18 June 2007

1. "Kurdish rebels deny responsibility for Turkey bomb blast", Kurdish rebels on Saturday denied responsibility for a bomb blast that wounded seven people in Turkey's main Kurdish city the previous day, a news agency close to the militants reported.

2. "Deep State" Surfacing", after a police raid on a home in Ümraniye, a suburb of Istanbul, the secret weapons arsenal found has turned out to belong to retired petty officer Oktay Yildirim, one of the founders of the ultra-nationalist Kuvayi Milliye Association (KMD).

3. "Turkey Rejects To Provide Services In Kurdish Language", the Council of State dismisses the mayor of Sur and disbands the municipal assembly for deciding to provide services in Kurdish, Assyrian and English, in addition to Turkish.

4. "Turkey hunts rebels in security zones", the sign at the edge of one of Turkey's new security zones says trespassing poses a "danger to life," and the only vehicles that venture beyond it are armored ones ferrying soldiers into battle with Kurdish rebels. The military last week imposed "security zones" in 23 areas in three southeastern Turkish provinces to keep civilians away from combat, and it has imposed similar limits in areas where it conducts live fire exercises. Some experts speculate that the latest announcement is one in a series of preparatory steps ahead of a possible Iraqi campaign.

5. "Land mine kills Turkish soldier", land mine believed to be planted by Kurdish rebels killed a Turkish soldier Saturday, authorities said.

6. "Iraqi FM warns Turkey off invading Kurdish north", any military incursion by Turkey into the Kurdish north of Iraq would undermine Iraq's sole haven of stability and is in no one's interest, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari warned Sunday.

1. - AFP - "Kurdish rebels deny responsibility for Turkey bomb blast":

ANKARA / 16 June 2007

Kurdish rebels on Saturday denied responsibility for a bomb blast that wounded seven people in Turkey's main Kurdish city the previous day, a news agency close to the militants reported.

"Kurdish forces have nothing to do with the blast," said a statement quoted by the Firat agency, widely regarded as the mouthpiece of the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

The bomb, hidden in the saddle of a bicycle, exploded Friday morning near a bus stop in the centre of Diyarbakir often used by soldiers. One of those injured was a soldier.

"The way the incident happened and the type of explosive used indicates who did it," Interior Minister Osman Gunes said, in an apparent reference to the PKK, which has notably stepped up attacks this year.

He said a detailed statement would be made after the police completed their investigation.

The Turkish army has launched a large-scale crackdown against the PKK in the east and southeast and amassed troops at the border with Iraq, where the militants take refuge.

The PKK took up arms for Kurdish self-rule in the southeast in 1984. The conflict has claimed more than 37,000 lives.

2. - Bianet - "Deep State" Surfacing":

After a police raid on a home in Ümraniye, a suburb of Istanbul, the secret weapons arsenal found has turned out to belong to retired petty officer Oktay Yildirim, one of the founders of the ultra-nationalist Kuvayi Milliye Association (KMD).

ISTANBUL / 15 June 2007

In the raid on a single-storey house in Ümraniye, a suburb of Istanbul, 27 hand grenades, TNT explosives and fuses were found. The owner of the house and his nephew were arrested. They stated that the weapons belonged to retired petty officer Oktay Yildirm. After his arrest, Yildirim claimed that he had found and collected the bomb material from the waste dump of military barracks in Istanbul.

Ergin Cinmen, a lawyer at the Istanbul Bar Association, has interpreted this event as follows:

"We used to call this "deep state", but there is nothing "deep" left about it, everything is out in the open. We will see how the police and prosecution deal with this event. Will we have to be satisfied with seeing the tip of an iceberg, or will an appropriate investigation go deeper?"

According to Radikal newspaper, last year Yildirim had attended journalist Perihan Magden's court case, in which she was being tried for "discouraging the people from military service", and he had shouted "I am a veteran". Yildirim had also caused disturbance at writer Orhan Pamuk's trial in July last year.

Yildirim's friend Muzaffer Tekin, a retired army captain, has been implicated in the attack on the state council in May 2006, in which one member of the council was killed by an ultra-nationalist lawyer. The ultra-nationalist Kuvayi Milliye Association which was implicated in the attack was co-founded by Yildirim.

Yildirim had also attempted to become a third party plaintiff in the court case against "Agos" writer Aydin Engin and the newspapers owner Serkis Seropyan and managing editor Arat Dink. His application had been rejected. Another person who had applied is retired brigadier Veli Kücük, a name familiar to Turks from the Susurluk scandal (in which the "deep state" was unmasked) and because he is the founder of the gendarmerie secret service JITEM. Kücük is also said to have been close to the attacker of the state council.

Cinmen commented that these kind of relations are increasingly common and that "crimes are committed before our eyes. We can only watch, but the government needs to use its authority. The prosecution must not just pretend to investigate."

Cinmen recalled the Susurluk scandal after which, despite a mound of information and documents, the court case was not satisfactory. Similarly, in the Semdinli case and the attack on the state council there has not been an in-depth investigation. Recently, after a car accident in Afyonkarahisar, a weapons arsenal and money were found in the wreck, and it is still unclear how authorities are proceeding in that case.

In the aftermath of the murder of journalist Hrant Dink, said Cinmen, there was insufficient investigation. Because of a dispute between the police and the gendarmerie in Trabzon, where Dink's assassin is from, Dink was not informed of existing intelligence of a planned murder.

In short, he said, illegal relations are taking over.

3. - Turkish Daily News - "Turkey Rejects To Provide Services In Kurdish Language":

The Council of State dismisses the mayor of Sur and disbands the municipal assembly for deciding to provide services in Kurdish, Assyrian and English, in addition to Turkish.

ANKARA / 17 June 2007

The country's top administrative court late on Thursday dismissed the mayor of Sur, Abdullah Demirbas, in Diyarbakir and disbanded the municipal assembly over deciding to provide their services in Kurdish, Assyrian and English languages in addition to Turkish – arguing that the municipality had violated the constitution by doing so.

The Council of State Eighth Bureau assessed the application lodged by the Interior Ministry and was unanimous in deciding the verdict. It argued that the municipality's decision violated the constitution and Turkish law and that it could not be described as a right in the context of the European Local Governments Autonomy rule. The municipality's decision was a overstepping of its rights, the court stated.

The Diyarbakir Prosecutor's Office had filed a complaint against the Sur mayor, some assembly members and Diyarbakir Mayor Osman Baydemir, who approved the municipality's decision. Twenty-one people, including the two mayors, are currently on trial facing charges that carry a prison term of up to three-and-a-half years each.

4. - AP - "Turkey hunts rebels in security zones":

DAGKONAK / 15 June 2007

The sign at the edge of one of Turkey's new security zones says trespassing poses a "danger to life," and the only vehicles that venture beyond it are armored ones ferrying soldiers into battle with Kurdish rebels.

Deep in the mountains of southeast Turkey, the military has declared what amount to free-fire zones in its fight against separatist guerrillas who infiltrate the region from havens in neighboring Iraq and stage bombings and ambushes.

Dozens of soldiers and village guards have died in recent weeks in an escalation of attacks by rebels from Turkey's Kurdish minority, who began their struggle more than two decades ago. The violence has intensified debate in Turkey about whether to stage a cross-border offensive against the rebels, a move that could destabilize the calmest area in Iraq.

The military last week imposed "security zones" in 23 areas in three southeastern Turkish provinces to keep civilians away from combat, and it has imposed similar limits in areas where it conducts live fire exercises. Some experts speculate that the latest announcement is one in a series of preparatory steps ahead of a possible Iraqi campaign.

"They want to clear an area near the region where they might launch a bigger operation," said Ersel Aydinli, an associate professor of international relations at Bilkent University in Ankara.

A military spokesman in Ankara, the capital, declined to answer questions about the security zones. The military released coordinates of the areas, but did not say how big they are.

The military restricts civilian movement in the zones in Sirnak, Hakkari and Siirt provinces, where many people grow crops and raise livestock in remote areas. Some villagers are staying away from their farms for fear of being caught up in violence.

"People are afraid to go and pick up the fruits and vegetables they grow," said Tahir Agacat, a former governor of Askinlar village, which is inside a security zone.

Askinlar, 15 miles north of the border with Iraq, is deserted and the area is the scene of sporadic clashes between Turkish troops and rebels, according to residents of neighboring areas. They said they heard gunfire and saw helicopters flying over the mountains.

Villagers said the military warned them against entering the zones because they could be shot by troops patrolling the area.

There are military checkpoints near some of the security zones. The road to Askinlar is dirt, and the driver of an Associated Press team refused to leave the paved road, saying it was easier for Kurdish rebels to plant bombs on or beside unpaved ones. The army has patched some asphalt roads to make it harder for rebels to place bombs in the path of its vehicles.

This month, two bombs in the newly designated security zones in Sirnak and Hakkari provinces killed four Turkish troops, including two majors and a lieutenant colonel.

A Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said the security zones do not affect cities, and had been imposed in places that were "relatively small" and lightly inhabited.

"They're effectively free-fire zones," the diplomat said.

But areas outside the security zones also are prone to violence. On Friday, a bomb in the mainly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir injured seven people, including a noncommissioned army officer. The pipe bomb, hidden in newspapers and attached to a bicycle, exploded near bus stops used by army vehicles to pick up military personnel, said Durdu Kavak, the city's chief prosecutor.

The security zones don't appear to involve the kind of harsh military control that existed in southeast Turkey at the height of fighting against rebels in the 1980s and 1990s. At that time, provincial governors were given additional authority to take measures such as curfews. Tens of thousands of civilians fled their homes, and many never returned.

The army said the zones will be in place for three months. But a big military sign in Dagkonak village said the area beyond had been designated a "military security zone" in April and would remain so until May 2008.

Turkey has deployed tens of thousands of troops along its 238-mile-long border with Iraq, which has protested to Turkey about alleged shelling by its forces of suspected rebel positions on the Iraqi side.

Turkey has previously staged cross-border offensives into Iraq, and some analysts say it might try to set up a "buffer" area in Iraq to prevent rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, known by its Kurdish acronym PKK, from crossing into Turkey.

By most accounts, few civilians move around freely in the security zones. But some say nothing has changed.

"I take my sheep to those mountains every day," said Abdurrahman Ucar, pointing at a range of peaks near the border with Iraq.

5. - AP - "Land mine kills Turkish soldier":

ISTANBUL / 16 June 2007

A land mine believed to be planted by Kurdish rebels killed a Turkish soldier Saturday, authorities said.

The soldier stepped on the mine as he was returning from an operation in the Kupeli mountain in the southeastern province of Sirnak, a local official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Separately, another soldier was injured Saturday as he stepped on a mine allegedly planted by members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, known by its Kurdish acronym PKK, state run Anatolia news agency reported.

PKK rebels have been fighting Turkish government's forces for autonomy. The group declared a unilateral cease-fire Wednesday, but insisted it has the right to defend itself.

6. - AFP - "Iraqi FM warns Turkey off invading Kurdish north":

WASHINGTON / 17 June 2007

Any military incursion by Turkey into the Kurdish north of Iraq would undermine Iraq's sole haven of stability and is in no one's interest, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari warned Sunday.

Zebari, himself a Kurd, echoed Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in arguing that the Baghdad government wanted to halt the operations of anti-Turkey Kurdish rebels operating out of northern Iraq.

But speaking on CNN from New York, he added: "As for the Turkish troops' buildup, we are concerned, definitely."

Any cross-border incursion by Turkey would "destabilize the only part of Iraq" that has largely escaped the insurgency gripping the rest of the country, Zebari said.

"It would create more imbalance and more instability," he said.

"And we're in consultation with the Turkish government to ease this tension. Because any confrontation would not be in the interest of Iraq, Turkey or anybody else."

Turkey has repeatedly demanded tougher action from Iraq and the United States against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), and refuses to rule out acting unilaterally if its demands are not heeded.

During a meeting with Turkey's envoy to Baghdad, Derya Kanbay, Maliki said Sunday that Iraq "was concerned about the operations of PKK that result in the killing of innocent victims."

"We are keen to prevent PKK from carrying out activities in Iraq," a statement from Maliki's office quoted him as saying.