22 July 2002

1. "Turkey's Ecevit warns Islamists, Kurds pose "very serious" problem", embattled Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit, facing early elections, warned Sunday that Islamist and pro-Kurdish political forces pose a "very serious" problem to the officially secular country.

2. "Turkey Warns of Lengthy Iraq War", Turkey's embattled prime minister on Sunday warned the United States risked becoming bogged down in a long war if it moves ahead with plans to topple Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. (...) Turkish officials have also repeatedly said they fear that a war in Iraq would encourage Kurds in northern Iraq to create an independent state, which could in turn, encourage Turkey's own Kurdish population to do the same. Kurdish rebels fought Turkish troops for autonomy for 15 years, in a struggle that has cost an estimated 37,000 lives. ``There is a de facto Kurdish state in northern Iraq, we cannot allow this go any further,'' Ecevit said.

3. "IHD: Mysterious murders expected to be disclosed", over the last 14 years, 1,441 people have been victims of mysterious murders and summary executions in Diyarbakir and its environs, according to Human Rights Association (IHD) Diyarbakir Branch Chairman Osman Baydemir.

4. "Our target is power", HADEP provincial chairmen stated that in spite of certain problems they had enough preparations to come to power at the early election. The chairmen stressed on the necessity of a just elections system.

5. "Turk publisher charged over American's book on Kurds", as a Turkish publisher of Kurdish extraction, Abdullah Keskin is all too aware of the perils of putting out books suggesting that Turkish Kurdistan is a separate nation. On five occasions in 1999 and twice in 2001, he faced criminal charges in Turkey for publishing historical and academic books that touched on the Kurds' struggle to maintain their identity, language and traditions.

6. "Europe is good for Greece and Turkey", one of the great assets of European unification is that its virtues are contagious. This is evident in the case of Greece. A few years ago, it was hard to find anyone in Brussels with a good word to say for Greece as EU member.

1. - AFP - "Turkey's Ecevit warns Islamists, Kurds pose "very serious" problem":

ANKARA / 21 July 21

Embattled Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit, facing early elections, warned Sunday that Islamist and pro-Kurdish political forces pose a "very serious" problem to the officially secular country. Ecevit, who is trying to delay early elections called after his majority in parliament collapsed, said the two movements could do well at the polls and that such a result would endanger the nation.

"The Turkish system may face very serious problems," the prime minister told TRT state televison. Ecevit was referring to the opposition Justice and Development Party (AK), a rising political force which opinion polls last week said would come in first if elections were held now.

The polls also showed the pro-Kurdish People's Democracy Party (HADEP), which the government claims is linked to Kurdish rebels who waged a 15-year armed campaign for self-rule, would get enough votes to enter the parliament.

Turkey is overwhelmingly Muslim but officially secular, and the army has in the past intervened to nudge Islamic parties out of office and clamp down on Muslim political movements.

2. - AP - "Turkey Warns of Lengthy Iraq War":

ANKARA / 21 July 2002

Turkey's embattled prime minister on Sunday warned the United States risked becoming bogged down in a long war if it moves ahead with plans to topple Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

``Iraq is ... so developed technologically and economically despite the embargo, that it cannot be compared to Afghanistan or Vietnam,'' Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said in an interview on state-run television.

``It will not be possible for the (United States) to get out of there easily,'' Ecevit said after a recent visit to the crucial NATO-member country on Iraq's northern border by Deputy Defense Minister Paul Wolfowitz. The Pentagon No. 2 was in Turkey to lobby for it's assistance in any U.S. move against Saddam.

Ecevit said he did not know when the action might occur or what shape it might take. President Bush has said U.S. policy demand's the Iraqi leader's ouster.

He said the United States should consider measures other than a military action in Iraq, but did not elaborate.

``There are other measures to deter the Iraqi regime of being a threat to the region,'' he said.

Turkish leaders, grappling with political uncertainty and looming early elections, are reluctant to back any U.S. action they fear could hamper the country's economic development and lead to the creation of an independent Kurdish state in northern Iraq.

Turkey has long complained that it has lost some $40 billion in trade with Iraq since the 1991 Gulf War and U.N. embargo.

Turkish officials have also repeatedly said they fear that a war in Iraq would encourage Kurds in northern Iraq to create an independent state, which could in turn, encourage Turkey's own Kurdish population to do the same. Kurdish rebels fought Turkish troops for autonomy for 15 years, in a struggle that has cost an estimated 37,000 lives.

``There is a de facto Kurdish state in northern Iraq, we cannot allow this go any further,'' Ecevit said.

``President Bush is a friend of Turkey. We do not want to hurt his feelings, but it is our duty to let them know our concerns,'' he said.

Turkish backing is seen as crucial to any action against Iraq. The country was a launching pad for U.S. strikes against Iraq during the Gulf War and still hosts some 50 U.S. warplanes enforcing a no-fly zone over northern Iraq.

Turkey is also in desperate need of foreign loans to recover from a deep financial crisis and many believe that the country has little choice but to agree to U.S. action.

After the Wolfowitz visit Turkish officials suggested Turkey, NATO's only predominantly Muslim member, would go along provided the United States forgave big outstanding military debts and guaranteed there would be no Kurdish state in what is now northern Iraq.

3. - Turkish Daily News - "IHD: Mysterious murders expected to be disclosed":

IZMIR / 20 July 2002

Over the last 14 years, 1,441 people have been victims of mysterious murders and summary executions in Diyarbakir and its environs, according to Human Rights Association (IHD) Diyarbakir Branch Chairman Osman Baydemir.

Speaking to the Turkish Daily News, Baydemir, who is also assistant chairman of IHD Turkey, stressed that the state is responsible for protecting every citizen's right to live. However, said Baydemir, in Turkey, "the contrary has been experienced."

According to Baydemir, "62 people in 1982-91; 119 in 1992; 193 in 1993; 241 in 1994; 104 in 1995; 219 in 1996; 107 in 1997; 78 in 1998; 209 in 1999; 55 in 2000; 68 in 2001 and 13 in 2002 were victims of mysterious murders and summary executions.

"After 1999, as a result of the operations conducted against the radical Islamist organization Hizbollah, it was discovered that this group had carried out some of these murders. However, when they appeared in court, the Hizbollah militants rejected the recorded statements they had made at the police station.

"In total, 30 percent of the unknown murders were disclosed, said Baydemir, who claimed that organizations within the State structure bore some of the responsibility. "There were some records belonging to the captured militants stressing that they had committed some murders for the State. However, these records were erased, and it is impossible to find anything indicating these relations with the State.

"Discussions have looked at how the murders were committed and at some of the inconclusive investigations. Despite the Susurluk case's establishment that there were organizations within the structure of the State, the reports of the investigating commissions were left on the shelf to collect dust."

Pointing out that some murders were being treated as confidential, Baydemir said: "We expect respect for people's right to live. We call on the authorities to shed light on these murders and punish the murderers."

4. - Kurdish Observer - "Our target is power":

HADEP provincial chairmen stated that in spite of certain problems they had enough preparations to come to power at the early election. The chairmen stressed on the necessity of a just elections system.

19 July 2002 / Meral Akyol

HADEP provincial chairmen expressed their views on their level of organization, their relations with non-governmental organizations and local platforms and just elections.

"Our organizational structure ist strong"

HADEP Diyarbakir Provincial Chairman Ali Urkut: If we cannot succeed an alliance, we consider to enter into the election on our own. We do not promise anything on the eve of the election like any other parties. Diyarbakir is ready for the elections more than everyone, our organizational structure is strong. Diyarbakir has 14 districts and we are in power in 13 of them. Only in Cungus the organization is not strong, its structure being rather diffrenet. We have organizations in communities and villages, there are village commissions. We are dominant in Diyarbakir. HADEP is a candidate to the power just as to local authorities. In Diyarbakir there is a Democracy Platform consisting of non-governmental organizations. We have contacts with it and other organizations. HADEP's program is clear. I think that non-governmental organizations will participate in the elections as a whole and play an active role. HADEP does not worry about not being represented in the parliament. It is enough that there is a partial democratic climate and Turkey and we are granted a right to make propaganda freely.

"HADEP will find a way"

HADEP Adana Provincial Chairman O. Fatih Sanli: There are more than a million voters in Adana. There are three districts with 800,000 voters: Seyhan, Yuregir and Ceyhan. %85 of the voters live there and we are very organized in these three districts. We can win the elections. I believe that HADEP will be represented in the parliament. It will find a way for it. Members of the social democratic parties want to make an alliance with HADEP. But we have a deficiency of not having a proper program and projects. On the other hand the election is under the control of the state, that is repression and unlawful actions are two key words. People and forces of democracy should control the elections. In case that we are excluded, there will be no other way other than to intervene in.

"Election was not just"

Ankara Provincial Chairman Safiye Akalin: We have 9 district organizations: Haymana, Dolapli, Ayas, Cankaya, Altindag, Yenimahalle, Kecioren, yurtbeyli, Acikhisar and Yenice. We are working hard for the elections. We should improve the level of organization. I believe that Kurds will be represented in the parliament. Not only Kurds but Turks too debate on the necessity of a HADEP represented in the parliament. We try to increase our contacts with non-governmental organizations. The old elections were not just. Especially laws on political parties and election and certain articles of the constitution should be amended. We struggle for them. In a just elections nobody will be able to prevent HADEP.

"We are making discussions continously"

Istanbul Provincial Chairman Dogan Erbas: In Istanbul there are 32 districts and we are organized in 28 of them. We have not any organizations in Adalar, Besiktas, Sisli and Catalca but our efforts continue. Our level of organization is not enough for the elections and we are discussing the matter continuously. We have good relations with non-governmental organizations and local platforms. We believe that the Kurdish will will be represented in the parliament for the conditions are ripe for it. Objective conditions have ripen within the last year.

Need for a just election

Malatya Provincial Chairman Onder Sahiner: We are organized in districts Battalgazi, Dogansehir and Yazihan and we are trying to be organized in three other districts. We believe that the Kurdish will will be represented in the parliament in the elections but I do not believe that although State of Emergency Rule (OHAL) has been lifted there will be a just election. In order to guarantee a just election we set our members and sympathizers into action.

"We are ready for the elections"

Mersin Provincial Chairman Muzaffer Akad: We have organizations in the main district with its 4 communities, in Tarsus and 3 other districts and 5 communities including Silifke. Women's and Youth Wings continue their activities. And our biggest chance in Mersin is that the consciousness level of the people are increasing. It is a big advantage for us that our congresses corresponded to the elections process. Mersin is a city where we have succeed to come to power in local institutions. The polls shows that there will be at least two or three deputies from HADEP in Mersin.

For a just election there are conditions: 1- lifting of the quota system in the elections; 2- The laws on elections should be amended according to the democratic standards; 3- Repression on HADEP and other organizations and parties should be put an end; 4- Registers should be actualised and everybody should be allowed to vote. Kurds have been forced to evict their villages and gone to cities. Overwhelming majority of them are not registered. This is one of the most important reasons as to why HADEP has not realize its own potential at polls; 5- Alliances should be allowed legally; and 6- Nobody should be put under pressure about his/her choice, votes should not be set on fire and thrown to garbage dumps.

5. - The International Herald Tribune - "Turk publisher charged over American's book on Kurds":

PARIS / 22 July 2002 / by Alan Riding

As a Turkish publisher of Kurdish extraction, Abdullah Keskin is all too aware of the perils of putting out books suggesting that Turkish Kurdistan is a separate nation.

On five occasions in 1999 and twice in 2001, he faced criminal charges in Turkey for publishing historical and academic books that touched on the Kurds' struggle to maintain their identity, language and traditions.

Still, despite these precedents, Keskin, 32, did not expect trouble last January when he published a Turkish-language translation of "After Such Knowledge, What Forgiveness? My Encounters with Kurdistan" by Jonathan Randal, a former Washington Post reporter with long experience in the Middle East who now lives in Paris.

"Randal's book is not focused on Turkey," Keskin said on a visit to Paris. "He is very critical of Kurdish organizations, and he is not especially critical of the Turkish authorities. In fact, in a preface for the Turkish edition, he says that Turkey is where there is most hope for the Kurds."

Yet within days of its publication, Randal's book was banned in Turkey, and Keskin was charged by the State Security Court in Istanbul with spreading separatist propaganda. If convicted, he faces up to three years in prison or a $2,500 fine.

The accusation refers specifically to pages in Randal's book where the words "Turkish Kurdistan" appear. It concludes, "This book taken as a whole constitutes separatist propaganda by evoking a distinct Kurdish nation and a state of Kurdistan within the territory of the Republic of Turkey, by mentioning provinces and districts within the territory of the state of the Republic of Turkey, and by in a certain way drawing a map of Kurdistan."

In the past, publishers and writers have occasionally been jailed in Turkey on charges related to so-called Kurdish separatism. Several Turkish publishers are on trial for publishing books openly promoting the Kurdish cause. These cases have been cited by human rights groups in arguing that Turkey's application to join the European Union should not be accepted until the country guarantees freedom of expression.

The case against Keskin, however, has drawn particular attention abroad not only because it involves a book by an American author, but also because Keskin's publishing house, Avesta, has earned a reputation for seriousness.

"Some publishers were very politicized, others purely commercial," Keskin recalled of his decision to found his own publishing house. "I wanted to place Avesta somewhere between the two. Also, there were few outlets for Kurdish literature. But we are not a political publisher. I have no links to any Kurdish political organization."

For the first hearing of the case against Keskin in April, Randal traveled to Istanbul and volunteered to testify on Keskin's behalf. The offer by Randal was rejected by the court.

Keskin, who is scheduled to appear before the State Security Court again July 31, said it was difficult to predict the outcome.

"It all depends on the political mood of the moment," he said. "The same book three months earlier or three months later can produce a different outcome. Since the author has not been charged, it is hard to convict the publisher. I have no interest in provocation. My only aim is to inform the Turkish and Kurdish people to enable them to participate in a pluralistic debate."

6. - The International Herald Tribune - "Europe is good for Greece and Turkey":

ATHENS / 22 July 2002 / by William Pfaff

One of the great assets of European unification is that its virtues are contagious. This is evident in the case of Greece. A few years ago, it was hard to find anyone in Brussels with a good word to say for Greece as EU member.

The country entered the European Union in 1981, following its return to democracy after the military regime installed by coup d'état in 1967. France argued that a "Europe" without Greece was nonsensical, and that EU membership would strengthen democracy.

The Greeks, however, afterward seemed to many of their fellow Europeans ungrateful, erratic and grasping. One heard Greece's admission called "the worst mistake the EU ever made."

That opinion has changed. The current government has worked imaginatively to remove the inherited, as well as gratuitous, irritants in its relations with other Europeans and with neighbor Turkey - a candidate for EU membership five times more populous than Greece, Greece's ruler from the 15th to the 19th century and its hereditary enemy since.

An associate of Foreign Minister George Papandreou has remarked that there are historic moments to seize, and one of them arrived when a devastating earthquake in Turkey inspired Papandreou and Prime Minister Costas Simitis to dispatch Greek fire department and emergency crews to Turkey to help in the relief work.

That was a considerable gamble with Greek public opinion. However, "there are situations when you are living in a closed and stifling room, and then you throw open the windows and everything suddenly changes - light and fresh air flood in." It happened like that. The Turkish foreign minister visited Greece, and in another crucial gesture Papandreou, following Balkan custom, initiated a dance with him. Since then relations between the two governments have steadily warmed.

Kemal Dervis, Turkey's economy minister and a rising political star, was in Greece at a Papandreou-sponsored seminar last week when a government crisis in Istanbul provoked his abrupt return home.

Dervis, an independent and a former World Bank official, has joined several other modernizers in forming a new party to lead Turkey into the EU, a program fraught with difficulties but which would gain greatly from Greece's support. Dervis promises to keep on course an economic reform effort backed by IMF loans.

Turkey's difficult political and religious relations with mainland Europeans have kept it at Europe's ambiguous edge ever since World War II. It was itself a European power until World War I, when it lost what remained of the Ottoman Empire's former Central and Southeast European possessions.

International recognition of the republic created by Kemal Ataturk confirmed the country's new identity as an independent secular state with republican institutions, but one in which the army considered itself guardian of those institutions. The political role of the army has been one of the two major obstacles to Turkey's European Union ambitions. The other is religion. European intellectual rectitude demands multiculturalism, but there nonetheless is reluctance to admit into the EU an Islamic country where Islamic fundamentalism is influential. These are not trivial problems. Five years ago an Islamist government in Turkey was forced out by indirect military intervention. Polls currently suggest that the Islamist party will do well in new elections. However, the political scene in November will not be what it was before.

An American banker who has been working in the region for the last decade with both international and private institutions emphasizes how important the practical and financial consequences of Greece's EU membership have been in widening and "Europeanizing" Greece's intellectual and political horizons.

All of the Balkan states have suffered a certain political paranoia as a result of their long subordination to Ottoman control and their difficulties since independence.

Incorporation into the European Union threw windows open for the Greeks, who now identify themselves in a new fashion. They are open to Europe, with a new confidence about their international role. Athens is rebuilding for the centenary of the modern Olympics. The embattled nationalism of the past has weakened. There is a new tolerance for old enemies.

The new spirit now is at work in Turkey. The Cyprus issue nonetheless is unresolved, as is Turkey's economic crisis. War against Iraq would have serious consequences for Turkey, and for U.S. relations with the EU. But despite all, the outlook for Greece and Turkey is better than it has ever been.