28
July 2004
2. "Human rights court condemns Turkey over killing, torture", the European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday condemned Turkey over the death of a Kurdish prisoner and the torture of another.
3. "Torture report: There is increase in number of women victims of torture", Foundation for Social and Legal Research (TOHAV) of Turkey has released its report on torture treatments of the year 2003. The report exhibits striking results including increase in number of women victims of torture and that all of illiterate victims also didn't speak Turkish. Ages of the applicants range from 11 to 80. The most common torture methods are; feces in food, electroshocks, hanging from ankles and wrists, Palestinian hanger and sexual assault.
4. "Baku-Ceyhan Pipeline Construction Stopped Over Environmental Issues", the London-based Kurdish Human Rights Project (KHRP), as well as a number of other human rights groups, has also opposed the project, arguing in part that appropriate consultation between the project promoters and the public in much of eastern Turkey was impossible given the heavy military presence and the history of repression against the Kurdish minority there. Last month, the Kurdistan Workers' Party ended a five-year unilateral ceasefire in its long-standing insurgency against the government, giving rise to new fears that the pipeline may be subject to sabotage.
5. "Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget", Deterioration in Turkish-Israeli relations.
6. "Kurds Wonder Where They Fit in the New Iraq", Kurds insist on their rights, and if Kurdish rights are not recognized and respected, Iraq will never know stability.
1. - AFP - "Turkish PM in Iran to resolve business
spats, get help against Kurd rebels":
TEHRAN / 28 July 2004
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was in Tehran on Wednesday for talks he hopes will smooth over a series of business disputes and boosting cooperation in the fight against Kurdish rebels.
The visit comes amid growing political and economic ties between the two neighbours, whose warming relations have nevertheless been beset by deep-rooted ideological differences. The Turkish leader is lined up for talks with President Mohammad Khatami and several ministers as well as a string of other officials.
He arrived overnight Tuesday for the two-day visit, accompanied by a high-level political and economic delegation including some 130 businessmen. Erdogan said on Tuesday that he would ask Iran to put Turkish Kurd rebels on its list of terrorist groups during the talks.
"We will reiterate our demand that the outlawed organisation is included on the terror list," he told reporters in Istanbul. He was referring to the former Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has waged a 15-year strong war in predominantly Kurdish southeast Turkey.
The group, now known as KONGRA-GEL, ended a five-year unilateral ceasefire with the government on June 1. Turkey and Iran have recently boosted their cooperation on security matters, including against the PKK, and foreign ministry officials in Iran said the matter was due to be discussed in depth on Wednesday.
Iran also has a Kurdish minority and shares Turkey's concerns that any moves towards greater autonomy by the Kurds in northern Iraq could spark unrest among their cousins in neighbouring countries.
The talks on the issue signal a major change in tone following several years of tensions as the two states traded accusations of sheltering dissidents. Turkish officials had also accused Iran of aiming to "export the Islamic revolution" to Turkey, a mainly Muslim but strictly secular nation that also recognises Iran's regional arch-enemy Israel.
Economic cooperation will also be high on the agenda of Erdogan's talks with Iranian leaders. According to official figures, trade between the two countries has increased dramatically in recent years, and was valued at 2.4 billion dollars (2.0 billion euros) in 2003, a 90 percent increase on the previous year.
Iran says the figure could surge to 10 billion dollars in the coming years. But trade relations have been badly damaged by a disagreement over the price of natural gas Turkey is importing from Iran under a 1996 deal. Turkey halted imports, complaining of poor quality and asking Iran to reduce the price.
There has also been an embarrassing dispute over a contract to operate Tehran's new international airport won by a Turkish-led consortium. Iran's Revolutionary Guards shut down the sprawling capital's new showpiece airport on May 8 after just one flight landed.
The Guards argued that the contract with Tepe-Akfen-Vie (TAV), an Austrian-Turkish consortium, endangered the Islamic republic's security because the operators also had business dealings with Israel.
President Khatami, a reformist, said in mid-July the dispute
had been resolved and the airport could now reopen, but top conservative
deputies have vowed to impeach Iran's transport minister if the deal
goes ahead. 
2. - AFP - "Human rights court condemns Turkey
over killing, torture":
STRASBOURG / 27 July 2004
The European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday condemned Turkey over the death of a Kurdish prisoner and the torture of another.
The first case involved a man accused of being a militant from a Kurdish rebel group, shot in the back in November 1993 after being detained "in circumstances involving the reponsibility of Turkey with no evidence that this attack on his life was necessary," in the words of the court.
Turkey was ordered to pay the man's father and brother 36,000 euros (43,000 dollars) plus 15,000 euros (18,000 dollars) in costs. The second case concerned the death in custody in 1994 of another Kurdish militant found hanged.
The court declined to find the death was the result of torture, rather than suicide as claimed by the authorities, but said Turkey bore responsibility for the bruises and injuries on his body.
His family was awarded 25,000 euros (30,000 dollars).
The European Union, which Turkey is anxious to join, has made it a precondition
that Ankara improve its human rights record.
3. - DIHA - "Torture report: There is increase in number of women victims of torture":
ISTANBUL / 27 July 2004 / by Meryem Yilamz
Foundation for Social and Legal Research (TOHAV) of Turkey has released its report on torture treatments of the year 2003. The report exhibits striking results including increase in number of women victims of torture and that all of illiterate victims also didn't speak Turkish. Ages of the applicants range from 11 to 80. The most common torture methods are; feces in food, electroshocks, hanging from ankles and wrists, Palestinian hanger and sexual assault.
TOHAV have announced its research on "people exposed to violence by state officers in 2003." The report by Torture Rehabilitation Centre (IRM) of TOHAV states 197 victims of torture applied them last year and the total number of victims under rehabilitation reached 314 by that.
Age ranges from 11 to 80
Out of 197 new applicants, the oldest is 80 and the youngest is 11 years old. Majority of the applications are made in June and most of them involve acute complications. The striking point in the report is the radical increase in number of female applicants of torture with a percent of 74. Age average of women applicants is 34,1. Majority of the total applicants are between 20 and 35 ages. 63,9 % of them are single, 34,5 % are married and 1,5 % are widows/widowers.
Level of education
40.6 % are elementary school graduates, 15.7 % are high school graduates, 11.6% of illiterate applicants don't speak Turkish and most of the ones tortured for demanding education in mother tongue are women. 43.1 are unemployed and 21.8 of them work in mainly temporary jobs for wages below hunger limit, without insurance, union rights. 87.7 % of the total number is unemployed. 90.8 of them have no social insurance and 97.4 of them have low income.
Security directorate comes first in torture
The ones who applied to TOHAV within a week following torture under custody, report they confronted new torture methods such as; isolation from outside stimulants in a cell, deprivation of primary needs, assault, degrading, sexual harassment, being deprived of sleep, pretending execution.
"134 brought before court in 2003; 117 of them were detained, 95 of them received a sentence and 114 exposed torture treatment under detention. 84.2 % of the victims report being tortured at security directorates, 6.5 % at police stations, 4% at gendarme headquarters and 5% at the secret Gendarme Intelligence Center (JITEM)."
5 % of torture victims received treatment
Giving information to DIHA about the report, a doctor from Rehabilitation Center of TOHAV, Veysi Ulgen noted psychological methods of torture increased and put their aim to help the victims get rid of psychological and chronic effects of torture and help them regain their health before torture. Claiming that systematic torture was still applied in Turkey, Ulgen said victims of torture didn't only have problems related to health but that they had political, social and judicial problems.
"We don't know much about other problems of the victims since we deal only with the medical ones. Moreover, this is the number of the ones who could apply to us. There are many others victims of torture on streets. For example, 10 years ago, only 5% of the torture victims applied for aid. Many of them still suffer from its effects" said Ulgen.
Victims don't trust health institutions
Complaining about the very limited number of institutions to help rehabilitation of torture victims, Ulgen also said many of them didn2t trust in health institutions.
"Self-hood of people is destructed by torture. We
define them as victims. We try to gain their trust. I think have noted
success in that to a per cent of 80." Ulgen lastly called on all
sensitive doctors and psychologists to join institutions helping torture
victims as volunteers.
4. - OneWorld.net - "Baku-Ceyhan Pipeline Construction Stopped Over Environmental Issues":
WASHINGTON / 28 July 2004 / by Jim Lobe
Construction of a strategic pipeline that is to run from Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean has been stopped after the environmental authorities in Georgia found that the British Petroleum-led consortium that is building it had failed to get the proper clearances.
The government in Tbilisi suspended work on the pipeline, which, when completed, is supposed to run some 1,100 miles from Baku in Azerbaijan through Tbilisi to Ceyhan, Turkey, after BP began construction in the Borjomi region, an area that includes the Borjomi national park for which environmentalists have long sought special protection.
On July 12, Georgia's environment ministry reportedly sent BP a formal reminder that BP must apply for construction permits to undertake any operations in the region, but the company failed to respond. Photographs taken by local activists affiliated with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) revealed that BP went ahead anyway, prompting the central government to intervene July 22.
"BP has been caught red-handed," said WWF's James Leaton. "They have made all kinds of promises about how the BTC project would boost Georgian sovereignty, yet, as soon as Georgian law no longer fits their schedule, they violate it without hesitation."
BP said it was not concerned and hoped to submit the necessary paperwork by the first week of August. "This delay won't set us back," Rusudan Medzmariasvhili, a BP representative in Tbilisi told reporters. "The Georgian government wants independent experts to conduct safety tests," he said, noting that the delay should not affect the date of completion of the entire pipeline next January.
Environmentalists, however, hope that the delay may result in a new look at the project and its route by the new Georgian government by President Mikhail Saakashvili who came to power after the ouster last November of former President Eduard Shevardnadze. Although Saakashvili has spoken in support of the project, his environment minister, Tamar Lebanidze was recently reported as saying she would not have approved the route through Borjomi because of the risk of catastrophic environmental damage.
The region, which is known for its alpine forests and mineral spas, also produces mineral water for export. Environmental activists are also worried that seismic activity in the area could result in major spills.
Activists who oppose the pipeline described the incident as the latest in a series that have plagued the US$3.6 billion project. Last month, whistleblowers in Turkey disclosed that what they called a catalogue of management failures that were allegedly causing health and safety problems in the construction area, which traverses the largely Kurdish southwestern region of the country.
The London-based Kurdish Human Rights Project (KHRP), as well as a number of other human rights groups, has also opposed the project, arguing in part that appropriate consultation between the project promoters and the public in much of eastern Turkey was impossible given the heavy military presence and the history of repression against the Kurdish minority there. Last month, the Kurdistan Workers' Party ended a five-year unilateral ceasefire in its long-standing insurgency against the government, giving rise to new fears that the pipeline may be subject to sabotage.
Similar fears have been expressed about the pipeline in Georgia, which has seen a number of regional rebellions over the past decade, some of them supported directly or indirectly by Russia.
Communities in both Georgia and Azerbaijan have complained that the companies have failed to repair roads used in construction so far; that permanent jobs promised by the consortium failed to materialize, and that contributions to social and investment programs along the route have also lagged.
Nonetheless, the pipeline construction is now 70 percent completed, and powerful interests support it as strongly as ever.
The project was largely conceived by Washington which saw in it a way to get Caspian oil and gas to market without relying on two potential geopolitical foes - Iran, which offers the shortest and cheapest route between the Caspian and seaports, and Russia which already has a network of pipelines that flow directly into Europe.
U.S. and other western export credit agencies are also providing support for the public, as are the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC) which said its participation would ensure that the project complied with the strictest international environmental and social standards.
"In violating Georgian law, BP is clearly in violation of its loan agreements with the World Bank and other funders," said Nicholas Hildyard of the Corner House, a British activist group. "The Bank claims it spent hundreds of millions of dollars of our money on this pipeline because of the additional protections it can bring to make the project better. The Georgian government has acted in response to these violations; the funders must now do the same if they are to retain any credibility."
"BP has repeatedly said that it will construct this
pipeline to the highest standards," said Hannah Griffiths of Friends
of the Earth (FoE). "But whenever the standards get in the way
of the construction schedule, they get jettisoned."
5. - Asia Times - "Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget":
27 July 2004 / By K Gajendra Singh* (edited version)
Before returning home, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who was in Ankara in mid-July to mend Israel's deteriorating relations with Turkey, said, "I was reassured of the continuity and stability of relations." The visit for an economic joint commission meeting by Olmert was the first high-level contact after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan repeatedly characterized Israel's policy in Gaza as "state terrorism".
Israel would have normally reacted sharply, but it needs Turkey, its only friend in the region, with whom it has built up close and almost alliance-like relations. Olmert's visit began on a wrong note with an "appointment crisis" with Erdogan, who left Ankara for a vacation a few hours before Olmert's arrival. Israel said Olmert's visit could not be postponed as he was busy in Brussels. It was just as well. In his May 25 meeting with Israeli Infrastructure Minister Yousef Paritzky, Erdogan asked the Israeli minister: "What is the difference between terrorists who kill Israeli civilians and Israel, which also kills civilians?"
But it was an article in New Yorker magazine by veteran US journalist Seymour Hersh about Israel providing training to peshmarga militias in northern Iraq and running covert operations in neighboring countries that revealed the brewing differences between Turkey and Israel. The media reports were denied by both Israel and the Kurdish leadership in northern Iraq. But Turkey was far from convinced. Israel's case was not helped by other reports that they were infiltrating agents into Iran's clandestine nuclear-weapons program for information for possible preemptive strikes by the Israeli air force, believing that Tehran is about a year away from a breakthrough in that program.
Israel would prefer a weak and decentralized Iraq, if not a divided one. According to Beirut's Daily Star of July 17, "It appears that Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, one of Erdogan's closest confidants, was behind the leak on Israeli interference in Kurdistan, to demonstrate Ankara's deepening anxiety that Kurdish aspirations of independence will be fueled by Israeli interference. Indeed, the US debacle in Iraq is driving neighbors Turkey, Syria and Iran into each other's arms as all fear chaos in Iraq in the coming months."
It added: "Erdogan's government has embarked upon a high-profile diplomatic effort to bolster relations with the Arab and Muslim world, which were blighted by Israel's 1996 military agreements with Turkey. Ankara has settled its disputes with Syria and is seeking to normalize its often fraught relations with Iran." Turkey temporarily withdrew its ambassador and consul general from Israel. Relations took a turn for the worse when the Israeli airline El Al had to suspend for two weeks six weekly flights to Turkey from June 24 in a row over security at Istanbul airport.
Annual trade between the two countries now amounts to US$1.4 billion, excluding the defense sector. Last year more than 300,000 Israeli tourists (8% of the population) visited Turkey. Israelis find Turkey safe for vacations to escape tensions at home. During Paritzky's visit, Turkey's Zorlu Holding and Israeli Dorad Energies signed an $800 million deal for the construction of three power plants in Israel. In March, the two sides signed an agreement for Turkey to sell to Israel more than 50 million cubic meters of water annually for the next 20 years.
Strained relations between Turkey and Israel caused serious concern in the United States. President George W Bush asked Erdogan "to tighten Turkey's relationship with Israel". Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronot said Washington's concerns were conveyed by Bush in Ankara prior to the June North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in Istanbul. It added that Bush stressed that friendly relations between Turkey and Israel would "contribute towards the best interests of the United States and expressed concern that an escalation in tension may spark instability in the Middle East".
Soner Cagaptay of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy commented recently, "The groundwork of the Turkish-Israeli relationship as it stands in Turkey is eroding. It's too early to be alarmist, but I would say that the relationship is under a serious challenge."
"What once was a marriage of love has become a marriage of convenience," said Dr Anat Lapidot-Furilla, a research fellow at Hebrew University's Truman Institute in Jerusalem. "It is obvious that the 'strategic alliance' is in a period of erosion," commented Turkish columnist Erdal Guven in Radikal.
India-Israel-Turkey relations
When questioned by journalists during his visit to Turkey last September, whether the US was working to create a new axis among India, Turkey and Israel, Indian prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee replied in the negative, but added that India was expanding its defense cooperation to a higher level. The question was posed because Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had visited India a few weeks earlier, during which a number of defense cooperation agreements were signed and the decades-long relationship between Turkey and Israel had blossomed almost to the level of an alliance.
In spite of a new Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government in New Delhi, defense cooperation between Israel and India is not likely to be affected. Indian Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee said India's security considerations were paramount and that its military relations would be guided accordingly.
Deterioration in Turkish-Israeli relations
When Erdogan publicly criticized Sharon's policies in the Occupied Territories, accusing Israel of "state terrorism", members of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), which has Islamic roots, were even harsher, lambasting US policies in Iraq. The Turkish-Israeli relationship reached a low point when Erdogan turned down an invitation to visit Israel and temporarily withdrew his ambassador and consul general from Israel.
Then the New Yorker revelations made the simmering differences public. Turks were now aware of Israeli activities in north Iraq. On June 23, the Israeli ambassador to Turkey, Pini Aviv, denied the New Yorker report that Israel took advantage of the US occupation of Iraq by expanding the Israeli presence in northern Iraq. He reassured the Turkish Foreign Ministry that Israel had decided long ago not to meddle in Iraqi affairs. Foreign Minister Gul accepted Israeli denials. "The Israelis tell us those allegations are not true. But everybody understands regional and Turkish sensitivity to this issue, so we have to believe what we are told," the semi-official Anatolia news agency quoted Gul as saying. "I hope our trust [of Israel] won't prove wrong," he added.
Earlier, Turkish media reported that former Israeli Foreign Ministry undersecretary Alon Liel said that "the idea of an independent Kurdish state was not distressing Israel, but added, as Israel was aware of Turkey's sensitivities on this issue there was no attempt by Israel in that direction". Turkish media also reported that Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, while briefing members of the Israeli parliament's Foreign Relations and Defense Committee, said the relations between Turkey and Israel should be evaluated from three angles. These were security, economic cooperation and tourist activities. "We should place priority on protecting our strategic relations with Turkey; however, Israel may no longer wait to answer criticisms [of state terrorism] leveled by the Turkish premier," said the Israeli minister.
Turkey's Kurdish problems
Turkey has serious problems with its own Kurds, who form 20% of the population. But after five years of comparative peace and quiet in Turkey's southeast, there is now some upsurge in violent rebel activity. The Kurdish rebellion since 1984 against the Turkish state, led by Abdullah Ocalan of the Marxist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), has cost more than 35,000 lives, including 5,000 soldiers. To control and neutralize the rebellion, thousands of Kurdish villages were bombed, destroyed, abandoned or relocated; millions of Kurds were moved to shanty towns in the south and east or migrated westward.
The economy of the region was shattered. With a third of the Turkish army tied up in the southeast, the cost of countering the insurgency at its height amounted to between $6 billion and $8 billion a year. Whenever there has been chaos and instability in north Iraq, as during the Iraq-Iran War in the 1980s or after the 1991 Gulf War, PKK activity has picked up in Turkey.
The rebellion died down after the arrest and trial of Ocalan in 1999, when a ceasefire was declared by the PKK. After a Turkish court commuted to life imprisonment the death sentence passed on Ocalan in 2002 and parliament granted rights for the use of the Kurdish language, some of the root causes of the Kurdish rebellion were removed. TV broadcasts in Kurdish have already begun. Until the mid-1980s, even the use of the word Kurd was taboo and could lead to imprisonment.
The PKK shifted most of its 4,000 cadres to northern Iraq. But they refused to lay down arms as required under a new Turkish "repentance law" as it provided only partial immunity. Many remained ensconced along the border between Iraq and Iran. The United States' priority to disarm PKK cadres, despite promises to Turkey, has not been very high. It has its arms full of troubles in Sunni and Shi'ite Iraq. In fact, the US wants to reward Iraqi Kurds, who have remained loyal and peaceful. But Iraqi Kurds have been ambivalent toward the PKK, helping them at times.
Ankara has entered northern Iraq from time to time - despite protests - to attack PKK bases and its cadres and keeps many thousand troops in the region. Ankara also said it would regard an independent Kurdish entity as a cause for war and strongly opposes Iraqi Kurdish control of the oil-rich northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk by forced ethnic migrations to change the demographics of the city. Turkey fears that any moves to bolster Kurdish autonomy in Iraq could pave the way to the formation of a Kurdish state in Iraq and eventually fuel separatism among its own Kurds. Turkey also uses the pretext of protecting the rights of its ethnic cousins the Turkmens, traditionally settled around Kirkuk.
The roots of the Kurdish problem were sown during the decline of the Ottoman Empire and the birth of the Turkish Republic after World War I, when northern Iraqi Kurdistan was detached from the Ottoman Kurdish region by the British and joined with the Arab provinces of Baghdad and Basra to create Iraq, because of oil reserves around Kirkuk. Northern Iraq was declared part of the Turkish republic by its founders led by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. It has been a Turkish claim and dream to retrieve this land. But since the fierce - and growing - Iraqi resistance to US occupation, Turkey has toned down the rhetoric.
Olmert's visit to Ankara
Ehud Olmert is an influential figure in the Israeli cabinet and is in charge of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor. Apart from a meeting with President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, he had a "friendly, sincere and serious discussion" with Gul. Olmert said that "Gul repeated again the commitment of Turkey to carry on relations with Israel on the friendly basis as in the past". Olmert added that Israeli officials would soon visit Turkey to "continue the dialogue that we started". He also assured the Turkish leaders that Israel was not engaged in any relationship with Kurds in northern Iraq that could jeopardize Turkish interests.
Gul made no public comments, but many analysts believe that Turkey is reassessing relations that have been so close. Erdogan offered a warm reception to Syria's visiting premier, Naji al-Otri, hours before Olmert's arrival, which Gul said was just a coincidence. An important Iranian delegation was also in town. In an interview with CNN-Turk television, Olmert played down Erdogan's outbursts and his not being able to meet with him. "The two countries enjoy economic relations that are constantly growing deeper. Our relations are stable and will keep on growing. Israel wants to maintain its strategic ties with Turkey," said Olmert. He also denied reports that Israeli agents were operating in northern Iraq and providing training to Iraqi Kurdish peshmargas. "Israel has no relations with Kurds in the north of Iraq. Turkish authorities know about all the details. We want a united Iraq. We would never act against the interests of Turkey," Olmert told CNN-Turk.
Israel wants faster Gaza pullout
In Olmert's talks with Gul, apart from bilateral relations, the two sides focused on Turkey's role in the Middle East peace process and recent developments. Olmert said that Israel considered Turkey a powerful force for stability in the Middle East. "Turkey would play an important role and would be a great power in the region," he added. Olmert also informed Gul about plans for the Israeli army withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, but cautioned that preparations would require some time. "One must understand that pulling out the settlements is not a simple operation. It has to be carefully prepared, and it takes time. We are in favor of accelerating the preparations anyway if it is possible, so we shall see," he said.
Gul on the other hand said, "Sustainable peace in the Middle East should be provided immediately. Turkey is ready to do its best." He reiterated Turkey's readiness to mediate with a view to finding a solution to the Middle East conflict. Olmert told the daily Sabah that Israel proposed setting up a telephone hotline between Israel and Turkey to help avoid further tensions between the two allies. Israel was willing to give detailed information about their policies on a daily basis.
Yilmaz Oztuna wrote in Turkiye that "rescuing Palestinians from oppression and forging an Arab-Israeli peace is a mission impossible. Former US president Bill Clinton couldn't manage it. This knot won't be untied any time soon. We don't have the power to be a Middle East peace broker. Even if we had it, this would go against our interests. Anyway, what Mideast country would ask us to serve as mediator? These are hard political realities, not stuff for romantics and idealists." Yes, but the Turkish offer to mediate in Middle East is a policy change brought in by the Erdogan government - from one of benign neglect. Once annoyed that there were El Al planes in Turkey, former Turkish president Turgut Ozal told the visiting Saudi foreign minister that it was Turkish policy not to meddle in disputes of its former subjects.
Omert meets with Turkish media
Olmert was more assertive in his breakfast meeting with Turkish journalists. When asked whether Turkey would undertake a role to find a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, Olmert said Israel was carrying out unilateral action (withdrawal from Gaza and parts of the West Bank) as setting up a dialogue would be a waste of time. This was to change the situation in the region. Neither Turkey nor the United States could do much now, he said, adding that Turkey would play an important role in future to provide stability and promote democracy in the region.
Stressing that the unilateral withdrawal of Israel from the Gaza Strip was of historic importance, Olmert said it was being achieved under Israel's Likud Party leadership. When questioned on relations between Israel and Syria, Olmert said Israel gave priority to withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and the formation of a coalition government. Asked about the West Bank barrier, recently ruled as a violation of international laws by the International Court of Justice, Olmert said it was a purely defensive measure. "Once the terror ends, the fence will be removed. The fence is reversible, death is not" - the standard Israeli line.
Olmert and his Turkish counterpart for the Joint Economic Committee meeting, Agriculture and Rural Affairs Minister Sami Guclu, set an ambitious goal of doubling two-way trade. Olmert said an effort would be made to create a better investment climate for Turkish companies, which were doing well in Israel. He showed interest in energy projects as part of the Southeastern Anatolia Project (the project is in Turkey's Kurdish region across Iraqi Kurdistan). Other areas identified for cooperation were in technology, telecommunication, agriculture and infrastructure.
Recent changes in Turkey
Erdogan's AKP emerged from the ashes of four Islamic parties, banned earlier by the secular establishment led by the armed forces, but it now feels more secure. Taking advantage of the European Union requirement to harmonize Turkey's system to Copenhagen criteria, the AKP has successfully sidelined the military, which had exercised power through its domination of the National Security Council (NSC). From a top policymaking forum, the NSC has now been reduced to an advisory role. Compared with earlier regimes perceived as corrupt, the AKP has further strengthened itself by following transparent governance. It did very well in April municipal elections.
There is a clear erosion in the strategic relationship between Turkey and Israel, which denotes a decline of the Turkish military in politics, said Amnon Barzilie in Haa'rez. A decision to put Turkey on a course toward EU membership would strengthen Erdogan, and weaken the military, according to the Israeli Defense Ministry. EU membership would mean that the Turkish government would wield all its influence to make arms deals with EU countries, instead of Israel.
Since 1996, when the strategic dialogue between Israel and Turkey began, numerous deals were signed with the Israeli arms industry to "punish" EU countries that refused EU membership to Turkey, the Israeli defense establishment says. In December, the heads of the EU will decide on a date for Turkey to begin accession talks, but full membership is unlikely soon.
But an EU decision to delay membership for Turkey would strengthen the Turkish military, which could even depose Erdogan and call for new elections. One of the first moves would then be a large arms deal with Israel. Now the Turkish military has no choice but to sit tight. Erdogan's harsh criticism of Israel's actions in the territories was a powerful expression of that change. But Turkey still looks at Israel as its partner in that part of the world and, therefore, where security and economic interests are concerned, there would be no change for the worse. Israeli defense analysts noted that the US sees strategic importance in Turkey's joining the EU, as it regards Turkey as a model to prove that there is no contradiction between a Muslim state and a democratic one.
Dr Alon Liel, chairman of the Turkey-Israel Chamber of Commerce, believes that the Turkish army is getting weaker, but that the Defense Ministry is suffering from fixed ideas and indifference. "It's true that in the short term Turkey's entrance into the EU will harm arms sales to Israel, but the implications for the Middle East will be so dramatic that in the final analysis it will work to benefit Israel," Liel said.
Without question, the Iraq war and, in particular, developments in northern Iraq have kindled a rapprochement between Turkey and Iran and Turkey and Syria, in spite of US opposition. Turkey now pursues a strategy of strengthening its ties with countries in the region. Since the AKP's coming to power two years ago, Turkey has strengthened relations with other Eastern countries, while making all efforts to fulfill the Copenhagen criteria to join the EU. EU countries to some extent are trying to maintain their relationship with Tehran and Damascus. A Turkish diplomat said this should be evaluated not as opposition to the United States, but as a result of recent developments.
Conclusions
Erdogan's AKP it now secure and it has sidelined the military. Even without Turkey's EU aspirations, its strategic relationship with Israel is declining, as it moves closer to Syria, Iraq, Iran and other countries in the region, despite open disapproval by the US.
But Turkey still looks at Israel as its partner in its part of the world and, therefore, where security and economic interests are concerned, there will be no change for the worse. Israeli defense analysts note that the US sees strategic importance in Turkey joining the EU, as it regards Turkey as a model to prove that there is no contradiction between a Muslim state and a democratic one.
There is now speculation about what the competing powers and players want in Iraq (and the region) and what might happen. Even the only superpower cannot have things its own way, as is being proved in Iraq every day. According to a Turkish commentator, the US "has the unpleasant choice of alienating its indispensable Turkish ally or its loyal partners in Iraq, the Kurds. The Iraqi Kurds are apparently worried of a Shi'ite-Islamist Arab domination of Iraq that would be reminiscent of Saddam Hussein's days that deprived them of their basic rights. Above all, they want a chance of self-rule. The unfolding events threaten the gains that they made during the last 13 years since the 1991 Gulf War, thanks to the American security air umbrella from bases in Turkey. Iraqi Kurds might decide to move closer to Turkey. Turkey, in turn, has gradually moved to perceive the benefits of rapprochement with the Kurds to have a say in determining the future of Iraq."
While Turkey has not recently repeated claims on northern Iraq, as it did in before the Iraq war, it has left no one in doubt. On June 23, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Namik Tan said regional countries would have the right to speak on the future of Iraq if the Iraqi people failed to reach a compromise on the territorial integrity of Iraq and engage in civil war. "If eventually civil war emerges in Iraq, then the regional countries and international community will have the right to intervene."
He added that the most important issue for Turkey concerning Iraq was the territorial integrity of Iraq. Wrote one Turkish journalist: "The Iraqi Kurds have raised concerns that the Shi'ite and Sunni Arabs can join together and take action against them after the withdrawal of the United States. While the Iraqi Kurds are trying to increase their advantages despite Turkey, they should also consider Turkey a security insurance for their own future. Furthermore, the Iraqi Kurds admit that the only realistic window for opening towards the West is Turkey."
And if the US cannot enforce its will, how can Israel hope to shape the region? Disruption and chaos, yes. And if the US were forced to withdraw, even with a face-saving solution with help from the international community, it might then look for a scapegoat. If Israel wants to play a role in creating an independent Kurdistan, it would become a willing tool in the regional balance, at US behest.
But such a development would be inimical to Turkey and would not be accepted. By now it should be clear that the developments in Iraq will be determined by the growing insurgency now blossoming into full-fledged resistance for removing the US occupation and for freedom.
How the dice will roll for Iraqi Kurds is difficult to predict. But a breakup of Iraq would have unforeseen consequences, even beyond the region. The struggle has only begun in earnest. With a stock of nuclear bombs, Egypt shackled and thus neutralized, Israel is the key player in the region - and a country that Turkey cannot afford to ignore or alienate. But then Israel also needs Turkey.
* K Gajendra Singh, Indian ambassador (retired), served
as ambassador to Turkey from August 1992 to April 1996. Prior to that,
he served terms as ambassador to Jordan, Romania and Senegal. He is
currently chairman of the Foundation for Indo-Turkic Studies. E-mail
Gajendrak@hotmail.com.
6. - The Los Angeles Times - "Kurds Wonder Where They Fit in the New Iraq":
SULAYMANIYA / 27 July 2004 / by John Daniszewski
Sitting on the top of Azmar Mountain, looking down on the twinkling lights of this Kurdish city with a whiskey in his plastic cup and a skewer of roasted lamb on his plate, Bahdai Ahmad Hassan could be forgiven for thinking that Iraq, with all its problems, might as well be another country.
Here in Iraqi Kurdistan, government buildings are barely barricaded, an effective police force and a proud army provide security, and the hundreds of families who drive up to these heights to picnic on a balmy weekend evening can sit without fear of gunfire or mortars. As for the terrorized Iraq to the south, in Hassan's view, who needs it?
Since the hand-over of power to a new Iraqi government, many Kurds are asking themselves whether the bargain made by their political leaders to rejoin the rest of Iraq after 13 years of semi-independence is really worth it. At the very least, Hassan said, Kurds must demand more equality and autonomy than is on offer. To him, independence would be better.
But many political leaders here say their Arab compatriots aren't taking their concerns seriously.
When Iraqi leaders signed a temporary constitution in March guaranteeing Kurds veto power, some Shiite Muslim politicians refused to attend the ceremony. After pressure from Shiite religious leaders, the U.N. resolution ratifying the hand-over did not even mention the temporary constitution.
Incensed Kurds see many Arabs as ungrateful for the Kurds' efforts alongside the Americans to overthrow Saddam Hussein.
"Immediately after the liberation of Iraq, the people here were very happy and proud of their achievements and the gaining an important place in the governing bodies of Iraq," said Hassan, a sports official in the Kurdistan government.
"But after the incident with the U.N. resolution, they became impatient because their concerns were not answered…. Kurds and the peshmerga [fighters] took part effectively in the liberation war, but what we got back was not as much as we put in."
At the heart of the discontent, he said, is that Arabs treat the Kurds — who are ethnically and linguistically different — as "little brothers." For instance, although Kurds were awarded eight posts in the new interim government of Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, including a deputy premiership, there was a consensus that the top two positions, the prime ministership and the presidency, would go only to Arabs. Kurds make up about 20% of Iraq's 25 million people.
Also, Kurds' wishes to absorb the city and province of Kirkuk into their regional administration have been deferred indefinitely. The strategic, oil-rich city was predominantly Kurdish and Turkmen until Hussein's government resettled large numbers of Arabs there.
"They are all the time going on about their rights. Why are they not ready to recognize the rights of others?" Hassan said of the Arabs.
Allawi, whose government took over from the U.S.-led coalition June 28, visited Kurdistan on July 11, meeting with the two most prominent Kurdish politicians, Jalal Talabani and Massoud Barzani. He came away with a promise of security help from the formidable peshmerga forces — 55,000 fighters strong — who officially are being distributed among the new national Iraqi army, police and border guard.
But the peshmerga — whose name means "those who face death" — are likely to remain an army within the army. No one doubts that they could be quickly recalled to fight for Kurdistan if summoned.
In fact, they still wear a patch of the Kurdish flag, not the official Iraqi flag, on their uniforms.
Similarly, the Kurdish flag flies over all government buildings here. On the highway just north of Kirkuk one day this month, a man dressed in Kurdish costume and holding a pole flying the Kurdish flag stood by the highway.
At the peshmerga's headquarters outside Sulaymaniya, the deputy commander of the general staff, Mustafa Sayed Qadir, said his troops were ready to help stabilize all Iraq and would even venture into Arab areas if given the orders. "Give us Fallouja and we will put it in order in only one month," he joked about the Sunni Muslim stronghold of the insurgency.
But he grew more serious when discussing Kurdish demands. "Kurds insist on their rights, and if Kurdish rights are not recognized and respected, Iraq will never know stability," Qadir warned.
Regional Interior Minister Osman Hajy Mahmod said Kurdistan could offer the central government the benefits of its "strong and well-formed security apparatus." But more important than that, he said, Iraq should benefit from Kurdistan's experience of democracy for the last 13 years. The region has governed itself since the Persian Gulf War in 1991, when the U.S. and Britain established a "no-fly zone" to protect it from Hussein's forces.
"A real push should be given to democracy in the region," Mahmod said. "Kurdistan can be held up as a good example. If this were done, people in the rest of Iraq and the Middle East would be able see that the U.S. is not just here for its purposes, but to help them."
Iraqi Kurdistan's leading poet, Sherko Bekas, is skeptical of Arab aspirations to democracy.
"From where will that democracy emerge?" he said. "Do you think it can be built from Ramadi or Fallouja? Do you think the Sunni man will embrace democracy when he does not even allow his women to go outside without a veil?"
Bekas led a petition drive this spring that gathered 1.8 million signatures favoring a referendum to determine whether Kurdistan should be part of Iraq or become independent. Many people signed with their blood, he said. He recalled Hussein's genocidal Anfal campaign of 1988 against the Kurds, including a chemical attack that killed 5,000 of them. After having suffered so much at the hands of Iraq's Arabs, he said, Kurds would be better off going their own way.
"Eighty-three years ago, Kurds were wronged — annexed to this Iraq against their will after the first World War," he said. After decades of oppression, he said, "there is nothing inside us that makes us feel connected to Iraq."
Their attitude toward the Americans is one way Kurds differ from many Arab Iraqis, said Omar Fatah, the acting prime minister of the Kurdish regional administration in Sulaymaniya.
"When the coalition forces came, we welcomed them because they came to free Iraq and free the Iraqi people," he said, "and we still keep them in our hearts as liberators, not occupiers."
Nevertheless, there is growing concern in some quarters that the United States is willing to abandon the Kurds in order to mollify the more restive Arabs. "Some people say, 'Let's start killing Americans — then they will respect us,' " Hassan said.
Although overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim, Kurds are much less strict in their interpretation of their faith than Arab Iraqis. Many women do not veil themselves; the sale and consumption of alcohol is widely tolerated; Israel is not considered an enemy as it is in much of Arab Iraq. Kurds fear being forced into a straitjacket if religious forces gain the upper hand in Baghdad.
Women now fight in the peshmerga as officers and ordinary soldiers. On a recent morning, about 50 female recruits were being shown how to march and handle Kalashnikov rifles. Others were on duty at checkpoints at the general staff headquarters.
Kurdish pride is on display in the rapid development of the land. Work on a commercial international airport started outside Sulaymaniya in January and is scheduled to be finished in a year.
It will be handy for landlocked Kurdistan if it ever seeks independence. For the time being, however, political leaders say that is not possible because of pressure from Iraq's neighbors — particularly Turkey — which have Kurdish minorities, abhor the idea of an independent Kurdish state and have threatened to crush it if it emerges.
But on the streets here, it is obvious that the official position is chafing against the will of many, if not most, ordinary Kurds.
Fatah, speaking in his living room, said Kurdish leaders were aware of the frustration and doubts among their followers.
"We would like to be part of a democratic, federal and united Iraq," he said. "But our people have presented two conditions that are absolute: full democracy and full federalism."
Kurds could always reassess, he suggested.
"From the beginning, we have expressed our desire to make Iraq a country of two equal peoples, and we hope that Allawi's government will succeed — on this basis."
(Special correspondent Azad Seddiq in Sulaymaniya and
Salar Jaff of The Times' Baghdad Bureau contributed to this report.)