flash bulletin

1 February 2005

1. "PM to Investigate 'Death Under Custody'", the Human Rights Directorate of the Prime Ministry launches investigation to look into charges that a Gokhan Belguzar was tortured to death during police custody. Police claims that the victim committed suicide by hanging himself in the detention cell.

2. "Turkey Without Handicaps", the Turkish Association of the Handicapped is launching the "Turkey Without Handicaps" project. The project aims at raising awareness about the lives of the handicapped people among the public and among the young in particular.

3. "Turkey Opposition Leader Retains Party Post", after a raucous session of name-calling and a chair-throwing melee that was broken up by riot police, the country's main opposition leader beat back a challenge by a rival faction on Sunday to be re-elected as the head of the Republican People's Party.

4. "Turkey, Israel in talks on 1.5 billion defence deals", Israeli and Turkish officials have held talks about possible defence deals worth 1.5 billion dollars which would see Israel upgrade the Turkish air force's ageing fleet of F-4 Phantom planes, the Haaretz daily reported Monday.

5. "Turkey slams U.S. failure to halt Kurds' designs on Kirkuk", Turkey criticized the United States for failing to halt Kurdish efforts to dominate the city of Kirkuk in northern Iraq, and warned it could take action if attempts to take control plunges the city into ethnic turmoil.

6. "Turkey Warns Of Action Over Kirkuk As US Seeks To Allay Concerns", Turkey warned Monday that it could take action if Kurdish attempts to take control of Kirkuk in northern Iraq plunges the oil-rich city into ethnic turmoil while a top US envoy sought to ease Ankara's security concerns.

7. "Kurds seek presidency in power deal", Iraq could soon have its first Kurdish president, following behind-the scenes talks between leading Shia and Iraqi government figures and Kurdish officials.

8. "Kurds: Fighting for Civil Rights", order "A Thousand Sighs, A Thousand Revolts" here.

1. - Bianet - "PM to Investigate 'Death Under Custody'":

The Human Rights Directorate of the Prime Ministry launches investigation to look into charges that a Gokhan Belguzar was tortured to death during police custody. Police claims that the victim committed suicide by hanging himself in the detention cell.

ISTANBUL / 31 January 2005

The Human Rights Directorate of the Prime Ministry launches an investigation to look into the allegations that Gokhan Belguzar, who lost his life under detention at the Osmaniye Police Station in Bakirkoy, Istanbul, died as a result of torture.

In a written statement, the Human Rights Directorate said that the Istanbul Provincial Human Rights Committee had been ordered to launch the necessary investigation. The statement added:

"There have been reports in the media that Belguzar, who died under detention at the Istanbul Bakirkoy Osmaniye police station, lost his life due to torture, that the camera in Belguzar's cell wasn't working, that Belguzar wasn't given his medication, and that the officer on duty left the police station. On these reports, it was decided that the incident should be investigated and the Istanbul Provincial Human Rights Committee has been ordered to do so."

Police has stated that Belguzar committed suicide under detention by hanging himself. However, his family is claiming that he died as a result of torture. The prosecutor's office is awaiting a report from the Forensic Medical Institution to go ahead with the probe. The reason for Belguzar's death will become clear with the report.

The Istanbul Police Headquarters has also launched an investigation about the police officers who were on duty the night Gokhan Belguzar lost his life.

A group from the Istanbul branch of the Human Rights Association (IHD) who wanted to conduct investigation at the Osmaniye police station on January 25, was prevented by security forces.

2. - Bianet - "Turkey Without Handicaps":

The Turkish Association of the Handicapped is launching the "Turkey Without Handicaps" project. The project aims at raising awareness about the lives of the handicapped people among the public and among the young in particular.

ISTANBUL / 31 January 2005 / by Deniz Turan

Sukru Boyraz, head of "Turkish Association of the Handicapped," launches public relations logo and slogan competition under the title: "Turkey without Handicaps."

Boyraz said the "Turkey without Handicaps" project would help remove the distance between the country's disabled people and those who are not. He added that the practical solutions created by the young people participating in the project would benefit the handicapped.

Construction Law should be amended

Ismet Gokcek, head of the “Federation of the Handicapped”, underlined the fact that the disabled are constantly faced with architectural problems and transportation difficulties wherever they go. Gokcek said the Construction Law should be amended to accommodate the handicapped.

The disabled people in Turkey can't meet their basic needs, said Boyraz adding that they couldn't pursue a social life. He said human rights laws for the disabled are inadequate.

"Social exclusion will be prevented"

The young people of 15-18 years old, who will participate in the competition, will in the future hopefully work on projects for the disabled, said Boyraz. "For example, an architect, who becomes aware about the rights or the disabled at an early age, will feel the responsibility to meet the needs of the disabled when constructing a building in the future," he said.

Boyraz added that the project is aimed at overcoming the problems of the disadvantaged. This project will raise awareness of the young people and help overcome the social exclusion, which the disabled people experience every day, said Boyraz. "This project, through overcoming social differences, will make important contributions to our country in its bid to join the European Union," he added.

3. - The New York Times - "Turkey Opposition Leader Retains Party Post":

ISTANBUL / 30 January 2005 / by Susan Sachs

After a raucous session of name-calling and a chair-throwing melee that was broken up by riot police, the country's main opposition leader beat back a challenge by a rival faction on Sunday to be re-elected as the head of the Republican People's Party.

The vote at a two-day convention in Ankara exposed deep divisions in the party, which has tried to present itself as a secular and center-left counterweight to the more religious-minded Justice and Development Party of Prime Minister Recip Tayyip Erdogan.

Deniz Baykal, 66, a veteran politician who has run the Republican People's Party for the past 12 years, kept his post with 55 percent of the more than 1,200 delegates' votes. His sole challenger was Mustafa Sarigul, the populist mayor of Sisli, one of Istanbul's wealthier districts, who had argued that the party needed fresh leadership for a strong challenge to Mr. Erdogan.

Mr. Baykal, who had tried to have Mr. Sarigul expelled from the party, opened the convention with a searing speech accusing him of corruption. Fights broke out when Mr. Sarigul tried to reach the lectern to respond, with delegates heaving plastic chairs and other objects at one another. The scene was carried live on several Turkish television stations and made the front page of all the Sunday newspapers.

The Republican People's Party was founded and led from 1923 to 1938 by Turkey's first president, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, an association that has made it an enduring force in the country's political life. But after it participated in coalition governments, its popularity slipped to the point that it did not win enough votes even to enter Parliament in 1999.

Three years later, when Turkish voters rejected the other parties running their government and brought Mr. Erdogan's party to power, the Republican People's Party rebounded and became the only opposition bloc in Parliament.

Its influence has been limited. The Justice and Development Party, created by many veterans of Turkey's older Islamist movements, controls two-thirds of the seats, more than enough to push through its programs without opposition support.

Mr. Baykal, however, has cooperated with the governing party on changes to the Constitution and other laws aimed at guaranteeing human rights and modernizing the justice system.

But he has sought to distinguish his party's position from the government's by accusing Mr. Erdogan of undermining Turkish secularism, a charge that resonates with many Turks who worry about the governing party's social agenda.

Mr. Baykal made less of a mark with the Turkish public when he accused Mr. Erdogan of accepting too many conditions from the European Union in December, when Turkey was promised it would begin membership talks in October.

4. - AFP - "Turkey, Israel in talks on 1.5 billion defence deals":

JERUSALEM / 31 January 2004

Israeli and Turkish officials have held talks about possible defence deals worth 1.5 billion dollars which would see Israel upgrade the Turkish air force's ageing fleet of F-4 Phantom planes, the Haaretz daily reported Monday.

An Israeli defense ministry delegation led by director general Amos Yaron was in Ankara last week to meet with senior Turkish counterparts and draw up a joint work programme between their armies for the coming year, the paper said.

The discussions focused on the refurbishment of 48 of the Turkish air force's F-4 Phantoms and up to 300 M48 Patton tanks belonging to Turkey's armoured corps.

Turkey, a strictly secular country with a Muslim majority population, infuriated Arab nations in 1996 when it struck a military cooperation accord with the Jewish state.

To date the cooperation has been mainly focused on their air forces and navy but Haaretz said both sides were considering broadening the cooperation to include land forces.

Ties took a battering in May last year when Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned as "state terror" a deadly Israeli raid on the Rafah refugee camp in southern Gaza and Ankara temporarily recalled its ambassador from Tel Aviv.

However a visit by Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul to Israel earlier this month appears to have drawn a line under a period of tension between the traditional allies.

5. - The Daily Star - "Turkey slams U.S. failure to halt Kurds' designs on Kirkuk":

1 February 2005

Turkey criticized the United States for failing to halt Kurdish efforts to dominate the city of Kirkuk in northern Iraq, and warned it could take action if attempts to take control plunges the city into ethnic turmoil.

"Some people are looking the other way while mass migration (of Kurds to Kirkuk) takes place," the Wall Street Journal quoted Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyep Erdogan as saying in an interview given on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort of Davos.

"This is going to create major difficulties in the future."

Turkey believes Iraqi Kurds, who voted in large numbers in Sunday's election, are trying to take control of Kirkuk at the expense of local Arabs and Turkish-speaking Turkmens.

Ankara fears this could herald a concerted drive to build an independent Kurdish state in northern Iraq which might in turn reignite separatism among the Kurds of southeastern Turkey.

Erdogan said U.S. President George W. Bush had assured him he would look into the matter but had done nothing so far.

Speaking in Ankara on Monday, U.S. Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith, an architect of the Iraq war, tried to reassure Turkey, making clear Washington still opposed Kurdish separatism.

"The issue of Kirkuk is an important one. ... It is going to be worked on by the Iraqis from the point of view that this is not a matter for one group or another but for the Iraqi people in general. We support that view," Feith said after talks with Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul.

Feith underlined that Washington "strongly believes that it is crucial that the territorial integrity of Iraq be preserved ... and that problems like Kirkuk be solved in a way that reinforces the unity and territorial integrity of the country."

Many Arabs and Turkmens in Kirkuk appeared to boycott Sunday's Iraqi elections in protest at what they saw as voting rules favoring the Kurds.

Erdogan, who gave his interview before the Iraqi election, said Turkey was taking its own precautions over Kirkuk but declined to give details.

Gul said Turkey could not stand passively by if Kurds took control of Kirkuk, though he stopped short of saying Ankara would send troops into Iraq.

"Our borders are clear. We have no territorial designs," he told the English-language newspaper Turkish Daily News.

"(But) sometimes you may not wish to embark on a road but developments force you to take certain actions ... In democratic countries, governments don't have the luxury of ignoring public sentiment," said Gul.

But Gul also hailed the Iraqi vote, saying it "reconfirmed the will of the Iraqi people to maintain the country's course in a united and integral way towards peace and security."

Turkish newspapers Monday also debated the consequences of the strong Kurdish turnout in northern Iraq.

Many front-page reports quoted Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani, who heads one of two Kurdish factions controlling the north, as saying that Iraqi Kurds would one day have their own independent state.

"The elections end, their mask comes off," said the daily Aksam, referring to the Kurds, while the Vatan daily headlined "Barzani challenges Turkey." The daily Milliyet meanwhile saw the Sunni boycott of the elections as a potential pitfall for Turkey, stressing that Iraq's Parliament, which will draw up the country's constitution, will be dominated by Shiites and Kurds.

Vatan said the best route for Ankara would be to support the Kurds in a future role in the administration of Iraq to offset the possible danger of their breaking free from central rule.

Erdogan also took the U.S. to task for failing to crack down on an estimated 5,000 Turkish Kurdish guerrillas holed up in the mountains of northern Iraq.

"Their (American) excuse is that they are overwhelmed (in Iraq) but they accept that our demands are just demands and have promised they will deal with it. We have not yet seen action," said Erdogan.

More than 30,000 people died during a 20-year armed struggle by rebels of the Kurdistan Workers Party to carve out a Kurdish state in southeastern Turkey.

6. - AFP - "Turkey Warns Of Action Over Kirkuk As US Seeks To Allay Concerns":

ANKARA / 31 January 2005

Turkey warned Monday that it could take action if Kurdish attempts to take control of Kirkuk in northern Iraq plunges the oil-rich city into ethnic turmoil while a top US envoy sought to ease Ankara's security concerns.

In comments published in a newspaper interview, Turkey's Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul renewed concerns that more Kurds than those expelled under Saddam Hussein's rule had settled in Kirkuk, altering the demographic structure of the city which is also home to large numbers of Turkmens, a community of Turkish descent backed by Ankara.

"We are observing that the situation has reached dangerous proportions," Gul told the English-language Turkish Daily News newspaper. "Now our fear is the possibility that these gross changes in the demography of Kirkuk could trigger an ethnic confrontation, which has not been seen so far."

"If our brothers (Turkmens) are not treated well, if they are subjected to oppression, such developments will hurt us deeply, and in a democratic society administrations cannot remain indifferent, or merely spectators, to such developments," Gul said.

The minister did not say what action Turkey could take but stressed that Ankara had no territorial ambitions over Iraq and respects its borders.

"Our borders are clear. We have no territorial designs. We have no territorial demands on any country. When we talk about the integrity of Iraq, we mean the internationally recognized borders of Iraq," Gul said.

Ankara says that many of the Kurds who moved to Kirkuk following the US-led occupation of Iraq in March 2003 and who voted in Sunday's elections have no bonds with the city and sees the influx as part of a Kurdish design to take control of the city and make it the capital of a future independent Kurdish state.

Many Turkish newspapers on Monday ran front-page reports quoting Kurdish leader Massud Barzani, who heads one of two Kurdish factions controlling the north, as saying that Iraqi Kurds would one day have their own independent state.

"The elections end, their mask comes off," said the daily Aksam, referring to the Kurds, while the Vatan daily headlined "Barzani challenges Turkey."

Kurdish independence is a nightmare scenario for Turkey which fears that such a development will fan separatism among its own restive Kurds in the southeast of the country and create turmoil in the region.

In a bid to allay Ankara's concerns, a top US official said here after talks with Gul that Washington supports the unity of Iraq and that the settlement of the dispute over Kirkuk would not be left to a certain ethnic group.

"The issue of Kirkuk is an important one... It is going to be worked on by the Iraqis from the point of view that this is not a matter for one group or another but for the Iraqi people in general. We support that view," Douglas Feith, the US undersecretary of defense for policy, said.

Washington "strongly believes that it is crucial that the territorial integrity of Iraq be preserved... and that problems like Kirkuk be solved in a way that reinforces the unity and territorial integrity of the country," he added.

Turkish officials, nonetheless, remained cautious, welcoming the Iraqi elections as a step towards democracy in the war-torn country, but also warning that they will keep a close eye on the results of the vote in Kirkuk.

"When making this assessment (of the poll results), the implications of the attempts to alter the demographic structure in northern Iraq will also be taken into consideration," the Turkish foreign ministry said in a written statement.

7. - The Guardian - "Kurds seek presidency in power deal":

KOI SANJAQ / 31 January 2005 / by Michael Howard

Iraq could soon have its first Kurdish president, following behind-the scenes talks between leading Shia and Iraqi government figures and Kurdish officials.

Though Kurds stress any deal will have to wait until the election results are known, the two main Kurdish leaders, Massoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani, said yesterday that they would demand one of the two top offices of state, prime minister or president.

With the prime minister's position likely to be filled by either the incumbent Ayad Allawi, or by an as yet unknown candidate from the Shia list, the less powerful presidency could go to Mr Talabani, veteran leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, who heads the joint Kurdish list for the national assembly. The post of speaker of the transitional assembly would go to a Sunni Arab, perhaps Adnan Pachachi.

"We have received some proposals from Shia politicians and others," said Mr Talabani. "In return for our backing the idea of the prime minister being a Shia, they are saying they will back a Kurd as president. But we are waiting to see who will be the prime minister, what will his policies be, and how he will look at the Kurdish interests."

Mr Talabani said a Kurdish president "could help to unite the nation and play an important role overseeing the drafting of the new constitution and bringing the Sunni Arabs into the political process". About 95% of Iraq's 4-5 million Kurds are Sunni Muslim.

He added: "The main princi ples we want to see enshrined are democracy, a proper federal system, human rights, women's rights, and the appropriate distance between state and religion."

Kurdish leaders were angered last summer when the prime ministership and the presidency went to a Shia Arab and a Sunni Arab.

Mr Barzani, who leads the rival Kurdistan Democratic Party, said yesterday: "I think this time the Kurds must get one of these posts."

Mr Talabani and Mr Barzani run rival administrations in the Kurdish self-rule area in the north. They have put aside past bitterness to create a joint ticket - which also includes Arab, Turkoman and Christian candidates - for both the national elections and the vote for the Kurdish regional parliament. The KDP and the PUK will compete with each other only in the provincial elections. Kurds make up about 20% of Iraq's population and were expected to vote in large numbers. Analysts say the Kurdish list could gain anything from 50-80 seats in the 275-seat transitional assembly and is likely to hold the balance of power.

The main task of the new parliament will be to form a new government and draft a permanent constitution. A referendum on the constitution and second general election are then due to be held by the end of the year.

Under a controversial clause in the interim constitution, the new constitution could be rejected if two-thirds of the electorate vote against it in three of Iraq's 18 provinces. The Kurdistan region has three provinces within its borders.

8. - The Globalist - "Kurds: Fighting for Civil Rights":

Order "A Thousand Sighs, A Thousand Revolts" here.

31 January 2005 / by Christiane Bird

Kurds live in Iraq, Turkey, Iran and Syria — but they have no physical nation to call their own. As a result, many have become estranged from each other, integrated into the mainstream of their respective societies — and some don't even speak Kurdish. To see for herself, Christiane Bird traveled to Kurdish areas — and wrote “A Thousand Sighs, A Thousand Revolts.”

he question of an independent Kurdish state remains open. For the most part, Kurds in Iraq, Turkey, Iran and Syria today are not talking about independence, but rather about equal civil rights and the need to establish federated political states.

Kurdish independence

Yet, floating in the back of many Kurdish minds — how could it be otherwise? — are dreams of complete independence, with some regarding it as only a dream and others viewing the federated states as a stepping stone to the larger goal.

Through satellite communications and the Internet, the Kurds have their own television shows, radio broadcasts, publications and websites.

Many impediments stand in the way of Kurdish independence. None of their nations would let them go without a fierce struggle. That is ironic, considering the way Kurds are mistreated and looked down upon by their respective compatriots.

After 80 years of separation by international borders, the Kurds have also become considerably estranged from one another — each group has taken on some of the characteristics of their nation.

And the divide between the Iranian Kurds and those in Iraq, Syria and Turkey dates back far earlier — to the days of the Ottoman-Safavids and, before that, the Ardalans.

Weak links

A large number of Kurds, especially in Turkey, are well integrated into mainstream society and no longer live in predominantly Kurdish areas or speak Kurdish.

The Kurds also lack a strong military, adequate financial and economic resources, organization, education and — perhaps most important — a unified, Pan-Kurdish leadership.

No unity

The Kurds remain a fractured people on many levels — torn between countries, regions, political parties, tribes, families, dialects, outlooks, the old and the new.

The dividing line between the two main dialects of the Kurdish language is marked by the Greater Zab River. In northern Iraqi Kurdistan and much of Turkey, Kurds speak Kermanji. In southern Iraqi Kurdistan and much of Iran, they speak Sorani.

Bilingual Kurds

Lacking a standard language has been yet another barrier to Kurdish political and social unification.

I do believe that the time of armed Kurdish conflict is over, at least for the foreseeable future. They know that there is more than one way to win a war.

War and upheaval has also meant more intermingling between speakers of Kermanji and Sorani — both within Kurdistan and the diaspora.

Complications remain, most notably that of written Kurdish. Iraqi and Iranian Kurds, like their compatriots, use the Arabic alphabet, while Kurds in Turkey, like the Turks, use the Roman.

In the safe haven, Kurdish was the primary language being taught in the schools, where a “Kurdicized” curriculum was also being developed. Parents who learned their lessons in Arabic were delighting in children learning theirs in Kurdish.

Full access

But the practice has dangers. Many of today’s younger generation cannot speak Arabic, a considerable liability in a land with many Arabic-speaking neighbors.

And yet, modern technology, coupled with oppression, has changed everything. Through satellite communications and the Internet, the Kurds have their own television shows, radio broadcasts, publications and websites — all of which are theoretically available to every Kurd anywhere in the world.

An international cyberspace state

Hundreds of thousands of Kurds, forced out of their homelands by politics, now live in Europe or the United States, where they are steadily gaining advanced degrees, power and influence.

Many of today’s younger generation of Kurds in Iraq cannot speak Arabic, a considerable liability in a land with many Arabic-speaking neighbors.

The Kurds may not have their own physical nation, but they do have an international cyberspace state. This, along with a quickening sense of national identity that, decades from now, may yet give rise to Pan-Kurdish unification — perhaps in the forum of a federated Kurdish nation-state.

I do believe that the time of armed Kurdish conflict is over, at least for the foreseeable future. The Iraqi peshmerga — which refers to freedom fighters or “those who face death” — are not what they once were, while the Kurds of Iran and Turkey are ineffably weary.

Modernized and smart

The Kurds are also a smart, pragmatic, industrious and increasingly modernized people. They know that there is more than one way to win a war.

Whenever I think about the Kurds’ future, I think back to my last stop in Kurdistan — Doguhayazit, Turkey, situated at the northern edge of Kurdish territory.

Poetry present and past

Beyond the castle was a mosque and tile tomb of Ahmad-i Khani (circa 1650 to 1706), the most famous of all Kurdish poets.

A large number of Kurds, especially in Turkey, are well integrated into mainstream society — and no longer live in predominantly Kurdish areas or speak Kurdish.

He writes of his people’s subjugation, dispossession, divisiveness, independence and courage. His words resonate as much today as they did 300 years ago:

Look! Our misfortune has reached its zenith,
Has it started to come down do you think?
Or will it remain so,
Until comes upon us the end of time?
Is it possible, I wonder, that for us too,
A star will emerge out of the firmament?
Let luck be on our side for once.

Reinvention

With that in mind, I thought back to the many questions I had had at the beginning of my journey. How had the Kurds kept going after all they had suffered? They kept going because they had no other choice.

How were they juggling the old and the new? With two steps forward, one step back. Were they still their own worst enemy? At times. Had they reinvented themselves? Yes.