15 September 2005

1. "Two Turkish soldiers killed in mine explosion blamed on Kurdish rebels", two soldiers were killed and six injured in Turkey's southeastern corner Thursday in a landmine explosion blamed on Kurdish rebels, local officials said.

2. "The PKK and Turkey’s EU bid", in its attempt to stave off the onslaught of terrorism from extreme form of Islam, Europe is being pushed by the US to fast track Turkey’s EU membership.

3. "Statement in response to attacks against Kurdish organisations in Germany", the Kongra-Gel leadership committee made a public statement today in response to the German police carrying out an attack against Kurdish organisations and to the closure of Ozgur Politka newspaper.

4. "IHD calls on provocateurs to be named", Selahattin Demirtas, the head of the Human Rights Association (IHD) in the south eastern province of Diyarbakir, said that recent incidents are leading towards ethnic conflict in Turkey.

5. "EU remains divided over Turkey's refusal to recognize Cyprus", EU ambassadors were unable to agree Wednesday on what approach to take toward Ankara's refusal to recognize Cyprus, a spokesman for the EU's British presidency said.

6. "Saddam's second trial to focus on Kurd massacres", ousted Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein will likely be tried later this year over the massacre of Kurds unless he is found guilty and hanged immediately at the conclusion of a first case opening in October, a source close to the Iraq's Special Tribunal said Thursday.

1. - AFP - "Two Turkish soldiers killed in mine explosion blamed on Kurdish rebels":

DIYARBAKIR / 15 September 2005

Two soldiers were killed and six injured in Turkey's southeastern corner Thursday in a landmine explosion blamed on Kurdish rebels, local officials said.
A military vehicle patrolling a rural area in the province of Hakkari, which borders Iraq and Iran, hit the landmine believed to have been laid by the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), the sources said.

Landmine attacks have become a pattern of PKK violence since the group called off a five-year unilateral ceasefire with Ankara in June 2004.

Last month, the rebels declared a one-month truce until September 20, but the Turkish army brushed aside the move and clashes in the region continue.

Some 37,000 people have been killed since 1984, when the PKK took up arms for self-rule in the country's mainly Kurdish southeast.

2. - Flash Bulletin - "The PKK and Turkey’s EU bid":

15 September 2005 / by Kurdo Bamarni

In its attempt to stave off the onslaught of terrorism from extreme form of Islam, Europe is being pushed by the US to fast track Turkey’s EU membership.

All of this is going on even though there is nothing to indicate that Turkey has changed its attitude in any way or that it should be viewed as a European state1since it signed the European adaptation packages.

However, it could be said that as the only secular Muslim member of Nato, Turkey could be quite influential in helping to counter balance Islam’s fundamental and fanatical attitude towards the west as well as towards modern democracies and freedom as a whole.

This is a reality that is well understood by many especially by the Kurds who have much to gain from Turkey’s EU bid as they have often been at the receiving end of Turkey’s extreme form of nationalism.

The fact remains that Turkey has not really changed except for a few cosmetic alterations that were required in order to speed up its membership.

Not a day goes by without hearing about something or other happening in Turkey2 that indicates to the observer that the country has not yet fully matured, and that it has failed to properly address the problem of internal strife that has gripped the country since its inception.

The Kurdish issue which Turkey’s powerful generals and civilian leaders are at odds on how best to define, is still a very sore point that has left its mark on both the Turkish and Kurdish nations.

The military’s controversial statement which some argue is even more powerful than that of the government, is in complete contrast to the positive statement made by the country’s prime minister and it serves as a reminder as to which side has been the cause of all this division for all these years.

The general staff of the Turkish army rejected Erdogan’s remarks that he made during his visit to the capital of North Kurdistan where he recognized that Turkey has a Kurdish problem that needs to be resolved through democratic means.

Although his assessment is nothing new and that it is only a re-run of statements made by his predecessors, it has nevertheless been backed up with some political movement.

However, there needs to be more than just a few political moves in order to reassess the immense damage that has been caused by nearly 80 years of uninterrupted free reign by the military who has viewed the Kurdish issue as merely a problem of national security.

The rush to include Turkey within the EU before evaluating its European credentials is reminiscent of the rush to satisfy Turkey by way of accepting its demand to declare the PKK as a terrorist organization.

In failing to check the validity of its claim, the west has shown that it is more eager to appease Turkey as a prominent country during the cold war and less concerned about the might of the Turkish army being unleashed on a defenceless Kurdish nation.

The continuing upsurge of violence in Turkey against the Kurds in North Kurdistan is as much the responsibility of the Turkish military as it is also the responsibility of the US, the UK, and Europe.

This is why the Turkish army needs to be challenged on its inexplicable hostile attitude towards the rights of ethnic groups, including a brutal war against the Kurds that followed the country’s genocide of Armenians that the country still denies.

A resolution to the conflict can only be accomplished by adopting the same type of strategy that Britain has adopted with the IRA and that Spain is now secretly negotiating with ETA.

Europe has a role to play in forcing Turkey to be more accountable for its actions and in initiating a similar move to end the conflict.

Although not welcomed at this critical juncture, the PKK’s violent retaliations have generally been in response to a deliberate venomous campaign to wipe out the Kurds from North of Kurdistan.

Past and recent events have shown that the might of the Turkish army would not eradicate the Kurdish issue and that a few political steps could not lessen the just rights of the Kurds.

The only way to move forward is for the main protagonists to end all hostilities and to enter into a political dialogue.

This would truly be a prelude to the Europeanization of Turkey and it will also mark the end of military rule and would herald real democratisation of the Turkish society along European norms and principles.

1. Turkey’s best author Pamuk Orhan has been charged for the comments that he made about the deaths of one million Armenians and 30,000 Kurds by the Turkish military.
2. Among many other violent reactions, recently Turkish security violently dispersed a protest in the Kurdish city of Batman and killed one protestor and injured many others.

3. - MHA - "Statement in response to attacks against Kurdish organisations in Germany":

5 September 2005 / by KONGRA-GEL (Kurdistan People’s Congress)

The Kongra-Gel leadership committee made a public statement today in response to the German police carrying out an attack against Kurdish organisations and to the closure of Ozgur Politka newspaper. It described the action of the German police, operating in concert with the Turkish authorities to attack Kurdish organisations, as a continuation of the international plan to attack the Kurds.

Highlighting the recent attacks in Turkey against the public, the statement says:

“On Saturday the 3 September 2005 in the German city of Köln about 100,000 Kurds assembled for the Kurdish International Festival, and on Sunday 4 September in Turkey and Kurdistan generally tens of thousands of Kurds began to march towards Gemlik to protest for their freedom and that of the leader of the KKK Abdullah Ocalan. The heroic efforts of our people were frustrated and the march was attacked by both the government and the reactionary nationalist movement. During these attacks one person was brutally killed.”

Highlighting the fact that the German government will no longer tolerate the Kurdish International Festival the statement continues:

“Germany could not tolerate our public display of unity, as manifested in the Festival, in support of our freedom and that of our leader. For this reason, they have initiated attacks on many Kurdish organisations. The closure of the voice of the Kurdish people, the Ozgur Politika newspaper, to coincide with these attacks, was not a coincidence but one of their political goals. Germany is attempting to justify its attacks by citing the demonstrations within Turkey. The German Home Affairs Minister said that the increasing attacks in Turkey would not be tolerated, but the fact that these attacks have been initiated by the Turkish government against the Kurdish people is completely overlooked. It is no secret that the object of the attacks is the KKK leader and those who want the Kurdish problem to be resolved peacefully. By attacking Kurdish organizations and interests in coordination with Turkey Germany is carrying out yet another stage of the international plan.

“During his visit from his brother on 2 August 2005 the KKK leader anticipated the attacks as follows: ‘A new plan has been initiated. Developments are not very encouraging, the prospects are gloomy. They have firstly taken all of your legal rights from you, in the future they may go as far as taking destroying you physically.’

“The attacks on our people and on the KKK leader have been given the go ahead simultaneously and are proceeding in a systematic fashion, with similarly severe methods employed in both cases. The special conditions of solitary confinement which Ocalan has been subjected to on Imrali have reached new dimensions. This has been expressly stated by our leader himself during his last visit from his brother on the 31 August 2005: ‘The limited rights previously afforded have been limited even further, essentially turning the conditions into solitary confinement within solitary confinement.’

“By treating our leader in a humiliating manner the Turkish government intends to provoke us. The Kurdish people, with their participation of over 100.000 people in the Köln festival, and their determination to carry out their march towards Gemlik, have revealed the true face of those who want to eradicate them and their struggle for freedom. Parallel to the attacks are the efforts of the attackers to try and establish their own type of Quisling Kurd. We are in no way intimidated by these policies, because these games have been played throughout our existence and we know them well. For this reason we call upon all the Kurdish democratic forces to unite. It is clear that the focus of the attacks have been institutions and forms of organisation through which the Kurdish people have continually fought for the resolution of the Kurdish problem alongside their leader. The anti Kurdish attacks co-coordinated by Turkey and Germany are in line with other political developments. During his brother’s last visit the KKK leader stated: ‘15 days ago a former General said that if Apo were caught and imprisoned, new leaders would emerge, if we eradicate the PKK and Apo new fake leaders will emerge.’ This is precisely the aim of the external forces. The AKP have also got their own Kurds, they are trying to set something up with their own Kurds.

“It is imperative for the future of the Turkey that the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayip Erdogan practises what he preached when he said in Diyarbakir that the Kurdish question would be solved by democratic means. Neither producing their own fake Kurdish leaders nor attempting to eliminate the democratic demands of the Kurdish people will bring about peace. It will only serve to curtail any positive developments and pave the way for undesirable ones. For this reason, we will hold the Turkish government responsible for any such undesirable developments. Our people will continue to make their democratic demands. The one-month ceasefire declared by the Kongra-Gel and the KKK council in an attempt to pave the way for peaceful developments is being frustrated. Our guerrilla forces are still being subjected to attacks. In Batman-Besiri, Nusaybin, Mersin, Istanbul, Bozuyuk and many more places our people are being terrorised because they are using their democratic right to manifest their own political will. We call on the Turkish government to cease their attacks immediately. Along with Turkey, Germany has been another country to show that it endorses the concept of attacking the Kurdish people. We call upon the Federal Government of Germany to stop their anti-Kurdish policies immediately. Historically Germany has supported the Turkish nationalist movement against the Kurdish people for their own material gains. At such a critical time we call for Germany to abandon its anti-Kurdish policies of positive support for the Turkish military, and of refusing, like Turkey, to adhere to the respect for human rights that should define Europe, including the right to press freedom. And with only thirteen days left to the German elections, basing policies on attempts to capture the nationalist Turkish and anti-Kurdish vote in Germany is neither humane nor conducive to peace.

“We declare that we will not submit to these attacks and we will use all of our democratic rights to struggle against them. Under no circumstances will our people cease to fight for their freedom and that of their leader. As the Kongra-Gel leadership we once again call upon the Turkish and German governments to abandon their coordinated plan to eradicate the Kurdish people. Peace will not come without freedom. Responsibility for the results of the attacks on our people and leader will be directly attributed to those who have initiated them. We declare that our will to struggle for our democratic rights and freedoms grows stronger with every attack and every day that passes.”

MHA (Mezapotamya Haber Ajansi, Frankfurt 5 September 2005)

Translation from Turkish original

4. - NTV/MSNBC - "IHD calls on provocateurs to be named":

Selahattin Demirtas, the head of the Human Rights Association (IHD) in the south eastern province of Diyarbakir, said that recent incidents are leading towards ethnic conflict in Turkey.

DIYARBAKIR / 14 September 2005

A senior Turkish human rights activist has called on authorities to name those they claim are provoking a wave of street protests across the country.

Selahattin Demirtas, the head of the Human Rights Association (IHD) in the south eastern province of Diyarbakir, on Wednesday said that many groups in society had labelled the recent protests as being the work of provocateurs.

“Interestingly, there is talk by government, army and even the PKK that describe these incidents totally as provocations,” he said during a press conference called to release the IHD’s three monthly report on human rights abuses. “But if they are determined, we have not seen any comments as to who these provocateurs are, or who they work for.”

The public has the right to know who these people are, who is behind them and who wants to lead Turkey into confusion, Demirtas said, adding that it was the state’s duty to determine who these people were.

“Up until three months ago there was a significant decrease in human rights abuses, but with the recent conflicts there has been an increase in abuses,” he said.
Demirtas stressed that the in previous human rights abuses report for Diyarbakir there were no allegations of physical torture but with the increase in operations and attacks against security forces, incidents of physical abuse were again being reported.
“Recently, we have had 168 torture cases that were brought to us,” he said.

At the press conference the IHD regional representative Mehdi Perincek released the rights abuse report for the past three months in the region. He said that there were a total of 959 right abuse incidents, 145 lives lost due to fighting or land mines and 165 detentions in the region in the same period.

5. - Daily Star - "EU remains divided over Turkey's refusal to recognize Cyprus":

15 September 2005

EU ambassadors were unable to agree Wednesday on what approach to take toward Ankara's refusal to recognize Cyprus, a spokesman for the EU's British presidency said. "There was a good discussion today, some significant progress was made. It hasn't been possible to reach a consensus," the spokesman said.

Negotiations on Turkey's possible entry into the EU are scheduled to begin on October 3. With that date looming, EU members are trying to formulate a common position toward Turkey's refusal to recognize Cyprus.

A diplomat said there was a broad majority among EU ambassadors that "insists on the question of the recognition of Cyprus by Turkey prior to adhesion" but wants to make clear that should not happen just before the country joins.

Britain and France have struck an accord that Turkey should recognize Cyprus before joining the EU, in a compromise deal to end a standoff on recognition that Cyprus is pushing hard for.

Ankara says although it occupied the island's north in 1974 to protect the Turkish population following a pro-Greek coup, it is not responsible for the continuing division in Cyprus.

France's ambassador to Cyprus said the island must end the row with its EU partners to clear the way for the start of the bloc's entry talks with Turkey.

Cyprus is upset by the wording of an EU rejoinder to Turkey's refusal to recognize the Greek Cypriot government in Nicosia, which represents the whole of the divided island in the 25-nation bloc.

"Our message is we want, we would appreciate, we would demand the support of the Cyprus Republic on this text," French Ambassador Hadelin de La Tour-Du-Pin told the daily Politis.

"It could have been slightly better, but it strikes a satisfactory balance," the diplomat said.

Other diplomats have privately assailed Greek Cypriot attempts to pull its long-running conflict with Turkey into the EU. The conflict has been on the UN agenda for more than 40 years.

Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan lambasted the European Union for what he described as "rude" diplomatic conduct, linked to its placing new conditions on its bid to become a member of the EU.

Erdogan told the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, according to Anatolia news agency, that his government was working "day and night" to fulfill the so-called Copenhagen political criteria for talks to begin.

"And now, after everything we have done, they are still asking whether accession talks should begin or not," he said. "To raise certain questions that have no pertinence is not worthy of international diplomatic ethics. It is rude."

Turkey supported a UN plan to unite the Southern Greek-speaking half of the island with the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. But this was rejected by the South in a referendum, while the Turkish speakers accepted it.

Erdogan said the EU had assumed a heavy responsibility for accepting Cyprus as a member last year despite the massive rejection of the UN reunification plan.

As for Turkey, he added, "we have done everything" toward obtaining a solution. He told the EU: "You can't make us pay anything. That's finished. Turkey will start negotiations on October 3 and will start walking down the road to rejoin the European family."

6. - AFP - "Saddam's second trial to focus on Kurd massacres":

BAGHDAD / 15 September 2005

Ousted Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein will likely be tried later this year over the massacre of Kurds unless he is found guilty and hanged immediately at the conclusion of a first case opening in October, a source close to the Iraq's Special Tribunal said Thursday.
"The case is progressing well," the source said, referring to accusations against Saddam over the 1987-88 "Anfal" operation when 180,000 people are reported to have been killed in a brutal campaign to suppress rebellious Kurds in Iraq's north.

"The investigating judge has gathered lots of very important evidence" such as audiotapes and clues found in mass graves, the source said.

Saddam and seven former henchmen, including his former vice president and secret police chief, are to go on trial on October 19 over the 1982 killing of 143 Shiite Muslims after an attempt on his life in the village of Dujail.

If they are condemned to death "the sentence must be carried out 30 days after the exhaustion of all appeals," the source said.

Asked if it were possible Saddam could face the hangman immediately after all appeals are exhausted, the source said: "Certainly, it's a possibility but it is hard to predict."

Iraq's Kurdish President Jalal Talabani said recently that Saddam had "confessed" to some of his alleged crimes and deserves to die "100 times".

The confessions related to "hand-signed orders" by Saddam concerning the Anfal operation. "There are tonnes of documents incriminating Saddam Hussein," Talabani added.

The tribunal source said Saddam's lawyer, Khalil Dulaimi, had been given access to all prosecution documents.

"Dulaimi has had access to his clients whenever he asked for it since the beginning. By any standards, attorney and clients have full access to each other," he added.

"His lawyers can bring international experts, (Saddam) can seek to have other people to meet with him, or he can bring other lawyers. No one who Saddam recognizes as his attorney has been denied access," he added.

Saddam's lawyers had previously complained about not been given access to evidence or informed of the charges against their client who has been in US custody since his capture in December 2003.