14 July 2004

2. "IHD releases balance sheet of clashes: 76 deaths in 6 months", Chairman for Human Rights Association (IHD) Diyarbakir Branch Attorney Selahattin Demirtas announced 14 deaths in 2002, 104 in 2003 and 76 deaths in the first half of 2004 in clashes.

3. "Turkish troops kill suspected Kurdish rebels", Turkish paramilitary troops on Tuesday killed three suspected Kurdish rebels in an exchange of fire in the east of the country, the Anatolia news agency reported.

4. "Former Turkish PM to stand trial for corruption", the Turkish parliament voted Tuesday to send former prime minister Mesut Yilmaz to court to stand trial on fraud charges over a bank privatization scandal.

5. "Ties that need nurturing", today's visit to Turkey by Industry, Commerce and Employment Minister Ehud Olmert can be considered a test case.

Sixty people have been killed in a resurgence of violence in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast in the last two months, a leading human rights group said on Tuesday.

A fragile peace in the region has been under threat since the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) ended its unilateral ceasefire on June 1, accusing security forces of intensifying operations against the rebels.

More than 30,000 people, mainly Kurds, have died since the PKK took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984, but fighting had dropped off sharply in 1999 with the capture and jailing of rebel commander Abdullah Ocalan.

A report from the Turkey-based Human Rights Association (IHD) said incidents of torture also appeared to be on the rise. It pointed to 113 reported cases of police brutality in the southeast since May.

Turkey has promised to eradicate torture in its bid to meet European Union criteria for membership.

Human rights groups, including Amnesty International, have said abuses persist and blame what they see as a general impunity for police and lack of independent inspections.

IHD said 22 people were killed in clashes between the guerrillas and security forces in May, before the PKK called off the truce. Another 38 were killed in June.

It did not specify how many of the dead were civilians, soldiers or PKK fighters.

"We are concerned there could be a very serious rise this year in the loss of life from the conflict," Selahattin Demirtas, head of the IHD branch in the regional capital of Diyarbakir, told a news conference.

While 14 people died in clashes in 2002, 104 were killed last year, said Demirtas. "In the first six months of this year, 76 people have died."

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2. - DIHA - "IHD releases balance sheet of clashes: 76 deaths in 6 months":

DIYARBAKIR / 13 July 2004

Chairman for Human Rights Association (IHD) Diyarbakir Branch Attorney Selahattin Demirtas announced 14 deaths in 2002, 104 in 2003 and 76 deaths in the first half of 2004 in clashes. Pointing to the increase in human rights violations parallel to the clashes, Demirtas said circulars passed in Ankara were never put into practice in the region. "People of Diyarbakir are not seen worthy of freedoms" Demirtas said.

IHD Diyarbakir Branch declared May and June balance of right violations in eastern and southeastern regions. Also referring to the closure case against Egitim-Sen, Demirtas noted it was the latest practice of the spheres resisting positive steps taken regarding democratization and human rights. "The government should do its bits and apologize to the public."

'Diyarbakir is not seen worthy of freedoms'

Demirtas also criticized Diyarbakir Governorship for the restrictions launched against the right for press releases and opening stands. He said NGOs and political parties were not let to hold press releases even in front of their offices. Demirtas added the only square of Diyarbakir, Dagkapi Square was closed to freedoms. Camera coverage by police during press releases in open areas despite the recent notice by Internal Ministry was another practice condemned by the press statement. Demirtas also said a circular passed in Ankara "turned into a bird and flown away" before it reached to Diyarbakir. "People of Diyarbakir are not seen worthy of these freedoms. We are determined to struggle for withdrawal of those practices" Demirtas noted.

Warning for clashes

The report read by Demirtas also gives a balance of deaths in clashes. According to the balance; 14 in 2002, 104 in 2003 and 76 in the first half of 2004 died in armed clashes. He also said the violations increased parallel to the clashes. He also expressed their anxiety about intensification of the clashes and called on the government to take the cries for peace into consideration.

Following is IHD's balance for May and June 2004:

May:

Armed clashes: 22 killed- 14 wounded

Perpetrator unknown murders/attacks- Extrajudicial killings: 5 killed- 4 wounded
Mines and explosives: 6 injured

Rights violations regarding life security and detentions: 245
Torture and degrading treatment: 42
a) By gendarme: 38
b) By security officers: 3
c) by paid village guards: 1
Disappearance allegations: 2
Arrests: 16

Work life violation/ banishment: 1

Violations of freedom of thought and expression/ investigations, sentences: 16
Activities banned (theater plays, movies etc..): 1
Prison transfer requests: 1
Prison problems: 2
Application for medical treatment by prisoners: 3

Others:
Suicides and suicide attempts: 14

240 of the total 427 applications regarding right violations in May were made to IHD Diyarbakir.

June:
Armed clashes: 38 killed- 21 wounded

Perpetrator unknown murders/attacks- Extrajudicial killings: 3 killed- 1 wounded
Mines and explosives: 4 killed, 7 injured

Rights violations regarding life security and detentions: 66
Torture and degrating treatment: 15
a) By gendarme: 12
b) By security officers: 3

Disappearance allegations: 1
Arrests: 14
Work life violation/ banishment: 1

Violations of freedom of thought and expression/ investigations, sentences: 54

Prison transfer requests: 2
Prison problems: 1
Application for medical treatment by prisoners: 3
Death in prison: 1
Torture and degrading treatment: 1
Others: 1

Others:
Suicides and suicide attempts: 10
Application for medical treatment: 4

58 of the total 301 applications regarding right violations in June were made to IHD Diyarbakir.

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3. - AFP - "Turkish troops kill suspected Kurdish rebels":

ANKARA / 13 July 2004

Turkish paramilitary troops on Tuesday killed three suspected Kurdish rebels in an exchange of fire in the east of the country, the Anatolia news agency reported.

Troops called in air cover after fighting erupted with rebels of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), recently renamed KONGRA-GEL, on rural ground near the town of Ovacik in Tunceli province, it said.

There has been a sharp increase in fighting in Turkey's mainly Kurdish eastern and southeastern regions after the rebels last month called off a five-year-old unilateral ceasefire.

The PKK had announced the truce in 1999 following a 15-year armed campaign for self-rule which claimed some 37,000 lives, and said it would withdraw from Turkish territory to seek a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

About 1,500 PKK militants have reportedly infiltrated Turkey in recent months, allegedly to engage in renewed violence.

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4. - AFP - "Former Turkish PM to stand trial for corruption":

ANKARA / 13 July 2004

The Turkish parliament voted Tuesday to send former prime minister Mesut Yilmaz to court to stand trial on fraud charges over a bank privatization scandal.

Of the 447 deputies present in the 550-seat parliament, 429 voted in favour of sending Yilmaz and then economy minister Gunest Taner to court over the Turkbank affair.

Fifteen lawmakers voted against the proposal while three abstained. Yilmaz is accused of pre-determining the winner in the planned privatization of the state bank and of resorting to the services of a mafia leader to scare off unwanted bidders.

The scandal led to the collapse of Yilmaz's government in a 1998 no-confidence vote, but the centre-right politician was cleared in a parliamentary investigation in 2000 and never faced prosecution.

The vote against him comes as part of a far-reaching parliamentary inquiry looking at claims of alleged large-scale fraud in tenders, sell-offs, banking reforms and energy projects over the past decade that have reportedly cost Turkey billions of dollars.

Besides Yilmaz, parliament last month voted for putting two other former ministers -- former deputy prime minister Husamettin Ozkan and former economy minister Recep Onal -- on trial for alleged corruption in connection with huge losses in another public bank, Halkbank.

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5. - Haaretz - "Ties that need nurturing":

13 July 2004

Today's visit to Turkey by Industry, Commerce and Employment Minister Ehud Olmert can be considered a test case. Against the background of the harsh statements made against Israel by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyap Erdogan and his foreign minister, Abdullah Gul, there is no choice but to pay close attention to how a senior Israeli official is received by his hosts. According to reports that have arrived from Turkey, the Turks went out of their way to welcome Olmert and his delegation. Turkish President Ahmed Necdet Sezer and Gul will both meet Olmert, but the prime minister will be on vacation - though he did not cancel a meeting that same day with the Syrian prime minister.

It is a new experience for Israel and its envoys to have to pay such close attention to the protocol of the Turkish welcome and the nuances of tone in Ankara. Once full diplomatic ties were established, military and economic agreements quickly strengthened relations between the two countries, to the point that they were viewed as sister states in the Middle East. These are ties that have gone beyond the formal frameworks of diplomacy and business: The Turkish and Israeli publics regard each other as allies, and hundreds of thousands of Israelis have enjoyed a feeling of being at home during visits to Turkey.

Erdogan's new government wants to draw a line between the policies of Israel's government under Ariel Sharon and its sympathetic attitude to the people of Israel. It says that the deep friendship with Israel gives it the right to criticize policy when it could harm Turkey's regional interests or provoke anti-Israeli feelings in Turkey.

There is no dispute about Turkey's right to question Israeli policies, and thereby to join the many Israelis who also wonder about the logic of those policies. On the other hand, the style of the Turkish criticism raises questions about the intentions of Erdogan's government.

The Israeli government cannot regard any country's relationship to it as self-evident. That is particularly true of a large Muslim country that wants to be an integral part of Europe and at the same time be accepted as a fellow Muslim state in the Muslim world. It is also impossible to ignore the fact that Turkey is now led by a government whose agenda differs from that of its predecessor. Therefore, it is enormously important, now more than ever, to maintain a good relationship with Turkey in order to show that there is not necessarily any contradiction in a Muslim country maintaining good relations with Israel.

That is also the reason for the importance of Olmert's visit. It would be easy to quarrel with Turkey, or to argue over the specifics of the diplomatic flaws of which it has accused Israel. Nor is there any need to flaunt the large amount of aid that Turkey gets from Washington, in part because of its friendship with Israel. It would be best to find out how to improve relations with Turkey, to enable it to take part in regional diplomatic missions and to respect it as an ally and a friend.

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6. - UPI - "Analysis: Cyprus remembers Turkish invasion":

WASHINGTON / 13 July 2004 / by Claude Salhani

Thirty years ago next July 20, Turkish troops invaded the island of Cyprus, launching a new war in an already turbulent corner of the eastern Mediterranean. Today, Cyprus is one of the recently admitted members of the enlarged European Union -- well, at least the Greek half, anyway. What a difference a mere three decades make.

The violence that tore apart the island's serene atmosphere, resulting in a brutal war, produced staggering results in a country with a population of less than 775,000. In just a few weeks nearly 5,000 people were killed, almost 200,000 displaced and 40 percent of the country occupied. And all this happened relatively fast.

The sequence of events that led to the July 1974 war finds its roots far back in the history books. But let's start just a few days before the war began, when a military coup led by a one-time thug called Nicos Sampson overthrew the Cypriot president, Archbishop Makarios. Sampson was a member of EOKA, the National Organization for the Cyprus Struggle, a far-right group founded in the early 1950s with the aim of achieving "Enosis," or uniting the island with Greece.

Sampson had been urged on by the junta of Greek colonels ruling Athens at the time to depose Makarios, thereby opening the way to Enosis, much to the chagrin and concern of the island's Turkish community. While Makarios escaped by taking refuge in one of the island's British Sovereign bases, and from there to Britain, Sampson declared himself president.

Fearing the new Greek Cypriot leader would enforce "Enosis," and the consequences such a move would have on the Turkish population of the island, Turkey decided to act forcefully when their demands that Sampson be dismissed fell on deaf ears.

Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit ordered the Turkish army to invade and hold the northern part of the country. The invasion began at dawn on July 20, 1974 with a simultaneous assault by about 1,000 paratroopers on the capital Nicosia and an amphibious landing further north in Kyrenia. Other locations were also attacked.

Covering wars 30 years ago was very different from today. There was no satellite television to broadcast live footage of events as they unfolded. There were no spokesmen giving minute-by-minute briefings on combat situations. And there was no Internet or cell phones to facilitate the transmission of news or check on the latest battle reports.

From the moment I pulled back the drapes of my hotel window and saw the sky filled with Turkish paratroopers slowly gliding down to earth until I managed to send my story to my editors, more than a week had elapsed.

With the appearance of the paratroopers came the accompanying sound of heavy gunfire as Greek Cypriot forces began trying to repel the invasion. The Greek Cypriots were hardly a match for the better trained and armed mainland Turks. The Greek Cypriots were inadequately armed, badly trained and suffered from poor leadership. One thing they did have was courage and persistence, which made up for the rest.

A day after Sampson's coup, I had arrived in Cyprus along with a gaggle of journalists from Beirut, where I was living. Upon reaching Nicosia, we took up residence in the Ledra Palace, a four-star hotel and the best watering hole at the time. The Ledra had one disadvantage, or rather advantage, depending on how you looked at it; the hotel was situated smack on the Green Line separating Greek from Turkish Nicosia. It wasn't just near the frontline; it was the frontline. And when the war broke out, those of us caught in the Ledra got a front-row seat to the conflict. The only problem was that we were trapped inside the hotel by Turkish snipers and gunfire for about a week.

It was under those circumstances that during the next week, the war -- and the front line -- came to me, rather than me having to go find the war. The war was, in fact, all around us. The guest rooms facing the Turkish side became too exposed to sleep in, forcing us to move mattresses into the hallways as Turkish troops kept up a continuous barrage of gunfire on the hotel, from which the Greeks returned fire. United Nations efforts to install a ceasefire were ignored.

When someone found the urge to see action closer up, as this correspondent often did, a quick trip to the hotel's swimming pool area was all that was needed. The Turks were a mere 100 meters (yards) or so away, firing at us with a wide range of calibers, including heavy machine guns and mortars. The Greek Cypriot soldiers, equipped with what appeared to be World War II vintage rifles and hiding behind amplifiers and drums abandoned by the hotel's band, exchanged fire with the Turks around the clock.

Dozens of Scandinavian tourists unceremoniously stranded by their tour guides were left to fend for themselves. They sensibly sought refuge in the hotel's basement, along with some of the less adventurous -- but in retrospect, smarter correspondents.

With the first shots fired that warm July morning, the hotel's Greek staff quickly evaporated, frightened by the concept of Turkish troops storming in. Tales of atrocities going back more than a century, combined with those of the more recent 1963 civil war suddenly resurfaced, reviving hatred and fears that never really dissipated.

When revolts erupted all over the Greek-speaking provinces of the Ottoman Empire in 1821, the Turkish governor of Cyprus received permission to crack down on the rebels. The Greek archbishop and other prominent Greek leaders were arrested and hanged. The suppression of the revolt dissipated the Greek Cypriot's hopes of joining the wider Greek rebellion. But it had a more nefarious, long-lasting effect; that of instilling a deep-rooted loathing of the Ottomans by the Greek Cypriot community. This is where the desire for Enosis was first born.

Britain took over control of Cyprus in 1878 (with the agreement of the Ottomans), but with the outbreak of World War I, Britain annexed the island, turning it into a British Crown colony in 1925. Meanwhile the Turkish and Greek communities never learned to trust one another, and civil strife erupted in 1963, pitting the two communities against each other, creating more hatred and carnage. The 1963 clashes required the dispatch of United Nations peacekeeping troops to separate the two sides. The U.N. was still deployed on the island when Turkey invaded in 1974, and they remain there to this day, as do several thousand Turkish troops.

Now, 30 years later, the island is quiet. The Greek half is in the European Union, while the Turkish half - which only Turkey recognizes as an independent state -- was shrewdly kept out by a Greek Cypriot referendum on reunification voted on last April. Thirty years later, the Cyprus "problem" is still unresolved.