03 May 2002

1. "Kurds, Basques added to EU terrorist list", the European Union is updating its black list of terrorist organizations to include 11 groups and seven individuals targeted by Turkey and Spain, EU officials said Thursday.

2. "EU Puts Kurdish PKK, Iran Rebels on 'Terror' List", Kurdish separatist rebels in Turkey and Iraq-based guerrillas fighting the Iranian government have been added to the European Union's list of banned "terrorist" groups, EU diplomats said on Thursday.

3. "Turkey's EU membership is not on the agenda", for the second time since U.S. President George W. Bush has been in power the U.S. - EU summit takes place

4. "Turkish government moves bill to allow Internet censorship", Turkey's rising number of Internet users fear a bill submitted for debate in parliament Thursday will bring the online media under the grip of tight controls are already applied to Turkey's press.

5. "Yilmaz warns Turkey running out of time on EU membership", Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz warned Friday that the government was running out of time to carry out reforms needed to join the European Union.

6. "Suspected extremist shedding light on unsolved killings", he testimony of a suspected member of an exterme Islamic organization has shed light on no less than 99 murders committed by the group in southeastern Turkey, police and court sources said on Thursday.

1. - AFP - "Kurds, Basques added to EU terrorist list":

BRUSSELS / 2 May

The European Union is updating its black list of terrorist organizations to include 11 groups and seven individuals targeted by Turkey and Spain, EU officials said Thursday. The new list, to be formally released at midnight (2200 GMT) Thursday, includes the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the Revolutionary People's Liberation Front-Party (DHKP-C) in Turkey, the officials said.

It also includes seven individuals, most of whom are members of the militant Basque separatist group ETA blamed for a string of killings in Spain in the name of an independent Basque homeland. At the request of the Spanish government, the list also includes Aska Tasuna, successor to the Basque prisoners support group Gestoras Pro Amistia. Not on the list, despite requests from some EU member states, are the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the officials said.

News of the publication of revised list in the EU's Official Journal coincided with a semi-annual summit between EU and US leaders in Washington, at which the fight against global terrorism was high on the agenda. Under EU's common position on combating terrorism, all EU member states are bound to freeze the assets of individuals and groups whose names appear on the black list. They must also give each other "the widest possible assistance" to police investigations and legal proceedings involving those named on the list, which is subject to review at six-month intervals. The very first EU list of "persons, groups and entities involved in terrorist acts" was issued in October last year, in the aftermath of the
September 11 attacks in the United States.

It notably included 27 persons and groups linked by the United States to Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda network -- held responsible by Washington for hitting the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. It was expanded on December 28 by the EU Council of Ministers to include ETA, left-wing Greek extremists and both Catholic and Protestant militants in
Northern Ireland including the Real IRA. Spain, which holds the rotating EU presidency through June, hailed the inclusion of the ETA members, but the Turkish government was disappointed that the PKK had been omitted despite persistent requests to Brussels.


2. - Reuters - "EU Puts Kurdish PKK, Iran Rebels on 'Terror' List":

By Marie-Louise Moller

02 May 2002 / BRUSSELS

Kurdish separatist rebels in Turkey and Iraq-based guerrillas fighting the Iranian government have been added to the European Union's list of banned "terrorist" groups, EU diplomats said on Thursday.

An EU statement confirmed that the list of "persons, groups and entities involved in terrorist acts" whose assets are to be frozen under United Nations (news - web sites) rules had been extended, but it did not specifically identify the movements added.

The diplomats said 11 groups and seven individuals had been added to the list, notably the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the Iranian People's Mujahideen Organization.

The EU move was a significant gesture toward NATO (news - web sites) ally Turkey, a candidate for EU membership, and Iran, with which Brussels is developing closer ties despite U.S. misgivings.

Other groups added were a Turkish leftist urban guerrilla group, the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party (DHKP/C), Aska Tasuna, a Spanish Basque separatist group less well-known than ETA, and Shining Path, the Peruvian leftist group.

Three groups operating in India, including Kashmiri militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, were also included in the list, part of the EU's efforts to combat terrorism after the September 11 attacks on the United States.

So were the Japanese doomsday sect Aum Shinrikyo, Colombian rightist militia United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) and al-Gama'a al-Islamia (Islamic Group), Egypt's largest Islamic militant group.

The seven individuals added were all linked to ETA, the main Spanish Basque separatist group, diplomats said.

The full list will be published in the EU's official journal on Friday. The delay in announcing the names was meant to prevent organizations added to the blacklist from moving their assets before they could be frozen.

WARNING FROM PKK

Diplomats said the "terrorist" designation would not cover the National Council of Resistance of Iran, the political arm of the People's Mujahideen headed by the wife of guerrilla leader Masoud Rajavi. The NCR has its headquarters near Paris.

The list omitted the radical Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a Damascus-based Marxist organization whose members are actively engaged in the armed uprising against Israeli occupation. Diplomats said the EU had considered including the PFLP, but there was no consensus.

Leaders of the PKK, left off the first EU list drafted last December, have warned the Europeans against the ban, saying it could spark outrage among the many Kurdish immigrants living in the 15-nation bloc.

The PKK has battled the army in southeast Turkey since 1984 in a conflict in which more than 30,000 people have died.

But it called off the armed campaign after the 1999 arrest of its leader Abdullah Ocalan, who is in prison in Turkey awaiting the outcome of an appeal against the death sentence.

The PKK decided this month to change its name to the Kurdistan Freedom and Democracy Congress, according to the Mezopotamya News Agency, close to the movement. Turkey says it continues to regard the group as "terrorist."

Kurdish rebels said the move would drive the guerrillas back to the battlefield and discourage dialogue.

"We are here for peace, but if our freedom is taken from us we are here for the most horrendous resistance. Everyone should be ready for this," Mezopotamya quoted a senior PKK guerrilla leader as telling a Europe-based Kurdish satellite channel.

Last month the PKK, which has fought for Kurdish self-rule in southeastern Turkey for 15 years, relaunched itself as the Congress for Freedom and Democracy in Kurdistan (KADEK). But Turkey, a candidate for EU membership, dismissed the move as a ploy and said its armed forces would continue to target PKK members despite the group's two-year-old ceasefire. Osman Ocalan, a senior PKK commander, said Monday that if the "Kurdish liberation movement" was added to the EU list, the result would be "a new process of war."

The far-left DHKP-C has been linked to a number of attacks of Turkish government officials which left about a dozen people dead during the 1990s.

3. - Turkish Daily News - "Turkey's EU membership is not on the agenda":

03 May 2002 / ANKARA

For the second time since U.S. President George W. Bush has been in power the U.S. - EU summit takes place.

An American source who answered Anatolian Agency's questions said "We discuss Turkey's membership to EU with European colleagues, but this subject is not an issue which will come up during this summit."

The source, who reluctantly answered questions from the Minister of State responsible for the economy Kemal Dervis's requested to clarify a date on the Turkey - EU membership negotiations, said "We always supported Turkey." The source continued "We encouraged the custom union, and we appreciate it. This issue is basically between Turkey and the EU. We support Turkey to improve relations with the EU. Not only economy issues but there is Afghanistan as well".

According to some observers in Washington, Bush prefers Turkey to stay as a close ally of the United States, on the contrary of the Clinton administration which supported Turkey's EU membership. Dervis who spoke at a conference at the Washington Institute said "Some intellectuals consider Turkey's place at the side of the United States and claims that Turkey can not become an EU member. Turkey and United States are natural allies. The U.S. and EU are not an alternative to each other. Turkey's future is in EU." Prior to Dervis, Richard Perle, advisor of ministry of Defence at the Pentagon said in a conference held by the American Turkish Council in Washington in March "I don't believe that Turkey will become a member of the EU. The EU is a Christian club. Turkey - U.S. relations should be improved including free trade agreement."

Sources in Washington claim that Turkey's membership to the EU shall not be supported, since Turkey as a United States close ally plays an important role in Afghanistan.

At the EU - U.S. summit which starts today in Washington. The EU term president's Spain's prime Minister Joze Maria Aznar and the EU head of the Commission Romana Prodi take place. The steel quota and Middle East issue are expected to be discussed.

4. - AP - "Turkish government moves bill to allow Internet censorship":

02 May 2002 / ISTANBUL

By Ben Holland

Turkey's rising number of Internet users fear a bill submitted for debate in parliament Thursday will bring the online media under the grip of tight controls are already applied to Turkey's press.

The new broadcasting bill has already been vetoed as unconstitutional by President Ahmet Necdet Sezer. But if parliament passes it a second time without amendments, he would be powerless to stop it, though he could refer it to the Constitutional Court.

Critics say the measure will arrest the development of the Internet in Turkey, bring new barriers to freedom of expression, and leave Turkey out of step with the European Union (news - web sites), which it aspires to join.

The bill would bring online media under the scope of Turkey's hawkish broadcasting authorities, which regularly yank radio and television stations off the air for programs that breach laws limiting freedom of expression.

It punishes channels for broadcasts that offend the powerful military, question Turkey's treatment of the Kurdish minority or its strict secular policies, or are deemed "contrary to national and spiritual values or the Turkish family structure."

The bill fails to remove restrictions on broadcasting in Kurdish, despite EU pressure on Turkey to allow such cultural rights for its 12 million Kurds.

A clause barring broadcasts that "inspire pessimism" has also been fiercely attacked.

"You won't be able to talk about inflation, the threat of an Istanbul earthquake (news - web sites), unemployment or the rising number of muggings," wrote columnist Okay Gonensin in daily Sabah.

The bill would introduce fines instead of instant bans for some offenses — but it could also apply them to all forms of electronic communication, possibly including e-mails and text messages.

"This bill won't solve problems, instead it will create new ones," said Behcet Envarli, head of the independent Turkish Information Technology Foundation. "When you look at European countries, rather than trying to limit their Internet, they're trying to move it forward."

It wasn't only the clauses dealing with the Internet that led Sezer to veto the bill last year, saying it broke Turkey's pledges to the EU by imposing "rules that are not compatible with democratic traditions, basic rights and freedoms and constitutional principles."

Journalists' groups say heavy fines foreseen in the bill could drive regional television stations out of business.

Opposition parties, who fought to keep the bill off parliament's agenda, also accuse the government of catering to powerful media owners. The bill would end restrictions which bar them from lucrative state contracts and allow individuals to own larger chunks of Turkey's media.

"This bill doesn't only strike at rights and freedoms ... it will encourage monopolies and choke democracy," Mehmet Bekaroglu, a senior lawmaker from a pro-Islamic opposition party, told parliament Thursday as debate began.

In his veto, Sezer warned that the law could bring the "monopolization of radio and television by big capital," and said it was the state's duty to "preserve pluralism in the media."

5. - AFP - "Yilmaz warns Turkey running out of time on EU membership":

03 May 2002 / ANKARA

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz warned Friday that the government was running out of time to carry out reforms needed to join the European Union.
"We have a serious time problem. We must show more will and speed up our steps in order to open accession talks," the Anatolia news agency quoted him saying.
Turkey's EU candidacy was conditionally accepted in December 1999 but advancement depends on overall progress shown on human rights and democracy issues.
"Our membership is uncertain if we cannot start negotiations this year," said Yilmaz, Turkey's top official for European affairs.
He pointed particularly to the questions of capital punishment, Kurdish-language education and the thorny Cyprus conflict which are sticking points between Ankara and Brussels.
Leaders of Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit's coalition government met to confer on Ankara's candidacy on Thursday after the EU added a Kurdish and a far-left group to a terrorist blacklist.
Twelve other countries have already begun membership talks with the EU and are officially considered candidate states.
As many as 10 mostly central European states are expected to finish talks this year and sign accession treaties, leaving open the possibility of entering the EU as members in 2004.

6. - AFP - "Suspected extremist shedding light on unsolved killings":

02 May 2002 / DIYARBAKIR

The testimony of a suspected member of an exterme Islamic organization has shed light on no less than 99 murders committed by the group in southeastern Turkey, police and court sources said on Thursday.
Salih Kolge, said to be a senior member of the armed wing of the Turkish Hizbullah, a shadowy group accused of plotting to destroy Turkey's strictly secular regime, was arrested last month in Diyarbakir, the biggest city in the mainly Kurdish southeast of the country.
In his testimony to the police, Kolge gave information on 99 so far unsolved murders perpetrated by the Hizbullah in the provinces of Diyarbakir, Mardin and Batman between 1991 and 1994, security sources told AFP.
Kolge confirmed his testimony in a subsequent interrogation by prosecutors at a state security court, a judicial official said.
Using information supplied by Kolge, security forces last month raided the house of a wanted Hizbullah leader in the southern city of Gaziantep, where they discovered the bodies of three suspected Hizbullah victims as well as a sizeable arms cache.
The Hizbullah has been the target of a major crackdown since 2000, when the bodies of 68 suspected victims of the group were found in mass graves across the country.
The organization, which has no known links with its Lebanese namesake, is accused of seeking to overthrow Turkey's secular order and install a hardline Islamic regime.