24
June 2004
2. "Germany's Schroeder hopeful over EU accession talks with Turkey", German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has expressed optimism that Turkey will win a favorable review of its democratization progress later this year when the European Union decides whether to open accession talks with the Muslim nation.
3. "Dutch presidency vows EU will be fair to Turkey"', The European Union's incoming Dutch presidency promised Wednesday the 25-nation bloc would act fairly when it decides in December whether to launch EU membership talks with Turkey.
4. ''Iraq's Kurdish turncoats: Barzani and Talabani'', When New York Times columnist and Likudist mouthpiece William Safire wrote in a June 8 Op-Ed that "our most loyal friends" the Iraqi Kurds have been "double crossed" by the United States at the expense of "appeasing" the south.
5. "Kurdish village has returned to normal, now that Saddam is gone", Instead, there are weddings, picnics and soccer matches. Girls help their mothers bake bread, boys fish for carp in the river and old geezers sit in the shade of mimosa trees, swapping lies and grumbling about the chaos elsewhere in Iraq.
6. "Cyprus ‘will not block Turkey's EU moves’", The Cypriot government will not block Turkey's bid to join the European Union, President Tassos Papadopoulos said in an interview published in Spain yesterday.
1. - EUobserver - "Realism on possibility of Turkey meeting EU criteria":
BRUSSELS / 24 June 2004 / By Mark Beunderman
EU and Turkish politicians and experts seem increasingly prepared to admit that it will be impossible for Turkey to meet the EU's political criteria before the end of the year.
During a debate organised yesterday (23 June) by the European Policy Centre in Brussels, it emerged that within both EU political and research circles, as well as from the Turkish side, the belief in full Turkish compliance with EU democracy and human rights criteria is lacking.
Formally, the fulfilment of the EU's democracy and human rights standards is a precondition for Ankara to start accession talks with the EU.
EU leaders will decide in December whether or not to start formal accession negotiations on the basis of a crucial report by the European Commission to be released in October.
However, many believe the process has gone far and it would be counterproductive to reject Turkey now.
Dutch foreign minister Bernard Bot underlined the importance of the political criteria yesterday stating that the political criteria "are the sole measuring stick that should be applied" to Turkey.
Getting the green light anyway?
But Murat Mercan, Turkey’s representative at the Council of Europe
said, during the EPC debate, "don't expect us to solve all our
problems before December" but went on to stress the "incredible"
reforms achieved by his country.
Selcan Yilmaz, a board member of the ARI movement, a civil society group, stated: "The countries which acceded to the EU on 1 May did not comply fully with EU standards either. They acceded nevertheless".
But the Dutch Green MEP, Joost Lagendijk, urged the Turks to be even more open about this scenario.
"It will be impossible for Turkey to comply 100% with the EU's political criteria. That will not happen before the end of the year. Turkish politicians should drop their claim that Turkey will fully comply".
Civil-military relations
Similarly, the German researcher Heinz Kramer, working for the prestigious Berlin thinktank Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, said that in the field of civil-military relations particularly, Turkey still had a long way to go.
"The way the military intervened in the recent debate on university reform shows that Turkey is still far from having reached EU standards when it comes to civil-military relations".
But he pleaded for a "non-static approach" with regard to the EU's political criteria - meaning that accession talks should be opened as soon as possible even if the criteria were not fully met.
"Turkey has made tremendous progress in political reforms in the last few years, which has significantly affected the political and social reality on the ground. If the EU does not give the green light for accession talks in December, this will produce serious backlashes for pro-reform forces in the country."
No holiday for the Turks
"Small political circles in Turkey believe that the EU uses double standards towards us. As much as I disagree with these voices, they could be strengthened if we were treated unfairly", said Ms Yilmaz.
However, the Turks will keep working hard to keep the reform process
going, said Mr Mercan: "There will be no holiday for us this
summer until - probably - we will get a date."
2. - AFP - "Germany's Schroeder hopeful over EU accession talks with Turkey":
24 June 2004
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has expressed optimism that Turkey will win a favorable review of its democratization progress later this year when the European Union decides whether to open accession talks with the Muslim nation.
"The report of the European Commission is important... If a positive decision is made at the end of 2004 -- and I believe in that -- then the negotiations should start as soon as possible," Schroeder told the CNN-Turk news channel.
The text of the interview, to be aired later on Thursday, was published by the Radikal newspaper which belongs to the same media group.
The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, will release a report on Turkey's democratization progress in October, on the basis of which EU leaders will decide in December whether to invite Turkey to the negotiating table.
The German chancellor, however, warned that Ankara should not expect early entry into the pan-European family even if accession talks start.
"As it is well-known in Turkey, the negotiations may be very hard and may take a long time," he said.
Referring to widespread scepticism in Europe over the EU membership of the 70-million-strong Muslim nation, Schroeder said "a Turkey which has started accession talks will play a greater role of stability in its region".
"Bringing such an important country closer to Europe is more important that other fears," he said.
Schroeder also praised Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose government has undertaken a series of far-reaching reforms to catch up with EU standards.
He admitted he had viewed Erdogan with suspicion when his Justice and Development Party, a conservative movement with Islamist roots, came to power in Ankara in 2002.
"But I came to know him as a reliable friend... He does not
favor fondamentalist Islam and is a person who has embraced European
enlightenment ideas," Schroeder said.
3.
- AFP - "Dutch presidency vows EU will be fair to Turkey":
BRUSSELS / 23 June 2004
The European Union's incoming Dutch presidency promised Wednesday
the 25-nation bloc would act fairly when it decides in December whether
to launch EU membership talks with Turkey.
Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot said EU leaders at a summit last
week had been "crystal clear" in their conclusions on Turkey,
by promising to open accession talks "without delay" if
the conditions are in place.
"We have still six months ahead of us to evaluate the situation.
Then we will see whether Turkey is ready or not," Bot told reporters
in unveiling his government's plans for its six-month stint in the
EU chair starting next month.
He said it was "premature" to say the EU itself was not
ready to take the potentially far-reaching step of opening entry talks
with Ankara, "the more so since Turkey has made considerable
progress in a relatively short time-span".
"I am confident that further progress will be made in the coming
six months," the Dutch minister said.
On the basis of a European Commission appraisal in October of Turkey's
long-running bid to join the EU, leaders of the 25-nation bloc will
decide at a December summit whether to begin accession negotiations.
The run-up to the December decision has been marked by a fierce debate
among EU members on whether the vast and relatively poor country,
with an overwhelmingly Muslim population, has a place in Europe.
But Bot said the EU's "Copenhagen criteria", a strict set
of standards on whether a country is in shape to open accession talks,
"are the sole measuring stick that should be applied" to
Turkey.
"I have the feeling (after last week's summit) that that is what
we are going to do," he said, promising that EU leaders would
decide "in a fair and independent and transparent way".
4. - YellowTimes.org - ''Iraq's Kurdish turncoats: Barzani and Talabani'':
June 23, 2004 7 By Rannie Amiri, Guest Columnist
When New York Times columnist and Likudist mouthpiece William Safire wrote in a June 8 Op-Ed that "our most loyal friends" the Iraqi Kurds have been "double crossed" by the United States at the expense of "appeasing" the south, you know his concern is anything but genuine. Indeed, his gratuitous sympathy extends to all situations which could potentially favor Israel, as he now sees in the brewing conflict between the leadership of Iraq's Shi'a Arabs and Kurds.
These comments were prompted by recent developments leading the heads of the two largest Kurdish political parties, Massoud Barzani (Kurdish Democratic Party) and Jalal Talabani (Patriotic Union of Kurdistan), to abruptly forsake their longstanding support of a united, federated Iraq. It would not be the first time, though, that either has placed their own self-interest above that of the nation or their people.
Soon after the newly passed United Nations resolution authorizing the transfer of power and "sovereignty" to an interim Iraqi government, a crisis emerged when it became clear neither Barzani nor Talabani would be tapped for President or Prime Minister. In a joint letter written to President Bush, both then threatened to withdraw from the central government. They did this under the pretext that the U.N. resolution omitted any mention of Iraq's interim constitution or its governing Transitional Administrative Law (TAL).
Why this excuse? Because the TAL mandates a future permanent constitution be adopted only if it is 1) approved by a majority of eligible Iraqi voters and 2) not rejected by two-thirds vote in any three of the nation's eighteen provinces. It just so happens the Kurds constitute a majority in exactly three Iraqi provinces, thus allowing them to single-handedly reject a permanent constitution even if passed by an overwhelming margin in the reminder of the country.
It was Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the moderate and widely followed Shi'a religious figure with no political aspirations of his own, who for this very reason cautioned the Security Council against recognizing the interim constitution or TAL in its resolution on Iraq. As he aptly remarked, "This law, which was written by a non-elected council under occupation, and under the direct influence of the occupation, would constrain the National Assembly."
To better understand the dynamics involved, it must be recognized that since the end of the 1991 Gulf War and despite the uninterrupted reign of Saddam Hussein, the Kurds have been living well in northern Iraq. The combination of a no-fly zone and the topography of the area have permitted them to live in relative autonomy, whereas the rest of the country (especially the south) continued to suffer. As a non-Arab minority comprising one-fifth of the population, they naturally want to protect these unique political, economic, and cultural liberties as compared to those of fellow Kurds residing in Turkey, Syria, and Iran.
With all the eyes of the world on it, a future constitution will doubtless uphold these freedoms for the Kurds and all Iraqis. There is no one, Shi'a or Sunni Arab, who has said otherwise. Similar assurances have already been given by Iraq's Foreign Minister, Hoshyar Zebari -- a conspicuous symbol himself as a Kurd representing a predominantly Arab country to the world community.
Handing one group the authority to unilaterally veto the final constitution well out of proportion to their number, however, goes too far. The principle espoused by Ayatollah Sistani is a sound and logical one. It reasons that rules, written under the pressure of occupation by people appointed by the occupier, must naturally be re-visited when the nation is able to be self-governing (putting aside for the moment the argument whether this will truly occur on June 30).
As for Safire's alleged interest in the plight of the Kurds, one only has to appreciate his "Israel first" policy to understand it. An independent "Kurdistan" created in northern Iraq would likely cause an already precarious region to become even more unstable. Consequently, any new presence which forces the attention of Turkey, Syria, and Iran away from the Palestinians is welcomed. He is also well-aware that an Arab-dominated Iraqi government will have no particular affection toward Israel, whereas a separate, struggling Kurdish state may be more inclined to make friendly overtures to secure an ally in an otherwise hostile neighborhood. In return, the possibility of a revamped Haifa -- Kirkuk/Mosul pipeline in providing Israel with a stable oil supply has not gone unnoticed.
Barzani and Talabani, bitter rivals and well-known for cutting deals with the butcher of the Kurds, Saddam, when they saw fit, have now threatened to leave the government. It is not, as they claim, due to the exclusion of the TAL from the U.N. resolution, but because they were not placed in positions of power. Not unexpectedly, their stance championing an undivided Iraq was shown to be no more than mere contrivance, used as leverage when needed and just as quickly abandoned.
The stability of the region, the integrity of the Iraq nation, and the ability to prevent Israel from establishing yet another foothold at the doorstep of the Arab heartland -- if they have not done so already -- will all be sacrificed if the petty egocentrism and opportunism of Massoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani is allowed to pass.
Safire got it backwards. The Iraqi people were actually the ones who have been "double crossed" and these two "loyal friends," their betrayers.
[Rannie Amiri is an independent observer, commentator, and exponent of issues dealing with the Arab and Islamic worlds.]
Rannie Amiri encourages your comments: rbamiri@yahoo.com
YellowTimes.org is an international news and opinion publication.
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5. - Knight Ridder Newspapers - "Kurdish village has returned to normal, now that Saddam is gone":
By Mark McDonald / June 22, 2004
KALAK, Iraq - There are no beheadings here.
Instead, there are weddings, picnics and soccer matches. Girls help their mothers bake bread, boys fish for carp in the river and old geezers sit in the shade of mimosa trees, swapping lies and grumbling about the chaos elsewhere in Iraq. Life goes on.
Life in Kalak was entirely different last year, just before the war started. The drab Kurdish village was one of the most dangerous places in Iraq, and most of its residents had fled. The only people left were seven stubborn villagers and a handful of Kurdish defenders with their trusty Kalashnikov rifles.
This is a story of then and now.
Kalak is a brown little town in northern Iraq, a collection of dusty lanes and mud-walled homes. An ancient Jewish settlement pitched above a broad tributary of the Tigris River, Kalak is now home to about 4,000 Kurds. Most of them are farmers, shopkeepers and sunburned shepherds. Stand back and squint, and it could be New Mexico.
But Kalak was in harm's way last year because it straddled the line between Saddam Hussein's Iraq and the autonomous Kurdish region in the north. An Iraqi artillery battalion was dug into a ridgeline just 100 yards above the town, so close you could hear the soldiers' radios playing at night. A decent mortar barrage could have flattened the entire village.
As war approached, the people of Kalak fled to the safety of the mountains in more remote parts of the north. They were afraid Saddam's artillery would gas them with chemical weapons in a repeat of Halabja, the notorious, single-day massacre that killed 5,000 Kurds in 1988.
Among the few Kalak villagers who didn't pack up and leave was Amina Ahmed, 66, a tough and pious little widow with a small house, eight ducks and a 3-year-old grandson.
"Let him come here - I'll slaughter Saddam myself," she said last year, drawing a bony finger across her throat.
Last week, despite a new calm in her household and a new peace in the village, Ahmed's ferocity over Saddam's fate had scarcely diminished: "Give his body to the dogs to chew on! Throw him in the river! I'll bury him under my outhouse! I'll throw him right down the hole!"
When the news of Saddam's capture reached the village, Ahmed said, they had a feast. The men fired their Kalashnikovs, and the children threw chocolates into the air.
Ahmed's grandson, Abdullah, is now 4, a shy fellow with a nasty new cut across his cheek. She said Abdullah had recently been with his mother in Kirkuk, a city about 50 miles from Kalak, and they saw some American soldiers arrest a man on the street. The soldiers handcuffed the man and put a hood over his head.
Abdullah was fascinated by the scene, and when he came back home he put a rice sack over his head because, his grandmother said, "he wanted to play prisoner of war." Unable to see, he tripped and fell, and bashed his cheek on a cinder block.
The people of Kalak are well rid of another Abdullah, the ruthless Iraqi border chief who terrorized the villagers when they'd try to cross into Iraq to see their relatives. They called him Abdullah Wahesh. Abdullah the Beast.
Kalak villagers demolished Abdullah's customs post after the war. A local man, Samir Muhammad Badir, borrowed $500 to buy the empty site, and he operates a rickety roadside stand there. He sells sleeves of Turkish cookies and jugs of warm Iraqi cola to passing motorists. Business, he said, is just good enough to pay his bills.
"Abdullah Wahesh is gone and he won't be back," Badir said manfully. Then he hedged a bit. "But sometimes at night I think his ghost is still around."
Down the hill from Badir's shop, along the river, Hazzim Fattah is grazing and watering his sheep. Last year he had 250 sheep; now he's up to 300.
Fattah, a deaf-mute, was the only Kalak shepherd who was allowed to graze his animals near the Iraqi bunkers. The artillery officers liked him, and the Iraqi sentries tossed pebbles at him when his sheep wandered too close to the land mines they'd planted.
But as war approached, the mood turned. The Iraqi soldiers, nearly starving, began shooting and stealing Fattah's sheep.
The soldiers are gone now, the land mines have been marked with red flags and the sturdy shepherd said his sheep especially liked the grass that grew among the ruins of the bunkers.
Below the bunkers last week, the Kalak Brothers soccer team was practicing on a newly de-mined patch of ground. Nearby, the math teacher at the elementary school was building a cinder-block house. Over by the mosque, workmen were digging up the lanes of the village: Kalak is getting its first underground sewer system.
"For the first time in our lives we have no problems," said Kamal Salih, 35, a former Kurdish guerrilla fighter whose extended family of 40 people has been squatting in an abandoned agricultural college for the past year. "At least I can go to sleep at night without having to make sure my guns are loaded. There's no feeling better than this."
Salih's father and grandfather were Kurdish peshmerga fighters before him, and they're all fiercely proud of their service. Salih, who has been shot five times in various battles over the years, was recently hired as a sergeant in the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps.
But he said he's sick of fighting, and he wants his three young sons to become "normal citizens of the world."
"I want them to speak English," he said. "Not Kalashnikov."
6. - Cyprus Mail - "Cyprus ‘will not block Turkey's EU moves’":
THE CYPRIOT government will not block Turkey's bid to join the European Union, President Tassos Papadopoulos said in an interview published in Spain yesterday.
Papadopoulos, who fiercely campaigned in the April referendum against the Annan plan, also said it would take Cyprus at least three years to adopt the euro currency after joining the EU on May 1 this year.
The EU is to decide at a December summit whether Turkey has made enough progress on human rights and political freedoms to begin long-delayed entry talks, which could last many years.
Any one of the EU's 25 members could veto the process.
"Cyprus is not going to introduce any obstacles to beginning the process of Turkey's entry in the European Union," Papadopoulos told El Pais newspaper.
A divided Cyprus entered the EU after some 76 per cent of Greek Cypriots reject the UN reunification plan, while Turkish Cypriots - long criticised for obstructing a deal - approved the UN blueprint with a 65 per cent majority.
Asked about the timing of its entry into the 12-nation euro zone, Papadopoulos said high deficits and a weak tourism sector following the September 11 attacks in the United States would delay this.
"We need at least three years ... It will be difficult to introduce
the euro before 2008," he said. The government has in the past
said it hoped to adopt the euro in 2007.