5 July 2007

1. "Turkey on trial as suspects claim state collusion in writer's killing", many Turks are convinced that a so-called "deep state" - a network of state agents or former officials, possibly with links to organised crime - periodically targets reformists and other perceived enemies in the name of nationalism.

2. "Death Penalty Becomes Election Fodder", in the light of the approaching elections, political parties are competing in cheap populism, pandering to the increase in nationalism in Turkey.

3. "Merkel backs EU talks, but still favors privileged partnership", German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said that she continues to support Turkey's European Union membership talks, but reiterated her party's argument that a lesser "privileged partnership" would be a better outcome.

4. "U.S. hit with Turkish demands on Kurds", U.S. and Turkish officials say that the United States needs to step up efforts to prevent Kurdish rebels from operating cross border attacks on Turkey from Iraq.

5. "Kurdish Peshmerga build up on Turkish borders", while a cross-border operation against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) is being talked of in Turkey, Kurdish leaders in northern Iraq are deploying heavily armed peshmerga along Turkish borders.

6. "Kurds Wrangle Over Islam", disputes have arisen within Kurdistan over the role Islam should play in a new constitution. the Iraqi national constitution asserts Islam as the country's official religion and a major source of legislation. But not everyone wants that for a Kurdish constitution.

1. - The Independent - "Turkey on trial as suspects claim state collusion in writer's killing":

4 July 2007 / by Nouritza Matossian and Daniel Howden

A small, sweltering courtroom in Istanbul has become the focal point for an intense examination of Turkey's democratic freedoms and the independence of its judiciary.

On trial inside the room yesterday were 14 defendants accused of involvement in the murder of the campaigning journalist Hrant Dink. The doors will stay closed to the media, because the person accused of pulling the trigger in a murder that shook Turkey is a 17-year-old boy.

Outside, thousands gathered with banners proclaiming solidarity with the dead Turkish-Armenian writer: "We are all still Hrant Dink"; "We want to see justice done." Many Turks are convinced that a so-called "deep state" - a network of state agents or former officials, possibly with links to organised crime - periodically targets reformists and other perceived enemies in the name of nationalism.

Yesterday, lawyers representing the Dink family called on the court to broaden its investigation beyond the current suspects, all from the northern Turkish city of Trabzon. Already, two of the key suspects, Yasin Hayal and Erhan Tuncel, claimed they worked for the security forces, while the alleged teenage gunman, Ogun Samast, has remained silent during the trial.

To his supporters, Dink was a modern Turkish hero: "He symbolises free speech," said one supporter. An Armenian orphan who had grown up in the most deprived conditions, he endured racial discrimination and fought for the dignity and rights of minorities. He used this platform to campaign for entry into the EU, friendship between Turks and Armenians, free speech and a free press. Dink became the target of thousands of death threats, and was harassed by six charges under the infamous Article 301 for "insulting Turkishness".

Mr Dink's lawyers have claimed that senior officials, whose names should have appeared in court papers, have been withheld and evidence such as CCTV tapes of the killing have been removed. One of the suspects, Erhan Tuncel, claimed in court that police intelligence refused to respond to his warnings that the killing was being planned: "They did not get in touch with me, saying they were busy."

The trial, which will be resumed in October after initial hearings, takes place in the shadow of impending elections. The ruling AK party of the Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has been attacked by liberals; and nationalists have attacked the government variously for inertia in the Dink case, or for pandering to the Armenian minority.

In a moving appeal to the judge, Dink's widow, Rakel, said: "You are not of this darkness, please be brave enough to investigate fully so that the end of the trial will mark a new enlightenment for Turkey. I forgive those people, but I want the state to clear this case fully for the future generations."

There was upheaval in court when Kemal Aytac, one of the defendant's lawyers, attacked the Dink family with nationalist insults and called them "traitors". Mr Dink's daughter, Baydzar, left the courtroom in tears.

As Orhan Dink, Hrant's brother, said in his testimony: "We, as the family of Hrant, never will be winners or losers of this case. The outcome of this case, instead, will prove whether Turkey will be the winner or loser."

Dink saw his death coming

Hrant Dink was born in 1954 in south-east Turkey, the former heartland of Turkish Armenia.

After graduating from university, he ran a bookshop with his brothers. Then in 1996 he founded Agos (Ploughed Furrow), the weekly magazine published in Armenian and Turkish, that made him famous.

He became a pivotal figure in Turkey, speaking out about democracy, human rights and free speech as well as minority rights. But he became deeply unpopular with Turkey's so-called "deep state", the secret alliance of ultra-nationalist bureaucrats, lawyers and criminals, and his stubborn declarations of Turkish guilt for the Armenian genocide resulted in frequent persecution.

In October 2005, he was given a six-month sentence for "insulting Turkishness", a verdict he described as "a bad joke".

He saw his death coming. Days before his assassination he wrote: "For me, 2007 is likely to be a hard year... Hundreds of threats via phone calls, emails and letters are pouring down... It is obvious that those wishing to single me out and render me weak and defenceless have achieved their goal."

2. - Bianet - "Death Penalty Becomes Election Fodder":

In the light of the approaching elections, political parties are competing in cheap populism, pandering to the increase in nationalism in Turkey.

ISTANBUL / 4 July 2007

Although the death penalty was abolished in Turkey, politicians have brought up the issue again. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the Republican People's Party (CHP) are competing in racist policies towards the Kurds in Turkey.

The AKP asked the MHP, "Why did you not hang Abdullah Öcalan?", referring to the MHP's time in the coalition government which abolished the death penalty. As a result, the leader of the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK), Abdullah Öcalan is in prison.

The MHP retorted by calling on the AKP to hang him.

Weak contribution by CHP

As the leader of the main opposition party, CHP chairperson Deniz Baykal did not respond strongly enough to this discussion. He settled for saying, "It is wrong to reduce the issue of terrorism to a discussion of the death penalty". Does that mean that the death penalty is wrong, or merely the reduction?

3. - AP - "Merkel backs EU talks, but still favors privileged partnership":

BERLIN / 4 July 2007

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said that she continues to support Turkey's European Union membership talks, but reiterated her party's argument that a lesser "privileged partnership" would be a better outcome.

New French President Nicolas Sarkozy has vowed to halt predominantly Muslim Turkey's membership bid and called on the European Union to launch a debate to set the bloc's final borders.

Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) is also skeptical, and called for a "privileged partnership" in its 2005 election campaign. The chancellor has made plain that she stands by that position. But she governs in a coalition with the center-left Social Democrats, who support Turkey's bid, and her government supports the two-year-old membership talks.

A draft of a revamped CDU party platform, to be put to a party conference later this year, states that "only European states can join the European Union."

Merkel said on Monday that "Turkey has at least a European element, and so the pure question of demarcation is certainly not the question of appraisal for Turkey."

"You know our position, and it has not been changed," Merkel said at a news conference. "We want a very close linkage of Turkey to the European Union; we favor the idea of a privileged partnership; we are loyal to agreements and so are participating in the membership negotiations, which have now been extended by two chapters."

Merkel did not address Sarkozy's stance. Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates, who took over the EU's rotating presidency from Germany over the weekend, has said he aims to keep entry negotiations with Turkey on track.

4. - AP - "U.S. hit with Turkish demands on Kurds":

4 July 2007 / by Desmond Butler

U.S. and Turkish officials say that the United States needs to step up efforts to prevent Kurdish rebels from operating cross border attacks on Turkey from Iraq.

The issue has taken on greater urgency as Kurdish guerrillas have escalated attacks in Turkey and provoked Turkish threats to launch a military incursion into Iraq, a move that could have serious implications for the U.S. efforts to stabilize Iraq.

U.S. officials say they consider the Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK to be a terrorist organization and are working closely with Turkey to combat the threat. But officials have had few examples of success against the PKK to point to.

Responding to criticism of U.S. inaction from Turkey, U.S. Brig. Gen. Perry Wiggins, deputy director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff suggested that the United States was focused on its own mission in Iraq.

"We continue to work with Turkey," Wiggins said. "Our military's focus is on Iraq and the situation in Iraq."

He added: "As the secretary of defense has said, any disruption up in Northern Iraq would not be helpful at this time."

The comment came a week after Turkey's military chief, Gen. Yasar Buyukanit asked the government to set political guidelines for an incursion into northern Iraq. The Turkish military has said that an incursion may be necessary because the U.S. and the Iraqi governments have failed to stop attacks across the border.

The issue is highly sensitive in Turkey, which has been battling the PKK since 1984 in a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people. Tension over whether the Turkish military will take action in Iraq has intensified as the country approaches an election later this month.

The PKK has escalated attacks this year, killing at least 167 soldiers so far. More than 110 rebels were killed in the same period.

During the 1990s, Turkish troops penetrated Iraqi territory several times, sometimes with as many as 50,000 troops. The Turkish forces withdrew, leaving behind about 2,000 soldiers to monitor rebel activities.

Buyakanit complained to senior White House officials including Vice President Dick Cheney during a U.S. visit in February and Turkish officials have continued to press the case in Washington.

"Clearly our expectations are not being met," said a Turkish diplomat in Washington, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record. "We are using every channel to express our unhappiness about what is not happening."

Meanwhile, Turkey, a key NATO ally continues to provide vital support to U.S. operations in Afghanistan and Iraq through Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey, one of the most important U.S. military assets in the region.

Privately, some U.S. officials are raising concern that the United States has not moved aggressively to allay Turkish concerns. They say that U.S. policy makers are underestimating the risk that Turkey's pursuit of the PKK in Iraq could lead to a wider conflict with the Kurdish forces which are a key part of the Iraqi army.

One senior U.S. diplomatic official says that the likelihood of Turkey invading Northern Iraq ahead of the July 22 Turkish elections is very high.

The official, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said that the U.S. government has not focused sufficient attention or resources to address Turkish concerns.

"I think we ought to be doing everything we can to counter the PKK," the official said. "The biggest problem is getting the U.S. to do what it should do."

The official added that inaction by the U.S. risks alienating Turkey.

"I think that 70 million Turks are important," the official said.

Capturing PKK fighters in Iraq might mollify the forces in Turkey in favor of an invasion, the official said.

Some analysts believe that the United States is too distracted by its efforts to stabilize Iraq and fight insurgents to focus on the PKK. A move against the PKK would require shifting military resources to northern Iraq, a region that has been relatively calm from Washington's perspective.

"Arresting PKK members in northern Iraq is not so easy," said Mark Parris, a former U.S. ambassador to Turkey now a visiting fellow at The Brookings Institution. "A lot of crockery can be broken in that part of the world."

Analysts say that the United States has also been reluctant to pressure Kurdish politicians in Iraq_ who Washington considers reliable allies in a chaotic political atmosphere — to crack down on the PKK.

"A Turkish military operation is a disaster waiting to happen," said Bulent Aliriza, a Turkish scholar at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. "But the United States has not been able to reconcile an important tactical relationship with the Kurds in Iraq with the long-standing strategic alliance with Turkey."

5. - Zaman - "Kurdish Peshmerga build up on Turkish borders":

DIYARBAKIR / 4 July 2007

While a cross-border operation against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) is being talked of in Turkey, Kurdish leaders in northern Iraq are deploying heavily armed peshmerga along Turkish borders.

Turkey seeks an opportunity to attack the PKK and Iran likewise wants to take action against the Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PEJAK), resulting in a high degree of tension and anxiety in the region.

Defensive weapons were moved to the region after statements from Turkish officials, including Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül's assertions that "all the options are on the table" and Chief of General Staff Gen. Yasar Büyükanit's belief that "a cross-border operation against northern Iraq is a must." Also intensified in the region was the military surveillance of areas under the control of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). Kurdish leaders are anxious about possible cross-border operations by both Turkey and Iran.

The president of the autonomous Kurdish government in northern Iraq, Massoud Barzani, repeated his statement, "We will defend ourselves no matter what country attacks."

Though the region is now hosting an abundance of armored vehicles, tanks, anti-aircraft weapons and howitzers, photographs are not permitted.

6. - IPS - "Kurds Wrangle Over Islam":

ARBIL / by Mohammed A. Salih

Disputes have arisen within Kurdistan over the role Islam should play in a new constitution.

The Iraqi national constitution asserts Islam as the country's official religion and a major source of legislation. But not everyone wants that for a Kurdish constitution.

Secular forces call for a clear separation of religion from state, while the Islamists insist that Islam should be at least "a principal source of legislation" if not "the principal one."

Kurds have been running their own affairs for the past 16 years, but without a constitution. Divisions have surfaced now that they are going to write one.

Article seven in the draft constitution emphasises the Muslim identity of the majority of Kurdistan people and recognises "the principles of Islamic Sharia as one of the sources of legislation."

Secularists want to omit this reference to Islam and to the "Muslim identity" of Kurdish society, saying it will restrict the rights of certain social groups and of religious minorities within Kurdistan.

"Women will be most negatively affected by a religious constitution, and their rights in terms of divorce, inheritance, testimony and others will be violated," says Sozan Shahab, a woman member of the Kurdistan parliament in the regional capital Arbil.

Shahab, alongside several other activists, has collected more than 4,000 signatures from Kurdish associations and political parties in a campaign to remove article seven.

Under Islamic rules a woman gets half of a man's share as inheritance, and it takes the testimony of two women in court to equal that of one man.

An early version of the draft constitution, comprising 160 articles, was released last September. The Kurdish Parliament has received more than 10,000 proposals to amend the draft. After approval by the regional parliament, the draft will be put to public referendum in Kurdistan's three provinces Arbil, Sulaimaniya and Dohuk. Lawmakers say this will happen next year or later.

The two powerful Kurdish parties, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan led by Iraq's president Jalal Talabani and the Kurdistan Democratic Party led by the regional president Massoud Barzani, say they support a secular constitution. However, during the drafting of Iraq's constitution they conceded to demands by Shia Islamic parties on a role for Islam.

That presents a serious challenge since the Iraqi constitution says regional constitutions should not contradict the national charter. Kurdistan is currently the only autonomous region within the country.

"But, legally speaking, if you don't mention Islam it does not go against the Iraqi constitution, since you haven't alluded to its role in any way," said Shahab.

Islamists are equally fervent in rejecting a secular constitution, which they see as ignoring the will of the Muslim people of Kurdistan.

"Islam is not a religion that only concerns the personal and moral aspects of human lives," Hassan Babakr, member of the regional parliament from the Kurdistan Islamic Group told IPS. "It is a comprehensive religion that has its own rules and programme for all aspects of life from social to economic to political and military."

Since Muslims are the vast majority of the population in Kurdistan, "the regional constitution should give a strong and prominent role to Islam," he said.

Babakr, whose party has six seats in parliament, criticised the KDP and the PUK for falling under "the hegemony of the U.S. and the West over the Islamic world" and the influence of "American military presence in Iraq."

In what was interpreted as a clear backing for a secular front, Barzani recently told a gathering of Christians and Yazidis -- followers of an ancient Mesopotamian faith -- that "religion ought to be separated from state."

The Kurdish region is home to tens of thousands of indigenous Christians and Yazidis, who all oppose an Islam-dominated constitution.

Amid campaigns and counter-campaigns to influence the draft constitution, both Shahab and Babakr say they will not give up until they find "success." But they do agree on one thing: they will not vote for a draft in a referendum if it is not what they want.