17 December 2004

1. "Turkish Kurd rebel leader says Ankara still denies rights", the head of a Turkish Kurdish rebel group was quoted on Thursday as saying Turkey was failing to uphold the rights of its large ethnic Kurdish population despite pledges made to the European Union.

2. "Ankara court expected to postpone hearing in trail of Kurdish activists", a Turkish court reviewing the sentences of Leyla Zana and three other former Kurdish lawmakers is likely to postpone a hearing set for Friday because the defendants are abroad, a lawyer for the four activists said Thursday.

3. "DEHAP calls for ‘triple identity’", a supranational identity of Europeanness with Turkish citizenship above ethnic identities should now be the norm, says the DEHAP Youth Movement

4. "Cyprus hurdle for Turkey EU talks", the 25 EU leaders agreed on Thursday on a historic offer to open accession negotiations on October 3, 2005, but insisted Turkey, a key NATO ally, must move towards normalizing relations with Cyprus by then -- a sensitive point for Ankara.

5. "EU links Turkey talks with Cyprus recognition", turkish officials expressed dismay Friday over a European Union offer to open membership talks that required Turkey to recognize Cyprus.

6. "Democracy in Turkey: Has it achieved European norms?", the implementation process of the Copenhagen political criteria can never end.

1. - Reuters - "Turkish Kurd rebel leader says Ankara still denies rights":

SOFIA / 16 December 2004

The head of a Turkish Kurdish rebel group was quoted on Thursday as saying Turkey was failing to uphold the rights of its large ethnic Kurdish population despite pledges made to the European Union.

His comments came as EU leaders gathered in Brussels to decide whether Ankara has done enough on human rights and political freedoms to win a date to start EU entry talks. They are widely expected on Friday to propose a date in 2005.

"Turkey wants to become a member of the European Union without changing, without guaranteeing the personal, political, cultural and social rights of this population," Zubeyir Aydar, head of the former Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), told the Bulgarian daily Monitor.

"Stability and democracy in the country are possible only if Ankara fulfills our 14 demands, which are norms that meet European standards."

Aydar said these demands included a halt to Turkish military operations in Kurdish regions, an amnesty for political prisoners, the rebuilding of villages destroyed by war and the recognition of Kurdish culture and language.

The PKK has been known since November 2003 as the Kurdistan People's Congress.

The 20-year conflict in southeast Turkey has killed more than 30,000 people, mostly ethnic Kurds. The violence has largely subsided since the capture of its leader Abdullah Ocalan in 1999. Clashes between security forces and rebel fighters still occur from time to time.

Both the EU and the United States have put the PKK on their terrorism blacklist.

Monitor said its interview with Aydar took place in Brussels.

Turkey has enacted sweeping reforms to persuade the EU to begin negotiations, including more cultural rights for its estimated 12 million Kurds and an easing of restrictions on the use of their language, which is different to Turkish.

But human rights groups and the European Commission say Turkey must do much more to improve the Kurds' situation, especially in the impoverished southeast. They say some of the reforms are not being fully implemented at grassroots level.

Turkish Kurds mostly favour EU entry, as they see the process as guaranteeing greater human rights.

2. - AFP - "Ankara court expected to postpone hearing in trail of Kurdish activists":

ANKARA / 16 December 2004

A Turkish court reviewing the sentences of Leyla Zana and three other former Kurdish lawmakers is likely to postpone a hearing set for Friday because the defendants are abroad, a lawyer for the four activists said Thursday.

"We have asked the court to postpone the hearing," lawyer Yusuf Alatas told AFP. "I expect the court to grant our request because the hearing cannot proceed without the defendants."

Zana, who has spoken out in favor of Turkey's bid to join the European Union, and one of her three colleagues, Orhan Dogan, are currently in France, where they are meeting with local politicians.

She and her colleagues are standing trial for a third time on charges of collaborating with an armed Kurdish rebellion in southeastern Turkey.

They were released in June after 10 years in jail and are unlikely to go back to prison even if they are convicted again.

The four politicians were first jailed in 1994. They were allowed a retrial in March 2003 thanks to democracy reforms that Turkey adopted in a bid to boost its prospects of of EU membership.

They have been adopted as prisoners of conscience by the EU, and the European Parliament awarded Zana its prestigious Sakharov human rights award in 1995.

A court in Ankara confirmed their sentences earlier this year, but the appeals court overturned the ruling, paving the way for their current retrial.

3. - Turkish Daily News - "DEHAP calls for ‘triple identity’":

A supranational identity of Europeanness with Turkish citizenship above ethnic identities should now be the norm, says the DEHAP Youth Movement

17 December 2004

The Democratic People’s Party (DEHAP) Youth Movement held a rally in front of Parliament on Thursday, calling for a new national identity to be formulated, with Europeanness superseding the concept of Turkish citizenship over the many ethnic identities that compose the nation.

The group came to Parliament around noon, shouting, “Long live equality and freedom,” “Common nation, free citizen and democratic republic” and “Neither refusal nor separation, just a democratic republic.”
The group's president, Zehra Ipek, who read a statement at the gathering, said Turkey was a unitary state and should be protected. “There is more than one nation living in this unitary state. There are tens of communities living together, including Kurds, Turks, Laz and Circassians," she said.

She said efforts to assimilate and ignore some groups had resulted in a 15-year-long war, adding that the fight was still continuing.

When the European Union accepts Turkey as a member, the nation will be part of a larger community, said Ipek, adding that the union’s efforts were directed at formulating a supra-national identity.
Harmonization reforms should be enacted to help the people, and Turkish citizenship should be the common element that ties together all the cultural identities that make up the nation.

She said DEHAP was proposing a triple identity that united Turks with their European counterparts.
After the statement, three members of the group submitted a petition bearing 200,000 signatures to the Parliamentary Presidency before dispersing peacefully.

Kurdish advertisement investigated

The Ankara Prosecutor's Office has launched an investigation into an advertisement that was published in several European newspapers by Kurdish groups. The Justice Ministry also sent the advertisement titled “What the Kurds in Turkey Want,” which was signed by former Democracy Party (DEP) deputies Leyla Zana and Hatip Dicle, to the Prosecutor's Office on Thursday.

Media Prosecutor Kürsat Kayral initiated the investigation. Some individuals whose signatures appeared in the advertisement had claimed that they had not seen the printed version before it appeared in the press.

4. - CNN - "Cyprus hurdle for Turkey EU talks":

BRUSSELS / 17 December 2004

The European Union has spelled out tough conditions for Turkey to start membership talks next October ahead of final bargaining with the Turkish prime minister at a landmark summit.

The 25 EU leaders agreed on Thursday on a historic offer to open accession negotiations on October 3, 2005, but insisted Turkey, a key NATO ally, must move towards normalizing relations with Cyprus by then -- a sensitive point for Ankara.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan met Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende for new talks after an earlier attempt to break the deadlock failed, but his delegation said they doubted the EU would back down on Cyprus.

A draft final summit statement circulated by the Dutch presidency hours after that meeting made clear the EU expected Turkey to sign an accord on Friday giving Cyprus de facto recognition and sign it before Ankara opens membership talks.

"There is disappointment on the Turkish side. Chances to make important changes to the draft appear slim," a Turkish official told reporters on condition of anonymity.

Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson insisted: "It's up to Turkey to decide if they want to be members. We can invite them but we have some conditions."

The draft, obtained by Reuters, said Turkey must sign a protocol extending its EU association agreement to the 10 new member states, including Cyprus, before entry talks start.

A British diplomat played down the political significance, saying: "This is not about recognition, explicit or implicit. It's a technical, not a political act."

Many countries had legally binding agreements with entities such as the Palestinian Authority or Taiwan without recognising them as states, he said.

But a Turkish official said Erdogan had told Balkenende: "You are choosing 600,000 Greeks (Cypriots) over 70 million Turks, and I cannot explain this to my people."

Balkenende, who is chairing the summit, told reporters his two hour night-time talks with Erdogan had been "a business-like conversation" but had not produced an agreement.

Earlier, European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso told a news conference: "Ladies and gentlemen, tonight, the European Union has opened its door to Turkey.

"I genuinely believe this is an offer that Turkey should be glad to accept. It shows clearly the end goal: The end goal is membership."

If accepted, Turkey would be the first predominantly Muslim nation to join the EU.

Turkey geographically straddles Europe and Asia but many in the nation, ruled by a secular, democratic government, consider themselves culturally European.

There is also great significance to Turkey's membership in what some there have called a "Christian Club" during this era of tension between the West and the Muslim world.

Last May, the EU expanded by 10 nations to become a 25-member union. The 10 new members were Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.

5. - Associated Press - "EU links Turkey talks with Cyprus recognition":

BRUSSELS / 17 December 2004

Turkish officials expressed dismay Friday over a European Union offer to open membership talks that required Turkey to recognize Cyprus. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was considering his country's response.

On Thursday, the 25 EU leaders agreed at their two-day summit to begin membership talks with the Turks in October. But they linked the talks to what effectively would be Turkish recognition of the Greek Cypriot-led government on the divided Mediterranean island.

Ankara had hoped for an April start date and opposes an early recognition of Cyprus. The Europeans proposed that Turkey sign an accord expanding its existing customs union with the EU to include the 10 new members that joined in May — including Cyprus.

The Europeans said that would satisfy the demand for recognition. They wanted the Turks to initial the customs union agreement Friday and then sign it before accession talks begin next year.

But the Turks believed even that step went too far.

"The mood in the Turkish delegation is one of disappointment," an Erdogan aide told reporters as the Turkish leader prepared to meet Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, the summit host. The aide spoke on condition of anonymity.

To win over the Turks, EU officials said Balkenende was redrafting the statement on the customs union formula.

Differences over the decades-long issue of Cyprus, split between Greek and Turkish communities, have long been a source of irritation between Turkey and Western Europe.

But Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul told reporters Thursday that recognition of Cyprus, "either directly or indirectly," was "out of the question."

Erdogan and Balkenende failed to reach agreement on the start date during talks that lasted into early Friday after the EU made its offer.

"We realized very big issues are at stake," Balkenende said.

In the draft of a summit statement, the EU leaders urged Turkey to stay the course on political reforms and push for "zero tolerance" of torture and mistreatment.

Membership talks will be "open-ended," meaning they will not automatically lead to membership, though that is the goal. If the talks fail to lead to full membership, the EU will not abandon Ankara but "anchor Turkey in European structures," according to the draft text.

The draft also makes clear that negotiations may be stopped if Turkey backslides and does not push through the economic and political reforms that are needed to get in shape for EU membership.

Earlier Thursday, Erdogan told reporters he expected the Cyprus issue to be resolved Friday, and EU officials sought to dispel any hint that the offer might be rejected.

Arriving for the Friday summit session, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said he was optimistic a deal could be reached "on the last remaining barriers."

But Serdar Denktash, foreign minister of the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state and son of Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash, said he didn't think it was possible to resolve the Cyprus impasse in just 10 months.

Cyprus has been split into a Turkish Cypriot north and an internationally recognized Greek Cypriot south since 1974, when Turkey invaded in response to an Athens-backed coup aiming to unite the island with Greece.

Turkey is the only country that recognizes the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state in the north.

"The European Union has opened its door to Turkey ... making a balanced offer," Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, said Thursday. "I genuinely believe this is an offer that Turkey should be glad to accept."

Critics also fear opening the door to a populous, mostly Muslim country would profoundly alter the 25-nation bloc's European and Christian character at a time when many Europeans are questioning multiculturalism.

The Turks have warned the bloc against imposing too many onerous conditions, and many of them fear membership would threaten their own Muslim traditions.

Barroso had said Turkey cannot join the EU without recognizing all member states — including Cyprus — and urged Ankara to make a gesture "sooner rather than later."

"We have given Turkey enough time to approve in its parliament the possibility of recognizing Cyprus," Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said. "To enter into a family you have to recognize all members of the family."

Even if membership talks begin, it could take 10 to 15 years for Turkey to join.

Admitting Turkey would extend the EU's borders to the frontiers of Syria, Iraq and Iran, bringing in millions of Muslim citizens at a time when Europeans are uneasy about having so many Muslims within their countries.

That unease is based in part on terrorism fears but also on the feeling that many Muslims reject European values of secularism, women's equality and separation of religion and politics. European concerns remain even though Turkey has been an avowedly secular state since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire after World War I.

Turkey would become the largest EU member — its population is expected to surpass Germany's 83 million people by 2020. That would give Turkey considerable power because voting within the EU is weighted by population.

6. - EurActiv - "Democracy in Turkey: Has it achieved European norms?":

17 December 2004

The implementation process of the Copenhagen political criteria can never end, argue Senem Aydin and E. Fuat Keyman in their article published by the Centre for European Policy Studies. As and when Turkey begins accession negotiations with the EU, both the Union and Turkey should continue their efforts to achieve a more democratic Turkey, mainly through a credible policy of conditionality on the part of the EU and through a more effective implementation of the Copenhagen political criteria on the part of Turkey.

This combination has in recent years led to substantial improvements in Turkish democracy. The reforms that have so far been undertaken have addressed long-criticised aspects of Turkish democracy, particularly the role of the military in politics, respect for human rights, protection of minorities and the judicial system.

Significant achievements have been made in legislative and institutional terms, but there is still much to be done regarding implementation. Given the pace of reforms in the last three years, the remaining legislative and institutional tasks could be achieved in a relatively short period of time by the Turkish authorities. What requires more energy and more time are efforts geared towards changing the mindsets of the public officials, in particular the police force, bureaucracy, military, public prosecutors, the judges and the citizenry of the country. Further training and education coupled with the continued and credible application of EU conditionality would secure the path of reform which in the eyes of many is as revolutionary as those achieved by Mustafa Kemal and his followers in the 1920s and 1930s.

Turkey’s identity and its compatibility with Europeans norms of democracy and economic modernisation should be judged on the basis of an objective, historical and analytical reading of modern Turkey. Even though Turkey today faces the problem of democratic consolidation and societal modernisation, on the basis of its political identity as a secular parliamentary democracy, it is compatible with European norms of democracy and liberal economy. That is why the more Turkey has attempted to meet the Copenhagen criteria and its implementation, the more it has consolidated its democracy and made its modernity liberal, plural and multi-cultural. Moreover, Turkey has achieved this in a short period not only because of the strong political will to do so, but also because it has already established the institutions and norms of democracy and modernity.

Source: Centre for European Policy Studies