14
October 2002
EU accession talks but it did not close the door on its strategic ally, experts and diplomats in Brussels said.
2. "IMF waits on Turkey election", the International Monetary Fund will confirm today that it will lend no more money to Turkey until the country can demonstrate after November 3 elections that it will stick to a $16bn economic stabilisation programme.
3. "EU rejects U.S. criticism over 'No' to Turkey", the European Commission defended its refusal to set EU candidate Turkey a date for opening membership talks and chided the United States for trying to intervene on behalf of its NATO ally.
4. "Turkey: our most underappreciated ally", for more than two decades, Turkey has been working to qualify for membership in the European Union. Apparently, the 15 EU member-nations think Turkey hasn't made the grade, because in announcing its plan to admit 10 new members within the next two years, the European Union conspicuously left Turkey off the list.
5. "Turkey urges U.S. not to back Kurd state", Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit has warned the United States not to encourage Iraqi Kurds to found their own state as that could force Turkey to intervene to protect its interests.
6. "How Ocalan fell victim to CIA ops in Africa, Levant and Europe", on February 16, 1999, the Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit startled his country with the news that the Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan was in Turkey, “since 3 a.m. this morning.”1. “The operation,” he went on to say, “has been accomplished thanks to a close and harmonious cooperation between the Turkish Intelligence Organization and the Turkish General Staff.”
1.
- AFP - "Door remains open for Turkey's EU accession: experts":
BRUSSELS / 14 October 2002 / by Leon Bruneau
The European Commission may have angered Turkey last week by not
setting a date for the opening of EU accession talks but it did not
close the door on its strategic ally, experts and diplomats in Brussels
said.
The commission formally recommended Wednesday the entry of 10 countries
into the European Union by 2004 but snubbed Ankara's demand for a
start date to accession talks. The Commission cited Turkey's "considerable
progress" but added that Ankara "had not fulfilled the political
criteria" necessary to start negotiations.
The issue now rests in the hands of the EU's 15 heads of state, who
will reach a decision during their December summit in Copenhagen.
Turkey reacted angrily to the news last week, with President Ahmet
Necdet Sezer calling on EU leaders to show "common sense"
by setting a date.
Foreign Minister Sukru Sina Gurel warned again that failure to get
a green light at the Copenhagen summit would strain Turkish-EU relations,
specifically on the issue of the divided island of Cyprus, which was
among the 10 countries approved by the commission.
The strategic eastern Mediterranean island has been divided along
ethnic lines since 1974 when Turkey invaded its northern part in response
to an Athens-engineered military coup in Nicosia aimed at uniting
the island with Greece.
European leaders have since tried to soothe relations with Turkey,
with Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen saying "the
door remains open."
Denmark holds the EU's rotating presidency.
A European diplomat said "the accession engine is running"
and will be hard to stop, adding that he predicted Turkey would gain
entry by 2015.
But like the majority of his colleagues, the diplomat admitted that
it would be "politically impossible" for leaders to set
a date in Copenhagen.
Michael Emerson, an expert at the Center for European Policy Studies
in Brussels, said the 15 EU countries will await the results of Turkey's
upcoming November 3 legislative elections, with an eye toward measuring
the support received by Islamist opposition parties.
The EU message "is to say, 'Dear Turkey, you may get a date but
first we will await the results of the elections ... And you must
also help us find a solution' on Cyprus," Emerson said.
"The EU is worried about the entry of a politically and socially
unstable country that could capsize the ship," he said.
With a population of more than 65 million, a majority of whom are
Muslim, Turkey would be the second-largest EU country behind Germany.
Demographic
estimates suggest Turkey would pass Germany in the near-term.
"Public opinion is not ready to accept Turkey," said a high-level
European official, adding that "giving such a signal right now
would risk endangering" the 2004 enlargement by complicating
the accession treaty's ratification.
"The main topic in Copenhagen will be Turkey," the official
said. "The summit's bad news would be to say that the Turks will
soon enter. The good news would be if we do not give this signal."
The US has complicated the issue by expressing its dismay that the
Commission had failed to set a date for Turkey -- a key NATO ally
that shares borders with Iraq, Iran and Syria. Washington called on
Brussels to open negotiations with Ankara as soon as possible.
Representatives of the Bush administration in Brussels recently tried
to influence the EU's position, a diplomatic source said, adding that
"we will obviously not set a date just because the Americans
asked for one."
2. - Financial Times - "IMF waits on Turkey election":
By Leyla Boulton / 14 October 2002
The International Monetary Fund will confirm today that it will lend no more money to Turkey until the country can demonstrate after November 3 elections that it will stick to a $16bn economic stabilisation programme.
"It's clear by now that we will not disburse [the next $1.6bn loan tranche] before the election," said one official, speaking as Juha Kahkonen, the IMF's Turkey desk chief, was completing his latest review of progress in implementing the three-year programme.
Turkey has so far honoured all its IMF-agreed monetary targets and
is on track to reach this year's inflation and growth targets. But
the IMF will want to confirm Ankara's continuing commitment to the
programme and its tough fiscal stance.
3. - Reuters - "EU rejects U.S. criticism over 'No' to Turkey":
"I do not agree with this kind of intervention and I believe this was unfortunate. We will take our position by ourselves. We know what the US thinks (on Turkey)," said Eneko Landaburu, the Commission's director-general for enlargement
BRÜSSELS / 11 October 2002
The European Commission defended its refusal to set EU candidate Turkey a date for opening membership talks and chided the United States for trying to intervene on behalf of its NATO ally.
In its annual enlargement report published on Wednesday, the EU executive said 10 candidates, including the divided island of Cyprus, could join the bloc in 2004, but it told Turkey it had to make more reforms before it could start accession talks.
The U.S. State Department, mindful of Turkey's geopolitical importance as a war with Iraq looms, urged the European Union to reach out more to Ankara. Separately, the U.S. special envoy on Cyprus, Tom Weston, said the EU should be fair to Turkey.
"I do not agree with this kind of intervention and I believe this was unfortunate. We will take our position by ourselves. We know what the United States thinks (on Turkey)," Eneko Landaburu, the Commission's director-general for enlargement, told Reuters in an interview.
"We respect them and are keen to listen to them but they should not make some public declaration in the press," he added.
The Commission is sensitive to U.S. claims that it does not take fully into account Turkey's geopolitical role as a bridge between Europe and the Middle East and its status as one of the very few secular democracies in the Muslim world.
EU diplomats, many of them uncomfortable with the idea of trying to absorb such a large, impoverished country of nearly 70 million, insist that Turkey must meet the same economic and political criteria for membership as any other candidate.
Not Christian club
In its report, the Commission praised recent reforms in Turkey, including its abolition of the death penalty in peacetime, but said it was not yet ready to open negotiations.
It listed as obstacles Turkey's continuing restrictions on religious and media freedom, poor jail conditions and the lack of full civilian control of the country's powerful armed forces.
"Despite all the progress made...not all the elements are fulfilled (for opening talks)," said Landaburu, a Spaniard.
But he added that Turkey, in his view, should be allowed to join the EU once it fulfilled all the conditions of membership, despite reservations among, for example, some German Christian Democrats that a Muslim country does not belong inside the EU.
"I personally strongly believe the EU is not a club of Christian peoples...If a country shares (the EU's democratic) values...and is European, there should be no obstacle to it joining the family," Landaburu said.
Landaburu said the main threat for enlargement now was an Irish referendum set for October 19 on the Nice Treaty, which adapts EU institutions to a bigger Union. The Commission says a 'No' vote would delay, or even scupper, the expansion plans.
"(In the event of a 'No' vote) we will have eurosceptics saying 'enough is enough, we are going too fast with enlargement'. And on the other side, the federalists will say it is time to deepen the existing Union before widening it. They will say we need to put our house in order first," he said.
"Both these viewpoints will point in the same direction, which
is to block or delay enlargement," he said.
4. - The Washington Times - "Turkey: our most underappreciated ally":
12 October 2002
For more than two decades, Turkey has been working to qualify for
membership in the European Union. Apparently, the 15 EU member-nations
think Turkey hasn't made the grade, because in announcing its plan
to admit 10 new members within the next two years, the European Union
conspicuously left Turkey off the list. Two questions must be asked.
First, what is behind the European Union's rejection of the only Muslim
member of NATO? Second, what is the effect of the union's continued
rejection of Turkey on NATO?
Europe's pronouncement based the latest snub on Turkey's human-rights
record, but that appears to be more an excuse than a reason. Greece,
an EU member and longtime adversary of Turkey over control of Cyprus,
may have reheated that conflict through EU action. Turkey invaded
Cyprus in 1974, reacting to a Greek-Cypriot military coup aimed at
uniting the island with Greece. Now, the European Union included Cyprus
(meaning the Greek-Cypriot government) among the nations to be admitted
in 2004. America has no direct interest in which nations belong to
the union, but to the extent that that affects Turkey's role as a
military ally, our interests are definitely in play. U.S. advocacy
of Turkish membership in the union has apparently fallen on the same
deaf European ears as other American military concerns have.
Rising tensions between the United States and Europe result from policy
battles affecting NATO directly and threatening its future as a military
alliance. A few years ago, the union announced it would form its own
military force, intended to be independent from NATO and from American
influence. Though skeptical, we encouraged Europe to do this in order
to encourage EU nations to invest more in their own defense. The EU
force de frappe has not materialized, because that investment still
is not being made. In the recent battle over the International Criminal
Court (ICC), President Bush demanded immunity from ICC prosecution
for all American soldiers and officials. Europe backed down, but only
after several heated exchanges and a presidential threat to veto U.N.
peacekeeping missions if immunity were not granted. The EU rejection
of Turkey seems to be made without concern for that nation's value
as a military ally.
Turkey's troubled economy and imperfect human rights record are insufficient
to justify this rejection. Turkey retains its position as our most
underappreciated ally. Turkey's support in the war on terror is important,
both symbolically and substantively. As our most prominent Muslim
ally, it serves as proof that we are fighting a war on terror, not
on Islam. Turkey's strategic location on Iraq's northern border makes
it a key to our success in the coming campaign. Moreover, Turkey is
now taking over the military peacekeeping task in Afghanistan, freeing
up American troops for other duties. American interests would be well-served
by EU acceptance of Turkey. In its absence, the president should consider
how we can lower trade barriers with Turkey and otherwise strengthen
our economic relationship with an ally that is usually more faithful
than many others.
5.
- Reuters - "Turkey urges U.S. not to back Kurd state":
ANKARA / 12 October 2002
By Claudia Parsons
Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit has warned the United States not to encourage Iraqi Kurds to found their own state as that could force Turkey to intervene to protect its interests.
Turkey and the Iraqi Kurds would both be key allies in any U.S. action to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and both are expected to drive a hard bargain for their support.
NATO-member Turkey fears turmoil on its borders in the event of a U.S.-led war could spread unrest among its own Kurdish population if the Iraqi Kurds take advantage of the chaos to push for an independent Kurdish state in northern Iraq.
"On the Iraq issue, things have got out of hand," Ecevit told reporters on Saturday during a party meeting as part of the election campaign for November 3 polls.
Late on Friday Ecevit had warned the United States to be careful in its dealings with the Iraqi Kurds.
"Is the point for Turkey to intervene the point when a state is declared and recognised by European states?" Ecevit said in an interview with Star TV, quoted by Anatolian news agency.
"It seems like that point is coming. We have to be very careful. We have to warn the U.S. administration about that. I hope the U.S. will be more careful about the issue," he said.
Turkey already allows U.S. and British warplanes to use an airbase in the south to patrol a no-fly zone over northern Iraq set up after the 1991 Gulf War and Washington is expected to seek more support from Turkey if it goes to war in Iraq.
Washington would also be looking for the Iraqi Kurds, who have ruled
northern Iraq outside Baghdad's control since the Gulf War, to help
in any campaign against Iraq.
TENSE RELATIONSHIP
Relations are tense between the two potential allies, Turkey and the Iraqi Kurds. Ankara is deeply suspicious of recent moves to improve relations between the two main Iraqi Kurd factions which led to the first meeting of a regional parliament since 1996 earlier this month.
The two Kurdish parties have agreed on a draft constitution for a federal Iraq including references to a flag, a presidency and the oil-rich city of Kirkuk as regional capital.
"It really is a worrying situation and one that we can not accept,"
Ecevit said.
The Iraqi Kurds deny they are seeking an independent state.
Turkey has fought its own Kurdish separatist movement since 1984 at the cost of 30,000 lives, though the fighting has died down since the capture of rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan in 1999.
Ecevit has repeatedly urged the United States to avoid war, which Turkey fears would also damage its already fragile economy by scaring away tourists and foreign investors.
"We have very good relations and a strong dialogue with United States. If a military operation is realised, we will be involved in it whether or not we want to be. This will bring many problems to Turkey," Ecevit was quoted as saying on Friday.
"We want peace in our region and our borders. And we don't want our soldiers to be harmed unless there is a need," he said on Saturday.
U.S. President George Bush won full congressional support this week
for a military strike against Iraq if necessary. Washington is now
trying to persuade the United Nations Security Council to adopt a
tough new resolution on weapons inspections.
6. - KurdishMedia.com - "How Ocalan fell victim to CIA ops in Africa, Levant and Europe":
By Kani Xulam / 10 October 2002
Smashing the Kurds; CIA Role in Kidnapping Abdullah Ocalan
Covert Action Quarterly, Number 74, fall 2002
On February 16, 1999, the Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit startled his country with the news that the Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan was in Turkey, “since 3 a.m. this morning.”1. “The operation,” he went on to say, “has been accomplished thanks to a close and harmonious cooperation between the Turkish Intelligence Organization and the Turkish General Staff.”2.
If true, the Turks had reason to celebrate the exploits of their agencies the way they did in Ankara, Istanbul, Izmir and other Turkish cities by dancing in the streets to the tunes of jingoistic Turkish songs. When a reporter asked the Prime Minister, “In which country was he [Mr. Ocalan] last?” Mr. Ecevit said, “We are not going to go into any detail on this subject.” As a former journalist himself, it was odd for him to add, “I ask you not to be inquisitive about it.”3.
The Turks, the Kurds, the reporters and many others were inquisitive about it because a number of Greek and Kenyan missions had come under heavy attack by angry Kurdish militants especially in Europe. Ms. Semsi Kilic, an associate of Mr. Ocalan in Nairobi, Kenya, had already tipped some Kurdish reporters in Europe to the news of the abduction of the Kurdish leader adding that the Greeks and the Kenyans had conspired against him.
But if the latter account was correct, and the angry Kurds thought it was, the Turkish Prime Minister was duping the reporters in Ankara for thanking the wrong parties for the “good” news. But as the real parties to the abduction spoke, gradually, it became obvious that Ms. Kilic herself had not exactly known what had really happened in Nairobi, Kenya.
The day after the abduction, the Kurds, reacting to the news in some of the European dailies that perhaps Israeli agents were also involved in the kidnapping of their leader, attacked the Israeli Consulate in Berlin, Germany.4. The armed Israeli guards fired live ammunition on the flag- and picture-waving Kurdish crowd. Ahmet Acar, Sema Alp, and Mustafa Kurt were killed.5.
On February 17, the United States government felt compelled to issue a travel advisory reminding Americans “residing or travelling abroad…to review their personal security.”6.
The State Department was wary. Mr. Ecevit was circumspect. The Kurds, it became obvious to many, had learned nothing from their history and had allowed themselves to become the laughingstock of the world again, this time, live and free, courtesy of CNN, regrettably.
On February 18, the New York Times reported some progress on the Turkish front of what had happened to Mr. Ocalan and noted the following musings of the Turkish leader Ecevit at another press conference: “I will use a local expression and say, ‘let us eat the grape and not ask where it came from.’“7.
A day later, when asked specifically about Washington’s role again, he said, “I can’t reveal that…But you can make your own guess.”8.
In fact, there was no need to guess. The next day, the New York Times
reported on its front page, “U.S. helped Turkey find and capture
Kurd Rebel.”9. A senior American official who “demanded”
anonymity went on to describe how Ocalan was “discovered”
in Nairobi, Kenya, and how Ankara was then alerted about its archenemy.10.
Nothing was said about the Greek connection. The Kenyan missions in
Europe remained closed, and Nairobi declared the Greek Ambassador
to Kenya, George Kostoulas, persona non grata.11. The Israelis, like
the Kenyans, denied culpability and noted, “…we certainly
had no part in the capture of Ocalan.”12. The Greek Embassy in
Washington felt compelled to issue a press release blaming Ocalan
for the misfortune that befell him.13.
On February 20, the Kurdish daily Ozgur Politika published an interview
with Semsi Kilic, the eyewitness to Mr. Ocalan’s abduction, under
the byline of Cemal Ucar. Ms. Kilic blamed the Greek government, especially
its foreign minister, Mr. Theodoros Pangalos, for the cause celebre
in Turkey. His office, she told Mr. Ucar, gave us assurances that,
“…with
the prepared plane [at the airport], you [Ocalan] will be able to
fly anywhere in Europe.”14.
Ms. Kilic was not allowed to accompany Mr. Ocalan. The Kenyan police
who had come to escort the Kurdish leader insisted that he alone was
getting the “ride.” Ambassador George Kostoulas who wanted
to see his guest off at the airport was equally rebuffed. To the waiting
arms of the Turkish commandos the Kurdish leader was delivered in
one piece.
Six days later, the Greek Ambassador wrote for his government an account of what had happened in his residence, the last stop of Mr. Ocalan’s odyssey back to Turkey. That account was later leaked to the press.15 The emerging picture showed his government desperate to disassociate itself from Ocalan, the Kurds baffled and impervious to the intrigue that surrounded them, and the Ambassador himself often clueless about Athens’ ultimate intention to cooperate with all but the Kurds.
No independent body has appointed a commission to undertake a study of what happened in Nairobi, Kenya.
Nevertheless, after the debacle, there was fallout in Athens. Three ministers of the Simitis administration were sacked, including the acerbic foreign minister Theodoros Pangalos. A Greek parliamentary committee that investigated the Greek side of the events blamed private Greek citizens for breaches of law in welcoming and harboring the Kurdish rebel in Greece. If the Kurds were awaiting an apology, it did not come.
For the time being, a report that hit the wires on February 28, 1999 came as close to full disclosure as any fact-finding investigation that the Kurds could hope for. “Disrupting Terrorists,” by Associated Press writer John Diamond, began, “Frustrated by restrictions on using military force against terrorists, the United States is turning to a lower-profile tactic. The CIA calls it ‘disruption’—working with foreign law-enforcement services to harass and hamper terrorists around the world.…
“…Disruption has the advantage of utmost secrecy, hiding the hand of the United States and avoiding the cumbersome congressional reporting requirements that go with CIA-directed covert operations…The recent arrest by Turkish forces in Kenya of Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan is one of the rare examples where the disruption tactic gained public notice.”16.
Perhaps the most telling part of the whole Ocalan episode was the name he was given in the fake passport that the Greeks had issued him. When the Turks seized him, they confiscated the document and shared it with the world. He had the name of Lazaros. His cover was the diseased pauper in the biblical parable of the rich man and the beggar. The Greek leaders, lacking honor, treated Mr. Ocalan like a vagabond. They were glad to be rid of him.
And the irony doesn’t end with the Greeks. It actually started with the Turks. In the 1920s, the founder of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal, with an unbecoming modesty had assumed the last name of Ataturk, the father of Turks, for himself. He and his officials trotted the country and gave Turks and Kurds alike new Turkish last names. The name Ocalan, which means avenger, was given to Mr. Ocalan’s family.
In 1998, the Turkish President Suleyman Demirel accused the Kurdish leader and his fighters of killing 5,555 Turkish personnel.17. The Kurdish losses are often dismissed, and estimates vary, but the Turkish human rights activists often cite figures of over 30,000 dead, close to four thousand Kurdish villages destroyed and some four million Kurds rendered homeless seeking refuge in large Kurdish or Turkish cities or abroad. This writer has heard more than one Kurd quip that the avenger, Mr. Ocalan, only tried to live up to his name.
Kani Xulam is Director of American Kurdish Information Network (AKIN) in Washington, DC, and has been active for many years in defense of Kurdish rights. He is currently consulting for a forthcoming feature film about the Kurdish people.
1.Greece and PKK Terrorism II, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ankara,
April 1999, p. 66
2. Greece and PKK Terrorism II, p. 67
3. Greece and PKK Terrorism II, p. 67
4. Editorial, Farce and Tragedy for Apo, Il Faglio, Italy, February
17, 1999
5. Special to Ozgur Politika, Here is a Murderer [the photograph of
an Israeli Agent], Ozgur Politika, February 21, 1999, p. 1
6. U.S. Issues Travel Warning, Philip Shenon, New York Times, February
18, 1999
7. Roger Cohen, 3 Kurds Killed by Israeli Guards in Berlin, New York
Times, February 18, 1999, p. 1
8. Vernon Loeb, U.S. Tip to Turkey Led To Capture of Ocalan, The Washington
Post, February 21, 1999, p. A27
9. Tim Weiner, U.S. Helped Turkey Find and Capture Kurd Rebel, The
New York Times, February 20, 1999, p. 1
10. Tim Weiner, U.S. Helped Turkey Find and Capture Kurd Rebel, The
New York Times, February 20, 1999, p. 1
11. Kieran Murray, Kenya says had no role in Ocalan’s capture,
Reuters, February 16, 1999
12. Joel Greenberg, Israel Denies Role but Fears Reprisals for Ties
to Turkey, The New York Times, February 18, 1999
13. Embassy of Greece Press Release, February 16, 1999
14. Cemal Ucar, Ozgur Politika, February 23, 1999, p. 8
15. The report was leaked to the press. The Greek daily Ta Nea published
it on March 6, 1999. The American Kurdish Information Network got
a copy of it as well.
16. John Diamond, Disrupting Terrorists, Associated Press, February
28, 1999
17. Nadire Mater, Mehmedin Kitabi, Metis Yayinlari, Ucuncu Basim,
Istanbul, Turkey, 1999, p. 257
The American Kurdish Information Network (AKIN)
2600 Connecticut Avenue NW # 1
Washington, DC 20008-1558 / USA
Tel: 202.483.6444 / Fax: 202.483.6476
Web-site: http://www.kurdistan.org/
E-mail: akin@kurdistan.org