30 March 2005

1. "Those Who Can't Bully USA, Bully Kurds", te real danger is not separation of the country, not secession of the Kurds from Turkey. It is rather secession of those who rule the country, its military force, its social-political and economic control mechanisms from realism and objectiveness.

2. "Burning the Turkish flag", of course, flags are not the only things that have been burned within Turkey’s borders. In its war against the indigenous Kurds of Anatolia, the Turkish Armed Forces and its paramilitary allies leveled, burned, or forcibly evacuated more than 3,000 Kurdish villages.

3. "Dirty little secret", as Turkey looks west, its future will likely be decided in its strife-torn southeast.

4. "Turkey: Kurds celebrate traditional New Year, call for more freedoms", tens of thousands of Kurds in Southeast Turkey last week celebrated Newroz, their traditional New Year, which has been marred by tensions and bloodshed in the past.

5. "Turkish Laz minority musician banned from performing on public television", a musician from Turkey's Laz minority group said the country's public television refused to allow him to perform his songs, claiming that new laws adopting democratic European standards exclude the Laz language.

6. "Evidence Of Human Rights Abuses Exposed In Turkey", a report published today (Tues 1800) reveals an investigation into BP's Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline has uncovered evidence of human rights abuses, including violations of international fair trial standards in Turkey. ( Press Release by Friends of the Earth)

7. "Poll shows distrust between Armenians, Turks", the majority of Turks and Armenians distrust and dislike each other, with both describing the World War I massacre of Armenians as a major obstacle to normalizing ties, according to a poll published Monday.

8. "Watch Out for Kurdistan", it may take a few years, but Iraq will be cut up into two, possibly three, countries – and the Kurds will be the first to go.

1. - Bianet - "Those Who Can't Bully USA, Bully Kurds":

The real danger is not separation of the country, not secession of the Kurds from Turkey. It is rather secession of those who rule the country, its military force, its social-political and economic control mechanisms from realism and objectiveness.

ISTANBUL / 29 March 2005 / by Ertugrul Kurkcu

The 7th article of the Flag Law reads "(...) the flag cannot be torn, burnt, thrown on the ground (...) those acting against this law and statute will be prevented and investigated by the authorities ..."

According to the 8th article, those who are found guilty at the end of the investigation "will be sentenced according to the article 526 of the Turkish Criminal Law unless their crime warrants a heavier sentence." According to that article: "(...) unless the action results in another crime, the sentence will be 3 to 6 months imprisonment in a minimum-security prison and a light fine"

This is the argument the "law of the state" would use to frame the "flag tearing three kids" incident on March 20th Newroz celebrations in Mersin.

Looking at the news media there is nothing to suggest a disfunction in the process of the investigation. As the demonstration was ending an armed police officer took the flag being torn from the grips of the kids, the kids ran away but "14 year old V.S. and 12 year old C.S. were identified from video footage" and were detained last week.

Why is a “crime” committed by children and which has a legal consequence of "minimum-security imprisonment and a light fine" attracting such a barrage of reaction leaving one speechless, exaggerated favors; 2 years worth bonus pay to the police officer who took the flag from the children, audacious remarks, media driven condemnation campaigns and fascist demonstrations of nationalism.

Ultimately, at the “scene of the crime” the flag was prevented from being ripped: there isn't a "negligence of duty", the "suspects", kids, even if we assume that they are "criminals", have been detained and finally arrested: there isn't a "security" issue. Those who organized the rally say "that is our flag also, we wont let it be torn": there is no provocation or open defiance.

So what is the big deal? Why is an issue that legally and by mere common sense should be the responsibility of the "juvenile court", being blown out of proportion? Why are those who should be responsible for warning people who usher civil turmoil and make sure that all is turned back to normal, exploiting this to create a climate of nationalist Armageddon? Why are countless state institutions who are "claiming responsibility", specifically the army, the president, the parliament, the government, the political parties acting so immaturely?

If not grave, very serious...

In a society divided by deep inequalities, wrongfulness and injustices; shouldn't those rulers take a sigh of relief when 3 day long demonstrations accross the country attended by over one million people asserting their identity and culture aren't marred by any significant violence and the only thing that passes for an "incident" is a "light crime" committed by children,

Don't those who rule Turkey know that since 1999, if not before, the leaders of the hundreds of thousands who attend the Newroz demonstrations shape their politics and actions to conform with Turkey's "indivisible land integrity", that this was accepted not because of a "particular choice" but out of " strategical necessity"? Aren't all of these political decisions observed during "weekly meetings" of jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan with his lawyers and monitored in the field by the security forces.?

Then, in contrast to the arguments of those, who are fanning the fire albeit knowing all these facts, the real danger is not separation of the country, not secession of the Kurds from Turkey.

The real "big danger" is the disconnection of those who rule the Republic of Turkey, its military force, its social-political and economic control mechanisms from reality and objectiveness. The real "big danger" is their lack of political determinedness and insight to champion policies based on reality and objectiveness vis-à-vis their ultra-nationalist, fascist adversaries and subordinates.

If this wasn't the case would the Military Chief of Staff , who directs an armed force of approximately 1 million and who holds Abdullah Ocalan prisoner, who "reports" the most insignificant intelligence, who are at the head of the most sophisticated state force in Turkey, sink to the level of children and pledge to "protect the country and it's flag to fight even for the price of the very last drop of their blood."

If that wasn't the case would the Military Chief of Staff issue a statement pointing to one sixth of the population by labelling them as "so-called citizens."?

Doesn't this expression strongly imply that their rights as such, their right to free expression and legal equality are also "so-called" rights for the "so-called citizens"?

Doesn't this statement issued by the Military Chief of Staff encourage those who have been hesitant towards trampling the rights of equal citizens that from now on that they have the "army behind them"?

The only reason why there haven’t been serious strife among the peoples of diverse ethnic origins is the common sense of citizens. But nobody can guarantee that the same situation will persist if this campaign would continue in similar intensity on all fronts for another year...

2. - Kurdish Media - "Burning the Turkish flag":

29 March 2005 / by Agit Can

People frequently ignore problems. A popular school of holds that ignoring a problem and pretending that it does not exist will make it disappear. Of course, this is, at best, a temporary “solution”. If a toothache is ignored, it will rarely disappear, unless the tooth itself does. If a personal conflict is ignored, it will frequently become more serious. Now the ruling establishment in Turkey is learning that ignoring a problem and denying its existence is not a real solution, as the previous approach of militantly denying the existence of the Kurds of Anatolia and pretending that they do not exist has proven to be a failure.

Calling them Turks did not work, even when this nomenclature was substantiated with hundreds of pages of false proof provided by scores of false academics armed with fraudulent accounts of history. Burning villages and torturing and executing activists did not work, it produced martyrs and heroes to motivate other activists and fanned the flames of desire for equality. Waging war against the Kurdish language did not work; rather, it encouraged more people to learn to chant the words “Bijî Serok Apo!” And banning expressions of Kurdish culture did not work, illegal demonstrations took place to mark Newroz, the Kurdish New Year, and the resulting violence only brought more attention to the Kurdish cause and strengthened support for the Kurdish armed struggle.

The Turkish establishment has decided to accept the existence of Newroz, and indeed has made efforts to characterize it as a Turkish holiday and dilute its importance to the Kurdish people. Newroz celebrations no longer face restrictions as harsh as those imposed in the past. This year, for the first time, the national flag of Kurdistan was waved at a large Newroz gathering in Turkish-occupied northern Kurdistan. While literally millions celebrated Newroz within Turkey’s borders, clashes and incidents were minimal.

However, it was not the Kurdistan flag that made news this year, and the lack of violence was not deemed newsworthy. The fact that demands for peace were central to many celebrations this year, as in years past, has never been deemed terribly important, either. Rather, an incident in Mersin involving a few young boys has caused outrage in Turkey. According to news accounts, a few (two or three) young boys, reportedly of 12 to 14 years in age, decided to try to burn a Turkish flag at a Newroz celebration in the mixed Turkish and Kurdish city. A policeman reportedly intervened and kept them from burning it.

This provocative action was widely reported, provoking outrage among Turks and leading the general staff of the Turkish Armed Forces to issue a statement of condemnation accompanied by a threat: “We advise those who would attempt to test the Turkish Armed Forces’ love for the motherland and its flag to look into the pages of history.” Tuncer Bakirhan, chairman of the dominant pro-Kurdish party DEHAP, immediately condemned the incident, calling it “a provocation.” Leyla Zana, who was recently released from a Turkish prison, also condemned this incident and stated, “It is our duty to ignore such provocations and turn this into something that can contribute to peace.” TV channels and media websites began to display the flag at all times as a sign of patriotism in the face of this provocative action. In Mersin, Turks reportedly attacked stores and homes owned by Kurds.

I agree with those who condemn the incident. It is provocative and offensive. If I were born a Turk, I would be very angry to see my national flag treated in such a disrespectful and hostile manner. As a flag is frequently understood to be a symbol of an entire people, the burning of the flag is a statement against an entire nation and not simply the policies of a nation’s government. I would not burn a Turkish flag, although I would also never wave one.

I must wonder if those who are loudly condemning this incident ever bothered to wonder about the idea of flag burning and its ramifications.

The burning of a Turkish flag in Turkey may be novel, but the idea of flag burning within Turkey’s borders is almost passé. American flags, British flags, and Israeli flags have all been burned by Turkish protestors on various occasions, even as US aid to Turkey continues to surpass American aid to any other country in the world with the exceptions of Israel and Egypt.

Of course, flags are not the only things that have been burned within Turkey’s borders. In its war against the indigenous Kurds of Anatolia, the Turkish Armed Forces and its paramilitary allies leveled, burned, or forcibly evacuated more than 3,000 Kurdish villages. This mass burning, perpetrated by the Turkish Armed Forces and sponsored by the Turkish government, was ignored by the Turkish media and never mentioned by US and foreign media outlets. Even presently, many will attempt to either deny or justify this campaign of burning. Expressions of condemnation, let alone outrage, will not be found in the mainstream Turkish media or in its government buildings.

Time and time again, we learn that the staunchly secular Republic of Turkey does have a state religion – hypocrisy. According to this state, the uncivilized action of flag burning itself is no big deal, and only the burning of one special flag, the flag bearing a religious symbol that has been adopted by an officially and militantly anti-religious state, is an outrage. And the same NATO army that burned numerous Kurdish villages under this flag is prepared to bravely defend it against abuse from all stupid 12 to 14 year old children.

3. - Macleans.Ca - "Dirty little secret":

As Turkey looks west, its future will likely be decided in its strife-torn southeast

29 March 2005 / by Adnan R. Khan

There's an unsettling feeling of isolation that comes with losing your cellphone signal in Turkey. Here, the mobile phone is a symbol of progress and, of course, the West. There are few places where one doesn't work in this country, a European Union hopeful, and when it happens, something is amiss. Mine stopped functioning on a road in southeastern Turkey, the impoverished and predominantly Kurdish region. It was a reminder that I had entered an area where the rules are different. In the western part, the nation envisioned by Kemal Atatürk, the father of modern Turkey, has come into existence: Turkish cities like Istanbul and Izmir are unquestionably European and the standard-bearers for Turkey's EU membership bid. The vision in the southeast, on the other hand, has gone a bit cross-eyed.

The southeast is a war zone, with military checkpoints, armed camps, lines of soldiers patrolling the mountain passes. But it's also here, amid the destitute villages, that the future of 70 million Turks may be decided. This is Turkey's dirty little secret, tucked away in the deep valleys and gorges of the snow-capped Zagros mountains, the natural boundary dividing Iran and Iraq from their westward-looking neighbour. The downtrodden area is home to one of the least understood conflicts in the world, pitting Turkish forces against the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK), the main Kurdish militia group, in a war that's left nearly 30,000 dead and up to three million people, mostly civilians and predominantly Kurds, displaced. But as former Turkish prime minister Mesut Yilmaz stressed in a 1999 speech, referring to the southeast's unofficial capital, "the road to the EU passes through Diyarbakir."

Human rights groups have for years struggled to draw the world's attention to the region -- alleging that Kurds have been systematically oppressed. And now the spotlight is on. The EU has demanded that the Turkish government address its problems with human rights and minorities, giving the country's 13 million Kurds reason to hope. "The government will not be able to continue to act the way it has in the southeast if it wants to join Europe," says Nazim Berk, 47, a subsistence farmer in the mud-splattered village of Ortakoy. "We demand a normal life, and we hope the EU can give us that." Recent reconciliatory overtures, granting Kurds language and cultural rights, are only a first step, he says. His main concerns now are the lack of economic opportunity and the intrusive military, which he claims continues to use intimidation and torture to keep the Kurds in line.

Human rights groups agree. Emin Yuksel, a 33-year-old doctor working with the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey in Diyarbakir, says that while the Turkish government has made substantial progress on paper, a culture of impunity still exists within the lower ranks of the military and police services. In 2004, the foundation, which deals exclusively with torture victims, registered 19 new cases, all Kurds. "The old prejudices are much harder to root out," Yuksel admits.

What the Kurds face is a cultural bias deeply imbedded in the Turkish psyche. Modern Turkey was born out of the chaos following the First World War, when Atatürk's movement fought a successful war not only against the remnants of the disintegrating Ottoman government, but also Greek forces that had occupied the western part of the country. Turkey's national pride flows from that era, but the establishment of a secular state also wiped out any hopes the Kurds had for a nation of their own. The memory of impending national disintegration is still too fresh for many Turks to accept the idea that ethnic diversity can exist within a national framework. Says Selahattin Demirtas, director of the Human Rights Association, another group in Diyarbakir: "This paranoia must be gotten over, this idea that any Kurd who talks about more rights and freedoms is really talking about independence."

Militarism is the result. In Ortakoy, soldiers are everywhere, outnumbering villagers two to one, some residents say. When I first arrived, I was greeted by heavy artillery fire so powerful that my car shook. The villagers shrugged off the noise as routine. "It happens every day at 4 p.m.," one explained. "It's the military's warning to the PKK in the mountains that they're waiting for them." The salvoes aside, there has been relative calm in the southeast since the PKK called a unilateral truce after the capture of its leader Abdullah Ocalan in 1999. Last spring, the PKK's political wing, now calling itself Kongra-Gel, did cancel the ceasefire, citing the Turkish military's intransigence. But although fighting resumed, it is at a significantly lower level than in previous years.

The PKK is not the military's only concern. Just over the mountains, in Kurdish-controlled Iraq, Kurds are rallying with a renewed sense of opportunity. The Iraq war has been a boon for them and their calls for independence. A December 2004 petition signed by 1.7 million Iraqi Kurds and delivered to UN headquarters in New York City demanded a referendum on the issue. Turkish authorities have repeatedly said they will oppose any such move, fearing the emergence of a Kurdish nation could further incite their own Kurdish population to rebellion.

Those concerns may be justified. Kurds, often called the largest stateless ethnic group in the world, have all suffered oppression, whether in Iran, Syria, Turkey or Iraq. This common experience binds them more securely than national affiliation. In the area of Iraq controlled by Masoud Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) -- which, united with another Kurd party, won 75 of 275 assembly seats in the recent Iraqi election -- there is sympathy for the PKK. In fact, for many former fighters from the Turkish side of the border, the KDP has become a second family. Before the Iraq war, guerrillas coming down out of the mountains were encouraged to join the KDP peshmerga, the Iraqi militia that fought on behalf of Kurdish interests during Saddam's rule. Although the practice was reportedly stopped after the invasion, a close affiliation between the two groups still exists. "We welcome any PKK who decide they want to leave the movement," said one KDP official in Dohuk, a town straddling the Turkish border. "They are fellow Kurds and we will do what we can to help them reintegrate into normal society."

This close relationship is worrying for Turkish authorities. The U.S. has promised it will eventually root out PKK guerrillas hiding in Iraq. But with the current situation still out of control, U.S. commanders say they are stretched too thin to do anything for the time being. In a Jan. 3 meeting with Turkish foreign minister Abdullah Gul, former U.S. deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage proposed three-way talks between the U.S., Turkey and Iraq to work out a plan to deal with the more than 5,000 fighters ensconced in mountain camps on both sides of the border. But will Iraqi Kurds support a U.S. offensive against fellow Kurds? In the mountains around Dohuk, Iraqi border guards, all former peshmerga fighters, admit they often come across PKK camps while on patrol. "We sometimes have tea together," one guard said.

Turkey itself has little room to manoeuvre, in part because of its EU membership bid. For human rights groups, those negotiations provide added leverage to their demands for fundamental reforms, and the conflict with the PKK tops their agenda. "The first thing the government of Turkey needs to do," says Demirtas, "is call a general amnesty." Without a negotiated peace, he argues, the Kurdish question threatens the very future of the country. "How can there be development," he adds, "when one-fifth of the country is a military zone?"

Back in Ortakoy, Berk echoes the same opinion, though his words are more ominous. "We've heard promises before," he says. "What we need is real change in our lives." Without it, he adds, "we will have no choice but to go into the mountains to fight." If recent indications are any sign, it may not come to that. The Turkish government seems to be listening -- it has no choice.

4. - The Monday Morning - "Turkey: Kurds celebrate traditional New Year, call for more freedoms":

28 March 2005 / Issue No.1683

Tens of thousands of Kurds in Southeast Turkey last week celebrated Newroz, their traditional New Year, which has been marred by tensions and bloodshed in the past.

Kurdish leaders who joined the celebration in Diyarbakir, the main city of the predominantly Kurdish region, urged Ankara to expand Kurdish freedoms and end years of conflict that have claimed some 36,500 lives.

“We expect the solution neither from the European Union nor the United States, but from those who are governing Turkey”, Tuncer Bakirhan, the chairman of the pro-Kurdish Democratic People’s Party (DEHAP), told the crowd.

Ankara, long under international pressure to improve the rights of the Kurds, has recently granted them a number of cultural freedoms as part of reforms aimed at boosting Turkey’s bid to join the European Union.

The Kurds, however, say the reforms should be enhanced and are pressing in particular for an amnesty for Kurdish rebels who have fought the government since 1984.

For the Kurds, Newroz has become an occasion to call for their rights and demonstrate support for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has waged a 15-year separatist campaign against Ankara.

Scores of police kept watch as Kurdish men and women danced and sang around traditional bonfires at the festival venue in Diyarbakir.

Some revellers carried PKK flags and chanted slogans in favor of the group’s leader, Abdullah Ocalan, who is serving a life term for treason in a prison island.

In a statement carried by the pro-PKK MHA news agency, Ocalan, from his prison cell, issued a message advocating a loose confederal system of all Kurdish communities that would rule out an independent Kurdish state.

The authorities have often banned Norouz celebrations in the past for fear they would trigger unrest.

In 1992, about 50 people were killed by security forces during Newroz clashes. Two men were crushed to death and dozens injured in a police clampdown on Newroz demonstrations in 2002.
Newroz marks the awakening of nature at the March 21 equinox, and is also celebrated in Iran and other Muslim communities in the Caucasus and Central Asia. It is said to originate from an ancient Zoroastrian festival.

5. - AFP - "Turkish Laz minority musician banned from performing on public television":

ISTANBUL / 29 March 2005

A musician from Turkey's Laz minority group said the country's public television refused to allow him to perform his songs, claiming that new laws adopting democratic European standards exclude the Laz language.

The Laz musician, Birol Topaloglu, said he had been invited to participate in a musical special on March 18 in Ankara on the national television station TRT-INT. He has been involved since 1997 in trying to preserve the culture of the Laz community of about 250,000 people in northeast Turkey.

"But when I arrived at the studio with my pipes and violin, I was told that my songs would not be part of the program," Topaloglu said.

The artist protested the decision, pointing out that his compositions in the Laz language had already been broadcast on two occasions in the past on the public channel.

Topaloglu said the television network refused him access because of reforms required by the European Union, which Turkey hopes to join in the future.

The reforms authorize the broadcasting of programs in five minority languages -- the two Kurdish dialects of zaza and kurmanci, Arabic, Bosnian and Circassian -- but no mention of Laz, he said.

TRT television declined to comment when contacted by AFP.

The Turkish Parliament approved the broadcasting of programs in minority languages in 2002, which was seen as a symbolic gesture toward the EU which has been engaged in opening negotiations about Turkey's possible accession to the bloc.

TRT began in June 2004 to broadcast daily programs in five languages entitled "Our cultural richness."

6. - Friends of the Earth - "Evidence Of Human Rights Abuses Exposed In Turkey":

29 Marc 2005 / Press Release

A report published today (Tues 1800) reveals an investigation into BP's Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline has uncovered evidence of human rights abuses, including violations of international fair trial standards in Turkey. The project is funded by British tax payers via loans from The World Bank, the Export Credit Guarantee Dept (ECGD) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

Environmental and human rights groups are calling on the development banks to explicitly screen projects for their potential human rights impacts.

The evidence, published by Kurdish Human Rights Project, The Corner House, Friends of the Earth and Environmental Defense, follows a fact-finding mission to the Ardahan and Imranli regions of Turkey, along the pipeline route, which included observing the trial of a Turkish human rights defender [1].

Ferhat Kaya was detained and allegedly tortured in May 2004 as a result of his work with villagers affected by the pipeline. Eleven police officers were accused of ill-treating him [2]. But at his trial, the fact-finding mission observed deficiencies in the amounting to violations of international fair trial standards. The mission was itself subject to police surveillance throughout its visit.

Catriona Vine, a barrister who took part in the fact finding and trial observation mission, said:

"It is particularly worrying that the human rights reforms implemented by the Turkish Government in advance of its EU accession application appear to have had little impact in the North-East region of Turkey as evidenced by the conclusions of both reports."

Friends of the Earth International Finance Campaigner Hannah Ellis said:

"BP's project is resulting in human rights abuses on the back of development bank finance. Ferhat Kaya's trial highlights the failure of the project's attempts at consultation with those affected. BP and the banks involved must do more to ensure that the work they fund is not breaching fundamental environmental and social standards."

The mission also found that the project is being implemented in breach of agreed standards, particularly those relating to land acquisition, potentially placing the project in violation of host country law, project loan conditions and the European Convention on Human Rights. Legal reforms recently adopted by Turkey appear not to have been implemented.

Kerim Yildiz of the Kurdish Human Rights Project said:

"We recommend that the project lenders now come to terms with the context in which this project is being implemented, including the capacity of BOTAS (the Turkish company responsible for building the pipeline in Turkey) and the Turkish Government to ensure fair expropriation and compensation practices. This should include much closer and more independent oversight, monitoring and scrutiny by project lenders."

The mission also found that problems which had been previously identified had still not been addressed, with severe impacts on villagers. The groups believe that the public financiers subsidizing the project should take greater responsibility for ensuring that international standards are enforced.

Nick Hildyard of The Corner House said:

"The UK government has admitted to parliament that there have been significant breaches of project standards but claim they do not justifying suspending the loan. Whilst BP continues to get its money, many affected villagers are still waiting the compensation that is owed to them. Protestors face intimidation, detention or worse, with little prospect of a fair trial."

Notes
[1] The two reports - Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Oil Pipeline: Human Rights, Social and Environmental Impacts Turkey Section (ISBN 1 900175 79 7) and The Trials of Ferhat Kaya (ISBN 1 900175 80 0) - are available from Kurdish Human Rights Project or the Baku-Ceyhan Campaign www.baku.org.uk

Contact details:

Friends of the Earth, 26-28 Underwood St., LONDON, N1 7JQ
Tel: 020 7490 1555, Fax: 020 7490 0881, Email: info@foe.co.uk, Website: www.foe.co.uk

7. - AFP - "Poll shows distrust between Armenians, Turks":

ANKARA / 28 March 2005

The majority of Turks and Armenians distrust and dislike each other, with both describing the World War I massacre of Armenians as a major obstacle to normalizing ties, according to a poll published Monday.

The survey, part of a major project looking at prospects for dialogue between the two nations, was carried out by an Istanbul-based think tank and an Armenian research centre among 1,219 Turks and 1,000 Armenians.

More than 51 percent of Armenian respondents and 33 percent of Turks interviewed said the two peoples "generally did not like each other".

Just under one percent of Armenians and 14 percent of Turks expressed a wish to get on well with one another.

Almost 69 percent of Armenians associated negative words with Turks -- among them "bloodthirsty", "barbarian" and "enemy" -- while 34 percent of Turks had a negative view of Armenians, some describing them as "enemy" and "prejudiced".

Only nine percent of Armenians and 11 percent of Turks had a positive view of each other.

Seventy-nine percent of Armenians described bilateral ties as "very bad" or "bad" while 45 percent of Turks described them as "neither bad nor good". Only 37 percent of Turks described bilateral relations as "very bad" or "bad".

An overwhelming 95.5 percent of Armenians saw huge obstacles to normalizing ties and 82 percent listed claims of genocide as the biggest hurdle.

Some 37 percent of Turks agreed that there were major hurdles, but only 19 percent saw the genocide claims as the core of the problem.

The massacre of Armenians during World War I is one of the most controversial episodes in Turkish history.

Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kinsmen died in orchestrated killings nine decades ago during the last years of the Ottoman Empire, the predecessor of modern Turkey.

Turkey, on the other hand, argues that 300,000 Armenians and thousands of Turks were killed in what was civil strife during World War I when the Armenians rose against their Ottoman rulers.

The two countries have no diplomatic relations and their land border remains closed.

Almost 88 percent of Armenians and 65 percent of Turks said they were in favour of establishing diplomatic ties, while 63 percent of Armenians and 51 percent of Turks supported the re-opening of border crossings.

8. - AntiWar.com - "Watch Out for Kurdistan":

29 March 2005 / by Aaron Glantz

"Watch out for Kurdistan," I tell everyone I know. It may take a few years, but Iraq will be cut up into two, possibly three, countries – and the Kurds will be the first to go.

Already, northern Iraq is hardly one with the rest of the country. In the provisional capital of Arbil, the red, green, and white Kurdish flag is everywhere; the Iraqi flag is nowhere to be seen. Signs on buildings proclaim: "Kurdistan Health Ministry" and "Kurdistan Education Ministry." The streets are patrolled – not by American soldiers in Humvees and tanks – but by Kurdish peshmerga guerillas with AK-47s. If they see someone who even looks Arab, they stop him as a suspected terrorist.

Iraqi Kurds are hardly happy with this arrangement, though. Whatever the result of negotiations over Iraq's new government, Kurds are poised to push hard for independence.

A day after the election, organizers from Kurdistan's two major political parties were already touring refugee camps in oil-rich Kirkuk, with a petition asking Kurds whether they support ethnic federalism in Iraq or Kurdish independence. Within days, 1.9 million Kurds – almost half of all Kurdish adults in Iraq – had signed up for independence.

At the same time, the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, Masoud Barzani, told reporters in his mountain fortress: "An independent Kurdish state will be formed, but I do not know the exact time."

Central to the Kurds' drive for independence is the multi-ethnic city of Kirkuk, with an estimated 8.5 billion barrels of oil under its soil (at the current prices, about $450 billion). During the 1980s, Saddam killed and displaced tens of thousands of the city's Kurds and replaced them with Arabs loyal to his regime. Now, Kurds control the city.

In 2003, when the U.S. military invaded Iraq, Kurdish peshmerga fought alongside U.S. soldiers and kicked the Iraqi army out of Kirkuk. Today, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) is the most powerful force in the city. Its peshmerga make up the bulk of the police force and control most of the hiring decisions in the local government and at the country's Northern Oil company.

The Kurds' position was strengthened by January's election. With Arab political parties boycotting the polls, Kurds easily won control of the local government. That local government is currently mobilizing a referendum on whether the city should be part of Iraqi Kurdistan – with 100,000 Kurdish refugees allowed to vote.

It's all part of a move toward an independent state. "First, it will go to referendum," explains Dr. Azad Aslan, a political scientist at Arbil's Salahudin University. "Then we will control the oil, which provides an engine for the Kurdish economy. Then we will declare independence."

Like most Kurds, Dr. Aslan isn't afraid of a civil war that might erupt over Kurdish plans for secession, and he doesn't think that neighboring Turkey, Syria, and Iran – all of which oppose Kurdish statehood – will be able to intervene. "If the United States weren't here, maybe one would have doubts [about Turkish, Syrian, or Iranian intervention], but now the United States is the real power here in Iraq as a whole. If you apply pressure, you are going at the United States."

Kurds feel the United States will support them, because they continue to support the U.S. military presence in Iraq. As pressure grows for American soldiers to leave the center and south, they figure, the Bush administration will be forced to support an independent Kurdistan as the price of keeping U.S. troops, peacefully, in the north.