13
April 2007
2. "Army Chief Targets Everyone but the US", Turkish army chief Gen. Büyükanit holds a press conference saying the armed forces are targeted with efforts to undermine its reputation and demanding political and legislative cover to better fight "terrorism".
3. "Turkey: Pro-Islamic PM's Probable Presidential Bid Prompts Secular Protest", Turkish secular groups are to stage Saturday a demonstration in Ankara against what they believe is the intention of current prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to stand as a candidate for president when parliament chooses the country's next head of state on 16 May.
4. "Nobel prize winners call on Turkey to abolish controversial law", fifty-three Nobel prize winners have signed a letter calling on Turkey to abolish article 301 from the Turkish Penal Code and to open diplomatic ties with neighbouring Armenia.
5. "Europe rights court condemns Turkey over prisoner ill-treatment", Strasbourg. Turkey was condemed by the European Court of Human Rights on Thursday over the ill-treatment of 13 prisoners in two separate cases at different detention centres, AFP reports.
6. "U.S. Remains Neutral In Iraq-Turkey Debate", the U.S. ambassador to Turkey recently reiterated his nation's neutral stance regarding Turkey's involvement in the invaluable Iraqi city of Kirkuk.
1. - AFP - "Turkish army pushes Iraq incursion, calls for truly secular president":
ANKARA / 12 April 2007
Turkey's army chief called Thursday for a military incursion into neighbouring northern Iraq to hunt down Turkish Kurd rebels based there, despite US objections.
In a rare press conference at the army headquarters, the first in almost two years, General Yasar Buyukanit also said Turkey's next president, to be elected in May, should be committed to secularism "in earnest".
Buyukanit's call for a cross-border operation was the latest effort to ratchet up the pressure on Iraqi Kurds, who run northern Iraq, over the presence of Turkish Kurd rebels there.
"If you ask me whether a cross-border operation is needed, yes it is needed," said Buyukanit, though he added that it would require parliamentary authorisation.
"If the armed forces are given this mission, they are strong enough to carry out such operations," he said.
Turkey has accused Iraqi Kurds of tolerating, and even backing the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has waged a bloody campaign for Kurdish self-rule in Turkey's southeast since 1984. The conflict has claimed some 37,000 lives.
Ankara says thousands of militants of the PKK enjoy unrestricted movement in northern Iraq and are able to obtain weapons and explosives there.
Wary of turmoil in one of Iraq's sole relatively calm areas, Washington has warned its NATO ally against a cross-border operation and pledged to curb the PKK through non-military means.
Responding to Buyukanit's comments on Thursday, a US State Department spokesman urged Turkey to refrain from launching raids in Iraq, although he agreed the rebels "need to be dealt with."
"Certainly that's an option that everybody should work to avoid," spokesman Sean McCormack said of a military operation.
He said Turkey and the leadership of the Kurdish autonomous area of northern Iraq should pursue US-brokered negotiations.
Buyukanit said the Iraqi Kurdish region, led by Massud Barzani, had become a "protection zone" for the PKK and could be slipping out of Baghdad's control.
Turkey on Monday handed a stern diplomatic note to Iraq, demanding "urgent" measures against the rebels.
Buyukanit also struck a political note in long-anticipated comments on the army's position on who should be Turkey's next president.
"We want to underline our hope that parliament will elect a president who adheres in earnest, and not just in words, to the basic principles of the republic and the ideal of a secular, democratic state," he said.
He declined to answer further questions on the elections, in which Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a former Islamist, is widely expected to run.
The military, the self-appointed guardians of Turkey's secular system, is mistrustful of Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP).
The AKP is the offshoot of a now-banned Islamist party which the army forced from power in 1997.
Even though Erdogan has disowned his past and now describes himself as a "conservative democrat," the secularist elite suspects he still has Islamist ambitions.
The president is elected for a seven-year term by parliament, where the AKP holds a two-thirds majority that will allow it to easily elect the candidate of its choice.
The AKP says it will announce its candidate after parliament begins to collect candidacy applications on April 16.
Erdogan's purported intention to run for the presidency has raised tensions in Ankara amid harsh objections by secularists that the AKP wants to seize the "last stronghold" of secularism.
Outgoing President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, a staunch secularist, has often clashed with the government.
He blocked the appointment of officials he saw as AKP's
Islamist cronies and returned to parliament laws he considered breached
the country's constitutionally protected commitment to secularism. 
2. - Bianet - "Army Chief Targets Everyone but the US":
Turkish army chief Gen. Büyükanit holds a press conference saying the armed forces are targeted with efforts to undermine its reputation and demanding political and legislative cover to better fight "terrorism".
ANKARA / 12 April 2007 / by Onen
In an unexpected press conference today, Turkish chief of General Staff Gen. Yasar Büyükanit asked for government approval to launch a military operation into northern Iraq to fight outlawed PKK guerillas whom he said were "accelerating their terrorist attacks and infiltration in Turkey".
"An operation into Iraq is necessary," Büyükanit said. "Would it be useful? Yes, it would. But there needs to be a political decision for this operation to take place".
Evaluating Gen. Büyükanit's words to bianet, Turkey's Human Rights Foundation (TIHV) chair Yavuz Önen said: "He targeted everybody from academics, the government, the European Union to human rights activists but avoided to mention anything about the policies of United States".
Önen argues, overall, Büyükanit's speech signals a period of increased pressure and control over the forces of democracy in the country as he aims to block any debate on increasing freedoms and rights, forcing people to self-censorship.
Referring to Büyükanit's criticism on current legislation and how it scrutinizes the fight against terrorism, Önen voices fears of implementation of legislative changes resembling martial law, which in return would curb the freedoms in Turkey.
"Efforts to undermine the army"
Holding his first press conference since taking office almost eight months ago, Büyükanit attempted to address the latest developments regarding the army such as leaked documents recently run by political weekly magazine Nokta, which unearthed a memorandum that classified Turkish press members as pro-military and anti-military as well as diaries said to have belonged to former Navy Commander Adm. Özden Örnek that revealed two failed coup attempts organized by the top commanders of the military.
Gen. Büyükanit described the incidents as "attempts to undermine the Turkish armed forces".
Making reference to the upcoming presidential election
in the parliament, Büyükanit described the president that
the army would like to see as "someone who should abide by the
Turkish Republic's unchangeable principles such as integrity and a secular
character not only in words but also in deed".
3. - AKI - "Turkey: Pro-Islamic PM's Probable Presidential Bid Prompts Secular Protest":
ISTANBUL / 12 April 2007
Turkish secular groups are to stage Saturday a demonstration in Ankara against what they believe is the intention of current prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to stand as a candidate for president when parliament chooses the country's next head of state on 16 May. The groups view Erdogan and his Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party a threat against the secularism enshrined in the constitution by modern Turkey's founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, in the 1920s. With parliament set to announce the list of presidential candidates on 16 April, Erdogan has yet to say whether he intends to run.
“We are against Erdogan being the next president since he doesn’t believe in democracy. He only uses it as a tool to create an Islamic regime," Hussein Vafa, a member of the secular Ataturk's Thought Association (ADD) which is the leading organiser of Saturday's rally, told Adnkronos International (AKI).
Universities, the majority of which are governed by secular boards are supporting the demonstration and are providing free transport for students from all over Turkey who wish to attend, while the secular media has promoted the protest over recent weeks.
“This rally aims to show support for the modern Turkish Republic which provided a modern and secular life for Turks. So all Turks that prefer to live a modern way of life should support this event," a prominent columnist of the mass secular daily Hurriyet, Yalkin Bayer, told AKI.
Main opposition party, the CHP (Republican People’s Party) will also support the protest even if organisers have agreed that participants will not wave banners of flags proclaiming party affiliations to convey a non-partisan image of the event.
While executive power in Turkey rests with elected governments and legislation is passed by parliament, the president has, in the wake of reforms introduced after a military coup in 1980, the authority to veto laws.
Also the president gets to appoint people to the influential rector positions at national universities, a task which used to be the competency of the education minister.
With the Justice and Development Party's dominant position in parliament, secularists say that the presidency is the "last castle" holding out against Islamic domination, something which would change if Erdogan were to become president.
Still the secular camp is not entirely united over the protest march.
While hundreds of groups and NGOs such as the Supporting Modern Life Association, and the Republican Women Association said they will attend, many others have said they won't, including Leftist unions and organisations who take exception to the announced presence of the ADD's president, retired general Sener Eruygur, who in a recent news report was implicated in an attempted coup against Erdogan’s government in 2004.
The scandal erupted after the weekly magazine Nokta last month published excerpts of what it said were the diaries of another retired admiral Ozden Ornek. Ornek in the purported diaries alleged that he and other top generals twice planned coups in 2004 but then abondoned the idea. Eruygur, the top commander of the Gendarmarie militia at the time was said to be most vocal supporter of the military takeover plot.
Ornek has denied the claims saying that he has never kept personal diaries. The case has prompted an investigation by military prosecutors.
While Turkey's conservative and Islamic media have condemned Saturday's planned rally, saying it only serves to raise public tension, Erdogan himself does not appear too troubled by it.
"The streets are open for demonstrations for all
citizens but it is hard to understand what those groups aim to achieve
since the procedure for the election of president is very clear and
the parliament will just follow it," the prime minister said last
week.
4. - NTV/MSNBC - "Nobel prize winners call on Turkey to abolish controversial law":
ANKARA / 12 April 2007
Fifty-three Nobel prize winners have signed a letter calling on Turkey to abolish article 301 from the Turkish Penal Code and to open diplomatic ties with neighbouring Armenia.
The letter, released on Tuesday, also said that Turkey should halt what it described as discrimination against religious and ethnic minorities and acknowledge that the Ottoman Empire committed an act of genocide against its Armenian citizens during the First World War.
The letter said that article 301 of the Penal Code, which covers the crime of insulting Turkish identity, has been used to suppress free speech.
The letter was drafted by David Phillips, an official with the US based Elie Wiesel Foundation. Phillips said that it was important for Nobel laureates to join their voices in support of Turkish-Armenian reconciliation.
“Armenia also should reverse its own authoritarian course, allow free and fair elections, and respect human rights,” the letter said.
“An open border would greatly improve the economic
conditions for communities on both sides of the border and enable human
interaction, which is essential for mutual understanding.”
5. - FOCUS News Agency - "Europe rights court condemns Turkey over prisoner ill-treatment":
12 April 2007
Strasbourg. Turkey was condemed by the European Court of Human Rights on Thursday over the ill-treatment of 13 prisoners in two separate cases at different detention centres, AFP reports.
Twelve detainees complained of having been hit with truncheons and wooden planks by prison administrators, warders and gendarmes at Buca prison in the western Turkish city of Izmir for refusing to be searched in 1995.
The Turkish government claimed they had injured themselves falling down stairs.
But the European court said the explanation was not plausible and concluded that the prisoners "had been beaten and injured as alleged."
It also said an investigation into the incident had serious shortcomings, especially the disappearance of a case file and a refusal to take legal action against the gendarmes.
It awarded the applicants 8,000 euros each (10,500 dollars).
In the other case, gendarmes beat a man from Sirnak in southeast Turkey, suspected of being a supporter of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), deprived him of water and food and prevented him from going to the toilet.
Haci Ozen was detained secretly for three days before
officially being remanded for questioning by police.
The European court judged that the man had been the victim of six violations
of the European Convention on Human Rights, including inhumane treatment.
6. - UPI - "U.S. Remains Neutral In Iraq-Turkey Debate":
11 April 2007
The U.S. ambassador to Turkey recently reiterated his nation's neutral stance regarding Turkey's involvement in the invaluable Iraqi city of Kirkuk.
On Monday, U.S. Ambassador Ross Wilson said the United States would maintain its no-interference policy in the controversial matter, that Today's Zaman said has escalated recently between Turkey and Iraqi Kurds.
"The U.S. view is that, at the end of the day, this is an issue for Iraqis to decide for themselves," Wilson said. "It is not something for outsiders to dictate, and especially to dictate in a public way."
Kurdish leaders in Iraq have claimed that Kirkuk is part of "Kurdistan" and threatened to create unrest among Turkey's Kurdish population should the nation decide to challenge their control of the city.
Turkish officials have argued that Kurds have recently moved into Kirkuk in an attempt to unfairly influence an upcoming vote regarding the city's future.
To follow up on such accusations, the Turkish government
has filed a note of protest with the Iraqi government and asked that
the referendum vote by postponed, the newspaper said.