15
July 2004
2. "Two Turk Soldiers Killed in Clash With Kurd Rebels", two Turkish soldiers were killed and nine others injured on Tuesday in fighting with Kurdish rebels in southeastern Turkey, security officials said.
3. "Egitim-Sen gets mother tongue lashing from court", a court in Ankara has given teachers' union Egitim-Sen 60 days to revise bylaws that allow for education in languages other than Turkish.
4. "ECHR Orders Turkey to Pay Plaintiffs in Torture cases", the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ordered Turkey to compensate the plaintiffs in two trials for torture and mistreatment.
5. "Turkey reforms and rethinks", Turkey has made another step towards satisfying EU demands for human rights reform. On Wednesday, a Turkish appeals court overturned the convictions of four Kurdish parliamentarians described by Brussels as "political prisoners".
6. "Israelis Seek Stronger Ties With Turkey", Turkey's prime minister has accused Israel of state terrorism and said the country's actions have spurred anti-Semitism -harsh words that could signal a cooling of the two countries' traditionally close ties.
1. - "Turkish appeals court ordered second retrial for former Kurdish MPs":
ANKARA / 14 July 2004
A Turkish appeals court Wednesday ordered a second retrial for four Kurdish former members of parliament who received 15 year prison sentences for allegedly supporting a separatist rebellion by the Kurds.
They included Leyla Zana, who received the European Parliament's Sakharov prize for freedom of thought in 1995 for her defense of human rights and commitment to forging a peaceful, democratic resolution to conflicts between the Turkish government and its minority Kurdish population.
She and her co-defendants already have been tried and condemned twice -- once in 1994 and again in April under pressure from the European Union when the initial sentence was confirmed by a special security court.
But on Wednesday, the court of cassation, which examines judicial procedures rather than the merits of a case, found the April trial flawed inequitable and said the four be tried again in an ordinary assize court, where procedures are more open.
Chief judge Hasan Gerceker said the panel of five judges had reached their verdict unanimously. The four had been granted a retrial after their original trial in 1994 was condemned as unfair by the European Court of Human Rights.
The second trial upheld their original sentences amid accusations by rights activists and defence lawyers that the proceedings were flawed. But the four were released in June in a surprise twist -- welcomed by the European Union which considers them prisoners of conscience -- pending the outcome of their appeal against the retrial.
Gerceker said that the retrial had been in violation of the principle that the new process should be independent of the original trial. He added that the charges against the defendants were not laid out clearly during the retrial, and said that key witnesses were not questioned and key evidence was not examined during the proceedings.
The defence team welcomed the appeals court ruling. "The political, anti-democratic verdict which fell foul of justice and law has been overturnd by the appeals court. Today's ruling is an appropriate ruling. It is a an important milestone for Turkey," attorney Hamit Geylani told reporters outside the courtroom.
Zana and Hatip Dicle, Selim Sadak and Orhan Dogan were jailed for 15 years in 1994 for membership of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) that led a 15-year bloody armed campaign for self-rule in Turkey's southeast.
Zana, the first Kurdish woman to win a seat in Turkey's parliament, has long been a focus for international rights campaigners who insist that her conviction was a result of Ankara's determination to silence even peaceful activists advocating Kurdish freedoms.
The court proceedings have been closely watched by the
EU, which has hinted that the outcome could influence Ankara's bid to
join the pan-European bloc. State security courts have been abolished
under reforms aimed at bringing Turkey into line with legal norms within
the EU. 
2. - Reuters - "Two Turk Soldiers Killed in Clash With Kurd Rebels":
DIYARBAKIR / 13 July 2004
Two Turkish soldiers were killed and nine others injured on Tuesday in fighting with Kurdish rebels in southeastern Turkey, security officials said.
A Kurdish fighter was also killed in the incident, which occurred near the town of Eruh about 250 km (170 miles) east of the southeastern city of Diyarbakir.
The officials on Tuesday said a military operation to crush the rebel fighters was continuing but gave no other details.
Earlier, a leading Turkish human rights group said in a report that 60 people had died in Turkey's southeast in the last two months, 38 of them since the separatist Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) ended a unilateral, six-year ceasefire on June 1.
The Human Rights Association (IHD) said it was worried that the death toll for 2004 would be much higher than the 104 people killed in violence in the region last year.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan discussed the problems in southeast Turkey on Tuesday with General Hilmi Ozkok, head of the military General Staff.
The Turkish military says it believes large numbers of
PKK fighters have crossed into Turkey in recent months from the mountains
of mainly Kurdish northern Iraq, where they have been hiding.
3. - Turkish Daily News - "Egitim-Sen gets mother tongue lashing from court":
ANKARA / 14 July 2004
A court in Ankara has given teachers' union Egitim-Sen 60 days to revise bylaws that allow for education in languages other than Turkish.
The union was recently hit with a closure suit based on a reference to mother tongues in its regulations and now will be required to change a phrase that states, "Egitim-Sen defends individuals receiving education in their own mother tongue."
Egitim-Sen Chairman Alaaddin Dincer and members of the union's executive board attended yesterday's court session. Egitim-Sen attorney Kazim Genc said there was no basis for the suit since amendments had recently been made to the Constitution allowing for education in languages other than Turkish.
He also called for the case to be thrown out due to the absence of a public prosecutor. Judge Kudret Kurt denied the request, saying the attendance of public prosecutor was not necessary.
The judge did not rule to close the union but gave it 60 days to change its bylaws.
The court also ruled that the suit should have been filed against the institution, not against its executives.
The case was filed on the grounds that the phrase in question in the union's bylaws on education in mother tongues violated Article 3 of the Constitution, which says, "The Republic of Turkey['s] official language is Turkish."
Tens of thousands of demonstrators, mostly Egitim-Sen members from around Turkey, gathered in Ankara yesterday to protest the case, marching from the Ankara train station to the courthouse.
Some of the protestors claimed the suit was a clear sign that the government's reform efforts complying with European Union criteria were no more than a "show."
The case against Egitim-Sen, an organization with more than 100,000 members across Turkey, came as a surprise to many. Analysts said the move against the union could well be interpreted by the EU as indicative that reforms passed to meet membership criteria are not beinig effectively implemented in practice.
The basic contradiction lies in the fact that the Turkish Parliament has already enacted laws to allow education and broadcasting in languages other than Turkish, removing the previously existing legal obstacles. State broadcaster TRT also recently started airing short programs in several languages, including the two most common dialects of Kurdish.
Turkey expects to get the go-ahead at a December summit of EU leaders to start membership talks with the union.
Turkey is now entering a critical period in which EU Commission
rapporteurs are preparing a progress report only months before the EU
decision on accession. The progress report over Turkey's human rights
performance, expected to be released in October, will be key in EU leaders'
decision to open entry talks with Turkey.
4. - Zaman - "ECHR Orders Turkey to Pay Plaintiffs in Torture cases":
14 July 2004
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ordered Turkey to compensate the plaintiffs in two trials for torture and mistreatment.
Surprisingly, the Court found Turkey innocent in a third
trial in which Aysegul Zarakolu, the owner of Belge Publishing (closed
two years ago) filed charges against Turkey for inhibiting freedom of
expression. Turkey will pay 23,000 Euro as compensation to the plaintiffs.
5. - Radio Netherlands - "Turkey reforms and rethinks":
14 July 2004 / by Louise Dunne
Turkey has made another step towards satisfying EU demands for human
rights reform. On Wednesday, a Turkish appeals court overturned the
convictions of four Kurdish parliamentarians described by Brussels as
"political prisoners".
They will now be retried, but not under the state security court system which convicted them ten years ago. That system has been abolished as part of Turkey's EU membership drive. The question is whether such reforms mean a genuine change of heart or are purely pragmatic.
In this interview with Radio Netherlands, Jan Willem Bertens, former foreign affairs spokesman for the Dutch D66 party in the European parliament, takes a positive view.
"I think there is a genuine change. Absolutely, there is a change in thinking. But don't underestimate what happened underneath when the authorities warned they had to be tough against the Kurds and against the criminals and against the [Turkish] Cypriots. Underneath, a lot of people in the press and the business world said ‘let's be clever and don't forget we are a bit backward when it comes to human rights and changing the constitution.' I think there is a genuine will to reform, and not only because of the fact that Turkey wants to become a member of the European Union."
RN: "Going back to the case of the four Kurdish ex-MPs,
the police have now in fact lodged new complaints against them for attending
rallies and speaking in Kurdish. Is this a sign that perhaps the sufferings
of the Kurdish minority are not yet over?"
"It's perhaps a little bit too easy for us to say that they have
to accept the rights of the Kurdish minority. The strongest defenders
of Turkish society against these Kurds who want to speak their own language,
who have their own identity, who have their own civilization and guerrilla
groups, are the police. And they don't want to give in straightaway."
"It is a possibility, without any doubt, that within two or three years, the police also have to give in and have to consider that in any European country and in any future EU member state, minorities have the right to live and speak in their own language."
RN: "Obviously then there is a political will to reform. Do you think this is also making an impact on the military and the security authorities?"
"The military is still the strongest authority. They are very well-educated, they have power, and they are sympathetic to the US. If there's something that needs to reform, then it's the thinking within the army. But don't underestimate Turkey's role in NATO either."
RN: "Do you think that the reforms that have been taking place in Turkey have now satisfied the EU membership requirements?"
"There is still a long way to go. But I think we
still need a change of mentality of the Turkish people. In addition,
education at universities is still a little bit behind. What I think
is needed is a bare minimum of knowledge of what we as the European
Union consider as a requirement for becoming a member of the European
family. I mean what's important is the mentality, that they know that
Europe is not a new country, that it's a new environment where the Turks,
too, can live and have a new future."
6. - AP - "Israelis Seek Stronger Ties With Turkey":
ANKARA / 14 July 2004
Turkey's prime minister has accused Israel of state terrorism and said the country's actions have spurred anti-Semitism - harsh words that could signal a cooling of the two countries' traditionally close ties.
Israeli Vice Premier Ehud Olmert began talks in Ankara on Wednesday to smooth over differences in an alliance so close that Israeli fighter pilots hone their combat skills over central Turkey.
But the tough talk from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan - who was on vacation and unable to meet with Olmert - has led to suggestions that Turkey's government may be trying to distance itself from Israel, possibly to boost relations with its Arab neighbors and a European Union that is also critical of the Jewish state.
The government could also be looking to please Turkish
voters who are increasingly alienated by Israel's harsh tactics against
their fellow Muslim Palestinians.
"The groundwork of the Turkish-Israeli relationship as it stands
in Turkey is eroding," said Soner Cagaptay of the Washington Institute
for Near East Policy. "It's too early to be alarmist, but I would
say that the relationship is under a serious challenge."
Turkey is caught in a bind. On the one hand, Washington has promoted ties between Israel and NATO's only Muslim member. President Bush even stressed the importance of the Israeli-Turkish relationship in a recent meeting with his Turkish counterpart, Ahmet Necdet Sezer, a diplomat familiar with the discussion said.
But Turkey is pressing for closer ties with Arab countries. The government is also faced with strong support for the Palestinians on the Turkish street.
Erdogan's governing Justice and Development Party has roots in Turkey's Islamic movement and many of the party faithful are critical of the cozy ties with Israel.
Turkish officials are also wary of reports of Israeli involvement in northern Iraq, a neighboring region whose stability Turkey regards as vital to its security.
"The Israelis tell us that these (reports) are not true. We accept this," Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said recently. "We have to trust in what has been said to us. I hope that our trust is not in vain."
Promoting friendly ties with overwhelmingly Muslim Turkey is crucial for Israel, which faces isolation in the region. Turkey is a key trading partner and the two have close military ties.
Olmert put relations in a positive light.
"We cannot assess policy by just one statement," Olmert said when asked on CNN-Turk television about Erdogan's comments about state terrorism. "We are happy about our relationship.... Turkish-Israeli relations are continuous, stable and will continue to grow."
Turkey looks toward Israel for trade and technology and Turkey's powerful and staunchly secular generals see the relationship as evidence of their country's pro-Western orientation.
But Erdogan commands a massive majority in parliament and the generals are under pressure from the European Union to stay out of politics. Turkey is pushing for membership in the body.
In May, Erdogan was asked in an interview with Israel's Haaretz newspaper whether he considered Israel's actions against the Palestinians "state terrorism."
"How else can you interpret it?" he responded.
In an address to members of his Justice and Development Party, Erdogan said: "We have no problem with the Israeli people. But the things done by their government are regretfully escalating anti-Semitism," the Milliyet newspaper reported.
Turkish officials have said repeatedly that the relationship is not suffering and Erdogan made his comments as a friend. But their remarks often exhibit a harsh tone.
"Today's Israeli government is violating universal norms, and human rights. We're watching this with deep concern," said Suat Kilic, deputy head of parliament's Turkish-Israeli friendship group.
Kilic added that he would be hesitant to visit Israel
due to "sensitivities within the public."