27
November 2002
2. "Turkey demands talks on joining EU", scepticism grows in Europe's key capitals as Muslim nation pushes for a place at the top table.
3. "Save Turkey from Europe", Turkey planned to send troops into Kurdish areas of Northern Iraq in the event of an American-Iraqi war? It seems the U.S. government hasn't been paying enough attention to a vital ally.
4. "We must help Turkey develop democracy", by Anne Bartlett.
5. "Central Asian Diplomats see promise in new Turkish Leadership", Turkey’s newly-elected Justice and Development Party leaders continue to face obstacles in their country’s bid to join the European Union. For Central Asian diplomats in Ankara, though, the new government offers hope for improved economic and political ties.
6. "Cyprus minister slams peace plan", Turkish Cypriots in favour of a United Nations plan to unite the divided island of Cyprus held a demonstration on Wednesday in northern Nicosia.
1. - Kurdish Observer - "Manifest for Urgent Solution from KADEK":
KADEK Presidential Council announced an Urgent Solution Manifest, stressing the step that should been taken urgently by the AKP government.
MHA/FRANKFURT / 26 November 2002
Drawing attention that AKP had not said anything about the Kurdish question in its Urgent Action Plan, KADEK stated that the Kurdish question was pretented not to see. "It is understood from its urgent action plan that it has a mistaken view over itself by thinking that it has won a victory" said KADEK.
The Presidential Council asked for the state to abandon its policy imposed in 70s. KADEK called attention that in case that the Kurdish question was not solved the tension would increase. AKP had also written in its government program that "There is no Kurdish question but economic problems", said the Kurdish party.
Underscoring that without main problems solved, the economic problems would not be solved, KADEK emphasized the following: "It is a deception to try to get rid of poverty without special programs and big economic sources. In fact we have witnessed the deception time and again. It is an undeniable fact that those who have not get rid of poverty are those who have not solved the Kurdish question. The existing economic crisis is a product of the denial politics."
"Ocalan's life conditions should be improved"
KADEK asked for the life conditions of KADEK President Asbdullah Ocalan to be improved as soon as possible in order for peace and democratisation to be secured. The Manifest also demanded a general amnesty for political prisoners as well as lifting immunity of the perpetrators of torture and killings-by-unknown-perpetrators, abandoning F-Type High Security Prisons, lifting all bans on the Kurdish culture and amendments to the September 12 Constitution.
"We will support positive efforts"
KADEK reminded that it would do its best for peace, stressing that there were still opportunities in front of the AKP government. The Presidential Council expressed that it would support and encourage all positive efforts and facilitate all attempts for a solution. KADEK stated that it considered itself responsible not only for the Kurdish question but all problems in Turkey and that legitimate defence forces was a threat against Turkey but a chance for Turkey for democratisation.
"The Manifest should be claimed"
The Manifest underscored the following: "We are trying to be helpful to fulfil the expectancies by offering our Urgent Solution Manifest. We expect from the new government not to overlook these main problems and to display the necessary responsibility and sensitivity. We call on all the people, Turks and Kurds alike, to claim the manifest by their democratic actions."
The Presidential Council called attention to following matters:
* AKP won the elections by getting the votes of the masses who wanted transformation and getting rid of the old. AKP had the accumulation of change and democratisation created by leftist and democratic forces fall in its lap. The struggle of the Kurdish Democratic Movement had shown that the existing system could not meet Turkey's needs. Therefore the success does not belong to AKP but democratic forces.
* The government program does not give enough data for hope. In spite of this we will show our expectations for democratisation and social stability in order for the new government to get rid of the old mistakes. If they abandon the error in their urgent action program they will avoid from the old governments' fate.
"The Kurdish people must be taken into consideration"
* Kurdish people must be taken into consideration. By pretending not to see the Kurdish question and the Kurdish people, the main solving force of the question, stability cannot be restored. The Kurdish people has offered conditions for stability and the Kurdish democratic movement has put an end to armed struggle and fulfilled its responsibility. It has emphasized time and again that it considered political unity of Turkey of supreme importance. It chanted the slogan "Neither denial nor separatism". When all these feacts are taken into consideration, there will be no justification left to solve the Kurdish question.
* Conditions for armed conflicts still exist although there have been considerable developments for three years. We are determined to fulfil our responsibility in order for peaceful climate to continue and to avoid war. This manifest should be considered a necessary step for this responsibility.
* As far as the facts that democratisation in Turkey has not been achieved and tension is still continuing are considered, all those responsible, the government on the forefront, non-governmental organizations, political parties and media have duties to meet the expectations of the public.
Urgent steps to be taken
KADEK asked for the following steps to be taken urgently:
Life conditions of our President Abdullah Ocalan, guarantee of peace and democratisation, should be improved urgently. For this:
a- Isolation on our President should be lifted. Either he should be transferred to another prison or other prisoners should be transferred to Imrali Island.
b- He should have the right to unlimited access to his lawyers, family, non-governmental organizations and media.
c- He should have unlimited opportunity to have all books and magazines he wants and to see all TV programs.
d- His health should be examined periodically.
e- There should be no obstruction before his defence statements and his thoughts to be published.
Campaigns by non-governmental organizations and the people for his freedom should not be intervened.
2- All needed laws should be passed for President Apo's freedom and democratisation and an amnesty should be declared for all political prisoners. F-Type High Security Prisons should be abandoned immediately and a new system which meets social and cultural needs of inmates should be adopted.
3- Laws should be passed for guerrilla and political refugees to come back and participate in the democratic political life.
4- Perpetrators of murders-by-unknown-perpetrators and those who ordered them should be brought before the court.
5- Forced migrants should be helped financially and socially to return to their villages and paid compensations.
6- Village guards system should be abandoned and they should be supported economically and socially.
7- The new law on education and broadcasting in mother tongue should be broadened and be guaranteed legally.
8- Kurdish culture should have lack of restriction for development and be encouraged politically, institutionally and economically.
9- All bans on Kurdish broadcasting and publishing should be lifted.
10- All obstructions before the freedom of thought and association should be lifted and they should be secured legally.
11- Kurdish identity should find a place in the constitution and laws and the Kurdish question should be solved.
12- Central administration should be limited and local administrations should be encouraged.
13- There should be policies and projects for women to participate in all aspects of the society and politics equally.
14- All damages inflicted during the war should be compensated through a special economic and social policy as soon as possible.
15- Life conditions of Kurdish poor in big cities should be improved through special economic and social policies.
16- New economic and social projects should be implemented for all poor in Turkey.
17- Social and cultural projects strengthening the brotherhood of Turkish and Kurdish peoples should be implemented.
18- Media should respect to all peoples, identities and cultures and encourage brotherhood.
19- All laws should be re-considered as to democratise the state, society and politics. The aim should be pluralism and democracy.
20- Administrational mechanisms and bureaucracy should be re-organized.
21- The 12 September Constitution cannot be transformed
into a democratic one however one tries. Therefore a new constitution
should be prepared which meets democratic needs of a 
2. - The Guardian - "Turkey demands talks on joining EU":
Scepticism grows in Europe's key capitals as Muslim nation pushes for a place at the top table
PARIS / BERLIN / BRUSSELS / 27 November 2002 / by Jon Henley, Jeevan Vasager and Ian Black
The leader of Turkey's new ruling party yesterday demanded a starting date for formal talks on his country's accession to the EU, fanning an already heated debate that is beginning to embarrass many European capitals.
Tayyip Erdogan, the head of the Justice and Development party, AKP, said in Helsinki that giving Turkey a starting date at next month's Copenhagen summit would have a "positive effect" on the way Muslims viewed the European bloc.
"We don't see the EU as a club of Christians and we don't want to see it as a club of Christians, but if we can't get a date from Copenhagen, suspicions will emerge," he said. "It is very important to prove that the culture of Islam and democracy can indeed co-exist and be in harmony."
Mr Erdogan's remarks came during his diplomatic tour of European capitals in the wake of the bombshell dropped by the former French president, Valéry Giscard-d'Estaing, earlier this month in Brussels.
The head of the convention examining the constitutional future of Europe said Turkey was "not a European country", that it had "a different culture, a different approach and a different way of life", and that its admission would quite simply mean "the end of the EU".
While he has no direct say in the matter, Mr Giscard's comments have exposed what some observers say is a unspoken hypocrisy with regard to Turkey, a Muslim state of 66 million people to which the prospect of EU membership was first held out 40 years ago. At the heart of the debate, although few of those opposed to Turkey's accession dare say as much, is the sensitive issue of Europe's cultural - and religious - identity.
In remarks interpreted as reinforcing the notion of the EU as a Christian club the Pope came close to spelling it out two weeks ago, saying that in considering the future shape and constitution of Europe, the continent's "religious heritage" should not be forgotten.
It is a position that finds widespread support, particularly on the right, across much of Europe.
The centre-right French government has maintained an embarrassed silence on the issue, although President Jacques Chirac did say last week that Turkey "absolutely has its place in Europe".
The country was formally recognised as a candidate in 1999, but unlike the 10 states being invited to join in Copenhagen on December 12 has officially not yet met the necessary criteria on human rights, despite significant progress made last summer.
But some of the more outspoken members of Mr Chirac's camp resolutely disagree.
Turkey's membership would be "a grave historical error," said François Bayrou of the independent centre-right party the UDF.
"It is a very large Muslim country that does not belong to Europe. Can anyone really imagine that the EU's largest country should be the least European of the lot?"
Even on the French left - where the official position is that Turkey must be admitted - there are dissenting voices. Hubert Védrine, a former foreign minister, has said Turkey was not in Europe, "but in Asia Minor". If Europe does not draw the line, he suggested, "we will end up with a union of 40 countries, including Russia, the Ukraine, Turkey, the Balkan states and north Africa."
Germany's leaders have particular anxieties because of the country's estimated 2.5m immigrants of Turkish origin. One potent fear is that Turkish membership will bring many more Muslim immigrants to join families in German cities.
Politicians fear an anti-immigration backlash, in part because German immigration policy is still founded on assimilation rather than multi-culturalism, and there are widespread concerns over how easy it is for Turkish immigrants to settle into German society.
Last Friday, the conservative leader Edmund Stoiber told the CSU party conference: "Europe is a community that is based on western values. As a community of shared values, Europe has to deal with the question of its borders. These borders must be based on shared values, culture and history. Turkey's membership would breach these borders."
The left may not have quite that mentality, but still fear the power of anti-foreigner sentiment. Only some 500,000 Turkish Germans have citizenship, but their votes are in the pockets of the socialists and greens: a source of solid support that the chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, does not want to alienate. At the same time, he must avoid fuelling the right, which in practice has led the government to stay mute on the subject.
"It's such a big issue that everyone is looking to the big countries to give a political lead," said one official in Brus sels. "But not everyone wants to break cover."
Polls across Europe suggest voters are unhappy at the prospect of Turkey's membership. Eurobarometer polling this year showed 31% in favour and 47% against, making Turkey the most unpopular of all 13 appplicant countries. Some 55% of the French are against, and 51% of Germans are either opposed or say they don't know.
Many prominent figures on the European right would like Turkey to be offered a "special relationship" with the EU rather than full membership: "A super-best friend, with some aspects of social and economic integration... a best friend, ally and trusted partner, but not sitting at the top table," one diplomat said.
But the promises, rash though some may call them, have been made. As things stand, Britain, Italy and Spain - the countries, the Green MEP Daniel Cohn-Bendit says, "that are most sceptical about the European project" - are now at the more generous end of the political spectrum.
They have called for Turkey to be given a "rendezvous clause" at the Copenhagen summit promising to review the situation at date X, with a view to beginning accession negotiations on date Y. No one favours setting a firm date now for starting talks.
Britain argues that an increasingly multicultural Europe and a post-September 11 world threatened by a "clash of civilisations" will both benefit from EU membership for a democratic Muslim country.
The stakes are high. If France gets its way, the summit might agree to do no more than undertake to review Turkish prospects at some undefined point in the future. That would be a clear snub to the new Ankara government.
It feels increasingly strongly that Turkish efforts on
human rights and social and economic reforms over the past 18 months,
together with the promises of the new government on, for example, the
thorny problem of Cyprus, merit far more than that.
3. - New York Post - "Save Turkey from Europe":
27 November 2002 / by Jonathan Foreman
TURKEY planned to send troops into Kurdish areas of Northern Iraq in the event of an American-Iraqi war? It seems the U.S. government hasn't been paying enough attention to a vital ally.
The official reason for the incursion plan revealed last weekend was to pre-empt a massive influx of Kurdish refugees across the border into Turkey's restive Kurd-majority provinces.
The Iraqi Kurds have built a flourishing autonomous mini-state while protected from Saddam Hussein by U.S. and British air power, and could be vital U.S. allies in the coming war. But they suspect that the Turkish army and civilian establishment are really concerned with forestalling the establishment of an independent Kurdistan.
In any case, such a Turkish invasion would be disastrous for the allied war effort.
Fortunately, the new Turkish government seems to be more reasonable on the subject though it has yet to test its mettle against Turkey's military or foreign-policy establishments.
The United States must reassure Ankara that its support for the Iraqi Kurds does not at this time amount to support for an independent Kurdistan. It must also go ahead with plans to compensate Turkey for economic losses likely to be incurred in any U.S.-led war against Iraq.
And America should redouble its pressure on the European Union to stop backtracking on its invitation to Turkey to join the union and not keep piling on fresh requirements.
These things are necessary because Turkey will be a vital base for operations in any war to unseat Saddam Hussein assuming that American largesse can overcome that country's strong political and financial reasons for opposing such a war.
Indeed, how Turkey is treated now will also affect the balance of power between the West and its enemies for the next half century and beyond.
If Turkeys new ruling party - the Islamist-rooted AKP - shows that it can be trusted with political power won at the ballot box, this could herald the emergence of the first Islamic society to embrace both modernity and democracy, and to achieve a Western-style state. For now, the Turkish Army, which sees itself as the guardian of Turkey's secular state, seems prepared to trust the AKP to play by the rules (in striking contrast to the choice made by the Algerian army a few years ago).
The flourishing of a pro-Western Islamic democracy in Turkey would offer new hope for freedom and for peace from Southeast Asia to Western Europe.
But if the United States doesn't pay enough attention to Turkey, and if key European powers like France continue to be motivated by racism, religious bigotry and greed in their dealings with Turkey over the European Union, then the "Who lost China" debate of the '40s and '50s will pale before the anguish surrounding the question "Who lost Turkey?"
The Turks have been engaged in a brave 80-year experiment of secular modernization. They have been stalwart allies of the West within and outside the NATO alliance. (It's often forgotten that their army made a significant contribution to the war effort in Korea and is currently doing a fine job of peacekeeping in Kabul.)
But it would be all too easy for an alienated, economically
ailing Turkey, scorned by the West and still excessively concerned with
the supposed Kurdish threat to its integrity, to retreat into a rigorous
neutrality or even to join the ranks of our enemies.
4. - The Miami Herald - "We must help Turkey develop democracy":
26 November 2002 / by Anne Bartlett*
In Istanbul, young men and women dressed in bohemian black knock back raki liquor and listen to progressive jazz in a smoky Babylon nightclub in the Tünel neighborhood, the local answer to SoHo. It could be Frankfurt or Barcelona as easily as the biggest city in Turkey.
In the towns of Central Anatolia, hundreds of miles away, a majority of the women wear head scarves, as true-believing Muslim women are expected to do. Most people there are fasting during the daytime this month, observing Ramadan, called Ramazan in Turkish.
From Byzantine emperors to Ottoman sultans to the current secular republic created by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk nearly 80 years ago, Turkey has always been the grand bazaar where Europe and Asia confront each other. Sometimes, they clash. But more often, they blend, creating a uniquely interesting culture.
Now Turkey has a chance again to combine disparate elements into something new. On Nov. 3, its voters ousted their longtime leaders -- widely considered corrupt and incompetent -- and gave a parliamentary majority to a party with Islamic roots.
If the Justice and Development Party lives up to its rhetoric, it could provide a democratic model for moderate Muslims throughout the Middle East -- an alternative to the fundamentalist paths of Iran, al Qaeda or Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood.
The outcome of this experiment matters to Americans on a number of levels. Turkey is one of the few Middle Eastern countries with fairly good relations with Israel. It is a NATO ally, with bases crucial for any war with its neighbor, Iraq. Its problems with its Kurdish minority -- brutally repressed by the army in an intermittent civil war -- influence its position on Iraq because it fears regional instability will embolden the Kurds, who live on both sides of the Turkish-Iraqi border.
During a visit to Turkey this month, my traveling companions and I found appreciable excitement over the coming government change. Speeches by the new ministers were broadcast on loudspeakers in public squares and on buses; ordinary people in offices and restaurants stopped what they were doing to watch the developments on television.
Young people in particular seemed energized. The new government is going to fix the economy, they told us. Life will be better soon.
Such a quick fix is unlikely, given the country's extreme economic troubles, but the new regime nonetheless has much promise. The United States needs to do what it can to encourage its democratic instincts -- and discourage the aggressively anti-Islamic Turkish military from overreacting to mild efforts to allow more public displays of religious feeling.
The military, which sees itself as the guardian of Ataturk's legacy of westernization, is prone to step in when it's unhappy. It did so in 1960, 1970, 1980 and 1997.
It's understandable why officers might be wary. Many of the Justice leaders, including chairman Recep Tayyip Erdogan, were members of the religious-right party led by Necmettin Erbakan, whose ill-judged attempts to turn Turkey into an Islamic state led to the 1997 military intervention.
Erdogan was convicted then of ''subversion'' for reading a provocative poem. He is barred from government by the conviction, but the new prime minister, Abdullah Gul, has said he hopes to change that law.
So far, the Justice ministers are behaving more like pragmatic centrists than religious zealots. They are continuing Turkey's push to join the European Union, say they will make only small changes in the International Monetary Fund plan to improve the country's economy and pledge to end police use of torture.
Justice ''is not an Islamist party,'' Erdogan told the Turkish Daily News last week. ``We are a conservative democratic party. Islam cannot be the specification of a party because it means it abuses religion.''
But the party is committed to freedom of religious expression, and its first confrontation with the military might come over, of all things, those head scarves worn by so many Turkish women. The new government is expected to try to remove a ban against wearing the scarves in public universities. But the head scarves are a symbolic issue to the military, which sees any change as a first step toward dismantling Kemalism.
As we know in the United States, allowing people to freely express their beliefs -- religious, political or otherwise -- is a source of strength in a democracy, not an attempt to undermine the state. We need to help the Turks as they try to establish that principle in their own country.
*Anne Bartlett is The Herald's Miami-Dade politics
and government editor.
5. - Eurasianet - "Central Asian Diplomats see promise in new Turkish Leadership":
26 November 2002 / by Jim Bodgener*
Turkey’s newly-elected Justice and Development Party leaders continue to face obstacles in their country’s bid to join the European Union. For Central Asian diplomats in Ankara, though, the new government offers hope for improved economic and political ties.
The leader of the new ruling party, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has given signals that strengthening relations with Central Asian states is second only to progress with Turkey’s EU bid on his priority list, a senior Kazakh diplomatic source said. The EU bid appears stalled: on November 25, Finnish Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen echoed his Scandinavian neighbors by refusing to commit to a date for considering Turkey’s eligibility. The European Union expects to offer membership to as many as 10 countries in December.
Even though Erdogan warned of instability if the league spurns Turkey, diplomats say he seems prepared to forge closer ties with eastern neighbors. "[Former Foreign Minister] Ismail Cem had turned his back on Central Asia, and focused all his attention on Europe," the source said. "By contrast, Erdogan is again speaking about Turkey as being a bridge between civilizations." According to several Central Asian diplomats, Turkey can benefit the region regardless of the EU’s decision. If the league rejects it, Erdogan’s party may more energetically build ties to Central Asia. And if Turkey becomes an EU member, the thinking goes, it could supplant Russia as a bridge to Europe.
"We aren’t talking again about a revival of the Great Game, such as talked about in Turgut Ozal’s era, but similarities can be drawn," another Central Asian diplomatic source said, referring to the late President Turgut Ozal, who pioneered Turkey’s diplomatic thrust into Central Asia during the break-up of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. The difference a decade has wrought is that Turkey no longer seems poised to vie with the United States and Russia in a battle for hegemony in Central Asia. Instead, Turkey and Russia are both allies of the United States. And for the first time since 1987, a single party government promises a consistent policy toward Central Asian states.
That policy will almost certainly seek to facilitate energy projects such as the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which has begun construction. [For background, see the Eurasia Insight archive]. The pipeline aims to provide a corridor for oil transport independent of the Persian Gulf states and Russia. More generally, diplomats and analysts say the new government should be unified in a foreign policy outlook. This should bring a welcome change from prior coalition governments, in which Central Asia policy fell between the cracks of differing policy outlooks.
Analysts have noted that the new cabinet has conservative members and won many votes in Central Anatolia, a hub of Turkish nationalist and Pan-Turkic sentiment. Diplomats expect the new government to work hard on bolstering Turkey’s economy and security through constructive engagement with Central Asian states. "This time around we can expect a renewed emphasis on already established links in the economic sphere, particularly in energy transportation," the Kazkah diplomat said.
*Editor’s Note: Jim Bodgener is a freelance journalist
based in Ankara. From 1988 to 1991, he reported from Ankara for the
Financial Times.
6. - BBC - "Cyprus minister slams peace plan":
27 November 2002 / by Tabitha Morgan
Turkish Cypriots in favour of a United Nations plan to unite the divided island of Cyprus held a demonstration on Wednesday in northern Nicosia.
The Republic of Cyprus has already accepted the plan as the basis for a settlement.
But in a BBC interview, the foreign minister of the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state has categorically rejected the UN plan.
The idea was that the two sides would respond to the UN document by last week, ahead of next month's European Union enlargement summit, which will decide on Cyprus's membership application.
But Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash, who is recovering from heart surgery in New York, has yet to reply.
Under pressure
Mr Denktash is said to be coming under intense pressure from the Turkish Government and others to accept a plan which would involve Turkish Cypriots relinquishing territory and see the establishment of a Swiss-style federal government on the island.
While it is still not clear what Mr Denktash's eventual response will be, Turkish Cypriot Foreign Minister Tahsin Ertugrul is adamant that the plan is flawed and unacceptable.
"This is not a peace plan," he told the BBC, he said.
"It will create unrest and turmoil. It is not a document that can be accepted by us as a basis for negotiations - frankly it is disastrous."
Mr Ertugrul also rejected the plan's proposal that Greek and Turkish Cypriots would one day be able to live alongside one another, adding that this could only lead to the Greek Cypriot majority dominating the island.
The foreign minister added that Mr Denktash's response to the UN Secretary-General was most unlikely to be positive.
While there is much debate on both sides of the divided
island, most Cypriots remain unclear about what the UN plan's implementation
would involve.