24 March 2005

1. "US-Turkish Relations Go Wobbly Now Over Syria", when it appeared that the acrimonious airing of differences between Nato allies USA and Turkey over Iraq had ebbed somewhat , US efforts to ‘franchise ‘ a ‘ Cedar revolution’ in Lebanon , to weaken and isolate Syria have brought acute tensions back into the relationship.

2. "Turkish PM sues magazine for depicting him as animal", Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is suing a magazine for depicting him in the form of various animals, his lawyer said Thursday, in a new twist in tensions between Erdogan and the media.

3. "Turkey: Concerns about new Penal Code should be addressed", (..) in recent days, press groups in Turkey have articulated their concerns regarding the new Penal Code which is due to come into effect on 1 April. Professional bodies such as the Press Council and Society of Turkish Journalists have called on the government to urgently review the new law which they are concerned will restrict press freedom. (..) Press Release by Amnesty International.

4. "Following December’s EU Summit, Turkey Forced to Reassess Issue of “Minorities'", Turkish Prime Minister Recip Tayyip Erdogan certainly was not exaggerating when he told the nation after December’s historic European Union summit that “We have a difficult journey ahead of us, littered with obstacles.” While Turkey now has a date to start EU membership talks later this year, a whole string of tough issues still waits to be resolved—and with nothing guaranteed on any side.

5. "EU pressures Ankara on reforms and harmonisation protocol", the violence use by police in breaking up an International Women’s Day rally was pointed to by the EU as a failure to implement reforms.

6. "‘No recognition, no EU-Turkey talks’", President Tassos Papadopoulos said yesterday there was no doubt Turkey was using delaying tactics in the signing of the customs protocol and might even end up signing but not implementing the protocol.

Dear reader,

Due to Easter holidays on March 25 to March 28, 2005, the "Flash Bulletin" will not be forwarded to email addresses. It will also not be posted on the internet.
The next edition will be forwarded on Tuesday, March 29, 2003.
We wish all a happy Ester.

The staff

1. - Al-Jazeerah - "US-Turkish Relations Go Wobbly Now Over Syria":

23 March 2005 / by K Gajendra Singh*

When it appeared that the acrimonious airing of differences between Nato allies USA and Turkey over Iraq had ebbed somewhat , US efforts to ‘franchise ‘ a ‘ Cedar revolution’ in Lebanon , to weaken and isolate Syria have brought acute tensions back into the relationship. Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer told media last week that he would go ahead with his planned visit to Syria in mid-April. "Of course, we will go (to Syria)," he said when questioned by reporters at the presidential palace.

Analysts commented that Sezer's visit could be interpreted as support for Syria at a time when it was under mounting international pressure to end its military presence in Lebanon. Turkey largely kept its silence when USA supported by France commanded Syria to quit Lebanon forthwith.

Ankara has also kept quiet on sale of short range Russian missiles to Damascus . It would have howled over such a deal in the past. Russian Defence Minister and head of the Russian Security Council Igor Ivanov told Israel’s Channel 1 TV last week that Russia is ready to provide assurances that non-portable , anti-aircraft Strelets missiles with a range of 4-5 Kms being sold to Syria would not threaten Israel.

US ambassador Eric Edelman had urged Ankara to join in for an immediate and complete Syrian withdrawal. "What can be said on Syria is that the international community is completely unanimous on UN Security Council Resolution 1559," which calls on Syria to immediately pull out of Lebanon . "We hope Turkey will join the international community. Of course, the decision to do so lies with Turkey," Edelman added.

The Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul explained that his country was fully in line with the UN resolutions as "democracy and the dissemination of freedoms in various parts of the region is Turkey's basic policy". Diplomatic sources in Damascus reportedly revealed that the US administration reacted angrily at the Turkish government's silence over a Turkish people's delegation visiting Syria to voice its support and solidarity with the Syrian people in the face of the US pressures and the Israeli threats.

USA has cautioned, even warned Ankara many times ,not to have close relations with Damascus , but Turkey has ignored such threats . Several bilateral high level visits have taken place, the last one was in December by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Sezer’s visit is in return for Syrian President Bashar Assad’s earlier visit to Turkey in 2004, which marked a turning point in the Syrian-Turkish relations.

Syria has begun withdrawing its forces from Lebanon near to its border as laid down in the 1989 Taif Agreement , which had ended the 16 year civil war in Lebanon in which nearly 100,000 people were killed and the nation almost destroyed . Syria had gone in to protect the Christians and the Druzes , now leading opponents of Syria. Last year US and France made UN Security Council pass resolution 1559 , which called for Syrian with drawl and disarming of various militias in Lebanon.

France became the colonial power in Syria following the First World War , which ended the Ottoman empire and its rule over the Middle East. Paris created Lebanon by detaching it from Greater Syria to give a dominant role to Maronite Christians , who had forged closer relations with France during the Crusades.

After massive but peaceful demonstrations from anti- and pro –Syrian groups ignited after the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri in February, an early morning bomb blast on 19 March morning in the Christian sector of Beirut has rekindled fears of renewal of inter -communal violence and worse .

During the cold war , while Turkey was member of Nato, Syria was a close ally of USSR . But after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the change in international strategic scenario , specially after the illegal US invasion of Iraq two years ago , Turkey and Syria have come closer .

In late 1998 Turkey had threatened to invade Syria unless it expelled Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan and his Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK ), sheltered in Syria . Ocalan was expelled , caught up by Turkish agents in Kenya , brought to Turkey for trial and is now lodged in a Turkish jail.

The US –Turkish differences reached a high acrimonious level, when on 1 March, 2003 , Turkish Parliament shot down a government proposal to let US use its territory to open a second front against Iraq from the north . Since then Turks have remained opposed to US policies in the region.

Turkish Foreign Ministry did try to lower tensions when it spokesman Namik Tan told the media on 10 March that Turkey was strongly committed to its strategic partnership with the United States. Rebuffing recent allegations that the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) had helped encourage rising anti-American sentiment in Turkey, Tan stated that Turkey was a friend and ally to the US and that such media allegations had no place in Ankara’s relations with Washington

But utterances like the recent one by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on the 2nd anniversary of US invasion of Iraq do not help either . He told Fox News TV on 21 March that "Given the level of the insurgency today, two years later, clearly if we had been able to get the 4th Infantry Division in from the north, in through Turkey, more of the Iraqi, Saddam Hussein, Baathist regime would have been captured or killed." "The insurgency today would be less," he said. Rumsfeld of course understands little about insurgency, rebellion and war of independence against occupying powers through out history , Vietnam. Algeria and Kenya being recent examples.

War of Words in US media ;

Calling Turkey “The Sick Man of Europe—Again “ in his oped piece of 16 February in the Wall Street Journal “,Robert Pollock declared that “Islamism and leftism add up to anti-American madness in Turkey.” Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's favorite.-- Yeni Safak has repeatedly claimed that U.S. forces used chemical weapons in Fallujah. One of its columnists has alleged that U.S. soldiers raped women and children there and left their bodies in the streets to be eaten by dogs. Among the paper's "scoops" have been the 1,000 Israeli soldiers deployed alongside U.S. forces in Iraq, and that U.S. forces have been harvesting the innards of dead Iraqis for sale on the U.S. "organ market."

“It's not much better in the secular press. The mainstream Hurriyet has accused Israeli hit squads of assassinating Turkish security personnel in Mosul, and the U.S. of starting an occupation of Indonesia under the guise of humanitarian assistance. In Al Sabah, a columnist last fall accused the U.S. ambassador to Turkey, Eric Edelman, of letting his "ethnic origins"--guess what, he's Jewish--determine his behavior. --The intellectual climate in which he's operating has gone so mad that he actually felt compelled to organize a conference call with scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey to explain that secret U.S. nuclear testing did not cause the recent tsunami.

“All of which makes Mr. Erdogan a prize hypocrite for protesting to Condoleezza Rice the unflattering portrayal of Turkey in an episode of the fictional TV show "The West Wing." The episode allegedly depicts Turkey as having been taking over by a retrograde populist government that threatens women's rights. (Sounds about right to me.) “

Tensions fictionalized into US-Turkish War ;

Voice of America 's Ed Warner reported on this startling shift of opinion in a nation recently considered quite close to the United States. He quoted from a current best selling novel depicting war between the two countries

Turkey is in flames. A U.S. air attack has leveled Istanbul and Ankara, and now American tanks are rolling in to occupy the country. In desperation, the Turks call on Russia and the European Union for help, and these onetime enemies of Turkey stall the U.S. advance and end the war, but not before an enterprising Turkish agent has destroyed much of Washington with a nuclear device.

It is from Turkey’s best-selling Turkish novel titled ‘Metal Storm’ which has indeed taken the Turkish public by storm and politicians with its outrageous plot which strikes a responsive chord. One of the two authors, Burak Turna, a former military affairs reporter, claims his book is not just another conspiracy theory but a possibility theory.

Certainly there is a war of the words. A recent BBC survey indicated that Turkey was now the most anti-American nation on earth. So , no monstrous act was considered beyond America or its Israeli partner in crime who are even compared to the German Nazis. Warner then writes about the causes and quotes Sabri Sayari, director of the Institute for Turkish Studies at Georgetown University. Turks believe the United States has failed to suppress the anti-Turkish rebels operating in northern Iraq.

He said ,“I think Turkish sentiment has to be explained in the context of what is happening in Iraq,” he said. “Obviously, the war in Iraq has not been popular in Turkey for a variety of reasons, especially the situation in northern Iraq with the growing power of the Kurds and the general instability that has engulfed a neighboring country.”

“The US has been pretty much in support of Turkey's experiment with a party that originates from the Islamist movement.” “When it initially came to power in 2002, this party was viewed as something that would prove that Islam and democracy are compatible and there should be no clash of civilizations. So the US was upholding Turkey as a kind of model in a way,” he added

Henry Barkey, professor of international relations at Lehigh University, says there is Turkish concern of spillover. A separate Kurdish entity in Iraq could revive the separatist movement in Turkey. “I think this is overly exaggerated. The Turkish Kurds have had problems with the Turkish government and the Turkish elite, but they are part of a very vibrant economy and a very vibrant society, which is on its way to become a member of the European Union a decade and a half from now.”

Prof Barkey continued that relations cooled after Turkey's refusal to let U.S. forces invade Iraq from its territory. But U.S. actions hardly excuse the constant anti-American drumbeat of Turkish politicians and journalists. Nothing Washington says is believed:

“When you have serious newspapers publishing articles about the United States having a secret weapon that makes earthquakes and that Istanbul is the next target,” he explained. “When you have newspapers that publish all kinds of scurrilous articles about the United States, that is more worrisome . The problem is that some Turkish politicians have joined the fray and have accused the United States of genocide and all kinds of other activities in Iraq.”

Calling for dialogue Professor Barkey said that U.S. and Turkish officials” should sit down and map out the steps ahead to restore proper, if not amicable relations. The two countries are too important for each other to let the current rancor persist. “

Of course Warner did not disclose that PKK rebellion since 1984 against the Turkish state cost over 35,000 lives, including those of 5,000 soldiers. To control and neutralize the rebellion, thousands of Kurdish villages have been bombed, destroyed, abandoned or relocated; millions of Kurds have been moved to shanty towns in the south and east or migrated westwards. The economy of the region was shattered. With a third of the Turkish army tied up in the southeast, the cost of countering the insurgency at its height amounted to between US$6 billion to $8 billion a year.

The rebellion died down after the arrest and trial of Ocalan in 1999, but it has not been fully eradicated. And the PKK - now also called Konga-Gel - shifted almost 4,000 of its cadres to northern Iraq and refused to lay down arms. A five year unilateral ceasefire declared by PKK in 1999 was not renewed in last June. There have been increasing skirmishes and battles between Kurdish insurgents and Turkish security forces inside Turkey. Turkey remains frustrated over US reluctance to employ military means against the PKK fighters - in spite of promises to do so. US priority to disarm PKK cadres was never very high ,in fact, it wants to reward Iraqi Kurds, who have remained peaceful and loyal, unlike the rest of the country.

The Turks manifest a pervasive distrust of autonomy or models of a federal state for Iraqi Kurds: it would encourage the aspirations of their own Kurds. It also revives memories of Western conspiracies against Turkey and the un-ratified 1920 Treaty of Sevres forced on the Ottoman Sultan by the World War I victors .It promised independence to the Armenians and autonomy to Turkey's Kurds , which Iraqi Kurds could later join . So Mustafa Kemal Ataturk , after undoing the Sevres Treaty with his war of independence ,opted for a unitary state and ruthlessly suppressed Kurdish rebellions in Turkey.

The war between Iraq and resurgent Shi'ites in Iran in 1980s helped the PKK establish itself in the lawless north Kurdish Iraq territory. The PKK also helped itself with arms freely available in the region during the eight-year war. The 1990-91 Gulf crisis and war also proved to be a watershed in the violent explosion of the Kurdish rebellion in Turkey.

Writing in the Washington Times ,Andrew Borowiec claimed that “Turkey's often virulent anti-American media campaign appears to be ebbing somewhat, but diplomats say considerable damage has been done to the relationship between the two allies.” He added that ,” Signals from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan are regarded as confusing -- one day minimizing the differences with Washington, and another day warning about their impact.”

He quoted Istanbul's left-leaning Cumhuriyet daily ,"The United States wants Turkey to cooperate with it unconditionally. Should such a cooperation be rejected, then [Washington] is threatening to isolate Turkey, and going even further, to turn it into a target country. ... The situation is every bit this serious." He also refers to , "Metal Storm," novel , already into a third edition , which describes an imaginary U.S. invasion of Turkey,. “Much to the concern of the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, the book is particularly appreciated in Turkish military and government circles. According to a recent opinion poll, 82 percent of Turks consider U.S. policies under the Bush administration to be negative.

"The peace and freedom loving country of the Cold War period has now become the enemy of peace and freedom," wrote columnist Ahmet Cakar in Istanbul Ortadogu, a newspaper supporting the right-wing Nationalist Action Party. "The United States, which dreams of dominating the entire world, is especially attacking Muslim countries and shedding Muslim blood in streams."

But he noted a sober appeal to "respect mutual sensitivities" in the English-language Ankara Turkish Daily News (TDN) .“The relationship between the two countries "rests on mutual respect and national interests," said TDN the newspaper said. "The two countries should take cognizance of their common interests and United Nations resolutions. Both countries should be more calm and more collected in relating incidents and events that occur in wartime."

The mass-circulation Istanbul Milliyet also reminded its readers that "the United States is not Turkey's enemy. On the contrary, it is a friendly country, it is our ally." "There is no doubt that the United States is also making mistakes that should be criticized. And it is being criticized," the newspaper added.

TDN was bought last year by a corporate business house from its founder editor Ilhan Cevik’s family. When the author returned to Ankara in 1992 after 20 years , the quality of journalism had declined , with major trading /industry corporate interests having muscled their way into media to exploit its power for their interests , in the foot steps of US media now under control of half a dozen corporate conglomerates. People in Turkey bought newspapers for the gifts of crockery and other awards instituted to increase circulation and not for its contents . A sad development in the free world which lectures others on media freedom.

Turkish Media reaction;

Writing in Yeni Safak ,Columnist Ibrahim Karagul commented on 17 March ,“Considering the range of his activities, his statements which violate the decorum of democracy, and his interest in Turkey’s internal affairs, Eric Edelman acts more like a colonial governor than an ambassador. Since his appointment as US ambassador to Turkey, Edelman’s actions have always caused discomfort among the public. His latest ‘suggestions’ on Sezer’s upcoming visit to Syria had the same impact.

“Edelman is probably the least-liked and trusted American ambassador in Turkish history, and his reputation is not likely to recuperate. Edelman’s actions have exceeded his diplomatic mission. His ‘interest’ in nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), the Turkish media and ethnic minorities make him go beyond his role as an ambassador. His presence here has never contributed to Turkish-American relations, and it never will. If we want to address the reasons for anti-Americanism, Edelman must be issue one. As long as Edelman stays in Turkey, the chill wind disturbing bilateral relations will last.” ( Incidentally Edelman has resigned but cited personal reasons )

Chiding the pro-US writers in the Turkish media , Karagul said , “ Don’t our government and people have the ability to decide which countries we should visit? Is our foreign policy decided by Edelman and his chorus among the Turkish media? -- Do we have to act in accordance with the common interests of Israel and the US? Is Turkey not an independent nation? “ . He concluded ,” The ultimate plan is to corner and control Turkey in order to use it as a hit man . The Vietnamese were terrorists, according to the US. Latin America, China, Libya and the USSR were also terrorists. And now Iran and Syria. But if they abandon their policies based on opposing the US, they will no longer be called terrorists. Instead, they will be lauded as models of democracy for the Middle East.” If Turkey follows an independent policy , “ who can guarantee that those who serve Turkey’s interests won’t be declared terrorists? --Isn’t more than half of the world already a threat for the US?”

Recalling ups and downs in US Turkish relations since Turkey’s No to US troops ,another Journalist Fehmi Koru wrote in the New Anatolian on 15 March ,’ Turkey's stature was raised by Parliament’s decision in March 2003. Many in the region started to look up to Turkey as a strong democracy which could say “No” to a superpower with little regard for challenges to its hegemony. This isn't just my point of view or that of the people in the region, but is also shared by some U.S. specialists. Alan Makovsky, an aide to Congressman Tom Lantos, in a panel discussion last week in Washington DC. called it "ironic" that Turkey's stand against the U.S. can be used as a successful example of the U.S.' democratization project for the Middle East.

He then lambasted US corporate media, “Can you find any justification for the high number of articles recently appearing in the U.S. media criticizing Turkey for being "anti-U.S."?

He added that Turkey could play an important role in the democratization of the Middle East because the Parliament didn't say “No” to a good relationship between Turkey and the U.S., but only opposed US intentions to get Turkey involved in an unjustified war in Iraq. It was a warning to all concerned to steer clear of military engagement which would lead nowhere. Democracy has worked beautifully in Turkey, making the country an exemplary democracy for both undemocratic countries in the region and for those democracies with little respect for their peoples’ wishes.

” Instead of rushing to Turkey’s assistance to put things in order in the region, the people representing U.S. interests in Ankara have been trying to ruin anything good that remains. Can you see the reason why? He then quoted Einstein who once said, “Logic will get you from A to B, imagination will take you everywhere.” So one has to use imagination, Koru concluded.

Even US friendly Sami Kohen in a recent column, while reacting to US criticism of Turkish reliability quoted a Turkish official: ‘Instead, we should question America’s reliability. Does the US care about our concerns on the PKK? Does the Bush administration take into account our opinion on Iraq? Turkey has always been loyal to the alliance. If the dialogue between our countries is in a sorry state, it’s America’s fault. He added that that the true motive behind anti-Americanism in Turkey is Bush administration policy on Iraq .‘ Unlike a large number of countries, neither the Turkish government nor the public feels hostile towards the US. Those in Washington must come to see that.’

On the Syrian question, US Middle East policy was “to soften up and eventually knock down Syria. The recent events in Lebanon were just what the US needed to make another move against Syria. And this time Washington got active support from Europe and other nations. Such a display of support was anticipated from Turkey as well. Instead, Ankara announced that President Sezer would visit Syria. That clearly upset the US. Thus the Syria issue was also added to the list of disagreements between Turkey and the US.

"It’s a new experience for the Bush administration to see Turkey act according to a foreign policy independent from that of Washington. But it’s time the US became tolerant of Turkey and got used to Turkey’s new policy.”

Fireworks!

To discuss and analyze the future of Turkish-American relations a panel discussion on "Can Turkish-American relations be saved?" will be held in Washington on 23 March .It would be organized by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) , known for supporting franchised revolutions in Ukraine ,Georgia and elsewhere , with the aim of restoring relationship .. The US side would include Robert Pollock of Wall Street Journal , Richard Perle and Michael Rubin, all known for lambasting Turkey in the media . Ankara will be represented by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Vice- President Murat Mercan .

Conclusion;

Since decades Turkey has suffered the consequences of the wars next door , first between Iraq and Iran in 1980s , then US led war on Iraq in 1991 .And now the illegal US invasion of Iraq two years , with no end in sight in spite of Washington’s glib talk of promoting democracy in the region .After decades of political and economic instability at home under asymmetrical coalition governments , the new party with its overwhelming strength in the parliament and the municipalities would like to concentrate on economic rebuilding of the state .Turkey thus aims to promote peace in the region and with a growing economy and a million strong armed forces would like to be a regional peacemaker and promote democratic legitimacy in international relations. It would like Syria and Iran to act according to the demands of the international community, but not according to what USA and Israel demand. Turkey's new neighborhood policy remains how to minimize problems without being pulled into international confrontations.

Turkey doggedly pursued its campaign to stop Israeli interference in Iraqi Kurdistan after an article by veteran US journalist Seymour Hersh exposed Tel Aviv providing training to Peshmarga commando units in north Iraq and running covert operations in neighbouring countries . Israel was also infiltrating agents into Iran to plot Iran's clandestine nuclear weapons program for a possible pre-emptive strikes .Israel would prefer a weak and decentralized Iraq if not a divided one. It led to public denunciation of Israel’s actions in Gaza , which Erdogan described as state terrorism .It also adversely affected their close defence relationship .

But conflicting strategic interests and consequent tensions between the US and Israel, and Syria and Iran would not make Turkey’s task easy.

(K Gajendra Singh, served as Indian Ambassador to Turkey and Azerbaijan in 1992-96. Prior to that, he served as ambassador to Jordan (during the 1990-91 Gulf war), Romania and Senegal. He is currently chairman of the Foundation for Indo-Turkic Studies. The views expressed here are his own. Email-Gajendrak@hotmail.com)

2. - AFP - "Turkish PM sues magazine for depicting him as animal":

ANKARA / 24 March 2005

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is suing a magazine for depicting him in the form of various animals, his lawyer said Thursday, in a new twist in tensions between Erdogan and the media.

Lawyer Fatih Sahin told AFP that he had filed a lawsuit against the weekly satirical magazine Penguen (Penguin) in an Ankara court Wednesday, arguing that the cartoon was offensive and seeking 40,000 New Turkish Lira (29,400 dollars, 22,600 euros) in compensation.

The magazine caricatured Erdogan as an elephant, a giraffe, a monkey and several other animals under the title "The World of Tayyips" on the cover of its February 24 issue.

The cartoon was in protest at a fine imposed on a cartoonist who had depicted Erdogan as a cat entangled in a ball of wool over the government's failure to pass a bill enabling religious school graduates to pursue higher education in fields other than theology.

Erdogan's suing of the cartoonist prompted critics to question the sincerity of his stated desire to improve rights and liberties in order to ease Turkey's bid to join the European Union.

Tensions escalated further when Erdogan blamed media coverage of the beating of women by the police at a demonstration earlier this month for triggering the harsh EU condemnation of the incident.

Press groups also launched a campaign to suspend the introduction of a new penal code on April 1 on the grounds that it contains severe restrictions on freedom of the press and jail sentences for journalists.

Erdogan has long advocated the need to expand the freedom of expression in Turkey, citing himself as a victim of undemocratic restrictions.

Erdogan served a four-month jail sentence for sedition in the late 1990s for reciting a poem with Islamist messages at a political rally.

3. - Amnesty International - "Turkey: Concerns about new Penal Code should be addressed":

23 March 2005

In recent days, press groups in Turkey have articulated their concerns regarding the new Penal Code which is due to come into effect on 1 April. Professional bodies such as the Press Council and Society of Turkish Journalists have called on the government to urgently review the new law which they are concerned will restrict press freedom. Justice Minister Cemil Cicek has stated that the government may review the legislation. Amnesty International shares these concerns and urges the government to take further steps to bring Turkish law into line with international human rights law and standards related to freedom of expression.

While the new Penal Code has introduced many positive changes - most notably in the removal of gender-discriminatory articles - it still contains numerous restrictions on fundamental rights. Some provisions, which the authorities had used before to breach international standards related to freedom of expression, were carried over from the old Penal Code. For example, Article 159 which criminalized acts that "insult or belittle" various state institutions, and which Amnesty International has repeatedly called for to be abolished, reappears as Article 301 of the new Penal Code in the section entitled "Crimes against symbols of the states sovereignty and the honour of its organs" (Articles 299 - 301). Amnesty International is concerned that this section could be used to criminalize legitimate expression of dissent and opinion.

In other cases, new articles have been introduced which appear to introduce new restrictions to fundamental rights. For example, Article 305 of the new Penal Code criminalizes "acts against the fundamental national interest". The written explanation attached to the draft, when the law passed through Parliament, provided as examples of crimes such acts as "making propaganda for the withdrawal of Turkish soldiers from Cyprus or for the acceptance of a settlement in this issue detrimental to Turkey... or, contrary to historical truths, that the Armenians suffered a genocide after the First World War". Amnesty International considers that the imposition of a criminal penalty for any such statements - unless intended or likely to incite imminent violence - would be a clear breach of international standards related to freedom of expression

Many of the provisions in the new law envisage higher sentences if the "crime" has been perpetrated through the press and raise the possibility of custodial sentences for journalists. Chair of the Press Council Oktay Eksi has evaluated the new law as "an unfortunate reversal from the point of freedom of expression and of the press".

Background:

The new Penal Code was presented by the government as a less restrictive and democratic piece of legislation and hastily passed by Parliament in September 2004 as a result of pressure from the European Union. This pressure appears to have resulted in insufficient consultation with members of civil society, such as press and human rights groups, and may have contributed to the continuing problems in the law.

Amnesty International is also concerned about aspects of the Penal Code which are related to areas other than freedom of expression. For example, Article 122 of the draft of the new Penal Code which forbids discrimination on the basis of "language, race, colour, gender, political thought, philosophical belief, religion, denomination and other reasons" was amended at the last moment so that "sexual orientation" was removed from the draft. Amnesty International is therefore concerned that discrimination on the basis of sexuality was therefore not criminalized in the new law.

In addition, Amnesty International is concerned that the statute of limitations (the time limit) still applies in trials in which individuals are accused of torture. While the new law has extended this time limit, trials against alleged torturers are frequently deliberately delayed and therefore dropped through this provision thereby contributing towards a climate of impunity. Given the frequency with which this happens and the status of torture as a peremptory norm of general international law, Amnesty International considers that there should be no statute of limitations for the crime of torture.

4. - Washington Report - "Following December’s EU Summit, Turkey Forced to Reassess Issue of “Minorities”":

ISTANBUL / March 2005 / by Jon Gorvett*

TURKISH PRIME MINISTER Recip Tayyip Erdogan certainly was not exaggerating when he told the nation after December’s historic European Union summit that “We have a difficult journey ahead of us, littered with obstacles.” While Turkey now has a date to start EU membership talks later this year, a whole string of tough issues still waits to be resolved—and with nothing guaranteed on any side.

Yet while the difficulty of Turkey’s relationship with Cyprus grabbed most of the worry—along with a skillfully obscured question mark over the status of any “permanent” conditions on Turkey’s membership, such as freedom of movement—one of the thorniest issues in the year ahead is likely to be that of “minorities.”

This touches on a real raw nerve in Ankara and elsewhere in the country, and already is causing a degree of outraged debate.

The issue concerns EU views of Turkey’s patchwork of religious, linguistic and ethnic groups. While the nation’s Kurds are probably the most well known of these, there are literally dozens of others that are less high profile. These range from the Laz—the Black Sea people who have their own language and culture—to the Yoruks, originally nomadic people of the Anatolian steppes. There also are many ethnic groups that arrived in Turkey during the rollback of the Ottoman Empire, with Caucasians and Circassians, Slavs and Albanians forming considerable groups, almost all of whom have also become integrated with other Anatolian-based ethnicities. Ironically enough, many of these groups were ethnically cleansed in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries—from the Balkans in particular—because they had become identified via their Muslim religion with “the Turks.”

Crosscutting through these ethnic identities, moreover, are religious ones. There are a multiplicity of groups within Islam itself, in addition to the major fault line of Shi’i and Sunni, with the largest—and most problematic—of these others in Turkey being the Alevis.

Indeed, some would argue that the division between the Alevis and Sunnis is sufficiently wide for the Alevis not to be considered Muslim at all. It is in this controversial area, too, that the EU has recently jumped feet first.

In the lead up to the EU summit last December which fixed a date for Turkey to start membership talks, the suggestion came from Brussels that the Alevis should be considered a “minority.” In mathematical terms, with anywhere between 5 million and 12 million Alevis in Turkey, a country of around 60 million, a minority they clearly are. But in Turkey, as elsewhere, the definition of “minority” has far more political and social baggage attached to it than simple statistics.

At the end of the conflict that led to the founding of modern Turkey, back in the 1920s, the peace treaty that established the state’s frontiers contained provision for the security of three officially recognized “minorities”—the Armenians, Greeks and Jews. These were, of course, religious groups as well as ethnic, representing the old Ottoman Empire’s three largest non-Muslim communities. This dovetailed with Ottoman administrative practice, which had always used religion to define the status of its citizens.

Since then, all three official minorities have declined in numbers to the point where the Greek community numbers no more than a couple of thousand, the Armenians perhaps five times that and the Jews ten times. The Greek community, in particular, became the whipping boy for decades of antagonism between Greece and Turkey, with major anti-Greek riots in the 1950s and 1960s causing much of the community to emigrate. Given the widespread view that to be a Turk is also to be a Muslim, most Muslim Turks view all three minorities with some degree of suspicion. As a result of this—along with the tendency of states such as Greece, Armenia and Israel to see these people as overseas communities that should have some allegiance to them—they often are seen as basically foreigners. Discrimination against them has been commonplace over the years.

To be identified as a “minority,” therefore, is seen by many in Turkey as highly negative. Rather than as a way of guaranteeing cultural and educational rights and combating discrimination, it often is seen as a form of alienation, division and a kind of singling out. And Turkey’s history is replete with examples of why being “singled out” is not a good thing. Likewise, the Turkish Republic’s stated principle of unity has sometimes been a defense for different religious groupings, who are able to point to shared citizenship as a testament to their loyalty. As a result, some of the loudest voices against the idea of the Alevis being a minority have been Alevis themselves.

The Ambiguity of Alevism

Too, because of religion’s key role in the definition of minority, this dispute also has focused on the argument over what Alevism actually is. Here, the community has become divided, with some arguing that it is quite a distinct religious position from Islam, while others argue that it is a subset—either of Shi’i Islam, or a combination of Shi’i and Anatolian animist beliefs that predate the arrival of Islam.

The former idea is clearly the more risky, as it plays along with the beliefs of many Sunnis that there was always something a bit dodgy about the Alevis. They do not pray five times a day, do not go to mosque, but instead to their own temple, known as a cemevi. They also do not observe Ramadan and other mainstream Muslim festivals, while they do celebrate days that look suspiciously like Christmas, Easter and Epiphany, leading some to conclude that old Christian festivals from pre-Islamic Anatolia have lived on with them. At the same time, their women and men pray together and have no prohibition on alcohol. They see Ali, rather than Mohammed, as the key figure in Islam, linking them to Shi’ism, yet from this, too, they greatly differ. They traditionally have voted for the left, and have provided the country with some of its best-known and most radical secularists—both bad marks for the traditionally right-wing Islamists, whose party now runs the country.

Yet at the same time, it is also the idea that most strongly lays the basis for defining the Alevis as a minority. Advocates argue that this is the best way to counter discrimination, which for many Alevis is very real. Even those who are opposed to the idea of minority status concede that Alevism is marginalized and officially excluded. While the country allows Jewish, Greek and Armenian schools, Alevis go to state schools, where Sunni ideas are taught and their existence denied. The community overall has a generally lower standard of living, while the religion enjoys no official financial support, unlike Sunni Islam, which is administered in Turkey via an official government body.

The EU’s intervention in the issue may have mixed results, then. Anything that appears to attack social unity—perceived as a denial of difference—is widely frowned on. This is particularly true when it comes from the Europeans, who, Turks are still taught, have long sought to divide Turkey as a way of dominating it. Before the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, which established the minorities, was the never-implemented 1920 Treaty of Sèvres, which saw the Ottoman Empire carved up like a Thanksgiving Turkey by World War One’s victorious Allied powers. The Europeans, many Turks still believe, have a “Sèvres mentality.”

The road to EU membership, therefore, is sure to be a bumpy one.

* Jon Gorvett is a free-lance journalist based in Istanbul.

5. - NTV/MSNBC - "EU pressures Ankara on reforms and harmonisation protocol":

The violence use by police in breaking up an International Women’s Day rally was pointed to by the EU as a failure to implement reforms.

23 March 2005

European Union officials have voiced their concerns over Turkey’s human rights record, freedom of expression and the Cyprus question.

Luxembourg, currently the EU’s term president, called on Ankara to sign the harmonisation protocol extending the customs union with the bloc to include new members as soon as possible. Among those new members is the Greek Cypriot administration. Turkey is trying to find a way to meet the EU’s requirements without formally recognising the Greek Cypriots

EU officials also said they were discomforted over a sermon read in Turkey’s mosques that they said encouraged discrimination against other religions was encouraged. The officials said that the sermon stated that Islam was the sole religion and that missionaries and the other sects were stealing the faith of Turkey’s the youth.

Another criticism raised was that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan opened a court case against caricatures making fun of him.

Experts from Brussels agreed with the Turkish media that the Turkish government had eased off in implementing reforms required for membership of the EU.

6. - Cyprus Mail - "‘No recognition, no EU-Turkey talks’":

24 March 2005 / by Stefanos Evripidou

PRESIDENT Tassos Papadopoulos said yesterday there was no doubt Turkey was using delaying tactics in the signing of the customs protocol and might even end up signing but not implementing the protocol.

Speaking on his return from the European Council meeting in Brussels last night, Papadopoulos said that there were many measures that could be taken to force Turkey to comply with its obligations towards the EU and Cyprus, regarding the extension of the customs union to Cyprus.

Asked what his impressions were from Brussels on Turkey’s intentions to sign the protocol by October 3, when its accession negotiations are due to begin, Papadopoulos said the issue had not been discussed in the Council, which convened to discuss the Stability and Growth Pact and the Lisbon Strategy.

Neither the Cyprus problem was raised nor Turkey’s obligations examined, he said.

“The signing of the protocol is a first important step towards recognition. The EU demands the signing of the protocol, expanding the Ankara Agreement, to start accession negotiations with Turkey. It is a precondition. If it does not sign, negotiations will not start,” he pointed out.

“We set our condition when we accepted granting Turkey a date to commence accession negotiations, that we expect the protocol to be signed and to be implemented,” he added.

“It is Turkey’s obligation to implement several of the protocol’s provisions, such as the docking of Cypriot ships in Turkish ports, the use of the airspace, commerce, exchange and movement of goods, which are obligations deriving from a number of international conventions and the convention on trade that Turkey undertakes to maintain,” noted Papadopoulos.

Asked if Turkey might sign the protocol and avoid implementing it for a specific period of time, the President replied, “I believe it is pursuing this.”

“There is no doubt that Turkey is using delaying tactics. It might pursue this time option. There are other measures though that can be taken to force Turkey to comply, to satisfy its obligations towards the EU and Cyprus,” he concluded.

Earlier in Brussels, Papadopoulos told reporters that he believed Turkey would sign the protocol because that is what the EU demanded, though he could not predict exactly when it would sign.

“We believe the signing will be an important step which should lead to normalisation of relations between the two countries (Cyprus and Turkey),” he said.

The President noted that Cyprus maintained the right to veto but pointed out that exercising that right depended on very many factors.

Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, who recently met with his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan, expressed certainty that Turkey would sign the protocol before October 3, adding that Greece supported Turkish accession to the EU under the condition that it met all its obligations.

DISY second-in-command Averoff Neophytou said on television yesterday: “Only internally in Cyprus do we think we will record one of the biggest national victories if Turkey signs the protocol.” Neophytou said he believed Turkey would meet its obligation but that that would not necessarily lead to a solution of the Cyprus problem.

Also speaking on his return from Brussels, DISY leader Nicos Anastassiades said he discussed the Cyprus problem with Erdogan in the Belgian capital. Erdogan told him that the non-solution of the Cyprus problem was not a solution, he said. The Turkish leader also stated his readiness to help once dialogue between the two communities begins.

Attending a European People’s Party (EPP) summit, Anastassiades said he also got to speak with the leaders of Italy, Greece, the EPP and the European Commission. During the meetings, he said he expressed the need for a more substantial involvement of the EU in case of a new initiative on Cyprus.

The DISY leader confirmed reports that his party had invited Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party to visit Cyprus, setting as a precondition that they enter the island through legal ports. He said the response from party officials was positive but that no date had been set so far.