurdish poetry or literature," says Harun Ece, a student of archival science, at Marmara University, in Istanbul. The university suspended Mr. Ece for a year for circulating a petition favoring Kurdish courses. Mr. Ece is also one of 28 students being tried together in a state security court in Istanbul for their role in the petition drive. "Unless we can study it," he says, "Kurdish language and culture will disappear."

History of Oppression

Since the founding of the modern Turkish republic, in 1923, the authorities have tried to wipe out the distinct identity of the Kurds, Turkey's largest minority. Until a change in legislation, in 1991, the use of Kurdish was totally banned in numerous situations, such as speaking or singing in public, and publishing.

Kurds live in neighboring parts of Iran, Iraq, and Syria, where they have also suffered repression, with the exception of a portion of Iraq that Kurds control with the help of the United Nations. Yet only Turkey, home to the largest Kurdish population, has gone to great lengths to eradicate the Kurds' culture.

Today officials sometimes try to justify the ban on the use of Kurdish in education by claiming the language is too primitive. According to Nurset Aras, a professor of medicine and rector of the University of Ankara, "Kurdish is not a true language. It is not adequate for academic education."

Linguists dismiss the notion. Indeed, Kurdish has a literary tradition that goes back at least three and a half centuries. Mem û Zîn, the names of two lovers, is an epic story of tragic love written by the Kurdish poet and Muslim scholar Ehmedî Xanî at the end of the 17th century. It is considered one of the greatest classics of Kurdish literature.

Kurdish is closely related to Persian, the language of Iran, but unrelated to Turkish. The language is taught today at several European universities.

In the last few years, the harshest restrictions on speaking and publishing in Kurdish have been relaxed, and something of a cultural renaissance is under way. Young people gather in Kurdish cafes to drink strong tea and listen to a blend of modern and traditional Kurdish music and discuss the growing number of Kurdish books sold legally.

The petition campaign began last fall, shortly after a key change to Turkey's Constitution. In October, in response to urging by the European Union, Turkey amended its Constitution to end a ban on broadcasting in languages other than Turkish. So far, however the government has authorized very little Kurdish-language programming.

In November, a group of students at Istanbul University started collecting signatures from their classmates on an appeal for optional Kurdish courses. Within weeks, students at about half of Turkey's 53 public universities did the same. Despite the threat of expulsion, about 12,000 students across Turkey have signed a petition.

A few students subsequently withdrew their names under pressure from the authorities.

At the same time, some parents circulated petitions asking for Kurdish lessons in their children's public schools. Some of the parents have also been arrested.

Mistreatment of students in police custody appears to have been widespread, especially outside the largest city, Istanbul. Many complain of having been blindfolded during questioning, and of being hit by police demanding that they admit they were following the orders of the PKK.

According to Amnesty International, Mürsel Sargut, a 19-year-old literature student at Istanbul University who was arrested last November 30, was tortured while in police custody. He was allegedly stripped and sprayed with pressurized water and then raped with a nightstick by police after he refused to "confess" to being a member of the PKK.

Orhan Tung, press counselor at the Turkish Embassy in London, says that "80 to 90 percent" of allegations of mistreatment are fabrications. Yet he admits that the Turkish security forces have a history of abusing prisoners. "There has been steady improvement over the last five or six years," he says. "We admit we still have a long way to go."

Indicted students in Diyarbakir and Istanbul questioned recently by a reporter said they circulated the petitions on their own initiative and had no contact with the PKK. "It is not important who organized it," says Tahir Elçi, a human-rights lawyer representing three of the charged students in Diyarbakir. "The right to petition the government is guaranteed by the Constitution."

Accusations of Terrorism

Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit set the tone of the response to the petition drive earlier this year when he denounced demands for Kurdish study at schools and universities as "aimed at dividing Turkey." He added, "We cannot accept it. It's impossible."

The authorities justify the crackdown on students by saying it is necessary to prevent moves toward a breakup of Turkey. A government-sponsored declaration that the rectors of all 77 public and private universities were required to sign in February claims the petitions represent a continuation of the PKK's rebellion by nonmilitary means. "The right of petition is being exploited as an insidious substitute for murder and terror," it says.

The declaration goes on to state that if students cannot be persuaded to withdraw their support for the petition, they will be considered "accomplices within our universities of the terrorist network."

Only a handful of faculty members have protested the policy. Those who have spoken out are generally academics with domestic or international reputations big enough to provide a degree of protection from dismissal or prosecution. Mehmet Altan, a professor of economics at Istanbul University and a frequent commentator on Turkish television, rejects the authorities' argument that repression is needed to keep Turkey from being torn apart. "It's just the opposite," he says.

"Only democracy can maintain the integrity of the country."

The decision to deal with the petition drive so harshly has disappointed those calling for conciliatory steps to end the threat of renewed fighting in the southeast. Human-rights activists, trade unionists, and other political moderates favor a more democratic and less militaristic approach to the Kurds. The Turkish government's harsh approach to the petitioners has also placed additional embarrassing obstacles in the way of its efforts to join the European Union.

Before the European Union will invite Turkey to join, it is demanding "respect and protection of minorities, including the right to have education and broadcasting in their own language," says Jean-Christophe Filori, the spokesman on enlargement issues for the European Commission, the executive body of the European Union. But Turkey has shown "no flexibility on the education issue," he says.

The European Union's 15 members have a checkered history of policies toward the languages of their own minority groups. Until a few decades ago, some countries -- France is a prime example -- were hostile toward minority languages and banned their use in public schools. But "in the last 20 years in Europe there has been a great flowering of support for minority languages," says Robert Dunbar, a lecturer in law at the University of Glasgow, in Scotland, and a specialist in language rights. French public schools in regions with minority populations now provide optional lessons in the local regional language, like Basque, Breton, or Corsican.

Banned Lessons

In Turkey, however, even private Kurdish lessons remain illegal. "Turkey appears to be the only European state which prohibits teaching in a minority language," says Mr. Dunbar. In February he took part in an eight-day fact-finding visit to Turkey organized by the Kurdish Human Rights Project, an independent, London-based group. The resulting report, which he co-wrote, is highly critical of Turkey's language policy.

No Turkish university has been allowed to teach or carry out research into Kurdish language, literature, or culture. The Kurdish Institute, a small independent research center established in Istanbul in 1992, is legal but is constantly harassed by the authorities. The police sealed the institute's offices for four months this year after prosecutors charged the institute's managers with the criminal offense of providing Kurdish-language lessons. A judge recently exonerated them.

Hasan Kaya, a former schoolteacher dismissed for promoting the Kurdish language, is chairman of the institute. He says "no Turkish academics are allowed to participate in Kurdish-language research, but a few foreign scholars come here regularly and quietly carry out their research."

Sefa Öztürk was suspended for three months from her studies at Yildiz Technical University, in Istanbul, for supporting the petition campaign.

University administrators informed her that she was being punished for "threatening the indivisible unity of the country," the reason given many of the other suspended students.

But unlike most of the other students who have been punished, Ms. Öztürk is an ethnic Turk. After she was charged with the criminal offense of supporting an illegal organization, her parents broke off relations with her. But Ms. Öztürk says she does not regret her actions.

"For me the idea that a person should have the right to an education in their mother tongue is fundamental," she says. "I did what was right, and my conscience is clear."

6. - AP - "No State for Iraqi Kurds, U.S. Aide Assures Turks":

ANKARA / 16 July 2002

Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz met with Turkish leaders today to gather support for possible military action against neighboring Iraq.

Wolfowitz met with Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit as well as Defense Minister Sabahattin Cakmakoglu, the chief of staff and other top military officials.

Wolfowitz sought to allay one of Turkey’s chief concerns about any attempt to overthrow Iraqi President Saddam Hussein -- that it would lead to the creation of a breakaway Kurdish state in northern Iraq. Turkey has fought for 15 years against Kurdish rebels within its borders and does not want the conflict to flare up again if Iraqi Kurds achieve statehood after Hussein’s fall.

"We’ve been very clear . . . expressing our firm opposition to a Kurdish state in northern Iraq," Wolfowitz said after talks with Ecevit.

Before his talks with Wolfowitz, Cakmakoglu said Turkey did not "at this moment" approve of any U.S. attack on Iraq. "We respect Iraq’s territorial integrity, political unity and sovereignty," state-run TRT television quoted Cakmakoglu as saying.

Support by Turkey, a member of NATO, would be crucial in any operation against Hussein. Turkey was a staging point for U.S. airstrikes on Iraq during the 1991 Persian Gulf War, and U.S. jets, deployed at a southern Turkish base, have been patrolling a "no-fly" zone over northern Iraq to protect Iraqi Kurds.

The visit coincided with a political crisis that has thrown Turkey’s leadership into question and could complicate any planning on Iraq. With coalition members squabbling, cabinet members quitting and dozens of lawmakers defecting, Ecevit and his allies agreed to hold new elections in November.