3 September 2002

1. "New PKK organizations in Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria to unify Kurds", KADEK is now an umbrella for the Kurds in the Middle East! New name of PKK/KADEK in Turkey is Turkey Society and Civilization Party from now on.

2. "EU enlargement views on Turkey "ill-timed": Turkey FM", Turkey voiced disappointment on Monday about what it called "strangely ill-timed" comments by a top EU official on its bid for membership in the European body. EU Enlargement Commissioner Guenter Verheugen's vague comments over the weekend about when accession talks with Ankara could begin were "strangely ill-timed," Turkish Foreign Minister Sukru Sina Gurel told NTV television network.

3. "Bargaining season opens over Cyprus, EU", Ankara is telling UN, US and EU that it does not want 'surprise' developments on Cyprus. As UN Secretary-General Annan decides to postpone to December presenting Denktas and Clerides a new set of ideas for a Cyprus resolution, Washington weary of a deadlock over Cyprus, asks Ankara and Athens to use their influence on Cypriot parties and facilitate a settlement Papandreou has reportedly told Gurel on telephone that Greece will lend support to the Turkish push to get a date for the start of EU accession talks if Ankara shows flexibility and don't object to Greek Cypriot EU accession. Ankara, however, stresses that Greek Cypriot EU accession will be incompatible with the 1960 treaties and will accelerate Turkey-KKTC integration

4. "Kurdish leader says US is going forward with plans to topple Saddam", the United States is moving forward with plans to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, but breakaway Iraqi Kurds will not seek independence if the Baghdad regime is ousted, a senior Iraqi Kurdish leader said here on Monday.

5. "Bad news for HADEP", the president of the Constitution Court, Mustafa Bumin, has made a statement that will ruin all accounts and interests of the parties. Bumin said that the decision could be taken about HADEP shutdown case,which was opened approximately 3.5 years ago, before the election on November 3.

6. "The “Turkish Problem” for Kurds and Greek Cypriots", increasingly as discussion of a US-led war on Iraq intensifies and the possible role in it of the Iraqi Kurds returns to the spotlight, so is Turkish nationalist extremism rearing its ugly and obstinate old head not only towards the Kurds in Iraq, but also towards HADEP supporters in Turkey as elections approach, and Greek Cypriots as the EU tightens the screws on membership negotiations.

1. - Turkish Daily News - "New PKK organizations in Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria to unify Kurds":

KADEK is now an umbrella for the Kurds in the Middle East! New name of PKK/KADEK in Turkey is Turkey Society and Civilization Party from now on.

ANKARA / 3 September 2002 / by Murat Unlu

Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) which changed its name to Kurdistan Freedom and Democracy Congress (KADEK) established four different new organizations in Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria in order to unify the Kurds in the region and to act more freely.

A source who did not want to be identified said that the PKK established four different organizations under the umbrella of KADEK in the region, and identified their names as Turkey Society and Civilization Party in Turkey, Kurdistan Democratic Solution Party in Northern Iraq, Kurdistan Freedom and Brotherhood Movement in Iran and Selahaddin Eyyubi Movement in Syria.

The same source said that the goal of these type of organizations was explained by KADEK as, "to organize the Kurds living in Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria and to unify them on the basis of 'Democratic Middle East Union'."

The source stated that Turkey Society and Civilization Party was acting in Turkey illegally in place of the terrorist organization PKK/KADEK and have five hundred terrorists in strategic mountainous areas of Turkey.

The source pointed out that the PKK/KADEK's strategy had changed after their congress in April and said: "After this congress the terrorist organization decided to carry out its activities in the regional countries: Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria, aiming to unify them afterwards and also that this decision demonstrates the pan-Kurdist structure of the organization.

On the other hand it was reported on Sunday by Turkish press that PKK/KADEK which has terrorist militants especially on the mountainous areas of Northern Iraq, was continuing its activities under the PCDK name especially in Erbil and Duhok, cities of Northern Iraq which were under control of Mesoud Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party.

It was also reported that two members of PCDK were killed near Suleymaniye city which was under the control of Celal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the killers could not be identified, and added that PCDK members were attending programs on Medya TV (a Kurdish television channel which is being supported by PKK/KADEK) to explain their views.

2. - AFP - "EU enlargement views on Turkey "ill-timed": Turkey FM":

ANKARA / 2 September 2002

Turkey voiced disappointment on Monday about what it called "strangely ill-timed" comments by a top EU official on its bid for membership in the European body. EU Enlargement Commissioner Guenter Verheugen's vague comments over the weekend about when accession talks with Ankara could begin were "strangely ill-timed," Turkish Foreign Minister Sukru Sina Gurel told NTV television network.

"Turkey has done everything it could do, if not more," Gurel said, to fulfill certain political criteria required by the 15-member European bloc in order to begin formal talks on membership. Ankara claims it has fulfilled EU demands by passing reforms in parliament last month, including the abolition of the death penalty and the attribution of cultural rights to Turkey's sizeable Kurdish minority. But Verheugen, while praising the reforms, told AFP on Saturday: "We are not hiding the fact that we need to see adequate applicability."

Verheugen added: "I do not believe that we will have a track record before the end of the year which is sufficient to make a final judgment" regarding the talks. Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit on Sunday renewed a call for talks to begin by year-end, responding to the EU official by saying: "If what Verheugen said is true, it would be a great injustice to Turkey." Gurel said it was up to EU officials to make a gesture toward Turkey, and not vice versa, adding that he did not understand why officials would "doubt Turkey's willingness" to join the European Union.

Turkey has fallen behind the 12 other candidate states in its membership bid, hampered by major political obstacles. In addition to human rights issues, the powerful role of the military has proved a sticking point. The staunchly secular military participates in political decision-making through its membership in the country's top security body, the National Security Council. It has carried out three coups since 1960 and was instrumental in forcing the resignation of the country's first Islamist-led government in 1997.

The military has also fought Kurdish rebels since 1984 and cautioned that EU-demanded democracy reforms -- namely those expanding minority rights for the Kurds -- should not serve to fan Kurdish separatism. Advancing Turkey's EU bid may also depend on whether a strong pro-EU government emerges from a legislative election due on November 3, advanced from a previously scheduled April 2004 date. Doubts also persist over whether Ankara will be given the green light without a resolution to the longstanding conflict on Cyprus, a front-runner for EU membership which has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded its northern third.

3. - Turkish Daily News - "Bargaining season opens over Cyprus, EU":

Ankara is telling UN, US and EU that it does not want 'surprise' developments on Cyprus. As UN Secretary-General Annan decides to postpone to December presenting Denktas and Clerides a new set of ideas for a Cyprus resolution, Washington weary of a deadlock over Cyprus, asks Ankara and Athens to use their influence on Cypriot parties and facilitate a settlement Papandreou has reportedly told Gurel on telephone that Greece will lend support to the Turkish push to get a date for the start of EU accession talks if Ankara shows flexibility and don't object to Greek Cypriot EU accession. Ankara, however, stresses that Greek Cypriot EU accession will be incompatible with the 1960 treaties and will accelerate Turkey-KKTC integration

ANKARA / 2 September 2002 / by Yusuf Kanli

An intense bargaining season has started over Turkey's place in Europe and the future of the Mediterranean island of Cyprus.

The next four months will be very crucial for Turkey's European Union bid as well as for Cyprus developments since efforts to work out a solution on the eastern Mediterranean island will reach a climax while Ankara will either get a date and maintain its hopes for a possible accession in 2007 or will continue knocking on the European door without a membership perspective.

Annoyed with statements from northern Cyprus and Ankara that if the European Union goes along with the plans and spells out a date for Greek Cypriot accession at its December Copenhagen summit Ankara and the Turkish Republic of northern Cyprus (KKTC) would accelerate their integration, Washington and London on the one hand, Brussels on the other, as well as United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan have started to build up pressure on the Turkish government and Turkish Cypriot President Rauf Denktas.

In the latest talks with United Nations Cyprus Envoy Alvaro de Soto, American State Department Cyprus Coordinator Thomas Weston and British Cyprus special envoy Sir David Hannay, as well as with EU officials, Ankara and northern Cyprus has reportedly underlined that they did not want "surprise" developments on Cyprus.

President Denktas, in latest talks with both De Soto and Hannay has reportedly stressed that whatever the cost would be he would reject any imposition.

Annan, according to well-placed sources, has postponed his intention of submitting a "non-paper" outline for a Cyprus settlement. The new U.N. "set of ideas" sources said was to be presented to Denktas and Clerides when the secretary-general met the two leaders in Paris on Sept. 6, but taking into consideration the forthcoming elections in Turkey, Annan has postponed presenting the "non-paper" until December.

"The U.N. chief is not going to present any proposals at the Paris encounter but he is likely to sound out the two leaders on his intention to do so," a source said.

According to sources, the "set of ideas" will offer a basis for a solution and will be presented in the form of the ultimatum: "Take it or leave it".

According to diplomatic sources, if the Greek side accepts the U.N. proposal -- even if the Turks don't -- the path will be clear for Greek Cypriots to join the EU.

Turkish Cypriot President Denktas, on the other hand, may unveil in the days ahead a new and comprehensive package for a Cyprus settlement, well-placed sources said. The new offer by Denktas, which was expected to be presented to the Greek Cypriot side late last month, but was delayed, would cover all aspects of the Cyprus problem, the sources said.

The direct talks between the two sides on Cyprus, which was initiated by Denktas and has been continuing since Jan. 16, have so far failed to produce a substantive breakthrough, although both sides acknowledge that on many aspects of the almost 40-year-old power sharing problem between the two peoples of the island, the two sides are closer to a deal than ever.

Still, the sides, according to well-placed sources, remain far apart, among some other minor issues, particularly on issues related to governance -- Turkish Cypriots want a confederation of two sovereign states while Greek Cypriots want a unitary federation --, "reinstitution of property rights" -- Turkish Cypriots refuse accept the "right to return" for Greek Cypriot refugees and offer a compensation and exchange of property scheme while Greek Cypriots insist on return of "majority" of refugees to their former homes in northern Cyprus-and future role of the United Nations peacekeepers -- Greek Cypriots want the U.N. force permanently stay on the island and oversee the implementation of the settlement accord while Turkish Cypriots say U.N. force could stay for some time on Cyprus after the settlement but cannot be given the permanent status of overseeing a settlement as such a move would be in contradiction with the principle of sovereignty.

The continued stalemate in the talks and the approaching December deadline, on the other hand, has started forcing the two sides to follow a tougher line. While Greek Cypriot leader Glafcos Clerides and senior executives of his administration publicly have been stressing that they would never accept a settlement that would give sovereignty to the Turkish Cypriot state, Ankara and northern Cyprus has started to talk of "tit for tat" action against possible Greek Cypriot unilateral EU accession.

According to Ankara and northern Cyprus, the 1960 treaties that gave birth to the Cyprus Republic clearly rule out "in part or whole" membership of the island in any economic, political or military organization in which both Turkey and Greece are already members.

While Britain, one of the guarantor powers of the 1960 accords together with Greece and Turkey, has been stressing that the treaties did not bar the island from entering the EU, Ankara has been saying that such a move would be incompatible with international law.

Ankara has declared earlier this summer that it would not accept such a unilateral EU accession by Greek Cypriots and could annex northern Cyprus in retaliation.

Such a move by Ankara, on the other hand, would seriously hamper Turkey's own ambition of becoming a member of the European Union.

Irish referendum

While an island is complicating Turkey's EU accession prospects, another island may perhaps be holding the key that could effectively prevent an all-out confrontation between Turkey and Brussels.

According to an August 19-21 survey by the Reuters news agency with leading 36 economists and political analysts, the expansion plans of the EU could fall victim to an Irish referendum, besides a set of other factors including high cost of financing, and Brussels may be compelled to postpone enlargement designs beyond January 2004.

Last year, Irish voters unexpectedly rejected the Nice Treaty, whose changes to EU voting and other administrative arrangements are needed to make enlargement manageable. Another referendum is due around October, and a second rejection could lead to a delay in the bloc's expansion plans.

If the Irish referendum on the Nice Treaty fails, the immediate fall out on the accession plans of the EU would be that the relevant points, such as the number of seats in the European Parliament each accession country gets, would have to be written into accession treaties. Thus, the enlargement plans of Brussels will have to be postponed by at least a year.

Postponement of the EU enlargement plans would on the one hand ease the Turkish pressure on Brussels to give it a date for the start of accession talks, while postponing for at least one year a possible confrontation between the EU and Turkey over the eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus while also providing some additional time to peacemaking talks between Denktas and Clerides.

While the U.S. and British envoys have been touring Ankara, Athens and the two parts on Cyprus to advise restraint and urge all four asides to be more forthcoming and contribute to a resolution of the Cyprus problem, there have been intense diplomatic contacts by both Ankara and Athens also.

Greek offer

Greek Prime Minister Kostas Simitis is preparing to launch a tour of European capitals this week to explain to his European counterparts the merits of allowing Greek Cypriots in at the December Copenhagen summit, his Foreign Minister George Papandreou telephoned last week his Turkish counterpart Sukru Sina Gurel to explain that Greece would help Turkey to get a date for the start of accession talks if Ankara showed flexibility on Greek Cypriot EU accession.

Sukru Gurel, on the other hand, is launching today a month-long program which would take him in stages to almost all European capitals to explain Turkey's right to get a date for the start of accession talks as Ankara has completed with the latest reforms the Copenhagen criteria while on the other hand telling European colleagues that Turkey's reaction to the Greek Cypriot EU entry "will not have a limit."

Gurel will explain to his European counterparts that Ankara has fulfilled all its pledges to Brussels and has fully complied with the Copenhagen criteria and now expects the EU give it a date for the start of accession talks.

After heavy pressure from the EU and the United States, the Turkish Parliament abolished last month the death penalty and granted greater rights to the country's Kurds -- moves aimed at earning membership in the European Union.

The EU made abolishing the death penalty a condition for Turkey to join the Union after making it a candidate for membership in 1999, while international activist groups have long lobbied for an end to restrictions on Kurdish education and language-use.

The trip of Gurel comes amid reports from Brussels that Guenter Verheugen, the EU Commissioner for Enlargement, has said this week that although Turkish reforms were appreciated, the EU would see application of those reforms before giving Ankara a date for the start of talks.

Turkey, however, tend to evaluate Verheugen's remarks as aimed for "domestic political consumption" in Germany and the approach of both the German EU commissioner, as well as the German government towards Turkey's EU membership will change once the elections were held in that country.

4. - AFP - "Kurdish leader says US is going forward with plans to topple Saddam":

ANKARA / 2 September 2002

The United States is moving forward with plans to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, but breakaway Iraqi Kurds will not seek independence if the Baghdad regime is ousted, a senior Iraqi Kurdish leader said here on Monday.

"The United States are more and more eager to launch an attack against Iraq," Jalal Talabani, the chief of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) which controls the eastern half of mainly Kurdish northern Iraq, told the NTV news channel. He said he expected a US strike could come in the first months of 2003. Talabani denied any US military presence in northern Iraq, which has been outside Baghdad's control and under the protection of a US-British enforced no-fly zone since the end of the 1991 Gulf War.

"There is no US military presence in northern Iraq. There has been in the past, but now, it is no longer," he said. In later remarks to reporters after a meeting with a senior Turkish diplomat, Talabani said that "the change of the (Iraqi) regime is the task of the Iraqi opposition with the support of international and regional powers." He sought to ease Turkish concerns that the PUK and the other faction running the region, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of Massoud Barzani, could declare an independent Kurdish state if the US were to topple the Baghdad regime.

"The Iraqi opposition wants to have a democratic, parliamentarian, federative system in Iraq. No group is trying to have an independent state. On the contrary we are for reuniting Iraq," he said. Turkish Defence Minister Sabahattin Cakmakoglu warned on Sunday that his country would take military action against Kurdish groups in northern Iraq if they moved towards independence after a possible US strike.

"We, the Iraqi Kurds want to have good relations with Turkey. We are grateful for what our brothers in Turkey have done for us after the uprising in 1991 until now," Talabani said. Some 500,000 Iraqi Kurds found refuge in Turkey after fleeing an Iraqi crackdown on a Kurdish rebellion in northern Iraq at the end of the Gulf War. Since then Turkey has also been home to US and British warplanes patrolling the no-fly zone protecting the Iraqi Kurds.

Turkey has recently toughened its tone against the Iraqi Kurds, and particularly the KDP, following media reports that the group was considering setting up an independent state. Such a state is a worst-case scenario for Turkey and one of the main reasons this key US ally and NATO member is opposed to US military action against Baghdad. Ankara fears that an independent Kurdish state in northern Iraq could rekindle the recently subdued rebellion for self-rule of its own Kurds in adjacent southeast Turkey.

Iraqi Kurdish leader assures Turkey that Kurdish groups do not seek independent state

ANKARA (AP) 2 September 2002

An Iraqi Kurdish leader sought Monday to soothe Turkey's concerns that his faction might try and set up an independent state if the United States launches military strikes against Baghdad.

Turkey, a key U.S. ally, hosts U.S. warplanes and is extremely concerned that Iraqi Kurds virtually independent of Baghdad's control would use possible U.S. military strikes to seek full independence. Turkey fears that such a move would inspire autonomy-seeking Turkish Kurds, who fought the Turkish army for 15 years.

Jalal Talabani, leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, one of two Kurdish factions controlling northern Iraq, said he supported a united, federal and democratic Iraq.

Talabani is on his way back to northern Iraq from Washington, where he consulted with top U.S. defense officials and Vice President Dick Cheney ( news - web sites) on Iraq's future.

"We are for defending and protecting the territorial integrity of Iraq," Talabani told reporters after his meeting with Turkish Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ugur Ziyal. "There is no serious force or personality or group trying to have an independent Kurdish state."

Turkish and Iraqi Kurdish support are both considered key if there is a U.S. attack. Turkey was a staging point for attacks against Iraq during the 1991 Gulf War ( news - web sites) and still hosts U.S. and British planes patrolling a no-fly zone to protect Iraqi Kurds.

Relations between Turkey and another Kurdish faction have been tense in recent weeks, mainly because of fears that the groups seek independence from Iraq.

5. - Kurdish Media / Sabah - "Bad news for HADEP":

ANKARA / 1 September 2002

The president of the Constitution Court, Mustafa Bumin, has made a statement that will ruin all accounts and interests of the parties. Bumin said that the decision could be taken about HADEP shutdown case,which was opened approximately 3.5 years ago, before the election on November 3.

President Bumin, in his evaluation to AKSAM, mentioned that the reporter who investigated HADEP case had completed the report.He also stated that the report hadnt reached him yet and added, ’’ the report related to HADEP will reach me after September 6 - the beginning of new judgement year. Thus, we could put HADEP case on the agenda and make a decision about it before the election. ’’

HADEP(The People’s Democracy Party) is the only legal Kurdish party in Turkey.

CONSTITUTIONAL COURT TO DEBATE CLOSURE CASE AGAINST HADEP

3 September 2002 (Sabah)

Constitutional Court will debate the closure case against the People's Democracy Party (HADEP) after September 5. The Constitutional Court will come to a conclusion in the case as soon as possible.

6. - Kurdish Media - "The “Turkish Problem” for Kurds and Greek Cypriots":

30 August 2002 / by Sheri Laizer

Increasingly as discussion of a US-led war on Iraq intensifies and the possible role in it of the Iraqi Kurds returns to the spotlight, so is Turkish nationalist extremism rearing its ugly and obstinate old head not only towards the Kurds in Iraq, but also towards HADEP supporters in Turkey as elections approach, and Greek Cypriots as the EU tightens the screws on membership negotiations.

Turkey and the Turkmen

As far as the fate of northern Iraq is concerned, Turkish nationalists are outspokenly opposed to Iraqi Kurds getting any real share of the pie, morbidly afraid that the Kurds might actually emerge with a Kurdish state should they get any control of the oil fields in Kirkuk to make it economically viable.

Forget the rights of the 6.5 million or more Iraqi Kurdish majority, Turkish politicians thunder solely about the rights of the Turkmen there. "(The area around the cities of) Mosul and Kirkuk is a Turkmen area. That anyone has their eye on this region is intolerable," bellows Sabahattin Cakmakoglu, Turkish defence minister and member of the right-wing National Action Party (MHP).

According to the Turkish Daily News, there are three million Turkmen -ethnic Turks - in Iraq. Of that number, 400,000 live in the region around Mosul, which was already a subject of dispute at the end of the Ottoman Empire - not least due to the presence of oil there.

The key aspect of Turkey’s policy on northern Iraq is that the Kurds should not take formal power or get a state. Turkey is opposed to separatism. However, when it comes to the Turkmen in Iraq or the Turkish Cypriots then full rights and even separatism is the only status Turks will accept.

Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots

Just as there is no such talk of recognising Kurdish rights for self-rule, whether in Iraq or in Turkey, Turkish mainland Prime Minister and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktas have for the past thirty-nine years openly pursued a policy of separatism on Cyprus. With regard to EU accession by Cyprus, Denktas stated: “Our priority is an agreement and the basis of this agreement should be the existence of two sovereign administrations. The EU should admit this fact and contact us directly. It should cooperate with us and help us to elevate our economy to the level of the Greek Cypriots` economy, and it should not make us subject to Greek Cypriot republic`` he commented.

Reuters reports that Denktas and Turkey want the island to be reunified within a confederation of two states, while the Greek Cypriots and the UN favour a federation of Greek- and Turkish-Cypriot zones. Denktas said what is important is whether any work on a constitution for Cyprus acknowledges the sovereignty right of Turkish Cypriots or not.

In the Republic of Turkey, according to the US State Department country report on Turkey (2001) the present overall population is some 67.8 million people. Of this total, unofficial sources put the Kurdish “minority” at 15-20 million. Why is it they have no such “sovereignty” or other such rights as the Turks demand for Turkish Cypriots or Iraqi Turkmen? The Turks remain reluctant to even begin to implement Kurdish language rights in Turkey despite the promised reforms. The slightest expression of Kurdish identity remains one that Turks instantly equate with “separatism.”

"What we are telling them (i.e. the EU) is that the Turkish armed forces have a sensitivity on two issues: one is the secular character of the system and the second -- the unity of the country," said Mesut Yilmaz, who is responsible for EU affairs.

Where Turkish politicians belligerently justify Turkish separatism and sovereignty for 150,000 Turkish Cypriots, (including mainland settlers) backed by 35,000 Turkish troops as against 640,000 Greek Cypriots, Kurdish “separatism” for 15-plus million Kurds remains a crime in Turkey which carries a life sentence, reduced only this month from the death penalty.

Unequal rights

In these short examples from this week’s news reports, the hypocritical nationalist extremism, which underlies Turkey’s domestic and foreign relations policy, is as uncharitably transparent as it ever was.

Turkey threatens to go to war over Cyprus should the Greek Cypriots be admitted (as the leaders of Cyprus) to the EU. Turkey threatens to go to war if the Iraqi Kurds should gain any greater formal status determining the administration of their own affairs in northern Iraq. Turkey remains on a war footing with Kurdish members of KADEK, the former PKK.

These simple figures and the attitudes that inform them tell the real story behind the region’s “Turkish” problem.

That simple truth, regrettably, is that Turkey has no desire for equality or fraternity with its neighbours and co-citizens in the region. What every Greek Cypriot knows as the daily reality behind division - and can articulate openly – the Kurds would also do well to admit and be counted as equals rather than chafing over “brotherhood”.