21 March 2002

1. "Kurds protest after being blocked from reaching Turkey", a group of some 150 Kurds protested outside the Romanian embassy in Budapest Wednesday saying they had been subject to "physical and psychological pressure" when they were blocked from travelling through Romania.

2. "Eurasian idea could bring together ertwhile enimies Turkey and Russia", a top Turkish general's provocative suggestion that Ankara should turn its back on Europe and embrace strategic alternatives has triggered a heated public debate over the current state of Turkish-European Union relations. At the same time, the remarks by the secretary-general of the Turkey's all-powerful National Security Council (MGK), Tuncer Kilinc, reveal a striking parallel in political attitudes among a certain segment of the policy-making elite in both Turkey and Russia.

3. "Once eager to join EU, Turkey grows apprehensive", Turkish commentators have been saying for months that the country's rapid efforts to bring its political structures into line with EU requirements would eventually hit a wall. But when the crunch came, it took a form that few expected.

4. "PKK Ready to Lay Down Arms", the leader of a main Iraqi Kurdish faction in northern Iraq said Wednesday that a Turkish Kurd rebel group is ready to lay down its arms in exchange for a general amnesty for its fighters.

5. "Turkey: Cheney Departs Without Public Support For Action Against Iraq", U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney departed Turkey today, winding up a 10-day European and Middle Eastern tour that took him to 12 different countries. The main purpose of the trip was to sound out regional countries on additional steps in the U.S.-led war on terrorism, but the U.S. vice president failed to gain public support for tough action against Iraq.

6. "Lawmakers at odds over torture", amendment on torture compensation causes controversy between MHP's Ozbas and Justice Minister Turk. Justice Minister says, combatting terrorism cannot justify torture.

1. - AFP - "Kurds protest after being blocked from reaching Turkey":

BUDAPEST / March 20 / by Eszter Szamado

A group of some 150 Kurds protested outside the Romanian embassy in Budapest Wednesday saying they had been subject to "physical and psychological pressure" when they were blocked from travelling through Romania.

The group were among some 250 Kurds ordered back into Hungary after being stopped for over 24 hours at the Hungarian-Romanian border at Nadlac, said an official of the Kurdistan Information and Cultural Office, Ahce Nureddin.

The group included parliamentary deputies from Belgium and Germany, he said. Heading for the Bulgarian-Turkish border to join in a protest in favour of using the Kurdish language in Turkey, the Kurds said they were "victims of physical and psychological pressure before being sent back into Hungary".

Some 100 Kurds mounted an impromptu protest in Bulgaria after they were stopped from joining the demonstration and turned back 70 kilometres (45 miles) from the border, according to Bulgarian police. A coach and a dozen cars carrying Kurds from Bulgaria and Greece, who had set off from Sofia to join the protest that morning, were refused entry to the

southern Bulgarian region of Haskovo. They mounted an impromptu demonstration against the death sentence and in

favour of the use of the Kurdish language in education and the media in Turkey, Dimiar Avramov, head of the Kurdish Cultural Centre in Bulgaria, told AFP.

Six coaches carrying the group of 250 Kurds that had been stopped at the Hungarian-Romanian border arrived there on Monday evening and were initially given authorization to travel through Romania to Bulgaria, en route to Turkey. But after the first coach was allowed through, the Romanian government said it was informed by the Bulgarian government that Sofia had banned the Kurds from crossing its territory. The Kurds were therefore blocked at Nadlac, where they were put under close surveillance by some 250 military police.

"They spent the night in no man's land between the Hungarian and the Romanian border points. They then returned to Budapest and are currently heading towards Hegyeshalom" on the Austrian border, said Sandor Orodan, spokesman for Hungary's national border guard. "The Romanian state was not too benevolent. The Kurds, after all, were peaceful. The members of the group were not even allowed to use a toilet for 12 hours. The Romanian move was illegal," Ahce said.

Hungarian authorities said there was no reason to block the group from travelling. "Hungarian border guard authorities work under effective international laws. We saw no reason to refuse their entry, then re-entry to Hungary. They had valid passports," said Orodan.

But Bulgarian Foreign Minister Solomon Passi protested that "Bulgaria cannot become a territory for demonstrations against any one of its neighbouring countries". The affair, which comes during a visit by Turkey's Interior Minister Rustu

Kazim Yucelen to Bucharest, risks embarrassing the Romanian government notably because it is counting on Turkish support to be invited to join NATO later this year.

2. - Eurasianet - "Eurasian idea could bring together ertwhile enimies Turkey and Russia":

By Igor Torbakov / 18 March 2002 3/18/02

A top Turkish general's provocative suggestion that Ankara should turn its back on Europe and embrace strategic alternatives has triggered a heated public debate over the current state of Turkish-European Union relations. At the same time, the remarks by the secretary-general of the Turkey's all-powerful National Security Council (MGK), Tuncer Kilinc, reveal a striking parallel in political attitudes among a certain segment of the policy-making elite in both Turkey and Russia.

Speaking at the conference "How to Establish a Peace Belt Around Turkey" held by the Military Academies Command, Gen. Kilinc expressed frustration at the EU's policies towards Turkey, and said Ankara needed to start looking eastward for new allies. He singled out Russia as a potential strategic partner. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archives].

Official statements have sought to distance the government and military from Kilinc's comments, suggesting that the high-ranking officer was expressing his personal views. Local analysts dispute this contention, however.

"It is out of the question," says one well-informed Turkish commentator, "that a Turkish general just feels like saying something on a very sensitive political matter without prior approval of his superiors." Also, the observer adds that "Kilinc is no ordinary general. By August 2003, he will take over as Air Force Commander. Nor is the MGK an ordinary security office."

In the opinion of Cengiz Candar, an influential columnist at the Yeni Safak newspaper, "Gen. Kilinc's words definitely reflect a tendency that prevails entirely at the higher ranks of the Turkish Armed Forces."

The majority of the local and international analysts agree that Turkey's threat to shift its geopolitical orientation was meant primarily for the Brussels' ears. "Kilinc tried to give a message mainly to the European Union," wrote the columnist Sami Kohen in the daily Milliyet. However, this seemingly tactical move also appears to highlight a deeper trend - namely, a long-standing split in Turkish society.

"At the end of the 18th century, Ottoman Turks were divided over European aspirations of Sultan Selim III," notes Burak Bekdil in the Turkish Daily News. "More than two centuries after, Republican Turks, too, are divided over the country's long, difficult journey into Europe."

One cannot fail to notice here an interesting similarity between Turkey's experience and Russia's many attempts at Europeanization, which invariably produced deep divisions in Russian society. Like Turkey, the debate in Russia has raged for over two centuries. At the end of the 18th century, for example, Prince Mikhail Shcherbatov decried the results of Peter the Great's westernizing reforms in his famous pamphlet "On the Corruption of Morals in Russia." Currently, the bulk of Russia's public and a sizable portion of its political class are wary about President Vladimir Putin's pro-Western policies.

Since the 16th century, both Turkey and Russia have participated in the international European political system. However, while the two countries have been recognized by other European countries as political and military powers, both Turkey and Russia have struggled to gain acceptance as cultural equals.

Turkey's and Russia's chronically incomplete Europeanization, some commentators contend, engenders a vicious cycle. The reluctance of European nations to view Moscow and Ankara as truly equal partners strengthens within both countries a "traditionalist" school of thought that champions indigenous "national values" and discourages close ties with the "evil West."

Many present-day Russian traditional thinkers tend to call themselves Eurasianists after the group of Russian émigrés that was active in Europe in the 1920s. One of the central tenets of both the founders of the movement and their contemporary followers is that Russia constitutes a unique society that differs from both Europe and Asia. At the same time, Russia's strategic allies, Eurasianists assert, lie primarily in the East.

Gen. Kilinc's controversial statement can be interpreted as the manifestation of a Turkish version of Eurasianism. Other Turkish leaders have echoed Eurasianist sentiment. For instance, in a recent commentary, Turkish Parliament Speaker Omer Izgi said "Turkey is a great power around its own axis. It is a great state."

"It does not need to seek anything. If obstacles on the part of the EU continue in the same way, and if they become unacceptable, Turkey will find it possible to unite with other forces around it," continued Izgi, a member of the Nationalist Movement Party.

Some political analysts are now asking whether Eurasianist thinking in Turkey and Russia has enough adherents with sufficient clout to bring about a strategic partnership between Ankara and Moscow. Expert opinion differs over the answer. Some point out that Turkey and Russia have been perennial archrivals in the vast region stretching from the Balkans to the Caucasus. "It is no secret," says the analyst Bekdil, "that the Turks have for centuries perceived the [Russian] empire, communist and post-Soviet Russia as elements of a serious foreign threat in this part of the world."

Others argue that when both countries found themselves politically isolated and excluded from the "European concert," they made natural allies. There was a long honeymoon between Kemalist Turkey and bolshevist Russia in the 1920s-1930s. This period of Russian-Turkish cooperation, some historians say, was mutually beneficial economically and also helped stabilize the restive multiethnic Transcaucasus following the upheavals of the World War I and the Russian revolution.

Presently, observers say, Moscow and Ankara are, in fact, faced with the similar set of challenges. The two countries have already cut some major energy deals and continue to explore the ways of how to best use the rich resources of the Caspian. Turkey and Russia also seek to settle the numerous conflicts in the post-Soviet Caucasus.

Eurasianist ideas are found even in the ranks of the pro-European, moderate Motherland Party (ANAP). Praising Gen. Kilinc's words as a "brave statement," the Motherland Party's deputy chairman, Bulent Akarcali, said Turkey's alliance with Russia and Iran would be "extremely appropriate."

"It is important to secure this," Akarcali said. Winning Iran and Russia to Turkey's side "will also bring comfort to the Caucasus."

Attending a meeting of Azerbaijani and Armenian journalists held in Capadoccia last weekend, Akarcali suggested that a five-member group, including Turkey, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Russia, be formed in order to solve the problems related with the three nations of the southern Caucasus. Several long-standing political dilemmas in the Caucasus, especially the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, are seen as obstacles that prevent efforts to develop Caspian Basin natural resources from reaching their full potential.

Editor's Note: Igor Torbakov is a freelance journalist and researcher who specializes in CIS political affairs. He holds an MA in History from Moscow State University and a PhD from the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences. He was Research Scholar at the Institute of Russian History, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 1988-1997; a Visiting Scholar at the Kennan Institute, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington DC, 1995, and a Fulbright Scholar at Columbia University, New York, 2000. He is now based in Istanbul, Turkey.

3. - The Christian Sience Monitor - "Once eager to join EU, Turkey grows apprehensive":

ISTANBUL / by Nicholas Birch / 20 March

Turkish commentators have been saying for months that the country's rapid efforts to bring its political structures into line with EU requirements would eventually hit a wall. But when the crunch came, it took a form that few expected.

In mid-February, the quirky, extreme-left-wing weekly Aydinlik began to publish snippets from the hacked e-mail correspondence of Karen Fogg, the EU's representative in Turkey. To an outsider, the contents of the e-mails are innocuous.

To Turks, who haven't forgotten British and French plans to carve up Turkey after World War I, they are explosive. Aydinlik columnist Ozcan Buze is convinced that Ms. Fogg "has secretly been working to undermine Turkish interests." He describes e-mail in which she discusses the money the EU has set aside to give financial support to a Kurdish language newspaper – a policy in line with the EU's championing of Kurdish cultural rights – as proof that "the EU sponsors separatist activity."

And her fondness for translating the names of senior Turkish officials into their colorful English equivalents (she refers to the two deputy prime ministers Devlet Bahceli and Mesut Yilmaz as "State Garden" and "Happy Unyielding," respectively) is evidence, Mr. Buze says, "of the deep contempt in which she holds our country."

Aydinlik's revelations have threatened not only to unbalance Turkey's unlikely government coalition of ultranationalists and pro-European liberals. They have also stoked a national debate given new urgency by the events of Sept. 11.

With its strategic importance enhanced by America's "war on terrorism," is Turkey's full-throttle push for European Union membership still necessary? Or can it afford to look for less exacting allies?

On Mar. 7, Turkey's usually taciturn military joined the fray.

Speaking at an Istanbul conference on foreign policy, Gen. Tuncer Kilinc, the secretary-general of Turkey's powerful National Security Council, told delegates that in the 40 years it has been knocking on Europe's door, "Turkey hasn't seen the slightest assistance from the EU." While it should do nothing to compromise its relations with the US, he argued, Turkey would do well "to begin a new search [for allies] that would include Iran and the Russian Federation."

Though Gen. Kilinc emphasized he was speaking in a personal capacity, his words sent shock waves through the Turkish establishment. First, because they were a sharp departure from the Army's usual claims to be pro-European. Second, because it is common knowledge in Turkey that the Army speaks with one voice.

Turkish-EU differences have now been whittled down to two issues.

Nationalists, who want to see the imprisoned Kurdish-separatist leader Abdullah Ocalan hanged, have strongly resisted European calls for the death penalty to be abolished.

Far more delicate is the question of Kurdish rights. Europe sees Turkey's 10 to 12 million Kurds as an oppressed minority. The vast majority of Turks disagree. Even pro-Europeans like Seyfi Tashan, director of the Ankara-based Foreign Policy Institute, describe EU policy toward the Kurds as wrong-headed. "Europe is asking for the impossible," says Professor Tashan. "The Kurdish issue is not a minority issue for Turkey."

In addition to the struggle over the Kurds, some experts say the present row has roots in the events of Sept. 11.

Cengiz Aktar says now that the EU is aware as never before of the value of having a secular, Muslim country like Turkey among its members, Europe has stepped up the pressure on Turkey's flagging efforts to transform its political structures. "Until Sept. 11," Professor Aktar says, "Turkey was at point zero. Since then, major progress has been made to bring the country in line with European requirements."

The Constitution has been overhauled. Turkey has dropped its intransigent attitude to the EU's fledgling rapid-reaction force. Steps are even being taken to resolve that perennial bugbear of Turkey-EU relations, Cyprus.

Mr. Ulsever jokes, somewhat cynically, that pictures of Osama Bin Laden should be put up in government offices alongside portraits of Ataturk. "By giving Turkey a new strategic significance, he saved the country from the same fate as Argentina," he says.

4. - The American Voice - "PKK Ready to Lay Down Arms":

ANKARA / Amberin Zaman / 20 Mar 2002

The leader of a main Iraqi Kurdish faction in northern Iraq said Wednesday that a Turkish Kurd rebel group is ready to lay down its arms in exchange for a general amnesty for its fighters.

Jalal Talabani, the leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, or PUK, said rebels of Turkey's outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, are prepared to give up their armed campaign for Kurdish independence and lay down their weapons - if the Turkish government grants a full amnesty for their fighters.

Mr. Talabani, who is in Ankara for talks with Turkish officials, said the PKK leadership is undergoing what he terms a dramatic change. These include changing their name and redefining their strategic goals.

The PKK waged a 15-year campaign against Turkish government forces for the establishment of an independent Kurdish state carved mainly out of Turkey's largely Kurdish-populated southeast region.

But the group declared a unilateral cease-fire in 1999 following the capture of its leader Abdullah Ocalan. Ocalan, who was sentenced to death on treason by a Turkish court, ordered his men to withdraw from Turkey to Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq. He also said his group has renounced its campaign for Kurdish statehood and is willing to settle instead for cultural autonomy for Turkey's estimated 12 million Kurds.

The PUK leader, Mr. Talabani, has said about 5,000 PKK fighters are scattered throughout Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq. More than half are believed to be in the rugged mountains bordering Iran that are under the control of Mr. Talabani's faction. The PUK leader is widely believed to have met with PKK commanders based in his region and is seeking to mediate between the rebels and the Turkish government.

Many Kurdish politicians describe the PKK's newly conciliatory policies as Turkey's best chance to achieve a lasting peace with its restive Kurdish population.

Turkey's military and political leaders have repeatedly said, however, they will not negotiate with the PKK, labeling the group terrorists.

Turkey says only PKK members who were not directly involved in the insurgency that has claimed over 30,000 lives can be expunged for their deeds.

Mr. Talabani's mediation bid comes one day before the March 21 Kurdish New Year, known as Newroz. Security throughout Turkey's largely Kurdish southeastern provinces has been beefed up ahead of the event, that often has been marred by bloody clashes between Turkish security forces and Kurdish revelers staging street celebrations without official permission.

The PUK leader's contacts in the Turkish capital also follow a visit by U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, who sought Turkey's views about a possible U.S. military intervention to overthrow Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Mr. Talabani on Wednesday echoed Turkey's concerns, saying such action could further destabilize the region. Mr. Talabani said the Iraqi Kurds will support change in Iraq only if the new government is fully democratic - one that would recognize the political and cultural rights of Iraq's estimated four-million Kurds.

Northern Iraq has remained outside Baghdad's control since the end of the 1991 Persian Gulf War. That is when the U.S. led coalition declared a no-fly zone over northern Iraq to protect the Kurds against possible attack by Iraqi government forces.

5. - Radio Free Europe - "Turkey: Cheney Departs Without Public Support For Action Against Iraq":

U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney departed Turkey today, winding up a 10-day European and Middle Eastern tour that took him to 12 different countries. The main purpose of the trip was to sound out regional countries on additional steps in the U.S.-led war on terrorism, but the U.S. vice president failed to gain public support for tough action against Iraq.

PRAGUE / By Jean-Christophe Peuch / 20 March 2002

Vice President Cheney left Ankara today after talks with Turkish officials that reportedly focused on the situation in Afghanistan and Washington's next possible move in the global war against terrorism.

Cheney, who arrived yesterday from Jerusalem, met President Ahmed Necdet Sezer, Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit, and Foreign Minister Ismail Cem. The U.S. envoy also held separate talks with Army Chief of Staff, General Huseyin Kivrikoglu.

Cheney's 24-hour visit to Ankara concluded a 12-nation tour mostly aimed at securing regional support for Washington's campaign against terrorism. Before Turkey, the U.S. vice president had visited Britain, Jordan, Egypt, Yemen, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, and Israel.

Cheney's visit apparently produced few concrete results. Today's press conference, scheduled some time ago by Turkish authorities, was canceled at the last moment. Although U.S. officials cited a tight schedule to justify the cancellation, the decision raised speculation in the Turkish media of possible disagreements, notably on the Iraq issue.

Turkish officials were expected to once again convey their opposition to any military action against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Washington accuses Iraq of producing weapons of mass destruction. The U.S. administration demands that Iraq allow experts appointed by the United Nations to inspect suspected biological and chemical weapons production sites and storage facilities, or face tough action.

U.S. President George W. Bush accuses Iraq of supporting international terrorism as part of an "axis of evil" that also includes Iran and North Korea. U.S. officials have been trying to convince Middle Eastern countries they are under a permanent threat from the Iraqi regime. Yet, during a European Union summit in March in Barcelona, Ecevit said Iraq is "under strict control" and "unable to inflict any harm to its neighbors."

Speaking to reporters last night, Ecevit said Cheney assured him there are no current plans for military action against Iraq: "No, there is no such decision at present. Mr. Cheney particularly stressed that a military operation against Iraq is not on the agenda in the foreseeable future. He stated that very clearly."

NATO-member Turkey has been a valuable partner in the U.S.-led campaign in Afghanistan but is resolutely opposed to any military strike against Iraq. Ankara, which is trying to overcome a 16-month-old economic crisis, claims such an attack would jeopardize Ecevit's efforts to rescue the country's finances.

Turkish officials say the 1991 Gulf War and international trade sanctions imposed on Baghdad at the time have cost Ankara some $40 billion in lost revenues. Since the end of that conflict, Turkey has sought to restore economic ties with Iraq. Last year, the two countries' trade volume reached about $1 billion, compared to an average annual $2.5 billion before the conflict.

Turkey is also concerned that U.S. military action against the Iraqi regime might re-ignite armed separatism in its mostly Kurdish southeastern provinces, which border Iraq.

In February, Ecevit wrote a letter to Saddam Hussein, urging the Iraqi leader to allow UN inspectors back into his country to avert possible U.S. military action. However, on 8 February, he reported no change in Hussein's stance.

Ecevit yesterday said Turkey still hopes that Baghdad will eventually comply with Washington's demands: "We do insist that Iraq comply with the United Nations resolutions and open its doors for inspection. As you know, I wrote a letter to Saddam Hussein in which I clearly outlined my views on this issue. I hope that Iraq will meet the expectations of the international community. We hope that it will. As I said, there is no question of a U.S. military action at the moment or in the foreseeable future."

Cheney also held discussions with Turkish officials on the future of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan (ISAF). Britain, which took the leadership of the 4,500-strong force in December last year, wants an agreement on its successor to be reached before its mandate expires in June.

Turkey, which has some 260 troops on the ground, has long been tipped to take over the leadership. But it hesitates to commit itself, citing concerns about the scope of the international force's mandate. Ecevit's cabinet also wants assurances that the international community will share the financial burden implied by such an operation.

Finally, Turkish officials have expressed concern at the recent upsurge of violence in eastern Afghanistan, saying ISAF should remain under the protection of U.S. troops stationed in the country.

American and British representatives held talks with Turkish officials recently in Ankara, but no agreement has been reached. Ecevit said yesterday Cheney had assured him that the U.S. Congress might grant Ankara a multimillion-dollar package to help it assume the command of ISAF.

"As a positive gesture, the government of the United States will submit tomorrow a motion to the Congress for a $228 million contribution to Turkey. I believe this will be a contribution for our expenses in Afghanistan," Ecevit said.

Before leaving Ankara, Cheney said that, out of this $228 million, $28 million should go directly to pay for Turkey's leadership of the force, with the remaining $200 million going to other, as-yet-unspecified economic needs.

Cheney reported some progress in negotiations over the ISAF command. But he declined to elaborate, saying simply that the international force would be confined to the Afghan capital, Kabul, and its immediate surroundings, and that American troops would remain in the country for "some additional period of time."

6. - Turkish Daily News - "Lawmakers at odds over torture":

Amendment on torture compensation causes controversy between MHP's Ozbas and Justice Minister Turk. Justice Minister says, combatting terrorism cannot justify torture

The amendment to law on torture as part of the reform package caused a disagreement at Parliament on Wednesday between senior coalition partner Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Deputy Edip Ozbas and Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Turk.

According to the amendment, civil servants who, because of their application of torture or brute force, cause the State to pay compensation as a result of verdicts from the European Court of Human Rights, will have to pay the compensation themselves.

Ozbas said that this decision will hinder those combating terrorism in carrying out their mission.

"Torture is a crime against humanity. As a person who was the subject of torture, I say that let's punish those who carry out torture to some degree," he said.

In response, Turk said that combatting terrorism could not justify torture.

"Turkey will carry out its fight against terrorism within the limits of the judicial state principles. Turkey should also fight torture, and it will punish those who apply it," Turk said.

The constitutional and justice commissions of Parliament approved on Tuesday a set of reforms that Turkey had pledged to the European Union in the National Program. The seven-article reform package is expected to be handled by the General Assembly of Parliament today.

The package makes amendments to the laws on associations, political parties, meetings, gatherings and rallies, the Gendarmerie, State Security Courts (DGMs), civil servants and the Penal Code.

Turkey is often criticized for its poor human rights record, and has been accused of carrying out systematic torture at its state offices.

So far, the International Court of Justice has ruled that fines, totaling 549,215 sterling, $3,000 and 775,000 French francs, be paid by Turkey to people claiming they had been submitted to torture.

According to the figures of Justice Ministry, Turkish courts issued sentences following 94 torture complaints in 2000, and for 69 in 2001. They also ruled for the acquittal of 218 and 153 cases of accused officials in 2000 and 2001 respectively.