22 June 2004

1. "Spain supports negotiation on Turkey's accession into EU", the Spanish government holds a "favorable" attitude toward opening negotiations on Turkey's accession into the European Union (EU), said Spanish Secretary of State for European Affairs Alberto Navarro on Monday.

2. "Israel Training Kurdish Commandos in Iraq", Israel has operatives training commando units in Kurdish areas of U.S.-occupied Iraq, an alignment with the Kurds that gives Israel "eyes and ears" in Iraq, Iran and Syria, The New Yorker magazine reported on Monday.

3. "An autonomous Iraqi Kurdish entity is in Turkey's best interest", Turkish officials fear that an independent Kurdish state in northern Iraq, even a federal one, would encourage Turkish Kurds to revive their secession campaign.

4. "Turkey fears Kurd uprising in Iraq", Turkey expressed its concern on Monday over ethnic and political divisions in neighbouring Iraq and said it could not stand quietly by if Kurds took control of the major northern oil hub of Kirkuk.

5. "Head of Iranian Kurdish weekly paper released on bail", the director of an Iranian Kurdish weekly paper arrested for publishing articles deemed to encourage ethnic and religious dissent has been freed on bail, the official news agency IRNA reported Monday.

6. "Council of Europe to vote on Turkey monitoring", the vote, which takes place in the wake of the release of the four former lawmakers, including one-time Nobel Prize nominee Leyla Zana, is expected to give the go-ahead to ending the monitoring process.

1. - Xinhua - "Spain supports negotiation on Turkey's accession into EU":

MADRID / 21 June 2004

The Spanish government holds a "favorable" attitude toward opening negotiations on Turkey's accession into the European Union (EU), said Spanish Secretary of State for European Affairs Alberto Navarro on Monday.

He made the remarks at a two-day 4th conference of the EU and Turkey which began on Monday in the Spanish city of Barcelona, saying his country supports the opening of the negotiations in this December if not delayed.

Navarro considered it would be convenient to open the negotiations without fixing a concrete date to close them and to establish a series of measures that would promote the cooperation in security and defense between Turkey and the EU.

Countries like France and Austria may demand guarantees that the negotiations do not have "a too fast rhythm," he said.

2. - Reuters - "Israel Training Kurdish Commandos in Iraq":

NEW YORK / 21 June 2004

Israel has operatives training commando units in Kurdish areas of U.S.-occupied Iraq, an alignment with the Kurds that gives Israel "eyes and ears" in Iraq, Iran and Syria, The New Yorker magazine reported on Monday.

The article by award-winning reporter Seymour Hersh, who earlier this year exposed the extent of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib, quoted a CIA official as saying the Israeli presence is widely known in the U.S. intelligence community.

The report quoted a spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington as saying, "The story is simply untrue."

The report, quoting current and former intelligence officials in the United States, the Middle East and Europe, said one of Israel's main objectives is to increase Kurdish military strength to balance that of Shiite militias.

"Look, Israel has always supported the Kurds in a Machiavellian way as balance against Saddam," the magazine quotes a former Israeli intelligence official as saying. "It's Realpolitik. By aligning with the Kurds, Israel gains eyes and ears in Iran, Iraq, and Syria."

The report also said Israeli operatives had crossed into Iran with Kurdish commandos to install sensors and other sensitive devices to spy on Iran's suspected nuclear facilities.

Hersh wrote that by the end of last year, Israel concluded the administration of President Bush "would not be able to bring stability or democracy to Iraq, and that Israel needed other options."

But the move to align with separatist Kurds could be damaging to Israel's relations with Turkey and undermine efforts to create a stable Iraq, the report said.

"We tell our Israeli and Kurdish friends that Turkey's good will lies in keeping Iraq together," the report quoted a Turkish diplomat as saying. "We will not support alternative solutions."

3. - The Daily Star - "An autonomous Iraqi Kurdish entity is in Turkey's best interest":

21 June 2004 / by Henri J. Barkey

The United States prefers a unified, democratic Iraq organized along federal lines after sovereignty is transferred on June 30. But one likely outcome could be a country split into two, with Sunni and Shiite Arabs coalescing against the Kurds, whom they increasingly see as US collaborators. Already the Kurds have threatened to quit the new caretaker government if it alters the interim constitution's provisions on Kurdish autonomy. Yet a strong federal Kurdish state in northern Iraq could be a significant plus for American - and Turkish - interests, especially if it develops in an environment of improving US-Turkish relations.

Turkey is deeply mistrustful of US intentions in northern Iraq, where Kurds operate autonomously. Turks in general and the Turkish media are convinced that the US is on the verge of sponsoring an independent Kurdistan for the explicit purpose of dividing Turkey, where Kurds amount to 20 percent of the population. Turkish officials fear that an independent Kurdish state in northern Iraq, even a federal one, would encourage Turkish Kurds to revive their secession campaign.

Conspiracy theories abound. One has it that thousands of Israelis are buying up chunks of northern Iraq to establish a self-ruling Kurdish entity, or just to control the area's oil resources. The currency given such theories is odd but telling, because Washington is Turkey's most ardent supporter on many fronts, including its quest to become a member of the European Union.

Turkish displeasure over US policy goes back to the eve of the Iraq war. One Turkish official recently complained to me that the Saudi ambassador to the US, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, had been informed of the plan to attack Iraq, but that Turkey was left in the dark. Similarly, he said, Washington has been stingy about the details of the June 30 transition. The United States is withholding information, he said, "because the US thinks we have an agenda in Iraq."

The truth is, the Turks do have an agenda in Iraq: no federal or independent Kurdish entity in northern Iraq. That forces the US to choose between not riling Turkish sensitivities and its moral commitment to the Kurds. Turks also complain that the US administrators of Iraq have ignored the Turkmen, a Turkish-speaking minority that, along with the Kurds, claims the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.

Interestingly, Turkish support for the Turkmen is new. When Saddam Hussein uprooted them and trampled their rights, Ankara did not so much as whimper. Turkey's sudden affection for the Turkmen has raised suspicions in Washington and Iraq, which led last year to a raid by US troops in which a number of nonuniformed Turkish Special Forces were arrested and hooded. The Turks have not forgotten this humiliation.

Still, both countries have an immense incentive to work together and overcome mutual suspicions. US failure in Iraq would be disastrous for Turkey, which would directly experience the aftershocks of any radical regime in Iraq. If the US is to rely on Turkey to bolster its Iraq policy, it must address the question of the Kurds.

Turkey has to be helped out of its Kurdish neuralgia. A Kurdish federal entity on its borders would be unlikely to lead to further violence inside Turkey. Most Iraqi Kurds understand that Turkey is their best potential ally, and thus would welcome their Turkish brethren's renouncement of secessionist goals. Turkey's new reform-oriented government understands that improving conditions for its Kurdish minority would facilitate its entry into the EU.

A Turkish appeals court recently released four Kurdish members of Parliament convicted 10 years ago of belonging to an outlawed separatist party. Last week, Turkey's foreign minister, Abdullah Gul, received the four in his office, a sign the government is willing to consider alternative policies toward the Kurdish minority.

For Iraqi Kurds who are Western-oriented, Ankara, because it wants to be a part of Europe, is their best conduit to the West. They have already gone out of their way to invite Turkish business groups to invest in their region, hoping that economic ties would lead to stronger political bonds down the line.

A robust, autonomous Kurdish entity in northern Iraq is in Ankara's interests for two simple reasons. As counterintuitive as it may seem to the Turkish establishment, a strong friendship with such a federal state would go a long way toward diffusing Turkish Kurds' anger at Ankara. Turkish Kurds care a great deal about their brethren across the border and would not do anything to endanger a state that would serve as a buffer against Saddam Hussein-like regimes in Baghdad. Ironically, the late Turkish President Turgut Ozal had figured this out and was maneuvering to help support Iraqi Kurds when he died in office in 1993.

Moreover, the Kurds are unlike the Sunni and Shiite Arabs in Iraq. They are much more secular and, after 12 years of quasi-independence, they have made tremendous progress toward democracy and responsible self-government.

The US still has work to do for this Kurdish federal entity to be a success for all concerned. First and foremost, it has to deal with the remnants of the Turkish Kurdish insurgent group holed up in the mountains of northern Iraq near the Iranian border, something it has promised Ankara to do. It must also convince the more nationalistic Iraqi Kurds to abandon their Kurdistan rhetoric, which upsets Turks. Finally, the US has to demonstrate to Ankara that Turkey counts.

One major obstacle is Ankara's dysfunctional national security system. The powerful military establishment fears both Turkish and Iraqi Kurds, as well as its own pro-Islam government. Yet the US has good relations with all sides in Turkey and with northern Iraq, which enables it to go the extra mile in productively re-engaging the Turks in Iraq.

Toward this end, John Negroponte, the new US ambassador to Iraq, should begin his trip to his new post by stopping over in Ankara for a chat. He should not be bashful about discussing a joint US-Turkish umbrella over a democratically ruled northern Iraq.

Paradoxically, it is only such reassurance that would convince the Iraqi Kurds not to seek complete independence any time soon.

Henri J. Barkey is chairman of the international relations department at Lehigh University. He was on the State Department's Policy Planning Staff (1998-2000). This commentary, which appeared in the Los Angeles Times, was also written for THE DAILY STAR.

4. - HiPakistan - "Turkey fears Kurd uprising in Iraq":

ANKARA / 22 June 2004

Turkey expressed its concern on Monday over ethnic and political divisions in neighbouring Iraq and said it could not stand quietly by if Kurds took control of the major northern oil hub of Kirkuk. Ethnic tensions have risen in Kirkuk, a city of 750,000, as political groups jostle for advantage ahead of the planned June 30 handover of power in Iraq from US occupation forces to an interim government.

Turkey fears Kurdish domination of Kirkuk and its energy resources will greatly boost prospects for Kurdish autonomy and possibly even independence, which in turn could reignite separatism among Ankara’s own Kurds in southeastern Turkey. "Everybody knows about Turkish sensitivities over Kirkuk. We would never allow (Kurdish domination to become) a fait accompli in Kirkuk," Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul told reporters. "Everyone should have their fair share of the country’s wealth."

Kurds regard Kirkuk as a Kurdish city and want to reverse Saddam Hussein’s "Arabisation" policy, which forced Kurds from their homes, replacing them with mostly Shi’ite Muslim Arabs. But Turkmen, with close linguistic and ethnic ties to Turkey, insist they are the original inhabitants of Kirkuk. "Turkey backs Iraq’s political and territorial integrity. The division of Iraq should not be allowed," Gul said.

In comments reported by Turkish media at the weekend, Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani was quoted as saying Turkey had signalled an easing of its opposition to a federal structure in Iraq, provided it did not lead to a separate Kurdish state. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and Gul both denied there had been any change in Turkish policy on Iraq.

The other main Iraqi Kurdish leader, Jalal Talabani, arrived in Ankara on Monday evening for talks with Turkish leaders. Talabani praised Turkey’s support for the new interim government in Baghdad and condemned attacks on Turkish forces by Kurdish guerrillas, Turkish media reported. "(Such attacks) are a betrayal of the Kurdish people and our movement," CNN Turk quoted Talabani as saying. Talabani also denied a report in The New Yorker magazine claiming Israel had operatives training commando units in Kurdish areas of Iraq. Israel has also denied the claims.

5. - AFP - "Head of Iranian Kurdish weekly paper released on bail":

TEHRAN / 21 June 2004

The director of an Iranian Kurdish weekly paper arrested for publishing articles deemed to encourage ethnic and religious dissent has been freed on bail, the official news agency IRNA reported Monday.

Mohammad Sadigh Kaboudvand was picked up last Tuesday on charges of "disturbing public order" after his paper carried articles on jailed Turkish Kurd leader Abdollah Ocalan and Ghazi Mohammad, a historical pro-independence figure behind a breakaway republic in Iran in 1945.

The paper, The People’s Message, is published in both Kurdish and Farsi and was launched in early 2004.

IRNA said he was allowed out of jail pending trial after posting bail of 70 million rials (8,100 dollars).

Iran has a sizeable Kurdish minority, and authorities are quick to stamp on what they consider to be any moves towards autonomy.

At least a dozen journalists are currently in jail in the Islamic republic, where authorities have closed down over 100 publications in recent years. Most are close to the pro-reform movement.

6. - Turkish Daily News - "Council of Europe to vote on Turkey monitoring":

The vote, which takes place in the wake of the release of the four former lawmakers, including one-time Nobel Prize nominee Leyla Zana, is expected to give the go-ahead to ending the monitoring process

ANKARA / 22 June 2004

The Council of Europe will vote today on a report to end Turkey's monitoring of its human rights performance, a critical threshold that Ankara needs to pass in its bid to achieve a decades-old goal of membership to the European Union.

EU aspirant Turkey has been under the Council of Europe monitoring for its human rights record for the last decade, seriously undermining the prospects of joining the EU.

In a session in April, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe postponed voting on a proposal to end the monitoring after a State Security Court (DGM) in Ankara defied pressure from the EU and upheld a previous ruling against four former deputies. The ruling came after a lengthy retrial ordered by the European Court of Human Rights, which said the four former lawmakers had not received a fair trial.

Today's voting, which takes place in the wake of the release of the four former lawmakers, including one-time Nobel Prize nominee Leyla Zana, is expected to give the go-ahead to ending the monitoring process.

"The possibility for the expected result not to come out of today's meeting is 0 percent," said Murat Mercan, head of the Turkish delegation at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

"There will be no more obstacles in Turkey's way to achieve the EU membership once the monitoring ends. Obstacles that previously hampered the process have been lifted now," he told a press conference.

The report that will be taken up by the Strasbourg-based body says that Turkey has undertaken significant achievements in the fields of human rights and democracy over the last three years, meaning that the monitoring process may come to an end.

But it says there were still deficiencies, raising criticisms of Turkey's current Constitution adopted after a military coup in 1980 and calling for further steps to extend the freedom of association.