27 October 2004

1. "DEHAP, IHD insist systematic torture remains", representatives of the leading rights group and the pro-Kurdish party tell European lawmakers that torture is still systematic in Turkey

2. "Turkey is the 113rd in RSF's Freedom List", RSF's third annual worlwide press freedom index says East Asia and Middle East have worst press freedom records EU members among the first 40; Russia, Caucasus and Central Asia lag behind. The greatest press freedom is found in northern Europe.

3. "Turkey condemned by rights court for torture of alleged Kurdish militant", the European Court of Human Rights condemned Turkey Tuesday for the 1998 torture of a man accused of links with the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK - now renamed KONGRA-GEL).

4. "Kurd rebels sabotage Turkey pipeline", Kurdish guerrillas have staged a bomb attack on an oil pipeline in southeast Turkey, causing some damage in the third attack of its kind in three days, CNN Turk said on Tuesday.

5. "Three Kurdish rebels killed in Turkey clash", three Kurdish rebels were killed in a clash with government troops in eastern Turkey, local authorities said Wednesday.

6. "EU Membership Bid by US Ally Turkey Worries Europeans", the question of whether Turkey, a Muslim country and U.S. ally straddling Europe and Asia, should become a member of the European Union has dominated a French-German summit in Berlin.

1. - Turkish Daily News - "DEHAP, IHD insist systematic torture remains":

Representatives of the leading rights group and the pro-Kurdish party tell European lawmakers that torture is still systematic in Turkey

ANKARA / 27 October 2004 / by Emine Kart

A leading Turkish human rights organization and Turkey's pro-Kurdish Democratic People's Party (DEHAP) have insisted that torture is still systematic in Turkey, despite a European Commission report which found that this was no longer the case in the European Union candidate.

Representatives from DEHAP and the Human Rights Association (IHD) told a session of a European Parliament human rights sub-committee that systematic torture persisted, although they still called for a European Union decision to open accession talks with Turkey.

The EU Commission concluded in its Oct. 6 report that torture was no longer systematic in Turkey, although it said ill-treatment continued to be a problem. The report reflected the findings of an EU official during an investigation in Turkey prior to the release of the report. That investigation was prompted by statements made by some human rights organizations during talks with EU Enlargement Commissioner Guenther Verheugen last month alleging that torture was still systematic in Turkey.

"The IHD bases its description of 'systematic torture' on the criteria put forward in the United Nations' Convention Against Torture," IHD Chairman Husnu Ondul told the Turkish Daily News yesterday.

Referrring to reports handed over to EU officials by the IHD, the Turkish Human Rights Foundation (TIHV) and Mazlum-Der, Ondul said statistics and witnesses demonstrated that three conditions of "systematic torture" cited in the U.N. document -- namely it being "widespread, continuous and deliberate" -- showed that torture in Turkey was still systematic.

He emphasized that the IHD was not accusing the government of deliberately promoting torture. "We are not calling the government a 'torturer'," he said.

IHD Diyarbakir branch Chairman Selahattin Demirtas and DEHAP Chairman Tuncer Bakirhan said in the European Parliament session late on Monday that systematic torture was still being practiced in Turkey, contrary to what the EU Commission said in its recommendation to the European Council.

Bakirhan and Demirtas both emphasized the importance of the starting of the negotiations for the implementation of human rights reforms in Turkey and urged the EU to give a date to Turkey at a Dec. 17 summit.

Ondul praised the government for its policy of "zero tolerance for torture"; however, he said the will to follow up on implementation was more important. "Torture has been forbidden in this country since 1876. If legislation was enough to prevent torture, it would not exist in the world," he said.

A senior representative from DEHAP, the party's deputy chairman, Hamit Geylani, told the TDN that there had been no serious improvement in eliminating torture in Turkey, insisting that systematic torture remained.

He emphasized that torture might not necessarily be physical: "If people are still not able to express themselves with their own identity in a country and if their freedom is limited, it means pressure and denial, which is also a kind of torture."

Both Ondul and Geylani voiced their support for Turkey's EU quest, saying that the December summit should result in a starting date for Turkey's entry talks. Both of them considered the EU process a first step for Turkey for harmonization with the basic principles of international law and the Copenhagen criteria.

The Foreign Relations Committee of the European Parliament was set to discuss a report drafted by Turkey Rapporteur Camiel Eurlings on the human rights situation in Turkey later yesterday.

Armenian participants addressing Monday's discussion on the report at the human rights sub-committee said Turkey should recognize an alleged genocide against Armenians in order to join the EU.

2. - Bianet - "Turkey is the 113rd in RSF's Freedom List":

RSF's third annual worlwide press freedom index says East Asia and Middle East have worst press freedom records EU members among the first 40; Russia, Caucasus and Central Asia lag behind. The greatest press freedom is found in northern Europe.

PARIS / 27 October 2004

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) announces its third annual worldwide index of press freedom. Such freedom is threatened most in East Asia (with North Korea at the bottom of the entire list at 167th place, followed by Burma 165th, China 162nd, Vietnam 161st and Laos 153rd) and the Middle East (Saudi Arabia 159th, Iran 158th, Syria 155th, Iraq 148th).

In these countries, an independent media either does not exist or journalists are persecuted and censored on a daily basis.

Freedom of information and the safety of journalists are not guaranteed there. Continuing war has made Iraq the most deadly place on earth for journalists in recent years, with 44 killed there since fighting began in March last year.

But there are plenty of other black spots around the world for press freedom. Cuba (in 166th place) is second only to China as the biggest prison for journalists, with 26 in jail (China has 27). Since spring last year, these 26 independent journalists have languished in prison after being given sentences of between 14 and 27 years.

No privately-owned media exist in Turkmenistan (164th) and Eritrea (163rd), whose people can only read, see or listen to government-controlled media dominated by official propaganda.

The greatest press freedom is found in northern Europe (Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Iceland, the Netherlands and Norway), which is a haven of peace for journalists. Of the top 20 countries, only three (New Zealand 9th, Trinidad and Tobago 11th and Canada 18th) are outside Europe.

Other small and often impoverished democracies appear high on the list, such as El Salvador (28th) and Costa Rica (35th) in Central America, along with Cape Verde (38th) and Namibia (42nd) in Africa and Timor-Leste (57th) in Asia.

Reporters Without Borders compiled the index by asking its partner organisations (14 freedom of expression organizations in five continents), its 130 correspondents around the world, as well as journalists, researchers, jurists and human rights activists, to answer 52 questions to indicate the state of press freedom in 167 countries (others were not included for lack of information).

All EU members among the first 40

Italy and Spain are the two European Union (EU) member states that ranked worst, sharing 39th position. In Italy, Silvio Berlusconi's conflict of interests as prime minister and at the same time owner of a media empire continued to affect the independence of the broadcasting sector.

But the relatively poor ranking is due this year above all to the many judicial decisions violating press freedom, including prison sentences for press offences, searches and violation of the confidentiality of journalists' sources.

Spain's poor ranking is due to the resumption of ETA's terror campaign against journalists who do not share its views on international politics or the situation in the Basque country.

It is also due to the manipulation of the news and the direct pressure put on the state news media by the government of Prime Minister José Maria Aznar in the immediate aftermath of the Madrid bombings of 11 March 2004.

The United Kingdom's ranking (28th) is largely due to the situation in Northern Ireland, where journalists are constantly threatened by paramilitary groups. The investigation into the 2001 murder of Sunday World journalist Martin O'Hagan has come to a complete standstill.

In France b(19th), the year was marked by the attempted murder of a journalist with the daily Le Figaro, whose car was riddled with bullets in Corsica in early September 2003.

Belgium's fall to 22nd position is due to a serious violation of the confidentiality of a foreign correspondent's sources. Greece's position (33rd) is attributable above all to the many obstacles to the work of journalists in the run up to the Olympic Games.

The EU's ten new member countries show respect for press freedom but legislation is not always in line with European standards, which recommend the elimination of prison sentences for press crimes. For example, Poland (32nd) sentenced a journalist to three months in prison for defamation. Only a national and international outcry prevented the journalist from going to prison.

The poor rankings assigned to EU candidates Romania (70th) and (to a lesser extent) Bulgaria (36th), as well as Moldova (78th), contrasts with the overall improvement in the Balkans.

Serbia-Montenegro (77th) trails somewhat because of the murder of a journalist who was investigation corruption allegation implicating Montenegro's prime minister.

The remarkable progress made by Turkey (113th) with its legislation with a view to joining the EU has still not translated into a significant improvement in press freedom in practice.

The proof of this was the lack of any fall this year in the number of violations of the kind that are used to calculate this worldwide ranking.

Russia, Caucasus and Central Asia lag behind

In the Caucasus, Azerbaijan's sharp fall to 136th position is the result of a decline in press freedom since the October 2003 presidential election. Around 100 journalists were physically attacked and detained during the rioting that followed the polls.

One of them, who is also the leader of an opposition party, was sentenced to five years in prison. Georgia's fall to 94th position is largely due to unrest in the autonomous republics of Adzhara and Abkhazia, which gave rise to press freedom violations.

In Russia (140th), the biased coverage of the tragic hostage crisis in Beslan, in North Ossetia, was a flagrant illustration of the total control exercised by the Kremlin over the national TV stations.

Many Russian and foreign journalists were prevented from working and the censorship applied to Chechnya was extended to neighboring republics. The Agence France-Presse correspondent in the region is still missing, while two journalists were killed in Moscow during the summer, one of them the editor of the Russian version of the US magazine Forbes.

In Ukraine (138th), pro-opposition journalists and some foreign media were censored in the run-up to the October 2004 presidential election. The number of physical attacks was also very high and those responsible for the murders of journalists, including that of Georgy Gongadze, still enjoy total impunity.

In Belarus (144th), President Alexander Lukashenko's regime tolerates no criticism and all methods are systematically used to reduce the few dissident voices to silence. The information minister closed or suspended some 10 independent newspapers on spurious bureaucratic grounds in the run-up to the legislative elections and referendum on 17 October.

The investigation into the disappearance of opposition journalist Dmitri Zavadski in 2000 was closed although there is little doubt that the highest authorities were involved.

Finally, in Uzbekistan (142nd), the sentencing of a journalist and human rights activist to a heavy prison sentence for "homosexuality" is an example of the government's brutal repression of an independent press that is almost non-existent. The rankings assigned to Kyrgyzstan (107th) and Tajikistan (95th) were relatively good compared to the other countries in the region, but are not grounds for overlooking how extremely precarious press freedom is there.

3. - AFP - "Turkey condemned by rights court for torture of alleged Kurdish militant":

STRASBOURG / 26 October 2004

The European Court of Human Rights condemned Turkey Tuesday for the 1998 torture of a man accused of links with the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK - now renamed KONGRA-GEL).

It dismissed a similar case brought by a second man arrested in the same incident but found Turkey guilty in both cases of failing to provide an effective remedy to complaints of ill-treatment.

Turkish police arrested Abdurrahman Celik and Kasim Imret on May 17 1998 on suspicion of acting as couriers for the PKK, a charge of which they were later cleared.

They said that while in detention they were subjected to electric shocks, notably on their genitals. They were also beaten, deprived of food and water, kept in isolation, immersed in cold water and threatened with death.

The Turkish govermment argued that injuries found on Celik's body -- a large bruise under one eye and lesions in the groin area -- were the result of a fall, an account the Strasbourg-based court found "not very convincing,"ruling that they were the result of treatment for which the Turkish government was responsible.

Accordingly it found that Turkey had violated an article of the European Convention on Human Rights prohibiting torture. In the case of Imret it acquitted Turkey on the grounds that the plaintiff had not provided proof of his allegations.

But it ruled that the Turkish authorities had been remiss in failing to prosecute rapidly the police officers involved and found Ankara in breach of its obligation to provide an effective remedy to the men's complaints.

Turkey was ordered to pay 10,000 euros (12,800 dollars) to Celik and 5,000 euros to Imret.

4. - Reuters - "Kurd rebels sabotage Turkey pipeline":

ISTANBUL / 26 October 2004

Kurdish guerrillas have staged a bomb attack on an oil pipeline in southeast Turkey, causing some damage in the third attack of its kind in three days, CNN Turk said on Tuesday.

The attack occurred near a village in the province of Batman, where CNN Turk said the rebels sabotaged a pipeline belonging to the state TPAO oil company. Some 200 barrels of oil seeped onto the surrounding area as a result of the latest sabotage.

It was not clear exactly when the last attack happened.

Employees from TPAO and the state pipeline company Botas repaired the damage and the spilled oil was transported back to a Botas installation.

The CNN Turk television channel said on its website that an operation had been carried out to catch the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels believed to be behind the attack.

The PKK launched a violent separatist campaign for an ethnic homeland in the southeast of the country in 1984. More than 30,000 people have died in the conflict.

Clashes subsided after the 1999 capture of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, but there has been a resurgence of attacks since the PKK ended a unilateral ceasefire in June.

5. - AFP - "Three Kurdish rebels killed in Turkey clash":

ANKARA / 27 October 2004

Three Kurdish rebels were killed in a clash with government troops in eastern Turkey, local authorities said Wednesday.

The fighting took place in a village in the province of Tunceli, the office of the local governor said in a statement carried by Anatolia news agency.

The three "terrorists" -- a customary reference for members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), now known as KONGRA-GEL -- were wanted for their alleged involvement in two murders in the same region, Anatolia said.

The PKK, which has waged a 15-year war for self-rule in the mainly Kurdish eastern and southeasterns regions of Turkey, called off a five-year unilateral ceasefire with Ankara on June 1.

6. - CNSNews.com - "EU Membership Bid by US Ally Turkey Worries Europeans":

PARIS / 27 October 2004

The question of whether Turkey, a Muslim country and U.S. ally straddling Europe and Asia, should become a member of the European Union has dominated a French-German summit in Berlin.

Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and President Jacques Chirac were joined Tuesday by Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan for the signing of a multi-billion dollar Airbus contract for Turkish Airlines. They also continued negotiations on Turkey's application to join the 25-nation bloc.

The French and German governments have both come out in favor of Turkey's membership in the E.U., although polls indicate that a majority of citizens in the two countries opposes it.

In a recent Ipsos poll for the newspaper Le Figaro, 56 percent of French respondents said they were opposed to Turkey joining the E.U.

The main reason given was fear that cheap labor from Turkey, a country with a still underdeveloped economy, would increase unemployment in France.

Europeans have also voiced concern that Turkish membership would take the Muslim population in traditionally Christian Europe to 20 percent.

Another objection often brought up is that most of Turkey is situated geographically in Asia rather than Europe.

Crucially, the question of Turkey's admission to the E.U. has put the issue of a united Europe's political power - as measured against America as a world power - onto the agenda.

Some in Europe suspect that the U.S. wants its large ally to be a member of the bloc, to slow down the development of a strong entity that could challenge Washington as a superpower.

Supporters of Turkey's bid argue that, by welcoming Turkish Muslims, Europe would lay a bridge between Islam and Christianity and stem the tide of Muslim fundamentalism.

In France, members of Chirac's party and opposition politicians have come down on both sides of the debate, and the president has agreed to hold a referendum on the subject.

A Europe that includes Turkey could not be the long-planned, powerful federal political force, speaking with a united voice based on its shared heritage, according to Maxime Lefebvre, a European Affairs analyst at the French Institute of Foreign Relations in Paris.

"Turkey doesn't have the same history and culture as the countries in the Union and its membership would put an end to the project of a federal Europe, the way the founding members imagined it," he said.

On the other hand, one could imagine a different sort of Europe, including Turkey - "an enlarged Europe, oriented to the West, democratic, a sort of regional mini-U.N.."

That type of Europe could play a stabilizing role through its foreign and defense policy, and would also bridge the gap between Europe and the Muslim world, Lefebvre said.

This would also be convenient for America, he added, because Europe could then play a complementary role to the U.S.

"If Europe is not politically united, it does not have the means to develop a foreign policy of its own, different from [that of] the U.S.," said Lefebvre. "And so Europe's policies would have to be compatible with American policy."

For now, many European politicians caution that it is too early to say what shape transatlantic relations would take, should the E.U. include Turkey.

According to the estimate of the E.U.'s executive Commission (E.C.), negotiations for Ankara's membership are expected to take at least 10 years, and countries such as France are likely to delay the process even longer.

To comply with membership requirements, Turkey still has to transform into a market economy that can work in Europe's single market.

Simply to be accepted as a candidate for admission, Turkey has already passed reform packages to meet Europe's political requirements on democracy, human rights and justice.

The reforms included reducing military power, abolishing the death penalty and banning torture in prisons.

In a last-minute concession to E.U., Turkey dropped a clause criminalizing adultery when it passed a reform bill bringing its penal system in line with European human rights policies.

Turkey has said since the 1960s that it wishes to be part of Europe, but its application for membership was finally considered by the E.U. only in 1999.

Earlier this month, the E.C. recommended that negotiations should begin, a decision that the 25 heads of state still have to approve when they meet on December 17 in Brussels.

On Tuesday, Turkey gained one more supporter in its bid for membership. Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, praised Turkey as a secular democracy where people of different religions and cultures can live together.

He said its membership application was an "extraordinary opportunity" for Europe.