17 November 2003

1. "Kurdish group renounces separatism and calls on Turkey to talk, keeps guns", the rebel Turkish Congress for Democracy and Freedom in Kurdistan (KADEK) -- the former PKK -- said Saturday it was no longer fighting for self-rule in Turkey and urged Ankara to open dialogue.

2. "Turkish Kurd rebels say won't dissolve armed wing", a Turkish Kurd rebel group fighting for home rule in southeastern Turkey said on Saturday it hoped to continue its struggle by political means but would not dissolve its armed wing.

3. "PKK by any other name is still a terrorist group, US says", the United States vowed Friday that an outlawed Kurdish rebel group would not be able to escape US terrorism sanctions by changing its name yet again in an apparent attempt to defy its blacklisting.

4. "Former Kurdish rebels denounce "terrorist" Istanbul blasts", the rebel Turkish Congress for Democracy and Freedom in Kurdistan (KADEK) -- the former PKK -- condemned as "terrorist" acts the car bombings outside synagogues in Istanbul Saturday that killed at least 16 people.

5. "Snags hit Turkey's language reforms", Kurdish children in Turkey could not carry ethnic names.

6. "EU official warns Turks on Cyprus", Erdogan backs Denktash stance.

1. - AFP - "Kurdish group renounces separatism and calls on Turkey to talk, keeps guns":

IRAQ-IRAN BORDER / 15 November 2003

The rebel Turkish Congress for Democracy and Freedom in Kurdistan (KADEK) -- the former PKK -- said Saturday it was no longer fighting for self-rule in Turkey and urged Ankara to open dialogue.

"We call on the Turkish authorities to abandon their bankrupt policies and enter a dialogue," the group said in a statement which also announced another change of name to the People's Congress of Kurdistan.

"The People's Congress of Kurdistan does not aim at division or separation. On the contrary, it aims at a contemporary democratic union respecting the unity of state," it said, urging Turkey to respect democracy.

"It believes that this approach responds to the vital needs both of Kurds and the neighboring nation states."

"The developments in the region and the EU membership run-up (for Turkey) facilitate a solution of this type," the statement said.

"It aims at preventing the use of reciprocal violence fused by nationalist sentiment and providing a non-violent solution that will make it possible to transform the Kurdish existence in the Middle East from a cause of crisis into a source of energy."

However Zubeyir Aybar, 42, who was appointed the leader of the Congress, told AFP the group would not disarm.

"The arms will stay as long as there is no solution to the Kurdish issue (...) for self-defense," he said. On Tuesday, KADEK, which as the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) waged a 15-year separatist war on Ankara, announced in Iraq that it was disbanding in order to set up a more democratic Kurdish organization.

Both Turkey and the United States dismissed the move. The State Department said the decision to rename itself would make no difference to US policy.

"Through its recent actions, the (PKK/KADEK) appears to be making an effort to evade responsibility for its terrorist acts by changing its name," deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said in a statement.

The PKK/KADEK, under any alias, is a terrorist organization, and no name change or press release can alter that fact," he said. Ereli said the US-led military forces in Iraq would not tolerate the presence of the group in any incarnation.

Turkish officials quickly dismissed the group's move as a tactic to shrug off their violent image and ward off a possible US clampdown on their bases in northern Iraq. KADEK decided unanimously to dissolve at congress in northern Iraq on October 26.

It is the direct successor of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) which fought a bloody struggle against Turkey for Kurdish self-rule until September 1999, when it declared a unilateral ceasefire.

The ceasefire followed the capture in February 1999 of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, who is serving a life sentence on a remote prison island in Turkey.

The PKK changed its name to KADEK in April 2002 and vowed to pursue democratic means to resolve the conflict with Turkey, but still has forces based in northern Iraq. Turkey holds the PKK responsible for the death of some 36,500 people, many of them rebels, killed in fighting since 1984 when the PKK took up arms for self-rule in the country's mainly Kurdish southeast.

2. - Reuters - "Turkish Kurd rebels say won't dissolve armed wing":

NEAR SULAIMANIYA / 15 November 2003 / by Seb Walker

A Turkish Kurd rebel group fighting for home rule in southeastern Turkey said on Saturday it hoped to continue its struggle by political means but would not dissolve its armed wing.

The conflict between Turkey and separatist Kurds has claimed some 30,000 lives since 1984. An estimated 5,000 Turkish Kurd fighters are holed up in the mountains of northern Iraq.

The rebel group, known until 2002 as the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and then as the Congress for Freedom and Democracy in Kurdistan (KADEK), said last week it was disbanding to be replaced by a broader body that would seek a peaceful solution.

But at a news conference at a camp in the mountains of northern Iraq, the president of the new body, which calls itself the People's Congress of Kurdistan (KONGRA-GEL), said a Turkish Kurd military force would be retained for self-defence.

''They will now be just a defence force, politically bound to the congress,'' congress president Zubeyir Aydar said. ''They are continuing to struggle according to our political charter.''

He said the armed struggle would end if a political solution was agreed with Turkey's government.
''As long as there is pressure, people will join the military wing. But we want to transform them into the political field. The dissolution of the army is entirely dependent on the Turkish state,'' Aydar said.

''Our aim is to dissolve the army if there is a legal political and democratic way we can solve the problem of the armed struggle.''

Aydar said the militia would not go on the offensive and would only fight in self-defence: ''The defence forces now are waiting as a line of defence. If there is no attack we will not fight, but a ceasefire requires both sides.''

ANKARA SCEPTICAL

Ankara last week dismissed KADEK's announcement that it was dissolving as a public relations ploy and said it continued to regard the group as a ''terrorist'' outfit.

Last month KADEK called off a five-year unilateral ceasefire, triggering fears in Ankara of a revival in fighting.

Violence in the region largely subsided after the capture and imprisonment of Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan in 1999. Ocalan is reported now to be sick and his organisation feels its ceasefire has brought no concessions from Turkey.

Since U.S. forces invaded Iraq to depose Saddam Hussein, the Turkish Kurds have faced more pressure to end their armed activities inside Iraq. Aydar said this one was reason for the dissolution of KADEK and the creation of a new political group.

''I can't say that demands of the U.S.A. and other Kurdish parties have not had an influence,'' he said.

3. - AFP - "PKK by any other name is still a terrorist group, US says":

WASHINGTON / 14 November 2003

The United States vowed Friday that an outlawed Kurdish rebel group would not be able to escape US terrorism sanctions by changing its name yet again in an apparent attempt to defy its blacklisting.

The State Department said this week's decision by the Turkish Congress for Democracy and Freedom in Kurdistan (KADEK), which had already changed its name from the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK), to rename itself the Kurdistan People's Congress would make no difference in US policy.

"Through its recent actions, the (PKK/KADEK) appears to be making an effort to evade responsibility for its terrorist acts by changing its name," deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said in a statement.

"The PKK/KADEK, under any alias, is a terrorist organization, and no name change or press release can alter that fact," he said. On Tuesday in Iraq the group, which has waged a 15-year separatist war on Ankara, announced that it was disbanding in order to set up a more democratic Kurdish organization.

But Turkish officials and observers quickly dismissed the group's move as a tactic to shrug off their violent image and ward off a possible US clampdown on their bases in northern Iraq. Ereli said the US-led military forces in Iraq would not tolerate the presence of the group in any incarnation.

"The Coalition in Iraq will treat the PKK/KADEK or the Kurdistan People's Congress as terrorists; its leaders are subject to arrest," he said. "All legitimate Iraqi parties have condemned terrorism and emphasize that Iraq can no longer provide a base for terrorism.

"There is no place for terrorism or terrorist organizations in the new Iraq," Ereli said. Turkey holds the PKK responsible for the death of some 36,500 people, many of them rebels, killed in fighting since 1984 when the PKK took up arms for self-rule in the country's mainly Kurdish southeast.

4. - AFP - "Former Kurdish rebels denounce "terrorist" Istanbul blasts":

IRAQ-IRAN BORDER / 15 November 2003

The rebel Turkish Congress for Democracy and Freedom in Kurdistan (KADEK) -- the former PKK -- condemned as "terrorist" acts the car bombings outside synagogues in Istanbul Saturday that killed at least 16 people.

"This is a terrorist act and we do not accept it. We condemn this act and we present our condolences to the families of the deceased," congress leader Zubeyir Aybar said in a press conference here.

"This is a place of worship that should not be targeted," he said. Two bombings near synagogues in Istanbul also wounded some 146 people.

The Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) has waged a 15-year separatist war on Ankara. But its successor, which has adopted the name KADEK, announced Saturday it is no longer fighting for self-rule in Turkey and urged Ankara to open a dialogue.

The group also announced another change of name to the People's Congress of Kurdistan.

5. - AlJazeera - "Snags hit Turkey's language reforms":

Kurdish children in Turkey could not carry ethnic names

ISTANBUL / 16 November 2003 / by Jonathan Gorvett

With Turkey’s government pushing hard towards future membership of the European Union, reforms in minority rights demanded by Brussels have recently hit a snag: the letters Q, W and X.

“It’s become a kind of comedy,” said film director Kazim Oz, one of Turkey’s 12 million ethnic Kurds. “They are committing acts of violence against letters.”

Yet, while the issue may have its absurd side, it is also being seen as a major test of just how far Turkey’s authorities are prepared to go in allowing Kurdish minority rights.

Names outlawed

The trouble started after the interior minister declared a number of changes in the country’s naming laws in September. These changes were designed to help the country meet EU criteria on the treatment of ethnic and religious minorities.

Previously, only Turkish, Muslim names had been permitted for any babies born in the secular republic - a source of discomfort for both the country’s small non-Muslim community and for its large non-ethnic Turkish one.

Principal among the latter group are the Kurds, who have long had both an official, Turkish first name and an unofficial, Kurdish one used by friends and relatives.

“My mother’s name is something other than what is on her identity card,” said Oz, who directed a groundbreaking film for Ankara by using Kurdish with Turkish subtitles last year. “In fact, many people are like that.”

Political implications

With guerrilla warfare raging between Kurdish fighters and the Turkish army during the 1980s and ‘90s, Ankara’s courts often saw parents’ desire to give their children Kurdish names as support for the militants.

"They are committing acts of violence against letters"

Kazim Oz,
film director

Jail sentences were common for calling your child Xebat, Axgin, Pervagin or Berwada.

However, under the new regulations, parents are now allowed to give any name they like to their children - provided it does not “go against general morals” or cause “a public insult”.

However, in writing the name, they must also use the existing Turkish alphabet.

Barriers

Here lies the difficulty. “The Kurdish and Turkish languages don’t have any connection,” said linguist Mulazim Ozcan. “And, as with all languages, both have developed their own grammar - and alphabet.”

In Kurdish, the letters Q, W and X are commonly used in names, yet do not exist in the Turkish alphabet. Using them therefore falls outside the law.

“We welcome the reform,’ said Ferhat Yegin, deputy head of the pro-Kurdish Free Society Party. “But the ban on some letters is not in conformity with the spirit of the amendment.”

Yegin was among some 50 Kurdish activists who filed applications with the courts to have their names changed to Kurdish spelling in late October. He wants his first name to be officially registered as “Qalferat”.

Yet many object to such moves. “Of course they can’t write a letter that doesn’t exist in the Turkish alphabet,” said Cavit Torun, a parliamentary deputy for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), who comes from the largely Kurdish city of Diyar Bakir.

“They can just give the sound of the Kurdish name using Turkish letters.”

Background

Kurds struggle to practice their traditions, speak their language

The Turkish alphabet - which uses Latin letters with several additional characters - was created in the 1920s by the republic’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

As part of his efforts to turn the country towards the West, he discarded the previous, Arabic script that Turks had used for centuries.

“When they took on the Latin alphabet,” said Ozcan, “they had to add new letters to fit certain sounds in Turkish that aren’t common in Western countries.”

Now, he said, it is time to add some more. “Banning letters is illogical,” he said. “It’s a completely political decision.”

The letters Q, W and X are already in widespread usage in advertising and computers, where the ubiquitous www. is constantly in use across Turkey.

“If you don’t accept the alphabet, then you don’t accept the language,” said Oz. “It makes the reform of the naming law nonsense.”

Litmus test

With the European Union looking to see how well Turkey implements a wide range of reforms now on the country’s statute books, the issue of the Kurdish language is already proving a significant test.

The government has also passed laws allowing the language to be studied and taught - albeit at private, fee-paying language schools, rather than in national, state schools.

“The government passed a series of laws to bring the country into line with EU legislation,” said Torun. “These included being able to open native language courses and teach those languages, as well as allowing them to be broadcast on radio and TV.”

Implementation

"But if there’s no change on the inside - in people’s attitudes - then the changes on the outside just don’t work"

Kazim Oz, film director

However, Kurdish activists say that no classes have actually started. Torun denies this, saying that “everything is ready to start - as far as I heard, one course has actually begun in the south-eastern city of Batman”.

He blames the fact that the courses are fee-paying for their failure to begin elsewhere - and points to potential further reform as the solution.

“Once these courses are brought within the national education system, then things will be different. At normal schools, learning Kurdish would be free.”

For Oz, that would be a major step forward, but he - like many other Kurds - is far from hopeful that major changes like this can take place.

“I want to believe it,” he said, “but I don’t think it’s so likely at the moment. The EU has had a positive influence and in general, yes, there have been positive changes. But if there’s no change on the inside - in people’s attitudes - then the changes on the outside just don’t work.”

6. - Kathimerini (Greece) - "EU official warns Turks on Cyprus":

Erdogan backs Denktash stance

17 November 2003

A day after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited northern Cyprus to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Turkish Cypriots unilateral declaration of independence, the European official in charge of relations with prospective EU members was quoted as warning Ankara in the most direct way yet that it would not get closer to the union as long as its troops occupied Cyprus.

“It is inconceivable that accession talks with the EU will begin while there are 30,000 Turkish troops on Cyprus,” Commissioner Guenter Verheugen told a seminar on EU enlargement in Berlin, according to an Athens News Agency report from Nicosia yesterday. It was not clear when Verheugen spoke.

The Cyprus issue, he was quoted as saying, “may not be a criterion for Turkey’s accession to the EU, but one cannot seriously believe that accession talks can begin with a country that has part of another EU member under occupation.”

On Nov. 5, the European Commission issued a report on EU candidates and potential candidates and warned Turkey it would face “serious obstacles” on its road toward the EU if it did not help solve the Cyprus issue.

Erdogan, whose party won elections a year ago, has shifted from his initial pressure on Turkish-Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash to accept UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s plan. Visiting northern Cyprus for a military parade on Saturday, Erdogan supported Denktash’s longstanding position that any solution must come with international recognition of the Turk-Cypriot state.

This demand has blocked decades of negotiations. Annan, who has blamed Denktash before, on Friday repeated that he will not resume his mediation efforts unless the protagonists show a willingness to reach a solution. In a report to the Security Council, Annan called for another six-month extension for peacekeeping forces, who have been on Cyprus for four decades. “It remains my position that no purpose would be served by renewing my mission of good offices unless there were a readiness on the part of both Cypriot parties, as well as Greece and Turkey, to finalize negotiations,” he said.