7
July 2003
2. "Bringing Cyprus together", post-September 11, 2001, and in the aftermath of the campaign in Iraq, the eastern Mediterranean is increasingly a focus of attention for policymakers, news organizations, academics and government leaders around the world.
3. "14 soldiers dead at military operations", as the military operations in Kurdistan continued, there was an armed clash between People's Defense Forces (HPG) guerrillas and the Turkish military forces in the district of Baskale of Van. 14 soldiers died and a sergeant wounded.
4. "The Kurds Facing Unity", one of the top concerns of Iraqi Kurdistan is the issue of uniting both governments after years of waiting and calls to overcome the conflicts and work on Kurdish unity in facing the challenges that Iraq in general and Kurdistan specifically will encounter.
5. "Five-channel Turkish tycoon in open war with government", a controversial Turkish tycoon who owns five television channels and a newspaper chain is causing the government headaches with his political ambitions and growing popularity.
6. "Turkey's military chief Ozkok sees confidence crisis with U.S.", Turkey's Military Chief of Staff Hilmi Ozkok said the detention of Turkish soldiers in Iraq by U.S. forces on Friday had created a ``crisis of confidence'' between the two allies.
1. - AFP- "Turkish troops held by US released in Baghdad":
by Jerome Bastion
ISTANBUL / July 6, 2003
Eleven Turkish soldiers arrested by US forces in northern Iraq were
released late Sunday in Baghdad, the Turkish news agency Anatolia
reported, after renewed efforts by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
to end the crisis between Ankara and Washington.
The soldiers were to spend the night in a guest house in the Iraqi
capital and will be taken by helicopter on Monday to the northern
Iraqi town of Sulaymaniyah, where they were reportedly seized by US
troops on Friday, the NTV television news channel said, quoting Turkish
diplomatic sources.
It said a joint commission, made up mostly of military officers, would
be set up to investigate the incident.
The reported release came after Erdogan spoke by telephone Sunday
with US Vice President Dick Cheney in a bid to end a major row marring
relations between Washington and its ally in NATO.
Erdogan said in a statement afterwards the 11 soldiers would be handed
over to Turkish forces in Sulaymaniyah, but did not indicate when
the transfer would take place.
The US State Department, in its first official response to the crisis
Sunday, said the United States and Turkey were making headway in talks
on resolving the issue.
Meanwhile some 250 people gathered outside the US embassy in the Turkish
capital Ankara Sunday to protest the detentions, chanting "Free
our soldiers," "America out" and "We will not
be America's servants".
In Istanbul, police prevented two demonstrations reaching the US consulate,
firing tear gas to disperse about 100 protestors, Anatolia news agency
reported.
Turkey threatened unspecified retaliation after the three officers
and eight non-commissioned officers were arrested on Friday in Sulaymaniyah,
the fiefdom of the Iraqi Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani of the Patriotic
Union of Kurdistan (PUK), the Turkish daily Hurriyet reported.
They were later reported under guard in Baghdad.
Hurriyet said the 11 were among a group detained on suspicion that
"certain Turks were planning to commit an attack on the governor
of Kirkuk," in northern Iraq.
Erdogan was furious, reportedly saying: "This is a repugnant
incident that should never have happened."
Twenty-three auxiliaries and civilian employees of the Turkish forces
seized at the same time had since been released, Erdogan said Sunday.
The Turkish press reported that the Turkish military had threatened
to close airspace to US traffic, and refuse further logistical support
to the Americans in Iraq, and would reinforce its presence in the
region.
NTV said Turkey had withdrawn two high ranking officers serving with
US central command at Tampa, Florida, since the Afghan conflict began.
Turkish political sources condemned the reported American action,
describing it as not in line with the spirit of half a century of
NATO cooperation.
2. - The Washington Times - "Bringing Cyprus together":
By Donald M. Payne / July 7, 2003
Post-September 11, 2001, and in the aftermath of the campaign in
Iraq, the eastern Mediterranean is increasingly a focus of attention
for policymakers, news organizations, academics and government leaders
around the world. In this geographic neighborhood of perennial tensions,
a U.S. ally, Turkey, continues to delay the economic and political
development of Cyprus, regrettably refusing to end its military occupation
of the island's northern third.
For almost three decades, Cyprus has been a country characterized
by economic growth, political maturation and determination to overcome
the legacy of division wrought by Turkish intervention. Even though
Cyprus will join the European Union (EU) in May 2004 and will someday
be in a position to weigh in on discussions regarding future Turkish
membership, Ankara continues to display an unfortunate and unnecessary
intransigence that is not in its own long-term strategic interests.
Maintaining roughly 35,000 troops and tens of thousands of Turkish
settlers in the northern sector of Cyprus since 1974, Turkey has repeatedly
defied U.N. Security Council resolutions calling for the immediate
withdrawal of its troops from the island.
No one underestimates the value of Turkey's geographic location and
— prior to U.S. involvement in Iraq, at least — its value
as a regional NATO member. Despite this key role, Turkey's refusal
to cooperate in the face of repeated worldwide calls to end its occupation
of northern Cyprus cannot continue to go ignored.
As a member of the House International Relations Committee, I am troubled
by this ongoing and unnecessary partitioning and weakening of what
is proving to be a booming state — Cyprus. It is time we recognize
this situation for what it is and insist Turkey cooperate actively
in its prompt solution.
Measures that serve to build confidence should certainly continue,
but not as an exercise to delay the inevitable: the reunification
of the island state of Cyprus as a complex, modern, multi-ethnic Mediterranean
state.
Due to this inexplicable separation, Cyprus holds the dubious distinction
of being the only European state with its capital divided, as barbed
wire quite literally carves the country in two. Two historically well-integrated
ethnic communities of predominantly Christian Greek and Muslim Turkish
heritage are required to live in a very artificial segregation. Turkey
treats the northern third of the island it occupies as an impoverished,
second-tier province, rather than allowing it to join in an increasingly
successful Cyprus.
Despite a history of unsuccessful efforts by American and U.N. diplomacy
to effect a resolution of issues that were created by the Turkish
invasion, the government of Cyprus has persisted in its efforts to
peacefully reunite the two communities and bring European prosperity
to both. Meanwhile, the leaders of Cyprus have succeeded in creating
a modern economy and have achieved a level of growth that qualified
Cyprus to receive an invitation for EU membership, a Continental "seal
of approval."
Thereafter, EU leadership made it clear to Turkey that its own aspirations
to join the EU depended upon its cooperation in tolerating the accession
of Cyprus to the EU, and hinted that successful resolution of the
Cyprus problem would go a long way toward reducing opposition to Turkey's
EU accession.
Turkey, although recently permitting limited buffer zone crossings
within Cyprus, has dragged its heels on a strategy to resolve the
overall situation, which will in effect deny the northern third the
benefits of EU membership.
On April 30, the Cypriot government introduced a series of new economic,
political, and social measures designed to ease the hardships of Turkish
Cypriot compatriots disadvantaged by the status quo — such as
providing improved medical care, expanded employment opportunities,
facilitated trade and movement of goods, and participation in free
and open national elections.
One must view these welcome developments, however, with utmost caution.
Neither the recent partial relaxation of movement restrictions through
the U.N. cease-fire line nor the government's pro-active recognition
of its Turkish Cypriot citizens' most pressing needs should be mistaken
as a substitute for formal diplomatic efforts to reach a negotiated,
comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus situation based on the UN's
internationally endorsed framework.
Today, Turkey faces economic and social challenges, although none
of them pertain to its Mediterranean neighbor Cyprus, aside from the
estimated $500 million a year that its occupation of Cyprus drains
from the Turkish economy. Turkey's difficulties in reforming its military
and legal system, respecting the rights of its ethnic minorities,
and heeding the EU's advice on steps it needs to take if it wishes
to join the EU should offer the necessary incentives for it to take
progressive steps on the issue of Cyprus.
The time has come for the United States to advise Turkey's leadership
— in very clear terms — that its occupation of Cyprus must
quickly come to an end. Turkey, today with lessened leverage over
the United States, should not be allowed to continue blocking resolution
of the situation in Cyprus. The only chance Turkey has to modernize
by joining the EU is to release Cyprus from the grip of its aggression
and show the world that Turkey itself has turned the corner and is
an increasingly enlightened global citizen.
Then, and only then, Cyprus can be reunited, bringing security and
prosperity to all its citizens and a glimmer of peace to the eastern
Mediterranean.
Rep. Donald M. Payne, New Jersey Democrat, is a senior member of
the House International Relations Committee.
3. - The Kurdish Observer - "14 soldiers dead at military operations":
MHA / VAN (Turkey) July 4, 2003
As the military operations in Kurdistan continued, there was an armed clash between People's Defense Forces (HPG) guerrillas and the Turkish military forces in the district of Baskale of Van. 14 soldiers died and a sergeant wounded.
According to the information received, an armed clash between a group of HPG guerrillas and a gendarme battalion near the village of Xelkava (Kocdag), Baskale on June 26 evening. 14 soldiers died and a sergeant wounded as a result of a rocket that hit a military vehicle. The sergeant was taken to Van Military Hospital and the guerrillas are said to be without any casualties.
Operations continue
On the other hand the operations of the Turkish army continue in
districts of Hozat and Ovacik. Operations are said to focused on centre
of Dersim, Fgeyiksuyu, Demirkapi, Venk Deresi, Bali Deresi and Ali
Bogazi in Hozat and Ovacik, Kuru Dere and Buzlutepe in Karacaoglan
region.
4. - Al Hayat (London) - "The Kurds Facing Unity":
by Farouq Hajji Mostafa / July 5, 2003
While everybody is talking about the civil American administration in Iraq postponing the elections, one of the top concerns of Iraqi Kurdistan is the issue of uniting both governments (the government of Suleimaniyah affiliated to the National Union Party, led by Barham Saleh, and the government of Arbil affiliated to the Kurdistan Democratic Party led by Barzani), after years of waiting and calls to overcome the conflicts and work on Kurdish unity in facing the challenges that Iraq in general and Kurdistan specifically will encounter.
The elections that took place in Iraqi Kurdistan in 1992 resulted
in a united Kurdish government, and the first free Kurdish elections
in North Iraq gave rise to a wave of pride and joy among the Kurds.
The paradox was that the elections contributed in kindling the conflict
between Massoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani, according to Jonathan
Randle in his book "A Splitting Nation." The bloody conflict
of 1994 between the National Union and the Kurdistan Democratic Party
led to the establishment of two governments, one in Suleimaniyah and
one in Arbil. Among the factors that caused the conflict and caused
the split are:
1- The environment of conflicts caused by the wars of the Islamic Movement with the National Union in 1993.
2- The Union did not listen to the call of the Kurdistan Democratic to give up the equality principle after the latter was convinced it was useless, especially after both parties extended their control to the popular and geographic bases, by seeking new alliances with small parties and establishing axes at the expense of the political map that was based on the balance principle.
3- The National Union was not convinced by the calls of the Democratic to new elections after many questioned the results of the 1992 elections that were full of contradictions due to the Gulf War I and II and after years of wars and the absence of the idea of the plurality of parties and accepting the other in the Kurdish circles, in addition to the fact that the results of the popular rebellion in Iraq Kurdistan and its South were not clear yet.
4- The equality principle was accepted in a coercive way and in the absence of a fair distribution of the revenues that came from the borders of Kurdistan with Iran and Turkey.
5- Not carrying on the second elections in the fixed date due to the conflicts between both main parties.
6- The absence of the Kurdistan Front that played a positive role in uniting the Kurdish parties and agreeing on carrying on elections, and its splitting after it was a united structure.
7- The occupation of the National Union the Kurdistan Parliament, which facilitated some regional countries to play a negative role, and led to involving Iran, Turkey and the Iraqi regime in the Kurdish conflicts.
These factors are the reasons that led to the separation of both governments, in addition to faking the results of the elections in Suleimaniyah and Arbil and the refusal of all the participating parties in the elections except for Union, the results of both districts. Despite everything, the Kurdistan Democratic won the majority of the votes at the level of Kurdistan, but it accepted the equality principle. After four rounds, the Democratic thought it was wise to revert to this formula.
The paradox resides in the fact that the Kurds are seeking today the unity of their government on the basis of the equality principle, although it is one of the essential reasons that led to the splitting. Statistics in Kurdistan show that Kurds need more than uniting the governments, carrying on elections that might help in forming a new united government.
No doubt that uniting the governments is an urgent issue especially after the earthquake of Iraq and in order to consider the final settlement of the Kurdish issue in Iraq, after the Kurds paid an expensive price for the temporary settlements. If both parties that control the situation in Kurdistan are ready more than any time else, yet what they ignore is that they cannot go on in the management distribution plan according to the equality principle, and if they do not contain the issue of the ruling party and the opposition party.
If it seems that the role of the Kurds in the new Iraq is being even more important, yet, there is a coercively united parliament, two separate governments and two independent administrations in Suleimaniyah and Arbil. This is what constitutes a great weak point for the Kurds in the Iraqi political equation. Thinking about uniting both governments might enable them to play a more positive role in the Iraqi politics. The hope on the Kurdish scene is that the expectations of the observers about the rekindling of the conflict between the Kurds were not true. This stems to the establishment of the "Kurdish joint leadership" with the beginning of the American invasion that was the beginning of the end of the civil wars and to face the challenges that will result of the repercussions of war on Iraq. This leadership obliged itself when the American war on Iraq started to take decisions the most important of them being uniting the Peshmerga troops and thus uniting both governments and working to carry on elections in the Kurdish regions in order that the Kurdish voice is united in the Iraqi opposition after it understood the importance of unity. However, these decisions show that they were but illusions within the political "propaganda."
It should be noted that the Kurdish parliament played the most important role in pushing the Kurds to think about these elections. It was able to issue several decisions and obliged the governments to implement them. It worked on gather both the leaders of the two parties under the ceiling of the joint Kurdish leadership. But, without uniting the governments and no matter how important the role of the Kurds became, the danger will still surrounding the situation.
*Mr. Hajji Mostafa is a Kurdish writer.
5.
- AFP - "Five-channel Turkish tycoon in open war with government":
ISTANBUL / July 6, 2003
A controversial Turkish tycoon who owns five television channels
and a newspaper chain is causing the government headaches with his
political ambitions and growing popularity.
He is Cem Uzan, scion of a very rich Turkish family which built up
a financial empire over two generations.
Now he has his own nationalist political base, called the Youth Party.
It polled only seven percent and got no seats in last November's general
election.
But its rising popularity in opinion polls and Cem Uzan's sharp public
criticism of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan have apparently fired
the government into trying to tame the young Turk.
And it has begun to look like open warfare between the two.
In the latest round, public authorities on Friday seized a bank belonging
to Uzan's family on the grounds that it allegedly presented "a
danger to the security and stability of the financial system,"
according to banking supervisory authorities.
The Uzan group controls numerous companies in the construction and
energy sectors as well mobile phone operator Telsim, currently being
prosecuted in the United States for fraud by the giant concern Motorola.
The Uzan group's controversial business methods have long been the
subject of criticism in the Turkish press.
But things escalated when state authorities last month seized two
Uzan-owned electricity generating companies.
Uzan used his five television channels and Star newspaper chain to
launch attacks on Erdogan, calling him a coward and a "wretch."
Erdogan replied by accusing Uzan of defamation and calling for his
newspaper group to be censured after it echoed his charges.
The public media control authority banned the five Uzan TV channels
from transmitting programmes for a month for publicly defending the
private interests of the Uzan family.
The Uzans, originally from Bosnia in the Balkans, first made their
fortune building soccer stadiums and hydro-electric dams.
Cem and his younger brother Hakan thereafter went into media interests
and mobile phones, and have been prosecuted in the United States on
charges of swindling mobile phone companies Nokia and Motorola out
of 2.7 billion dollars (2.35 billion euros).
Now the family is diversifying, making a bid, for example, for the
public petrochemical company Petkim for a sum of more than 600 million
dollars.
Politically, Cem Uzan counts as a populist or nationalist.
The leadership of the minority Rebirth Party (YDP) accused him of
"buying" their party a year ago in order to to avoid having
to set up an entire political organisation in time for the November
election.
The media baron refuses to give any interviews whether on his own
channels or any other.
But he knows all about electioneering, organising a series of electoral
rallies enlivened by pop concerts and free handouts of clothes, coal
and food in violation of electoral laws, in a campaign said to have
cost him more than 200 millions of dollars.
6. - Bloomberg - "Turkey's Military Chief Ozkok Sees Confidence Crisis With U.S.":
July 7, 2003
Turkey's Military Chief of Staff Hilmi Ozkok said the detention of Turkish soldiers in Iraq by U.S. forces on Friday had created a ``crisis of confidence'' between the two allies.
The 11 Turkish soldiers, who were detained by U.S. forces in northern Iraq because of an alleged plot to harm Iraqi civilian officials, were released yesterday.
``This incident has unfortunately led to the biggest crisis of confidence ever between the U.S. and Turkish armed forces,'' Ozkok told reporters in a televised press conference in the Turkish capital Ankara.
The Turkish military decided to reduce contact with the U.S. military yesterday, recalling two Turkish officers based in the U.S. Middle East coordination center in Tampa, Florida, Hurriyet daily reported today. Relations between Turkey and the U.S. have been lukewarm since the Iraq war because Turkey refused its ally the right to use Turkish bases for attacks on its neighbor.
The U.S. has pledged $8.5 billion in loans to Turkey to help pay for the economic costs of the war in neighboring Iraq. Concern that tensions between the two countries may endanger the approval of those loans contributed to a drop in asset prices today.
The lira fell 0.8 percent to 1,404,500 per dollar as of 12 noon Istanbul
time.