6 May 2004

1. "Clashes in Bingol between village guards and the Kurdish HPG", one village guard was killed and five others wounded in clashes with the Kurdish liberation army HPG (People's Defence Forces).

2. "Five killed in Turkish Kurd rebel violence", four Kurdish rebels and a Turkish village guard were killed in a wave of violence in southeast Turkey amid reports of guerrillas entering the region from northern Iraq, security officials said on Wednesday.

3. "Turkish woman burns herself to death in jail protest", a young Turkish woman who was jailed on charges of aiding an underground political group burned herself to death in a protest against prison conditions, human rights activists and a daily newspaper said on Thursday.

4. "New EU members support Turkish bid, but coolly", the European Union's new member states broadly support Turkey's EU membership bid, but are not showing any great eagerness for its early accession.

5. "Turkey Feeling Effects of Shaky EU Prospects: David DeRosa", Turkey is experiencing rising financing costs associated with its domestic borrowing program. Some market participants think this is due to fears that the U.S. Federal Reserve will soon raise interest rates. Another explanation may be that the government's story about the country's prospects for accession to the European Union is beginning to wear thin.

6. "Turkey says it has alternative options to EU", Turkey has said it will not have any problems in finding a new course if the EU decides against opening membership negotiations in December.

7. "Denktas urges Turkey to recognise Greek Cypriot state", recognition of both the states on Cyprus would be an important step, the TRNC President said.

8. "A referendum for Kurdistan", it becomes clearer by the day that in most of Iraq, the US is failing to create the minimal law-and-order structure needed to enable an orderly transfer of power by June 30.

1. - DozaMe.org - "Clashes in Bingol between village guards and the Kurdish HPG":

BINGOL / 5 May 2004

One village guard was killed and five others wounded in clashes with the Kurdish liberation army HPG (People's Defence Forces).

The HPG ambushed a group of government paid village guards near the village of Guzeldere in the Bingol district of northern Kurdistan (southeast Turkey.) Six village guards were wounded in the clashes and were taken to Elazig Science Hospital with Turkish military helicopters. A village guard named Mehmet Bashidinc died later in the hospital.

Turkey established the village guards, a force of some 50,000, to fight the PKK after the they had launched an armed campaign for an ethnic homeland in northern Kurdistan (southeast Turkey) in 1984.

Clashes between the Turkish army and the Kurdish HPG continue in several areas in northern Kurdistan.

2. - Reuters - "Five killed in Turkish Kurd rebel violence":

TUNCELI / 5 May 2004

Four Kurdish rebels and a Turkish village guard were killed in a wave of violence in southeast Turkey amid reports of guerrillas entering the region from northern Iraq, security officials said on Wednesday.

Three militants from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) died when an anti-tank mine which they were laying on Tuesday night exploded on a bridge near a village in Sirnak province, near the Iraqi border, an official said.

Another group of rebels launched a rocket attack on a group of government-sponsored village guards overnight in a rural part of eastern Bingol province, killing one guard and wounding three others who were flown by helicopter to a hospital in the region.

There was no comment from the PKK.

Turkey established the village guards, a force of some 50,000, to fight the PKK after the rebels launched an armed campaign for an ethnic homeland in the mainly Kurdish southeast in 1984.

More than 30,000 people, mostly Kurds, have died in the conflict, which has tailed off since the 1999 arrest and imprisonment of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan.

Turkish soldiers, backed by air power, launched an operation against the rebels in the early hours of Wednesday. One member of the security forces was injured in a subsequent clash.

Another official said groups of rebels had been crossing from northern Iraq into Turkey in recent days and heading towards the provinces of Diyarbakir, Bingol and Tunceli.

The PKK is believed to have several thousand fighters in the mountains of northern Iraq. The U.S.-led occupation authority in Iraq has said it would hunt the rebels down.

State-run Anatolian news agency said another militant was killed in a clash in Siirt province on Tuesday night. One village guard was injured in the fighting.

3. - AFP - "Turkish woman burns herself to death in jail protest":

ANKARA / 6 May 2004

A young Turkish woman who was jailed on charges of aiding an underground political group burned herself to death in a protest against prison conditions, human rights activists and a daily newspaper said
on Thursday.

The Cumhuriyet paper said Selma Kubat, 26, killed herself on Saturday -- International Labour Day -- in a prison in the northwestern town of Gebze. The Turkish human rights association confirmed the report.

The association said Kubat, who was the editor of a newspaper called "Revolutionary Youth," had been arrested in 2001 and later sentenced for aiding an underground group. Prior to her arrest, and since 2000, she had been among a group of militants carrying out hunger strikes to protest conditions for political detainees in Turkish prisons.

A total of 66 people died in the hunger strikes, aimed at protesting over the moving of political prisoners to new facilities in which they were kept isolated from one another.

4. - The Financial Times - "New EU members support Turkish bid, but coolly":

5 May 2004 / by Stefan Wagstyl

The European Union's new member states broadly support Turkey's EU membership bid, but are not showing any great eagerness for its early accession.

"They're playing it fairly and correctly, saying that if the Turks meet the criteria they will be welcome," said Michael Emerson, senior research fellow at Ceps, a Brussels think tank. "But enthusiasm does not jump out at you."

Busy with their own accession, the new members have had little time to work out detailed positions on Turkey. Most of the 10 countries do not go beyond restating the EU's official line that the question of entry negotiations with Turkey will be decided later this year on the basis of the European Commission's report on Turkey's accession preparations.

In most of eastern Europe, public opinion is as lukewarm to Turkey's accession as it is in western Europe. Politicians have kept a low profile and allowed the union's more established statesmen to take the lead in the debate, notably Jacques Chirac, the French president, who said last week that Turkey was not a candidate for early entry.

Heather Grabbe, deputy director of the Centre for European Reform, a UK research group, said: "I think there are quite a few central and east Europeans who would be happy to hide behind Jacques Chirac if he decided to block the start of talks with Turkey."

In general, the eight east European states, headed by Poland, are keen to focus the union's attentions eastwards. They want completion of the next stage of enlargement, due to see Bulgaria and Romania join in 2007, and support early accession of Croatia and other west Balkan nations.

They think their own sense of security will be increased by closer relations with countries further east, notably Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova. But Turkey does not figure as prominently in this thinking as Ukraine.

In Poland, in particular, some politicians see Ukraine, a country with Christian roots, as a better candidate for eventual union membership than Muslim Turkey.

Additional reporting by Jan Cienski in Warsaw, Robert Anderson in Bratislava and Chris Condon in Budapest.

5. - Bloomberg - "Turkey Feeling Effects of Shaky EU Prospects: David DeRosa":

6 May 2004

Turkey is experiencing rising financing costs associated with its domestic borrowing program. Some market participants think this is due to fears that the U.S. Federal Reserve will soon raise interest rates. Another explanation may be that the government's story about the country's prospects for accession to the European Union is beginning to wear thin.

Turkish interest rates have been on the rise since April when the Fed began to hint that higher U.S. rates are possible. The Fed's action aside, Turkish rates don't have to rise in lockstep with U.S. rates because the currency has been floating since 1999.

Meantime, Turkey hasn't been getting good news about starting EU membership talks early next year. The government's handling of its EU initiative also is doing little to persuade investors they should put much faith in the present leadership.

Turkey first applied to join the EU in 1959 when it was known as the European Economic Community. It was a signatory to a customs union agreement with the bloc in 1995 and became an official candidate for EU membership in 1999.

Support and Opposition

While there's some support for the Turkish application, mainly from British Prime Minister Tony Blair and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, France clearly objects. And then there's the EU Parliament. It's demanding that Turkey adopt modern human rights and individual freedoms similar to those enjoyed by all EU citizens.

There's a general presumption that Turkey would benefit enormously from EU membership. Certain Turkish politicians, such as Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, talk of EU acceptance as though it's of crucial importance to Turkey's future.

Is the EU really that important to Turkey, or is this a ruse?

Remember that Turkey faces debt of as much as $218 billion. When a poor country owes so much money, the cost of borrowing becomes a critical factor to economic survival. It needs all the help it can get. That's why Turkey needs a crutch. In 1999, it was the International Monetary Fund. Today it's EU accession.

Chirac's Timeline

The benefits of accession for Turkey won't be known until it happens, and that won't be anytime soon, at least according to French President Jacques Chirac. He said late last month that Turkey might qualify for EU accession in 10 to 15 years.

The timing of Chirac's comments, made two days before the May 1 admission of 10 new states to the EU, rubbed in the sting of French disapproval.

Yet the Turkish government chose to portray Chirac's remarks as optimistic to its EU chances -- at least, one could say, the French president didn't rule out Turkish accession outright. Turkey says the glass isn't 95 percent empty; rather, it is 5 percent full.

`End' of the EU

Chirac did say Turkey has a ``vocation for being in Europe.'' Whatever that means, it's a lot better than the remarks made in a newspaper interview last November by former French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing -- the man charged with writing the EU's constitution -- that Turkey's accession would mean ``the end of the European Union.''

So what was the Turkish government's response to Chirac?

At first, Erdogan was cautious in his response, simply picking up on Chirac's timeline: ``I can't know when Turkey will become a full member. I can't know if it lasts for three, five, seven or 10 years,'' he was quoted as saying by Turkey's state- run Anatolia news agency.

He soon reversed his caution in a speech before parliament. ``The EU must add a missing piece to the jigsaw, embrace Turkey and complete its expansion,'' he said.

Speeches aside, reality will be revealed in December when the EU members decide if they want to set a date for the start of accession talks. If they demur, the jig will be up. Turkish bondholders should be keen to watch those proceedings.

6. - EUobserver - "Turkey says it has alternative options to EU":

6 March 2004

Turkey has said it will not have any problems in finding a new course if the EU decides against opening membership negotiations in December.

Speaking on Tuesday, Turkey’s prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned: "If the EU doesn't take the decision we want, Turkey won't have any difficulties in finding a new course to follow thanks to its big potential".

"The EU, which excludes Turkey in this case, will have difficulties in talking about European ideals as of that day", he added, according to Ankara Anatolia news agency.

EU leaders, including the 10 new countries which joined the EU club last Saturday, will decide in December, on the basis of a Commission's report, on whether accession negotiations with Turkey should begin.

Speaking in the meeting of his Justice and Development Party (AKP) at the Turkish Parliament, Mr Erdogan said it would be wrong and unjust for the EU to keep Turkey waiting more.

Turkey's formal relations with the EU dates back to an association agreement in 1963 and was granted candidate country status in 1999.

However, the fear is that the EU will not deliver on its promise at a time when Turkey has reached a critical stage in its reform process.

According to Mr Erdogan, the reforms which involve significant political, constitutional and social changes would continue regardless of whether Turkey would get a date to start accession negations with the EU.

However there are concerns that if the EU delivers a negative opinion at the end of this year, the reform process might come to a halt.

"The real issue is whether the changes that are being introduced will be consolidated without a negotiating date from the EU", Kemal Kirisci, a political scientist at Bosphorus University was quoted saying by the Financial Times.

"There is great nervousness in the government, in the financial markets and in public opinion about this. Turkey is worried about whether the EU will deliver".

7. - MSNBC - "Denktas urges Turkey to recognise Greek Cypriot state":

Recognition of both the states on Cyprus would be an important step, the TRNC President said.

6 May 2004

Turkey should consider officially recognising the Greek Cypriot state, though not give it recognition as the state of Cyprus, President Rauf Denktas of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) said Wednesday.

Spanking in the south eastern Turkish city of Gaziantep, where he was being presented with an honorary doctorate, Denktas said it was only the Greek Cypriots that had joined the European Union on May 1, adding that they did not represent Turkish Cypriots on the island.

“The Greek Cypriots of Cyprus became the member of the EU, not Cyprus,” he said. “The north of the island is not and will not be affected by this membership. We should explain this to the world. The Greek Cypriot administration, which does not have a legitimate government according to international agreements, applied for membership of the Union to get rid of the rights of Turkey.”

As long as Turkey continued to recognise the TRNC as an independent state, there would be no major problem in extending recognition to the Greek Cypriot state, Denktas said.

“I think it will be good if Turkey, which recognises the TRNC, also recognises the Greek Cypriot state beyond those borders,” he said. “Will Greek Cypriots accept such a recognition or not? I think that if Turkey says that it recognises both the TRNC and the Greek Cypriot state, it will be an important step in solution of this issue. It will be the best answer to Greek Cypriots’ call for its recognition as if it is the government of whole Cyprus. It will mean that I recognise you where you are, and you cannot pass to other side.”

8. - Jerusalem Post - "A referendum for Kurdistan":

5 May 2004 / by Shlomo Avineri

It becomes clearer by the day that in most of Iraq, the US is failing to create the minimal law-and-order structure needed to enable an orderly transfer of power by June 30. A few weeks ago, the signing of a constitutional document by a US-appointed group of unelected Iraqi officials was heralded as if it were a reenactment of the signing of the American constitution in 1787 Philadelphia. Yet it is now clear this is a worthless piece of paper, not very helpful to Coalition forces when confronted with mayhem in Fallujah or Najaf.

Meanwhile, in northern Iraq, in the Kurdish region, the situation is totally different. In the last 10 years, under the protection of the Allies' No-Fly Zone, and even more so since the toppling of Saddam, the Kurdish Regional Government has been able to run a relatively orderly administration, overcome tribal and party differences, and create a de facto functioning government, with impressive records in development (education, irrigation, construction) – and, above all, with no internal violence.

Confronted with the debacle in the rest of Arab Iraq, the question has to be asked why the US-led Coalition should not hold a referendum in the Kurdish region, asking the population how they would like to be ruled. After all, the Kurds have, by any internationally accepted standards, a right for self-determination.

Historically, the Kurds – who are distinct in language, culture, and historical consciousness from Arabs – never had their day in court. After World War I and the downfall of the Ottoman Empire, they were promised by the victorious Allies a state of their own – only to be cynically betrayed when British and French imperial interests took precedence over Wilsonian principles of self-determination.

Since then, they have suffered under foreign rule.

THERE ARE obvious obstacles to holding such a referendum. Primarily, the US does not have a mandate to dispose of Iraq at its will. But the same goes for the rest of Iraq. The US is now lamely asking for a UN resolution mandating a transfer of power to a legitimate Iraqi government – but such an authorization is highly unlikely.

Nor is there anyone in Iraq to whom authority can conceivably be transferred.

Why should the one region – and people – that runs an orderly house and is not involved in murder, attacks on mosques, and suicide bombing of schoolchildren be penalized?

Another objection is the opposition of Turkey (and, to a lesser degree, Iran and Syria) to granting the Iraqi Kurds self-determination. But if one thinks in terms of universal norms of human rights, what right has Turkey to dictate the future of internal development in another country?

Nobody accepts the claim of Israel to oppose in principle the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza. The same should apply to Turkey. Certainly if Turkey grants its own Kurdish minority more cultural and language rights and allows legitimate Kurdish political representation in the Turkish parliament, the willingness of Turkish Kurds to oppose Ankara will be diminished.

In the 19th century, the joint interests of the authoritarian Russian, German, and Austrian empires prevented the establishment of a free Poland. Such unholy alliances have no place in the 21st century.

Recently, under UN aegis, a referendum about the future of Cyprus was held in the Greek and Turkish communities on the island. The outcome was paradoxical and not to the liking of those who initiated it. But the right of the communities to determine their future has been accepted. Why not in Iraqi Kurdistan?

Perhaps to assuage political fears – and considerations of international law – the plebiscite in the Kurdish region should, initially, have merely a consultative status. But it will give legitimate expression to the will of a people long oppressed and entitled to their place in the sun.

Such a referendum may also concentrate the minds of Arab Sunnis and Shi'ites in Iraq when they see that it is their violence that is dismantling Iraq.

Perhaps Arab Iraqis will decide that violence is counterproductive and carries its own penalties. They might then want to follow the Kurdish example of curbing violence and putting Iraq together again.

It is time the injustice suffered by the Kurdish people for generations was, at long last, rectified.

The author is professor of political science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.