29 April 2004

1. "Fear, Suspicion Linger After Damascus Attack", Syrians express worries about terrorism as investigators reportedly interrogate two suspects in the bombing and shootout in the capital.

2. "Eyes on EU summit, Turkey presses on with democracy reforms", the Turkish government has put a series of constitutional amendments to parliament hoping to satisfy EU demands for reforms and win a date for talks on joining the bloc, parliamentary sources said Wednesday.

3. "Honor Killings Tarnish Turkey's Rights Drive", the women of this destitute town in southeastern Turkey show little pity for Semse Allak, stoned to death last year for "dishonoring" her family.

4. "Government meets Syrian Kurds to 'turn page' on unrest", Syria has agreed to grant some stateless Kurds Syrian nationality to defuse tensions that have run high since unrest last month, a Kurdish leader said on Wednesday.

5. "EU Green Line deal set for approval today", European Union envoys yesterday struck a deal to ease the economic isolation of occupied northern Cyprus after the Greek Cypriots voted to reject the Annan plan to reunite the island before it joins the EU.

6. "Pakistan, Turkey to cooperate in defence production", Pakistan and Turkey on Wednesday expressed the desire to cooperate in the field of defence production.

1. - Los Angeles Times - "Fear, Suspicion Linger After Damascus Attack":

Syrians express worries about terrorism as investigators reportedly interrogate two suspects in the bombing and shootout in the capital.

DAMASCUS / 29. April 2004 / by Megan K. Stack*

Syrians buried their dead and cleared the glass shattered in a shootout, amid fears on Wednesday that the government's tight grip on society might be slipping, allowing armed Islamist radicalism to take root.

The area where a car bomb exploded and a fierce gun battle raged Tuesday night — a wide, palm-lined boulevard — was little the worse for wear except for a charred building. Traffic coursed past the embassies, students jammed chic cafes and sidewalk vendors hawked corn on the cob in the diplomatic quarter of Mazza.

"The U.S. says Syria is a terrorist country, but now we're the ones under terrorism," said business student Martin Kardour, 24, as he sipped coffee in a trendy cafe. "Everybody feels there's something wrong, the people feel ill at ease. We listen to the news every day. We're afraid."

No group claimed responsibility for the attack that reportedly left four people dead. But the suspicions of analysts and officials focused on Islamist radicals, feeding fears that hard-core Muslims within Syria, radicalized by regional instability and keen to exploit a moment of weakness, may try to destabilize the country.

Although the government broadly condemned the attack as a "terrorist" strike, officials announced no suspects and kept details of the investigation quiet. Two of the gunmen, both young Syrians, were detained, a Syrian source close to the investigation said. The pair was being interrogated Wednesday.

Meanwhile, analysts pointed to the bloodshed in Damascus, Syria's capital, along with attacks and terror plots in Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Morocco, as proof that Arab regimes are increasingly vulnerable to violence on their home turf. Pressures for reform are coming from the international community as well as from pro-democracy activists within the Arab world, and the intense combat in Iraq could inspire radicals to take up arms, they said.

"Unfortunately, a lot of these regimes are still trying to act like an earthquake didn't occur and as if things haven't changed," said Gibran Tueni, editor of the Arab newspaper An Nahar. "These old-fashioned regimes have been destabilized, and things are moving very fast. If we don't have evolution, we're going to face a process of revolution."

In Washington, a State Department spokesman said the U.S. had no information linking the Al Qaeda network to the attack.

"As the bombings in Madrid, in Riyadh, in Casablanca, in Istanbul — pick the spot — have made clear, no state is immune from … the threat of terrorist attack. And that includes Syria," Adam Ereli said. Such attacks "should just be accepted as a fact of life that we live with in the modern world."

>From the Palestinian intifada to the Iraq war, regional events have posed a series of political tests for Syrian President Bashar Assad since he took office after his father's death in 2000. Assad has promised reform, but has continued to jail activists and pressure opponents under a state of emergency.

But this week's incident marks the second serious eruption of violence this year. In March, minority Kurds went on a rampage of burning, looting and rioting in northern Syria, drawing a deadly crackdown by the security forces. The ethnic Kurds have long suffered as second-class citizens in Syria, but the prospect of Kurdish autonomy in Iraq has reinvigorated Kurdish aspirations throughout the region.

In Syria, many reformers fret that the fighting will only make change more elusive.

"Shocks make the regime stronger and stronger," said human rights lawyer Tarek Hokaan. "Now they have a justification for putting people in jail. Now they have an excuse for the emergency law."

At first glance, Syria hardly seems a pressing target for Muslim insurgents. The regime has a reputation for standing in defiant opposition to both Israel and the United States. But enmity between the secular Baath regime and Islamists is bitter and old. In the early 1980s, the elder Assad stamped out the Muslim Brotherhood by killing thousands of his people.

The conflict deepened after Sept. 11, as Syria cooperated closely with the U.S. government's investigations into Al Qaeda, interrogating prisoners and sharing intelligence, officials said. More recently, with the threat of U.S. sanctions dangling over his head, Assad made a peace overture to Syria's longtime nemesis, Israel.

"I think Al Qaeda might have in mind that Syria has cooperated with America," said Mounir Ali, a journalist in London for the official Syrian news agency. "This [attack] is directed mainly against the diplomatic quarter in Damascus, and they wanted to say they were able to do something there."

To many here, the idea that fellow Syrians might be responsible for the bombing was unthinkable. Rumors and whispers of conspiracy swirled through the city — many Syrians blamed Israel, the United States or both.

Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal reportedly has a flat in the neighborhood, conspiracy theorists pointed out.

When Abu Haysim heard the first explosion, he thought an aircraft had broken the sound barrier, and braced for attack. "America is threatening us, Israel is threatening us," the 67-year-old said, "so there's a lot of pressure."

When the gunfire erupted, he tugged down the shades of the real estate agency where he has answered the phones for 15 years and hid in the dark. Like many of the street's residents, he didn't dare put his head out the door to see who was doing the shooting. The bullets were passing "like flying stars," he said.

"These people who are doing this, they're terrorists who come to terrorize the people. They have no conscience, no feelings of patriotism," he said. "No religion on Earth accepts this. They are the devil themselves."

* Times staff writers John Daniszewski in London and Mary Curtius and Greg Miller in Washington contributed to this report.

2. - AFP - "Eyes on EU summit, Turkey presses on with democracy reforms":

ANKARA / 28 April 2004

The Turkish government has put a series of constitutional amendments to parliament hoping to satisfy EU demands for reforms and win a date for talks on joining the bloc, parliamentary sources said Wednesday.

The package, submitted late Tuesday, envisages amending 10 articles of the constitution relating to matters of gender equality and the judiciary. One of the planned reforms deals with the abolition of state security courts, specialized tribunals which deal with terrorist crimes and which have
come under fire from the European Union as well as rights activists both at home and abroad.

Last week, a member of the European parliament, Luigi Vinci, called state security courts a "relic of fascism" when one of them convicted human rights award winner Leya Zana and three other former Kurdish MPs in a retrial and ordered them to serve the remainder of their 15-year prison sentences.

The package also seeks to amend the constitution to give precedence to international treaties over Turkish law, a change which means Turkey would be ready to share sovereignty with the pan-European bloc.

The sharing of sovereignty is a hot issue which euro-sceptics in Turkey refer to when arguing the case against Ankara's aspirations to integrate with Europe. Planned reforms also entail deleting all references to capital punishment in the constitution, a necessary step as the Turkish parliament has already abolished the death sentence.

Reforms would also amend the code to read "men and women have equal rights". The assembly was expected to take up the package next week. The European parliament recently adopted a report calling on Turkey to amend its current constitution.

EU leaders are to decide in December 2004 whether the mainly Muslim but strictly secular country has made enough progress in democratic reforms to open membership negotiations.

3. - Reuters - "Honor Killings Tarnish Turkey's Rights Drive":

YALIM / 28 April 2004 / by Ayla Jean Yackley

The women of this destitute town in southeastern Turkey show little pity for Semse Allak, stoned to death last year for "dishonoring" her family.

Raped by a man and forced to marry him when her pregnancy was discovered, Allak and her husband were killed after a tribal council ruled that her shame was too much to bear.

"Nothing like that has happened to my family, thank God. We are careful. It is not for the girl but for her family I mourn," said an elderly woman. "This wound was closed when she died."

Allak's death has left its mark on this drab town of itinerant laborers living in unpainted apartment blocks.

A court is considering murder charges against Allak's five brothers in what could prove a test of government efforts to stem so-called honor killings and boost Turkey's bid to join the European Union (news - web sites).

Each year across the world thousands of women are killed for "crimes" ranging from divorce to rejecting an arranged marriage. Dating, sexual assault, immodest dress, even malicious gossip can incur a death sentence.

No one knows the death toll from honor killings in Turkey, but experts estimate about 30 to 70 women are murdered annually, mostly in the Kurdish southeast. Scores of other women take their own lives under pressure or fear of attack.

The murders are a stain on Turkey, which prides itself on the separation of state and religion and on enshrining more freedoms for women than most Muslim countries, activists say.

"We don't have statistics on rape, incest, honor killings. The official policy is to turn a blind eye," said Canan Arin of the women's rights center at the Istanbul bar association.

"Not one prime minister has condemned honor killings."

Despite the silence, parliament is moving to strike from the penal code clauses used to reduce sentences for murders committed in the name of honor. It is part of a wider drive to clean up Turkey's human rights record and promote its EU bid.

RULE OF THE TRIBE

The halls of power are a long way from Yalim.

"It will take more than a pronouncement from Ankara to change the structures that led to this death," said Yalim mayor Abdulkerim Adem. "People here are unaware of their rights. Poverty has left them prisoners of the feudal way of life."

Beset by 15 years of civil strife that claimed more than 30,000 lives, many Kurds cleave to ancient tribal traditions in the face of bleak political and economic realities. Clan leaders decide on all matters of dispute, even those of life and death.

"What father wants to kill his daughter? It is impossible for many to defy the tribe. Its power can crush the love a parent feels for his child," said Selahattin Demirtas of the Human Rights Association in the nearby city of Diyarbakir.

Sheer economics also play a role. Attractive young brides from respected families can command a steep dowry, or "head money," from suitors -- tens of thousands of dollars in a region where the per capita income is a quarter of western Turkey's.

"A woman never belongs to herself. She is property that belongs first to her family, then to her husband," said Arin.

The current penal code allows conservative judges to reduce sentences in honor killings where "provocation" was a factor.

Minors often serve as executioners as they face less jail time. Tribal members demanding retribution seldom face penalty.

Women who do escape find little sanctuary.

"This is a failure. Community services are completely insufficient for the number of women who need protection," said Christina Curry, researcher at Amnesty International.

TABOOS FADING

The women's center Ka-Mer in Diyarbakir is one of few safe havens. Last year it provided shelter to 23 women threatened by honor killings. Two people, including Allak, died.

"There has been a habit of 'There have always been honor killings, no one knows when it began, we can't stop it,"' said Ka-Mer's director Nebahat Akkoc. "The difference now is we can talk about it. The EU process has accelerated this change."

Newspapers celebrated a court decision in another southeastern city last month as "revolutionary" when the judge jailed nine family members for their roles in the 2002 slaying of a 14-year-old girl who became pregnant as a result of incest.

A senior judge said two brothers who gunned down their sister in Istanbul after she fled with her illegitimate baby should face stiffer sentences for premeditated murder. And in February, the state religious affairs authority issued a nationwide sermon saying honor killings were a sin against God.

Still, mystery shrouds Allak's life and death.

Some say the 32-year-old became pregnant after an affair, but those close to her case said she was a mentally disabled woman preyed upon by a man already married with seven children.

She and her husband were ambushed as they left Yalim. The attackers held Allak by the hair and struck her head repeatedly with stones, her doctor said. The husband died at the scene; her fetus died soon after Allak was taken to a hospital, where she survived in a coma for seven months.

When her family refused to claim the corpse, women from Ka-Mer acted as pallbearers and buried her in a public cemetery.

"The Koran says all debts are paid at death, the sins of the dead are absolved," said Ceviz. "But the pressure of the tribe persists. For some, it is as eternal as the Koran."

4. - Reuters - "Government meets Syrian Kurds to "turn page" on unrest":

DAMASCUS / 28 April 2004 / by Mariam Karouny

Syria has agreed to grant some stateless Kurds Syrian nationality to defuse tensions that have run high since unrest last month, a Kurdish leader said on Wednesday.

Ismail Omar said Defence Minister Mustafa Tlas met four Syrian Kurdish parties in Damascus on Saturday and told them the government wanted to turn the page on unprecedented clashes between Kurds and police that killed about 30 people.

"He did not ask us for anything, we asked him and he was very cooperative. According to him it's a page that should be turned," Omar, head of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party, told Reuters.

"We assured Tlas that Kurds are not betting on outsiders and are under the leadership of Bashar al-Assad." Syrian officials were not immediately available for comment.

Kurds make up about two million of Syria's mainly Arab population of 17 million. They have often demanded rights to teach their language and citizenship for some 200,000 stateless Kurds.

Omar said Tlas told the group Assad had agreed to give 30,000 stateless Kurds Syrian nationality, which he described as a positive first step.

"We also put forward three demands: releasing all the Kurdish detainees; the return of Kurdish students to their universities and to meet Bashar al-Assad," Omar said.

"Tlas was very positive and was responding to our demands. We are going to send him a list of the detainees and students so that he can work on the issue." He said Tlas had agreed to ask Assad if he would meet the Kurds.

Kurdish activists said on March 19 authorities had freed 500 to 600 Kurds detained in the unrest, which escalated after a soccer match brawl in the northern town of Kameshli. But they said there could be up to 2,000 more in detention.

Rights group Amnesty International has urged Syria to make known the whereabouts of the Kurdish detainees.

5. - Cyprus Mail - "EU Green Line deal set for approval today":

29 April 2004

EUROPEAN Union envoys yesterday struck a deal to ease the economic isolation of occupied northern Cyprus after the Greek Cypriots voted to reject the Annan plan to reunite the island before it joins the EU.

Ambassadors agreed to allow all goods produced in northern Cyprus to cross the Green Line, diplomats said.

EU justice ministers are expected to endorse the deal without debate today in Luxembourg so the regulation is in place when Cyprus joins the bloc on Saturday.

Under the arrangement, the Turkish Cypriots will be able to export products wholly created on their territory immediately and products with input from third countries within a few months.

The European Commission pledged to come up with ambitious proposals within weeks for the economic development of the north, including the use of 259 million euros originally earmarked to support a political settlement.

The regulation says the goods will be accompanied by certificates issued by the Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Commerce, approved by the European Commission in agreement with the Republic of Cyprus.

Reports from Brussels last night said the Commission would have the lead role in certifying the origin of goods produced in northern Cyprus, while Cypriot sources insisted the government kept the upper hand.

Greek diplomats yesterday warned that Turkey and other third countries could try to use the north as a "Trojan Horse" to export fraudulently labelled manufactured goods to the EU market.

But other EU states were determined to prevent the Greek Cypriots using legal fine print to continue to obstruct Turkish Cypriot exports.

The Greek Cypriots had sought to exclude manufactured goods containing input from Turkey.

On the movement of persons across the demarcation line, the authorities of the Republic of Cyprus will be responsible for passport and valid travel document control or visas for residents of third countries.

The text notes that the authorities of the Republic and those of the Sovereign Bases Area will take all necessary measures to ensure full compliance with the regulation and prevent any violation.

Diplomats said that more controversial issues, such as allowing direct international air and sea links from EU states to northern Cyprus -- vital to promote tourism and trade -- would be discussed in the coming months.

"Lifting the embargo is very important for us. Only then will the monies the EU gives us be meaningful and beneficial. Otherwise the aid is not of much help to us," Turkish Cypriot Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Talat said in Istanbul.

Speaking in Athens, President Tassos Papadopoulos described the decision as “very satisfactory”.

He said a “great struggle” had taken place starting from the EU Council of Ministers on Monday to reach yesterday’s result.

A Greek Foreign Ministry representative in Brussels said yesterday’s agreement was positive and noted that the demarcation line would in no way be, nor could it be changed into, an external border of the EU.

6. - HiPakistan - "Pakistan, Turkey to cooperate in defence production":

RAWALPINDI / 29 April 2004

Pakistan and Turkey on Wednesday expressed the desire to cooperate in the field of defence production.

It was discussed during a meeting between the visiting Turkish Defence delegation, led by M Vecdi Gonul, Minister for National Defence of the Republic of Turkey and Minister for Defence Rao Sikandar Iqbal, here. Both the sides underscored the need of undertaking a joint venture for the production of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV).

Rao Sikandar told the Turkish delegation that Pakistan attached special importance to its relations with Turkey which were deep-rooted in history. He said both the countries enjoyed excellent relations and it was imperative to had a closer collaboration in the field of defence.

He further stated that the High Level Military Dialogue Group (HLMDG) between Pakistan and Turkey would really prove very helpful in achieving the desired results in the field of military cooperation and defence collaboration between the two countries.

Secretary Defence Lt-Gen (Retd) Hamid Nawaz Khan informed the Turkish delegation about the achievements made by Pakistan in the field of defence production.

He specially threw light on the successful production of Al-Zarrar and Al-Khalid tanks and said both tanks were cost-effective and of very good quality.

He emphasised the need of closer collaboration in the defence sector between the two countries.

The Turkish defence minister congratulated both the minister and secretary defence on the production of such a good quality of tanks at a cheaper price. He said that both Pakistan and Turkey had good memories of friendship since long. He expounded the idea to undertake a joint venture for the production of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). Apart from cooperation in the field of defence, he also emphasised the need for promoting and enhancing trade relations between the two countries.

The Turkish defence minister also called on Minister of State for Defence Production Division Habibullah Warraich, and discussed matters pertaining to the defence cooperation.

The minister briefed the visiting delegation about the achievements of defence industry of Pakistan. The Turkish defence minister invited both Minister for Defence, Rao Sikandar Iqbal and Minister of State for Defence Production, Habibullah Warraich, to visit Turkey.

Earlier, the Turkish Defence delegation, led by M Vecdi Gonul, Turkish Defence Minister, arrived in the Ministry of Defence and was received by Minister for Defence Rao Sikandar Iqbal. On arrival of the delegation, the smartly turned out contingent of the three armed forces presented guard of honour. The Turkish defence minister reviewed the Guard and took salute.