6 February 2002

1. "Turkish Kurd rebels signal new phase, change name", Kurdish separatist leaders said on Tuesday the September 11 attacks on the United States had prompted them to drop the name of their group to show they were seeking change through political means. The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), whose commander Abdullah Ocalan was captured in 1999 and sentenced to death for treason, said it aimed to change its name at a party congress within the next few days.

2. "Turkey for preserving Iraqi territorial integrity", the Turkish prime minister Bülent Ecevit has stressed the great importance given by Turkey to the unity and territorial integrity of the Iraqi territories and to developing friendship and cooperation relations between Ankara and Iraq.

3. "Turkey aims at improving its poor human rights record", as Turkey heads for a crucial period in its relations with the European Union, state officials are aiming to improve the bad human rights record of the country.

4. "Pushing the MHP too far", a series of incidents in the past few weeks has further antagonized the MHP and has closed the doors for the lifting of limitations on freedom of expression.

5. "Greece And The P.K.K.", columnist Saygi Ozturk writes on allegations that the Greek government is employing PKK members as spies.

6. "Coaltion leaders and the Cyprus-Europe line", columnist Hasan Cemal recounts his impressions from the panel meetings at the World Economic Forum in New York.

1. - Reuters - "Turkish Kurd rebels signal new phase, change name":

TUNCELI

Kurdish separatist leaders said on Tuesday the September 11 attacks on the United States had prompted them to drop the name of their group to show they were seeking change through political means.

The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), whose commander Abdullah Ocalan was captured in 1999 and sentenced to death for treason, said it aimed to change its name at a party congress within the next few days.

''After the events that took place on September 11, new international solutions are needed. The whole world, especially the Middle East, has changed,'' rebel leaders based in northern Iraq said in a statement sent to Kurdish satellite television channel, Medya TV.

'By taking the necessary steps, the PKK has entered this new period,'' they added.

The PKK's 17-year-long armed struggle for self-rule in mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey has claimed more than 30,000 lives, but fighting largely ended after Ocalan's arrest.

Turkey describes the PKK guerrillas as ''terrorists'' but unsuccessfully lobbied the European Union to include the group on its list of deemed terrorist organisations.

''From today onwards, the PKK's organisational and party endeavours in Turkey and countries belonging to the European Union have been stopped. No work will be conducted under the PKK name,'' the statement said.

Sources close to the PKK said alternative names being considered were the Democratic Republic Party or the Kurdistan Freedom Party.

But the leaders also hinted they could resort to arms again if their cultural demands failed to be met.

'Turkey, God willing, needs to realise our positive, democratic steps are not permanent,'' the PKK statement said.

Ocalan has ordered his followers to withdraw from Turkey and seek cultural rights for Turkey's 12 million Kurds through political means.

Turkey has dismissed Ocalan's peace overture as a ruse to escape execution and said it will never negotiate with the PKK.

Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit last month ruled out Kurdish language education, saying bringing the Kurdish language to Turkish classrooms would erode the country's unity.

The EU, which Turkey hopes to join, has counselled Ankara to expand civil liberties for Kurds.

Turkish soldiers regularly pursue PKK fighters into the mountains of northern Iraq, where the army says about 5,000 guerrillas are encamped.

2. - Arabic News - "Turkey for preserving Iraqi territorial integrity":

The Turkish prime minister Polent Acawit has stressed the great importance given by Turkey to the unity and territorial integrity of the Iraqi territories and to developing friendship and cooperation relations between Ankara and Iraq.

In a written message he sent on Monday to the Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, through the Turkish ambassador in Baghdad, Acawit added the current situation is very grave and that Iraq is facing a new threat. He called on Iraq to take tangible steps especially to lifting the sanctions, a process challenged by the UN inspectors.

The Turkish prime minister indicated the heavy losses that will be inflicted on Turkey as a result of the grave results if Iraq will not open its territories to the UN inspectors. He stressed that his country will spare no efforts to consolidate Iraq's unity and territorial integrity on solid ground.

3. - Turkish Daily News - "Turkey aims at improving its poor human rights record":

ANKARA

As Turkey heads for a crucial period in its relations with the European Union, state officials are aiming to improve the bad human rights record of the country.

State Minister responsible for Human Rights Nejat Arseven said on Tuesday that Turkey had a bad image regarding human rights issues.

After a two hour meeting of the Supreme Board of Human Rights, Arseven added that Turkey didn't deserve such a bad image.

"Legal procedures aiming at improvement in human rights issues have reached a certain level. Adaptation laws and other needed procedures will provide an important achievement in this field," Arseven said.

Stating that arguments on the adaptation laws were still continuing, Arseven said that their implementation was more important than the passing of laws.

Arseven pointed out that 2002 was a crucial year for Turkey's relations with the European Union as it aims at becoming a member.

Turkey is often criticized for its poor human rights record in the international arena, and the European Union is asking Turkey to show improvement.

Meanwhile, Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Turk on Tuesday received the Turkish member of the European Court of Human Rights Riza Turmen.

Stating that 159 files against Turkey on charges of torturing to suspects during the detention period had been opened in the European Court of Human Rights in 2001.

"Torture allegations against Turkey are spreading. We have to improve this," Turk said.

4. - Turkish Daily News - "Pushing the MHP too far":

BY ILNUR CEVIK

A series of incidents in the past few weeks has further antagonized the MHP and has closed the doors for the lifting of limitations on freedom of expression

Nationalist Movement Party leader Devlet Bahceli, the deputy prime minister and a senior partner of the coalition, has signaled very clearly that he is not prepared to bow to any pressures on changing the so-called mini democracy package which does not improve Turkey's restrictive laws on freedom of expression.

The hardline speech of Bahceli to the MHP deputies on Tuesday suggested the party was more than angry and was in no mood to discuss democratization or freedom of expression.

There were hopes that the MHP would mellow in time and allow meaningful changes in the package that would improve the wordings of Articles 312 and 159 of the penal code, which have become major obstacles in relaxing restrictions. But a series of incidents have only helped to antagonize the MHP and seriously hurt the ability of the party to be flexible.

The weird campaign by some Kurdish activists on Kurdish education seems to have sabotaged Turkey's democratization process. It seems those who planned this campaign knew well what they were doing. They were not really after Kurdish education rights because the places in which they staged their protests were not in southeastern Turkey where such demands would be more vocal but in places like the northwestern city of Canakkale or Istanbul... But they did fulfill the mission of antagonizing the MHP as Bahceli's speech on Tuesday reflected.

Then of course there is the statements of Motherland Party Deputy Chairman Erkan Mumcu who claimed the text on the mini democracy package signed by the coalition leaders had been changed, thus making the document less democratic. The suggestion that there had been fraud angered Bahceli even further and thus created the conditions of a government crisis.

The unfortunate incident about the brochures distributed by the Swedes in Izmir that created a storm has also fanned nationalistic fervor and has further burdened the MHP.

Beyond that, the MHP is being accused of turning its back on the masses by approving tough IMF economic measures, as a member of the coalition it is a party to the alleged "Cyprus sell out," and has failed in the fight against corruption. All these force the party to be tougher and less flexible.

Thus, the MHP has been pushed into a corner where it has lost its ability to mellow. It simply is in no position to make concessions.

So the mini-democracy package will have to be shelved. Then the government can take up the package by the second half of March and approve the lifting of restrictions on freedom of expression, provided some quarters stop antagonizing the MHP... If this continues, however, we may land up with a major government crisis.

5. - Star - "Greece And The P.K.K.":

Columnist Saygi Ozturk writes on allegations that the Greek government is employing PKK members as spies. A summary of his column is as follows:

No matter how much Turkey acts with good intentions, there are no signs that Greece is returning the favor by abandoning its bad old habit of supporting the PKK. Reportedly, Greece's November 17 terrorist organization, which is believed to have state support, has launched a new arrangement to use members of the terrorist PKK in actions against Turkey.

Greece, through the help of PKK sympathizers, is gathering information about our military units in Thrace. A new report issued by the Directorate General of Security points to the close state of relations between the PKK and November 17 and states that November 17 is in close touch with Abu Nidal, the RAF (a faction of the Red Army. The German terrorist group), Action Directe (Direct action in France), CCC (Fighting Communist Cells, in Belgium).

The report also puts forth that Nov. 17 is in collaboration with a number of other illegal groups, among whom the PKK is also cited. It alleges that Nov. 17 has close ties with Greek intelligence and security units. A close, disciplined group of 20 forms the nucleus of Nov. 17. The report levels harsh criticism against the Greek government on issues such as Cyprus as well as Greek-Turkish, Greek-NATO and Greek-EU relations, which it considers to be of utmost importance for the country's national interests. Greece is the clearly the weakest link in the international alliance against terrorism.

The unwillingness of Greek security forces to capture the members of November 17 and the ELA terrorist group has been noted by everyone. Despite certain steps it has taken against terrorism, the Greek Government has been unable to gain the trust of the international community in this fight. The report also states that the Tsamouria Liberation Army (UCC) was responsible for a number of explosions in Greece.

Tsamouria is in the northeast of Greece, where Muslim Albanians live. The Tsamouria Albanians, whose problems are still beneath the international radar, not known by the international community are claiming that Greece has carried out a genocide against them and are requesting that the Greek administration grant them basic human rights and the recognition of their right to own property, compensation, and return to their own territories. The terrorist actions stemming from the Tsamouria problem have a significant meaning for those who can see the support that Greece is lending to the PKK.

SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION

6. - Milliyet - "Coaltion leaders and the Cyprus-Europe line":

Columnist Hasan Cemal recounts his impressions from the panel meetings at the World Economic Forum in New York. A summary of his column is as follows:

"One of the most-discussed topics at the panels at this year's World Economic Forum was Turkish-European relations. In previous years, this subject didn't attract much attention. During a brainstorm meeting regarding the future of Europe there were 10 people, including Polish President Alexander Kwasniewski, a political science professor from the London School of Economics and another professor from California's Berkeley University, and they discussed relations between Turkey and Europe.

When I pointed out to them the fact that the EU wouldn't accept the candidacy of a country it didn't really want in the Union or invite it to their Convention and that despite this fact, former French President Giscard d'Estaing, who is chairman of the upcoming Convention, in his first speech as chairman stated that Turkey didn't belong to Europe. Polish President Kwasniewski responded to this by saying that President d'Estaing had only one vote, and that Turkey must be admitted into the Union.

A young Finnish philosopher said that if there was not going to be a clash of civilizations, if this theory was untrue, Turkey should take its place within Europe. At another table, Finnish Prime Minister Lipponen said that Turkey must take its place within Europe and added that Europe was not about geography but rather values. If Turkey adopts EU values such as democracy, human rights, the rule of law and the market economy, it must be admitted into the Union.

Clearly Turkey still has homework to do regarding the values Prime Minister Lipponen enumerated. The road to the EU won't be opened until we complete that work. However, there is another problem which must be solved, namely the Cyprus issue. The problem must be solved before the end of the year. Certainly, the Turkish Cypriots are responsible for reaching an agreement. The Greek Cypriots also have significant responsibilities regarding the issue. There are still some suspicions on the Turkish side.

Some say say that it serves no purpose to make compromises on Cyprus as the EU will never admit us anyhow. No one, including local and foreign journalists who have been following the issue for years, easily believes that the problem will be solved. The fragility of the situation in Cyprus is obvious. Therefore, the responsibility of all concerned and namely that of our coalition leaders Ecevit, Bahceli and Yilmaz has historical importance. Turkey is waiting for its coalition leaders to complete our reforms for democratization and to facilitate a solution for Cyprus."