29 November 2004

1. "Human-rights rules of EU rankle Turkey", multiculturalism not an acceptable idea in country of 'unity.

2. "No Consensus in EU yet For Turkey", the European Union has pressed Turkey to step up the pace of legal reforms and hinted that there was still no consensus in the Union's 25 capitals.

3. "Abuse of women continues to plague the nation", a survey says 63 percent of women between the ages of 15 and 19 found the beating of women by their husbands 'reasonable'.

4. "Younger Turks favor joining EU as way to better nation", country forced to make reforms.

5. "Greek Cypriots seek win-win deal with EU hopeful Turkey", "I do hope that we will create a win-win situation on December 17 -- that Turkey gets what it wants, namely the start of negotiations, and Cyprus too," says Greek Cypriot Foreign Minister George Iakovou.

6. "UN Voices ‘Extreme Concern’ For Thousands Of Iranian Kurd Refugees In Iraq", for the second time in a week the United Nations refugee agency expressed “extreme concern” over the fate of thousands of Iranian Kurds caught up in the fighting in central Iraq without access to regular food rations.

1. - AP - "Human-rights rules of EU rankle Turkey":

Multiculturalism not an acceptable idea in country of 'unity'

ANKARA / 28 November 2004

As a child, Hrant Dink dreamed of becoming a homicide detective, but he faced an insurmountable obstacle. In overwhelmingly Muslim Turkey, Jews and Christians can't join the police.

Now that unwritten rule, the product of a history of ethnic strife and distrust of non-Muslim minorities, is coming into heated debate as Turkey faces up to the reforms it must undertake to achieve its cherished goal of joining the European Union.

Participants almost came to blows earlier this month at a news conference by a semi-official human-rights body, when its chairman, Ibrahim Kaboglu, suggested that Turkey must expand minority rights.

Fahrettin Yokus, a civil-service-union leader, grabbed the papers from Kaboglu's hands and ripped them up.

"We don't recognize this report; it is aimed at dividing the country," he shouted.

The EU demands, he charged, "are threatening our unity."

Kaboglu, whose Human Rights Advisory Council was created by the prime minister's office, has asked for police protection. His critics, meanwhile, have petitioned state prosecutors to file treason charges against Kaboglu and those who signed the statement that he read.

Tensions have heightened since an EU panel ruled last month that for Turkey to negotiate its way into the EU, a prosperous 25-nation bloc, it would have to meet European standards of democracy and human rights.

It urged Turkey to grant more rights to ethnic Kurds and recognize Alawites, a religious sect rooted in Islam, as a minority. Jews and Christians already have minority rights but still suffer such discrimination as exclusion from the police, Foreign Ministry and military officers' corps, the panel said.

But although multiculturalism may be the norm in much of Europe, it's an explosive concept in Turkey. Here children open the school day by saying: "Happy is the one who says 'I am a Turk,'" and the word "minority" is seen by nationalists as code for national fragmentation.

More than a quarter of Turkey's 71 million people are either Kurds or Alawites or share both identities. The nation has about 130,000 non-Muslims - Greek, Armenian and other Christians, and Jews.

President Ahmet Necdet Sezer says that the debate over minority rights is "destructive" and that every citizen of the state - Muslim or other - is a Turk and is bound to the Turkish state.

2. - The Christian Post - "No Consensus in EU yet For Turkey":

The European Union has pressed Turkey to step up the pace of legal reforms and hinted that there was still no consensus in the Union's 25 capitals.

26 November 2004

Three and a half weeks before European Union leaders are expected to endorse the executive body’s recommendation to open membership talks with Turkey at their Dec. 17 summit, the EU pressed the country to step up the pace of legal reforms and hinted that there was still no consensus in the Union’s 25 capitals.

The EU's head office on Oct. 6 had recommended the start of EU membership talks for Turkey, but set stiff conditions to prevent it from backtracking on sweeping democratic and human rights reforms. According to one EU official, the decision was reached by a "large consensus" among commissioners, but no vote was taken. There was also no recommended date to start negotiations.

While the recommendation boosted Turkey’s long-standing aspirations to join the European club, the commission warned it would suspend or even halt EU membership negotiations over any serious and persistent failure to respect democracy and human rights.

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul of Turkey insisted that his country had earned “the right” to begin formal accession negotiations, after last month's report. However, Foreign Minister Ben Bot of the Netherlands—whose country holds the EU’s rotating presidency until the end of the year—said governments had the last word on whether or not Turkey had fulfilled the criteria for beginning talks, irrespective of the commission’s report.

"Let's be clear on this: The member states decide," Bot said at a joint press conference here. "In a number of fields more progress should be made."

According to a report by New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) earlier this year, even though there had undeniably been “constant improvements” in Turkey, the “present situation concerning press freedom, religious freedom and respect of minority rights is far from perfect.”

“Police still routinely ill-treat detainees, and reports of outright torture in police custody persist. Prosecutors continue to indict writers and politicians who express a religious or ethnic perspective on politics, charging them with racial or religious hatred, as well as ‘insulting state institutions.’”

The International Herald Tribune reported that Bot said it would be "helpful" if Turkey passed draft laws on criminal procedures and judicial policing over the next three and a half weeks. In addition, he urged Ankara to implement four other pieces of legislation that have been approved by Parliament.

EU political leaders are expected to endorse the executive's recommendation at their Dec. 17 summit, however, public opinion in most of the EU's 25 member states is deeply opposed to Turkey joining the club, the Chicago Tribune reported Friday. Surveys indicate that a referendum on Turkish membership would fail in every major EU country.

Two years ago when former French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing headed the committee that drafted the proposed EU constitution, he warned that admitting Turkey would mean "the end of the European Union." Turkey, he said, has "a different culture, a different approach, a different way of life."

Certainly, a country that is 99.8 percent Muslim, has 95 percent of it territory in Asia and shares borders with Iraq, Syria and Iran stretches the definition of "European," the Chicago Tribune reported.

Turkey's sheer size is another concern, the news agency wrote. With a population of nearly 70 million, Turkey already eclipses France and Britain, and at its current growth rate it will overtake Germany, the EU's most populous member, in the next two decades. Under the EU's system of proportional representation, Turkey would have the most votes.

Despite those fears, Turkey has supporters in Europe who point out that attempting to maintain the EU as a Christian club is a dubious policy for an increasingly multiethnic continent.

Advocates argue that taking a Muslim country into the predominantly Christian EU would be an important geopolitical gesture at a time when conflict in various parts of the Middle East has pitted Western countries against the Islamic world and helped spark terrorism. They say the EU can export its stability and democracy to Turkey, a gateway to several hot spots in the Middle East and the Caucasus.

However, these thoughts come at a time when France, Germany, the Netherlands and other West European nations are struggling to integrate their ever-enlarging Muslim communities.

Most recently, tensions in the Netherlands have risen as fears of Islamic extremism permeated through the country following the Nov. 2 killing of filmmaker Theo van Gogh by a suspected Muslim radical. Since the murder, there have been more than 20 incidents of fires and vandalism at Muslim buildings—and a handful of retaliatory attacks on Christian churches.

Van Gogh’s murder also brought calls for a crackdown on fundamentalists and renegade preachers.

3. - Turkish Daily News - "Abuse of women continues to plague the nation":

A survey says 63 percent of women between the ages of 15 and 19 found the beating of women by their husbands 'reasonable'

ANKARA / 27 November 2004

Turkey, which has been striving for the last forty years to join the European Union, has apparently failed to explain to its citizens the requirements of civilization.
Those who encounter domestic violence when growing up usually commit violence on their children later in life. And when these children grow up to be parents, they raise their children in the same manner as they were raised, which leads to a spiral of violence that becomes both inherited, and contagious.

The Prime Ministry's Office of the Status of Women hosted a panel on Thursday entitled “Violence Against Women and the Turkish Penal Code [TCK]” at the Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodities Exchanges (TOBB) center in Ankara. State Minister for Women and Family Güldal Aksit, in opening the panel discussion, stated that the United Nations had played an important role in equality between the sexes being put on the agenda of countries since 1946, and that many important international directives had been signed and many conferences held on the subject. Continuing, she said, "It is a fact that violence against women exists in Turkey as it does throughout the world." Aksit then produced some statistics from a survey by the Family and Social Research Department: According to the survey physical abuse exists in 34 percent of Turkish families, and verbal abuse 53 percent.

A second survey carried out by Hacettepe University gave more devastating news about the existence in society of violence against women. The survey said 63 percent of women between the ages of 15 and 19 found the beating of women by their husbands "reasonable." Aksit said the new Turkish Penal Code (TCK) included many important articles on crimes against women. According to the new TCK, sexually motivated crimes come under Crimes Against Individuals, while crimes in the name of "tradition" are also included separately in the new TCK. Aksit also said that in 2006, the Office of the Status of Women will undertake a new project to be called “Violence Against Women” which will be collate and form a database concerning the issue. The EU will fund this project.
On "World Combating Violence Against Women Day," a group from the Human Rights Association (IHD) Istanbul department submitted a letter to the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, in which they stated their demand of the establishment of women's shelters for sexually abused women. Before giving the letter to the officials, IHD Istanbul Department Administrator Eren Keskin read out the letter, which addressed Istanbul Mayor Kadir Topbas, noting that despite all the gains of Turkish women as a result of the amendments to the TCK, women who suffer violence and abuse still do not know where to seek shelter. Consequently, it was asked that the metropolitan municipality establish more women’s shelters in Istanbul.

The Human Rights Association (IHD) also made two separate press statements in Ankara on Thursday demanding violence against women cease. Parallel to the “World Combating Violence Against Women Day” activities, the first statement was read out to the press in Ankara’s Sakarya Street. Zeliha Çalci stated their demands of gender discriminating policies, laws and practices to be suspended with women's shelters and consultation centers being opened. It was also mentioned in both of the meetings that it was necessary for those responsible to be tried in court. It was said that preventive legal measures were also necessary. A second press statement was made by IHD Ankara Department Administrator Sükran Buldu to the press in Yüksel Street following the first meeting.
Women's Rights Protection Association Izmir Department Administrator Engin Demir also held a press conference claiming that their husbands beat 28 percent of married women living in cities, while this rate was 76 percent for women living in rural areas. Demir continued: "The exact extent of domestic violence cannot be determined, but clearly its intensity is increasing every day. Women face violence in their daily life from men; but this does not have to be their fate." Demir underlined that sociological and psychological problems were the main reasons that triggered violence. He said there were only eight women's shelters houses in Turkey, while in European countries there was one shelter per every 7,500 women. Demir said local authorities had to consider this matter seriously.

The initiative of combating violence against women is expected to continue, with the support of EU and U.N. funds, especially with educative programmes for police officials, together with activities aimed at raising the awareness of society against violence of all kinds.

4. - Chicago Tribune - "Younger Turks favor joining EU as way to better nation":

Country forced to make reforms

ISTANBUL / 28 November 2004 / by Catherine Collins

Nearly a century after a cabal of young Turks engineered the downfall of the Ottoman Empire, a new generation of young Turks is embracing the start of another kind of revolution.

Although many Europeans have doubts about admitting Turkey to the European Union, the prospect of Turkey's joining has been greeted eagerly across this country--and particularly among its vast young population.

In their enthusiasm, Turks under 30 seem undaunted by the remaining EU membership hurdles. Instead, many say they understand that their country must make further progress in areas such as education and must solidify human-rights and political reforms before it can join Europe's club.

"I support Turkey's membership in the EU, although I don't think we are ready for it yet," said Arif Budak, 25, a student who works full time as a trainer at an upscale health club in Istanbul. "If we join too soon, it won't be good for the EU, but it will be bad for Turkey also."

EU leaders are to meet Dec. 17 to decide whether to give the green light to starting membership talks with Turkey. They are expected to say yes, but the expectation is equally strong that the talks will last a decade or longer.

Assuming the talks are approved, one of the biggest tasks confronting Turkey will be improving its education system to meet European standards.

The low education level of large numbers of young people is the single greatest concern to Europeans, Daniel Gros, director of the Center for European Policy Studies, said at a recent Istanbul conference co-sponsored by the Economics and Foreign Policy Forum of Istanbul.

"It is up to a candidate country to say, `Do we want more roads and airports, or do we want more schools?'" Gros said. "This country needs more schools and better schools and in all parts of the country."

To many of the country's young people, who stand to reap the long-term benefits of EU membership, getting a date to start talks would mark the end of one journey and the start of another.

"The process itself has been important," Ayca Bayraktaroglu, 23, said during a break from her studies at Bosporus University in Istanbul. "Without the EU as a target, I doubt that Turkey would have been able to achieve as many reforms in recent years."

The expectations of the country's young people cross social and educational boundaries. From unemployed young men to students at Bosporus, an elite school, these Turks see the EU as anchoring Turkey in a stable part of the world and insulating it from the political winds that have swept across its region.

Turkey's population is young. Almost 30 percent of its nearly 70 million people are younger than 15, and three-quarters are under 40.

They could offer an important labor source for the economies of an aging Europe.

And the United Nations predicts Turkey's population will reach 91 million by 2030, which would make it by far Europe's most populous country.

But the young Turks don't see immigrating to Germany, France or Britain as a certainty--or even as the biggest potential benefit of EU membership.

Muhammed Yilmaz, 21, a clerk at a McDonald's restaurant, sees a chance for economic stability and an opportunity to move out of his menial job. "Whether or not Turks go to Europe, membership will bring economic stability to Turkey."

Muhammed Yilmaz, 21, a clerk at a McDonald's restaurant, sees a chance for economic stability and an opportunity to move out of his menial job.

"Whether or not Turks go to Europe, membership will bring economic stability to Turkey," he said.

Ece Uskuplu, 22, an international trade student at Bosporous University, doesn't think Europeans need to worry about a Turkish invasion.

"I don't think that there will be a flood of Turkish immigrants to Europe," she said. "Turks may have a tendency to act on the vague hope that life will be better elsewhere, but I think in the long run they will return home."

She illustrated her point with the Turkish version of the "grass is always greener," saying, "Your neighbor's chicken is always a goose."

Havva Yakup's dreams are more concrete and definitely closer to home. She wants to see more religious freedom in this predominantly Muslim country, including a change in the Turkish law that prohibits wearing head scarves in universities and government buildings.

"I hope Turkey becomes a member because if it does, it will make it possible for me to continue my education regardless of whether or not I wear a head scarf," said Yakup, who is 15 and attends a religious high school.

Today's young Turks would be the first generation to feel the full effect of membership in the EU. Their numbers are large and the test for them, and the country, will be to convince Europe that what some might think is a demographic weakness is potentially a strength.

"The Turkish challenge is how to turn this into a demographic advantage--a gift--rather than a threat to our European neighbors," said Ustun Erguder, a political science professor and director of the Istanbul Policy Center at Sabanci University in Istanbul.

The key to the transformation, said Erguder and others, is getting the Turkish education system into shape before a courtship with Europe would end, in 10 or 15 years.

There are signs that the government recognizes the importance of improving an education system that often has 40 or 50 students in a single classroom and suffers from enormous disparities from region to region.

This fiscal year, for the first time in decades, Turkey will spend more for education than for its military.

"Education expenditures are increasing and military expenditures are decreasing," said Hakan Altinay, executive director of the Open Society Institute in Turkey. "Turkey is beginning to take on the aura of normalcy. Maybe we can stop talking about torture and freedom of expression and start talking how to upgrade our public education system."

Budak, the trainer, agreed that education is the key to open Europe's door for Turks. But he also said the country needs the next decade to make improvements, so they blend in and don't stand out as foreigners.

"I have a Turkish friend who lives in Germany," he said. "In Germany, they call her a Turk. In Turkey, they call her a German. If we join the EU too soon, we will always be foreigners."

5. - Reuters - "Greek Cypriots seek win-win deal with EU hopeful Turkey":

"I do hope that we will create a win-win situation on December 17 -- that Turkey gets what it wants, namely the start of negotiations, and Cyprus too," says Greek Cypriot Foreign Minister George Iakovou

BERLIN / 27 November 2004

Internationally-recognized Greek Cypriot administration of divided Cyprus is hoping that an expected European Union decision to open membership talks with Turkey will coincide with Turkish recognition of the Greek Cypriot government.
"I do hope that we will create a win-win situation on December 17 -- that Turkey gets what it wants, namely the start of negotiations, and Cyprus too," Greek Cypriot Foreign Minister George Iakovou told Reuters in a telephone interview.
The Greek Cypriot government, that represents the entire island in the EU, has set out a list of demands for Turkey, including recognition of the Nicosia-based government and a pullout of Turkish troops from the north of the island.

European Union heads of government are to decide at a Dec. 17 summit whether to give Ankara the green light to start membership negotiations. Any of the 25 EU states, including the Greek Cypriot government in Nicosia, can block that process.
Iakovou, on a visit to Berlin, declined to say whether Nicosia's demands were pre-conditions for Turkish entry but said reports in the Turkish media that recognition was not a pre-condition were a gross simplification or inaccurate.
"I prefer not to use the term condition," Iakovou said.
"We are hoping our (EU) partners will help us get what we want. In that way we are prepared to help the Union with respect to negotiations before the 17th and after the 17th," he said.
Cyprus submitted the demands to the EU's Council of ministers in mid-October.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974 between the Greek Cypriot south and Turkish Cypriot north. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in the north is recognised only by Ankara.
Unlike its ethnic kin on Cyprus, Greece has seen a rapid thaw in relations with Turkey in recent years and the prospect of a Greek veto on Turkish EU membership talks have receded.
The Greek Cypriots, however, rejected a U.N. plan to reintegrate the Turkish Cypriots part of the island before joining the EU in May.

6. - Europa World - "UN Voices ‘Extreme Concern’ For Thousands Of Iranian Kurd Refugees In Iraq":

27 November 2004

For the second time in a week the United Nations refugee agency expressed “extreme concern” over the fate of thousands of Iranian Kurds caught up in the fighting in central Iraq without access to regular food rations.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said 1,400 of the 4,200 Iranian Kurds in Al Tash camp near Ramadi fled last week amid generalized fighting, including an armed attack against the camp police post, and with the station now empty there was no one left to provide security for the remaining 2,800.

“ This is an extremely serious situation, and UNHCR is working with its implementing partner to find a way of accessing the camp as a matter of urgency,” spokesperson Jennifer Pagonis told a news briefing in Geneva.

The agency, which has no staff on the ground, has been informed by its partners in Al Tash that access is currently impossible due to the “very difficult security conditions” in the area. Ramadi is some 50 kilometres from Fallujah where United States-led forces launched a major assault earlier this month.

“ These refugees will not have received their monthly food ration since the public distribution system, which targets both Iraqis and refugees in the area, has broken down because of the fighting,” Ms. Pagonis said.

Of the 1,400 who fled last week, 13 families have arrived in Sulaymaniyah in northern Iraq, but the fate of all the others who left the camp remains unknown, she added.