22 April 2004

1. "Banned Syrian Kurdish party calls for end to arbitrary arrests", Syria's banned Kurdish party Yakiti Wednesday accused Syrian authorities of carrying out a "campaign of terror" against the Kurdish people since deadly ethnic riots in the northeast of the country last month.

2. "Canada House of Commons recognizes "genocide" in Armenia", Canada's House of Commons rejected Tuesday appeals from Foreign Minister Bill Graham by adopting a resolution to recognize that Turkey, Canada's ally in NATO, committed genocide in Armenia in 1915. (..) "Armenian monument in Poland draws Turkish anger", Turkey reacted on Wednesday to a reference to the so-called Armenian genocide being engraved on an Armenian monument that was unveiled on April 17 in the garden of a church in Poland.

3. "Turkey: Injustice Continues Despite Welcome Reforms", Amnesty International is shocked by the decision to prolong the imprisonment of Leyla Zana, Hatip Dicle, Selim Sadak and Orhan Dogan. As prisoners of conscience, they should be released immediately and without condition.

4. "Court ruling may stall Turkey's EU ambitions", the European Commission on Wednesday warned Turkey its hopes for starting accession talks with Brussels could be seriously damaged after a military court in Ankara confirmed a 15-year sentence on a leading human rights activist.

5. "European Court finds Turkey guilty", the European Court decided that Turkey was guilty for not performing an extensive investigation, while rejecting claims of an extra-judicial killing and torture.

6. "Turkish Troop deployment In Iraq Now "Out Of The Question", as Iraq’s security situation continues to erode, the US-led occupation force appears in urgent need of reinforcements. Turkey at one point in late 2003 was ready to contribute troops to bolster the thinly stretched Iraqi stabilization force.

7. "Russia kills Cyprus unity plan", Russia has killed a Security Council resolution put forward by the United States and Britain to encourage Greek and Turkish Cypriots to adopt a U.N. plan to unify their Mediterranean island.

8. "Turkey backs UN's Cyprus plan", decision by Ankara helps bid to join EU.

1. - AFP - "Banned Syrian Kurdish party calls for end to arbitrary arrests":

DAMASCUS / 21 April 2004

Syria's banned Kurdish party Yakiti Wednesday accused Syrian authorities of carrying out a "campaign of terror" against the Kurdish people since deadly ethnic riots in the northeast of the country last month.

"We are asking the authorities to end their campaign of arrests and terror, and to severely punish the officials who had given the order to fire on unarmed civilians" at the start of the riots, the party said in a statement.

"Numerous imprisoned young Kurds have died under torture," the statement. "We are asking for the release of all those Kurds held," it said, accusing the authorities of revealing "neither the number nor the place of detention" of the detainees.

Between March 12 and 17, Kurds and Syrian security forces and Arab tribes clashed in the north of Syria. Kurdish sources said 40 people were killed, while Syrian officials put the death toll at 25. Syria's Kurds, estimated to total 1.5 million, represent around nine percent of the country's population and live mainly in the north.

2. - AFP / Turkish Daily News - "Canada House of Commons recognizes "genocide" in Armenia":

OTTAWA / 21 April 2004

Canada's House of Commons rejected Tuesday appeals from Foreign Minister Bill Graham by adopting a resolution to recognize that Turkey, Canada's ally in NATO, committed genocide in Armenia in 1915.

The 301-seat House of Commons voted 153 to 68 in favour of the resolution, thanks to support from many members of the governing Liberal Party. Several MPs said Graham had asked them to vote down the measure during closed-door Liberal meetings.

The motion recognized Turkey's alleged genocide as "a crime against humanity." It has symbolic value and will not define policy. In the vote, several leading members of the Liberal Party, including parliamentary secretaries, voted in favour. However, no full cabinet minister voted against.

Aris Babikian, of the Armenian National Committee of Canada, pointed out that several key cabinet ministers, including Justice Minister Irwin Cotler and even Prime Minister Paul Martin, were absent for the vote.

He suggested they were absent because they did not want to vote against the motion. However, Babikian said it was a great "moral victory," which would add pressure on Turkey to at least recognize the genocide and even apologize for it.

At a celebration party after Tuesday's vote, Babikian said he owed this victory to his grandfather who "lost six brothers and sisters in the genocide" and "saw his own six-year-old sister burned to death."

"Armenian monument in Poland draws Turkish anger":

ANKARA / TDN / 22 April

Turkey reacted on Wednesday to a reference to the so-called Armenian genocide being engraved on an Armenian monument that was unveiled on April 17 in the garden of a church in Poland.

"Despite having learned that the Polish government had been against such an expression being placed on the monument, the fact that a monument with words slandering the Turkish nation was erected on the soil of Poland, which we have always backed at hard times, has caused sorrow among us," said a press release issued by the Foreign Ministry yesterday.

"It is creating concern that a church is being used to express certain obsessions. We should never forget that in order for efforts towards promoting inter-religion dialogue to bear fruit, people should avoid feelings of hatred and prejudice. The opposite of this will cause increasing intolerance and social conflict," the statement read.

The Armenians claim that during the Ottoman Empire their ancestors were massacred for allegedly helping the invading Russian Army during World War I. Turkey, the heir of the Ottoman Empire, rejects the genocide claim, stating that the Armenians were killed in civil unrest during the collapse of the empire.

The Foreign Ministry also called on people, especially clerics, to behave with responsibility on sensitive issues.

3. - Amnesty International - "Turkey: Injustice Continues Despite Welcome Reforms":

21 April 2004

Amnesty International is shocked by the decision to prolong the imprisonment of Leyla Zana, Hatip Dicle, Selim Sadak and Orhan Dogan. As prisoners of conscience, they should be released immediately and without condition.

Their sentencing today to 15 years imprisonment represents a missed opportunity to end the previous injustice. In addition, Amnesty International is seriously concerned about the fairness of the retrial’s proceedings and calls on the Turkish authorities to abolish the State Security Courts in order to ensure that Turkish justice meets international standards.

Amnesty International members around the world have been campaigning for the release of the four former deputies of the Turkish parliament since they were sentenced in December 1994 to 15 years’ imprisonment for membership of an illegal armed organization, the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK). Amnesty International adopted Leyla Zana, Hatip Dicle, Selim Sadak and Orhan Dogan as prisoners of conscience.

The organization considers the prosecution to have been motivated by a decision to punish the four former deputies who had based their non-violent political activities around the Kurdish question (for further information see Amnesty International report Turkey: The colours of their clothes -- parliamentary deputies serve 15 years’ imprisonment for expressions of Kurdish political identity, AI Index: EUR 44/85/97, December 1997).

The retrial of the four former deputies started in April 2003. It results from a Turkish law introduced in February 2003 that allows for new trials of individuals where Turkish court proceedings had been found by the European Court of Human Rights to have been in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Although Amnesty International believes that the former deputies should have been released unconditionally, the retrial offered the opportunity to end the injustice of their continued imprisonment.

However, court proceedings have apparently violated the four individuals’ right to the fair trial in the same way as the original verdict in 1994 that imprisoned them, which the European Court of Human Rights condemned in 2001. The new proceedings seem to be a replay of the original trial, designed to uphold the original verdict.

Although the military judge present in the original trial has been removed from State Security Courts, this is not enough to ensure that a trial is conducted according to internationally agreed standards of fairness. While Amnesty International welcomes the measures the current Turkish government has introduced in the area of human rights protection, this verdict -- and those in many other trials -- raise important concerns regarding State Security Courts. Amnesty International therefore calls on the Turkish government to abolish State Security Courts to meet international standards and to take steps for the immediate and unconditional release of Leyla Zana, Hatip Dicle, Selim Sadak and Orhan Dogan.

Background

Amnesty International delegates observed several sessions of the retrial and reported practices that were apparently short of international fair trial standards. They repeat aspects of the first trial of Leyla Zana, Hatip Dicle, Selim Sadak and Orhan Dogan, which the European Court of Human Rights ruled in July 2001 was unfair.

Amnesty International noted several areas of concern including:

• The chief judge displayed a pre-formed opinion about the case since he had initially opposed the request for a retrial on the grounds that, in his opinion, the initial trial was not in contravention of the ECHR. Although he was overruled by two other judges, he continued to preside over the case;

• The State Security Court has continually refused to suspend the prison sentences of Leyla Zana, Orhan Dogan, Hatip Dicle and Selim Sadak and release them on bail pending the verdict of the retrial -- despite the fact that they have already been imprisoned for nine and a half years;

• The different approach of the State Security Court to witnesses, lawyers and evidence of the defence and those of the prosecution, including the denial of the right of the defendants and their legal representatives to cross-examine the witnesses who testified against them.

For more information please call Amnesty International’s press office in London, UK, on +44 20 7413 5566; Amnesty International, 1 Easton St., London WC1X 0DW. web: http://www.amnesty.org

4. - Financial Times - "Court ruling may stall Turkey's EU ambitions":

BRUSSELS / ANKARA / 21 April 2004 / by Judy Dempsey and Vincent Boland

The European Commission on Wednesday warned Turkey its hopes for starting accession talks with Brussels could be seriously damaged after a military court in Ankara confirmed a 15-year sentence on a leading human rights activist.

Günter Verheugen, enlargement commissioner, said he "strongly deplores today's [Wednesday's] verdict" of Leyla Zana. "It gives rise to serious concern in the light of the [EU's] political criteria and casts a negative shadow on the implementation of political reforms in Turkey."

Ms Zana had been originally charged in November 1991 for having spoken Kurdish during the inauguration of the Turkish National Assembly.

She was sentenced in 1994 for membership of an armed rebel group - not one of the original charges. The Commission said Ms Zana had been imprisoned for a "non-violent expression of opinion".

She and her three co- defendants had been allowed a retrial as part of the judicial reforms introduced last year and after pressure from the EU, European parliament and human rights groups.

In 2001, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) had ruled that the trial against all four had been unfair.

But defence lawyers said the new trial was a repeat of the old one. Yusuf Alatas, a lawyer for the defendants, said he would appeal and probably take the case again to the ECHR.

Neither the justice ministry nor the government immediately commented. Officials have long argued that the government could not interfere in an independent judicial process.

The outcome of the trial could be exploited by several rightwing parties in Europe who are seeking support before June's European Parliament elections.

Germany's opposition Christian Democrats and senior conservative French politicians have said Turkey has no place in Europe.

Much will depend on whether the Commission recommends in October to start accession talks with Turkey. The final decision will be made at the EU's December summit, where Germany and Britain will make a big bid on behalf of Ankara.

It will be based on how far Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government has gone in meeting the EU's "Copenhagen criteria". These are strict conditions any country must meet before they can start negotiations and include a range of reforms covering economic, social, political and human rights.

A Commission spokesman said any country that has political prisoners cannot start accession negotiations. According to Turkish justice ministry figures, 5,800 people are either in custody or serving sentences for terrorist- related offences.

Diplomats in Ankara said the trial's verdict would keep an unwelcome spotlight on other political prisoners, adding the ball was now in Turkey's court. The government, they said, still had a few months to dismantle the security courts and implement other reforms.

5. - Turkish Daily News - "European Court finds Turkey guilty":

ANKARA / 22 April 2004

The European Court of Human Rights has ordered Turkey to pay 2,600 euros in compensation due to lack of extensive investigation.

Necdet Buldan filed a complaint at the court in 1995, claiming that his brother Savas Buldan was tortured and suffered ill-treatment and was the victim of an extra-judicial killing and also that the Turkish judiciary did not carry out a proper investigation.

The European Court decided that Turkey was guilty for not performing an extensive investigation, while rejecting claims of an extra-judicial killing and torture.

6. - Eurasianet - "Turkish Troop deployment In Iraq Now "Out Of The Question":

21 April 2004 / by Mevlut Katik*

As Iraq’s security situation continues to erode, the US-led occupation force appears in urgent need of reinforcements. Turkey at one point in late 2003 was ready to contribute troops to bolster the thinly stretched Iraqi stabilization force. However, Turkish officials now say the deployment of troops in Iraq is “out of the question.”

In the latest spasm of violence in Iraq, suicide bombings in the southern port of Basra on April 21 killed at least 68 people, a large number of them school children. Meanwhile, the uprising by Shi’a and Suuni militia groups against American-led occupation forces continues to simmer. The escalating violence has already prompted some members of the US-led coalition – including Spain, Honduras and the Dominican Republic – to announce their intention to withdraw their troops from Iraq.

The evident cracks in the “coalition of the willing” are increasing the strain on the 135,000 US troops in Iraq. According to an April 21 report in the New York Times, the US Defense Department has developed a contingency plan to dispatch fresh American troops to Iraq. The Pentagon reportedly felt the need to formulate the plan because of the lack of enthusiasm among US allies to reinforce Iraq’s stabilization force.

During the autumn of 2003, Turkey agreed to send 10,000 troops to Iraq to help promote stabilization. At the last moment, however, the deployment plans fell apart, mainly because of opposition from members of Iraq’s provisional governing council, in particular its Kurdish members. At the time, the United States supported the decision to cancel the deployment, citing “Iraqi sensitivities.”

In recent weeks, some Bush administration backers have suggested reviving the Turkish deployment plan. However, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul acted swiftly to shoot down any hopes that Turkish troops would be sent to Iraq. “We previously proposed sending troops to tackle the spreading [violence in Iraq],”Gul told reporters in Ankara on April 8. “We received parliamentary approval for deployment, but this was at the time [in late 2003] seen as inappropriate. Now, sending Turkish troops is out of the question.”

During a state visit to Japan, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed Gul’s statement, adding that Turkey’s military role regarding Iraq would be limited to making Turkish bases available to US forces.

In his comments to reporters, Gul implied that an American lack of understanding of socio-political conditions in Iraq was a contributing factor in the violence. “We have said from the beginning that things may get messy if the culture and the structure of the region were not well known,” Gul said. ”For this reason, we hope our suggestions, which we have been making from the start, are taken into consideration.”

Turkey’s political establishment is presently preoccupied with questions relating to the country’s European Union membership drive, in particular the political future of the divided island of Cyprus. Nevertheless, Turkish leaders are growing increasingly uneasy about the prospect of Iraqi violence spreading to Turkey’s borders. Gul described the recent violence in Iraq as “a very dangerous escalation.”

Just six months ago, antagonism between Turks and the Kurds of northern Iraq proved to be an insurmountable obstacle to the Turkish troop deployment. Since then, the level of hostility between Turks and Kurds has been significantly reduced. In Ankara, policy makers have come to view the Kurdish-dominated territory in northern Iraq as a critical buffer zone, separating Turkey from the tumult in the Suuni and Shi’a areas of Iraq. Under US occupation, Kurdish-dominated areas of Iraq have emerged as pockets of relative tranquillity.

Despite the thaw in relations, Kurdish leaders indicate that they would continue to oppose a Turkish military presence in Iraq. Barham Salih, a leader of the self-proclaimed regional government of Kurdistan, said during an on-line chat hosted by the Washington Post on April 9 that a majority of Iraqis opposed any military involvement in the country by a neighboring state. At the same time, Salih praised the efforts of Turkish business to forge trade ties with Kurdish counterparts, describing such commerce as a “good foundation upon which good neighborly relations can be maintained.”

* Editor’s Note: Mevlut Katik is a London-based journalist and analyst. He is a former BBC correspondent and also worked for The Economist group.

7. - Reuters - "Russia kills Cyprus unity plan":

UNITED NATIONS / 22 April 2004 / by Irwin Arieff

Russia has killed a Security Council resolution put forward by the United States and Britain to encourage Greek and Turkish Cypriots to adopt a U.N. plan to unify their Mediterranean island.

Three days before Saturday's twin referendums in Cyprus on the U.N. plan, Russian Deputy Ambassador Gennady Gatilov accused Washington and London of rushing a resolution through the 15-nation Security Council without time for deliberation.

The vote on the measure was 14 to 1, but Russia's "no" vote was enough to kill it because of its veto power as one of the U.N. body's five permanent members along with the United States, France, Britain and China.

"In these conditions the Russian side has no other choice but to exercise a technical veto in order to ensure, in the future, conditions for normal, mutually respected work," Gatilov said. It was the first Russian veto since 1994.

U.S. envoy James Cunningham said Washington was "disappointed that one member of the Security Council" had opposed the text, despite a plea from U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and a call by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov.

"As everybody else fell into place and it became clear it would be 14 to 1 and that the Russian veto reasons would be explained as procedural rather than substantive, we decided it was worth going for a vote that made clear the whole Council was really behind it," said a senior U.S. State Department official who asked not to be named.

MIXED MESSAGE?

The United Nations has been campaigning for a united Cyprus to join the European Union with nine other countries on May 1.

But opinion polls show the U.N. plan faces serious opposition on the Greek Cypriot side although the Turkish Cypriot north appears to favour it.

If either side votes "no," only the Greek Cypriot government in the south would enter the EU, leaving the north -- which is recognised only by Turkey -- on its own.

The resolution was intended to reassure the Greek Cypriot south that the Security Council would fulfil its security obligations under the unity deal, backers said.

Contingent on the plan's approval, it would have banned the supply of arms to Cyprus and revamped the U.N. peacekeeping mission already on the island to help carry out the plan.

The support of 14 council members sent a "strong message of support" for unifying Cyprus, British envoy Adam Thomson said.

But several delegations complained even as they voted for the text that more time would have been helpful.

"There is a risk this signal could be misinterpreted. That is what we fear," French Ambassador Jean-Marc de la Sabliere said.

Russia, a long-time ally of Greece with a strong interest in security matters in the Mediterranean, had argued forcefully against any council action before Saturday. Russia and Greece have a historical friendship that goes back hundreds of years and they share the same orthodox religion.

Britain had led the battle for the resolution as the former colonial power in Cyprus and one of the deal's U.N.-appointed guarantors, while the United States was seen pushing hard for the island's reunification as part of a long-term campaign to bring Turkey closer to Europe.

Andreas Mavroyiannis, the U.N. ambassador for the internationally recognised Greek Cypriot south, said he thought Moscow felt "the British and Americans are only trying to address the concerns and interests of Turkey."

But "we don't like this atmosphere that prevailed. Nobody is happy," he told reporters.

8. - The New York Times - "Turkey backs UN's Cyprus plan":

Decision by Ankara helps bid to join EU

ANKARA / 22 April 2004 / by Susan Sachs

Turkey, intent on winning points with the European Union, has thrown its full weight behind a United Nations proposal to reunite Cyprus despite widespread public criticism that its stand amounts to a betrayal of the island's Turkish population.

The government's enthusiastic support for the plan has won praise from U.S. and European officials, an audience that had long been skeptical of Turkey's commitment to a Cyprus resolution and one that Turkey must please if it is to accomplish its ultimate goal of joining the European Union.

Turkish backing is by no means a guarantee that reunification will happen. Greek and Turkish Cypriots will decide in separate referendums on Saturday whether to start living together again in a loose federation after 30 years of strict and bitter division. Opinion polls on the island suggest that the plan is narrowly supported on the Turkish part of Cyprus but faces strong opposition from on the Greek side.

Complicating the vote is the fact that no matter what the outcome, the Greek-dominated part of Cyprus is set to join the European Union on May 1. The consequences for the Turkish Cypriots left behind remain unclear.

But in Turkey, government leaders said they had, at least so far, won a larger battle for their own credibility by demonstrating that they would not block a Cyprus deal. The European Union has said that a Cyprus settlement would help Turkey's chances of starting membership talks later this year, although it was not listed as a condition.

"The government took risks for finding a resolution on the island because there is a strong public opinion against the plan in northern Cyprus and in Turkey itself," said Bulent Arinch, the speaker of the Turkish Parliament and a member of the governing Justice and Development Party. "Because of our courageous approach, it won't reflect badly on Turkey even in the event of failure."

Cyprus, 65 kilometers, or 40 miles, off Turkey's Mediterranean coast, was split in 1974, after Turkish troops took control of the northern third of the island in response to a coup that was aimed at making Cyprus a part of Greece.

The occupied area declared itself the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus, but no country other than Turkey has recognized it. Over the years it has become the impoverished cousin to the more prosperous Greek-dominated part of Cyprus because of an economic embargo imposed by the international community.

The UN plan, put forward three weeks ago by Secretary General Kofi Annan, would recognize separate Greek and Turkish Cypriot regions linked to a weak central government.

Turkey now spends about $400 million annually in direct financial support to the Turkish Cypriot government. The indirect costs of its support, mainly from importing its goods without duties and subsidizing shipping, are estimated at $1 billion a year.

The price of maintaining the Turkish Cypriot entity, however, has not been part of the debate in Turkey. The longtime Turkish Cypriot leader, Rauf Denktash, has made emotional appeals for his constituents to reject the plan, arguing that they would end up as a powerless minority and accusing Turkey of abandoning them. His counterpart in the Greek part of Cyprus, Tassos Papadopoulos, has also called for rejection of the plan.

Denktash's arguments resonate strongly in Turkey, where many have a visceral attachment to Cyprus and often recount stories of the suffering of Cypriot Turks in ethnic violence in the 1960s and '70s. Turkey's strategic interest in Cyprus has also been part of the nationalist and military doctrine for decades.

But Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose party holds a parliamentary majority and swept local elections last month, has argued that a settlement could improve the lot of the impoverished Turkish Cypriots, while benefiting Turkey's own goals of integration with Europe.

"If it's solved this region can be another source of all kinds of cooperation," said the Turkish foreign minister, Abdullah Gul, in an interview. "So instead of exploiting hostilities we can have cooperation."

"The commission strongly deplores today's verdict," a spokesman said after Zana and three other former Kurdish lawmakers were sentenced to 15 years in prison for membership of an armed rebel group, affirming a 1994 sentence that had been passed on them. The commission is due to publish a report on Turkey this year that will serve as the basis for a decision by EU leaders in December on whether to start formal EU entry negotiations with Ankara.

Asked whether the EU could open accession talks with a country that is holding political prisoners, the spokesman for the EU enlargement commissioner, Günter Verheugen, said: "The answer is no. Mrs. Zana was imprisoned and sentenced for having expressed opinions in a nonviolent way. So for us she is a political prisoner."