31
March 2004
2. "Islamist and extreme-right parties are the only winners of the elections", the local elections of this Sunday in Turkey consolidated the power of the Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP). According to semi-official results, the AKP gained nearly 42% of the votes against 34% at the legislative elections of 2002, very far from its nearer rival, the Republican People's Party (CHP), which obtains 18% against 19% in 2002.
3. "Newly-elected Kurdish mayor arrested in Turkey for links to armed rebels", the newly-elected mayor of a mainly Kurdish town in southeastern Turkey was arrested late Tuesday for suspected links to armed Kurdish rebels, officials said.
4. "Turkish Turning Point", the Turkish Embassy in Washington may be the most successful example of diplomatic architecture in our time: It integrates a rich heritage with the modern and essential, cherishing the past while embracing the future.
5. "Chirac cool on membership prospects, says Le Figaro", French President Jacques Chirac warns Turkey that even though EU accession talks may start next year, it will take a long time for Turkey to join the bloc, according to the French daily
6. "Turkish leader takes initiative on Cyprus", Turkey's Islamist prime minister, Recep Erdogan, said yesterday that his party's resounding victory in local elections in Turkey had strengthened his hand in the talks on Cyprus.
7. "EU acquis", since the first draft of the UN peace plan was made public and its main snags pointed out, numerous politicians and commentators have already said that Cyprus’s main opportunity lies in reaching a settlement that would allow it to function as a single state and as a full EU member.
8. "IHD accuses Diyarbakir police of assaulting journalists", Human rights group alleges that security forces in the southeastern city beat members of the press and destroyed their equipment after an altercation involving the disappearance of ballots.
1. - AFP - "Ruling party wins mayorships in 58
of Turkey's 81 major cities":
ANKARA / 30 March 2004
Turkey's governing party won the mayorships of 58 of the country's 81 provincial capitals in a major victory in local elections, according to unofficial results carried by Anatolia news agency on Tuesday.
The Justice and Development Party (AKP) of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a conservative movement with Islamist roots, won overwhelmingly in the country's two biggest cities, Istanbul and Ankara, with 45 and 55 percent of the vote respectively from Sunday's election.
The counting of the vote for mayors ended in all provinces on Tuesday except in the southern region of Gaziantep, but the AKP candidate there has guaranteed the victory, Anatolia said.
Counting of votes for members of provincial councils continued, it said. The AKP was set to win some 42 percent of the vote in the race for provincial councils, in which figures are widely used as an indication of parties' overall support among the electorate.
The AKP had won 34 percent of the vote when it came to power in 2002. The main opposition center-left Republican People's Party (CHP) won the mayorship in only eight provincial capitals and was set to garner about 18 percent of the vote in the race for provincial councils.
An alliance of six parties, including the pro-Kurdish Democratic People's Party (DEHAP), won the mayorships in five provinces in the mainly Kurdish southeast, falling short of its expectations.
Electoral authorities are to announce the official figures
after they assess objections to the provisional results. 
2. - www.info-turk.be - "Islamist and extreme-right parties are the only winners of the elections":
29 March 2004
The local elections of this Sunday in Turkey consolidated the power of the Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP). According to semi-official results, the AKP gained nearly 42% of the votes against 34% at the legislative elections of 2002, very far from its nearer rival, the Republican People's Party (CHP), which obtains 18% against 19% in 2002.
As foreseen, the metropol cities such as Istanbul and Ankara remain in the hands of the AKP, whereas the third biggest city of Turkey, Izmir, remains under the management of the CHP. However, the AKP conquered the industrial city of Gaziantep, a fortress of the CHP for a long time, and the city of Antalya, electoral province of the CHP leader Deniz Baykal. The results of the CHP are regarded as a defeat for the CHP and in particular for its leader Baykal.
In general, the Islamist family, represented by four political parties, rose its total percentage to 46.67%, in particular because of the rise of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) of the Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and the Prosperity Party (SP) of the former Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan.
As for the extreme-right, represented by five political parties, it recorded a considerable rise with a total of 24.46 % of the votes. Two traditional parties of extreme-right, the Nationalist Action Party (MHP) and the Great Union Party (BBP), obtained respectively 10.50% and 1.15% of the votes.
This time, the extreme-right-hand is reinforced with the new orientation of the Correct Way Party (DYP) which obtained 10,20% of the votes.
After the departure of its former chairwoman Tansu Ciller following the last electoral defeat at the polls, this old center-right party had chosen as chairman Mehmet Agar, a former minister who had to resign of this post because of the revelations concerning his complicity with extreme-right killers and the Turkish Mafia.
The MHP and the DYP will be able to enter the National Assembly at the next poll if they can maintain their current score above the national threshold of 10% for legislative elections.
Another extreme-right party, the Young Party (GP) is the only loser in this group because of a campaign carried out by the AKP and supported by the great media against the family of its president Cem Uzan.
After the DYP's slipping to the extreme-right and the new fall of the ANAP, the center-right has practically disappeared from the political scene of Turkey.
As for the left-wing parties, the Democratic People's Party (DEHAP), which participated to the elections on the list of the People's Social Democrat Party (SHP) in alliance with some small left-wing parties (ODP, EMEP, SDP), confirmed his rule in the Kurdish cities Diyarbakir, Batman, Hakkari, Sirnak, and Tunceli, but it lost some other Kurdish cities to the profit of the AKP.
The SHP, which gathered in several cities the candidates of this left-wing alliance on its list, did not succeed to make elected even its own president Murat Karayalcin, former mayor of Ankara, in this capital city.
Below is the distribution of the votes according to semi-official results (15 pm GMT) in comparison with the results of the 2002 legislative elections between brackets. (Info-Türk, March 29, 2004)
ISLAMISTS (4 parties):
2004: 46.67% (2002: 37.47%) = + 9.20%
AKP (Justice and Development Party): 42.20% (34.28%) +7.92%
SP (Prosperity Party): 3.96% (2.49%) + 1.47
BTP (Independent Turkey Party): 0.50% (0.48%) +0.02%
MP (Party of the Nation): 0.01% (0.22%) - 0.21%
EXTREME-RIGHT (5 parties):
2004: 24.46 (2002: 16.63%) = + 7.83%
MHP ((Nationalist Action Party): 10.50% (8.36%) + 2.14%
DYP (Correct Way Party)*: 10.20% (9.54%) + 0.66%
GP (Young Party):2.60 % (7.25%) - 4.65%
BBP (Great Union Party): 1.15% (1.02%) + 0.13%
ATP (Enlightened Turkey Party): 0.01% (absent in 2002) + 0.01%
*) DYP was in the center-right in 2002
CENTER-RIGHT (3 parties):
2004: 2.50% (2002: 14.95%) = - 12.45%
ANAP (Motherland Party): 2.45% (5.13%) - 2.68%
LDP (Liberal Democrat Party): 0.01% (0.28%) - 0.27%
DP (Democrat Party): 0.04% (absent in 2002) + 0.04%
SOCIAL DEMOCRATS and ATATURKIST (4 parties):
2004: 20.41% (2002: 22.27%) = - 1.86%
CHP (Republican People's Party): 17.80% (19.39%) -1.59%
DSP (Democratic Left Party): 2.16% (1.22%) + 0.94%
YTP (New Turkey Party): 0.21% (1.15%) - 0.94%
IP (Workers' Party): 0.24% (0.51%) - 0.27%
LEFT (4 parties)
2004: 5.14% (2002: 6.75%) = - 1.61%
SHP (People's Social Democrat Party): 4.80% (DEHAP: 6.22%
in 2002) - 1.42%
ODP (Freedom and Solidarity Party): 0.04% (0.34%)- 0.30%
TKP (Communist Party of Turkey): 0.25% (0.19%) + 0.06%
EMEP (Labour Party): 0.05% (absent in 2002) + 0.05%
3. - AFP - "Newly-elected Kurdish mayor arrested
in Turkey for links to armed rebels":
ANKARA / 31 March 2004
The newly-elected mayor of a mainly Kurdish town in southeastern Turkey was arrested late Tuesday for suspected links to armed Kurdish rebels, officials said.
Documents seized by security forces during an operation against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), also known as KONGRA-GEL, in Mardin province showed that Suleyman Anik had links with the rebels, the office of the Mardin governor said in a statement carried by Anatolia news agency.
Anik was elected mayor of Dargecit in local elections on Sunday. He ran on the ticket of a six-party alliance which included Turkey's main pro-Kurdish Democratic People's Party (DEHAP).
Anik served as a mayor in Dargecit in the early 1990s before fleeing to Sweden in 1992 after Turkish authorities accused him of collaborating with the PKK, which has waged a 15-year armed campaign for self-rule in the southeast.
He was stripped of his Turkish citizenship in 2001, but
regained it a year later.
4. - The New York Post - "Turkish Turning Point":
30 March 2004 / by Ralph Peters*
THE Turkish Embassy in Washington may be the most successful example of diplomatic architecture in our time: It integrates a rich heritage with the modern and essential, cherishing the past while embracing the future.
That building is a symbol of what Turkey itself could be. Until now, Turkey has been a prisoner of the past, a country that never lived up to its potential.
Part of the problem has been the corruption and demagoguery that betrayed the vision of Kemal Ataturk, one of the great men of the last century.
But the immediate cause of Turkey's lagging performance has been its long refusal to acknowledge the rights of its Kurdish minority. That has begun to change. A new generation of Turks realized that the situation in their ethnically Kurdish southeast had poisoned the entire country.
Kurdish rights expanded. Violence waned.
Then came the liberation of Iraq, in the course of which the Ankara government performed disastrously, alienating Turkey's most important ally, the United States, while gaining nothing. Pleading helplessness in the face of the popular will, Turkish politicians exacerbated the national mood for their own near-sighted purposes. They utterly misread America's resolve and even underestimated its raw power.
The issue wasn't really national sovereignty. It was worry about Iraq's Kurds, a concern that caused Turkey to prefer Saddam Hussein's inhumanity to the human rights of millions.
Turkey's obsession with keeping the region's Kurdish populations divided and powerless led it to cling to an outdated, destructive model. The world had changed, but Ankara refused to accept it. Convincing itself that it could block the Coalition's effort to topple Saddam's regime, Turkey ended up with the worst possible outcome: a furious United States, Kurdish autonomy guaranteed in Iraq and a wary government-in-waiting in Baghdad.
Hated by its Arab neighbors and spurned by the European Union, Ankara also saw its pan-Turkic initiatives in central Asia and the Caucasus come to nothing. Turkey is more isolated than it has been in many decades.
It's time for a Turkish renaissance.
The good news is that its recent setbacks also created unprecedented opportunities for Turkey. Ankara could emerge as a more influential regional actor than it has been since the First World War. But it's up to Turkey's leaders to turn from the failed policies of the past and embrace the possibilities of a very different future.
What if, instead of automatically resisting Kurdish aspirations for freedom and human rights throughout the region, Turkey embraced them? Turkey lives in a vicious neighborhood. It has no regional friends. None. And neither do the Kurds.
Unlikely as it may seem at present, cooperation between Turks and Kurds could become the most dynamic political and economic combination in the Middle East.
One obvious common denominator is the Arab attitude toward both Kurds and Turks. The Kurds are disliked and oppressed. Turkey is seen as a historic enemy. The legacy of Ottoman rule lingers vividly in the minds of Arabs - for whom Europe's Crusades were only yesterday. Muslim or not, Turkey more closely resembles the states of southeastern Europe than those of the Arab heartlands.
If only Ankara could see it, Turks and Kurds are natural allies. Kurdish freedom in northern Iraq need not threaten Turkish territorial integrity; on the contrary, it's Turkey's present posture toward the region's Kurds that threatens the state's well-being.
Instead of viewing Iraq's Kurds as a threat, the Turks should recognize that their own Kurdish population - many of whom are highly successful members of mainstream society - gives them a huge advantage in dealing productively and profitably with Iraqi Kurdistan, as well as, eventually, with Kurds in Syria and Iran. Instead of prolonging their mutually destructive enmity, Turks and Kurds could build a new economic community and regional alliance.
Quiet cooperation is already more developed than the world sees. Visionary Turks have been reconsidering policies that drained their country's economy while damaging its international standing. Businessmen are among the most forward-thinking, recognizing the wealth that might be generated by a new era in Turkish-Kurdish relations.
The truth is that the Turks and the Kurds need each other. Both are proud peoples and there is plenty of bad blood between them. But yesterday's blood should not be allowed to drown the future.
Even Ankara's concern about the Turkmen minority in Iraq could best be addressed by constructive engagement with the Kurds - who dominate the country's north, home to most of Iraq's Turkmen.
Finally, basic steps toward cooperation with the Kurds would help bring Turkey and the United States together again. Whether or not Ankara wishes it were otherwise, Washington remains its indispensable ally. Clinging to their prejudices, the key powers of Europe will never accept Turkey as an equal partner. Only the United States has the power and the inherent good will to help advance Turkish interests.
And Turkey is an invaluable ally for the United States. Given the disappointments of the past year, my columns have been tough on the Turkish government - although far less shrill than Turkish journalists attacking the United States. But it's time for both sides to recognize the folly of behaving like Arab extremists and picking at yesterday's sores. We need to find new, mutually beneficial terms on which to rebuild our strategic relationship. A new Turkish vision for engaging the region's Kurds is essential.
What a beneficial revolution it would be for all parties if Turkey became the champion of the Kurds, instead of their antagonist.
* Ralph Peters is the author of "Beyond Baghdad:
Postmodern War and Peace."
5. - Turkish Daily News - "Chirac cool on membership prospects, says Le Figaro":
French President Jacques Chirac warns Turkey that even though EU accession talks may start next year, it will take a long time for Turkey to join the bloc, according to the French daily
ANKARA / 31 March 2004
Turkey's chances of winning approval to start accession talks with the European Union in a December summit are not certain and talks, even after they start, are likely to take a long time, French President Jacques Chirac was quoted as saying on Tuesday.
France, a powerful actor within the EU, has remained silent on Turkey's membership prospects as the clock ticks down for a summit of the union's leaders in December, when a decision on whether or not Ankara can start talks will be delivered.
Other leading countries Britain and Germany have said they would support Turkish membership.
President Chirac told Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of a EU summit last week in Brussels that Turkey had not yet secured a ticket to enter the EU, prestigous French daily Le Figaro said.
Citing Turkish and French officials, the newspaper said he had warned Erdogan that talks might take a long time after they started.
The article also commented that Turkey's EU bid put the French administrators in a difficult position, recalling that 70 percent of the French were opposed to Turkey's EU membership.
The report claimed that Turkey's geographic location, religion and its lower income per capita were the main drawbacks for its integration with the EU and that its membership could inflict damage on the harmony within the union.
"On the other hand, a refusal by Turkey to join the EU could have negative effects on the union, and strategic reasons [could] force the EU to accept Turkey," said the article.
"In addition, Turkey's membership could prevent a
clash of civilizations between the Muslim and Western worlds,"
said the newspaper.
6. - The Guardian - "Turkish leader takes initiative on Cyprus":
ATHENS / 30 March 2004 / by Helena Smith
Turkey's Islamist prime minister, Recep Erdogan, said yesterday that his party's resounding victory in local elections in Turkey had strengthened his hand in the talks on Cyprus.
As discussions moved to the Swiss resort of Burgenstock, UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, unveiled a revised "win-win" peace plan.
With his AK movement winning 42% of the vote, Mr Erdogan said the landslide had made his government better able to strike a deal.
With Cyprus scheduled to join the EU on May 1, the quest for a deal assumed an urgency last night as leaders of Greece, Turkey, and either side of the island's ethnic divide, held intensive talks with Mr Annan. All have until tomorrow to back the accord which foresees a loose federation of two largely autonomous states. If that fails, the UN secretary general has a mandate to fill in any gaps before referendums are held on April 20.
Mr Annan said Greeks and Turks would have until today to study the accord which would give Greeks a larger percentage of the territory seized by Turkish troops in the 1974 invasion but allow fewer to reclaim their homes in the north.
Turkish Cypriots - 18% of the population but who control
37% of its land - would enjoy political equality alongside the Greeks
while continuing to be protected by thousands of mainland Turkish troops.
7. - Kathimerini (Greece) - "EU acquis":
ATHENS / 31 March 2004
Since the first draft of the UN peace plan was made public and its main snags pointed out, numerous politicians and commentators have already said that Cyprus’s main opportunity lies in reaching a settlement that would allow it to function as a single state and as a full EU member. Given Turkey’s 30-year-old occupation of the northern part of the island, and despite recognizing much of the fait accompli which runs against international law, the UN plan could be judged as a positive solution if it guaranteed that the new Cyprus would be a viable state entity that would abide by democratic EU law. If the community’s legal framework were implemented, there would be grounded reason to believe that the subsequent momentum would help overcome the snags and shortcomings of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s blueprint.
But hopes will most likely not be met. Following two Turkish refusals, a statement that the Turkish-Cypriot side accepts the plan as a “starting point” was enough for Annan to promote a stressful and pressure-packed round of talks in Buergenstock — and what is more, reserving for himself the right to fill in the blanks left by the two parties and to submit the final plan for referenda. Although this process was already a concession to Turkish pressure, the revised draft presented by Annan on Monday went a step further, introducing a number of changes that were clearly in favor of the Turkish Cypriots.
Most importantly, the plan envisages a number of indefinite derogations from the acquis communautaire which, if applied, would mean that the new Cyprus could not look forward to a full implementation of EU laws and principles, but would automatically become a problematic state as part of it would be exempted from the acquis communautaire at the expense of democracy, freedom and equality.
It is not clear whether, in its zeal to find a solution, the EU would be willing to mutilate its “sovereignty” over one of its member states and sanction the indefinite violation of its citizens’ rights. But if, for some reason, Brussels gave the green light to such a deal, there is no reason why the Greek side should do so as well. A settlement of that sort does not guarantee a workable solution while, at the same time, it legitimizes the partition, forcing the Greek side to fund and bless the exemption of the occupied section of the island from EU law.
Such a settlement would torpedo Cyprus’s unity and
undermine fundamental EU principles. As long as the acquis communautaire
is not recognized as a basis for the future of a unified Cyprus, Nicosia
and Athens have no room to discuss any other aspects of the plan while
the Cypriot people cannot afford but to reject if it is submitted to
a referendum.
8. - Turkish Daily News - "IHD accuses Diyarbakir police of assaulting journalists":
Human rights group alleges that security forces in the southeastern city beat members of the press and destroyed their equipment after an altercation involving the disappearance of ballots
IZMIR / 31 March 2004
The Human Rights Association (IHD) has released a written statement accusing Diyarbakir police of beating journalists and demonstrators after the polls had closed on Sunday evening.
IHD Vice President Reyhan Yalcindag said in the statement that they had called on authorities to take administrative and penal or civil measures to immediately relieve the alleged perpetrators of their duty, prosecute them and apply sanctions as provided by law.
"On March 28, 2004 local elections were held throughout Turkey; observers agree that they appeared to be largely fair. The atmosphere was calm throughout the day during the voting in Diyarbakir. However, at about 10:00 p.m. after the voting had been completed, a serious event occurred in which members of the security forces beat and injured some local citizens and some journalists," said Yalcindag.
Explaining the behavior of the police, Yalcindag said: "The polls closed at 4:00 p.m. in Diyarbakir; between 8:00 and 10:00 p.m. bags of ballots were transferred to the local courthouse for verification. Some citizens witnessed some people stealing several bags of ballots, and then they began arguing with the security forces about it in front of the courthouse. They dispersed after being warned by the security forces. However, a small group of these protesters and some journalists passing in front of the nearby Yenisehir Police Station were attacked by about 30 plainclothes and uniformed police using batons and chains."
She added: "Although the police intervention was conducted in violation of the law, no explanation has been given regarding the attack that resulted in 17 people being injured. This attack was not provoked by a violation of the law; this group was not protesting or chanting slogans but was in the process of leaving the area. A number of seriously injured people were taken into police custody in handcuffs and not released until morning."
Talking about the assaulted individuals, Yalcindag said
a number of journalists were among those injured. Correspondents and
cameramen from DIHA, Gun TV, Soz TV, SHOW TV and Kanal 21 were beaten
by the police and their cameras were smashed and confiscated by the
police. She stressed: "While some of the members of the press tried
to take shelter in front of the governorship building in order to protect
themselves, they were beaten up and ill-treated by the police. After
the security forces had badly beaten the citizens and the media representatives,
they left them in the street."