17
July 2003
2. "Kurdish singer freed, but still faces charges over calling for amnesty", a Kurdish singer jailed for alleged separatist incitement said Thursday that he still faces charges even though he was earlier released from jail. The singer, Ferhat Tunc, said the state security court had analyzed a tape of a concert at which he had appealed for an amnesty for former Kurdish rebels.
3. "Cyprus ready for talks at UN’s behest", on the 29th anniversary of a coup by Greek Cypriots that prompted a Turkish invasion a few days later, President Tassos Papadopoulos yesterday stressed his government’s readiness to hold reunification talks whenever UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan summons him.
4. "Turkey And Armenia Explore Rapprochement", political and economic factors are pushing Turkey and Armenia to set aside decades of enmity and explore a rapprochement. In recent weeks, Ankara and Yerevan have made several goodwill gestures, including Turkey’s decision to participate in NATO military exercises held in Armenia.
5. "Armenians doubt Turks", Turkish Ambassador Faruk Logoglu yesterday defended his government's efforts to reach out to Armenian-Americans, despite criticism that Turkey continues to resist any discussion of key disputes such as the mass killing of Armenians in 1915.
6. "Turkey's red lines vanish in northern Iraq", by Ilnur Cevik.
7. "The Real Iraq", by Amir Taheri.
8. "Turkey abuses Kurds from Kirkuk and Sulemani on the border", Diaspora Kurds who have arrived back, to the Kurdish cities of Sulemani and Kirkuk, in the last couple of days via the boarder between South Kurdistan (Iraq) and North Kurdistan (Turkey) are penalized by the Turkish authorities and army officers on the border.
1. - KNK (Kurdistan National Congress) - "Five villagers killed in south east of Turkey":
Turkey should not lose the chance for peace!
14 July 2003
Five villagers, Huseyin Ozmen (55), Haci Kaya (55), Ahmet Acar (50), his son Erdal Acar (30) and Mahmut Kaya (25) were abducted and killed in Karakoc (Pul) hamlet, in village of Yumakli, the city of Bingol at around 21.00, on 10 July 2003 by unidentified armed persons.
Kurdistan National Congress has today spoken with Husamettin Kaya, brother of Mahmut Kaya, who is currently seeking asylum in Belgium. Husamettin Kaya has given us first hand information, which he received from his mother, in Karakoc hamlet.
According to the information we have received 6 unidentified armed men carrying M16, arrived at the village of Yumakli at around 19.30 on 10 July. The group dressed in guerrilla uniforms first took Mahmut Kaya who was in a field with them. They then went to house to house and read out the names of the victims to go with them. They were reported to have said that the villagers would have to come with them to outside of the village and give statement to their commander on specific issues.
Other people who tried to follow them were all turned back. The bodies of 4 men were found just outside the village with bullet wounds to their head. Mahmut Kaya was found seriously injured and taken to Elazig State Hospital where he later died. He had severe head injuries but no bullet wounds. No medical autopsy was carried on the bodies of the victims.
All victims were on at least three occasions taken into custody for aiding and abetting guerrillas. Huseyin Ozmen was once charged with aiding and abetting a terrorist organization and kept in prison for three months.
Turkish authorities has claimed that this massacre was carried out by KADEK forces. However KADEK earlier denied any responsibility.
There has been recent reports of massive military operations by the Turkish Army against the KADEK guerrillas.
Since the seizure of the armed struggle by the PKK for the last 5 years and the developments in Iraq a pressure was put on Turkey to solve its Kurdish Question. Turkey recently introduced a Repentance Law with the aim to `dissolve the terrorist organisation`, according to the Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul.
Turkish authorities also seeking for reasons to justify presence of its armed forces in Northern Iraq.
We believe Turkey should not miss the chance of peace. The current developments and five year period without a conflict is an opportunity for a lasting peace.
Bingol was recently hit by a huge earthquake. Following the disaster there were street protests by the local people against the governor of the city. These protests were later identified by the government officials, including the Turkish Prime Minister, as provocation of terrorist movements.
On 15 June, 2 KADEK guerrillas were killed in the same village by Turkish armed forces.
Chairperson for Bingol branch of Human Rights Association of Turkey Ridvan Kizgin has received threatening telephone calls on 8 & 9 July from Bingol Gendarmerie Commander following a press conference on 5 July where Mr Kizgin announced the human rights balance sheet of Bingol for January-June 2003. At the press conference Ridvan Kizgin stated the increase in the human rights violations in Bingol area by the state forces. International human rights organizations such as International Human Rights Federation and Worlds Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) called for urgent action on the issue.
We call on public opinion and human rights organizations to raise the issue with Turkish authorities urging them to seek a solution to Kurdish issue and avoid yet renewed long lasting armed conflict. Turkey must build the path leading to European Union and thus ensure full democracy. Those responsible for the killing of villagers from Bingol must be brought to justice. Thus there should be a proper investigation.
We call on all human rights defenders to join a delegation
to Bingol and meet with the local people including eye witnesses to
the incident. Please join a delegation to the area organized by Diyarbakir
branch of the Human Rights Association and please do not hesitate to
contact us for further information. 
2. - AFP - "Kurdish singer freed, but still faces
charges over calling for amnesty":
ISTANBUL / 17 July 2003
A Kurdish singer jailed for alleged separatist incitement said Thursday that he still faces charges even though he was earlier released from jail.
The singer, Ferhat Tunc, said the state security court had analyzed a tape of a concert at which he had appealed for an amnesty for former Kurdish rebels.
He told AFP that the tape clearly showed that he was not appealing on behalf of the banned Kurdish Workers party, or PKK. But he said he still faced a court judgment on August 12.
The government is preparing a partial amnesty for repentant Kurdish rebels and country's main Kurdish party, the Democratic People's Party (DEHAP), has just released a petition for a general amnesty signed by hundreds of thousands of people.
Tunc was one of five singers arrested after the same concert.
The cases of the four others is still ongoing.
3. - Kathimerini (Greece) - "Cyprus ready for talks at UN’s behest":
Coup of ’74 commemorated
ATHENS / 16 July 2003
On the 29th anniversary of a coup by Greek Cypriots that prompted a Turkish invasion a few days later, President Tassos Papadopoulos yesterday stressed his government’s readiness to hold reunification talks whenever UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan summons him.
Papadopoulos also commented on Turkish-Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash’s proposal, made public last week, for Nicosia’s airport to reopen and for Greek Cypriots to return to the town of Varosha. The National Council of Greek-Cypriot officials and party leaders on Monday authorized the president to respond to Denktash in a letter to Annan. Papadopoulos, who did not say what he would reply to Denktash, said the proposals had been overtaken by events. The Cypriot government, Greece and international mediators want Denktash to agree to a comprehensive solution on the basis of a plan proposed by Annan.
Papadopoulos, responding to reporters’ questions, said he did not know if Annan had responded to Denktash’s proposals but that the Cypriot delegation at the UN was aware that officials were examining them. But, he added, from his contacts with US and British officials he knew that the Turkish-Cypriot leader’s initiatives did not mislead anyone.
Denktash, meanwhile, commented yesterday that Monday’s ratification of Cyprus’s EU accession by the House of Representatives was not binding for Turkish Cypriots who, he said, “should not feel sorrow at this fact but should show the European Union that this was an illegal act which was ratified by the illegal Greek-Cypriot administration.”
However, it is the breakaway state declared by Denktash in northern Cyprus that is recognized by no country other than Turkey while Papadopoulos’s government is recognized internationally.
Sirens wailed yesterday at 8.20 a.m., the time at which the coup by Greek Cypriots, backed by the junta in Athens, began on July 15, 1974. Turkish troops invaded five days later, ostensibly to protect the Turkish-Cypriot minority.
Memorial services were held yesterday and the House of
Representatives held a special ceremony and condemned the coup.
4. - Eurasianet - "Turkey And Armenia Explore Rapprochement":
16 July 2003 / by Jon Gorvett*
Political and economic factors are pushing Turkey and Armenia to set aside decades of enmity and explore a rapprochement. In recent weeks, Ankara and Yerevan have made several goodwill gestures, including Turkey’s decision to participate in NATO military exercises held in Armenia.
At the start of the NATO exercises in late June, Armenian Defense Minister Serzh Sarkisian endorsed stronger bilateral relations. “New dangers for the region and the world demand that, despite their disagreements, countries join forces in their fight against them,” Sarkisian said.
The primary source of tension between Turkey and Armenia is connected with the tragic events that began in 1915, when over a million Armenians died at the hands of Turkish forces amid the upheaval of World War I. Armenia wants the tragedy recognized as genocide, while Turkey steadfastly refuses to acknowledge the episode as such. In their latest diplomatic parley, Armenian officials have stated that Turkish genocide recognition is not a precondition for improved bilateral ties. “No matter if Turkey recognizes the genocide or not, Armenia is ready to establish normal neighborly and diplomatic relations with that country,” Armenia’s Aykakan Zhamanak newspaper on July 11 quoted the country’s foreign minister, Vardan Oskanian, as saying.
The Turkish-Armenian rapprochement began taking shape at a NATO summit in Madrid in early June, when Oskanian held a side meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul. Afterwards, Gul told reporters that in the Turkish government’s view, it might be time to reopen the frontier between the two countries.
The border issue has emerged as a significant obstacle to normalization largely because it is connected with the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh. Turkey closed its frontier with Armenia and militarized it in 1993 – moves taken in support of Ankara’s ally, Azerbaijan, which at the time was experiencing a series of battlefield reverses.
Concurrent with the border closure, Turkey instituted an economic embargo against Armenia, saying the ban on trade would not be lifted until a lasting Karabakh peace settlement was negotiated and Armenia withdrew its forces from occupied Azerbaijani territory. Meanwhile, Armenia insisted on the embargo’s lifting without preconditions. The stalemate in the Karabakh peace process [for background see the Eurasia Insight archives] has kept the embargo in place.
“The Turkish government has been caught by its own position and the fact that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has proved so difficult to resolve,” said Caucasian specialist Professor Edmund Herzig of Manchester University Middle Eastern Studies Department.
From Turkey’s standpoint, there are powerful economic and political incentives to normalize relations with Armenia. Some experts believe that antagonistic relations with Yerevan help to infuse the genocide debate with fresh energy. Turkish-Armenian hostility additionally heightens the risk of a new confrontation in the Caucasus – such as renewed fighting over Karabakh. Ankara is eager to avoid such a development, especially if it threatens to embroil Russia. Dr. Hratch Tchilingirian of Cambridge University’s Eurasian Program also maintains that there is “pressure on Turkey from the EU and United States to normalize relations with Armenia.”
In addition, Turkish experts suggest that Turkey’s closed border with Armenia is economically counterproductive. “There is a strong economic lobby in Turkey that sees the ruin, economically, of eastern cities such as Kars, Van and Ardahan thanks to the closed frontier,” said Professor William Hale of the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. He was referring to the eastern Turkish cities along the Armenian frontier that now constitute some of Turkey’s poorest communities.
With the border shut, trade between Armenia and Turkey occurs via a third country – mostly going overland through Georgia. While the distance between Kars and Yerevan down the old, rusted-over railway line is only some 55 kilometers, the Turkish-Armenian Business Council (TABC) estimates some $70 million in Turkish-Armenian trade currently travels hundreds of kilometers out of the way in order to get around the closed border.
“After we’ve paid to take our goods through Georgia and then into Armenia,” explains Kars businessman Ertugl Yildirim, “the price more than triples. It makes doing business a major headache too, with two sets of border formalities. Here in Kars, almost everyone would like to see the border reopened.”
It’s a sentiment echoed by Professor Enver Konukcu of Ataturk University in Erzurum. While “It’s a political issue,” he says, “involving Turkey, Armenia, Russia, Azerbaijan, the US and Iran… In our hearts, we want the border open – the people in Armenia are also in a very bad situation and no aid is going there.”
Editor’s Note: Jon Gorvett is a freelance journalist
based in Istanbul.
5. - The Washington Times - "Armenians doubt Turks":
17 July 2003 / by James Morrison
Turkish Ambassador Faruk Logoglu yesterday defended his government's efforts to reach out to Armenian-Americans, despite criticism that Turkey continues to resist any discussion of key disputes such as the mass killing of Armenians in 1915.
Mr. Logoglu pointed to the U.S. visit last month of Ecvet
Tezcan, a Foreign Ministry representative, who met with leaders of the
Armenian Assembly of America to begin a dialogue with Americans of Armenian
descent.
However, he added, it is "grossly unfair" to describe his
efforts as negotiations.
"He was not negotiating anything. The idea was to establish a first contact between the Armenian diaspora and the Turkish Foreign Ministry," the ambassador said.
Turkish-Armenian relations have been strained for years over accusations of an Armenian genocide, the Turkish closure of the land border between the two countries, and Turkey's demand that Armenia withdraw from Azerbaijan, a Turkish ally.
Peter Vosbikian, chairman of the board of the Armenian Assembly of America, complained that Mr. Tezcan "led us to believe that [the Turkish] government was seriously considering a new relationship with Armenia and Armenians."
In a letter last week to Mr. Tezcan, he said the two had held a "full and frank exchange on many subjects."
However, Mr. Vosbikian said, recent statements by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish ambassador to Azerbaijan and the Turkish education minister "stand in sharp contradiction to the tone and substance of our earlier meeting."
"They raise serious doubts about the goals of your country's policies," he said.
Mr. Erdogan said Turkey will not reopen the border with Armenia unless Armenia stops its campaign "for international recognition of the 1915 genocide," Mr. Vosbikian said.
The ambassador to Azerbaijan rejected bilateral talks with Armenia, and the education minister called on students to write essays on what he called a "genocide" committed by the Armenians against the Turks, Mr. Vosbikian said.
Armenia claims that soldiers of the Ottoman Turkish empire killed 1.5 million Armenian civilians in an attempt to ethnically cleanse the population from Turkish territory during World War I. Turkey disputes the number of dead and says the government was putting down an armed Armenian uprising.
Ambassador Logoglu said Armenians and Turks "have
lived together for hundreds and hundreds of years. We are looking forward
to normalizing relations for the benefit of the region."
6. - Turkish Daily News - "Turkey's red lines vanish in northern Iraq":
* Americans hold Kurds in high esteem as Kurdish leaders
enter Governing Ccouncil and have say in how Iraq will be run
* Americans feel some Turkish rough elements and Iranians may wish to
destabilize Kirkuk and are set to prevent this
* Turkmens do not want any outside interference in their affairs as
they start to organize in Kirkuk and the environs of Mosul
ANKARA / 17 July 2003 / by Ilnur Cevik
A visit to northern Iraq and extensive interviews and discussions with its leaders show that the situation in northern Iraq has dramatically changed in favor of the Kurds while the red lines which Turkey established and threatened to go to war if they were violated have simply vanished after the war and the occupation of the country by the Americans.
The Americans faced with serious resistance in central Iraq and unable to introduce stability in most of the country seem to have decided that their best bet to start reorganizing and reconstructing Iraq could start from the Kurdish dominated areas in the north.
The area is swarming with U.S. experts and officials working in diverse areas like health, education and social programs.
Turkey had established some red lines and had warned the Iraqi Kurds and the Americans prior to the toppling of Saddam Hussein that if these were violated Ankara would see this as a reason for military intervention.
The first red line was the establishment of an independent Kurdish state. The second was the safety of the Turkmens living in Iraq and the third was the status of Kirkuk and Mosul. Last but not least Ankara said it would not tolerate giving its separatist Kurdish terrorists who are holed up in northern Iraq a free hand to resurrect their campaign against Turkey.
After the war the Kurds emerged as the most valuable and trusted ally of the Americans and there were even suggestions that the U.S., which always slanted towards Turkey in Turkish-Kurdish disputes, may change this attitude in favor of the Kurds.
The Americans gave Kurds five seats in the newly formed Iraqi Governing Council and asked Kurdistan Democracy Party leading official Hoshyar Zebari to play a key role in the formation and opening session of the Council. The Kurds will also have a representative in the Governing Council mission to be sent to the U.N.
This all means that while Turkey feared the Kurds will set up an independent state in the northern part of the country they are in fact a major player in Baghdad as a part of the newly shaping Iraqi administration which increases their future say in the way the country is being run.
So instead of the emergence of a Kurdish state it became clear that the Kurds consolidated the Talabani and Barzani administrations in the north while obtaining a dominant position in the Baghdad administration.
Regarding the red line of protecting the Turkmens against atrocities it was clear that this would never happen and those who claimed such scenarios were clearly embarrassed Before the war there were claims that Iraqi refugees would flood into Turkey from Iraq and that after the war the Kurds would attack the Turkmens and commit atrocities. A minority of the Turkmens lived in the north under Kurdish rule for the past 12 years (about 150-200,000) but the bulk lived in the regions controlled by Saddam Hussein especially around the Kirkuk and Mosul areas.
Ankara said the Kurds should not control these cities once Saddam's forces were pushed out and that the Americans should control them. Once the Iraqi forces retreated from Kirkuk and Mosul the Kurdish forces at first moved into these cities to prevent a power vacuum from developing. Later the Americans moved in and armed Kurdish elements withdrew. However, it is clear the Kurds do have a major say in the way these cities are run.
Touring these cities this reporter saw that while Arabs dominate Mosul and thus the governor became an Arab, Kirkuk is a city of Kurds and Turkmens and no side is really dominant. But despite this the Americans have given the administration of the city to a Kurdish governor who has strong links with the Turkmens. There were claims that the wife of the governor in fact is a Turkmen. The fact that the lone Turkmen represented in Iraq's Governing Council seems to be a concession to the Turkmen's of Kirkuk. Turkmens heavily populate the towns around Mosul and Kirkuk.
American officials speaking to the Turkish Daily news on condition of anonymity say the situation in Kirkuk is fragile and suspect that Turkish activists encouraged by Turkey and Iranians are trying to stir up trouble. They suspect Turkish military personnel are organizing Turkmens in the area for subversive activities.
That was behind the U.S. raids against the Turkish military liaison office in Suleymaniyah ordered by local commander Colonel Mayville where Turkish officers were arrested and taken to Baghdad. They were later released.
But since then Turkey and the sides have reached an agreement to better coordinate their activities in the region and also avoid frictions. However, American local commanders in northern Iraq feel the special Turkish forces in the area should tone down their activities and should not meddle in the affairs of the Turkmens.
Besides all this local Turkmens say they do not want any outside interference in their affairs that will give the impression that they are being manipulated by Ankara. They say they would welcome Turkey's help to assist them to organize and set up TV stations and publish newspapers. So the red lines seem to become more and more distorted these days while they vanish in various places.
Regarding the PKK neither the Barzani and Talabani administrations nor the Americans tolerate their presence in northern Iraq. However, the Americans do not want to use force immediately against the PKK to disarm its militants and is taking its time as Turkey debates a partial amnesty for them.
Both Kurdish leaders and American officials feel Turkey
should phase out its military presence in northern Iraq while increase
its economic and political presence and influence in the region. They
say the Turkish Foreign Ministry could set up missions in various cities
while Turkey floods the region with its goods and services.
7. - The New York Post - "The Real Iraq":
17 July 2003 / by Amir Taheri
'THE Iraqi Intifada!" This is the cover story offered by Al- Watan Al-Arabi, a pro- Saddam Hussein weekly published in Paris. It finds an echo in the latest issue of America's Time magazine, which paints a bleak prospect for the newly liberated country. The daily Al Quds, another pro-Saddam paper, quotes from The Washington Post in support of its claim that "a popular war of resistance" is growing in Iraq. Some newspapers in the United States, Britain and "old Europe" go further by claiming that Iraq has become a "quagmire" or "another Vietnam." The Parisian daily Le Monde prefers the term "engrenage," which is both more chic and French.
This chorus wants us to believe that most Iraqis regret the ancien regime, and are ready to kill and die to expel their liberators.
Sorry, guys, this is not the case.
Neither the wishful thinking of part of the Arab media, long in the pay of Saddam, nor the visceral dislike of part of the Western media for George W. Bush and Tony Blair changes the facts on the ground in Iraq.
ONE fact is that a visitor to Iraq these days never finds anyone who wants Saddam back.
There are many complaints, mostly in Baghdad, about lack of security and power cuts. There is anxiety about the future at a time that middle-class unemployment is estimated at 40 percent. Iraqis also wonder why it is that the coalition does not communicate with them more effectively. That does not mean that there is popular support for violent action against the coalition.
Another fact is that the violence we have witnessed, especially against American troops, in the past six weeks is limited to less than 1 percent of the Iraqi territory, in the so-called "Sunni Triangle," which includes parts of Baghdad.
Elsewhere, the coalition presence is either accepted as a fact of life or welcomed. On the 4th of July some shops and private homes in various parts of Iraq, including the Kurdish areas and cities in the Shiite heartland, put up the star-spangled flag as a show of gratitude to the United States.
"We see our liberation as the start of a friendship with the U.S. and the U.K. that should last a thousand years," says Khalid Kishtaini, one of Iraq's leading novelists. "The U.S. and the U.K. showed that a friend in need is a friend indeed. Nothing can change that."
In the early days of the liberation, some mosque preachers tested the waters by speaking against "occupation." They soon realized that their congregations had a different idea. Today, the main theme in sermons at the mosques is about a partnership between the Iraqi people and the coalition to rebuild the war-shattered country and put it on the path of democracy.
Even the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr now says that "some good" could come out of the coalition's presence in Iraq. "The coalition must help us stabilize the situation," he says. "The healing period that we need would not be possible if we are suddenly left alone."
Yet another fact is that all 67 of Iraq's cities and 85 percent of the smaller towns now have fully functioning municipalities. Several ministries, including that of health and education, have also managed to get parts of their operations going again. The petroleum industry, too, is being revived with plans to produce up to 2.8 million barrels of crude oil a day before the year is out.
To be sure, life in Iraq today is no bed of roses. But don't forget that this is an immediate post-war situation. There is no famine - in fact, the bazaars are more replenished with food than ever since the late 1970s - while food prices, having jumped in the first weeks after liberation, are now lower than they were in the last years of Saddam's rule.
MOST hospitals are functioning again with essential medical supplies trickling in for the first time since 1999. Also, some 85 percent of primary and secondary schools and all but two of the nation's universities have reopened with a full turnout of pupils and teachers.
The difference is that there no longer are any mukahebrat (secret police) agents roaming the campuses and sitting at the back of classrooms to make sure lecturers and students do not discuss forbidden topics. Nor are the students required to start every day with a solemn oath of allegiance to the dictator.
There has been no mass exodus anywhere in Iraq. On the contrary, many Iraqis, driven out of their homes by Saddam, are returning to their towns and villages.
Their return has given the building industry, moribund in the last years of Saddam, a boost. Iraqi exiles and refugees abroad are also coming home, many from Iran and Turkey. Last month alone the Iranian Red Crescent recorded the repatriation of more than 10,000 Iraqis, mostly Kurds and Shiites.
In Iraq today there are no "displaced persons," no uprooted communities and no long lines of war victims in search of a safe haven.
FOR the first time in almost 50 years there are also no political prisoners, no executions, no torture and no limit on freedom of expression. Iraq today is the only Muslim country where all shades of opinion - from the extremist Islamists of the Hezbollah to Stalinists, and passing by liberals, socialists, Arab nationalists and moderate Islamists - have full freedom to compete in an open market of ideas. Better still, all are now represented in the newly created Governing Assembly (Majlis al-Hukum). Iraq is also the only Muslim country where more than 100 newspapers and weeklies, representing all shades of opinion, appear without a police permit and are subjected to no censorship.
Much is made of power cuts, especially in Baghdad. But this is partly due to a 30 percent seasonal increase in demand because of air-conditioning use in temperatures that reach 115 degrees. In other cities - for example, Basra - the country's second-most populous urban center, more electricity is used than at any time under Saddam Hussein.
A stroll in the open-air book markets of the Rashid Street reveals that thousands of books, blacklisted and banned under Saddam Hussein, are now available for sale. Among the banned authors were almost all of Iraq's best writers and poets, whom many young Iraqis discover for the first time. Stalls, offering video and audiotapes for sale, are appearing in Baghdad and other major cities, again giving Iraqis access to a forbidden cultural universe.
The flower stalls along the Tigris are also making a comeback.
"Business is good," says Hashem Yassin, one florist. "In the past, we sold a lot of flowers for funerals and placement on tombs. Now we sell for weddings, birthday parties and gifts of friendship."
The free-market economy is making its first inroads into Iraq's socialistic system in a number of small ways. Hundreds of hawkers are offering a variety of imported goods and making brisk business by selling soft drinks, often bottled in Iran, and biscuits and chewing gums from Turkey.
Some teahouses, in competition to attract clients, offer satellite television as an additional attraction. Every evening people pack the teahouses to watch, and zap and discuss, what they have seen in an atmosphere of freedom unknown under Saddam. It may be hard for Westerners to understand the Iraqis' exhilaration at being able to watch television of their choice.
But this is a country where, under Saddam, people could be condemned as spies and hanged for owning a satellite dish.
Another symbol of newly won freedom is the multiplication of cellular and satellite phones. Most belong to returning exiles. But their appearance is reassuring to many Iraqis. Under Saddam, their illegal possession could carry the death penalty.
The portrayal of Baghdad as an oriental version of the Far West in Hollywood Westerns misses the point. It ignores the fact that life is creeping back to normal, that weddings, always popular in summer, are being celebrated again, often with traditional tribal ostentation. The first rock concert since the war, offered by a boys' band, has already taken place, and Iraq's National Football (soccer) Squad has resumed training under a German coach.
THERE are two Iraqs today: One as portrayed by those in America and Europe who wish to use it as a means of damaging Bush and Blair, and the other as it really exists, home to 24 million people with many hopes and aspirations and, naturally, some anxiety about the future.
"After we have aired our grievances we remember the
essential point: Saddam is gone," says Mohsen Saleh, a geologist
in Baghdad. "A man who is cured of cancer does not complain about
a common cold."
8. - Kurdish Media - "Turkey abuses Kurds from Kirkuk and Sulemani on the border":
17 July 2003 / By Nermin Osman
Diaspora Kurds who have arrived back, to the Kurdish cities of Sulemani and Kirkuk, in the last couple of days via the boarder between South Kurdistan (Iraq) and North Kurdistan (Turkey) are penalized by the Turkish authorities and army officers on the border.
An estimated 250 diaspora Kurds are trapped on the Turkish side, where the Turkish officials do not allow them to cross over to South [Iraqi] Kurdistan.
"If you are a Kurd from Sulemani or Kirkuk, then you get the real abuse," a Kurd who arrived recently told KurdishMedia.com. "The Turkish soldiers on the border told me you cannot be a Kurd from Kirkuk. This is a Turkmen city," he added.
"And they hate Kurds from Sulemani," a young woman rushed in to make her voice heard. "One soldier shouted at me in Turkish, which I did not understand, and hit me in the face with my passport," She added.
Turkish officials on the border take advantage of the current situation for their self-interests. Desperate Kurdish families, who want to spend their annual holiday with their families in Kurdistan, pay any amount in order not to be trapped on the Turkish border and reach their beloved ones.For families with children at schools, the months of July and August are the only time, when they can visit as a family.
"We have to pay a considerable amount of cash as bribery to the Turkish soldiers in order to be allowed to cross the border to Iraqi [South] Kurdistan," one Kurd who arrived yesterday to the city of Sulemani told KurdishMedia.com.
"I do not think the fuss is over Kirkuk or Sulemani; it is over money. They [Turks] abuse the situation to make some cash. I paid for my family several hundred US dollars in order to allow the crossing to South [Iraqi] Kurdistan," a young father who arrived today told KurdishMedia.com.
A family complained to the PUK authorities, about the situation on the border, in Sulemani. A member of the PUK relation bureau told the family, whose son has been trapped on the Turkish side.
"We as the PUK think that Turkey makes problems for the PUK by preventing those people from crossing the Boarder, because Turkey thinks that the PUK helped the American forces to arrest Turkish soldiers in Sulemani earlier this month."
Turkey is blinded by Atatukism, and it will pay the price,
as very soon the Airport in South Kurdistan, Arbil International, will
be opened, with the Kurdistan Flag flying over it. Then no Kurd wants
Turkish services; and only then Turkey will realize how much business,
in already bankrupt economy, they lost for being racist.