17 May 2004

1. "Zana Accuses Roth of Making a 'Show'", former deputy of the banned Democracy Party (DEP), Leyla Zana, criticized Director of the German-Turkish Friendship Group Claudia Roth on Friday for her remark 'Free Zana, buy weapons'.

2. "Brussels to unveil mid-term report on Turkey", EU is to present a mid-term report on Turkey during Tuesday's Turkey-EU Partnership Council meeting, Turkish papers say. Though praising reforms, the report criticizes DGM verdict on DEP deputies and lack of implementation of law on broadcasting in Kurdish.

3. "Blair Urges Turkey to Seize Reforms", Prime Minister Tony Blair, ahead of a visit to Turkey today, said the European Union would start membership talks with the country if it met requirements on human rights and democracy by the end of the year, a newspaper reported in Ankara.

4. "Education bill deepens Turkey's secular-religious divide", President Sezer may veto a law allowing graduates of high schools that train imams to enter public universities.

5. "Turkey freezes arms tenders in which Israel was competing", the Turkish government had decided to freeze three large scale military tenders for the purchase of new fighter helicopters, remote piloted aircraft (RPA) and tanks. A bid for two of the tenders, for the remote piloted aircraft and fighter helicopters, was submitted by Israeli defense companies.

6. "Another 100 Kurds released in Syria", Syrian authorities have released another 100 Kurds who were arrested after deadly clashes in March, raising to 300 the number freed since Thursday, human rights activist and lawyer Anwar al-Bunni told AFP.

1. - Zaman - "Zana Accuses Roth of Making a 'Show'":

15 May 2004

Former deputy of the banned Democracy Party (DEP), Leyla Zana, criticized Director of the German-Turkish Friendship Group Claudia Roth on Friday for her remark 'Free Zana, buy weapons'.

Zana expressed her sadness about Roth's comment that linked freeing Zana with the purchase of weapons. Zana also pointed out that she regarded Roth's attempt to visit her without permission as nothing more than a 'show'.

Zana sent a letter to Roth in which she made her concerns clear. In her letter, Zana wrote: "Approaching the news in the media with caution, I expected that you might make a correction. Unfortunately, [your statements] were not retracted. I want to express with sympathy that this opinion suits neither you nor the mission you represent."

Roth evaluated Zana's letter during a press meeting in the Istanbul Consulate General. Roth pointed out that she had not yet read the letter but was aware of its contents. "Leyla Zana's letter came as a surprise to me," said Roth. "First, it is necessary to reveal by whom the letter was written. The claims that demonstrations were carried out in front of the prison are nonsense. The flower has a symbolic meaning. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey needed to invest in education and areas other than weapons. In this context, we did not show the purchase of weapons as a goal. I hope that I will meet with Zana as soon as possible. This meeting will not be in prison, of course."

2. - Turkish Daily News - "Brussels to unveil mid-term report on Turkey":

EU is to present a mid-term report on Turkey during Tuesday's Turkey-EU Partnership Council meeting, Turkish papers say. Though praising reforms, the report criticizes DGM verdict on DEP deputies and lack of implementation of law on broadcasting in Kurdish

ANKARA / 17 May 2004

The European Union has prepared a mid-term report on Turkey which is to be unveiled at the Turkey-EU Partnership Council meeting in Brussels. Turkey-EU relations and recent developments in Turkey's EU membership process are to be discussed, Turkish newspapers said on Sunday.

The partnership council is the highest decision-making body on both sides and will accomplish its 43rd session under the leadership of Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul.

According to newspapers, the EU will emphasize during the meeting Turkey's deficiencies on the implementation of the democratic reforms its parliament has passed in recent months.

The imminent report is the most important one before the Progress Report on Turkey, which is to be released by the European Commission in October, and which will have a strong bearing, as many EU leaders predict, on their decision regarding Turkey's accession credentials, according to reports.

EU leaders are to decide at a December summit this year whether to open accession talks with Turkey to join the bloc.

The main issues the report draws attention to are as follows;

Praise for the final package of reforms

The EU welcomes in this report the final package of constitutional amendments which were ratified by Parliament on May 7. The package includes abolition of State Security Courts (DGMs), democratic reforms on the structure of Turkey's Higher Education Board (YOK) and more gender equality. Amendments on the abolition of DGMs and the exclusion of military members from the YOK are praised in the report.

Ara baslik---The report draws attention to the deficiencies in the implementation of reform. Although the report notes the government has displayed determination in implementing the reforms, it says difficulties are being encountered in achieving those ends. Improving the independency and efficiency of the judiciary was also among the issues raised.

Broadcasts in Kurdish still not implemented

The report presses for more effective implementation of the law allowing Turkey's Kurdish citizens to study and broadcast in their own language. The report criticizes the fact that only three schools teaching Kurdish are operating, while broadcasting in Kurdish has yet to commence.
Rights of non-Muslims

The EU says in its report that Turkey has acted slowly on the issue of religious freedoms, adding that non-Muslim minorities were still facing difficulties. The EU urges laws to be passed that will overcome such problems.

DEP verdict against reform process

The report says there is still a lack of knowledge on the reforms concerning human rights. It welcomed the total exclusion of the death penalty from the Constitution. Praising positive steps in outlawing torture practices, the document says that instances of this nature still occur and that officials who perpetrate ill-treatment should be punished.

The EU also criticizes the trial and verdict of four former Democratic Party (DEP) deputies among whom is the EU Sakharov Prize for Human Rights winner Leyla Zana. The DGM ordered last month that the four deputies must remain in jail and serve the remainder of their 15-year sentence, attracting a wave of criticism from the EU. The report says the verdict violates Turkey's reform process.

The report also mentions honor killings and says it expects the new penal code to protect the rights of women regarding this issue.

EU committed to end Turkish Cyprus isolation

The document expressed determination to end the isolation of Turkish Cypriots and pledges support for economic development of the northern part of the island. It also welcomes the recent improvement in the relationship between Turkey and Greece, which have been traditional rivals for decades.

Financial, structural imbalances criticized

Praising the improvement in the Turkish economy in 2003, the report says financial and structural imbalances are still among Turkey's most important problems.

3. - The Scotsman - "Blair Urges Turkey to Seize Reforms":

17 May 2004

Prime Minister Tony Blair, ahead of a visit to Turkey today, said the European Union would start membership talks with the country if it met requirements on human rights and democracy by the end of the year, a newspaper reported in Ankara.

Blair, who strongly backs Turkey’s aspiration to join the EU, was scheduled to meet President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

His talks were also to focus on Cyprus, Iraq and the Middle East.

Four small bombs exploded outside branches of the HSBC bank in Ankara today ahead of Blair’s visit.

One device went off underneath a parked car and another shattered windows of a bank. Two similar blasts caused minor damage to branches in Istanbul.

“I wanted to see with my eyes, the modern, confident and European Turkey that you’re building, I want to encourage the implementation of your reforms to meet the Copenhagen criteria,” Blair told daily Hurriyet.

Britain is a leading advocate of Turkish membership, arguing that the nation can help bridge differences between Europe and the Muslim world and aid in the fight against terrorism.

“My strong belief is that Turkey’s membership would be good for all of us,” Blair told Hurriyet. “I wish a positive decision for Turkey in December with my whole heart.”

Turkey, located at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, is hoping to begin EU membership talks at the end of the year. Turkish membership would extend the bloc’s borders to Syria and Iraq.

The predominantly Muslim nation has carried out sweeping reforms in the last two years as it tries to meet the EU’s so-called Copenhagen criteria. It has, for example, abolished the death penalty and granted greater cultural rights to long-oppressed Kurds.

Britain believes the reform process is not yet complete, but thinks Ankara’s progress should be rewarded by launching membership talks. EU leaders are scheduled to decide in December whether to do that.

French President Jacques Chirac has taken a harder stance and said Ankara is unlikely to meet the conditions required for membership for another 10 to 15 years.

Earlier this year, Blair said accepting Turkey would show Europe was committed to “diverse races, cultures and religions”.

“A secular and stable Turkey anchored at the West, would show that Islam, democracy and economic success could coexist,” Blair told Hurriyet.

Blair’s office said the talks were also likely to focus on the reunification of Cyprus, which has been divided into a Greek Cypriot-controlled south and a Turkish occupied north since Turkey invaded in 1974.

A UN plan drafted by Secretary General Kofi Annan to reunify the island foundered when it was rejected by Greek Cypriots in an April 24 referendum.

“I continue to believe that the Annan plan is the best way to reach a comprehensive solution,” Hurriyet quoted Blair as saying.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the bomb attacks today.

Suspected al Qaida bombers blew up trucks packed with explosives at the British consulate and the main headquarters of HSBC in Istanbul in November, killing 27 people. The truck bombings had coincided with US President George Bush’s state visit to Britain.

British Consul-General Roger Short was among those killed in the suicide bombings, which were the worst terrorist attacks in Turkey’s history. They came five days after suspected al Qaida militants blew up two Istanbul synagogues in similar fashion, killing 23 people.

4. - The Christian Science Monitor - "Education bill deepens Turkey's secular-religious divide":

President Sezer may veto a law allowing graduates of high schools that train imams to enter public universities.

ISTANBUL / 17 May 2004 / by Yigal Schleifer

A recently passed higher education reform bill has thrust Turkey into a raging political debate, once again highlighting the secular country's continuing struggle with defining the role of religion in the public sphere.

The bill deals in large part with reorganizing the board that oversees Turkey's public universities. But its critics say they are alarmed by a piece of the legislation: a new law that opens up the public system to graduates of state-run religious high schools that train imams and preachers.

A previous law, passed in the wake of the 1997 "postmodern" coup - a bloodless military intervention that ended the rule of Turkey's first Islamist government - effectively shut out these students from higher education, directing them only to theology faculties.

The bill has drawn criticism from Turkey's secular establishment, which sees it as clearing the way for religious school students to pursue careers in government or the judiciary. Supporters, however, say the debate has been exaggerated - that students of religious studies simply want the option to pursue professional careers in a modern Turkey.

Ural Akbulut, rector of Middle East Technical University in Ankara, says the bill will erode the secular foundations laid out by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of the modern Turkish state.

"When the republic was formed by Atatürk he tried to transform the country from a religious country to a modern secular, European country. Secularity is the guarantee of a modern, European Turkish republic. Otherwise it can turn into an Islamic fundamentalist country," Mr. Akbulut says. "Nobody wants to see the country governed only by graduates of religious schools."

The bill has also led the country's military - which views itself as the supreme guardian of Turkey's secular tradition - to issue one of its strongest statements in recent years: "The sections of the society who are dedicated to the basic pillars of the Republic should not be expected to accept this motion."

The bill was put forward by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), whose leaders are veterans of Turkey's political Islam movement. The party defines itself as socially conservative, rather than Islamist.

But opponents of the new education law say the emphasis AKP put on helping religious schools - known as "Imam Hatip" schools - is proof of a "hidden agenda" to promote Islam. There are some 80,000 students currently attending such schools, although those numbers could rise significantly with university study now an option for Imam Hatip graduates.

Aydin Dumanoglu, an AKP member of parliament and a founding member of the party, says the criticism is unwarranted. "This is to give those students, whoever is clever among them, more choice. I look at it as a question of human rights," the former university vice chancellor says. "There is no hidden agenda. Not at all."

Many here say the current controversy fails to discuss one of the underlying issues in society: how to effectively deal with the public demand for religious education. Most of the students attending the Imam Hatip schools - among them a large number of girls - say they have no intention of one day becoming preachers or imams.

"We are not discussing what is really going [on]," says Cuneyt Ulsever, a leading columnist with the daily newspaper Hurriyet. "Some people in Turkey want their kids to take a religiously weighted education, but would also like them to become lawyers, doctors, or journalists eventually."

Emin Sivri, a student at an Imam Hatip school in Istanbul's conservative Eyup neighborhood, says he is not interested in becoming an imam but is attending the school to learn about his religion. "Some students want to be engineers, teachers, things like that. I want to be an English translator. But we also want to learn our religion in a healthy way," he says.

Some have suggested that the new Imam Hatip law could be a form of political payback to the AKP's core of religiously conservative voters, who have helped carry the party to overwhelming success in both national and municipal elections.

The education reform bill is now in the hands of Turkish president Ahmet Necdet Sezer, who is expected to veto it. The bill will then go back to AKP, who can decide to shelve it or use the party's majority in parliament to pass the bill again.

In recent years, the AKP agenda has focused on Turkey's bid to join the European Union, with the party passing a slew of human rights reforms and liberalization laws aimed at bringing Turkey closer to EU standards. Among those reforms has been a loosening of the military's control over the country's affairs.

And some say the battle over the bill is part of a larger change taking place in Turkey, Mr. Ulsever says. While the military and the entrenched civil bureaucracy have for decades been in control of the religious-secular debate in Turkey, the AKP's decision to introduce education reform indicates that may no longer be the case. Says Ulsever: "This system has been challenged and is losing ground in Turkey in the last few years. It is diminishing. What is really going on is that we are looking for the answer of who is really running the country."

5. - Haaretz - "Turkey freezes arms tenders in which Israel was competing":

17 May 2004 / by Aluf Benn

The Turkish government had decided to freeze three large scale military tenders for the purchase of new fighter helicopters, remote piloted aircraft (RPA) and tanks. A bid for two of the tenders, for the remote piloted aircraft and fighter helicopters, was submitted by Israeli defense companies.

According to Israeli diplomatic sources, the freeze imposed on the tenders is not related to Israeli and Turkish relations, and the step was taken ahead of Turkey's talks to join the European Union in a few months. It is believed that Turkey wants to show that European companies, who haven't scored highly on military tenders, would benefit from economic advantages should Turkey join the European Union.

Two Israeli companies submitted their bid for the tender for the fighter helicopters, one is with an American company and the other is in cooperation with a Russian company.

This move came in spite of reports by diplomatic sources in Jerusalem on Saturday saying that they were unaware of any decision by Turkey to freeze contracts with Israeli firms, as reported by the Lebanese daily Al Mustaqbal.

The sources said the report contradicted messages recently delivered to Israel by the Turks. Turkish Foreign Ministry Abdullah Gul met ten days ago with his Israeli counterpart Silvan Shalom in Dublin and told him that Ankara was interested in expanding ties with Israel.

According to the report, the decision was made last week, with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan heading the meeting of the "supreme authority of military industries" for the first time. Erdogan is believed to be behind the decision, the report says.

Turkey has recently criticized the IDF's activities in the territories, particularly the assassination of Hamas leaders, Sheikh Ahmad Yassin and Abed al-Aziz Rantisi, as well as the demolishing of homes in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Following public criticism by Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, directed at Israel's activities in the territories, the Turkish government sent a communique to Israel stating that the criticism is an "isolated" matter and will not affect relations between the two countries.

6. - AFP - "Another 100 Kurds released in Syria":

DAMASCUS / 16 May 2004

Syrian authorities have released another 100 Kurds who were arrested after deadly clashes in March, raising to 300 the number freed since Thursday, human rights activist and lawyer Anwar al-Bunni told AFP.

"On Saturday night, almost 100 Kurds were freed in (the northern towns of) Qamishli and Aleppo, on top of the 200 released on Thursday," he said.

Between March 12 and 17, Kurds clashed repeatedly with Syrian security forces and Arab tribes in the north of Syria. Kurdish sources said 40 people were killed, while Syrian officials put the death toll at 25.

At the end of March, the banned Kurdish Progressive Democratic Party chief Abdel Aziz Daud said more than 2,000 Kurds had been rounded up in a crackdown by the security services.

Syria's Kurds, estimated to total 1.5 million, represent around nine percent of the country's population and live mainly in the north.