16 September 2003

1. "Turk court says former Kurd MPs must stay in jail", a Turkish court ruled against freeing four Kurdish former MPs from prison on Monday during a retrial of their case, which is being closely watched by the European Union.

2. "Turkey hopes EU talks will open at the end of 2004", Turkey is working to meet all of the membership criteria ahead of the crucial December 2004 EU summit, Erdogan said.

3. "Iraq wants to reach water agreement with Syria, Turkey", Iraq said that its share of water from the Tigris and Euphrates was not enough saying that it wants talks with Turkey and Syria, who also use water from the rivers, Reuters reported.

4. "Turk urges U.S. to fight Kurd rebels inside Iraq", Georgia Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul of Turkey said Monday that the United States could lose its credibility in combating international terrorism if it did not crack down on Turkish Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq.

5. "Islamic education back in vogue as Turkey goes back to school", Islamic schools in Turkey showed clear signs of a revival this week, as children flocked back for the start of the first academic year since a change of government that ended a five-year crack-down
on religious establishments.

6. "Powell pays tribute to gassed Kurds in Halabja as violence surges in Iraq", US Secretary of State Colin Powell honoured thousands of Kurds gassed by ousted president Saddam Hussein's forces 15 years ago, as violence surged elsewhere in Iraq with the killing of another US soldier and an Iraqi police chief.

1. - Reuters - "Turk court says former Kurd MPs must stay in jail":

ANKARA / 15 September 2003 / by Gareth Jones

A Turkish court ruled against freeing four Kurdish former MPs from prison on Monday during a retrial of their case, which is being closely watched by the European Union.

Leyla Zana, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee in 1996, is the best known of the four, who were handed 15-year prison sentences in 1994 for links to Kurdish rebels.

The defendants won an appeal in the European Court of Human Rights in 2001, which ruled that EU hopeful Turkey had denied them a fair trial. The court took issue with defence lawyers' lack of access to witnesses, among other irregularities.

Turkey has recently approved EU-inspired reforms, including allowing cases to be retried if the European Court of Human Rights rules against Turkish verdicts.

A lawmaker from the European Parliament, who attended Monday's hearing in Ankara, said the decision not to free the Kurdish MPs was regrettable.

"I heard no explanation of the reasoning for this," said Emma Nicholson, a British Liberal Democrat politician.

"It is natural for the European Union to take an interest in this case since it touches on issues of human rights, freedom of expression, the judicial system...."

Brussels is impatient for progress on implementing political reforms if Turkey is to improve its chances of joining the affluent bloc. It is the only EU candidate not currently in entry talks, because of its poor human rights record.

Nicholson also criticised the use of a special security court for the retrial, saying such courts contravened the spirit of Turkey's latest reforms aimed at winning it a date for opening EU accession talks in late 2004 or early 2005.

Zana and the others were jailed while a separatist conflict raged between Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels and Turkish security forces in the southeast of the country.

More than 30,000 people were killed in the violence in the 1980s and 1990s, most of them Kurds, but fighting has eased since the capture of PKK commander Abdullah Ocalan in 1999.

Zana caused an uproar by taking her parliamentary oath in Kurdish. She and the others were stripped of their positions in parliament when charges they had ties with the PKK were brought.

The retrial will resume on October 17.

2. - MSNBC/NTV - "Turkey hopes EU talks will open at the end of 2004":

Turkey is working to meet all of the membership criteria ahead of the crucial December 2004 EU summit, Erdogan said.

16 September 2003

Turkey was confident that it would begin accession negotiations with the European Union in December 2004, according to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Turkey had already done much of what had been required of it to meet the EU’s membership criteria, the Prime Minister said, and would complete its commitments ahead of the bloc’s summit at the end of 2004, the date laid down for discussions to set a timetable for Turkey’s accession process to begin.

“We expect to start full membership negotiations in December 2004,” Erdoan said. “We are carrying out preparations.”

The Prime Minister, who was speaking after holding talks with Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio, in Turkey for a five day visit, said that Portugal supported the Turkish bid for EU membership. The two countries were working together, Erdoan said, and were striving to further improve their already close relationship.

3. - Mena - "Iraq wants to reach water agreement with Syria, Turkey":

16 September 2003

Iraq said that its share of water from the Tigris and Euphrates was not enough saying that it wants talks with Turkey and Syria, who also use water from the rivers, Reuters reported.

Iraq's Minister of Water Resources was quoted as saying that his country plans to hold talks with its neighbors to reach an agreement that divides water among the three countries.

The Euphrates and Tigris both originate in Turkey. The Euphrates winds through Syria before entering Iraq, while the Tigris flows straight into Iraq from Turkey.

Iraq, Turkey and Syria have held several meetings in the past on water-sharing, but failed to reach an agreement due to the ousted government of Saddam Hussein.

4. - "Turk urges U.S. to fight Kurd rebels inside Iraq":

TBILISI / 16 September 2003

Georgia Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul of Turkey said Monday that the United States could lose its credibility in combating international terrorism if it did not crack down on Turkish Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq.

"The United States cannot differentiate between its terrorists and our terrorists," Gul told reporters during his flight to the former Soviet republic of Georgia. "They cannot also take the risk of losing their credibility in the fight against terrorism." The statement by Gul highlights the difficulties the United States faces in cobbling together a peacekeeping coalition for Iraq. Washington is asking Turkey, NATO's only Muslim member, to send about 10,000 peacekeepers, and Turkey is insisting that Washington help crack down on Turkish Kurdish rebels.

A U.S. delegation agreed Friday on "a joint plan of action" regarding an estimated 5,000 Turkish Kurdish rebels. A new U.S. delegation is expected in the coming days to discuss the cooperation in detail. Gul seemed optimistic about the talks.

Kurdish rebels waged a 15-year war for autonomy in southeast Turkey that killed 37,000 people. The State Department has branded the Kurdistan Workers Party, which now calls itself Kadek, as a terrorist organization.

Turkey's top leaders are expected to meet Friday to discuss a possible deployment of Turkish peacekeepers to Iraq.

The possible deployment is deeply controversial in Turkey. A recent poll indicated that a majority of Turks oppose the move. Turkish officials have said that a UN resolution backing the deployment of foreign troops in Iraq would make the Turkish deployment easier.

Any deployment would have to be approved by Parliament, which in March rebuffed a U.S. request to allow in U.S. troops for the Iraq war.

Asked when Turkey would make its final decision on sending troops to Iraq, Gul indicated that his government was in no rush.

"There is no hurry," he said.

U.S. officials have said they are optimistic of a positive response from Turkey. In an interview published Monday, the Turkish daily Milliyet quoted Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld as saying that Turkey's procedure for sending troops was nearly finalized.

5. - AFP - "Islamic education back in vogue as Turkey goes back to school":

ISTANBUL / 16 September 2003 / by Jerome Bastion

Islamic schools in Turkey showed clear signs of a revival this week, as children flocked back for the start of the first academic year since a change of government that ended a five-year crack-down on religious establishments.

The alumni association for Turkey's Islamic schools said it expects the number of pupils attending the "Imam hatips" to rise to 35,000 this year, from 23,000 last year. "Registrations are up by 60 to 70 percent at least," said association chairman Ibrahim Solmaz.

The provisional figures suggest the renaissance is most pronounced in the 24 Imam hatips of Istanbul, Turkey's economic capital and largest city, while the increase in pupil registrations across the rest of the country is closer to 50 percent.

The turnaround comes after a period of decline that began in 1997, when Turkey's secularist military removed the country's first Islamist government, led by then prime minister Necmettin Erbakan. The number of children attending Islamic schools -- which reached 600,000 under the Erbakan government -- began a steady decline that also led to the closure of a quarter of the country's 600 Imam hatips.

At the Acibadem school, on the Asian side of the Bosporus strait dividing Istanbul, parents estimated that the number of girls attending the Imam hatip had doubled since last year. The school made front-page news last year when, under the secularist government of former prime minister Bulent Ecevit, several dozen of its pupils were expelled for wearing Islamic headscarves.

But the playground was once again full of headscarf-clad girls back from their summer break on Monday, as the school prepared for its traditional tribute to the founder of the modern Turkish state, Kemal Ataturk -- a determined secularist. Musa Gumus, the father of one of the girls expelled last year, said much had changed since the November election victory by the Justice and Development Party, which portrays itself as a moderate grouping with Islamist roots.

"It's not surprising that we're seeing such a rush," said Gumus, whose daughter is now back at the school for her final year. "The promises made by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan have brightened up these children's horizons." Headscarves are now tolerated in Turkish schools but remain outlawed in universities and other public institutions -- a ban that Erdogan has so far shied away from tackling, aware that any attempt at reform would risk angering the generals.

Under growing pressure from his grassroots supporters, however, the prime minister last week vowed to abolish discriminatory university admissions rules that automatically slash entrance exam results by two-thirds for applicants from a so-called "professional schools" -- which in practice includes the Imam hatips. The handicap mainly affects girls, who account for 95 percent of pupils at religious schools, while boys are far more likely to be sent to secular establishments to preserve their chances of entering higher education.

Like Erdogan, the director of the Acibadem school avoided any direct reference to the sea of headscarves bobbing gently before him as he welcomed pupils back for the start of a new academic year. But he did talk proudly about the recent refurbishment of the building, which had to be carried out with money donated by parents because the local authority still refuses to release the school's public funding.

"You won't be getting any more water on your heads while you pray," the director said, to loud applause. Another father pointed out his daughter, a young girl wearing a long skirt, brightly-coloured headscarf and denim jacket, waiting patiently to be called back into classes. His daughter planned to study pharmacy, he said, "while at the same time learning more about her religion" -- a dream that might just be realised if the government makes good on its promises to Turkey's religious schools and their pupils.

6. - AFP - "Powell pays tribute to gassed Kurds in Halabja as violence surges in Iraq":

HALABJA / 16 September 2003

US Secretary of State Colin Powell honoured thousands of Kurds gassed by ousted president Saddam Hussein's forces 15 years ago, as violence surged elsewhere in Iraq with the killing of another US soldier and an Iraqi police chief.

And in Najaf, Iraq's interim Governing Council decided to create a series of regional security forces to protect Muslim shrines from attacks such as the car bombing that killed 83 people last month. About 20 of the 25 council members gathered for their first official meeting outside of Baghdad to discuss security and close ranks behind this holy Shiite city after the August 29 bombing.

In London, an inquiry into the intelligence used to justify Britain's participation in the war on Iraq resumed after a 10-day hiatus with the country's spy chief defending a controversial claim that Saddam's regime could have deployed weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes.

In the visit to Halabja, 130 kilometres (80 miles) east of the northern oil city of Kirkuk, Powell and US civil administrator Paul Bremer on Friday held talks with Jalal Talabani, leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, and Massoud Barzani, chief of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, which share power in
the Kurdish north.

Powell was warmly welcomed in the town, where about 5,000 people perished in 1988 when the Iraqi army unleashed a poison gas attack. During his stay of several hours, Powell visited a small monument built to the tragedy surrounded by 1,000 gravestones on the edge of the town. Addressing the crowd, Powell said: "This town is marked in history forever. The world should have acted sooner. What happened here in 1988 is never to happen again."

Saddam's Baath Party regime "will never return," Powell promised. "Soon you will vote on a new permanent constitution and then on a new government." Talabani replied: "We are very proud to be your allies in your struggle against tyranny. Now we have a good chance to achieve a democratic Iraq." Powell arrived in Kuwait City Monday evening, where he was expected to meet the foreign minister, Sheikh Mohammed Sabah al-Salem al-Sabah, before travelling on to Washington.

A day earlier in Baghdad, Powell outlined Iraq's path to democracy, without setting a timetable. He also stressed the need for a progressive return to Iraqi sovereignty but brushed off French calls for a more rapid handover. A US soldier was killed in an attack west of Baghdad barely an hour before Powell flew into Iraq Sunday via Kuwait from Geneva, where emergency UN talks failed to agree on the specifics of a timetable for self-rule, or on the United Nations' future role.

And another US soldier was killed Monday when his unit on patrol in Baghdad was attacked with a rocket-propelled grenade, a US military spokesman said. On the first visit to Iraq by a US secretary of state in half a century, Powell was faced with a beleaguered occupation force that has lost 76 US troops in anti-coalition attacks since major combat operations were declared over on May 1.

Later Monday, the police chief of Khaldiyah town, Colonel Khdayyir Ali Mukhlif, was killed when three men opened fire at his car in the flashpoint town of Fallujah, west of Baghdad. Lieutenant Colonel Jalal Sabri, in charge of police patrols in Fallujah, said two sergeants who were travelling with Mukhlif were seriously wounded after the three men opened fire from a white pick-up truck.

The policemen from Khaldiyah, 30 kilometres (19 miles) west of Fallujah, where US forces killed nine Iraqi security guards in a "friendly fire" incident on Friday, were part of US attempts to establish a national Iraqi police force. Meanwhile, an Iraqi civilian, Sami Hassan Saref, died after being shot by US forces in Mikdadya, 45 kilometres (27 miles) west of Baquba, northeast of Baghdad.

The US soldiers were attempting to enter Saref's house during an operation when he mistook them for thieves and pulled out a rifle, shopkeeper Ahmad Mansur Karim said. US forces escaped two attacks near Baquba that left one Iraqi civilian dead and another wounded, police and witnesses said Monday. In London, in an unprecedented move Richard Dearlove, head of Britain's foreign intelligence service MI6, gave testimony on the opening day of the second phase of a judicial inquiry into the death of government arms expert David Kelly.

The BBC's director general Greg Dyke also told the parliamentary inquiry the government had sparked a row with the BBC to divert attention from charges it tampered with a dossier on Iraq's alleged weapons arsenal in the run-up to war. Meanwhile, during a visit to Washington for talks on Middle East peace, Jordan's King Abdullah II reiterated his position that Amman would not commit troops to the stabilisation effort in Iraq.

And in Damascus, Syrian Foreign Minister Faruq al-Shara and EU external relations commissioner Chris Patten called Monday for key UN roles in Iraq and Middle East peace efforts, the state news agency SANA reported. It said Shara and Patten in a meeting here stressed "the central role which the United Nations should play to reach a settlement on these two issues in keeping with international legitimacy".