9 January 2004

1. "Kurdish Autonomy in Iraq", by promising to hand over political authority in Iraq to Iraqis on June 30, the United States sent a useful message about its desire to lower its profile there and forced Iraqis to get to work on a constitutional structure and an electoral system.

2. "Kurdish concerns", Kurdish attempts to push for a federal solution which would give the Kurdish self-rule areas -- commonly known as Iraq's Kurdistan -- broader powers during the transitional period has been met with resistance from Iraqis across the political and religious spectrum.

3. "'Ararat' Screening Indefinitely Postponed", a movie company has indefinitely postponed the screening of a movie about the killings of Armenians during World War I because of fears of violence from Turkish nationalists, the company's owner said.

4. "Journalist sentenced to one year for insulting parliament", Reporters Without Borders expressed its shock at an "utterly disproportionate" one-year jail sentence imposed on former radio station boss, Sabri Ejder Ozic, for "insulting and mocking parliament".

5. "Bush urges Cyprus unity talks", United States President George Bush has called upon Turkish, Greek and Cypriot leaders to start immediate talks on unifying Cyprus under a UN-brokered plan.

6. "Turkey backs speedy Cyprus settlement, promises 'roadmap'", Turkey said it was committed to a speedy settlement of the decades-old division of Cyprus and said it would soon announce its vision of a deal to end a problem that represents a sticking point in the EU enlargement process.

1. - The New York Times - "Kurdish Autonomy in Iraq":

9 January 2004

By promising to hand over political authority in Iraq to Iraqis on June 30, the United States sent a useful message about its desire to lower its profile there and forced Iraqis to get to work on a constitutional structure and an electoral system. Unfortunately, the door is now open to radical forces, which in volatile situations and in the face of short timetables tend to be the best organized, with the clearest agendas. Washington needs to do all it can to block the radicals' path — and postpone the handover if certain conditions are not met.

A central challenge is the extent of Kurdish power and independence. Since 1991, the Kurds have lived in an autonomous zone in the north. Some had hoped that once Saddam Hussein's regime had been toppled, the Kurds would give up autonomy to ease the concerns of other Iraqi groups and of neighbors, like Turkey, with their own Kurdish populations. That shift would have been hard to pull off in the best of circumstances. The shortened timetable makes it impossible. The Kurds dream of a separate state. Maintaining autonomy is their minimal demand.

That should be accepted, but with conditions. The Kurds consider the oil fields of Kirkuk to be theirs. They are not. They are part of the national patrimony, and the so-called basic law that is due at the end of February has to make clear that oil will be under federal control, with Kurds getting their share of the revenue. The 50,000 Kurds under arms should be turned into a branch of a federally commanded national guard. The rights of the Turkmen and Chaldean minorities who live among the Kurds must be protected in the basic law from both federal and regional governments.

How can Kurdish autonomy be accepted without inviting separatism from the Shiites, who make up 60 percent of the country? One possibility is to plan for provincial governments in each of Iraq's existing 18 provinces. The provinces could be permitted to group together. The three Kurdish areas would doubtless do so. Others could as well, but since their populations are more mixed, this would favor geographic over simple ethnic autonomy.

Two other factors need to be ensured for the June 30 handover date to stand. First, an electoral system that is recognized by all groups as legitimate must be constructed. That is especially a concern for the Shiite religious leaders, who fear that Shiite strength will be diluted, but it is also a serious issue for the Sunni minority. Second, the country must have a modicum of physical safety.

If Washington had involved the United Nations or in some other way internationalized the rebuilding of Iraq, it would not have such a desperate need to telescope this initial, vital period of institution-building. Having failed to do that, the Bush administration should keep in mind a major lesson from previous efforts of this kind. Systems established early in nation-building are unlikely to change drastically. That is why June 30 should be seen less as a deadline than as a guideline. Extremists must not be permitted to set the agenda.

2. - Al Ahram Weekly - "Kurdish concerns":

8 January 2004

Kurdish attempts to push for a federal solution which would give the Kurdish self-rule areas -- commonly known as Iraq's Kurdistan -- broader powers during the transitional period has been met with resistance from Iraqis across the political and religious spectrum.

Iraqi religious figures, both Sunni and Shi'ite, have rejected any attempts to divide the country into what they described as "federal entities". "We all belong to one country," Muqtada Al-Sadr, leader of the immensely popular Al-Sadr movement, told his followers during Friday prayers. "The north cannot be separated from the south because we are all Iraqis, the Arab is an Iraqi and the Kurd is an Iraqi," he said.

Other Sunni figures echoed the same message of opposition to any such plans. These comments came in the wake of a draft proposal titled "transitional law", which was submitted by the five Kurdish members of the US-appointed Iraqi Interim Governing Council (IGC). The proposal stated that the Kurdish self- rule areas should be made up of the four governorates of Irbil, Kirkuk, Dahouk and Sulymania, as well as the Kurdish areas in the Dyala governorate like Khaneqeen and Mendali, as well as the cities of Shaykhan, Sengar and Mekhemour in Mosul.

The draft proposal caused a stir among Iraqi political groups and IGC members. This week, the IGC appointed a ten-member subcommittee headed by Adnan Bachachi, the present chairman of the IGC, to discuss the draft proposal which pushes for more taxation powers and control over oil revenues. One IGC member told Al- Ahram Weekly on Tuesday that the council was struggling to reach a compromise with the primary aim of preserving the territorial integrity of Iraq.

In an attempt to diffuse the tension caused by the Kurdish request, Bachachi told reporters on Tuesday that the relationship between the Kurdish areas and the central government in Baghdad will be shaped and defined by Iraq's future constitution. "In principle, we have accepted the federalist principle, but the details have to be discussed and clarified during the writing of the Iraqi constitution which will be done by an elected body," Bachachi said.

Echoing the same view, US officials, according to the London- based Al-Hayat newspaper, stated that Washington wants to keep the status quo in Kurdistan until the transfer of power to an Iraqi government at the end of June 2004.

The Kurdish move coincided with the rise of ethnically-motivated tension in the city of Kirkuk between Kurdish groups and Arab and Turkman residents. In one incident this week, three people were killed and 31 injured during a demonstration. One protester explained that the confrontation took place when Kurdish peshmergas opened fire on Arab and Turkman protesters because they chanted anti-Kurdish slogans. Representatives of the Turkman and Arab residents in the city have called on the local officials to open an investigation into the incident.

Political analysts argue that while it would be difficult to ignore the political structures which have existed in the Kurdish areas since 1991, after the end of the Gulf War, any decision regarding the issue of the federalist system should be made by an elected government. Otherwise, the Kurdish move will more likely exacerbate tensions and potentially force sectarian affiliation to be the ultimate criteria for power sharing in the new Iraq.

"All the signs indicate that there is a strong trend which pushes Iraqis to organise and act politically along sectarian and ethnic lines," argued one observer. This argument was lent credence this week when Iraq's Sunnis, in a move to counter attempts to marginalise them from the on-going political process, formed the Council of Shura (consultation) for the Sunnis (Majlis Shura Ahal Al-Sunna Wa Al-Jama'a).

The council was formed last month and is made up of representatives from the various Islamist Sunni movements in Iraq. The council was the target of a US-led military operation this week when US forces raided the mosque of Ibn Taymyia in central Baghdad in search for weapons and Iraqi resistance elements. The raid took place during a meeting of the council members inside the mosque. The primary goal of the council, according to Mohamed Ahmed Al- Rashed, the group's spokesman, is to engage the Sunnis in the political process and try to achieve maximum political leverage.

In statements to the Arabic TV channel Al-Jazeera, Al-Rashed described the US-led raid on the mosque as sending a message to intimidate the council members and force them to disengage from any political activities. He explained that the Shura Council is an extension of the Sunni religious parties which are represented in the IGC through the Iraqi Islamist Party headed by Dr Mohsen Abdel-Hamid. Al-Rashid pointed out that the Council would agree to open a dialogue with "the Americans". He disclosed that there are already mediation efforts being carried out by Dr Adnan Al-Delimi, the head of the Iraqi Sunni Waqf (endowment) to press on the occupation administration to release more than seventy imams who have been detained without any specific charges.

Another Shura Council member insisted that the primary goal of such a body was not to exacerbate sectarianism and ethnic divisions, but aims to keep Iraq united and respect the rights of all its ethnic and religious groups.

3. - Associated Press - "'Ararat' Screening Indefinitely Postponed":

ANKARA / 8 January 2004

A movie company has indefinitely postponed the screening of a movie about the killings of Armenians during World War I because of fears of violence from Turkish nationalists, the company's owner said.

Turkey's Culture Ministry agreed last month to allow "Ararat," about the plight of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey, to be shown in this country, but ordered at least one scene removed depicting Ottomans raping Armenian women.

The film by director Atom Egoyan (news), a Canadian of Armenian heritage, was scheduled to open in theaters in mid-January.

Armenians say that a 1915-23 campaign to force Armenians out of eastern Turkey left 1.5 million people dead and amounted to genocide.

Turkey objects to the use of the word genocide and says the figures are inflated and that deaths were the result of civil unrest and not a planned campaign.

A far-right nationalist youth group has vowed to prevent the screening of the film in theaters, saying it's anti-Turkish propaganda, according to Turkish news reports.

In an interview with private CNN-Turk television, Sabahattin Cetin, the owner of the company that bought the movie's screening rights in Turkey, said he'd hold off on screening the movie.

"Would you want to watch a movie in a movie theater that could be stoned or where there could be violence?" Cetin asked.

4. - KurdishMedia - "Journalist sentenced to one year for insulting parliament":

9 January 2004

Reporters Without Borders expressed its shock at an "utterly disproportionate" one-year jail sentence imposed on former radio station boss, Sabri Ejder Ozic, for "insulting and mocking parliament".

Ozic, former head of Radyo Dunya in Adana in the south of the country, was sentenced on 30 December 2003. He was not actually imprisoned because he immediately appealed against the sentence.

"We are shocked by this sentence, which is utterly disproportionate. We remind you that under international norms, prison terms should not be imposed for press offences," Robert Ménard, secretary general of Reporters Without Borders said in a letter to justice minister Cemil Cicek. "It would be good for Turkey, which wants to join the European Union in the near future, to adopt this principle and stop taking abusive legal action against journalists who criticise the state or its institutions," he said. "What is the point of legislative reforms, even the most progressive, if they are applied so arbitrarily by local judges?," he added.

The Adana correctional tribunal sentenced Öziç over remarks he made on 24 February 2003 during his programme entitled "Captain’s Log". The journalist, who is an activist in the pro-Kurdish Ozgur Toplum party, criticised a government decision to allow foreign troops onto Turkish soil and to send troops to Iraq. The broadcast went out on the day it was submitted for parliamentary approval.

The court acted over these words from the broadcast: "Our council of ministers allows American soldiers onto our soil ; our soldiers will be able to enter Iraqi territory (…) A war has been declared against terrorism in the world, but it is an illegitimate war. If illegitimate wars are terrorist acts, then this also is a terrorist act. If permission to send troops for terrorist acts is approved by parliament then this parliament would also be terrorist."

The prosecutor Erten Tamoglu took the view that the fact of calling parliament "terrorist" was not a criticism but an insult to a state institution, an offence, under Article 159 of the criminal code, carrying a minimum penalty of six months in prison.

Article 159, the basis of a large number of abusive prosecutions of journalists for "offences against the state and state institutions and threats to the indivisible unity of the Turkish Republic", was amended in 2002 and 2003, as part of democratic reforms undertaken with a eye to Turkish membership of the European Union.

The length of prison term under this charge was reduced from one year to six months and criticism not intended to "ridicule" or "insult" state institutions was no longer to attract prison terms. Nevertheless, interpretation by individual judges of the meaning of "critical" remains subjective and several journalists were prosecuted under this article in 2003.

Reporters Without Borders recalls that there are still many restrictions to press freedom in Turkey. Journalists daring to criticise state institutions or to touch on taboo subjects like the Kurdish question or the role of the army in the country’s political life, are censored, prosecuted abusively and subjected to heavy fines. At least five are currently in jail for having expressed their opinions in the course of their work.

5. - AljazeeraNet - "Bush urges Cyprus unity talks":

United States President George Bush has called upon Turkish, Greek and Cypriot leaders to start immediate talks on unifying Cyprus under a UN-brokered plan.

9 January 2004

"All parties should return to the negotiating table immediately and resume discussion in good faith on the basis of Secretary-General (Kofi) Annan's Cyprus settlement plan," Bush said in letters to the three leaders.
He noted that Annan would only resume mediation if all parties "express the political will to finalise the plan and put it to referenda".
"I urge you to follow this approach, which the (UN) Security Council has unanimously endorsed," he added.
Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis and Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos have welcomed receipt of their letters, sent late last month.
However, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, who will meet Bush in Washington on 28 January, has not yet acknowledged his letter.

Pressure on Turkey

"We have a window of opportunity to reach agreement before Cyprus joins the EU on 1 May, which would be in the strategic interests of both Turkey and the United States"
Cyprus was partitioned in 1974 when Turkish forces took over the northern part of the island in response to a coup in Nicosia engineered by the junta then ruling Greece.
Only Turkey recognises the Turkish Cypriot state and maintains around 35,000 troops there.
Turkey has been under tremendous pressure to break the stalemate before the Greek Cypriot government joins the European Union on 1 May.
Brussels has warned Turkey that its own hopes of joining the EU would be harmed if it failed to push the Turkish Cypriots into some kind of deal.
"We have a window of opportunity to reach agreement before Cyprus joins the EU on 1 May, which would be in the strategic interests of both Turkey and the United States," Bush wrote to Erdogan.
Turkey's ambassador to Washington, Osman Faruk Logoglu, said on Wednesday that his government hoped to agree soon on proposals making "limited but important" changes to the UN plan.

Generals fearful

But Turkish media has reported that influential generals feared Ankara was making too many concessions.
The UN has been trying for years to reunite Cyprus as a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation, as stipulated in Security Council resolutions.
Veteran Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash has sought a confederation, a much looser form of union than a federation, to link two independent states.
The letters to the Greek and Cypriot leaders expressed similar sentiments to the one sent to Turkey.
Bush, in his letter to Simitis, said Greece should encourage Papadopoulos to return to the negotiating table immediately and noted that the Cypriot leader had said he would do so.
"Now is the time for action," Bush wrote.
To Papadopoulos, Bush said that his leadership would be "essential to reaching a comprehensive, lasting agreement" in pursuit of an "historic settlement".

Ankara promises deal

Turkey said on Thursday that it would soon announce its vision of a deal to end a decades-long problem.
Prime Minister Erdogan held all-day talks with the president, foreign minister, army chief and Turkish Cypriot political leaders, but said a final decision on Turkey's stance would have to wait the meeting of the influential National Security Council at the end of the month.
"We will evaluate all the work we have done so far in the council's meeting on 23 January and the government will annnounce its roadmap," Erdogan told reporters after the talks.
He gave no details as to what the roadmap would contain, but officials in Ankara have been working on peace proposals based on a UN-brokered plan to re-unite the island - categorically opposed by Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash.
"Turkey continues its support for the good offices of the UN
secretary general and confirms its political determination for the speedy achievement of a settlement based on the realities of the island through negotiations," said a statement issued after the prime minister's discussions.

6. - Channel News Asia - "Turkey backs speedy Cyprus settlement, promises 'roadmap'":

ANKARA / 9 January 2004

Turkey said it was committed to a speedy settlement of the decades-old division of Cyprus and said it would soon announce its vision of a deal to end a problem that represents a sticking point in the EU enlargement process.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan held all-day talks with the president, foreign minister, army chief and Turkish Cypriot political leaders, but said a final decision on Turkey's stance would have to wait the meeting of the influential National Security Council at the end of the month.

"We will evaluate all the work we have done so far in the council's meeting on January 23 and the government will announce its roadmap," Erdogan told reporters after the talks.

He gave no details as to what the roadmap would contain, but officials in Ankara have been working on peace proposals based on a UN-brokered plan to re-unite the island -- categorically opposed by Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash.

"Turkey continues its support for the good offices of the UN secretary general and confirms its political determination for the speedy achievement of a settlement based on the realities of the island through negotiations," said a statement issued after the prime minister's discussions.

The leaders agreed "it will be useful to start initiatives for the revival of peace talks" between the Turkish and Greek Cypriot communities once a new government is formed in the breakaway Turkish Cypriot north following elections last month, it said.

Ankara is under pressure to help resolve the conflict by May 1 when Cyprus will join the EU.

Only the internationally-recognized Greek Cypriot south of the Mediterranean island will be admitted into the bloc if a solution is not reached in time.

Such a prospect threatens to spark tensions between the European Union and EU candidate Turkey, which maintains 30,000 soldiers in northern Cyprus.

Once the island joins the EU, Turkey risks becoming an occupier of EU soil.

But the resumption of peace talks, which broke down in March last year, depends on the establishment of a new government in the self-styled Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).

"We want them (Turkish Cypriot political leaders) to set up a government at once," Erdogan said after meeting the leaders of the four political parties represented in the TRNC parliament.

Among them was Mehmet Ali Talat of the the pro-EU Republican Turkish Party who has been tasked to form the government after the December 14 elections, his ally Mustafa Akinci, outgoing nationalist Prime Minister Dervis Eroglu and his coalition partner, Serdar Denktash.

Talat is currently holding talks with Serdar Denktash -- son of the arch-nationalist Turkish Cypriot leader who, unlike his father Rauf, is more moderate -- in a bid to lure him into a coalition including Akinci's party.

"I have until Monday to set up a government and most probably I will be able to do that," Talat told reporters after meeting Erdogan.

Rauf Denktash, blamed by the international community for the failure of UN peace talks, was also expected to hold talks in Ankara on Sunday.

Erdogan's government has recently issued veiled warnings to Denktash to soften his hardline attitudes.

"As long as this problem is dragging on, it is hurting both northern Cyprus and Turkey... It is a must for us to reach a solution. And as far as I can see we are moving towards a solution," the Sabah daily quoted Erdogan as telling Denktash in a phone conversation witnessed by one of its journalists.

In March, Denktash rejected a peace plan drawn up by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan aimed at reunifying Cyprus in a two-state federation.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey seized its northern part in response to an Athens-engineered military coup aimed at uniting the island with Greece.