30
January 2003
2. "Turkish army clashes with Kurds near Iraq border", fighting between Turkish soldiers and Kurdish rebels erupted on Wednesday near the Iraqi border, but it was not immediately clear whether there were any casualties, a security official said.
3. "Kurds threaten retaliation if Turkey continues 'aggression'", the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) warned on Wednesday that it will retaliate with force if the Turkish army continued to crack down on its rebels.
4. "Greece's Papandreou calls for quick Cyprus settlement", a month before a UN deadline for a Cyprus reunification deal, Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou Wednesday called on Turkey's generals to stop trying to influence events on the divided island.
5. "Air base reopens in Kurdish northern Iraq, raising war speculation", at the Pentagon on Wednesday, Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was asked whether U.S. ground forces had entered Kurdish areas of northern Iraq.
6. "The twilight world of Turkey's Kurds", officially, Turkey lifted a ban on speaking Kurdish in 1991 - a law that also freed up Kurdish-language music on the radio - but it was not until August 2002 that the government granted people the right to study their own language.
1. - The Kurdish Observer - "Elkatmis accuses the lawyers of “forgery”:
29 January 2003
Representatives of Mothers for Peace visited Mehmet Elkatmis, Chairman of Parliamentary Human Rights Commission but the meeting passed in tension. Turning down the white muslin submitted by the mothers, Elkatmis said, "Whoever says, I cannot see Apo, is forger," insulting Ocalan's lawyer. Lawyer Baran Dogan stated that Elkatmis's statement was a display of a pre-conceived political concept.
Representatives of Mothers for Peace visited Mehmet Elkatmis, Chairman of Parliamentary Human Rights Commission but the meeting passed in tension. Turning down the white muslin submitted by the mothers, Elkatmis said, “Whoever says, I cannot see Apo, is forger,” insulting Ocalan’s lawyer. Lawyer Baran Dogan stated that Elkatmis’s statement was a display of a pre-conceived political concept.
A group of members of the Mothers for Peace Initiative visited Mehmet Elkatmis together with Baran Dogan, one of the lawyers of KADEK President Abdullah Ocalan. Speaking on behalf of her friends, Spokeswoman of the Initiative Muyesser Gunes stated that they as Kurdish and Turkish mothers had lost their kids at the war lasting 15 years and suffered a lot, drawing attention that isolation and war would threaten the peace once again. When she said that 5 thousand KADEK prisoners were in hunger strike, Elkatmis asked “For whom?”. Responded “To protest against the isolation imposed on KADEK President Mr Abdullah Ocalan”, he interrupted saying, “Whoever says, I cannot see Apo, is forger.” Elkatmis continued his claims as follows: “Apo is not supposed to see whomever he wish at any time. Who is Apo really? I do not understand why everybody wants to see him.” These words caused a great tension in the meeting.
He turned down the white muslin
Working to reconcile them, lawyer Baran Dogan wanted to speak but Elkatmis asked who she was. She stated that she was a lawyer and came with the members of the Initiative. But Elkatmis insisted to know who she was, Dogan said that she was a lawyer of Ocalan and continued to say the following: “You are accusing me of forgery. I am one of the lawyers of Ocalan and have not been see my client for 8 weeks. We want his rights to be taken under guarantee.” And then Elkatmis put an end to the meeting, saying, “I thought that the meeting about the possible war in Iraq”.
At the end of the meeting the mothers attempted to present white muslin as a symbol of peace but he turned them down. The meeting ended in a tension. Making a statement to our newspaper about the meeting, Baran Dogan said that Elkatmis behaved aggressively from the beginning of the meeting. “The only positive word he uttered was ‘Welcome’. I think that he has spoken in a pre-edited way and he continuously attacked on us,” said the lawyer. Dogan continued with words to the effect: “He did not talk about bad weather conditions. I tried to state that if a right exist on paper, there must be a mechanism for it to be enjoyed. But it is a government policy. The Justice Minister says it is bad weather, Human Rights Commission Head says ‘Anybody cannot see him at any time’. It is an unbelievable statement.”
“Whom we tell our sufferings?”
And Muyesser Gunes said the following: “We went there feeling maternal feelings. We are mothers for peace. We meet with important persons both in Turkey and abroad. And it is our most natural right. Because we are mothers, we have lost our kids, we have suffered. We have been forced to leave our homeland, villages. We have been forced to leave the trees our grandparents has planted, graves of our grandmothers. If that’s so, then whom we tell our sufferings if not the Chairman of Human Rights Commission? I denounce his approach to the meeting. There are thousands of mothers behind us. We will not leave it alone.”
Claims of Minister Cicek
On the other hand Justice Minister Cemil Cicek has said the following
on the matter: “There is no any other prisoner who is that comfortable,
has so much privileges. Whoever denies it is ungrateful. Because of
bad weather conditions there was no visit. But they set up a howl,
they try to draw it to a different ground, misusing the slight problem.”
2. - Reuters - "Turkish army clashes with Kurds near Iraq border":
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey / January 29, 2003
Fighting between Turkish soldiers and Kurdish rebels erupted on Wednesday near the Iraqi border, but it was not immediately clear whether there were any casualties, a security official said.
The clashes occurred in the same area of rugged Sirnak province in southeast Turkey where a Turkish soldier and a Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebel were both killed on Tuesday.
U.S. forces could enter northern Iraq from the Turkish region in the event Washington strikes the Arab nation for allegedly developing weapons of mass destruction.
But NATO partner Turkey has hesitated to open its bases and territory to U.S. troops and says it opposes a war on neighbouring Iraq. Ankara fears the upheaval could spill across the border and stir unrest among its Kurdish minority living in the southeast.
Analysts have said a smaller "northern front" in addition to a main U.S. invasion into Iraq's south could shorten the length of any war and decrease the number of American casualties.
This week's fighting in Sirnak follows fierce battles between security forces and PKK rebels in the southeast earlier in January when 12 guerrillas and one soldier died.
The PKK on Wednesday told Europe-based satellite station Medya TV, which has close ties to the guerrillas, that this week's fighting was in response to those earlier clashes.
"We will retaliate against any attack on our forces from now on," the PKK said in a statement aired by Medya TV.
The PKK launched an armed campaign for an ethnic homeland in southeast
Turkey in 1984, but fighting has largely subsided since the 1999 capture
of PKK commander Abdullah Ocalan. More than 30,000 people, mainly
Kurds, have died in the violence.
3. - AFP - "Kurds threaten retaliation if Turkey continues 'aggression'":
ANKARA / January 29, 2003
The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) warned on Wednesday that it will
retaliate with force if the Turkish army continued to crack down on
its rebels.
The PKK statement, carried by the Germany-based pro-Kurdish Mesopotamia
news agency, came two days after a group of Kurdish rebels opened
fire on a military garrison in the southeastern Turkish town of Idil,
killing one soldier.
The PKK statement said that Monday's attack was a "warning and
retaliation attack" against the deaths of 12 rebels during a
security operation carried out by the Turkish army in the mainly Kurdish-populated
southeast in January.
"From now on, our forces will retaliate every attack carried
out against our people or our guerilla forces," read the statement.
The PKK took up arms for Kurdish selfrule in 1984, triggering a fierce
crackdown by the Turkish army. Some 36,500 people, most of them PKK
rebels, have been killed in the fighting.
The conflict has scaled down considerably since September 1999, when
the PKK said it was ending its armed campaign to seek a peaceful resolution
to the Kurdish question.
The Turkish army, however, has brushed aside PKK's truce as a ploy
and continues to pursue the rebels.
PKK said Monday's attack did not signal a change of its policy.
"The attack is neither a new stance nor the beginning of a new
era," it said.
"Our guerilla forces ... have the right of retaliation against
attacks directed at themselves," the statement said.
4.
- AFP - "Greece's Papandreou calls for quick Cyprus settlement":
ATHENS / January 29, 2003
A month before a UN deadline for a Cyprus reunification deal, Greek
Foreign Minister George Papandreou Wednesday called on Turkey's generals
to stop trying to influence events on the divided island.
Papandreou, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency,
also said that Turkey could complete European Union membership criteria
in as little as two years.
"Greece and Turkey have made mistakes in Cyprus ... we have to
let Cyprus decide its own future ... we have to support Cyprus instead
of being its tutors," Papandreou said at a press conference.
"Let go of dogmas and stereotypes and here I address ... the
military," Papandreou said. "We are close to a solution."
He was apparently referring to remarks in the beginning of January
by two top Turkish generals, Hilmi Ozkok and Yasar Buyukanit, that
expressed support for the Turkish Cypriot leader in his opposition
to a UN-proposed reunification plan for Cyprus.
In November, the UN proposed that Cyprus, divided into Greek and Turkish
sides since 1974, be united under a Swiss-style federation.
Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash initially voiced strong opposition
to the proposal. He has since come under intense pressure at home
and abroad to soften his stance in order to resolve the conflict.
The United Nations wants the two sides to agree to a reunification
deal by February 28, so that a united Cyprus can sign an accession
agreement with the European Union in April to join the bloc in 2004.
But missing a February 28 UN deadline would not be a "disater,"
Denktash said Wednesday in Ankara.
"It is not like disaster will strike on March 1 if we do not
sign on the 28th ... The Turkish Cypriot people are not without alternatives,"
Denktash told Turkey's Anatolia news agency.
The EU says it will admit only the internationally-recognized Greek
Cypriot south if the island is not reunified in time.
The Cyprus conflict is seen as a major stumbling block for Turkey's
own EU membership aspirations.
On Wednesday, Papandreou said that he will travel to Ankara on Friday
to discuss EU-Turkey relations.
"It is a historic occassion to promote Turkey's European aspirations,"
he said.
"The historic problems between the two countries (Greece and
Turkey) can and must be settled as quickly as possible," he said.
Papandreou also said that Turkey could satisfy EU membership conditions,
including economic and human rights reforms, in two years.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey seized its northern
third in response to an Athens-engineered coup in Nicosia seeking
to unite Cyprus with Greece.
5. - Associated Press - "Air base reopens in Kurdish northern Iraq, raising war speculation":
HARIR, Iraq / 30 January 2003
On a fertile plain in Kurdish northern Iraq, a black, paved air strip runs between a patchwork of fields dotted by dozens of new, white tents.
The bustle at this remote airfield — controlled by people without any planes — has convinced many residents that U.S. forces are preparing to use it for a war against Saddam Hussein.
At the Pentagon on Wednesday, Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was asked whether U.S. ground forces had entered Kurdish areas of northern Iraq.
Myers said he did not want to discuss the disposition of U.S. forces, but then added, “There are not significant numbers of military forces in northern Iraq right now.”
Over the past weeks, residents here have reported a sudden increase of movements, such as late-night convoys of trucks and Humvees, a vehicle preferred by the U.S. military.
On Monday afternoon, a Humvee all-terrain vehicle could be seen on a nearby hilltop. Trucks with commercial markings were also moving through the area.
All this has led to speculation that the airport is being readied for use by the Americans for a northern front against Baghdad’s forces, which lie less than 60 miles away. The runway at Harir is 8,500 feet — long enough to accommodate military transports and fighter jets.
Asked about reports of U.S. military cargo planes arriving in northern Iraq recently, Myers said he was not aware of any planes there.
Officials of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, which runs the northwestern section of the autonomous Kurdish zone, denied knowledge of any U.S. military presence and say the Harir airstrip might be used for humanitarian flights.
But a high-level Kurdish official said U.S. specialists were expected to staff airfields in three northern provinces, including Irbil, where Harir is located. He spoke on condition of anonymity.
The privately owned Turkish television station NTV reported Wednesday that if Turkey does not permit American troops to use its bases, the United States plans to airlift troops to the Kurdish areas of northern Iraq. Presumably, airfields such as Harir would fit into such plans.
Saddam’s government built the Harir airfield in 1983 and used it to launch airstrikes during the war against Iran. Baghdad abandoned the airfield in 1991 with the establishment of the U.S.-British enforced no-fly zone and the autonomous Kurdish-controlled enclave in northern Iraq.
The base reopened about four months ago.
Abdul Vahid Kheder, a local official of the Kurdish Democratic Party, said reports of new activity were overblown. “It’s an international roadway,” he said. “Trucks are free to come from Iran, Syria, Turkey. It’s no big deal.”
But the high-level Kurdish official said 2,000 U.S. military and intelligence specialists are scheduled to enter northern Iraq via the Turkish border to staff and protect the airfields in Dohuk, Irbil and Sulaiymania provinces.
At Harir, military officials would not allow The Associated Press to enter the heavily guarded air base through the main gate. A German camera team attempting to film the site was briefly detained.
But at the air base’s ramshackle kitchen — accessible via a nearby dirt road — several Kurdish soldiers said they’d been ordered to Harir a few days ago in preparation for a possible U.S. arrival.
Kurdish officials briefly closed the main road passing by the airstrip Monday, as they have reportedly done several times over the last few months. Desert-camouflage vehicles and soldiers in tents guarded access roads.
“Everyone is waiting for the Americans to come,” says Abdul Samad Ismail, a customer at the Shirwan restaurant in Harir. “We know they’re coming.”
Officials in the Kurdish enclave have long told of occasional visits by American military personnel planners, mostly to survey airfields. According to Kurdish authorities in Sulaiymania, U.S. Special Forces visited the area several months ago.
The U.S. presence was far greater from 1991 to 1996, Kurdish officials say, when both the State Department and Pentagon had offices here as part of Operation Provide Comfort, in which some 5,000 American troops were deployed.
They left, however, during the civil war between rival Kurdish factions.
Some Kurdish Democratic Party officials said the reopening might be unrelated to any U.S. plans.
“It is the most realistic method of providing humanitarian assistance in a very urgent situation,” Fawzi Hariri, a high-level KDP official said Tuesday. “We hope that the U.N. and aid agencies will take advantage of it.”
But a Kurdish military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, insisted that the Kurds reopened the base to “secure the runway themselves to prevent unauthorized foreign aircraft from landing.”
The different accounts of why the airfield has been reopened may stem from political sensitivities. Iraqi Kurds recently have been trying to placate neighboring countries such as Iran, Turkey and Syria, which have Kurdish minorities of their own and which are hostile to the self-rule experiment lest it encourage unrest in their countries.
The reopening of the air base at Harir — less than 100 miles from the Iranian border — and other signs of military activity in the Kurdish region have already caused concern in Iran, whose state-controlled Arabic-language satellite television reports such operations with alarm.
Iran, which President Bush designated a member of an “axis of
evil,” fears its territory could become the target of an American
military assault following a possible attack on Iraq.
6. - The Asia Times - "The twilight world of Turkey's Kurds":
DIYARBAKIR,Turkey / 26 January 2003
By Pratap Chatterjee
Every night at the Rengin cafe a line of young men and women link hands and sway to the solemn strains of traditional Kurdish music that was completely banned until a couple of years ago. As the music picks up in pace, the dancing gets faster and more people join until the whole room is full of people dancing, singing and clapping.
This cafe, tucked away in the basement of a downtown building of this eastern Turkish city, was the first live venue for Kurdish music to be established just two years ago, gingerly testing the tolerance of the Turkish authorities who have stepped back from a complete ban on all Kurdish language and culture under pressure from the European Union (EU) as Turkey seeks to join that body.
"When we were children, the only way we could listen to Kurdish music was on cassettes that were passed secretly from family to family. Today we can listen to live music any night of the week at the Rengin, Sanat, Sin or the Veya cafe," says Yilmaz Akinci, a 26-year-old primary school teacher, who often spends his evenings in one of the cafes.
The Kurdish people are said to be the largest ethnic group without a country of their own. Some 25 million live in their traditional homelands, which straddle the border of Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey. Ever since the establishment of modern Turkey some 80 years ago, the Kurds have endured cultural repression and a deadly civil war that has claimed over 30,000 lives in a clash between guerrillas demanding Kurdish autonomy and the Turkish military.
Officially, Turkey lifted a ban on speaking Kurdish in 1991 - a law that also freed up Kurdish-language music on the radio - but it was not until August 2002 that the government granted people the right to study their own language.
The new rules were enacted in order to match EU laws that guarantee citizens the right to learn their own mother tongues. The relaxation of the laws was undertaken in the hope that the EU might accept Turkey as a member country.
Across the street from the Rengin cafe, on the second floor of the new Galeria shopping mall in the center of town, the phone rings every couple of minutes for Melike Irmak, the only female Kurdish disc jockey in the country who spins popular Kurdish music all day long on the independent Gun Radio at 89 FM.
At noon, Irmak takes a break to read the news headlines on the air - in Turkish. Despite the fact that she is allowed to play Kurdish music, she risks arrest if she speaks on the radio in her native language. Only the government radio and television stations can broadcast in Kurdish and even they are limited to about 15 minutes a day.
This schizophrenic relaxation of the ban on Kurdish pervades the new cultural freedoms. Selahattin Demirtas, the chairman of the local branch of the Human Rights Association, explains, "For example, look at this invitation for the Nawroz, our New Year festival, that is held every March. For the last three years, the government has granted us permission to hold the festival, but last year they threatened to send seven of us to jail for two years for spelling the name of the festival with a W instead of a V."
The reason is that the letter W, which exists in the Kurdish alphabet, does not appear in the Turkish alphabet. And Demirtas says that the government still forbids parents from giving their children Kurdish names. "Just last week a Kurdish couple was told that they could not name their daughter Rosarine because it is not a Turkish name."
The memory of the 30 year civil war between the PKK, the Kurdish guerilla group, and the military is also a sensitive matter. Irmak says that she must be careful about what Kurdish music she plays on the radio. "For example, when we get new CDs at the radio station, I check to see if any of the lyrics include the words Kurdistan or Abdullah [the name of the imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan]. If so, I definitely can't play that particular song."
In fact, a total of 3,000 songs are banned right now and the government often forbids songs retroactively. Gun Radio is currently facing fines of US$18,000, which is roughly six months operating expenses, for playing songs that the government did not approve of.
Still, the changes are a vast improvement on the past, according to local human rights activists. Last year, Avni Dal was expelled from Istanbul University for demanding optional Kurdish-language courses, while thousands of other students have been detained over the past year for submitting petitions demanding that government schools teach Kurdish. Eight of Dal's classmates were jailed for leading the petition campaign.
Eighteen months ago, Abdullah Yagan, a minibus driver in the Karliova district of Bingol, was arrested for playing Kurdish music in his vehicle. And a year prior to Yagan's arrest, Aydin Acar, a local singer from the town of Hakkari, was arrested for singing "Kine Em" ("Who are we?") written by the legendary Kurdish poet Cigerxwin, at a wedding.
Immediately following the incident all the local singers and musical groups in the town were rounded up and taken to police custody by order of provincial governor Orhan Isin on the grounds of "inciting the public".
Today the outlook remains somewhat uncertain. Some are hopeful, such as Veysi Bolcal, the executive director of Gun Radio, "Cafes like Rengin were unheard of a couple of years ago. Change is coming."
Yet five months after the laws were relaxed to allow the Kurdish
language to be taught, the only school that started shut down because
people were too afraid to attend classes.