26
November 2002
2. "EU Deadline Gives Reunification of Cyprus New Urgency", the plan to reunite Cyprus that was unveiled this month by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan was only the latest reunion bid floated toward the Mediterranean island since it divided into two hostile enclaves separated by blue-helmeted peacekeepers 28 years ago.
3. "Turkey's new leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan: Muslim democrat or hidden radical?", on a whirlwind tour of European capitals, Turkey's new leader has been romancing the West -- joking with Italy's prime minister and chatting about Turkish music with the head of rival Greece.
4. "Lagendijk: Failure to obtain a date in Copenhagen is not the end for Turkey", Turkey-European Parliament joint parliamentary committee co-chair Joost Lagendijk stated that the only option for Turkey is not to get a date for negotiation. "There are many options. It does not mean Turkey loses if it does not get a date in Copenhagen," Lagendijk said.
5. "Greece warns Turkey against blocking EU-NATO, UN deals", Greece on Monday warned its neighbor and traditional foe Turkey that its resistance to a long-delayed NATO-EU military pact and to a UN-proposed deal on the disputed island of Cyprus would hamper its efforts to join Europe.
6. "Turkish columnists against Rauf Denktas", Turkish columnists attack Turkish Cypriot leader, Mr Rauf Denktas because with his intransigent stance in Cyprus he is preventing Turkey's path towards the EU and thus he is negatively influencing the future of the Turks.
1. - Turkish Daily News - "GOC-DER Foundation faces sedition charges for migration report":
ISTANBUL / 26 November 2002
Prosecutors seek up to three years in jail for head of Goc-Der foundation, saying a report released by it incited ethnic hatred among people
Head of an Istanbul-based foundation and a sociologist testified before a State Security Court (DGM) on Monday in the first hearing of a case brought against them on charges of sedition in a recently-released report on people migrating from southern Anatolia.
Sefika Gurbuz, the head of Social Solidarity and Cultural Foundation for Immigrants (Goc-Der), denied prosecutors' charges that a report issued by her foundation in April "incited hatred among people on ethnic and regional differences".
"Our purpose in preparing the report was to shed light on the migration of people from 3,428 villages to Istanbul in the course of 15-years of armed clashes and what they have lived through in Istanbul," said Gurbuz to the court's judge, denying sedition the charges.
The second defendant, sociologist Mehmet Barut, did not attend the hearing but sent his written testimony.
Barut, an academic from Mersin University, has prepared the report on behalf of Goc-Der. The report is based on interviews with families who migrated from southern Anatolia to Istanbul during the heyday of an anti-terrorist drive against the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the 1990s.
The prosecutors' indictment seeks up to three years in jail for Gurbuz
and Barut under Article 312 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK). It cites
sentences from the report as evidence for sedition charges, such as
"Kurdish-speaking people were forced to migrate to other parts
of the country under use of violence, threats and torture." The
case was postponed to a later date. 
2. - Washington Post Foreign Service - "EU Deadline Gives Reunification of Cyprus New Urgency":
Failure of U.N. Plan Would Further Split Divided Island
ISTANBUL / November 26, 2002
by Karl Vick
The plan to reunite Cyprus that was unveiled this month by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan was only the latest reunion bid floated toward the Mediterranean island since it divided into two hostile enclaves separated by blue-helmeted peacekeepers 28 years ago.
But the new plan arrived with an immediacy other reunification proposals did not enjoy: As of Dec. 12, the thriving, internationally recognized two-thirds of the island inhabited by ethnic Greeks is due to join the European Union. If unity has not been restored by then, Cyprus's division will take on an increasingly permanent appearance, leaving the poorer third inhabited by ethnic Turks far out in the cold. And with the window of opportunity closing, the complex U.N. proposal already is in danger of receding into the diplomatic netherworld where the Cyprus conflict has loomed for almost three decades.
The leader of the Turkish Cypriots, the economically isolated minority population that would gain most by EU membership, offered his opinion of the U.N. plan on Thursday, 11 days after Annan asked the principals to take no more than a week to think it over. "We will not accept the document as a basis for negotiations," said Rauf Denktash, who heads a government recognized only by Turkey, whose invading army carved the independent enclave out of the island's northern end in 1974. "We can negotiate if we will or will not accept it as a basis, and we have to say what changes we want, so we can accept it. We need time for this."
But time is what the Turkish side does not have. The Dec. 12 deadline is firm, according to EU officials and foreign diplomats trying to urge the two sides together. When the 15 current EU member states vote, as expected, to receive an entity called Cyprus along with nine other candidate countries, the union will begin integrating whatever government is recognized on the island at the time.
Unless a reunification bargain is struck before then, the new EU member will be the current Republic of Cyprus, which takes in two-thirds of the island's territory and the Greeks who make up 80 percent of its 750,000 inhabitants. If settlement negotiations take hold, however, the EU could stretch its transition to accommodate a newly reunited republic, comprising two "component states."
Annan announced Friday that he would press ahead with the negotiations despite the ambiguity from the Turkish Cypriot leadership. The governments of Greece, Turkey and the Greek Cypriots have agreed the plan has merit.
"The secretary general is encouraged by the generally positive reaction to his plan that is emerging and wants to press ahead," said a U.N. spokesman, Stephane Dujarric. Emphasizing the Dec. 12 deadline that "is part and parcel of the plan," the spokesman said Annan "looks forward to receiving the substantive reactions with a view to moving ahead in earnest."
The stalemate grew out of age-old hostilities between Greece and Turkey, ancient rivals whose thawing relations in recent years are laid largely to the economic prospects of EU membership.
Ethnic brethren from both nations reside on Cyprus. Residents had been clashing for a decade when Turkey sent troops to protect the Turkish minority in 1974, after Greece engineered a coup. Only Turkey recognizes the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus that emerged as a result of the invasion.
The U.N. plan asks the Turkish side to surrender some land in exchange for the economic windfall of EU membership. The same incentive is being dangled -- but without any guarantee -- before Turkey. The Muslim nation of 67 million desperately wants to join the EU, but its prospects are bound up with the outcome in Cyprus.
"We have a much higher prospect for a Cyprus settlement than we have ever had," said a senior U.S. official involved in the effort. "Which, if it were to happen, would be incredibly positive for Turkey's prospects with the EU."
Turkey, however, appears inclined to brinksmanship of its own. The EU allowed Turkey to become a candidate country in a 1999 bargain that let Cyprus's accession to the union proceed. Once it does, Turkey will be without leverage, a prospect that prompted its new government to seek an explicit link between Cyprus and Turkey's own candidacy.
The new pitch, which also includes a Turkish promise to allow a new EU military force to use NATO facilities, is being laid out to EU members by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, chairman of the ruling Justice and Development Party, as he tours European capitals this month, said Egemen Bagis, a Turkish parliamentarian in the delegation.
"Our offer is, Turkey is willing to accept the U.N. plan as
a starting point for a Cyprus settlement in exchange for a date to
start negotiating for membership in the EU," Bagis said. "European
Union membership is the solution to all the problems in the Aegean."
3. - Associated Press - "Turkey's new leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan: Muslim democrat or hidden radical?":
by Louis Meixler / 25 November 2002
On a whirlwind tour of European capitals, Turkey's new leader has
been romancing the West -- joking with Italy's prime minister and
chatting about Turkish music with the head of rival Greece.
The trip is an astonishing turnaround for Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the
head of Turkey's Islamic-rooted party, a man better known in Turkey
for advocating Islamic law and joining party activists in group prayers.
That has led to a key question: Has Erdogan changed to embrace the
West and democracy, or is he simply a cunning leader who is using
the West to shroud an Islamic agenda?
Erdogan has repeatedly stressed that he sees Muslim Turkey as a bridge
between East and West, a secular Muslim state that can help heal the
rift between an angry Islamic world and the Christian West.
Those are welcome words in Washington, where Turkey is seen as a key
ally in the war against terrorism, a role model of a Muslim country
that is secular, democratic and successful.
But critics worry that Erdogan may merely be using the language of
democracy to cover an Islamic agenda.
They point out that the young Erdogan was once quoted as saying, "democracy
is not an aim but a means to an end" and was later sentenced
to four months in prison for challenging the secular state. He also
opposed the European Union in the past.
"If he hasn't changed, there will probably come a time when there
will be a major confrontation in Turkish society," said Ilter
Turan, a political scientist with Istanbul Bilgi University. "I
have known of no instance in the past in which the state has lost."
So far, Erdogan has been keen not to upset the establishment. His
party has said its priorities are fixing Turkey's ailing economy and
entry into the European Union.
Erdogan is barred from serving as prime minister because of his conviction,
but is clearly the power behind the government.
As his first major action since the Nov. 3 elections, Erdogan is
touring the capitals of EU member states, pushing for Turkey's entry.
This week he visits Portugal, Denmark, Finland, France, the Netherlands,
Sweden and Luxembourg
Earlier this month in Rome, Erdogan dined with Prime Minister Silvio
Berlusconi, who asked him if Turkey's EU membership would be a marriage
of convenience or a true union.
Erdogan joked that he wanted a "Catholic wedding" -- one
that lasts forever.
In Greece, Erdogan offered to trade Aegean music with Prime Minister
Costas Simitis.
"Euro-Dogan," the newspaper Eleftherotypia headlined the
next day.
Athens' Ta Nea had a cartoon showing Erdogan turning down Simitis'
offer of Turkish coffee and asking instead for cappuccino or espresso.
The change is stunning for Erdogan, who started his career as the
youth leader of a pro-Islamic party that was later banned by the courts.
Ekrem Sama remembers Erdogan as a young party activist who ensured
party leaders were "faithful Muslims."
"We used to take breaks and pray together," said Sama, an
Erdogan deputy from 1984-1999.
But Erdogan began to change after he was elected mayor of Istanbul
in 1994.
"After he became mayor, we noticed that he paid less attention
to a person's religious practices," said Sama.
Observers say Turkey's pro-Islamic movement began to transform in
the late 1990s.
That was when Erdogan's pro-Islamic Refah party joined a coalition
in parliament and eventually headed the national government.
"Before that, the Islamist movement was a radical opposition
movement," said Rusen Cakir, the author of "Recep Tayyip
Erdogan: The Story of a Transformation."
When they came to power "they had to adapt."
Sama says Erdogan began to distance himself from the more traditional
Islamic members of the party.
A crucial blow came in 1997 when the military forced pro-Islamic Premier
Necmettin Erbakan from power.
Two years later, Erdogan was jailed for reciting a poem the courts
considered inflammatory.
"He had to change," Cakir said. "He realized that he
could not resist the political system on an Islamic basis."
That led Erdogan to embrace Europe and the West.
"For him, democracy is a guarantee," Cakir said.
Party activists now speak of the need for EU reforms that would include
ending bans on pro-Islamic political parties or politicians. They
also say that in a truly democratic society, a politician like Erdogan
could not be jailed for reading a poem.
In the working class neighborhood of Kasimpasa, where Erdogan grew
up, neighbors speak lovingly of the local soccer player who rose to
dominate Turkish politics.
"We have to live with this regime and Tayyip knows that,"
said Bayram Karaoglu, who owns the corner market across the street
from the brown and tan cinderblock apartment where Erdogan grew up.
Added neighbor Ismail Alginli: "I am sure he is still very religious
... even if he can't show it."
4. - Turkish Daily News - "Lagendijk: Failure to obtain a date in Copenhagen is not the end for Turkey":
ANKARA / 26 November 2002
Turkey-European Parliament joint parliamentary committee co-chair Joost Lagendijk stated that the only option for Turkey is not to get a date for negotiation. "There are many options. It does not mean Turkey loses if it does not get a date in Copenhagen," Lajendik said.
Lagendijk answered reporters questions after his meeting with Foreign Ministry deputy undersecretary Akin Alptuna. Lajendik, mentioned that this is the first meeting after the elections. Lagendijk indicated that the EU harmonization packet and Cyprus issues were revealed during the meeting.
Lagendijk indicated that Turkey has to continue with the reforms and that it has to cooperate with the EU. "This is the only way Turkey can obtain something in Copenhagen. Naturally the decision belongs to member countries," Lagendijk said.
Asked by reporters what will happen if Turkey does not get a date in Copenhagen, Lagendijk said that the only option is not to get a date. Lagendijk mentioned that a date for a date is one of the other options. "There are discussions on the issue. A date for negotiations or a date for a date. It does not mean Turkey loses if it does not get a date in Copenhagen," Lagendijk said.
Lagendijk and his delegation met Turkish Parliament spokesperson
Bulent Arinc. The meeting was closed to the media.
Lagendijk is expected to meet Foreign Ministry undersecretary Ugur
Ziyal and is also expected to speak at a press conference on Tuesday.
5.
AFP - "Greece warns Turkey against blocking EU-NATO, UN deals":
ATHENS / November 25, 2002
Greece on Monday warned its neighbor and traditional foe Turkey that
its resistance to a long-delayed NATO-EU military pact and to a UN-proposed
deal on the disputed island of Cyprus would hamper its efforts to
join Europe.
"Turkey is blocking its own route toward the European Union,"
said government spokesman Christos Protopapas. "The rejection
of the UN plan and of the European defense agreement creates problems
for its EU accession."
At its summit in Prague last week, NATO failed to approve a military
pact with the European Union that has been held up by Turkish and
Greek disagreement over control of the alliance's military assets.
Greece approved a compromise last month, but Turkey rejected the deal
in Prague, leaving the European bloc unable to set up its first military
force to take over NATO's peacekeeping mission in Macedonia.
Both Turkey and Greece are NATO members, but only Greece is in the
EU.
Protopapas slammed Ankara for hampering EU efforts to take over the
peacekeeping from NATO hands and thereby damaging the reputation of
the bloc's nascent military efforts.
"A whole series of Turkish officers have made declarations which
are contradictory," he said. "We can't get any reassuring
conclusions, which is negative for that country."
The spokesman also took Turkey to task for its rejection of a proposal
to resolve the Cyprus divide, which has strained regional relations
for nearly three decades.
The leader of Turkey's ruling party Recep Tayyip Erdogan has rejected
a plan crafted by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to reunite the internationally
recognized Greek Cypriot republic with the breakaway Turkish statelet,
which Ankara alone recognizes.
Greek Cypriots have accepted the plan as a basis for negotiation,
but Turkish Cypriots have yet to respond.
Athens is still waiting for "the official Turkish position"
on the UN plan, Protopapas said.
Annan unveiled the peace plan as efforts intensified to find a political
settlement to the division in time for next month's EU summit in Copenhagen,
when the Cyprus is due to be invited to join the bloc in 2004.
The island been split since 1974, when Turkey seized the northern
third of the island in response to an Athens-engineered coup which
sought to unite it with Greece.
6. - AFRIKA (Northern Cyprus) - "Turkish columnists against Rauf Denktas":
The Turkish Cypriot leader has no intention to leave the hospital before 12 December
Cyprus PIO / 24 November 2002
Turkish columnists attack Turkish Cypriot leader, Mr Rauf Denktas
because with his intransigent stance in Cyprus he is preventing Turkey^Òs
path towards the EU and thus he is negatively influencing the future
of the Turks.
AFRIKA writes that Mr Cuneyt Ulsever of HURRIYET has noted, inter
alia, the following: Mr. Denktas, who has now seen that the administration
will be taken away from him, is doing everything he can to avoid Annan^Òs
plan. While he is on his sickbed, he is not even appointing a representative
and the Cyprus people read from New York what he thinks about the
plan. As it is understood, he has no intention of abandoning his sickbed
until 12 December 2002.
Haluk Sahin of RADIKAL writes, inter alia, the following: "It is alleged that Denktas is exerting psychological pressure on Erdogan, including the threat that he would not return to the island as Erdogan says that he would change the status quo in foreign policy and supports the negotiations".
Mrs Perihan Magden of RADIKAL notes, inter alia, the following: "If
you ask the indigenous Turkish Cypriots and not the fascists brought
into Cyprus from various places of Anatolia, absolutely everyone will
tell you that he supports the solution of the Cyprus problem, the
accession to the EU, living together with the Greek Cypriots and a
peaceful, democratic and prosperous Cyprus".