15 October 2004

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1. AFP - "Kurdish activist accuses EU hopeful Turkey of 'cosmetic' changes"

BRUSSELS / 14 October

Kurdish activist Leyla Zana accused Turkey of making only "cosmetic" changes towards EU norms in a speech to the European Parliament Thursday four months after being released from a Turkish jail.

Zana, speaking after finally receiving the EU assembly's Sakharov prize for human rights after a decade in Turkish detention, said: "Significant steps have certainly been taken (by Turkey) towards democracy.

"But the implementation of these steps still seems cosmetic," she said, adding that Turkey must implement EU membership criteria "in essence and not just in words".

Zana was awarded the parliament's high-profile accolade in 1995 but had already been in a Turkish jail for a year on charges of collaborating with separatist Kurdish rebels.

The release in June of Zana and three other former Kurdish legislators, who were also in Brussels, was a surprise twist in one of the most politically charged cases in EU-hopeful Turkey.

The four were seen as prisoners of conscience by the EU, and the European Parliament in particular had made them a cause celebre.

The Kurdish activists' visit to Brussels comes a week after the European Union's executive commission recommended that EU nations start membership negotiations with Turkey.

The commission's appraisal will form the basis for a decision to be taken by EU leaders at a mid-December summit. They are expected to give a green light, while attaching strict conditions.

In a copy of her speech distributed to the press, Zana said the EU must start accession negotiations "immediately by reminding Turkey of her responsibilities concerning the Kurdish issue".

But this reference was dropped in the oration, and Zana also side-stepped the issue of when the EU should sit down for talks with Turkey at a subsequent press conference.

In her speech, which was delivered in Turkish and Kurdish and concluded with a standing ovation from European Parliament members, Zana said Turkey had nothing to fear from its Kurdish minority.

"Kurds are determined for a peaceful solution within the territorial integrity of Turkey," she told the European legislators.

"But the government seems to be adamant about not understanding Kurds' sincere initiative (which) is open to dialogue," she said.

"Unless a peaceful solution is placed on the agenda, whatever political party may be in power, it will be condemned to wither away."

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2. turkishpress.com / AFP - "Arrest warrant for Turkish rights activist accused of insulting army"

ISTANBUL / 14 October

A Turkish court issued an arrest warrant Thursday against a leading human rights campaigner who is standing trial for insulting the Turkish military, Anatolia news agency reported.

In ordering the arrest of Eren Keskin, the court cited her failure to appear before the judge despite repeated summons.

The prosecution is seeking six months to three years in jail for Keskin over a speech she made at a conference in Cologne, Germany, in March 2002, in which she allegedly accused Turkish soldiers of sexually abusing women.

Turkey's biggest-selling newspaper, Hurriyet, quoted Keskin as saying at the time: "Women's issues cannot be resolved as long as the country (Turkey) is not run by civilian forces. The soldiers are practicing sexual assault. They take even married women to virginity tests just to torture them."

Keskin, a lawyer by profession, is known for her efforts as a campaigner for the rights of Turkey's Kurds.

She is one of the lawyers of a Kurdish woman whose claims of torture and multiple rape at the hands of paramilitary gendarmerie troops in the early 1990s prompted judicial authorities last October to indict 405 soldiers.

The plaintiff said she was blindfolded when abused, leading the prosecution to charge all soldiers who served during that period in two gendarmerie posts, where she claims the abuse took place, in Mardin province.

Turkish authorities have generally been reluctant to probe allegations of mistreatment by security forces in the predominantly Kurdish southeast, the scene of a bloody conflict in the 1980s and 1990s between Kurdish rebels and the army.

Turkey's rights record is under close scrutiny by the European Union, which it is seeking to join.

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3. Bianet - "I Will not Let my Charisma be Damaged!"

Incesu, a caricaturist of daily "Ulkede Ozgur Gundem" said the international community would not understand why daily Evrensel was fined for a caricature. Kart from the daily Cumhuriyet drew a stick man to represent the prime minister in his caricature.

ISTANBUL / 15 October 2004 / Erol ONDEROGLU

Hilal Incesu, a caricaturist at the "Ulkede Ozgur Gundem" (Free Agenda in the Country) newspaper, commented on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan suing the Daily Evrensel newspaper for a caricature, and the court ruling that the newspaper has to pay 10 billion Turkish liras (USD 6,700) in compensation. "I think it's nonsense," said Incesu. "No one in the international community will understand this trial. They will be very surprised."

Caricaturist Musa Kart drew the the incident in his caricature corner called, "Above the Boot," in the Cumhuriyet (Republic) newspaper.

In Kart's caricature, a stick man, representing the prime minister, speaks into the microphone of a reporter: "Yes, let's join the EU for personal rights and freedoms. However, I will not let my charisma be damaged!"

Incesu: I was sentenced to 50 months in prison, it was suspended

Halil Incesu, the caricaturist of the "General Elektrik" was sued for "insulting the flag" and was acquitted. Incesu thinks it is positive that the media is paying so much attention to the trial about caricaturist Selvi of the Daily Evrensel.

"We are so used to a lack of professional solidarity," said the caricaturist of 25 years. He believes that the media attention stems from the fact that it is the prime minister who sued a newspaper. "For example, if the issue was about making villagers eat faeces, there would not be so much media attention," said Incesu.

"We go to the court alone, we get tried, and we get out," said Incesu, adding that only human rights activist Sanar Yurdatapan supported him by publishing his sued caricature in a book titled, "Freedom of Opinions Booklet."

Incesu said he drew interesting caricatures while he worked for other publications, but added these were never sued. He argued that the state has a specific attitude toward the Agenda newspaper.

"I was sentenced to 50 months in prison but the sentence was later suspended," said Incesu. "I had tens of cases against me. For quite a while, I would go to court first thing in the morning and then go to work."

Musa Kart was "scared" to draw the prime minister

Musa Kart at the Cumhuriyet newspaper had a caricature on the trial about Sefer Selvi's caricature. Kart, in his caricature corner called "Above the Boot," drew a stick man to represent the prime minister. The stick man speaks to the microphone of a reporter: "Yes, let's join the EU for personal rights and freedoms. But I will not let my charisma be damaged!"

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4. AFP - "Turkey's top mafia boss brought back from from Austria"

ISTANBUL / 14 October

Turkey's top mafia boss Alaattin Cakici was brought back from Austria Thursday to face a long list of charges including murder and involvement in a bank scandal that led to a government collapse six years ago.

Cakici, 51, sought by Turkey and Interpol since 2002, was arrested in July near the southern Austrian city of Graz in possession of a fake passport. Last week, a Vienna court ruled to extradite him -- a decision made possible by the abolition of capital punishment in Turkey in 2002. Cakici is one of Turkey's most wanted criminals.

He was at the center of a 1998 scandal over the privatization of a state bank, which resulted in the toppling of the government of then-prime minister Mesut Yilmaz.

Most recently, his alleged ties with the judiciary and with intelligence officials triggered investigations against the top judge of the appeals court, one of his aides and a member of MIT, the national intelligence service.A three-man police team brought Cakici back on a flight from Vienna to Istanbul, where he was whisked aboard a Scorpion armored vehicle from the airport to the courthouse amid tight security and placed under arrest after undergoing a medical check.

He faces charges in six separate cases, two of them carrying possible life terms -- one for ordering the 1995 murder of his wife and the other of four other people, including his former right-hand man, in 1996, the Anatolia news agency reported.

He will also stand trial for his role in the failed privatization of the public bank Turkbank in 1998, in which the Yilmaz government allegedly resorted to Cakici's services to scare off unwanted bidders.Yilmaz himself risks trial before the Supreme Court over the scandal following a renewed parliamentary investigation into the case earlier this year.

Cakici also faces charges for ordering an armed attack in 2000 that injured 15 people at a cafe frequented by members of a rival gang. He has already spent three years in jail over the incident, but the appeals court has overturned part of the ruling and wants his sentence increased. Cakici also faces charges of ordering a 1997 attack against a stock broker -- the victim survived -- and of fleeing Turkey with a fake passport. Cakici escaped in May, reportedly hours before judicial authorities issued an arrest warrant against him and, according to the Turkish media, thanks to the appeals court dragging its feet in sending confirmation of his jail sentence to the relevant authorities.

Cakici was an extreme right-wing militant in Turkey's notorious Grey Wolves group until he turned to full-time crime and became a mob leader in the 1990s. He was allegedly sub-contracted by MIT for secret missions in the 1970s.

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5. AFP - "Cyprus will not veto Turkey if it shows respect for Greek Cypriot government"

NICOSIA / 14 October

"As a point of principle, Cyprus is not opposed to Turkey's EU accession as long as Turkey behaves towards Cyprus with the same responsibilities and obligations as it does to other EU member states," Papadopoulos told reporters.He said he did not want to go through all the issues that Cyprus demanded for a positive outcome, but recognition is a major issue, as Turkey has no diplomatic relations with the internationally recognised Greek Cypriot government.

Cyprus has indicated it will push for the withdrawal of Turkish troops occupying the island's nothern third since 1974 when Turkey invaded in response to an Athens-engineered coup to join Cyprus with Greece. Greek Cypriots rejected a UN reunification plan in an April referendum, which meant that a divided island joined the European Union in May with Turkish Cypriots, who backed the plan, left out in the cold Papadopoulos wants changes to the UN plan but avoids publicly saying what they are.

"What we want is known to the European Union both verbally and in writing," said the president on returning from a trip to Finland and Estonia.

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6. Kurdish Media / AFP - "Three Kurds arrested in Syria: lawyer"

DAMASCUS / October 14

Syrian authorities have arrested three Kurds in northern Syria, human rights lawyer Anwar Bunni said on Thursday.

"Military security arrested three Kurds in the town of Amuda," 700 kilometres (435 miles) north of the capital, as part of the clampdown linked to the fatal riots that took place last March in the northeast, he said, repeating his call for political prisoners to be freed.

In March, Kurds clashed with security forces and Arab tribes in the north of Syria. Kurds said 40 people died, while Syria put the figure at 25 dead.