31
January 2005
2. "IHD still needs to campaign against torture", 'One of the essential targets of our campaign is to increase public awareness in society about the existence of torture,' says IHD Chairman Alatas.
3. "Political veteran re-elected as head of main Turkish opposition party", Turkish political veteran Deniz Baykal was re-elected Sunday as head of the main opposition People's Republican Party (CHP) after a stormy, and at times violent, congress which left several people injured.
4. "Worried Turkey Keeps Close Watch Over Kurdistan", Turkey is home to the largest Kurdish population in the world – about 20 million. But Kurdish language is virtually banned in schools in Turkey, and Kurdish radio and television are highly controlled despite some recent decisions to ease restrictions.
5. "Turkey eyes Iraq poll with concern", Turkey's leaders have been voicing fears this week that Sunday's Iraqi elections may have dire consequences for stability across their southern border.
6. "Iraq: Allaying Turkey’s fears over Kurdish ambitions", in northern Iraq, largely unnoticed, a conflict is brewing that, if allowed to boil over, could precipitate civil war, break-up of the country and in a worst-case scenario Turkish intervention.
1. - AP - "Turkey questions actions of security forces in fight against PKK members":
The head of IHD branch office in Diyarbakir, Selahattin Demirtas, says some 300 people remained missing in the mainly-Kurdish southeast of Turkey.
DIYARBAKIR / 30 January 2005 / by James C. Helicke
For more than a decade, Aydin Demir petitioned Turkish authorities to be told the fate of his brother.
Then one day in November, villagers uncovered soiled clothing and what appeared to be the remains of the brother and 10 other Kurds, last seen when they were detained by the military, in a mass grave at the bed of a creek outside his village.
What happened next signaled a small but important shift - driven largely by the nation's bid to join the European Union - in the government's relations with its formidable military, which had long enjoyed free rein in its battle against outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) members.
Instead of shrugging off the grisly find, lawmakers rushed to the overwhelmingly Kurdish southeast to investigate: They conceded the remains did indeed appear to be those of the missing villagers and even suggested the military may have had a hand in their disappearance. They then called for those responsible to be brought to justice.
Democratic reforms spurred by Turkey's European aspirations are forcing the country to examine the brutal conflict between the military and the PKK, and for the first time to seriously consider possible abuses by security forces. Some 37,000 people have died in the conflict, which erupted in 1984.
The changes are startling in a country where questioning the military has long been taboo and insulting the armed forces is a criminal offense.
Even Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has joined in criticizing Turkey's law-and-order apparatus, expressing outrage after Turkish police in November shot and killed a 12-year-old schoolboy in the southeast they said was a terrorist. Erdogan expressed doubts that the child was involved in militant activities.
As part of its EU bid, Erdogan's government has carried out sweeping reforms that expand freedom of expression, grant Kurds the right to teach their language, and trim the military's influence in politics.
"This is the first time that there's such a serious discussion," said Selahattin Demirtas, the head of Turkey's independent Human Rights Association in Diyarbakir, the largest city in the region.
"But this is just a small example," added Demirtas, who said some 300 people remained missing in the region. "It's important that all of these cases are examined one by one."
The boy's shooting was front page news in Turkey. But Turkish media and lawmakers have been more restrained in their discussion about the mass grave and careful not to directly blame the military, which is still deeply revered by much of Turkish society.
Demir and other villagers say Turkish soldiers rounded up his brother and the others, tying them up and beating them to gain information about rebels before burning the village of Alaca to the ground 11 years ago.
"We just left with the clothes on our back. They burned everything, even the food," he said. "We had nothing to do with the (rebels). Nobody did."
The Turkish military has denied burning down villages and contends that forced evacuations were carried out to protect civilians. Human rights groups say Turkey burned more than 1,000 villages as part of a strategy to clear the countryside and deny the PKK local support.
The lawmakers are continuing their probe, which began last month. Human rights groups have praised the investigation, but noted it was too early to say whether the probe meant that action would be taken or that a deeper public inquiry into abuses was imminent.
Still, the lawmakers' interest in the case marks a major shift from the past.
"These are claims that need to be investigated ... no matter what happens," said Mehmet Elkatmis, chairman of parliament's Human Rights Commission, which is conducting the probe.
After the villagers disappeared, Demir and other relatives repeatedly petitioned Turkish authorities for information about the missing people, but failed to find anything out.
In the meantime, nine villagers, including Demir, took their case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, which in 2001 found Turkey liable for the deaths of the missing people. The court fined Turkey 382,340 British pounds (then U.S.$546,746).
The recent killing of the Kurdish schoolboy also illustrates the changes in the region where fighting recently picked up after a lull following a 1999 unilateral rebel cease-fire.
Ugur Kaymaz and his 34-year-old father, Ahmet, were shot outside their home in Kiziltepe, near the Syrian border.
Police said they were pursuing members of the PKK and authorities said the two were "terrorists" - the label given to the PKK members by Turkey - and were killed in an exchange of fire with police.
Human rights groups questioned any involvement by the boy and suspicions quickly emerged about official accounts of the incident.
Lawmakers investigating the case pointed out the boy was shot repeatedly from behind.
Four policemen have since been removed from their posts and charged with using excessive force. But many, including the family, were outraged that the policemen were not charged with a more serious crime and by prosecutors' insistence that the boy died in an exchange of gunfire. Lawmakers said they could find no evidence to support that claim.
"We were given hope by the public discussion in the
deaths," the boy's uncle, Murat Kaymaz, said. "But we were
disappointed again when it came time for prosecutors to prosecute the
crime." 
2. - Turkish Daily News - "IHD still needs to campaign against torture":
'One of the essential targets of our campaign is to increase public awareness in society about the existence of torture,' says IHD Chairman Alatas
ANKARA / EMINE KART / 30 January 2005
In 1943, when French philosopher Jean Paul Sartre wrote his play “No Exit,” he described a metaphorical hell under the pessimistic shadow of World War II. “There is no need for torture: Hell is the Other,” he said.
In 2005, the Turkish Human Rights Association (IHD) still needs to launch a campaign to fight the existence of torture in a country that is to start membership negotiations with the European Union. The union has foundations in the disastrous scene following World War II, when European integration was considered necessary for achieving peace.
“One of the essential targets of our campaign is to increase public awareness in society about the existence of torture,” said IHD Chairman Yusuf Alatas in an interview with the Turkish Daily News. “Do Not Keep Silent on Torture” is the name given to the IHD's project, a name that reflects the individual's responsibility for the existence of torture.
The project, sponsored by the Delegation of the EU Commission to Turkey within the framework of its European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights Micro-Project Support Program, was initiated in January of last year.
“We're continuing the campaign this year. It has become obvious that the existence of torture is not an issue that can be resolved in a few months,” said Alatas.
The EU Commission in its October report said torture was no longer systematic in Turkey. The report reflected the findings of an EU official during an investigation in Turkey prior to the release of the report. That investigation was prompted by statements made by some human rights organizations alleging that torture was still systematic in Turkey.
It would be an artificial discussion as to whether or not torture in Turkey is still systematic, Alatas said. “Have torture incidents in Turkey become discrete incidents? That should be the question.” He added that torture was still widespread in most of Turkey.
Even during the deadly environment of World War II, people
such as Sartre were hopeful about the modern human consciousness since
they relied only on that for imagining a new world. Perhaps the IHD's
campaign offers a chance for people living in Turkey and for the country's
reconstruction of itself on the way to the EU.
3. - AFP - "Political veteran re-elected as head of main Turkish opposition party":
ANKARA / 30 January 2005
Turkish political veteran Deniz Baykal was re-elected Sunday as head of the main opposition People's Republican Party (CHP) after a stormy, and at times violent, congress which left several people injured.
But his win was expected to exacerbate divisions within the party and further erode public support.
Baykal, 66, won with 674 votes over his younger rival Mustafa Sarigul, 48, who garnered 460 votes from the 1,219 CHP delegates who voted early Sunday.
The CHP chief represents the old guard of the party created in 1923 by the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, while his rival Sarigul, mayor of the wealthy Sisli district in Istanbul, is part of a new wave of reformers at the heart of the party.
The CHP took 19 percent of the vote in the last national elections in November 2002, won by the Justice and Development party with 34 percent (AKP), of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Erdogan's party, born out of the ashes of an Islamist party, now holds an absolute majority in parliament.
The opposition's defeat in 2004 municipal elections was even more crushing with the AKP winning 41.5 percent of the vote and the CHP only 18 percent, which lead to party grumblings about Baykal's leadership.
Sarigul, an ambitious politician who has irritated the party leadership by criss-crossing the country to garner support, was accused by Baykal of taking bribes but was later cleared by a party disciplinary committee.
Sarigul has become the main political hope for the millions of left-wing voters who want the CHP to act as a rampart against Islamist political forces in Turkey.
During the CHP party congress, held in a sports stadium in Ankara, party militants clashed with several people, with chairs being thrown into the air.
Several people were injured including two journalists and anti-riot police were called.
Television news crews were at hand filming the unprecedented violence which even saw Sarigul hit a political opponent.
The press was highly critical of the events at the congress which it deemed "were unworthy of the CHP".
The newspaper Hurriyet, ran a headline "Civil War
at Party Congress", saying Baykal had won a "pyrrhic victory"
as it would
worsen party divisions and lose public support.
Party supporters are also questioning the future of the party when the AKP is gaining in popularity with good performances on the economy and European integration.
"It's sad for the future of Turkey, there is now
almost no opposition to the politics of the AKP, it's dangerous,"
said Sina Taskin, a retired teacher.
4. - Inter Press Service - "Worried Turkey Keeps
Close Watch Over Kurdistan":
ARBIL / 29 January 2005 / by Aaron Glantz
The afternoon call to prayer sounds on the final Friday before election on Sunday, and thousands of Kurds across Northern Iraq file into their mosques. At each one of them, imams appointed by the ruling Kurdish factions give the same message: go out and vote.
"Vote, vote, and vote for all the martyrs who helped you get your freedom," a middle aged imam preaches in Quritan, a small town southwest of the regional capital Arbil. "Vote for the people who were killed by Saddam in al-Anfal. This election is our chance to win our freedom."
In the afternoon after the sermons are over, Arbil too is in full election mode. The red, green, and white Kurdish national flag is everywhere. Half the cars fly the flag, and it is draped over government buildings. Speakers at street corners blare out the same message. "Hurry, hurry, get ready to vote for the Kurdistan list."
Across the border, Turkish leaders have been listening to these voices carefully.
Within Northern Iraq, the Arab and Turkomen (ethnic Turks in Iraq) minorities have been expressing concern. This is especially acute in the multi-ethnic, oil-rich city of Kirkuk. The status of Kirkuk is at present uncertain, but Kurds are pushing to make it a Kurd-administered city.
The leading Arab party there has announced it is boycotting the elections. The Iraqi Turkomen Front has been holding daily rallies against the elections commission's decision last week to allow about 100,000 Kurdish refugees to vote in Kirkuk.
That concern has now registered in neighboring Turkey. It is concerned for the Turkomen, and it is concerned about the emerging power of Kurds.
Turkey is home to the largest Kurdish population in the world – about 20 million. But Kurdish language is virtually banned in schools in Turkey, and Kurdish radio and television are highly controlled despite some recent decisions to ease restrictions.
Turkey has long held fears that a strong Kurdish government in Iraq could encourage Kurds within Turkey to demand similar autonomy.
The Turkish military has sounded warnings about any Kurdish control of Kirkuk. "We have repeatedly said that such a situation may make the election results in Kirkuk disputable and make it almost impossible to find a fair and lasting solution for Kirkuk," Gen. Ilker Basbug, the second most powerful military leader in Turkey told a news conference this week.
"Moreover, we are concerned that such developments will pose a threat to Iraq's territorial and political unity and create a great security problem in the region," he said. "Such a development will also create a serious security problem for Turkey."
Turkey already maintains a military base with an estimated 5,000 soldiers near the Northern Iraqi city Dohuk. The Turkish government has – in the past – repeatedly threatened to invade Iraq if ethnic Turks in Iraq are threatened, or if Kurds try to take control of Kirkuk.
"If the people of Kirkuk endorse the election results," Gen. Basburg said, "we will conclude that no major problem exists. But if the opposite happens, then we will see that we have differences."
But Kurds in Iraq laugh at the possibility of Turkish military intervention.
"Such a step might have been possible before the U.S. invasion, but now that 150,000 American troops occupy Iraq, a Turkish invasion would put their northern neighbor in direct confrontation with the world's only superpower," says Kurdish political scientist Dr. Azad Ahmed.
A native of Diyarbakir in Turkey, Ahmed moved to Arbil with his family two years ago so his children would learn Kurdish in school. He believes that eventually Turkey will have to come to grips with Kurdish independence.
"Kurdish people do not see themselves as part of Iraq, but as part of Kurdistan, so they will vote for Kurds to be representatives in Baghdad and also vote for their representation in the Kurdish regional government," he said. "This will make any Kurdistan government a legitimate government to represent all the people in (Iraqi) Kurdistan."
Ahmed says this would give Kurds a strong negotiating hand to expand the administration of the Kurdistan regional government to Kirkuk after the election.
At that point, the Turkish Army would have to weigh its
options.
5. - Aljazeera - "Turkey eyes Iraq poll with concern":
28 January 2005 / by Jonathan Gorvett
Turkey's leaders have been voicing fears this week that Sunday's Iraqi
elections may have dire consequences for stability across their southern
border.
The deputy chief of staff of the country's powerful military, General Ilker Basbug, said on Wednesday that developments could threaten the territorial and political integrity of Iraq and would pose an important security problem for Turkey.
In 2003, after the US-led invasion of Iraq, Turkey had threatened to send its troops into the north of the country if it fell under the control of Kurdish forces. It only backed down after Washington applied strong pressure.
Central to Basbug's anxiety is the city of Kirkuk. Sitting on top of some of the world's largest oil fields, the city contains Kurdish, Arab and Turkmen populations. The latter are seen by many in Turkey as ethnic brethren left behind at the collapse of the Ottoman empire after World War I.
Control of the city will be voted on during Sunday's ballot, and Turkey fears that Kurdish groups have been deliberately tampering with Kirkuk's ethnic balance to secure an overwhelming victory.
Swinging the vote
"Hundreds of thousands of Kurds have migrated to Kirkuk to register to vote," General Basbug said.
Kurdish groups and the region's government deny any wrongdoing. They point out that under Saddam Hussein, a policy of Arabisation in the city had led to the expulsion of much of the Kurdish and Turkmen population.
What is happening now, they say, is just these people returning to their rightful homes.
"We went to Baghdad and met with US, British and Iraqi government officials," Khaned Samih, political adviser to the Kurdistan Regional Government in Arbil, said.
"We came up with an agreement that would make sure Kurds could go back to Kirkuk and vote. This is now just an internal issue for Iraq."
Mass migration
Yet Turkmen groups close to Ankara claim the number of returnees is far higher than those who were expelled.
"The number we have for the total expelled by Saddam Hussein is 11,865," Asif Sertturkmen of the Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITF) said. "The number who have now returned is 110,000. The Kurds keep coming from Iran, Syria and other parts of Iraq."
"Civil war will very likely break out," he said. "This will have a big effect on the country's neighbours too."
Turkey is concerned about this latter point. One columnist of daily newspaper Radikal summed up the fears.
"Northern Iraq is a time-bomb," columnist Cengiz Candar of the daily Radikal writes. "And only the US can defuse it."
"Could Turkey just stand back if the Kurds start massacring the Turkmens or the Arabs?" he asked.
"Probably not. Obviously, the Kurds seem determined to take over Kirkuk - with the support of the US - but this is not acceptable."
Kurdish support
Many in Ankara interpreted US Department of State spokesman Richard Boucher's declaration this week that disputes over Kirkuk were an internal Iraqi matter as backing for the Kurds.
The fear in Turkey is also that a Kurdish victory in the elections will be followed by a declaration of independence for the region or a referendum on this issue.
"This would create a very dangerous situation,"
Candar said. "For this reason, Turkey wants the status quo preserved
- for Iraq to remain a single state."
This brings up another, less commonly voiced, fear - that an independent
Kurdish state in northern Iraq would encourage some of Turkey's own
ethnic Kurds, largely located across the border in southeastern Turkey,
to voice their own separatist demands.
"Certainly, it would not look good if Turkey ended up fighting the Kurds in northern Iraq," Candar says.
Kurdish officials say these fears have been wildly exaggerated.
"Among the Kurdish parties here," Samih said, "there isn't even a hint of a hidden agenda. People have a very strong degree of realism. They do not want to sacrifice their prosperity by ending up fighting the Turks or the US."
Suspicions
At the same time, "many here doubt the sincerity of Turkey's concern for the Turkmens" according to Samih.
"We never heard any responsible politician in Ankara
complaining when Saddam Hussein was expelling Turkmens too from Kirkuk,"
he said. "The result is we are suspicious of Turkey's motives in
raising this issue now."
Some point to Turkish nationalist claims that northern Iraq should be
part of Turkey. These stem from dissatisfaction with the 1926 settlement
that rejected Turkish claims to Mosul and granted the territory to the
British empire.
"If Iraq breaks up into three countries," Candar says, "this might be seen here as altering previous legal arrangements over the status of the north."
Meanwhile, Kurdish officials say Turkey would do well to ensure stability across the border by refraining from intervention - particularly if the rest of Iraq fragments after the elections.
"Turkey needs stability in Kurdistan," Samih
says, "so the chaos in the south will not come here."
6. - International Crisis Group - "Iraq: Allaying
Turkey’s fears over Kurdish ambitions":
ANKARA / AMMAN / BRUSSELS / 30 January 2005
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS
In northern Iraq, largely unnoticed, a conflict is brewing that, if allowed to boil over, could precipitate civil war, break-up of the country and in a worst-case scenario Turkish intervention. Tensions in the oil-rich Kirkuk region, where the political ambitions, historical claims and economic interests of the principal communities -- Kurds, Arabs, Turkomans and Chaldo-Assyrians -- clash, have been escalating since U.S. forces toppled the Baathist regime in April 2003. Violence is assuming a troubling pattern. Turkey, with its own large Kurdish population, is watching with growing anxiety. The U.S. and EU need to do more to resolve the Kirkuk question and help Ankara protect its vital interests without resort to increasingly hollow but destabilising threats of military intervention.
The situation has been aggravated by the worsening state of affairs in Iraq and by political actors, especially Kurds, who are seeking to undo the grave injustices that flowed from the ousted regime’s policy of Arabisation, returning in numbers and laying claim to Kirkuk as the capital of a future Kurdish region -- or state. Tensions have been contained somewhat by the presence of U.S. troops and a U.S.-engineered interim political arrangement -- a provincial council broadly representative of the four communities -- that, against all odds, has held. But as Washington’s attention is increasingly drawn to the instability in the rest of the country, things in Kirkuk might well get out of hand and the communities there find themselves in a violent stand-off.
From Ankara’s perspective, chaos or civil war in Iraq, the creation of a Kurdish state in the north with Kirkuk as its capital that would serve as a magnet or model for Turkey’s own Kurdish population, or a combination of the above, are nightmare scenarios. At the mercy of forces beyond its control, Turkey is anchoring its strategy in commitment to the political process in Baghdad and, as part of that, a peaceful solution to the Kirkuk question. It also is banking on progress in accession talks with the European Union to reduce any appetite for secession its Kurdish population might still harbour.
But it would be imprudent to rely on these as insurance against the threat of military actions should Turkish national interests seem to be in jeopardy. EU accession is, at best, years away. Public pressures resulting from Ankara’s manipulation of the Iraqi Turkoman question and the continued deployment of Turkish troops on Iraqi soil could create a dynamic of their own, possibly precipitating military intervention in Kirkuk. Prospects for success in Iraq’s political process are receding in the face of growing Sunni Arab alienation and a spreading insurgency. All in all, heightened threat perceptions could in themselves create an interventionist dynamic that more sober minds in Ankara might be unable to control.
Further improvement of relations between Turkey and Iraq’s Kurdish leadership is the best hedge against the risks. Indeed, Turkey has already come a long way, accepting today a federal arrangement for Iraq’s Kurds that even two years ago it considered an anathema. Economic ties and trade also have increased. But more steps should be taken, based on mutual interests: Turkey needs good relations with the Kurds to prevent chaos in the north, and the landlocked, vulnerable Kurdish entity, in turn, may have little choice but to rely on Turkey for protection.
Confidence-building measures are required to change the atmosphere, establish mechanisms to head off emerging conflicts and enable Turkey to play a more constructive role in the peaceful solution of the Kirkuk question. These include a mutual halt to inflammatory rhetoric, a lowering of tensions in Kirkuk, in particular through proactive international monitoring, and resolution of the nagging problem of the insurgent Kurdish Workers Party, the PKK (now called Kongra-Gel), remnants of whose forces remain holed up in northern Iraq.
The U.S., which remains Turkey’s strategic ally, and the EU have a common interest in encouraging Turkey to play a constructive role. They should work proactively to resolve the Kirkuk question, strengthening relations between Ankara and the Iraqi Kurdish leadership, and promoting investments that would give the Kurdish population in southeastern Turkey evidence of the benefits it would gain from Turkish accession to the EU. Ultimately, the challenge is, through such measures, to give Turkey the means to exert a positive influence over the course of events in northern Iraq generally and Kirkuk in particular.
RECOMMENDATIONS
To the Government of Turkey:
1. Halt rhetoric that inflames passions over Kirkuk, the Kurds and Iraq’s Turkomans.
2. Cease financial support to the Iraqi Turkoman Front.
3. Commit to the peaceful resolution of the Kirkuk question and respect whatever settlement Iraqis agree upon among themselves.
4. Keep open the border crossings with Iraq and the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline.
5. Encourage trade and investment in northern Iraq, working directly with the Kurdish parties where possible.
6. Consider issuing a broader amnesty for the PKK/Kongra-Gel, which would cover the leadership in northern Iraq and not require returnees to inform on their colleagues.
To the Kurdish Leadership in Iraq:
7. Halt inflammatory rhetoric over Kirkuk.
8. Start conditioning the Kurdish public for a compromise solution on Kurdish national aspirations, including an advanced degree of autonomy within a decentralised Iraq and a special status for the city and governorate of Kirkuk.
9. Relinquish the directorates in Kirkuk over which the Kurdish parties took control at the war’s end, and cooperate in an equitable redistribution of power in Kirkuk under the leadership of the governorate council to be elected on 30 January 2005.
10. Support trade and investment with neighbouring countries.
To the United States and European Union:
11. Strengthen relations between the Turkish government and the Iraqi Kurdish leadership.
12. Promote investment in southeastern Turkey.
13. Make the case to the Security Council to:
(a) appoint a U.N. Special Rapporteur to monitor the situation in Kirkuk (city as well as governorate) and report quarterly to the Secretary-General on developments and actions that threaten to destabilise the situation;
(b) consider, in consultation with the elected Iraqi authorities, appointing a UN Supervisor in Kirkuk with power to impose regulations, introduce multi-ethnic police and courts, and establish other services; and
(c) solicit funding from donors to facilitate the Supervisor’s task.