17 March 2005

1. "Ankara violated freedom of speech law: Rights court", the European court of human rights ruled here Tuesday that Turkey had failed to allow freedom of expression to five of its citizens and awarded each of the five 2,000 euros (2,662 dollars) damages.

2. "Alarmed over freedoms, Turkish media seek suspension of new penal code", the Turkish media have launched a campaign to halt a much-hailed, EU-backed penal code just days before it comes into effect, saying it contains severe restrictions on freedom of the press.

3. "Women's rights in Turkey slowly improving", despite the continued obvious inequality between men and women in Turkey, the country is making efforts to change perceptions towards women as it looks to join the EU.

4. "Turkey's campaign to educate women", under severe pressure from the European Union to speed up reforms, Turkey has been turning its attention to women with a new war cry of "education, education, education".

5. "In Turkey, taboo lifts over past treatment of Armenians", last week, Prime Minister Erdogan proposed a joint study into Armenian claims of genocide.

6. "On Anniversary of Halabja Massacre, Kurds Poised to Regain Kirkuk", wednesday was the 17th anniversary of the Halabja massacre. On March 16, 1988, Saddam Hussein doused the small Kurdish city with deadly chemical weapons, killing 5,000 civilians. At the time, Iraq was in the midst of a long war with Iran. Europe and the United States backed Saddam, but Kurdish civilians – tired of Saddam's oppressive rule – sided with Iran. Saddam retaliated in a number of ways. He used chemical weapons a number of times, but his Anfal campaign was severe. In 1988, thousands of Kurdish villages were burned to the ground. After they lost their homes, many tens of thousands were taken to death camps and shot.

1. - AFP - "Ankara violated freedom of speech law: Rights court":

STRASBOURG / 15 March 2005

The European court of human rights ruled here Tuesday that Turkey had failed to allow freedom of expression to five of its citizens and awarded each of the five 2,000 euros (2,662 dollars) damages.

Along with 20 others including former parliamentarians Leyla Zana and Hatip Dicle, the five (two lawyers, a university lecturer and two unionists) had published a declaration, which appeared in two newspapers in 1992, criticising Ankara's policy on Kurdish issues.

Each of the five were accused of inciting hatred and in 1997 handed down prison sentences of 20 months, which were however quickly reprieved.

The European court said Turkey's aim of protecting its territorial integrity had been legitimate and that the hostile tone of the five's declaration had given a negative image of the Turkish state.

But the court found no incitement to violence nor to armed insurrection in the declaration and ruled that finding the five guilty of this had been disproportionate and unnecessary in a democratic society.

The court therefore found that Turkey had denied the five freedom of expression and had also failed to provide a fair trial, as a military judge had taken part in it.

The five were also awarded 1,000 euros jointly for costs.

2. - AFP - "Alarmed over freedoms, Turkish media seek suspension of new penal code":

ANKARA / 16 March 2005 / by Sibel Utku Bila

The Turkish media have launched a campaign to halt a much-hailed, EU-backed penal code just days before it comes into effect, saying it contains severe restrictions on freedom of the press.

The new penal code may result in "many arbitrary prosecutions... and pack prisons with journalists," press groups said Wednesday in a letter to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The campaign to suspend and amend the law, which took the government by surprise, came only two weeks before it comes into force on April 1 and almost half a year after it was adopted by parliament in September amid much fanfare and praise from the European Union.

The reform was one of the most notable measures Brussels sought from Ankara in the run-up to a landmark decision in December to give Turkey the green light for accession talks.

"The big media groups were under the spell of the EU campaign. They either failed to see or did not want to see the dangers of the law," said Oral Calislar, a member of the Turkish Journalists' Association executive board.

Journalists also say recent attacks on the media by Erdogan raised doubts over the government's democratic credentials and forced them to take a closer look at the penal code.

"The Musa Kart incident sparked it off and fuelled suspicions," Calislar said, referring to a cartoonist who was sued by Erdogan and then fined for depicting the premier as a cat entangled in a ball of wool.

Experts say penal code provisions concerning the media contain terms vague enough to leave prosecutors and judges with room for arbitrary decisions and re-introduce jail terms for journalists, although such penalties were purged from the press law in another reform last year.

Provisions on slander and the protection of privacy, they maintain, are too restrictive and may deal a heavy blow to investigative journalism.

One article of particular concern foresees up to 15 years in jail for those who disseminate propaganda via the media against "basic national interests" in return for material benefits from foreigners.

The article raised alarm when it emerged that explanatory notes in the draft said it targets those who may, for instance, advocate the withdrawal of Turkish troops from Cyprus and support claims that the massacre of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire was genocide.

"What will happen, for example, to an institution that receives funds from the EU and criticizes Turkey's Cyprus policy?" Calislar asked. "Who can guarantee that any move to prosecute it will fail?"

Dozens of dissident journalists, writers and intellectuals have been imprisoned in Turkey in the past for voicing their opinions.

Adem Sozuer, a jurist who took part in drafting the penal code, acknowledged that some provisions in the law should be amended, but maintained that it guarantees freedom of the press and of opinion.

"With this law, Turkey has undoubtedly taken a step forward," he said.

The reform, which overhauled Turkey's 78-year-old penal code borrowed from fascist Italy, won praise in particular for increasing penalties against human rights abusers and torturers and improving women's rights.

The government ruled out suspending the code, saying amendments could be made later if the law creates serious problems in practice.

"I do not believe that the journalists' suspicions will be justified after the law takes effect," said Koksal Toptan, the head of the parliament's justice commission.

"We have to see the law's implementation. If deficiencies emerge, they will be addressed," he said.

3. - EUobserver - "Women's rights in Turkey slowly improving":

17 March 2005 / by Meghan Sapp

Despite the continued obvious inequality between men and women in Turkey, the country is making efforts to change perceptions towards women as it looks to join the EU.

Speaking at a European Parliament public hearing on the status of women’s rights in Turkey Wednesday (16 March), the Turkish national government’s only female minister, Güdal Aksit, said that her country has united with media, schools, and NGOs in fighting violence against women.

"Turkey is doing everything it can in regards to human rights", said the minister of state.

"The important thing is that women take the place they are entitled to", she said.

Ms Aksit condemned police brutality on 6 March against women demonstrating in Turkey for gender equality.

She said the event was caused by a lack of proper police training adding that three of the officers had been suspended while others may yet be once the investigation is concluded.

Though gender-based inequality is a fact in Turkey, it is not uniform around the country, university professor Dr. Feride Acar told the hearing.

"Turkish migrants in the west and north of Europe demonstrate the worst cases of inequality", said Dr Acar.

She gave evidence that regional differences and urban/rural differences meant women have varied access to legal recourse. She also said that the existence of a secular framework in the government’s structure is a major advantage and basis for legal reform.

International standards

The women’s movement within Turkey has been boosted significantly by the prospects of EU accession, according to the academic. She added that the movement was at the forefront of legal reforms.

Since the late 1990s, reform of labour and human rights laws have been moving toward international standards, beginning with a family protection law in 1998. The introduction of equality in labour laws has begun - from the outlawing of sexual discrimination and harassment in the workplace to the extension of maternity leave.

"There is huge potential but, to put it into action, there needs to be political will and desire by the government to do so", said Dr. Acar.

Honour killings

Forced marriages and honour killings are still part of life in certain parts of the country, especially the East and Southeast where rural areas perpetuate traditional lifestyles including that of complete patriarchy, explained activist Serap Cileli.

In those regions, she said, child marriages in exchange for dowries are still practised while the exchange of girls for boys from another family to avoid paying for the dowry still occurs, as well.

"The latest laws are an important step in the right direction but the Turkish government does far too little to protect women against violence across the country", said Ms Cileli.

Hardly a meeting occurs between Turkey and the EU that does not mention human rights and women’s rights, said the EU’s head of unit on Turkey, Martin Harvey. He added that many of the changes in law signal progress towards accession requirements.

"We’re hoping that honor killers will soon be qualified for life imprisonment", said Mr Harvey.

But the tide of change in Turkish society can be seen in its efforts to change traditional mindsets.

The Turkish Football Association is participating in awareness building campaigns about violence against women and training will begin with the Turkish armed forces from 1 May, according to Anne-Brigitte Albrectsen of the UN Population Fund in Ankara.

She said that the country’s 18,000 imams will address violence against women in their prayer on 25 March. According to Ms Aksit, 23 November will be a national day promoting the cessation of violence against women.

Turkey is set to open EU talks in October this year but is not expected to join the EU for at least ten years.

4. - BBC - "Turkey's campaign to educate women":

16 March 2005 / by Nici Marx

Under severe pressure from the European Union to speed up reforms, Turkey has been turning its attention to women with a new war cry of "education, education, education".

As it edges towards full EU membership, Turkey has been grappling with the Western view of it as too backward and "too Muslim" to make the partnership tenable.

Recent photographs of police brutality during a women's demonstration in Istanbul shocked the EU and severely jeopardised Turkish attempts at improving its human rights image.

It was a setback for the government which has been targeting young girls and women to ensure they become more "Westernised" in the eyes of prospective European partners.

In a country of 70 million, seven million remain illiterate, and six million of these are women.

As a result, parents are being paid to send their daughters to school, and hundreds of women's organisations are flourishing with financial backing from both local government and the EU.

One of the most colourful and well known is Flying Broom, which was set up nine years ago by Halime Guner to encourage solidarity and cooperation between women across the country.

Patriarchal society

Flying Broom is a close-knit team of just 10 energetic and dedicated women, which operates by producing radio programmes, screening films and initiating discussions about the problems Turkish women face in a traditionally patriarchal society.

The group set itself a target this Spring of visiting 55 small towns, villages and cities.

The 52nd stop on this tour of Turkey's provinces was the dust-covered opium producing capital of Afyon, moulded from remnants of the marble factories which surround it.

Flying Broom's General Co-ordinator, Halime Guner, is a skilful operator when it comes to handling the round of diplomacy with the town's governor and mayor which must be undertaken before her real work begins.

She ensures these men who pull local strings feel they are an important part of the project, and the BBC's presence in Afyon was clearly a perfect opportunity for the men in power to display their largesse.

Formal introductions and the obligatory glass of tea at the governor's office were followed by a repeat performance across the town square with the mayor.

Next was a tour of Afyon's attractions, including an old "hammam" for non-Muslim foreigners and a new women's refuge housed in a former police station.

We finished off with lunch with the mayor at the top table in the canteen of the civic offices.

Lively discussion

But the Flying Broom's important work began in Afyon's town hall where 230 women, mostly wearing headscarves, eagerly filed in to find out how they can enhance their lives.

One film from the former Soviet Union showed women aborting female babies in a male-dominated society which values only boys.
Another showed how an elderly woman had improved her life by starting a carpet-making business.

The discussion which followed brought the hall to life.

"If you heard the woman next door being beaten, what would you do?" asked Halime Guner.

"I'd call the police, said one woman, only to be countered by another who replied:

"It would depend on who she was and if I knew her."

The message here was simple: it does not matter who the woman is, it is up to all women to support and protect each other.

Headscarf debate

But it is Turkey's headscarf ban in schools, universities and government buildings which continues to fuel debate in this mainly Muslim country.

Several women wearing headscarves said how they were looking forward to Turkey's accession to the EU because they believed it would allow them to wear their headscarves unhindered.

They appeared unaware that France has imposed a ban or that Germany is considering a similar move.

And their belief that Turkey is soon to hold a referendum on the matter is misguided, as that is definitely not on the cards, at least not according to the government ministers I spoke with.
I began to wonder if these women were being spun a line by local politicians.

In the next 10 to 15 years before Turkey's possible EU membership, Flying Broom and organisations like it will be bringing women up to speed so they can make informed choices of their own.

5. - The Christian Sience Monitor - "In Turkey, taboo lifts over past treatment of Armenians":

Last week, Prime Minister Erdogan proposed a joint study into Armenian claims of genocide.

ISTANBUL / 17 March 2005 / by Yigal Schleifer

When Turkish executive Noyan Soyak helped found a group to bring together businessmen from Turkey and Armenia, the organization stepped into a gaping void.

"When we started [in 1997], it was difficult even to publicly pronounce the word 'Armenia' or 'Armenians' in Turkey," says Mr. Soyak, whose group today has some 250 Turkish and Armenian members.

The Armenian issue has long been one of the most fraught in Turkey, the limits of its discussion strictly controlled by the state. Driven apart by nearly a century of hatred and accusations of genocide, the two neighbors became further estranged after diplomatic relations were broken off by Ankara in 1993, in the wake of Armenia's occupation of a large chunk of territory belonging to Turkish ally Azerbaijan.

But Soyak and others say something has changed - that Turkey's increasing democratization and reforms related to its European Union membership bid have slowly started to soften the country's historical stance.

Despite the lack of official relations, a growing number of nongovernmental Turkish groups - from academics and businessmen to musicians and women's organizations - are now meeting with their Armenian counterparts, in the process helping to redefine the debate in Turkey and ease the enmity between the two nations.

"Any and all kinds of relationships are important for softening up the infrastructure for the politicians," Soyak says. "Governments can't move as quickly as we do, so civil society groups are leading the way."

Hrant Dink, the editor of Agos, a newspaper serving Turkey's Armenian community, says the evolution of what is allowed to be said can be seen in the pages of his publication. When Agos was launched 10 years ago, Mr. Dink took an indirect approach to writing about the past. "Previously, when we talked about history, we didn't mention things that happened but focused on culture instead," says Dink, speaking in the newspaper's Istanbul office.

"Slowly we started to ask what happened to the Armenians," he says. "Now we're at the point of telling what happened."

Even if the subject is "no longer taboo" as Dink says, the debate still fundamentally divides Turkey and Armenia. Armenians say the Ottomans killed 1.5 million of their people from 1915 to 1923 through deportations and mass killings in what is now eastern Turkey. Armenians have been waging an international campaign to have this recognized as genocide; more than a dozen nations do so today. Turkey rejects the genocide claim. It admits that Armenians were killed but disputes the number and says that the deaths were unorganized and part of wider regional violence that also affected Muslim Turks.

Until recently, the Turkish state's official version of events was all that could be aired publicly. But observers say that democratic reforms - many of them the result of pressure by the EU - have created more space for public debate on the topic.

"The level of education has gone up and civil society has expanded, so the state can no longer dominate and monopolize the public sphere," says Muge Gocek, a Turkish sociologist who is the co-organizer of the Workshop for Armenian-Turkish Studies, an annual gathering of Turkish and Armenian scholars.

In an unusual turn, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan called last week for a study by Turkish and Armenian historians of claims of genocide at the hands of Ottoman Turkish troops. The Armenian Foreign Ministry has rejected Mr. Erdogan's proposal.

Indeed, those involved in Turkish-Armenian reconciliation efforts caution that the road towards normalizing relations is still very bumpy. Turkish officials say they believe Armenian genocide claims will lead to demands for reparations and territory.

Ustun Erguder, a Turkish political scientist and member of the Turkish Armenian Reconciliation Commission, a group of academics and former diplomats from both sides, says the association of the word "genocide" with the barbarity of Nazi Germany makes the claim hard for Turks. "I think Turks have come a long way even to say, 'We did something wrong to the Armenians.' "

The issue remains explosive. When Orhan Pamuk, a famous Turkish author, stated in a Swiss paper last month that "a million Armenians were killed in Turkey," the response included death threats and charges of dishonoring the state filed against him in court.

Van Krikorian, a former chairman of the Armenian Assembly of America, says the only way forward is more dialogue. "On the Turkish side and the Armenian side, people need to feel they can discuss what happened and not feel as though somebody is going to attack them," he says.

6. - antiwar.com - "On Anniversary of Halabja Massacre, Kurds Poised to Regain Kirkuk":

17 March / by Aaron Glantz

Wednesday was the 17th anniversary of the Halabja massacre. On March 16, 1988, Saddam Hussein doused the small Kurdish city with deadly chemical weapons, killing 5,000 civilians. At the time, Iraq was in the midst of a long war with Iran. Europe and the United States backed Saddam, but Kurdish civilians – tired of Saddam's oppressive rule – sided with Iran. Saddam retaliated in a number of ways. He used chemical weapons a number of times, but his Anfal campaign was severe.

In 1988, thousands of Kurdish villages were burned to the ground. After they lost their homes, many tens of thousands were taken to death camps and shot. During the Anfal campaign, Kurdish villagers were taken to a place called Topzawa south of Kirkuk.

According to Human Rights Watch, prisoners at Topzawa were frequently lined up and dragged into pre-dug mass graves. Other Kurds were shoved into trenches and shot where they stood; still others were made to lie down in pairs, sardine-style, next to mounds of fresh corpses, before being killed.

"It was very difficult land to work in," recalled Abdul-Hassen Muhan Murad. A former bulldozer driver for Saddam's secret police, he spoke in 2004 to Kurdish journalist Aref Korbani. "There were lots of holes, and as I remember we dug five big holes in those places and the length of the holes was around 25 meters and the depth of it – it was approximately two and a half meters."

Abdul-Hassen told Korbani how the Kurdish men were brought to the trenches and killed. "They brought men, all of them in Kurdish clothes, the baggy sharwal pants, their eyes were blindfolded and their hands tied behind their backs. They brought three or four cars at a time," he said.

"In each hole, they put 70 to 75 people. The implementation was by officers, and there were around 11 of them."

The method was different for women and children, he said. They "were without blindfold, and the gun that was used was the Kalashnikov. They brought them in groups and used automatic weapons. The women were screaming, and the children, and there was a 65-year-old woman included. She had a hunched back, and she couldn't move or walk so they pushed her into the trench."

After the Kurds were killed or forcibly displaced, Saddam filled their homes with Arabs loyal to him. Driver Abdul-Hassen was one of them. He was given a house in the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.

"I got a built house that was for a Turkmen man who had been displaced," he said. "It was a complete house. And the neighborhood, all of it, they distributed it for those who moved their residency. They just gave you the number and indicated the house which you were going to live in. We didn't know the owners of these houses. It just depended on your fate."

Now, almost 20 years later, more than 100,000 Kurds forced out of Kirkuk during Saddam's regime are trying to return. No one is proposing any housing be built for them. Instead, Kurdish political parties are demanding that all the Arabs who came to Kirkuk since 1975 return back to their "original place."

"All of the time, we feel the problem of the Kurdish policy here," explained Ali Falah last month. The 24-year-old is a recent graduate of the medical college in nearby Mosul. He was born in Kirkuk, but his parents were born in the south of Iraq and moved here during Saddam's regime.

Kurdish leaders are offering Arabs compensation to leave the city, but Dr. Ali Falah says he has no plans to take it. He says he's already noticed the change in Kirkuk from Saddam's time – when most of the police were Arabs – to the post-Saddam period – when nearly all of Kirkuk's police are Kurds.

"The police here are about 95 percent Kurdish," he says, "so just when they stop you for checking weapons or something, if you talk with them in Arabic language, it's like you burn them. I don't know why. If they are Kurdish people, they will deal with them kindly, respectfully. But if they find that you talk to them in Arabic, the emotion in their faces changes."

Like other Arabs in northern Iraq, Dr. Ali Falah doubts the Kurds' intense interest in Kirkuk is a reaction to the mass displacement of Kurds during the Anfal campaign. Instead, he traces it to the oil under the ground here, more than 8.5 billion barrels (more than $450 billion at today's prices).

"You know, Kirkuk city is like a lake in oil," the doctor said. "So the most rich city in the world is Kirkuk, and they want to gain it – to control the situation. But I don't think they will [reach] this goal in their lives."