3 November 2004

1. "Turkish army calls for clampdown on Ocalan lawyers", the Turkish military on Tuesday urged the judicial authorities to crack down on the lawyers of convicted Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan, saying they were helping him run his outlawed rebel group from prison.

2. "Rights groups condemn attack on minority rights report", forceful termination of Kaboglu's speech by certain members of the board is 'unacceptable,' says a joint statement from IHD, TIHV, Mazlum-Der and Amnesty International's Turkey office

3. "Turkey Makes Plans For Iraq", Turkish newspapers this week are reporting that the Turkish government has formulated a contingency plan that would place at least 20,000 Turkish troops inside northern Iraq in an effort to prevent Kurdish leaders from changing the demographic structure of the highly contested city of Kirkuk.

4. "Military: No compromise on unitary structure", the Turkish General Staff denies press reports that it has prepared plans for a military operation in Iraq to prevent demographic changes in Kirkuk.

5. "Kurds Enjoy a Calmer Corner of Iraq", Turkey, Iran and Syria are wary of the autonomy achieved by Iraqi Kurds, fearing the effects it might have on Kurds in their own countries.

6. "No Agreement With United States On Kirkuk: Turkish General", Turkish Deputy Chief of General Staff Gen. Ilker Basbug denied on Tuesday press reports that Turkey had reached an agreement with U.S. authorities regarding Kirkuk.

1. - AFP - "Turkish army calls for clampdown on Ocalan lawyers":

ANKARA / 2 November 2004

The Turkish military on Tuesday urged the judicial authorities to crack down on the lawyers of convicted Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan, saying they were helping him run his outlawed rebel group from prison.

"The terrorist chief is running his organisation (Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) now known as KONGRA-GEL) from prison. There is no other example of this in the world," Turkey's number two soldier, Ilker Basbug, told a regular monthly news briefing.

Ocalan was captured by Turkish undercover agents in Kenya in 1999, brought back to Turkey and sentenced to death. His sentence was later commmuted to life.

Basbug said that the numerous lawyers who visited him on the Imrali prison island, passed Ocalan's orders to his organisation via the press, in contradiction to the ethical standards expected from their profession.

He also took issue with demands from the European Union -- which Turkey hopes to be set on the road to join later this year -- to improve rights for Kurds, saying they should not be treated as a minority.

"We do not like that citizens who do not consider themselves as a minority should be presented openly or implicitly as such," he said.

KONGRA-GEL ended a five-year unilateral ceasefire with the Turkish government in June escalating tension in the mainly Kurdish southeast, where it waged a bloody 15-year campaign for self-rule from 1984 to 1999. Clashes with government security forces have resumed.

The Kurdish people is scattered over four countries -- Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey. They want their own homeland called Kurdistan.

As a large and distinct group with their own language and culture they are neither Arabs, Persians nor Turks and are seen as a political threat by all four of the countries they inhabit.

2. - Turkish Daily News - "Rights groups condemn attack on minority rights report":

Forceful termination of Kaboglu's speech by certain members of the board is 'unacceptable,' says a joint statement from IHD, TIHV, Mazlum-Der and Amnesty International's Turkey office

ANKARA / 3 November 2004

Turkish human rights organizations were united in condemning a violent interruption at a press conference by head of the Human Rights Advisory Board (IHDK) to unveil a report on minority rights in Turkey.

IHDK Chairman Ibrahim Kaboglu was forced to stop a press conference on Monday when some of the board's members forcibly grabbed the text of his speech and tore it into pieces. The report, which has been highly controversial since excerpts from it were leaked to the press a few weeks ago, recommends to the Prime Ministry changes to the Constitution and relevant laws to extend cultural rights and criticizes Turkey's practices concerning the definition and the rights of minorities.

In a joint statement, Human Rights Association (IHD), Turkish Human Rights Foundation (TIHV), Mazlum-Der and the Turkey office of the Amnesty International, said forcible termination of Kaboglu's speech by certain members of the board was "unacceptable."

Monday's incident is the latest in a series of rows within the IHDK -- a body attached to the office of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Secretary-General of the public workers' union Kamu-Sen Fahrettin Yokus, who tore up the papers in Kaboglu's hand at the press conference, defended his actions yesterday, saying the report was a "document of betrayal" and vowed to tear it up again whenever he came across it.

The 78-member IHDK brings together academics and non-governmental organizations and is sponsored by the Prime Ministry.

The groups' statement said Monday's incident highlighted the need to revise the structure of government-sponsored human rights institutions.

A statement from pro-Kurdish Democratic People's Party (DEHAP) also criticized Yokus for his intervention and condemned it as "very ugly behavior."

The European Union, which Turkey aspires to join, is pushing Turkey to extend the cultural rights for Kurds and non-Muslim communities.

Monday's incident was also on the agenda of a meeting between the German Greens' Party Co-Chairperson Claudia Roth and Parliament's Human Rights Commission Chairman Mehmet Elkatmis at Parliament yesterday.

Elkatmis told Roth that it was impossible to approve of what happened on Monday but criticized the report, saying it was full of insults to the government and Parliament.

3. - RFE/RL - "Analysis: Turkey Makes Plans For Iraq":

2 November 2004 / by Kathleen Ridolfo

Turkish newspapers this week are reporting that the Turkish government has formulated a contingency plan that would place at least 20,000 Turkish troops inside northern Iraq in an effort to prevent Kurdish leaders from changing the demographic structure of the highly contested city of Kirkuk.

The plan ostensibly calls for the reentry of Turkish forces into northern Iraq to rout out Turkish-Kurdish militants from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), and also calls for Turkish troops to prevent further Iraqi Kurdish migration to Kirkuk. The city has a large Turkoman (ethnic Turkish) population, and vast oil reserves.

Media reports in recent months indicate that large numbers of Kurds are migrating to the city. Kurds say that they were displaced under the Hussein regime and are returning to their rightful homes; Turkey claims that Iraqi Kurdish leaders Mas'ud Barzani and Jalal Talabani want to ensure a Kurdish majority in the city under the next census in order to claim it as rightfully theirs, and possibly seek its inclusion in a federal Kurdistan.

Barzani heightened Turkish concern over Kirkuk in recent weeks through a number of inflammatory statements that made clear that Iraqi Kurds seek the return of Kirkuk to Kurdistan (see "RFE/RL Iraq Report," 22 October 2004). He told reporters in the Turkish capital on 12 October that Kirkuk has a Kurdish "identity," and vowed to fight any force that attempts to intercede in the issue (see "RFE/RL Iraq Report," 15 October 2004).

According to news reports published in Istanbul dailies "Cumhuriyet," "Milliyet," and "Sabah" between 30 October and 1 November, Ankara's contingency plan was reviewed during a 14 October cabinet meeting attended by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, chief of General Staff General Hilmi Ozkok, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul, and Turkish envoy to Iraq Osman Koruturk, among others. "Milliyet" reported on 1 November that the plan calls for the deployment of two army corps divisions to the area, including a 40,000-strong force to stand ready to enter northern Iraq on 18-hours notice. Those troops would first focus on PKK camps in the Qandil mountain range with the assistance of air support.

Turkish concerns over the presence of PKK militants in northern Iraq have been heightened by reports that Syrian and Iranian Kurds have joined Turkish Kurds in northern Iraq, "Sabah" reported on 31 October. The daily claimed that the number of militants present there has increased dramatically from the 2,000 that fled across the Turkish-Iraqi border on the orders of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan four years ago. "Sabah" cited as "proof" the discovery of Syrian and Iranian nationals among those militants killed in clashes "over the past few days."

"Cumhuriyet" reported on 30 October that the Turkish force would consist of 20,000 troops, and claimed that military forces have already begun their deployment toward the Turkish-Iraqi border. The daily also claimed that Turkey has received tacit approval from U.S. officials to intervene in Kirkuk. "Cumhuriyet" also reported that the contingency plan was further discussed at a 27 October meeting between the Turkish National Security Council and the Turkish armed forces.

The newspapers' reports claim that Barzani and Talabani are operating under the false assumption that Turkey would not take action against the "Kurdization" of Kirkuk before the 17 December EU Summit, when Turkey will begin accession talks with the European Union. But as "Sabah" contended: "There are national goals and causes that are more important than the EU.... For Kirkuk is in fact not the heart of Kurdistan, but rather that of Turkey's Iraq policy."

It remains rather unlikely that the United States has given any sort of tacit approval for a Turkish incursion into northern Iraq. While the dailies are correct in reporting that the United States is perhaps wary of any demographic transformation of the city, it is a far stretch to assume that the United States would permit Turkish troops to move deep into northern Iraq. Iraq's Kurds would interpret such as move as an invasion, and large-scale fighting would ensue. Baghdad would also not be welcome to such an incursion, since it would destabilize the whole of northern Iraq, which has experienced relative quiet since the fall of the Hussein regime.

However, it is clear that something is afoot in northern Iraq. A 12 October MENA report stated that Kurdish peshmerga forces were moving troops further north and digging tunnels and establishing military outposts near Dahuk, close to the Turkish border. The news agency said the new positions of peshmerga would effectively give them control over the major land entry points along the border. Turkey has had a long-standing interest in Kirkuk because of its vast oil reserves, and Turkish leaders in 2003 attempted to claim a Turkish historical right to the city (see "RFE/RL Iraq Report," 13 January 2003).

4. - Turkish Daily News - "Military: No compromise on unitary structure":

The Turkish General Staff denies press reports that it has prepared plans for a military operation in Iraq to prevent demographic changes in Kirkuk

ANKARA / 3 November 2004

Turkey's powerful military said yesterday that Turkey's unitary structure was not open to debate, warning that questioning it could lead to disintegration of the country.

"The Turkish Armed Forces cannot accept any debate over the unitary structure of the Turkish state, an untouchable provision of the Constitution," Deputy Chief of Staff Gen. Ilker Basbug told a press conference yesterday.

His statement came after the European Union Commission called for more cultural rights for Turkey's Kurdish community in an Oct. 6 report. Its wording sparked a debate over the definition of minority in Turkey, and a government-sponsored human rights committee called for revision of the Constitution and relevant laws to expand cultural rights in a report presented to the Prime Minister's Office.

Basbug said the EU Commission's report made implicit or explicit references to "certain communities" that were not described as minorities in the 1923 Lausanne Treaty, which founded the Turkish Republic. That treaty grants minority status only to non-Muslim communities in Turkey.

The top commander also complained that some of the rights suggested for those communities in the EU report went beyond cultural rights and spilled over into the "political realm."

"It is clear that the EU's approach goes beyond the framework drawn up by the Lausanne Treaty," Basbug said.

The top commander also said Turkey had carried out and continued to implement reforms to "enhance Turkey's cultural richness," provided that the reforms did not go beyond the cultural field and jeopardize the unitary structure of the state.

No Iraq operation deal with US

Basbug also denied press reports that Turkey and the United States had reached an agreement for a Turkish cross-border operation in Iraq.

Reports in some Turkish newspapers in recent days have said the Turkish Armed Forces had prepared plans to send up to 40,000 troops to northern Iraq to prevent forceful attempts by Iraqi Kurds to change the demographic structure of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk and to eliminate presence of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the region.

Basbug denied the reports, saying Turkey remained committed to diplomatic means, but warned that Iraqi Kurds were after "creating an opportunity for themselves out of efforts to determine the future of Kirkuk."

The same reports also said that the plans had the blessing of the United States. Basbug denied there had been any such contacts with the United States.

An official at the U.S. Embassy in Ankara also denied the reports and said there was no such agreement between Turkey and the United States.

'TSK's duty to protect the republic'

Basbug also responded to criticism in the EU's Oct. 6 report over the definition of the responsibilities of the Turkish Armed Forces' (TSK) in the relevant laws.

"What responsibility could be more important than this for an armed forces?" Basbug asked.

5. - International Herald Tribune - "Kurds Enjoy a Calmer Corner of Iraq":

ARBIL / 2 November 2004 / by Thomas Fuller

Truck drivers here say they are not worried about ambushes, shopkeepers report that security is not an issue and local residents shrug off questions about violence and kidnappings.

"We have not closed our shutters at night in seven years," said Abdul Wahid Hassan inside his shop filled with brand-new refrigerators, televisions and air conditioners.

While cities like Baghdad and Falluja are riven by insurgency, this dusty, sprawling city is part of the other Iraq, a region that seldom appears in headlines and where life resembles something closer to normalcy.

Populated mainly by Kurds, Iraq's northernmost region forms a thin crescent of relative peace around the upper rim of the country, extending from Duhok to Erbil and Sulaimaniya - cities that are less well-known abroad precisely because they have largely been spared attacks.

One northern governor talks about promoting tourism, a seemingly outlandish idea in a country gripped by violence but indicative of the measure of security Kurds feel they have achieved.

"People find it very difficult to believe that there is a safe area in Iraq," said Barzan Dezayee, the minister of municipalities in the regional Kurdish government. "We need to convince people that not all of Iraq is Falluja - that Kurdistan is safe."

Iraq's Kurdish north covers nearly 14,000 square miles, and is home to roughly 3.5 million of Iraq's 25 million people.

Today it provides an oasis of relative calm within Iraq: parents and their children linger at restaurants and shops long after darkness sets in; foreign aid workers walk unarmed through the streets; and the police and most soldiers wear soft hats.

The area has enjoyed de facto autonomy since the end of the Persian Gulf war in 1991, and during the 1990's was protected by the no-flight zone patrolled by American and British aircraft, and so was largely free from the grip of the Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein.

During the past several years, Kurds who fled Mr. Hussein's Iraq decades ago have returned to take posts in the government, private sector and universities here. Mr. Dezayee, who left Iraq in 1974, was educated in Britain and worked as a civil engineer in Saudi Arabia and other gulf countries, returned three months ago to take up his government post. Like many other returnees, he is building a house, contributing to a construction boom in the Kurdish region.

"I had been away for 30 years and it was time to come back and do something for my people," Mr. Dezayee said.

Still, the area has not been entirely peaceful. In February, two simultaneous suicide attacks at the offices of Kurdish political parties in Erbil killed more than 65 people. Since then, however, there have been no reported attacks in the region, a stark contrast to the dozens of daily assaults against American forces and Iraqis in the central and southern parts of the country.

Aziz Weysi, the commander of special forces of the Kurdish army in northwestern Iraq, attributes the relative stability here to the fact that Kurdish people identify with their regional government and feel they have a stake in maintaining peace.

"If you rule a country with oppression and force, you have to surround it with fortresses," he said in his office in the mountains outside of Duhok. "But if the people are on your side, they become your fortress."

There is very little American military presence in the north and as a result people say they do not feel occupied. The Kurdish region is also relatively homogeneous.

Insurgents had tried "many times" to stage attacks by bringing explosives into the Kurdish areas but had been caught, he said, declining to elaborate. But he said would-be attackers had no "base" here.

Nechervan Ahmed, the governor of Duhok Province, says there is a consensus among the Kurdish political parties - notably divided in the past - on the importance of security.

"This is a golden age for the Kurds in Iraq," Mr. Ahmed said.

The local prison in Duhok, used in the 1980's by Mr. Hussein's government to jail political opponents, now houses low-income families. For wealthier residents, workers are building multistoried villas on the fringes of the city.

Yet for all the good news here there are many questions dogging the Kurdish north.

Relations with the rest of Iraq are shaky and many Arab Iraqis consider the Kurds traitors for working with the United States and its allies.

Turkey, Iran and Syria are wary of the autonomy achieved by Iraqi Kurds, fearing the effects it might have on Kurds in their own countries.

"The Kurds are surrounded by countries that are enemies with each other except when it comes to the Kurds - then they are friends," said Hamed Ali, an aide to Governor Ahmed.

With most roads linking the Kurdish region to the rest of Iraq often too dangerous to travel, essential supplies like cement and steel come primarily from Turkey. But because the Turks only allow a limited number of trucks to cross the border each day, the region is suffering shortages.

Officials are seeking more direct connections with the outside world: an international airport terminal is nearing completion in Erbil. The runway is already used by Kurdish leaders to fly in and out of Iraq. Another airport is under construction in Sulaimaniya.

With security seemingly under control, the most pressing problem here is more a more painfully familiar one: poverty.

Sabah Humir, a 24-year-old construction worker, said he makes about $75 a month, barely enough to pay his rent, let alone buy food.

The United Nations provides Iraqis with monthly rations of sugar, oil, flour, tea and powdered milk, but Mr. Humir said those ran out half way through the month.

"I eat only sorrow and misery," he said, using a local expression.

6. - Anadolu News Agency - "No Agreement With United States On Kirkuk: Turkish General":

ANKARA / 3 November 2004

Turkish Deputy Chief of General Staff Gen. Ilker Basbug denied on Tuesday press reports that Turkey had reached an agreement with U.S. authorities regarding Kirkuk.

Basbug, in a press briefing today in Ankara, said, "however, we naturally discuss the future of Kirkuk with every official we meet, particularly the U.S. officials."

Noting that Turkey wanted the energy resources in Iraq to be equally and fairly used by all Iraqi people, Basbug said that Kirkuk, which was a ground for 12 percent of Iraqi oil, had a particular importance in this context.

Drawing attention that Kirkuk's history and Turkmens in the region should also be taken into consideration, Basbug noted that this matter could not only be assessed "as a domestic affair" of Iraq.

Stating that "any wrong decision might cause an internal clash or a civil war in Iraq", Basbug stressed that it was also an assessment of U.S. officials and NATO intelligence sources.

Basbug said, "if a civil war erupts in Iraq, it would probably affect Turkey. Therefore, Kirkuk is very important. Kirkuk should be granted special status, and it should be protected."

Referring to speculative press reports about operation plans regarding Kirkuk, Basbug said, "it is our task to coordinate and prevent any unfavorable development regarding Kirkuk. So it is our duty to make plans against every possibility. Kirkuk is a State policy, and therefore, a decision (on this matter) is made by a common view of all institutions."