25 May 2006

1. "Kurdish group says it caused huge Istanbul airport fire", a radical Kurdish group said Wednesday it was responsible for a fire at the cargo section of Istanbul's Ataturk airport, the hub of international air travel in Turkey, which slightly injured three people and caused delays in air traffic.

2. "Kurds said to bomb Turkish pipeline", Turkey is accusing the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party of attacking a natural gas pipeline in the country's east.

3. "'Human Rights Reforms Slowed' AI Says", torture and ill-treatment continued to be reported, with those detained for ordinary crimes particularly at risk. Law enforcement officers continued to use excessive force in the policing of demonstrations; four demonstrators were shot dead in November".

4. "Right-wing nationalism tipped as motive in Turkish shooting", when a gunman killed a judge in Turkey's highest administrative court last week, it looked like a cut-and-dried case of religious terrorism.

5. "State Council Murder Targets Role Change", Human Rights Foundation chair Onen says Turkish-Islamic synthesis reviving in different shape with State Council attack and notes nationalist atmosphere in lack of leftist movement brings economic benefit to politics.

6. "The ongoing racist attacks in Turkey", last month there was another fight amongst the students at Istanbul Technical University (ITÜ). Actually, it wasn’t a fight, it was a case of bashing of a Kurdish student by Turkish racists but the media referred to the incident as “a fight.” Normally the Turkish media boycotts cases involving the bashing of Kurds but this one was so brutal and uncivilised that even the Turkish media could ignore it.

1. - AFP - "Kurdish group says it caused huge Istanbul airport fire":

ISTANBUL / 24 May 2006

A radical Kurdish group said Wednesday it was responsible for a fire at the cargo section of Istanbul's Ataturk airport, the hub of international air travel in Turkey, which slightly injured three people and caused delays in air traffic.

The claim, which could not be confirmed, was made by a group calling itself the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK) in a message to Firat, a pro-Kurdish news agency based in Europe.

The Turkish authorities have identified an electrical short circuit as the probable cause of the blaze.

"The sabotage is a response to the policies of massacre followed by the Turkish state towards the Kurds," the message said.

It added that its actions would continue "as long as the extermination policies of the Turkish state against the Kurds are in force."

The Turkish goverment says the TAK is an offshoot of the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

The PKK denies any links with the TAK, which has targeted the tourist industry and in one attack in July last year planted a bomb that killed a British woman and an Irishwoman.

The blaze started at around 3:30 p.m. (1230 GMT) in Terminal C where outgoing and incoming freight is stored, and the flames were brought under control about an hour later.

"The fire is now completely under control. Cooling-off work in is progress," Irfan Balta, the airport's chief of operations, told the NTV news channel.

Istanbul deputy governor Fikret Kasapoglu said it was not immediately clear what had caused the blaze, but said officials suspected it was triggered by either a short-circuit or goods catching fire from sparks of a welding machine.

Three people were hospitalised with smoke inhalation, and there was extensive damage in the cargo building, he added.

"Large parts of the building caved in. We are trying to prevent the fire from spreading to other cargo holds. But there is no danger at the moment," he told the Anatolia news agency.

He also added that flights were continuing normally.

An official from the state airport authority told AFP earlier that there were delays as some incoming planes were ordered to delay their landings and others were rerouted to the city's second airport on the Asian side of the Bosphorus Strait.

The site of the fire was located at a distance from the international and domestic flights terminal and airline company representatives said passengers were out of danger.

Dozens of firefighters, aided by two fire-fighting planes, were involved in battling the flames which sent flames and huge plumes of black smoke over the aiport.

Explosions could be heard as the blaze enveloped the goods kept in the cargo section, Anatolia said.

Ataturk Airport is the country's biggest airport and millions of foreign tourists pass through it each year to fly to Turkish resorts or destinations in the far east.

2. - UPI - "Kurds said to bomb Turkish pipeline":

ANKARA / 24 May 2006

Turkey is accusing the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party of attacking a natural gas pipeline in the country's east.

PKK rebels attacked the Turkish Petroleum Pipeline Corp. in Dogubayazit town, near the eastern city of Agri, Anatolia news agency reported.

The blast caused damaged to the pipeline. Tighter security measures have been taken in the area, while teams at the pipeline have already begun repairing the pipes.

3. - Bianet - "'Human Rights Reforms Slowed' AI Says":

Torture and ill-treatment continued to be reported, with those detained for ordinary crimes particularly at risk. Law enforcement officers continued to use excessive force in the policing of demonstrations; four demonstrators were shot dead in November".

LONDON / 23 May 2006

"During 2005 some of the world’s most powerful governments were successfully challenged, their hypocrisy exposed by the media, their arguments rejected by courts of law, their repressive tactics resisted by human rights activists. After five years of backlash against human rights in the “war on terror”, the tide appeared to be turning" says international rights organization Amnesty International (AI)in its 2006 Report .

"Nevertheless, the lives of millions of people worldwide were devastated by the denial of fundamental rights" AI exposes and adds: "Human security was threatened by war and attacks by armed groups as well as by hunger, disease and natural disasters. Freedoms were curtailed by repression, discrimination and social exclusion".

Documenting human rights abuses in 150 countries around the world the report also Gives considerable space to the situation in Turkey. Below is the Turkey Section of the report.

TURKEY

REPUBLIC OF TURKEY

Head of state: Ahmet Necdet Sezer

Head of government: Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Death penalty: abolitionist for all crimes

International Criminal Court: not signed UN Women's Convention and its Optional Protocol: ratified

The Council of Ministers of the European Union (EU) formally opened negotiations for Turkey's membership of the EU.

Practical implementation of reforms intended to bring Turkish law into line with international standards slowed in 2005. The law provided for continuing restrictions on the exercise of fundamental rights. Those expressing peaceful dissent on certain issues faced criminal prosecution and sanctions after the introduction of the new Turkish Penal Code.

Torture and ill-treatment continued to be reported, with those detained for ordinary crimes particularly at risk. Law enforcement officers continued to use excessive force in the policing of demonstrations; four demonstrators were shot dead in November.

Investigations of such incidents were inadequate and law enforcement officers responsible for violations were rarely brought to justice. Human rights deteriorated in the eastern and south-eastern provinces in the context of a rise in armed clashes between the Turkish security services and the armed opposition Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Background

In June, the new Turkish Penal Code (TPC), Code of Criminal Procedure and Law on the Enforcement of Sentences (LES) entered into force. The laws contained positive aspects, with the TPC offering greater protection from violence to women.

However, the TPC in particular also included restrictions to the right to freedom of expression. Human rights defenders in Turkey also raised objections to the punishment regime for prisoners envisaged by the LES.

A revised draft of the Anti-Terror Law was being discussed by a parliamentary sub-commission at the end of the year; human rights groups had commented critically on earlier drafts. In September Turkey signed the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. In October the Council of Ministers of the EU formally opened negotiations for Turkey's membership of the EU.

Freedom of expression

A wide range of laws containing fundamental restrictions on freedom of expression remained in force. These resulted in the prosecution of individuals for the peaceful expression of opinions in many areas of public life.

The pattern of prosecutions and judgments also often demonstrated prosecutors' and judges' lack of knowledge of international human rights law. In some cases comments by senior government officials demonstrated an intolerance of dissenting opinion or open debate and seemed to sanction prosecution.

Article 301, on the denigration of Turkishness, the Republic, and the foundation and institutions of the state, was introduced in June and replaced Article 159 of the old penal code. Article 159 and Article 301 were frequently applied arbitrarily to target a wide range of critical opinion. Journalists, writers, publishers, human rights defenders and academics were prosecuted under this law.

Among the many prosecuted were journalist Hrant Dink, novelist Orhan Pamuk, Deputy Chair of the Mazlum Der human rights organization Sehmus Ülek, and academics Bask¹n Oran and ±brahim Kabo¬lu . An international academic conference on perceptions of the historical fate of the Armenians in the late Ottoman period, to be held in May at Bosphorus University in Istanbul was postponed after comments made by the Minister of Justice, Cemil Çiçek, which fundamentally challenged the notion of academic freedom by portraying the initiative as treacherous.

The conference eventually took place at Bilgi University in September. However, in December legal proceedings under TPC Articles 301 and 288 were initiated against five journalists who reported on attempts to prevent the conference. A further restriction on freedom of expression remained in the broad restrictions on the use of minority languages in public life.

Frequent prosecutions for speaking or uttering single words in Kurdish continued to be brought under Article 81 of theLaw on Political Parties. In May the Court of Appeal ordered the closure of the teachers' union, Egitim-Sen, on the grounds that a clause in its statute defending the right to "mother tongue education" violated Articles 3 and 42 of the Constitution which emphasize that no language other than Turkish may be taught as a mother tongue. Egitim-Sen later revoked the relevant article of its statute in order to avoid closure.

* In October the prosecutor initiated a case to closedown permanently the Diyarbakir Kurdish Assocation (Kürd-Der) on various counts, including the decision to adopt a "non-Turkish" spelling of the word Kurdish in the association's name and statute, and provisions in the association's statute defending the right to Kurdish language education. The association had previously been warned to adjust the disputed elements in its statute and name. Provisions in the Press Law restricting press coverage of cases under judicial process were used in an arbitrary and overly restrictive way to hinder independent investigation and public comment by journalists on human rights violations. These provisions were also used to hinder human rights defenders. Legal proceedings were begun against the Chairperson of the Diyarbak¹r branch of the Human Rights Association (HRA), Selahattin Demirtas, and Mihdi Perinçek, HRA Regional Representative, in connection with a report they co-authored with others on the killing of Ahmet Kaymaz and Ugur Kaymaz (see below).

The indictment alleged that the report violated Article 19 of the Press Law, undermining the prosecutor's preparatory investigation into the killings, despite the fact that the authors had no access to the contents of files on the case which, by court order and for reasons of security, were unavailable for inspection. The first hearing against the two began in July.

Torture and ill-treatment

Torture and ill-treatment by law enforcement officials continued to be reported, with detainees allegedly being beaten; stripped naked and threatened with death; deprived of food, water and sleep during detention; and beaten during arrest or in places of unofficial detention. Reports of torture or ill-treatment of individuals detained for political offences decreased. However, people detained on suspicion of committing ordinary crimes such as theft or for public disorder offences were particularly at risk of ill-treatment. Reports suggested that there were still many cases of law enforcement officials completely failing to follow lawful detention and investigative procedures and of prosecutors failing to ascertain that law enforcement officials had complied with procedures. Police also regularly used disproportionate force against demonstrators, particularly targeting leftists, supporters of the pro-Kurdish party DEHAP, students and trade unionists (see Killings in disputed circumstances below). Often those alleging ill treatment, particularly during demonstrations, were charged with resisting arrest while their injuries were explained away as having occurred as police attempted to restrain them.

* In October in Ordu, five teenagers aged between 15and 18 were detained at the opening of a new shopping centre. The five reported being beaten, verbally abused, and threatened and having their testicles squeezed while being taken into custody and while in custody at the Ordu Central Police Station. They were later released. Two reported that they were stripped and threatened with rape. Three were not recorded as having been in police detention. One was subsequently charged with violently resisting arrest.

Beyond the alleged ill-treatment, which was documented in medical reports and photographs, other irregularities in the handling of the detained teenagers by the police and prosecutor demonstrated a failure to follow legal procedures at any point from the moment of detention onwards

* In March, in the Sarachane area of Istanbul, demonstrators gathering to celebrate International Women's Day were violently dispersed by police, beaten with truncheons and sprayed with pepper gas at close range.

Three women were reportedly hospitalized. The scenes drew international condemnation. In December 54 police officers were charged with using excessive force; senior officers were not charged, but three received a "reprimand" for the incident.

Impunity

Investigations into torture and ill treatment continued to be marked by deeply flawed procedures and supported suggestions of an unwillingness on the part of the judiciary to bring perpetrators of human rights violations to justice. An overwhelming climate of impunity persisted.

* In April, four police officers accused of the torture and rape with a truncheon of two teenagers, Nazime Ceren Salmanoglu and Fatma Deniz Polattas, in 1999 were acquitted.

More than six years after the judicial process had begun and after the case had been delayed more than 30 times, a court in Iskenderun acquitted the officers due to "insufficient evidence". Lawyers for the young women announced that they would appeal against the decision.

The two women had been sentenced to long prison terms on the basis of "confessions" allegedly obtained under torture.

* Fifteen years after the death of university student Birtan Altinbas, the trial of four police officers accused of killing him continued in the Ankara Heavy Penal Court No. 2.

Birtan Altinbas died on 15 January 1991 following six days in police custody, during which he was interrogated on suspicion of being a member of an illegal organization. The case, which received international condemnation and was widely reported in the Turkish press, demonstrated many aspects of the flawed judicial process.

* The trial of four police officers charged with killing Ahmet Kaymaz and his 12-year-old son Ugur Kaymaz on 21 November 2004 in the K¹z¹ltepe district of Mardin began in February. The four officers on trial were not under arrest and were still on active duty. It was significant that senior officers responsible for the police operation during which the two individuals were killed were excluded from the investigation and not charged, supporting the view that in cases of this kind prosecutors rarely examined the chain of command.

Fair trial concerns

The continuing inequality between prosecution and defence and the influence of the executive on the appointment of judges and prosecutors prevented the full independence of the judiciary. While from 1 June detainees enjoyed the right to legal counsel and statements made in the absence of lawyers were not admissible as evidence in court, few prosecutors in the new Heavy Penal Courts (which replaced the State Security Courts in 2004) attempted to review ongoing cases where statements were originally made without the presence of legal counsel and where defendants alleged that their testimony had been extracted under torture.

Little effort was made to collect evidence in favour of the defendant and most demands of the defence to have witnesses testify were not met.

Imprisonment for conscientious objection

Conscientious objection was not recognized and no civilian alternative to military service was available.

* In August, Sivas Military Court sentenced conscientious objector Mehmet Tarhan to four years' imprisonment on charges of "disobeying orders" and refusing to perform military service. He was a prisoner of conscience.

Killings in disputed circumstances

On 9 November in the Semdinli district of Hakkâri, a bookshop was bombed, killing one man and injuring others. Three men were charged in connection with the incident. The alleged bomber was subsequently revealed to be a former PKK guerrilla turned informant and his alleged accomplices were two members of the security services, with identity cards indicating that they were plain-clothes gendarmerie intelligence officers.

Subsequently, as the prosecutor carried out a scene-of-crime investigation, the assembled crowd was fired upon from a car, resulting in the death of one civilian and injury of others. The prosecutor's crime scene investigation was postponed. A gendarmerie specialist sergeant was charged with disproportionate use of force resulting in death.

AI called upon the government to establish an independent commission of inquiry to investigate all dimensions of these incidents including allegations of direct official involvement. During subsequent protests at the events in Semdinli, three people in the Yüksekova district of Hakkâri and one person in Mersin were shot dead by police.

During 2005 approximately 50 people were shot dead by the security forces, over half of them in the south-eastern and eastern provinces. Many may have been victims of extra judicial executions or the use of excessive force. "Failure to obey a warning to stop" was a common explanation provided by the security forces for these deaths.

At least two individuals were alleged to have been assassinated by the PKK. On 17 February, Kemal Sahin, who split from the PKK to found an organization allied with the Patriotic Democratic Party of Kurdistan, was killed near Suleimaniyeh in northern Iraq. On 6 July, Hikmet Fidan, former DEHAP deputy chair, was killed in Diyarbakir.

An organization calling itself the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons claimed responsibility for a bomb attack in July on a bus in the Aegean town of Ku§adas¹ that killed five civilians.

266 Amnesty International Report 2006 TUR

Violence against women

Positive provisions in the new TPC offered an improved level of protection for women against violence in the family. The new Law on Municipalities required municipalities to provide shelters for women in towns with populations of more than 50,000 individuals. Implementation of this law will require adequate funding for the establishment of shelters from central government and full co-operation with women's organizations in civil society. Further efforts were needed to ensure that law enforcement officials, prosecutors and the medical profession were fully versed in the still little-known Law on the Protection of the Family.

Official human rights mechanisms

Official human rights monitoring mechanisms attached to the Prime Ministry failed to function adequately and had insufficient powers to report on and investigate violations. The work of the Prime Ministry Human Rights Advisory Board, encompassing civil society organizations, was obstructed and the Board became effectively inactive. Moreover, in November, former Chair Ibrahim Kaboglu, and Baskin Oran, a board member, were prosecuted for the contents of a report on the question of minorities in Turkey commissioned by the Board and authored by Baskin Oran. The Provincial and Human Rights Boards, set up by the Human Rights Presidency and also attached to the Prime Ministry, failed to conduct adequate investigations of human rights violations. Draft legislation on the creation of an ombudsman failed to advance.

AI country reports/visits

Reports
• Turkey: Memorandum on AI's recommendations to the government to address human rights violations
(AI Index: EUR 44/027/2005)
• Concerns in Europe and Central Asia: January-June 2005: Turkey (AI Index: EUR 01/012/2005)

Visit
AI delegates visited Turkey in November.

4. - Golobe and Mail - "Right-wing nationalism tipped as motive in Turkish shooting":

ISTANBUL / 25 May 2006 / by Nicholas Birch

When a gunman killed a judge in Turkey's highest administrative court last week, it looked like a cut-and-dried case of religious terrorism.

Arrested as he tried to flee, Alpaslan Aslan, a lawyer, told police his attack was meant to punish the judge for a recent court ruling restricting use of the Islamic head scarf.

Seconds before, according to a spokeswoman for the court, he shouted, "I am a soldier of Allah," as he pulled the trigger.

A week later, the public -- who took to the streets in the tens of thousands to protest against what they saw as an Islamist assault on the country's secularist system -- has become more confused.

From the start, investigations failed to show any convincing evidence that the gunman was an Islamist.

Even the widely reported claim that he shouted "Allah is great" before shooting was denied on Monday by one of four judges injured during the attack.

Instead, media reports paint a picture of a man steeped in the violent, paranoid world of right-wing nationalism since his days as an Istanbul law student.

Judging by the 17 men police are questioning in connection with the shooting, Mr. Aslan also has friends in patriotic places.

Most of the suspects are small-time criminals, and at least one man says he received money for his work.

But media attention has focused largely on Muzaffer Tekin, a former army captain whose curriculum vitae reads like an encyclopedia of Turkey's shadowy anti-democratic movement.

Suspected by police of being the gang's mastermind, Mr. Tekin has links with some of Turkey's more notorious organized-crime bosses.

For skeptics, his arrest this weekend after an apparent suicide bid dealt the final blow to talk of an Islamist plot. Instead, Turks began to suspect they were once again watching the machinations of what they call the "deep state."

The phrase is shorthand for ultranationalist factions close to the national security forces and willing to take the law into their own hands to defend what they see as Turkey's best interests. (Turkey's military, which has authored three coups since 1960, last intervened in 1997 to edge an Islamic-minded government from office.)

Relations have never been good between Turkey's authoritarian-minded, pro-secular establishment -- with which the violent faction is sympathetic -- and the self-styled "Muslim democrats" of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) that has governed since an election in 2002.

"We know the murderer's identity," said Ergun Babahan, a columnist with the mass-market daily Sabah. "Whenever there is an increase in demands for democracy, freedom and justice, his signature is on acts designed to frighten people back into the authorities' arms."

Many have noted that the ruling "Muslim democrats" of the AKP were the worst affected by the attack.

Commentators say the main reason secularists want to see the end of the AKP government lies in the fear that it will impose its candidate when the current President's term ends next May.

The president is elected by the parliament, and unless a parliamentary election due next year is brought forward, AKP will be able to use its majority to elect its choice.

Veteran commentator Mehmet Ali Birand has no doubt the killing of the judge was a veiled warning to the AKP.

"Something's become very clear: A secular lobby will not let [Prime Minister Recep Tayyip] Erdogan get the presidency," he says. "If he tries, it will be as bloody as we have witnessed."

5. - Bianet - "State Council Murder Targets Role Change":

Human Rights Foundation chair Onen says Turkish-Islamic synthesis reviving in different shape with State Council attack and notes nationalist atmosphere in lack of leftist movement brings economic benefit to politics.

ANKARA / 24 May 2006 / Tolga Korkut

Turkey's Human Rights Foundation (TIHV) chairman Yavuz Onen believes last week's attack on the Council of State where a judge was killed and four others were wounded is part of attempts "to recreate the hegemony of the Turkish-Islamic synthesis, according to changing conditions".

Onen says the ongoing political struggle staged in an atmosphere of increased nationalism in Turkey is a reflecting of the sharing of roles in an established regime based on an economy of corruption. "The principle equation has not changed" adds the TIHV chairman predicting greater efforts in the coming days to restrict freedoms in the country. "I would like to point out that serious duties fall on the leftwing. My hopes are placed there" he says.

Bianet interviewed Onen, one of Turkey's most leading human rights and political activists who has fulfilled this role even in the most demanding times in the country, on his views of the attitude of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the status quo in Turkey.


How should one interpret the attack on the State Council and developments afterwards?

It is a mistake so see this attack as an isolated, stand-alone, accident like incident.

In a way we have come to this point out of a historical process. Turkey has become based on a social structure and political history where there is an established culture to end problems through violent methods. We have a political life that rejects pluralism and does not allow freedom to different views, a democratic life that is handicapped. Because of this it is a field that is at all times open to plots and political assassinations.

This incident should be evaluated as result of an intervention made in an attempt to reproduce the hegemony of the Turkish-Islamic synthesis according to changing conditions. It is result of conditions which in political life do not allow for any existence other than the official concept.

One of the reasons of this is the lack of an atmosphere in Turkey where the labour-capital conflict can be organised freely. I am talking about a democracy that does not have a left. This has been the case for years. This field of political imbalance has always been filled by armed forced.

Did the recent developments not strengthen the hand of the military?

Before anything this is of course an act that cannot be approved. It is a murder. And the bullet has actually been shot at democracy.

With an example from the recent past, just as the social reaction before Susurluk came to en end on February 28, the reaction that is escalating against this incident should not lead to a similar situation. Because political instability always strengthens the hand of the military.

The field of freedom should be expanded against this. Duties fall on the democracy forces in this area. There is the need for leftist forces in favour of labour, a dynamic that is based on social powers that are within social democracy and genuinely want and assimilate democracy. This dynamic should stand up. There is the need for a social civilian force. Only this way can repetitions of February 28'ths be prevented.

Because this attack is not a stand-alone fundamentalist [act] not an act of Islamic violence. This is the medium that is being fed by nationalism, the official concept.

"What secularism is needs to be discussed"

How should the manner of the AKP be evaluated?

The AKP has lost the oppostunity of a democratisation in its real sense. Because it could not enforce such a program in the EU period and because it lost it, it dug its own grave with false steps portrayed as democratisation.

AKP promised a democracy program but did not do this. Now they are portraying themselves as if they are discussing with armed forces. In reality there is no social root to this situation.

In the past days all ministers are saying how secular they are. One could conclude they are looking for a footing in the secular forces but this is false, It is clear this is not what they defend. There is no real secularism in Turkey anyway.

Turkey is under the hegemony of Sunni and Hanefi Islam. This hegemony exists in all state institutions. The intervention of the state in religion is continuous.

It is time enough to have a real debate on secularism and democracy. Without emptying out the concepts, a debate is required while truly understanding what secularism is. Is secularism a field of freedom or is it a field of restriction? This is what needs to be debated.

Slogans that "Turkey is secular, it will stay secular" shouted on the streets after the State Council attack do not represent the reality.

On the other hand early elections are being discussed. Political parties have started to prepare for early elections. Scenarios are based on the ascent of the DYP (True Path Party) and MHP (Nationalist Action Party).

This is what the recreation of political hegemony means. Look at the picture. In the coming period Devlet Bahceli and Mehmet Agar or Deniz Baykal can be seen. They have no difference when it comes to politics. With program, language and analysis they all say the same thing. This is the scenario of the system recreating itself.

What is the important of the role the USA sees for Turkey here?

It is of course important but I believe the USA -AKP relations have more priority than this. It is definite that there is a breakdown there. AKP's talks with the Hamas, its following of a diplomacy similar to [former Turkish PM] Erbakan have disturbed the USA. The USA is not at peace with the AKP administration.

Is there not a nationalist deliverance in the AKP's language in recent times?

Of course there is. Because the strongest argument in taking over political power is nationalism. This is also valid for the CHP, DYP and MHP. That is what is marketable..

There is a stage of politics based on escalating nationalist feelings. Whoever comes to power nothing will change. They will all defend the status quo and exploit at the same time. Because there is an economic benefit of continuing the power of administration on nationalism. To share the resources.

This situation can clearly be seen over the past 20-25 years. The economy based on the organisation created by Ozal has always been the primary motivator of politics. Politics feeds on economy.

In the coalition where Ecevit was prime minister, the banks were shared. In relation to the period of nationalism that escalated after [outlawed PKK leader] Abdullah Ocalan was brought to Turkey, ministers of the MHP have been put on many trials for corruption.

AKP's main program is corruption economy

I foresee that in the coming period corruption will increase its pace. The largest privatisation projects have taken place at times nationalism was on the rise and the effect of leftist powers had declined. In the new period this means a new distribution.

The AKP has not carried out any plan that can be called radical whether for its own grassroots or in the field of democracy. Its main program has been the sales of public areas, preparations for nuclear energy investments, privatisation of forests, coats and public assets. AKP expanded its administration on a program to gain economic profit. It happened within an economic activity that had either open or indirect economic benefit.

The economy of corruption continued in the AKP era too, What we mean by status quo is the continuation of this economy. The fact that security policies are at such high a level should be seen within this program. The budget is going to arms and security. This is where all the sides are in compromise.

The Anti-Terror Law (TMY) draft should also be seen in this equation. In any event the main equation is the same and what changes is who shares it.

So what can be done in view of this picture?

The labour forces should rescue themselves from the righting path they have diverted to. The unions are also being effected by this nationalist atmosphere. They should prioritise programs related to labour for themselves.

They need to organise. I don't just mean organising of industrial workers. From agricultural workers to the intellectuals all sections should organise. Everyone who is conducting opposition politics.

There is the need for a political leadership, to get the cadres together, to unite these forces politically. Leadership has gained extreme importance. Existing socialist parties should put this issue on their agenda. They are not powerful but they can work towards the targets of the future by preparing. What I mean by preparing through work is that they should not just stick to the squares but go to the production areas.

You are not drawing a positive picture for the coming period?

I want to point out that there is a great deal of things to do for the left. That is where I have hope.

6. - Kurdish Media - "The ongoing racist attacks in Turkey":

25 May 2006 / by Brahim-Xelil Siruci

Last month there was another fight amongst the students at Istanbul Technical University (ITÜ). Actually, it wasn’t a fight, it was a case of bashing of a Kurdish student by Turkish racists but the media referred to the incident as “a fight.” Normally the Turkish media boycotts cases involving the bashing of Kurds but this one was so brutal and uncivilised that even the Turkish media could ignore it. In other words, attacks against Kurdish students are common practice but they often remain unreported in the media.

Every year students conduct various activities at the beginning of spring. Kurdish students play a big part in them. Music, dancing, theatre and other activities are organised by them. Turkish racists get very annoyed by these cultural activities organised by the Kurds.

The Kurdish students and their guests listen to music, dance, play games, watch plays and eat together. In other words they do not act in any way against the interests of the Turkish people. Indeed many of our Turkish colleagues join in and enjoy themselves. Students belonging to racist organisations, however, do not like this. They report these activities to their superiors and watch the participants from the distance. When the students begin to disperse a group of racists follow an individual. They always make sure there are at least three or four of them before they attack one Kurdish individual. In this particular incident that was actually caught on camera and televised, there were about twenty racists bashing one Kurdish student. What is strange (not to us Kurdish students of course), during such incidents the police do not intervene. Just reverse the picture and imagine about twenty Kurds were bashing a Turk, then imagine what the Turkish police would do and how the media would react! (Also imagine Jews attacked by German gangs or a Turks attacked by a European gang and then imagine the reaction by the Turkish and the world media: Translator).

There is a big student accommodation building in Istanbul that is under the control of the racists. One of the common practices of the management is this: When students belonging to a racist group bash someone nothing happens, however, if a student, rightly or wrongly, involves in a fight with someone from their group he is immediately kicked out. The Head Office is very well aware of this but does not do anything to stop it.

There are students from Arab countries, Central Asian countries, Albania, Russia, Georgia and Africa. They use their mother tongue without any problems resulting from it; however, if someone from the racists hears a Kurd speaking in his mother tongue, you can be sure the Kurd will pay a high price for speaking Kurdish. They will watch him and one night 15, 20 or God knows how many will attack him in a dark corner and beat the hell out of him. Many victims have had broken bones or lost a number of teeth as a result of such brutal acts.

Last March, when Turkish police accused a 13 year old Kurdish boy in the town of Marsin of throwing the Turkish flag on the ground during the Kurdish Newroz celebration, the “avenging” atrocities of the fascists also reached this student accommodation building in Istanbul. Students belonging to racist groups toured the premises and demanded that Kurdish students have a Turkish flag displayed in their rooms. There are countless similar examples of intimidation.

Of course not all student centres in Turkey are like the one I am writing about but such actions against the Kurds who identify themselves as Kurdish and speak their language are every day practice s in Turkish cities. Luckily Kurdish students stick together and are usually supportive of each other. Otherwise every one of us may have been beaten up under the eyes of the police just like the young man who was soaked in his own blood.

Yes as Kurds we are interested to live side by side with our Turkish neighbours as brothers and sisters but what sort of brotherhood and sisterhood can one talk about with such activities being a part of every day life in Turkey?

This article by Brahim-Xelil Siruci was published in www.netkurd.com. Translation into English by Shahin B. Sorekli.

Note by the translator: Another racist act by Turkish racist groups, that some claim are protected by Turkish secret service, is the hacking of Kurdish sites. When they do this a large Turkish flag with a picture of Mustafa Kamal Ataturk and the slogan: VATAN SAHIPSIZ DEGILDIR that means (in Turkish) “The Homeland is not without guards.” appears when the hacked site opens. The latest victim was the site of RADIO NAWA that is not even in Turkey. It is a new station in southern Kurdistan (Iraqi Kurdistan), an independent modern radio station that does not belong to any Kurdish organisation. It broadcasts music, mainly Kurdish but includes Turkish, Arabic and Farsi songs, objective reports and news just like any independent broadcaster.