17 June 2002

1. "Opposition plays EU card to claim government", if three-way coalition government can achieve to pass the reforms, it may cause a change in their vote capacity that has been decreasing rapidly. Being aware of this fact, Yilmaz neglects inevitable snap polls.

2. "Turkey rejects extension of UN peacekeeping mandate on Cyprus", Turkey said on Saturday it rejected a UN Security Council resolution extending the mandate of peacekeepers on divided Cyprus on the grounds that it disregarded the breakaway Turkish state in the north of the Mediterranean island.

3. "EU at the heart of Turkish political life", 70 percent of Turkish people are supporting the ambition to become a member to the European Union, but MHP is playing to the remaining 30 percent of Turkish voters.

4. "Kurds prove wary allies of the US", they are expected to be the United States’ keen allies in any war against Saddam Hussein, but Iraqi Kurds distrust Washington as much as they distrust Baghdad.

5. "Iran press hails Sezer's visit, but warns of Turkey-Israel ties", Iran's press Monday welcomed the visit of Turkey's President Ahmet Necdet Sezer to Tehran as a "milestone" in ties, but warned that talks could be overshadowed by Ankara's cooperation with Israel.

6. "NGOs ask for the protection of natural and cultural heritage", civil society organizations continue working to prevent disappearance of cultural heritages under dam water. In the scope of this, Turkish Dams and Cultural Heritage Observation organized a panel, Friday, on dams and environment.

1. - Turkish Daily News - "Opposition plays EU card to claim government":

If three-way coalition government can achieve to pass the reforms, it may cause a change in their vote capacity that has been decreasing rapidly. Being aware of this fact, Yilmaz neglects inevitable snap polls

Ciller calculating to become Turkey's next prime minister, wants to become the person who would achieve Turkey's ambition to become the member of the EU. If she achieves her goals, she will make history

Erdogan shifts his previous manner to give full support to reforms without any condition, says the seats of ANAP and DSP will be enough to pass reforms, hinting he won't help the government to recover its unpopularity

ANKARA / 17 June / by Esra Erduran

Opposition parties who have been announcing that Turkey should achieve to pass reforms, crucial for Turkey's ambition to become a member to the European Union, clearly show that they do not want to let the current three-way coalition be the government to make history by opening Turkey's path to the EU.

If the three-way coalition government can achieve to pass the abolishment of the death penalty, Kurdish education and broadcasting, this would be its real and most valuable success. And maybe the only way to increase their rapidly decreasing vote capacity.

In the light of public opinion polls, none of the coalition parties, the Democratic Left Party (DSP), the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the Motherland Party (ANAP) would be able to pass the 10 percent national threshold necessary for a political party to enter Parliament, if elections were held today.

The 57th government of Turkey which came to power after the 1999 elections with the kick of the capture of Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), has to struggle against a number of serious problems.

But the economic crisis that emerged in February 2001 and the illness of the prime ministers were the biggest blows.

The government's failure to cure the crisis shortly, was the last straw that broke the camel's back in the eye of the public. And, recently, Turkish people and opposition parties are arguing the capability of Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit to administrate the country.

Ecevit was hospitalized twice in May and is still at his office in Oran resting. He and his partners claim they are in charge and the absence of Ecevit did not harm Turkey's important issues.

Being aware of the fact that his ANAP may not be able to enter Parliament in case of snap polls that would be held this year, Yilmaz neglects the inevitable snap polls.

Reiterating that elections are scheduled for April 2004 according to the Constitution, Yilmaz said over the weekend that his personal view was holding the elections in the fall of 2003, but his partners didn't hail this view.

"We have no intention of holding snap polls. When the time is up, we will discuss it," Yilmaz said.

Meanwhile, main opposition True Path Party (DYP) Tansu Ciller is the leader who is openly displaying her attitude about reforms and the EU. Ciller, who was Turkey's first female prime minister, is calculating that she will be the next prime minister of Turkey.

According to the public opinion polls, her party is the second or third most popular political party in Turkey in the eye of the electors after Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP).

Keeping judicial hardship ahead of Erdogan and believing that the secular establishment of Turkey would never let him become the prime minister of Turkey, Ciller is adamantly fighting in order to claim the end of the government.

She wants to become the person who would achieve Turkey's ambition to become the member of the EU. She was the prime minister who signed the Customs Union agreement, now she aims to become a part of history by opening Turkey's path to the EU by passing these reforms.

The EU is her most important card as the future of the government, as well as future success of parties forming the government depends on reforms.

Meanwhile, Erdogan shifted his previous manner to give full support to reforms without any condition, said that majority of ANAP and DSP in Parliament is enough for passing reforms, hinting he won't help the government to recover its unpopularity by passing the reforms.

Accusing the three-way coalition for not being insincere about the reforms, Erdogan repeats there is neither a government nor prime minister in Turkey. He is aware that the reforms are not crucial for Turkey's membership to the EU, but also crucial for the future of government that he challenges.

2. - AFP - "Turkey rejects extension of UN peacekeeping mandate on Cyprus":

ANKARA / 15 June 2002

Turkey said on Saturday it rejected a UN Security Council resolution extending the mandate of peacekeepers on divided Cyprus on the grounds that it disregarded the breakaway Turkish state in the north of the Mediterranean island.

"It is not possible for Turkey to accept the resolution, which does not take into account the political equality and equal status of the two sides on the island," the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement received on Saturday. "It has thus acted against the fact that there is no central authority based on the partnership of the two sides which represents the entire island," the foreign ministry said.

The Security Council acknowledged the internationally-recognised Greek Cypriot administration as the legitimate government of the island in a resolution it approved on Thursday, which extended the mandate of the peacekeeping force there until December 15. The ministry statement expressed support for Turkish Cypriots, who also rejected the UN resolution on the same grounds and said the UN decision would not facilitate ongoing peace talks between Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash and his Greek Cypriot counterpart Glafcos Clerides.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third in response to an Athens-engineered military coup aimed at uniting the island with Greece. Turkey is the only country which recognises the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), where it deploys thousands of troops.

3. - Turkish Daily News - "EU at the heart of Turkish political life":

70 percent of Turkish people are supporting the ambition to become a member to the European Union, but MHP is playing to the remaining 30 percent of Turkish voters

EU supporters would vote for political parties excluding the MHP. Meanwhile, the MHP is following a strategy in order to get the votes of non-EU bloc among Turkish people

EU is both the key and the deadlock of domestic political life. EU membership that locks the government, opposition and society, also can play the key role that will open the way for elections

MHP leader who believes that snap polls are inevitable, increased the dose of his strong reaction in an effort to get the vote of the anti-EU block. MHP with the intention of being able to enter the Parliament, is not considering collapsing from the government

ANKARA / 15 June 2002 / by Kemal Balci

Concern that Turkey which has been kept in the back yard of the European House, might not be let in even if it fulfills the political and economic criteria, is spreading in the country... While, 70 percent of Turkish society is supporting Turkey's membership to the European Union (EU), there is 30 percent that officials have turned deaf ear too, who are against the EU, and the background of this anti-EU circle is established on this concern.

One third of the society believes that if Turkey fulfills the political criteria and even if it presents Cyprus to Europe as a marriage gift, doors of Europe would never be open to Turkey. The only party that sneakily made the analysis of this concrete situation is the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). When a broad part of the society including its media, nongovernmental organizations, Islamists and liberal, the MHP keeps an eye on the remaining 30 percent of the society.

The MHP is aware that the current political structure cannot be changed due to the illness of Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit or just because business circles want it so. EU membership puts its stamp at the heart of Turkish political life, as it caused a deadlock in the political life, it may also become the key to open Turkey's path for the snap polls. At least, this is how the MHP thinks. At least, the actions of the MHP during the last couple of weeks reveal so.

All political parties are after the electors hailing Turkey's membership to the EU but the MHP with a clever maneuver, aims at collecting the anti-EU front which is approximately equal to 30 percent of Turkish people, under its umbrella. At least five political parties will battle in an effort to get the votes of 70 percent of EU supporters, MHP prepares to take a big piece of the cake on its own.

Sources close to the MHP claim that MHP leader Bahceli was calculating that Turkey will go for snap polls, until the beginning of this year and in this light, he has set a new strategy for this possible elections at the end of October. It is reported that the MHP, as a part of its election strategy, decided to use the reforms crucial for Turkey's membership to the EU, for their own benefits and aims at creating a balance in the government against its partner, Motherland Party (ANAP).

The MHP circles said that Bahceli has gradually increased its anti-EU statements within this framework and his moves and statements will get stronger approaching towards the polls.

MHP leader Bahceli is hoping that his strategy will allow his party to come as the first party from the ballot box if Turkey goes for snap polls and he already prepares himself for forming a MHP government in the aftermath of the elections. As a part of his goals, Bahceli will visit European countries as well as the United States in order to change his negative image and prejudice.

Meanwhile, it is stated that the MHP leader is giving vital importance to establish warm ties and close relations with the military as a part of his preparation for possible MHP government.

EU, heart of the darkness

While Bahceli is increasing the dose of his strong criticism against the EU but he is also careful not to cause the end of the government. The MHP leader's move is commented as a part of his intention to enter the polls as a member of the coalition government. In this light, Bahceli has no intention to step down as deputy prime minister unless all reforms needed for Turkey's membership to the EU, are asked to be amended altogether at once.

Bahceli openly declared that taking a joint step about for abolishing the death sentence, broadcasting and education in mother-tongue and the Cyprus issues -- as he named as the four conditions -- would mean a new government and they will not be a part of such a government. But it is claimed that if these reforms are passed separately not as a whole, he might soften his tone in order not to harm the harmony of the government.

In this light, it is claimed that Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit will use the opportunity to bring these issues separately to the agenda of Parliament instead of bringing as a whole in order to soften the MHP's strong manner. In line with this intention, Ecevit is seeking the support of other parties in order to abolish the capital sentence and legislate life imprisonment instead.

The Democratic Left Party (DSP) deputies have started establishing contacts with the opposition party lawmakers within this framework. If they can achieve to get the support of opposition parties, then the DSP will ask the Parliament Speaker's Office to bring the draft law for the lifting of the death sentence to the agenda of Parliament and pass it despite the opposition of the MHP with the support of other parties having seats in Parliament.

MHP prominent names are seeing the fact that the life span of the coalition government has ended and snap polls are inevitable. But their move to embrace anti-EU policies as an election tool is not praised by business circles and media under the direction of these circles. As a response to their calls to form a new government excluding the MHP, the party proposes "snap polls" as a threat. Business circles oppose snap polls with the fear that it may give dangerous results while Turkey is still suffering from the effects of economic crisis.

MHP circles are aware that Turkey's EU-membership adventure will continue after the polls. Circles close to MHP believes that if Turkey fulfills all political and economic criteria and even if it gives up Cyprus totally, Turkey's membership to the EU won't be a piece of cake. Their claim is EU membership will be stuck to "culture" problem in any case. These circles viewing "culture" as "the sum of everything that a society should not give up" claim that the religion difference between Turkey and the EU will surface anyhow. They are pointing out that the harmony in the political and economic structures which are known as the variable elements of culture, won't be enough while they underline the impossibility of harmony on the unchangeable axis of the culture which is religion.

Meanwhile, almost in every European country, right-conservative and Christian parties are either in power or giving signals that they will come to power. MHP circles believe that this is the indicator of an intention not to allow a country with a Muslim identity to the EU house. MHP's new move to follow anti-EU policy gets its power from this expectation. MHP administration believes that time will justify their moves as they expect that culture problems will fuel up in the future.

EU, maybe due to this cultural difference, is viewed as the "heart of darkness." Even if all the obstacles on the path to this heart, the MHP believes that the EU will not show warm hospitality to Turkey when it is let into the house.

To be realistic, Turkey with its allies and foes are already in the orbit of the EU. For those who will claim the end of the government as well as those who will form the new government, the EU will be at the center of this orbit. At least, this situation will maintain until the second Copenhagen submit. After the first Copenhagen summit, Turkey was allowed to knock on the door of the EU, in the second summit, it will try to set a negotiation schedule.

In their last mass travel to Copenhagen, Turks returned home with a UEFA cup. Now, they are asking, will they bring something on the return home, this time?

4. - The Scotsman - "Kurds prove wary allies of the US":

ERBIL / 16 June/ by Joshua Kucera

THEY are expected to be the United States’ keen allies in any war against Saddam Hussein, but Iraqi Kurds distrust Washington as much as they distrust Baghdad.

Since the 1990 Gulf War, the Kurds have created their own state within Iraq. It looks like any other area of the Middle East replete with internet cafés and ersatz McDonald’s restaurants and a better standard of living than the rest of Iraq.

While the independence of ‘Kurdistan’ is only possible because of the US and UK enforced United Nations no-fly zones, Kurdish politicians are wary of the US’s exhortations to take on Saddam after support was withdrawn for uprisings in 1991 and 1996.

A US attack on Iraq appears to have been postponed but few doubt that it will happen within a year. Kurdistan is seen as a likely ally and staging ground for military action .

But despite pro-western leanings and a deep hatred for Saddam Hussein - in the 1980s and 1990s his forces destroyed 4,500 Kurdish villages - the Kurds refuse to be the foot soldiers of the US.

"We are not going to be the initiator of any military action," said Sami Abdul-Rahman, the deputy prime minister of the Kurdistan regional government. "But if a military conflict takes place, we’ll behave in the best interests of the Kurdish people and Iraqi people."

Specifically, Kurds want to make sure that Hussein’s successors don’t remove Kurdistan’s autonomy. "The status quo is the best thing our people have had in their recent history and it would be good if it continued," Abdul-Rahman said.

However the United States and the international community will not be interested in dismembering Iraq, which the Kurds would want to secure a sovereign Kurdistan.

After the Gulf War, an uprising by Kurds in northern Iraq was brutally repressed, leading the US and Britain to impose a "no-fly zone" protecting three Kurdish provinces.

In that vacuum, Kurds established a parliament and government structures despite of infighting among rival factions, the Kurdistan Democratic Party and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan which left about 1,000 dead. The two sides agreed to share power in 1998.

Kurdistan has its own police, army and tax administration. The currency is the old Iraqi dinar - the ones without Hussein’s face on the front.

Kurdistan is subject to the same embargo as the rest of Iraq, and industry has been crippled as a result. The state-owned bottled water factory was closed for two years because of a lack of filters, eventually procured by smugglers, said the PUK’s director of incomes, Osman Shwani.

But it gets a more-than-proportional share of funds from the UN oil-for-food program, Iraq’s best smuggling routes to Turkey pass through here and it has Iraq’s best agricultural land. So salaries here are much better than in Baghdad - $50 a month for an ordinary worker, compared to about $3 in Baghdad.

"All of the neighbouring countries wanted our democratic experiment to fail. The only thing supporting us was the no-fly zone. But since the oil-for-food program was implemented, our people have been able to improve their situation," Shwani said.

Wasfi Barzanjy, who owns a computer shop in the capital Erbil, is expanding his business because there is more money in the local economy, but the talk of war worries him . "People are afraid of what will happen in the future," he said.

The comparison between the Kurds and the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan is superficial. The Kurdish troops, called peshmerga, are ill-equipped and Iraqi forces are much stronger than the Taliban.

Moreover the Kurdish forces are not under a single command, but are loyal to rival factions.

Kurdistan may be more useful as a staging ground. Locals report that US and UK troops have already started installing communications equipment in the Sulaimaniya province.

US military officials in Turkey, where the planes patrolling the no-fly zone are based, say Iraqi air defences have been more aggressive in recent months but Kurdish officials say ground forces appear more interested in defence since talk of war began.

"So far they’re trying to protect themselves," said interior minister Karim Sinjary.

The US squandered some of the trust of Iraqi Kurds by abandoning the uprisings of 1991 and 1996. "Broken promises cannot be forgotten," deputy prime minister Abdul-Rahman said. "Still, the situation we’re in is largely thanks to the US."

Ordinary people echo the sentiment. "If nothing like in ’91 or ’96 happens then we’ll help [a US attack]," said Jamal, a retired bazaar salesman . "But if it’s like then, we don’t want the US anywhere near here."

5. - AFP - "Iran press hails Sezer's visit, but warns of Turkey-Israel ties":

TEHRAN / 17 June 2002

Iran's press Monday welcomed the visit of Turkey's President Ahmet Necdet Sezer to Tehran as a "milestone" in ties, but warned that talks could be overshadowed by Ankara's cooperation with Israel. The two-day visit by Sezer, scheduled to arrive in Tehran later Monday at the head of a 120-man strong economic delegation, comes as a fresh sign of improvement in the ties between strictly secular Turkey and the hardline Islamic regime in Iran, which have often been at loggerheads.

Sezer's trip should "undoubtedly be viewed as another milestone in Tehran-Ankara relations," said the conservative Kayhan International in an editorial Monday, adding that the visit "promises to be a new opening in bilateral economic ties." But the daily also voiced Iran's "firm opposition to the use of Turkish soil or airspace by the Americans to launch an attack on Iraq," adding: "We wish to draw the attention of our honoured guest towards the US schemes of increasing Zionist influence in Turkey."

It is "rather unnatural for a great Muslim nation, such as the Turks, to allow Israeli terrorists to establish a foothold in Anatolia," the paper said, and called for the two countries to "coordinate on a common strategy for Palestine." The reformist Iran News paper for its part said "Iranian public opinion is of the view that Turkish foreign policy is increasingly influenced and dependent on Western powers."

"Turkey's extensive cooperation with Israel on security issues such as joint military exercises and manoeuvers is one of the major stumbling blocks in bilateral Tehran-Ankara ties," it said. "The prevailing anger within the Islamic world against the brutal policies of Israel is sure to overshadow and negatively affect the talks with the Turkish president," Iran News warned, but said that if "constructive" efforts are made, ties could "become largely immune from interference and sabotage by foreign powers." Sezer, who is on his first visit to the Islamic republic since his election, is scheduled to hold talks with Iranian counterpart Mohammad Khatami on bilateral as well as regional and international issues," a statement from Sezer's office said last week.

In his talks with Khatami, Sezer will also explore economic oportunities that would compensate for an imbalance of about 500 million dollars in favor of Iran in bilateral trade, according to a Turkish official. On Tuesday Sezer will make a groundbreaking visit to Tabriz, the capital of Iran's Azerbaijan province, whose mainly Azeri population is of Turkic origin and speaks a related language. Though relations between Ankara and Tehran have visibly improved in recent years, snags remain.

Turkey, whose main regional ally Israel is an arch-foe to Iran, is worried over Tehran's missile-development programs. Turkish judicial officials dealing with suspected Islamist radicals have repeatedly accused Iran of training and aiding Islamic movements in neighboring countries, including Turkey, in a bid to "export the Islamic revolution."

Ankara has also long accused the Islamic regime in Tehran of supporting radical Islamist groups in Turkey and separatist Kurdish rebels. Iran, for its part, has claimed that Turkey is sheltering members of Iran's main armed opposition, the People's Mujahedin. It has also denounced Turkish-Israeli military cooperation.

But officials from the two countries have recently said that bilateral relations are improving. Last year, Turkish exports to Iran amounted to some 350 million dollars, while imports from Iran reached 840 million dollars, boosted by the inauguration of a gas pipeline from Iran to Turkey in December.

6. - Turkish Daily News - "NGOs ask for the protection of natural and cultural heritage":

ISTANBUL / 17 June 2002

Civil society organizations continue working to prevent disappearance of cultural heritages under dam water. In the scope of this, Turkish Dams and Cultural Heritage Observation organized a panel, Friday, on dams and environment.

In the panel, during which it was considered what could be done to construct a dam without damaging environment and cultural heritage, was attended by faculty members and representatives of various business chambers.

Making an opening speech, Turkish Dams and Cultural Heritage Observation founder member Murat Cano called attention to the protection of natural beings and archaeological arts, while investing on energy production. Cano, who stated that state institutes should commonly work with civil society organizations for the protection of natural beings and archaeological arts, said the following:

"If this relationship is established, we can save archaeological settlements which remained under dam water. We also prevent waste of our agricultural areas and so possible immigrations. By true use of our water sources, we can prevent them to be a danger for the environment in the near future."

Noting that environment protection was one of the basic problems of the century, Cano said that the future of the environment depended on current working.