4
April 2007
1. "Prosecutor seeks 15 years for Kurdish mayors over Denmark letter", a prosecutor Tuesday sought jail terms of up to 15 years for 53 Kurdish mayors on trial in southeast Turkey on charges of supporting Kurdish rebels. The mayors have been on trial since September over a letter they wrote to Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen in December 2005, asking him to ignore Ankara's calls to ban the Denmark-based Kurdish television station Roj TV, which is allegedly linked to the rebels.
2. "A damning report on attacks against free speech in Turkey", on March 26, the Freedom to Publish Committee of the Turkish Publishers’ Union issued an alarming report on the state of free speech in Turkey.
3. "European Parliament Conference On The Assyrian Genocide", on March, 26th, 2007 a conference on the Assyrian Genocide (Seyfo) was held in the European Parliament in Brussels. Under the theme "Genocide, Denial and the Right for Recognition" several specialists had been invited to speak on the Seyfo and its coherence to nowadays in terms of Turkey's request for membership in the European Union.
4. "ECHR grants public servants guarantee to raise voice without sanction", public servants in Turkey will be able to act more boldly in public demonstrations since the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) recently granted them the right to seek remedy for penalties for such deeds.
5. "Church Reopening in Turkey Little To Reassure Armenians", Turkey’s designation of a newly restored Armenian church as a museum has prompted debate in Armenia, with many observers characterizing the 10th century church’s reopening as an empty PR gesture.
6. "Turkish growth boosts Erdogan ahead of poll", Turkey's economy grew by more than 6 per cent last year, continuing a five-year run of steady expansion and providing the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, prime minister, with political ammunition ahead of an autumn general election.
1. - AFP - "Prosecutor seeks 15 years for Kurdish mayors over Denmark letter":
DIYARBAKIR / 3 April 2007
A prosecutor Tuesday sought jail terms of up to 15 years for 53 Kurdish mayors on trial in southeast Turkey on charges of supporting Kurdish rebels.
The mayors have been on trial since September over a letter they wrote to Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen in December 2005, asking him to ignore Ankara's calls to ban the Denmark-based Kurdish television station Roj TV, which is allegedly linked to the rebels.
The prosecutor argued Tuesday that the defendants had "knowingly and willingly" supported the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has waged a bloody campaign against Ankara in the mainly Kurdish southeast since 1984.
The Turkish authorities say Roj TV is a mouthpiece of the PKK.
The prosecutor asked for jail terms of seven years and a half to 15 years for 53 mayors, all members of the Democratic Society Party (DTP), the main legal Kurdish political movement in Turkey.
Among them is Osman Baydemir, one of Turkey's most popular Kurdish politicians and mayor of Diyarbakir, the largest city in southeast Turkey.
The prosecutor called for the acquittal of three mayors who said their names were placed among signatories on the letter without their knowledge.
The defendants, none of whom attended the hearing, have rejected the charges, saying the letter meant to defend freedom of the press and the interests of the Kurdish people in the southeast, where Roj TV enjoys a wide audience.
The court adjourned the hearing to May 8 for a possible verdict.
Kurdish politicians are traditionally suspected of supporting the PKK and are routinely prosecuted for alleged links to the group.
Roj TV has become a thorn in the side of Turkish-Danish relations.
During a visit to Copenhagen in November 2005, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan boycotted a joint news conference with Rasmussen after the Dane rejected his request that a Roj TV reporter be barred from entry.
Danish authorities said last year that Roj TV's programming
contains no incitement to hatred of Turkey and there is no proof it
is linked to the PKK. 
2. - indybay.org - "A damning report on attacks against free speech in Turkey":
3 April 2007 / by wsws (reposted)
On March 26, the Freedom to Publish Committee of the Turkish Publishers’ Union issued an alarming report on the state of free speech in Turkey. The report lists the large number of book confiscations and prosecutions of writers, editors and translators tried and sentenced in 2006 and the first quarter of 2007. The report is dedicated to the memory of Hrant Dink, a well-known Turkish-Armenian journalist who was killed by a 17-year-old fascist assassin on January 19 in Istanbul in front of his paper’s (bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos) office.
The report paints a grim picture of the state of free speech in Turkey and provides a full and detailed list of those who have been taken to court for their speeches, writings, published articles, and even their translations.
The very first line of the report points out that the year 2006 was one of the worst in terms of freedom of speech and freedom of the press, and the same problems persist in 2007. The report warns that continuing attacks on freedom of speech have been accompanied by physical violence, which reached its climax with the heinous murder of Hrant Dink.
The authors of the report are not optimistic about the rest of 2007. They point out that with the beginning of the New Year in January, author Taner Akcam and journalist Aydin Engin were brought to court, and even the funeral of Hrant Dink was the subject of a court case. At the same time, the government has been resisting the calls for the removal of obstacles to free expression, most notably the notorious Article 301. In the report’s own words, Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code “was the champion of the year.”
According to the report, in 2006, some 293 writers, publishers,
journalists, intellectuals, translators and human rights activists were
brought before courts. In 2005, this figure was 157. At the moment,
22 dissident journalists and editors are behind bars.
3. - AINA - "European Parliament Conference On The Assyrian Genocide":
3 April 2007
On March, 26th, 2007 a conference on the Assyrian Genocide (Seyfo) was held in the European Parliament in Brussels. Under the theme "Genocide, Denial and the Right for Recognition" several specialists had been invited to speak on the Seyfo and its coherence to nowadays in terms of Turkey's request for membership in the European Union.
Mrs. Eva-Britt Svensson of the European United Left/Nordic Green Left, who organized along with the SEYFO Center the conference, stressed in her talk that her party struggles in its work to put pressure on Turkey to recognize the genocide perpetrated against the Assyrians in 1915 in order to stop further discriminations according to the Copenhague Criteria. Accordingly, the EP can not allow to accept a potential member not meeting the set measures.
Additionally, the head of the SEYFO Center, Mr. Sabri Atman started his talk with the murder of the Armenian journalist Hrant Dink as an example for recent attacks against minorities living in Turkey. In saying "Turkey is afraid of its past", he summed up that treatment and challenged the Turkish state to take the ethnic diversity within the own country as a key for access into the EU.
The Swedish Professor David Gaunt presented in his speech the historic events, which he has collected and presents in his book "Massacres, Resistance, Protectors", surrounding the Assyrian Genocide.
Mr. Markus Ferber, a German politician and member of the EP talked on the current political discussion towards the negotiation with Turkey. He emphasized that the recognition of the genocide against the Assyrian people has to be set as admission criteria by the European Union due to ensure the cultural diversity of which Europe and its identity consists of. Herewith he pointed out that the Treaty of Lausanne does not define clearly the treatment towards the non-Muslims in Turkey. Therefore the EP has to urge the Turkish government to set precise remarks on the rights of the Assyrians and all other minorities in the country and put them into practice according to the European standards.
Eventually, Mr. Willy Faturé, director of Human Rights Without Frontiers, focused in his speech on the debate about the genocide issue in the Belgian scene. By saying "that the Armenian Genocide and Assyrian Genocide are two sides of the same coin and can not be separated from each other. They are the same genocide," he recommended to the Assyrian organizations amongst the other nations to struggle together for the recognition to prohibit racism and negationism within the EU.
After having heard the different views on Turkey's position
towards the Assyrian Genocide (Seyfo) and thus the behavior towards
the Christians living in Turkey, the moderator of the conference Miss
Nicme Seven presented a letter of the Turkish Embassy addressed to Mr.
Ferber. The Ambassador of the Permanent Delegation of Turkey to the
European Union firstly claimed in that letter that both the GUE/NGL
group and Assyrians in Belgium had nothing to do with the held conference,
whereas the vice-chairwoman of GUE/NGL joined the panel herself and
members of the Assyrian community in Brussels supported the organization
of that event. Furthermore, Mrs. Svensson explained that she got the
same letter as well not knowing the sources the ambassador took his
false information from. Basically, the letter was appealing to Mr. Ferber
to not let the conference take place due to "a pre-judged and ill-intentioned
designation" as the letter signed by Mr. Volkan Bozkir ends.
4. - The New Anatolian - "ECHR grants public servants guarantee to raise voice without sanction":
ANKARA / 3 April 2007
Public servants in Turkey will be able to act more boldly in public demonstrations since the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) recently granted them the right to seek remedy for penalties for such deeds.
The decision, taken last Tuesday, was given at a case between Turkey and Erhan Karacay, a public servant and member of the local branch of the trade union Yapi Yol Sen, which is affiliated to Turkey's Confederation of Public Workers' Labor Unions (KESK) who was in December 2002 given a disciplinary penalty in the form of a reprimand for taking part in a demonstration in September 2002 called by KESK to protest the reduction in civil servants' salaries.
The Strasbourg Court underlined in its decision that the penalty imposed on the applicant was such as to deter trade union members from legitimately participating in strikes or actions to defend the interests of their members.
The court also found Turkey guilty of breaching Article 11 regulating the freedom of assembly and association.
Noting that Turkish law did not provide for any remedy by which to review the lawfulness of a disciplinary measure, the Court also held, unanimously, that there had been a breach of Article 13, regulating the right to an effective remedy.
Karacay, in his petition, complained about the lack of a domestic remedy under Turkish law by which to challenge the disciplinary measure inflicted upon him.
The decision rendered void the Public Servants Law's provision barring civil servants to seek remedy through local courts against penalties in the form of reprimand or warning.
Under the law public servant subjected to reprimand or warning could not go to court, but could only apply when subjected to penalties in the form of salary cut.
Gokhan Candogan, the lawyer of Karacay, over the weekend told reporters that the ECHR decision which made it compulsory for public servants to ask for lawfulness of penalties inflicted upon them, is a cornerstone in the democratic struggle of the labor unions.
The decision also laid an opportunity before health workers
who are facing disciplinary inquiries for performing a mass strike throughout
the country mid-March asking for respect and better work conditions.
Health minister Recep Akdag had warned health workers of sanctions had
the take part in strike. At least 20 demonstrators are facing probe
currently.
5. - Bianet - "Turkey Signs UN Conv. on Rights of Disabled":
Along with Turkey 80 countries sign the landmark convention on the first day of its opening to signatures. The event also marked first time that the European Community had signed a core United Nations human rights treaty.
NEW YORK / 2 April 2007
In what United Nations human rights chief Louise Arbour called an unprecedented show of support to empower the physically and mentally impaired, 80 countries have signed a UN convention enshrining the rights of the world's 650 million disabled.
Ambassador Baki Ilkin, Turkey's permanent representative to the United Nations, signed the convention on Turkey's behalf at a ceremony held on Friday.
Furthermore, Jamaica had just ratified the instrument and 43 others had signed its Optional Protocol, thereby allowing individuals and groups to present petitions regarding alleged rights violations to an expert committee once all national recourse procedures had been exhausted.
The event also marked first time that the European Community had signed a core United Nations human rights treaty.
Ms. Arbour, high-level officials from Ecuador, Mexico and New Zealand, ambassadors and a spokesperson for the International Disability Caucus were among those who used the terms "record-setting," and "unprecedented" in describing the Convention, which aims to ensure that people with disabilities enjoy fundamental freedoms on an equal basis with everyone else.
Asked about next steps, Arbour said that governments would have to enact relevant legislation and put in place protection and monitoring systems. They would then have to report to a committee of experts, who would monitor actual implementation.
"In concrete terms, I think we're going to see speedy
ratification, a speedy entry into force of this Convention and implementation
measures that will have to be put in place".
5. - Eurasianet - "Church Reopening in Turkey Little To Reassure Armenians":
30 March 2007 / by Gayane Abrahamyan*
Turkey’s designation of a newly restored Armenian church as a museum has prompted debate in Armenia, with many observers characterizing the 10th century church’s reopening as an empty PR gesture.
The Surb Khach (Holy Cross) Church on Akhtamar Island in eastern Turkey’s Lake Van is the first Armenian church on Turkish territory that the Turkish government has restored. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Many Armenians welcomed the two-year $1.9 million project, which preserved one of the most outstanding examples of medieval Armenian architecture. Others, however, have qualified Turkey’s decision not to place a cross atop the church, and to maintain the church as a museum, as an insult to Armenia’s Christian heritage.
“It’s a slap in the face for us to have our church hung with Turkish flags, and, even more, with [first Turkish President Mustafa Kemal] Ataturk’s portrait,” Hayk Demoyan, director of the National Academy of Sciences’ Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, said about the March 29 reopening ceremony. “The restoration of the church is purely a political calculation by Turkey. It is obvious Turkey clearly aims at changing international public opinion in its favor.” [For details, see the Eurasia Insight archive].
A governmental delegation from Armenia took part in the reopening ceremony, but ecclesiastical leaders of the Armenian Apostolic Church declined an invitation, protesting the decision to turn the church into a museum. “The reconstruction is a positive fact, but turning the church into a museum is an act targeted against the pious Christian feelings of the Armenian nation by Turkey’s authorities, and can’t be perceived as a positive step toward the rapprochement of the Armenian and Turkish people,” said Father Vahram, spokesperson for the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.
Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism Atilla Koç has stated that the absence of a cross from the church may be only temporary. “If it is proven that there was a cross atop of its dome, then the reconstructed [church] will also have a cross,” the Turkish Daily News website reported Koç as saying. Reconstruction project coordinator Cahid Zeydanlini has said that a cross was not put on top of the church for fear of attracting a lightning strike, according to the website.
Koç earlier said that the Turkish government intends to restore eight mosques and eight Armenian churches in the vicinity of Kars, which was once the center of an ancient Armenian kingdom.
But the statements so far have done little to reassure Armenians. Officials in Yerevan have backed away from publicly presenting the church’s reconstruction as a positive step in Armenian-Turkish relations. Foreign Affairs Minister Vartan Oskanian said that a positive move would be the reopening of the border between the two states, closed since 1993 in response to Armenia’s support for the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, territory claimed by Turkish ally Azerbaijan. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].
“The opening of the monument remains a separate fact and can’t facilitate the improvement of the situation in the larger sense, contrary to their [Turkey’s] attempts to represent it in that light,” the foreign minister said at a recent press conference in Yerevan.
The fact that Armenia’s government delegation had to travel 16 hours via Georgia to reach Van illustrates the “absurdity” of Turkish policy, he added. With an open border, the delegation could have made the trip in four hours from Yerevan.
Meanwhile, on the day of the church’s reopening, a large-scale photo exhibition on Armenian churches that have been destroyed or turned into mosques in Turkey and Azerbaijan opened in Yerevan’s State University.
Despite officials’ harsh assessments, Samvel Karapetian, head of the non-governmental organization Research on Armenian Architecture said he was happy to see the church saved from decay. According to Karapetian, the church’s reconstruction was done with a high degree of professionalism and in accordance with European standards. The church’s popularity with tourists, a key income source for Turkey, was probably a motivating factor in the Turkish government’s decision to undertake the restoration project, he added.
Manuel, a bishop and one of the most talented Armenian architects of his time, built the church in 915-921 A.D. at the order of Armenian King Gagik Artsruni. The exterior church is decorated with bas-reliefs made up of six friezes that depict stories from the Old and New Testaments, and also include pictures from secular life and rich floral and animal ornamentation.
Other Armenian churches on Turkish territory are in need of similar restoration, Karapetian said. “Unfortunately, preservation is not a usual practice in Turkey,” said Karapetian. “Nothing has been left of [the monastery] Narekavank that was some five kilometers from Surb Khach, while some of the churches on the neighboring islands have been blown up.”
A 1913 report by the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople stated that there were nearly 2,500 churches on the territory of the Ottoman Empire. Today, 2,000 are believed to have survived, many often half-ruined, or turned into mosques, storehouses and cattle sheds.
* Editor’s Note: Gayane Abrahamyan is a reporter
for the English-language weekly Armenia Now in Yerevan.
6. - Financial Times - "Turkish growth boosts Erdogan ahead of poll":
ANKARA / 3 April 2007 / by Vincent Boland
Turkey's economy grew by more than 6 per cent last year, continuing a five-year run of steady expansion and providing the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, prime minister, with political ammunition ahead of an autumn general election.
Fuelled by political and macroeconomic stability and by unprecedented levels of foreign direct investment, gross domestic product grew by 6.1 per cent in 2006, well ahead of expectations, official figures showed yesterday. Cumulative expansion over the past five years reached 40 per cent, making it the longest and most stable stretch of uninterrupted growth since at least 1970.
Gross national product - GDP plus such items as remittances from foreign workers and corporate profit transfers earned abroad - rose by 6 per cent. Most forecasts were for growth in 2006 to be 5 per cent at most, after the central bank was forced to reverse its monetary easing in the spring following a seemingly un-expected resurgence of inflation and a sharp sell-off in emerging markets.
"Everybody was expecting a contraction in the second half of last year after the crisis, but that didn't happen," said Serhan Cevik, an economist at Morgan Stanley. "There has been a significant decoupling of financial volatility and economic performance in Turkey, which is part of being a normal economy."
Ali Babacan, treasury minister, said total GNP amounted to $400bn. Nat-ional income per head grew from $2,598 in 2002 to $5,477 in 2006. The growth reflects the extent of Turkey's recovery from a devastating financial crisis in 2001, sparked by problems in the banking sector and by political feuding.
The pro-business government puts great emphasis on the rise in per capita GNP in persuading the public to accept privatisation and cuts in subsidies to state enterprises and sectors such as agriculture. Mr Erdogan has pledged to boost per capita national income to $10,000 within the next five years.
Presidential and parliamentary elections this year have added an element of political risk to Turkey's economic prospects.
Mr Erdogan is tipped to run in next month's presidential ballot, which will be decided by a vote in parliament. If he wins he will have to stand down as leader of the neo-Islamist Justice and Development party. This could hamper the party's chances in the general election in the autumn. There is even speculation that it could lead to a return of the system of coalition governments that have been the source of much of Turkey's past political instability.
Ercan Uygur, president of the Turkish Economic Association, said Turkey should be able to keep growing at a steady pace if politics did not interfere with economic policy: "We will see this year whether these conditions will continue or whether an election year will change them."
The biggest threat to continued rapid expansion of the Turkish economy, analysts say, is high interest rates. The central bank's overnight lending rate is 22.5 per cent and its borrowing rate is 17.5 per cent, and inflation is just above 10 per cent. This means exceptionally high real interest rates, which in turn fuel a high and perhaps overvalued lira. This is hurting corporate profits in general and export in particular.
Expectations for economic growth for 2007 are 3.5-5.5 per cent, lower than the government would like. There is occasional market speculation of behind-the-scenes tensions between the central bank and the government over monetary policy. But the bank appears set on its policy of bringing inflation back to low single figures as quickly as possible.
"We're unlikely to see any rate cuts before the general
election," said Mahmut Kaya, head of research at Garanti Securities.