13 June 2003

1. "Problems Persist in U.S.-Turkish Relations", three months after the vote in Turkey's parliament that deprived the United States of a northern front in the war against Iraq, relations between the longtime allies are strained, confused and growing worse.

2. "Turkey's Generals - Is it a waning influence?", Turkey's generals are still a brake on reform. But that may not last.

3. "Implementing reforms still a problem in Turkey", Turkey needs to do more to implement human rights reforms on the ground, a senior Council of Europe official said here Thursday, on the day the government submitted a package of proposed reforms to
parliament.

4. "Reports on incidents in Hani and Sirnak", Human Rights Association (IHD) diyarbakir Branch investigated the incident in Hani where children B.D. and M.O had been detained and shown around after their faces were smeared with feces, and introduced its report on the matter. The branch also stated that they had investigated on site the plight of Farasin (Yesiloz) villagers who could not return to their village and had been staying on tents for 25 days.

5. "Cyprus Says U.S. Agrees to Press Turkey on Settlement", Cyprus Foreign Minister George Iacovou said U.S. officials agreed on the need to bring Turkey back to the negotiating table to resolve the Mediterranean island's division.

6. "Turkey criticises European Court decision on Ocalan", Turkey today officially responded to the decision by the European Court of Human Rights that the trial of the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan had not been fair, by criticising the decision.

1. - Washington Post - "Problems Persist in U.S.-Turkish Relations":

ANKARA / 12 June 2003 / by Karl Vick

Three months after the vote in Turkey's parliament that deprived the United States of a northern front in the war against Iraq, relations between the longtime allies are strained, confused and growing worse.

With the dispute between the two countries still festering, Turkey and the United States have begun squabbling over Turkey's relations with two other neighbors, Iran and Syria. The Bush administration complains that Turkey is not supporting the hardening U.S. line against those governments, which the United States has listed as sponsors of terrorism. Turkish officials retort that life is more complicated for those who live in what one called "this bad neighborhood," adding that they don't see a coherent U.S. policy to follow.

"I would like very much for the Americans to tell us what's sticking in their craw," a senior Turkish diplomat said. "I would like the Americans to see us in the old light: as reliable, as democratic, as a good guy."

The strains signal a striking shift in an alliance that was so close only a year ago that senior Turkish officials hoped it might become as close as the one between the United States and Israel.

For more than half a century, the alliance has given the U.S. military access to a land that links Europe and Asia both geographically and politically and stands atop the Middle East. U.S. warplanes were first stationed at Incirlik air base in southern Turkey in the 1950s, when this country formed a bulwark against the Soviet Union.

Now Turkey is pushing most U.S. forces out of Incirlik, saying they are no longer needed to enforce the "no-fly" zone established over northern Iraq 12 years ago. And the Pentagon is looking instead to such former Eastern Bloc countries as Romania and Bulgaria, which provided access to their military bases during the Iraq war -- access that Turkey denied March 1, along with overflight clearance for U.S. combat missions.

"We don't want to be in places where we are not wanted," Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz told the Turkish cable channel CNN-Turk in a May 6 interview that at first stirred indignation, followed a month later by something more like worry. When President Bush threw his arm around President Jacques Chirac of France last week, the headline in this country's largest newspaper read: "He Made Up With Everyone but Turkey."

U.S. officials emphasize that they still regard Turkey as a friend and a partner against terrorism. Moreover, the United States continues to hold up the only Muslim-majority member of NATO to other Islamic countries as an example of democracy. After Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul challenged the Organization of the Islamic Conference to be more democratic during a recent meeting in Iran, Western diplomats in Ankara termed the speech "courageous."

But diplomats on both sides indicated that since the March 1 vote that denied U.S. forces access to Turkish territory, the United States has regarded Turkey as on probation. "The truth is, the relationship could actually become stronger," one foreign diplomat in Ankara said. "This is a function of what Turkey decides to do."

Turkish officials, however, say they do not know what the United States expects of them -- a situation suggesting to some Turkish analysts that Ankara decision-makers do not appreciate the precariousness of their country's position.

Many Turks tie key elements of the country's future -- especially advances in economic development and human rights -- to gaining membership in the European Union. But in terms of defense, "Turkey's need for the States is definitely greater than the United States' need for Turkey," said M. Faruk Demir, of Ankara's Center for Advanced Strategy. "With the U.S., I don't see Turkey as having the luxury of a lot of mistakes."

The new tension looms over Turkey's dealings with Iran and Syria. Wolfowitz complained that Turkey's approach to its neighbors represents "absolutely the wrong way to go."

Turkey maintains what one diplomat described as a "correct" relationship with Iran, favoring "evolution, as opposed to revolution" in the Islamic state.

Relations with Syria have grown warmer since 1998, when Syria expelled the leader of Turkey's Kurdish separatist movement, Abdullah Ocalan, who is now incarcerated off the Turkish coast. The countries are discussing increasing trade across their 500-mile border.

Solidarity with fellow Muslims is also a factor, according to Turkish analysts. The ruling Justice and Development Party is descended from an Islamic party and espouses a brand of populism rooted in an Anatolian heartland far more religious than the urban power bases of the secular parties that held power through the 1990s.

On the subject of Iraq, Turkey and the United States talk past each other even as their policies converge.

After dispatching a team of diplomats to tour Iraq last month, Turkey reported that the Americans were "scrupulously" adhering to promises to stop their Kurdish allies in northern Iraq from making any move toward independence. Turkey fears that such a move would revive the separatist movement among its own Kurdish minority.

U.S. officials, meanwhile, said they welcomed signals that Turkey shares their vision for Iraq. But problems persist, as both sides continue to dissect the vote that left U.S. military ships bobbing in the Mediterranean.

In retrospect, the elements of the U.S. defeat in Turkey's parliament appear clear enough, officials agreed: strong opposition among the public and from the nation's president; a stunning lack of discipline inside a ruling party that had privately assured approval; and a U.S. assumption that, in the words of one diplomat, "all you had to do was pick up the phone to the head of the Turkish general staff and it would be done," when, at the same time, the EU was pressing for Turkey's generals to reduce their role in politics.

Saban Disci, a senior ruling party official, said the Americans were "interpreting the situation as if we were guilty. This democracy they did so much to encourage over the years, this is the result of it."

U.S. officials say there has been no effort to punish Turkey, noting that the White House engineered a $1 billion loan to Ankara despite the unfavorable vote.

But at the Pentagon, "people are viscerally angry," said a diplomat with long experience in Ankara. "When they don't step up to the plate on such an important issue, it gets personal."

2. - The Economist - "Turkey's Generals - Is it a waning influence?":

Turkey's generals are still a brake on reform. But that may not last

ISTANBUL / 12 June 2003

IF THE government that took office in November were to have had its way easily, Turkey's parliament, where it enjoys an absolute majority, would months ago have approved an array of new laws to bring the country closer towards achieving its long-held ambition of joining the European Union. The “mini democratisation package”, the sixth in a series of reform bills, would let international monitors scrutinise general elections; let private radio and television channels broadcast in Kurdish; remove the armed forces from the board of Turkey's broadcasting watchdog; and scrap Article 8 of the anti-terror law, which bans “separatist propaganda” and has justified the jailing of thousands of politicians, journalists and campaigners over the years.

But Turkey's meddlesome generals, who recently blocked a UN plan to reunite Cyprus, have been saying no. They have argued, as usual, that “Turkey's special circumstances” mean that governments should always be empowered to take extraordinary measures to guard against “those who wish to undermine the country's territorial unity” (code for Kurds) or against others who might want to reverse “80 years of secular rule” (ie, Islamists).

Things may at last, however, be changing. The country's prime minister, Tayyip Erdogan, his foreign minister, Abdullah Gul, and his justice minister, Cemil Cicek, have recently steeled themselves to stand up to the men in uniform. The elected politicians now promise that the reforms, originally due to pass in April, will be enacted in time for a grand EU summit in Greece on June 20th—without even being brought before the National Security Council, where the top generals bang their fists.

Whoever comes out on top—the generals or the politicians—will greatly affect the government's credibility at home and abroad. It is not an exaggeration to say that the future of Turkish democracy is at stake. If the reforms go through and are actually implemented, the Turks hope they will soon be given a date for starting formal negotiations to join the EU.

For many of the generals, the changes would hurt. They would plainly have to take orders from civilians. They would have to allow the military budget to be publicly scrutinised; no one, outside the generals' circle, knows where the money goes. And they would have to keep out of politics for good.

They are unlikely to submit to political authority graciously. “The armed forces' strategy is to undermine and embarrass the [ruling] Justice and Development Party,” says Umit Cizre Sakallioglu, an authority on the army. The top soldiers, who zealously guard Turkey's secular tradition, have never concealed their contempt for Mr Erdogan, who, partly thanks to their pressure, was previously ousted as mayor of Istanbul and put briefly behind bars for publicly reciting a poem that allegedly tried to incite religious rebellion.

True, the prime minister originally went into politics under the banner of an overtly Islamist and anti-western party. But he says he long ago changed his views; among other matters, he switched to support for joining the EU. Religion and politics, he now says, should be kept separate. And in a gesture to the generals, he agreed this week to remove a clause from his reforms that would have allowed small mosques to be built within residential compounds.

Since forming Turkey's first single-party government in 15 years, Mr Erdogan and his party have done little to bolster the generals' thesis that they have a secret Islamist agenda. Mr Erdogan's resounding success at the polls was the clearest signal yet that his compatriots, most of whom share the generals' secular leanings, do not think he is bent on an Islamic takeover. With a 15-year-old separatist rebellion in the Kurdish-dominated south-east having virtually ended since the capture in 1999 of the Kurds' rebel chief, Abdullah Ocalan, most Turks are also less receptive to the generals' warnings against separatism.

They haven't surrendered, though

Still, the generals seem determined to play the nationalist (ie, anti-Kurdish) card by attacking the government over its proposed reforms. But this time the generals, who have thrice seized power directly in the past four decades and who squeezed the country's first Islamist-led government out of power in 1997, may have picked the wrong fight. One reason is that an overwhelming majority of Turks want their country to join the EU—and realise that the proposed reforms would help them achieve that goal.

A growing number of commentators are starting to ask whether the generals also want Turkey to join the EU. One columnist, Cuneyt Ulsever of the mass-circulation Hurriyet, has even said that General Tuncer Kilinc, the secretary-general of the National Security Council, should resign because of his hostile remarks about the EU. Not too long ago, Mr Ulsever might have lost his job or been censored.

On the other side of the debate, however, some ardently secular-minded writers have accused General Hilmi Ozkok, the unusually mild-mannered chief of the general staff, of being too soft on the government. A left-wing daily, Cumhuriyet, quoting sources in the army, reports that a group of hot-headed junior officers agree with that view. This has sparked murmurs of the possibility of yet another coup.

The generals, it seems, are rattled, especially since their old friends in the United States have joined the ranks of their critics—largely because of American irritation at the Turkish generals' failure to lobby publicly for a bill quashed by parliament on March 1st that would have let American troops attack Iraq from Turkish soil. Many Turkish officers who fought against Kurdish rebels in the south-east were further dismayed when the Americans dissuaded them from going into Iraq themselves in order to have a say in its future.

Now on the defensive, various generals are trying to calm things down. “Don't even mention the word coup,” huffs General Ozkok. “There are no hawks or doves, no young officers or old ones,” he says. “We support EU membership but feel we should join the Union as equals, so long as our national unity is not at risk.”

The army still tops the polls as Turkey's most trusted institution—partly because it has long reflected public opinion. But this time it may not be doing so. The generals' influence may be starting to wane—to the satisfaction, it seems, of a growing number of Turks.

3. - AFP - "Implementing reforms still a problem in Turkey":

ANKARA / by 12 June 2003

Turkey needs to do more to implement human rights reforms on the ground, a senior Council of Europe official said here Thursday, on the day the government submitted a package of proposed reforms to parliament.

"There are still problems concerning the implementation of reforms," human rights commissioner Alvaro Gil-Robles told a news conference at parliament here on the last of a three-day visit. Despite recent improvements, "there's still a large body of work that needs to be done," he added.

Gil-Robles underlineed the need to eradicate torture and guarantee freedom of the press in Turkey, which seeks to become a member of the European Union. During his visit, Gil-Robles held talks with human rights organisations and visited prisons and police stations in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeastern region on Wednesday and met with senior government officials in Ankara Thursday.

People detained are not always granted immediate access to a lawyer and "efficient" medical control is needed to prevent people arrested from being abused, he added. Judicial impunity for officials charged with abuses remains a problem, he also said. "It's necessary to change the mentality of a great many officials and ensure respect for the work of pro-human right organisations," he added.

The chief of Turkey's parliament's human rights commission Mehmet Elkatmis said: "We're not saying there isn't any torture in Turkey. There are just individual and isolated cases and their authors do not go unpunished."

Turkey has recently sought to adopt pro-human rights and democratic reforms to boost its bid to join the European Union, but freedom of expression and human rights abuses remain a major concern. The Council of Europe human rights' commission will issue a report on the situation in Turkey later this year.

4. - Kurdish Observer - "Reports on incidents in Hani and Sirnak":

Human Rights Association (IHD) diyarbakir Branch investigated the incident in Hani where children B.D. and M.O had been detained and shown around after their faces were smeared with feces, and introduced its report on the matter. The branch also stated that they had investigated on site the plight of Farasin (Yesiloz) villagers who could not return to their village and had been staying on tents for 25 days.

DIHA/AMED / 12 June 2003

Human Rights Association (IHD) diyarbakir Branch investigated the incident in Hani where children B.D. and M.O had been detained and shown around after their faces were smeared with feces, and introduced its report on the matter. The branch also stated that they had investigated on site the plight of Farasin (Yesiloz) villagers who could not return to their village and had been staying on tents for 25 days.

A delegation of IHD Diyarbakir Branch consisting of administrators Muharrem Erbey, Ayla Akat and Cihan Aydin went to Hani and investigated the incident on the site. The delegation introduced their report at a press conference on the branch premises. The Branch Chairman Selahattin Demirtas stated that they had submitted a copy of the report to the Hani Public Prosecution Office, adding that first they had not wanted to believe the incident in order not to be ashamed of being a human but following the investigation they had decided to report it. Pointing out that the report was prepared without prejudice and as objective as possible, Demirtas wished the report a means to enlighten the incident.

“Police is threatening”

Demirtas said that witnesses who had come to Amed had been forced to return, that the witnesses were under pressure and a policemen named Turan threatened them. Attracting attention that the administrators of the district were responsible for these events, the chairman reminded that from now on prosecutors conducted the investigation. Demirtas stressed that the incident had not been investigated throughly and a new investigation must be carried out. Then he introduced the report. According to the report, about 20 witnesses confirmed that the incident really occurred.

The report stated the following views: “The people in question stated that they had seen that two children and two policemen either side of them had been forced to walk around the marketplace, their faces smeared with feces. They also said that one of the children, B.D., had sworn after being released.”

Conclusion and demands

At the “Conclusions and demands” the report had this to say: “Our delegation considers the accused policemen being still on work an astonishing fact. Because for such investigations it is obligatory to remove the accused from office temporarily, bearing the independence and impartiality of the investigation in mind. It will be helpful for the prosecutor to take the statements of The witnesses in question and to find possible further witnesses that our delegation has not been able to find. Another point of extreme importance is that effective protection of the victims and their relatives as well as the witnesses.”

Sabahattin Acar, Chairman of Child Abuse Department of Diyarbakir Bar Association has stated that based on their investigations they are convinced that the incident has really occured.

“Human drama in Beytussebap”

On the other hand another report on the Hani incident was finished by the Diyarbakir Branch. Chairman Selanattin Demirtas statet that Farasin (Yesiloz) villagers who could not return to their villages and had been living at tents in Hani, Beytussebap for about 25 days were in miserable conditions. Calling attention that 700 people were left to die blatantly, IHD said that in case that the problem was not solved till Friday they would start a campaign for Farasin villagers.

Demirtas stated that they had met with a number of victims and Adil Karatas, Kaimakam of Beytussebap, and the villagers had applied to return to their village but had not been supported by the state officials. Attracting attention that the officials left them entirely to their devices as they acted on their own will, the chairman stressed that at such a human drama they opted for bureaucratic measures instead of urgent and practical solutions.

“700 people are left to die blatantly”

Demirtas said that the villagers had not yet been visited by a state officials including the kaimakam, and an investigation was said to be launched against Chairman of Sirnak Kizilay (Red Moon, an institution for aid like Red Cross) who had donated 40 tents. The Chairman considered the open negligence a shame of the state, warning that children death might be imminent as they lived under extremely unhygienic conditions.

“Urgent aid is necessary”

The IHD Diyarbakir Branch emphasized that those villagers must be examined immediately and measures must be taken in order to avoid epidemic. Food must be delivered through Kizilay, said Demirtas. IHD demanded that the road to their village must be opened as soon as possible and the villagers must be protected by the state to return to their village under secure condutions.

A campaign

Demirtas announced that in case that the problem was not solved till June 13, Friday they would start a campaign. “We will invite all the non-governmental organisations and political parties to Beytussebap and show the drama on the site. We will try to remedy the injustice by setting domestic law and in need be international laws into action,” said Demirtas.

5. - Bloomberg - "Cyprus Says U.S. Agrees to Press Turkey on Settlement":

12 June 2003

Cyprus Foreign Minister George Iacovou said U.S. officials agreed on the need to bring Turkey back to the negotiating table to resolve the Mediterranean island's division.

``The U.S. showed a high level of interest in getting negotiations back on track,'' Iacovou said at a Washington breakfast meeting with reporters. He called for the appointment of a special U.S. presidential envoy to the area.

Iacovou met with Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Colin Powell and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice yesterday and said he was ``satisfied with the responses I received'' on his appeal, without detailing them.

Iacovou said President George W. Bush's appointment of an envoy may help win Turkey's cooperation because of the power of Bush's office and the importance to Turkey of a good relationship with the U.S.

``If the president were to intervene, it would have maximum output,'' Iacovou said. Bush should ``consider a special envoy, even for one trip.''

Cyprus's formal ascension into the European Union next year puts pressure on Turkey because only the internationally accepted part of the island, and not the Turkish-controlled area, would enter the union under the current conditions.

Turkey, which also wants to join the EU, is being asked by the union how it can refuse to recognize Cyprus and seek entry into the same group that's accepted the island, Iacovou said.

Division

Cyprus has been split since 1974, after Turkey occupied its northern third in response to a coup backed by the government in Athens seeking to unite Cyprus with Greece. United Nations peacekeepers monitor a dividing line that runs through the capital Nicosia, separating the Greek and Turkish populations.

The EU has told Turkey it needs to improve its human rights record, reduce the power of its military and work to resolve the Cyprus division. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, on the northern part of the island, is recognized only by Turkey.

The U.S. and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan blamed Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash for the breakdown in unification talks in March.

Rotating Presidency

Annan's plan called for unification under a confederation with a rotating presidency. The council's presidency and vice presidency would rotate every 10 months between the two ethnic sides, its membership would be proportional to the two communities' populations, and there would be at least two members from each side.

Denktash would have to cede some territory under the plan. Thousands of Turkish Cypriots have demonstrated in favor of the plan.

Iacovou said Turkey ``wants to mend fences with the U.S. and maybe now is a good time to get concessions,'' referring to Turkey's refusal to allow U.S. forces to be based there during the military campaign in neighboring Iraq.

Powell discussed the Cyprus issue with Annan, who visited Washington yesterday, and will hold more talks on June 22 when the two men meet in Amman, Jordan to discuss, how to move on the Middle East peace process.

6. - KurdishMedia - "Turkey criticises European Court decision on Ocalan":

London / 12 June 2003 / by Welat Lezgin

Turkey today officially responded to the decision by the European Court of Human Rights that the trial of the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan had not been fair, by criticising the decision.

In an appeal Turkey requested the case to be seen at a higher cassation court, which is made up of 17 judges.

The European Court of Human Rights decided last March, in relation to the appeal by Ocalan’s lawyers, that Turkey had breached Articles 3, 5 and 6 of The European Convention on Human Rights, when trying Abdullah Ocalan.