26 June 2006

1. "DTP: State should hold talks with PKK", at its first congress on Sunday, the Democratic Society Party (DTP) said that the state should hold talks with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in order to resolve the Kurdish question.

2. "A Renewed Kurdish Threat to Turkey", it is in Turkey, the United States' key ally in the region, that the conflict has spread most quickly. With the shoot-outs in the hills of the Kurdish southeast have come bombings and firebombings in Istanbul, a suicide attack in the east, major riots, and echoes of the "dirty war" that the Turkish state promulgated in the 1990s against Kurds in the southeast.

3. "Explosion in Turkish town leaves four dead", an explosion in the Turkish Mediterranean resort town of Antalya killed three foreign tourists and a Turk on Sunday, and injured about 25 other people, a local official said.

4. "IHD Chair Faces 4.5 Years Jail for 'Speech'", trial of IHD Diyarbakir Branch Chair Demirtas for speech on Roj TV begins with prosecutor demanding 4.5 years imprisonment on charge of "propagating for organization". IHD Diyarbakir: "The case is an obstacle to freedom of expression, repression of IHD."

5. "ECHR Sentences Turkey for Book Verdict", Turkey to pay 2,000 Euro in damages for sentencing Urun Publications executive to 13 months 10 days imprisonment in trial of "Turkish Communist Party 5th Congress Documents" book. Human Rights court says freedom of expression violated.

6. "Sleepless in Kurdistan", avisitor to Kurdistan is astonished at the speed of development. Work is underway to build or rehabilitate roads connecting the main cities, and foreign companies are enthusiastically competing to obtain contracts for electricity, water, and communications.

1. - The New Anatolian - "DTP: State should hold talks with PKK":

ANKARA / 26 June 2006

At its first congress on Sunday, the Democratic Society Party (DTP) said that the state should hold talks with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in order to resolve the Kurdish question.

Elected once again as co-chairs at the party congress held in Ankara's Ataturk Sports Hall, Aysel Tugluk and Ahmet Turk said that the PKK should be accepted as a reality.

Arguing that democratic forces and society should strengthen ties with the PKK for the sake of democracy and peace, Tugluk referred to the examples of the Basque group Basque Homeland and Freedom (ETA) and the Irish Republican Army (IRA), advocating that a similar process should also start in Turkey.

Tugluk called on the government to pass a general amnesty for PKK members, which she claimed would contribute to the establishment of peace, and said that if the war with the PKK continues, global actors may abuse this war to benefit their own interests in the Middle East.

Asserting that the will of the Kurdish people hasn't been reflected in Parliament since 1994, Ahmet Turk called on parties to either abolish the 10 percent national threshold in the elections or reduce it from 10 to 3 percent.

Arguing that the Kurdish question can't be solved without Kurds or despite Kurds, Turk said that the Constitution should be amended and both political and social obstacles should be removed for the resolution of the Kurdish question.

Calling on parties to withdraw the anti-terror bill for this purpose, Turk said, "The bill is for a struggle against the Kurds. It has nothing to do with the PKK, but is aimed at silencing the public."

Although the DTP has been warned by Court of Appeals Public Prosecutor Nuri Ok to change its co-chair system, it signaled on Sunday that the system won't be changed. "We are determined to sustain and practice the co-chair system in our party," said Turk.

Arguing that mayors from the DTP are facing numerous probes and lawsuits, Turk said that this is an indication that intolerance for the expression of their ideas is at a maximum.

During the congress, for which the police took tight security measures, there were two conspicuous absences: posters of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, and the singing of the national anthem, both standard practice for party congresses. In contrast, pictures of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan as well as PKK flags could be seen in the hands of by some party members. A Turkish flag was also hung in the hall.

Party administrators called on attendees to observe a minute of silence at the beginning of the congress "for all the people who lost their lives for democracy, peace, human rights, equality and freedom."

2. - Newsday - "A Renewed Kurdish Threat to Turkey":

CAMP SININI / 25 June 2006 / by Matthew McAllester

The platoon of Kurdish fighters stood at attention in three lines, staring straight ahead in the direction of their homeland and their target: Turkey.

The country that is jumping through hoops to get into the European Union was only a few miles from this rebel training camp, across mountain peaks where the snow was melting with the arrival of spring.

At the end of the first line was a girl, a recent recruit like many in the platoon. She shrugged, blushed and giggled when asked how old she was.

"Fifteen," she said, giving her name as Zilan. A hand grenade hung from her belt, a Kalashnikov automatic rifle at her side.

Weren't her parents worried about her? "They are glad I am here," she said, her brow furrowing in irritation at not being treated as an adult. "They are proud."

A government's nightmare

This is the newly invigorated, growing Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, the Turkish government's worst nightmare as the country tries to convince the EU that it is a peaceful, increasingly democratic country worthy of becoming the first Muslim nation in the European Union. The PKK also is a growing priority for U.S. political and military officials who have paid it little attention while they have been absorbed in the war against Iraq's insurgents.

The Kurdish guerrilla group has been waging an increasingly war in recent months against the Turkish military, reigniting an ethnic conflict at Europe's gateway to Iran and Iraq. With a nuclear crisis developing in Iran, and a costly 3-year-old war showing no signs of abatement in Iraq, the PKK's renewed conflict could further destabilize the region just when the United States can least afford another front opening up in Iraq.

After the establishment of the new Iraqi government, U.S. officials have indicated they may turn their attention to the PKK, which has been allowed to operate freely in northern Iraq for years.

"This is one of our top priorities," the State Department's Iraq coordinator, James Jeffrey, said in Washington late last month. U.S. ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad "is very aware of the PKK issue. He had consultations with the Iraqi government and with Kurdish leaders when he last was in the north. And we'll get to that as soon as we can."

There are signs that the PKK's war is spreading in unpredictable directions. Recently the conflict drew in Iran, which the PKK claims has been attacking its bases in northern Iraq -- perhaps on behalf of Turkey. The PKK has threatened to retaliate inside Iran.

Violence spreading

It is in Turkey, the United States' key ally in the region, that the conflict has spread most quickly. With the shoot-outs in the hills of the Kurdish southeast have come bombings and firebombings in Istanbul, a suicide attack in the east, major riots, and echoes of the "dirty war" that the Turkish state promulgated in the 1990s against Kurds in the southeast.

Just as Turkish ministers want to talk up their country's improved human rights record, strong economy and bright future, their news channels and the Turkish people have become obsessed with a war they thought was over -- a war that cost 35,000 lives in the 1980s and '90s. In its new incarnation, people on both sides die or are injured every week. On May 4, a bomb exploded in the mostly Kurdish city of Hakkari in southeastern Turkey as a military vehicle protecting a school bus in a convoy went past. Twenty-one people, including 11 children, were injured.

Murad Karialan, PKK co-president, insisted in an interview that the PKK was merely defending itself against the Turkish army. "It's not part of the PKK's strategy to continue armed struggle," he said, speaking at a PKK base in northern Iraq where the U.S. military so far has left them alone. "The Kurdish people have the right to defend themselves against Turkish army attacks."

The PKK called off its four-year unilateral cease-fire in August 2004, but it was not until about six months ago that the conflict began to escalate to a point of crisis.

On Nov. 9, a man came to the door of a small bookstore in the distant, southeastern town of Semdinli, which sits in a steep valley only miles from the point where Turkey meets Iran and Iraq. He threw two hand grenades into the store, which was owned by a man who spent 15 years in Turkish prisons for his pro-Kurdish activities, and ran.

One man was killed, but the store owner, Seferi Yilmaz, 44, was not injured and he rushed out in pursuit of the attacker. In the slushy streets of Semdinli, the local Kurdish people captured the attacker and apprehended two other men waiting for him in a car nearby.

Two of them, including the attacker, turned out to be Turkish paramilitary intelligence officers. The third was a former PKK member-turned-informer for the Turkish security services. In the trunk of the car the crowd, who handed the men over to the police, found more weapons, maps and lists of people perhaps still to be targeted.

Soon after, a senior Turkish general in line now to become chief of staff said he knew the attacker; he was "a good guy," Gen. Yasar Buyukanit said. The officers' trial started recently with the prosecution claiming the men formed a covert, illegal hit squad whose job was to target suspected PKK members.

Military's influence

The attack and Buyukanit's remarks caused a huge scandal in Turkey, exposing a fundamental fault line in Turkish society. The Turkish government and the EU are trying to wrest away some of the military's enormous power. Many in Turkey suspect the military wants to stoke the conflict to make itself seem indispensable.

The Semdinli incident seemed to suggest this was more than a conspiracy theory. Then, on March 3, the elderly parents of prominent Kurdish brothers were found garroted in their home in the village of Dogancay. Medeni Ferho, one son, would be arrested if he came back to Turkey. So later that day, during his parents' funeral, he spoke to a mourner at the cemetery via mobile phone from Belgium.

"They can't frighten us with this kind of thing," the mourner shouted out to the somber crowd, repeating Ferho's words. "They have to give up this kind of tactic. We will never be frightened. ... With these killings they won't be able to stop us." There was no doubt who Ferho meant by "they."

Whether the murder really was carried out by members of the security forces did not matter much politically. The hundreds of mourners -- and thousands of other Kurds -- were convinced this was another brutal escalation by the Turkish "deep state," as Turks and foreign analysts call the military and other nonelected parts of the Turkish state.

Ominously for Turkey, the PKK is spreading throughout the country. It is recruiting successfully in Istanbul, a city that spans Europe and Asia across the Bosporus.

Their daughter the recruit

In an apartment building in a slum that sits a 30-minute drive from the center of Istanbul, the parents of one recent recruit spoke publicly for the first time in an interview about the decision their daughter Aisha, 23, made about a year ago.

Zemzeme Arvas, 43, sat nervously on the couch next to her husband, Hamza, 43, a construction worker. Like their daughter, they nurse a burning resentment against their country. In 1994, at the peak of the war between the PKK and the army, the military burned down their village of Peyndas, the family said.

Aisha never forgot -- or was never allowed to forget -- about the home that her family, like thousands of displaced Kurds, had to leave in flames, her parents said. She was politically active as a teenager and, after one demonstration, she and her cousin Silan Arvas, 20, were imprisoned. Soon after their release, her parents said, they began talking to a PKK recruiter in Istanbul. Just more than a year ago, they made the journey to the southeast and, from there, crossed into northern Iraq.

Zemzeme Arvas never expects to see her daughter again. "If they want to join [the PKK]," she said of any of her seven children, "I am proud." Such statements are enough to get people arrested in Turkey. Arvas said she understood the risks in speaking to a journalist.

"No parents would like their children to go and get involved in clashes," she said, noting that she believes Aisha teaches art at a PKK camp in northern Iraq. "But my head is upwards, as we say here. As soon as she went, there was a risk she would die. But we lose martyrs every day."

3. - AP - "Explosion in Turkish town leaves four dead":

ISTANBUL / 26 June 2006

An explosion in the Turkish Mediterranean resort town of Antalya killed three foreign tourists and a Turk on Sunday, and injured about 25 other people, a local official said.

The dead were a Russian, a Norwegian, a Hungarian and a Turkish waiter at the restaurant where the explosion occurred, local governor Fikret Dayioglu said. The restaurant was near a waterfall in the tourist area called Manavgat, he said.

The nationalities of the dead were given in a written statement from Dayioglu, correcting his earlier statement that two of the dead were Russian citizens.

Initial assessments indicated that the blast was caused by an exploding gas canister at the restaurant, Dayioglu told the state-owned Anatolia news agency.

Dayioglu said security forces were brought into the area and officials were working to confirm the cause of the blast.

Kurdish guerrillas, who have been fighting for autonomy in Turkey since 1984, have claimed responsibility for numerous attacks recently, and have repeatedly vowed to target Turkey's tourism industry.

4. - Bianet - "IHD Chair Faces 4.5 Years Jail for 'Speech'":

Trial of IHD Diyarbakir Branch Chair Demirtas for speech on Roj TV begins with prosecutor demanding 4.5 years imprisonment on charge of "propagating for organization". IHD Diyarbakir: "The case is an obstacle to freedom of expression, repression of IHD."

DIYARBAKIR / 23 June 2006

Human Rights Association (IHD) Diyarbakir Branch Chair Selahattin Demirtas appeared at court this week charged with carrying out "propaganda for an outlawed organization" in remarks he made on a program aired by the pro-Kurdish Roj TV.

On June 21, Wednesday, the prosecutor at the 5th High Criminal Court of Diyarbakir demanded from 1.5 to 4.5 years imprisonment for Demirtas under article 220 of the new Penal Code and for him to be banned from public rights and association leadership.

The hearing was adjourned to September 19, 2006, for Demirtas to be given time to prepare his defence.

IHD: Most violations are of our rights

The IHD Diyarbakir Branch said the case was a form of repression of the association and forces of democracy while it was a serious obstacle in front of the freedom of expression.

"Our branch chairman said that [imprisoned PKK leader] Abdullah Ocalan's statement were still being paid heed to by KONGRA-GEL and the Kurds, and that because of this Ocalan could play an important role in ending the clashes and creating a final and lasting peace, but that could only be achieved with him being allowed to meet with his attorneys and family, that the isolation on Ocalan should be lifted."

IHD Branch secretary Ali Akinci told bianet that more than 70 investigations and cases had so far been launched against Demirtas and stressed that the Human Rights Association which fought for human rights was an association whose rights were most violated.

Mayors face ROJ-TV jail too

The case against Demirtas for his speech on Roj-TV comes in the wake of an indictment filed against 56 mayors of the Democratic Society Party (DTP) on charges of assisting the PKK through their actions.

The 56 mayors face up to 10 years imprisonment each if found guilty for a letter they sent collectively to Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen where they requested that country not to yield to Turkish pressure and close down Roj-TV.

The indictment prepared by the Diyarbakir Public Prosecutor's Office claimed Roj-TV carried out organizational propaganda and that the December 21, 2005, dated letter of the mayors was a violation of the law serving the interests of an outlawed organization.

In their letter to Rasmussen the mayors said ''the voice of ROJ TV should not be silenced for a real democracy in Turkey. This is the common and sincere request of our people, whom we represent at the level of local government. The abolition of this voice will mean the lost of basic freedoms for democracy, human rights and the struggle for a democratic society''.

Pro-Kurdish activists claim that in addition to the mayors' letter more than 7,000 letters have been sent out by ROJ-TV supporters to Danish authorities asking for them to allow the station to stay open.

5. - Bianet - "ECHR Sentences Turkey for Book Verdict":

Turkey to pay 2,000 Euro in damages for sentencing Urun Publications executive to 13 months 10 days imprisonment in trial of "Turkish Communist Party 5th Congress Documents" book. Human Rights court says freedom of expression violated.

STRASBOURG / 24 June 2006 / by Erol Onderoglu

European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has sentenced Turkey for violating the freedom of expression of Urun Publications by sentencing one of its executives to 13 months 10 days imprisonment in the trial of a book titled "Turkish Communist Party 5th Congress Documents".

Turkey was sentenced to pay 2,000 Euro in damages and court expenses of 1,500 Euro to Urun Publications executives after the ECHR concluded that a March 28, 2003 Turkish verdict passed against the book had no legal grounds. The book, which documented the 1983 congress of the outlawed Turkish Communist Party, contained the party's program related to the Kurdish problem and was tried and sentenced on grounds of "separatist propaganda".

This week's ECHR verdict said words such as "Fascism" and "the right of the Kurds to separate" could indicate a strong approach but could not be accepted as concepts that incite violence, hatred and enmity between the people.

Turkey's case against the book was based on a range of concepts used in it, including "conditions of Fascism in Kurdistan", "The necessity for the Kurdish and Turkish people to struggle together", "Chauvinist repression" and "Kurdish national question".

The book also suggested an "action plan" in order to defend the national democratic rights of the Kurds.

When the prosecution ordered for all copies of the book to be seized, the order could not be fulfilled as 150 copies of the book had already been sold. But a court sentenced an executive of the publishing house to 13 months and ten days imprisonment. The case was taken to the ECHR after all appeals means in Turkey were exhausted.

6. - Kurdish Aspect - "Sleepless in Kurdistan":

SOMA / 22 June 2006 / by Massoud Mohammed

Avisitor to Kurdistan is astonished at the speed of development. Work is underway to build or rehabilitate roads connecting the main cities, and foreign companies are enthusiastically competing to obtain contracts for electricity, water, and communications.

The nights of Kurdistan have become sleepless. The availability of new hotels such as Erbil Sheraton and Slemani Palace has contributed to this progress. There is also a president of the region, national defence forces, border guards, local police, traffic police, a prime minister, council of ministers, ministers, speaker of parliament, a parliament, and border check points.

The Kurds today are at the forefront of the Iraqi scene and constitute the most important factor in shaping an independent Iraq. The Kurds possess political experience as a result of their opening to the outside through which they have formed a network of relationships with regional and international governments and organizations. Still, the picture of the Kurds in the Arab mind remains ambiguous: Who are the Kurds? Do the Kurds have a role in the events of the region? Are the Arab/Kurdish relations a reality or a myth? Is there a boundary for the Kurdish ambition? And what are the possibilities for realizing this ambition?

A Kurdish proverb says: “The basis of victory in all ventures is not giving up until you arrive at the required goal”. The Kurds have never given up in their strive to reach their aim of freedom and liberty.

The Kurdish man of letters and politician, Othman Sabri, once said: “If death comes to me one day and Kurdistan is not liberated, do not put flowers on my grave.”

The Kurds are one of the oldest peoples of the middle and minor east, who have left a remarkable influence on the history of the region. According to estimated statistics, there are 30 million Kurds living in the Middle East. As such, they constitute the largest ethnic people without a state.

The Kurds have fiercely strived for their right to self-determination but the countries that divide their country have refused to recognize this right. It is the first time that the Kurds in northern Iraq have been able to obtain the West’s support and have for the past 12 years enjoyed the best part of their history. They have received international assistance, economic development opportunities under a sky guarded by western airplanes. But after the demise of Saddam Hussein and the entry of US forces onto the scene, the Iraqi Kurds have lived in a state of suspense. The real fear is loss of their political and social achievements as a result of the chaotic situation prevailing in Iraq. The Kurds have for now given up the dream of full fledged independence, and have adopted the banner of federalism in Iraq as an ideal means for safeguarding their achievements without touching on the obligations of the US for a united Iraq.

In his book “the Kurdish liberating movement – Barzan Revolution 1943-1945,” Masoud Barzani speaks about the speech that Mula Mustafa Barzani addressed to the Iraqi people : “I never have nor will fight the Iraqi people, this people to which I belong. Our strive is against imperialism and its agents, against those who sucked the blood of our Iraqi people...”

It is related that in the year 1946, an Arab journalist met with Mula Mustafa Barzani and among the questions he asked him: “Is it reasonable for the Kurds to fight the Arabs when they are the grandsons of Salahaddin who fought the enemies of the Arabs?”

The Mula pondered long over his statement and replied: “Yes, we will fight the backward Arab regimes so long as in their chauvinism they take Salahaddin away from his ethnicity.”

The Kurds carried the banner of the Palestinian cause, upheld the banner of Arab brotherhood despite meeting with fierce opposition from the Arabs who refuted the notion of Kurds as a nation.

The experiment of Iraqi Kurdistan is the subject of attention of Kurdish parties in the neighboring countries that dream to realize a similar feat, which is why you find them flocking in from Turkey, Syria and Iran for consultation with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and President of the Kurdistan Region, Masoud Barzani.

The Kurdish emirates spread in Kurdistan in broken up periods throughout history, particularly after the spread of Islam and these emirates belonged to the Ottoman empire and Safavid Iran.

At the end of the 18th century, the Kurdish princes were endeared by the attention of the Ottoman Sultans who promised not to interfere in their internal affairs and their self-determination if they stood by the government in its war against the Safavids.

But when the two empires tried to impose their total control over the Kurdish emirates, the Kurds had an uprising and many of the emirates proclaimed their total independence, including, the Baban emirate, led by Abdul Rahman Pasha in 1806, and under Mahmoud Pasha in 1843, the Soran emirate under the leadership of Mohammed Pasha in 1835, the Botan emirate under the leadership of Badrkhan Beg in 1839.

In modern history, Sheikh Mahmoud Al Hafid announced the independent state of Kurdistan state with Slemani as its capital in 1922, and the Mahabad republic in 1946. Mula Mustafa Barzani joined the republic and was given the rank of a general, responsible for the military forces.

However, as this republic had been formed with the support of the Soviet Union, when the Tehran Agreement was signed by Stalin, Roosevelt, Churchill and Shah of Iran for appropriating the benefits of the region, the Soviet Union lifted its support of the new republic and Stalin preferred his interests over those of the international co-operation and the slogan of the right of nations to self-determination, so the republic failed in December 1946.

The Kurds of Iraq are the only group that have emerged in the area with solid achievements.

But will the Kurdish saying come true once again, that the Kurds have no friends except the mountains? Will the coalition betray the Kurds as others have done in the past?