11
June 2004
2. "Government in peril as Kurds balk", Iraq's fledgling interim government was in danger of collapse Wednesday as Kurdish leaders debated whether to quit over their demands for a separate Kurdish federation within the new Iraq.
3. "U.S. Troubles Move North", And now the United States is running into difficulties in Northern Iraq where it has enjoyed the support of the largely Kurd population.
4. "Schwimmer sees Turkey's monitoring process nearing end", There are excellent conditions in Turkey for closure of the monitoring process, says Council of Europe secretary-general, noting that release of DEP deputy Zana and her colleagues is proof that 'the reforms in Turkey are serious and Turkey is a reliable part of Europe'
5. "Turkey raises its EU hopes after long-sought gestures to Kurds", Turkey raised its hopes of starting membership talks with the European Union Thursday following the landmark release of four Kurdish politicians from jail and the start of broadcasts in the Kurdish language.
6. "Kurdish imams in Turkey want to preach in their mother tongue", Muslim preachers in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast urged the government on Friday to allow them to deliver sermons in Kurdish as part of efforts to bolster human and cultural rights to meet EU democracy standards.
1. - UN Observer - "Mass Arrests of Pro-Kurdish Journalists ahead of Nato Summit":
11 June 2004
Reporters Without Borders described as “shocking” an operation by anti-terrorist police who took 25 people into custody in raids on two pro-Kurdish publications and a press agency in Istanbul.
“The legitimate and necessary fight against terrorism can never justify such press freedom violations”, the organisation said in a letter to Prime Minister Recep Erdogan. “We are shocked that the courts should treat journalists as if they were criminals.”
Police, acting on the orders of the State Security Court of Istanbul, on 8 June searched the offices of pro-Kurdish press agency Dicle, arresting 16 journalists and other staff. Dicle's lawyers said police suspected the journalists of links with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), renamed Kongra-Gel, and were looking for “banned material” in the run-up to the Nato summit in Istanbul on 28-29 June.
Three journalists on the Pro-Kurdish daily Ülkede Özgür Gündem, Hüsniye Tekin, Deniz Boyraz and Baki Gül, who arrived to cover the police raid on Dicle, were also taken into custody.
Anti-terrorist police also searched the offices of pro-Kurdish monthlies Özgür Halk and Genc Bakis and arrested six staff members. In each search police seized journalists' files, books and computer disks.
“We ask you to explain how articles, books and disks seized during the searches could amount to 'banned material'”, Reporters Without Borders continued in its letter to the prime minister.
Calling for the immediate release of the journalists and return of their property, the organisation stressed that the European Court of Human rights viewed searches of homes and offices of journalists as contrary to Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, unless there was a “pressing social need”.
Police freed Hatice Özbaris, of Dicle later the same day but
all the others remained in custody.
2. - Chicago Tribune - "Government in peril as Kurds balk":
Group wants status in Iraq guaranteed
BAGHDAD / June 10, 2004 / By Liz Sly
Iraq's fledgling interim government was in danger of collapse Wednesday as Kurdish leaders debated whether to quit over their demands for a separate Kurdish federation within the new Iraq.
One day after the international community united behind a United Nations resolution on Iraqi sovereignty, the two main Kurdish leaders, Massoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani, spent the day with their advisers in northern Iraq discussing their response to the failure of the resolution to guarantee the status of Kurds.
Government leaders and UN officials scrambled to reassure the Kurds that their future was not in jeopardy, despite the omission of the Kurds in the resolution.
The Kurds wanted the resolution to enshrine the temporary constitution drawn up under the authority of the U.S.-led administration in Iraq earlier this year, which effectively gives the Kurds the right to veto any future constitution.
"The Kurdish legal rights are regarded as red lines," said Ibrahim Hassan, a spokesman for the Kurdistan Democratic Party in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq. "If these legal rights are not met, the unity of Iraq will be endangered."
In a bid to assuage Kurdish fears, Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi issued a statement saying the temporary constitution would remain in effect until elections are held.
In New York, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said Kurdish aspirations are recognized in the resolution by a phrase referring to "a united, federal democratic Iraq."
"All sides should be able to work with it," he said.
But the dispute exposes the fragility of the interim government installed June 1 amid an unprecedented display of unity among America's Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish allies. The government won't formally take over from the outgoing U.S.-led administration until June 30, when power is handed over.
At the core of the controversy are two contradictory visions of democracy in post-Saddam Hussein Iraq.
The Kurds, who account for 15 to 20 percent of Iraq's population, are concerned that their long-standing demands for autonomy would be swamped in a democratic Iraq unless a future constitution guarantees minority rights.
The temporary constitution, known as the transitional administrative law, contains those guarantees. It was drawn up by the U.S.-led Iraqi administration headed by Paul Bremer in consultation with Iraq's now-abolished Governing Council.
But under the timetable for democracy laid down by President Bush and endorsed by the UN resolution, the temporary constitution is to last only until a permanent constitution is drafted by a democratically elected National Assembly.
Iraq's Shiites, who represent 60 percent of the population, can be expected to dominate the composition of the National Assembly, and they have made clear that they will not be bound by the terms of a constitution drawn up by the occupation authority.
Iraq's most respected Shiite spiritual leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, insisted earlier this week that the temporary constitution should not be upheld by the UN.
Hamed al-Bayati, spokesman for the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, said the Shiites are not attempting to trample on Kurdish rights but would insist that any future constitution be decided by a democratically elected assembly.
"We don't think the Iraqi constitution should be decided at the United Nations or by the U.S. administration," he said, speaking from New York, where he attended the debate.
Mohammed Sharif Ahmad, professor of politics at Salahaddin University in northern Iraq, said the dispute is not between Shiites and Kurds but reflects the anxieties of Kurds about their future status in Iraq.
"Since the beginning of history Kurds have been betrayed by successive regimes in Iraq," he said.
Elsewhere in Iraq, saboteurs blew up a key northern oil pipeline, forcing a 10 percent cut on the national power grid, The Associated Press reported.
And Wednesday night gunfire was heard in Najaf for the first time since an agreement last week to end fighting between U.S. troops and militiamen loyal to cleric Moqtada Sadr, AP reported.
Residents said gunmen attacked a police station.
3. - Inter Press Service (IPS) - "U.S. Troubles Move North":
ARBIL, Iraq / 10 June 2004 / by Aaron Glantz
And now the United States is running into difficulties in Northern Iraq where it has enjoyed the support of the largely Kurd population.
Since the 1991 Gulf War whole swaths of Northern Iraq have been controlled by two Kurdish militias, the guerrilla armies of Masoud Barzani’s Kurdistan Demoratic Party (KDP) and Jalal Talabani’s Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). With that has come autonomy and a guarantee of cultural rights. Now, Kurdish leaders are concerned all that could end.
The United Nations Security Council resolution approved in New York this week makes no mention of the rights of Kurds, and appears to scrap the interim constitution which gave the Kurdish region veto power in a permanent constitution.
In a letter to U.S. President George W. Bush this week, the leaders of the Kurdish militias threatened secession from Iraq if their self-rule is compromised.
”We have no idea what freedom is and what it is like to have independence like other nations,” says Shekhala Ibrahim, deputy director of Masoud Barzani’s KDP in Arbil. ”For a long time we were persecuted and we were treated with violence and we suffered from ethnic cleansing operations. There are so many mass graves and this is a real example of how we suffered under Saddam.”
Shia leaders, who represent the majority of Iraqis, have repeatedly spoken out against an ethnic federation of the kind that would give Kurds special rights. They insist that a future Iraqi government should be elected according to a national one-person, one-vote system.
The country’s most respected Shia cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani condemned the interim constitution when it was written because he said it allowed a small percentage of the population to veto the wishes of the majority.
He then refused to meet with UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi until Brahimi made a promise that Iraq would not be governed by the constitution drawn up by the U.S.-appointed Governing Council. Kurds have enjoyed special rights under this constitution.
Shekhala Ibrahim sees a parallel between Sistani’s demands and Saddam’s regime. ”They remain with the same idea they had under Saddam and they think that Kurds will have to stay forever to be controlled by them and be captured by Arabs.”
Like most Kurdish politicians, Ibrahim paints the Arabs as intransigent. ”You should not keep the knee of the people around the neck of someone else,” he says. ”The Arabs say you should not speak or demand your rights or raise your voice. We are asking for federalism and we accept it (as an alternative to independence) so the Arabs have to thank us. We are not asking for more.” In their letter to Bush, Talabani and Barzani wrote that the Kurdish leadership would refuse to take part in national elections expected to be held in January next year, and bar officials from entering ”Kurdistan” if their demands were not met.
The two leaders also asked Bush for a commitment to protect ”Kurdistan” should an insurgency compel the United States to pull its forces out of the rest of Iraq. U.S. military assistance could be necessary not only to defend Kurds against anti-American forces in Iraq, but also against neighbouring countries like Syria, Iran, and Turkey -- all of whom have sizeable Kurdish populations with limited civil rights.
Turkey already maintains two military bases in Northern Iraq, one of which is in the heart of Arbil, Iraqi Kurdistan’s largest city. Kurdish politicians have repeatedly demanded that the Turkish army leave, but the Turkish government has refused to pull the forces out. Last year the Turkish parliament voted to invade Iraq if Kurds there declared independence.
”Federation on an ethnic basis (does not work) as we see in the Yugoslavia experience,” argues Ahmed Farouk Unsal, a member of the Turkish parliament from the ruling Islamic Justice and Development Party. ”It’s not easy to manage because when you base a political structure on ethnicity there cannot be passing from one ethnicity to the other.”
But Kurds say that regardless of objections from Shias and neighbouring countries, the Bush Adminstration would be wrong to ignore the debt the United States owes to the Kurds. They argue that the United States should remember that Iraqi Kurds supported last year’s war.
”It was decided to work with the U.S. for that purpose,” says Shukr Piro Sinjo, head of the Iraqi Kurdistan NGO Network, ”and the Kurds were strong players in the game.”
The militias of Masoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani fought alongside U.S. troops, he says. ”They sacrificed for that purpose. The U.S. has to recognise that our people sacrificed and should pay more attention to our concerns..”
Kurdish posturing seems to have won one round. Iraq’s new interim
prime minister and former CIA and MI-6 asset Iyad Allawi said Wednesday
that his government would adhere to the interim constitution until
elections are held.
4. Turkish Daily News - "Schwimmer sees Turkey's monitoring process nearing end":
Ankara / 11 June 2004 / by SINEM TASSEVEN
There are excellent conditions in Turkey for closure of the monitoring process, says Council of Europe secretary-general, noting that release of DEP deputy Zana and her colleagues is proof that 'the reforms in Turkey are serious and Turkey is a reliable part of Europe'
As time nears for a postponed debate at the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly over a draft resolution recommending closure of the monitoring on Turkey, Council of Europe Secretary-General Walter Schwimmer said on Thursday that the monitoring process should end.
Schwimmer was in Ankara yesterday for a one-day visit for talks with top Turkish officials to discuss measures to end the isolation of the Turkish Cypriots.
In a brief interview with the Turkish Daily News, Schwimmer drew attention to the fact that the monitoring debate was previously postponed due to disappointment among parliamentarians over a court verdict concerning Kurdish deputies from the banned Democracy Party (DEP), including Nobel peace prize nominee Leyla Zana.
"The reason for the postponement was a court judgment relating to the Zana case and the disappointment of deputies ... The release of Zana has been exactly the step which was expected by the deputies, now I think there are excellent conditions for closing the monitoring process," he said.
The Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly's Committee has been monitoring Turkey's human rights commitments since 1996. It would discuss ending the monitoring by the end of April after Turkey's achievements in the reform process. However, the discussion was postponed after a court verdict ordered Zana and her friends to stay in jail. The Assembly is now due to discuss closure of monitoring on June 22.
Zana's release not a political decision
The secretary-general expressed delight over the decision to release Zana and her friends, but strongly expressed that the decision was not politically-motivated.
"I wanted to express that Leyla Zana was released on the order of an independent court, not by a political decision and not just to satisfy the Parliamentary assembly but as a matter of principle," Schwimmer noted.
Characterizing Turkey's reform steps as "incredible" he said the move on Zana was a sign that "the reforms in Turkey are serious and Turkey is a reliable part of Europe."
Turkey's Parliament in recent months has passed a series of EU-inspired democratic reforms, including abolition of the death penalty, limiting the powers of the military and granting greater rights for its Kurdish citizens. EU officials have been praising the reforms but insisting that the implementation of reforms is as important as the legislation.
Broadcasts meant to highlight cultural diversity
Schwimmer said he welcomed the initiative by the Turkish state broadcasting company TRT to start broadcasting in Kurdish and four other dialects, adding he was happy that his visit comes just after two important steps by the government on human rights, democracy and freedom.
Asked about criticisms in Turkey that the main point concerning the issue was Turkey broadcasting in Kurdish and there were in fact no such requests from people speaking other dialects such as Bosnian, Schwimmer said, "At the end as usual in the market economy, if there is a request, the programs will be continued and if not they will be dropped. Other people belonging to ethnic minorities would prefer to watch and listen to programs in Turkish because their knowledge in Turkish is better than the knowledge in their mother tongue," adding, "The point here is to promote protection of cultural diversity."
"If you speak about the Kurdish people, there many people who mainly speak Kurdish as their mother tongue and they would be interested in this broadcast. And Turkish public will see that this is no threat to the integrity of Turkish state," he noted.
Schwimmer expressed that the issue was not a political question but a matter of cultural identity.
"As the Council of Europe, we want to protect the cultural identity of all people belonging to ethnic minorities, this is not a political question, is not to support a certain group, to support Kurdish claims but it's a question of cultural identity and the reservation of traditions of minorities in general," he added.
Schwimmer said, "We are proud in Europe about our richness in cultural and linguistic diversity and the same smaller content applies to Turkey. Turkey can be proud of cultural richness."
European Court has to assess new situation in Cyprus
Asked about the European Court of Human Rights attitude towards applications from Greek Cypriots over their property rights in northern Cyprus after the Greek Cypriots rejection of a U.N.-backed reunification plan, Schwimmer said, "In fact, one has nothing to do with the other, the court can take only legal decisions not political decisions; but there is a lot of change in the legislation in northern Cyprus, so the court will have to decide whether this is sufficient or not before the court will tackle other cases."
The European Court of Human rights receive applications from Greek Cypriots who claim that their property rights were violated by Turkey after military intervention in 1974 following a Greek Cypriot coup by supporters of a union with Greece.
In the last of such cases, Turkey was found guilty and the European court awarded a Greek Cypriot woman, Titina Loizidou, compensation for Turkey's intervention of her land in northern Cyprus.
"I know that the court will have to assess the new situation in Cyprus," Schwimmer noted.
A U.N.-endorsed reunification plan was defeated in April due to a strong Greek Cypriot rejection although Turkish Cypriots voted overwhelmingly in favor of the plan.
Schwimmer expresses hope for start of EU talks
In reply to a question about the atmosphere in Europe towards Turkey's EU bid, Schwimmer noted that the European public appreciated Turkey's reform process, but on the other hand there are worries over EU enlargement.
"The EU will have to work hard to afford this enlargement so one has to understand the concerns over enlargement. Turkey is a very large country and that is one of the issues of discussion as the electoral campaign is underway for European Parliament elections," he said. Schwimmer said after the end of the electoral campaign, Turkey's work will be easier and the confusion of Europeans between the start of negotiations and Turkey's immediate accession will disappear.
"My hope is that the EU will give Turkey an exact date for the
start of negotiations in December," Schwimmer concluded.
5. - AFP - "Turkey raises its EU hopes after long-sought gestures to Kurds":
10 June 2004
Turkey raised its hopes of starting membership talks with the European Union Thursday following the landmark release of four Kurdish politicians from jail and the start of broadcasts in the Kurdish language.
The moves, long demanded by the EU, sparked an air of festivity in the predominantly Kurdish southeast and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed hope they would contribute to restoring peace between Ankara and its restive minority.
"An historic day for Turkey," the liberal daily Radikal wrote, describing the long-awaited moves as "two giant steps on the road to the European Union."
"Our EU road has been opened," the Milliyet newspaper trumpeted, while Hurriyet welcomed the "eradication of the last two pretexts (for refusing Turkey) put forward by the European Union."
In a surprise twist to one of Turkey's most politically-charged cases, the appeals court Wednesday had ordered the release of human rights award winner Leyla Zana and three other former Kurdish MPs, in jail since 1994 for collaborating with separatist Kurdish rebels.
The four, seen as prisoners of conscience by the EU and international campaigners, were freed pending the outcome of an appeal lodged against their convictions, which were confirmed in a retrial in April.
The ruling coincided with the inauguration of Kurdish-language broadcasts on state radio and television, a turning point for a country where Kurdish was banned less than 15 years ago.
Zana, 43, the first Kurdish woman to win a parliamentary seat in Turkey and laureate of the European Parliament's Sakharov prize, had caused uproar in the house in 1991 when, after taking her oath in Turkish, she vowed in Kurdish to struggle for peace between Turks and Kurds.
Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc hailed the release of the four activists as a boost to Turkey's hopes of winning a date for membership talks.
"I believe Turkey's credibility in the eyes of the EU will significantly increase, taking into account the fact that the reforms Turkey has adopted are now being implemented on the ground," Anatolia news agency quoted him as saying.
The EU also welcomed the release of Zana and her colleagues as "a sign that the implementation of political reforms, which Turkey has been introducing in the past two years, is gaining ground."
Turkey is hoping that EU leaders will set a date for the start of accession talks with the Muslim nation when they take up the issue in December.
The European Commission is to draw up a report on Turkey's democratization progress in October which will serve as the basis for the decision.
In Diyarbakir, the central city of the Kurdish southeast, hundreds of people celebrated the release of Zana and her colleagues, singing and dancing around traditional bonfires.
"There is great excitement over the release of the four and the start of the broadcasts... We have come to the current stage from a point when state policy was based on the non-existance of Kurds," Kurdish writer Seyhmus Diken said.
"But in odrer to win the confidence of the people, the government should prove it is embracing these policies in earnest and not only because of EU pressure," he added.
Diken said Ankara's moves were also strengthening local sentiment in favor of peace at a time when the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), now known as KONGRA-GEL, has announced an end to a five-year unilateral ceasefire as of June 1.
Turkey had long resisted demands for Kurdish freedoms, fearing that such rights could fuel nationalist sentiment among the minority and constitute a reward for the PKK.
Some 37,000 people, mostly rebels, have died in fighting between
the army and the PKK since 1984 when the group took up arms for self-rule.
6.
- AFP - "Kurdish imams in Turkey want to preach in their mother
tongue":
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey / 11 June 2004
Muslim preachers in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast urged the
government on Friday to allow them to deliver sermons in Kurdish as
part of efforts to bolster human and cultural rights to meet EU democracy
standards.
The appeal followed the landmark launch on Wednesday of Kurdish-language
broadcasts on state radio and television and the opening in April
of private courses to teach the language spoken by a sizeable minority
in the country.
"We believe that delivering sermons in the mother tongue where
necessesary will strengthen peace and brotherhood in society,"
said a statement issued by the local branch of a trade union of Muslim
clergy in Diyarbakir, the main city of the predominantly Kurdish southeast.
"Lifting all restrictions on basic human rights and freedoms
will... help our country obtain a date for accession talks (with the
European Union) in December. We want our country to become a member
of the EU in the shortest possible time," the statement said.
Turkey's strictly secular system provides nevertheless for preachers
to work as civil servants and their work is regulated by the government.
The preachers also welcomed the release on Wednesday of four former
Kurdish parliament members, including human rights award winner Leyla
Zana.
The four were freed after a decade in jail, pending the outcome of
an appeal against their much-criticized convictions for collaborating
with separatist Kurdish rebels.
Ankara's gestures to the Kurds aim to impress the EU ahead of a December
summit when EU leaders will assess Turkey's democratization process
and decide whether to open membership talks with it.
The Kurdish language was for a time outlawed in Turkey where authorities,
fearful of secessionist pressure, denied such a minority existed.