18 March 2005

1. "European rights court condemns Turkey", the European court of human rights ruled Thursday that Turkey failed to carry out a proper investigation into the death of a prisoner who was killed in a shoot-out while in police custody.

2. "Turkey journalists march over law", more than 150 Turkish journalists have taken part in a protest against a new penal code which they say could threaten freedom of the press.

3. "'Mein Kampf' becomes best-seller in Turkey", cheap cover prices and a rise in nationalist sentiment have made an unlikely best-seller in Turkey of Adolf Hitler's infamous autobiography, "Mein Kampf."

4. "Poll says no to EU constitution", the French public – angry about high unemployment, declining buying power and the prospect of Turkey's future EU membership, which Mr Chirac has supported – could turn the referendum into an anti-government protest vote.

5. "Ethnic tension on the rise in Kirkuk", Political and social tensions between Kurds, Arabs and Turkoman could be escalating again in the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, 255 km from Baghdad, as Kurdish officials renew calls for the city to be part of an autonomous Kurdistan.

6. "Shiites, Kurds Work Toward Coalition Gov't", Shiite and Kurdish officials say they may need another week to put together Iraq's coalition despite progress in resolving disagreements over territory and Cabinet posts.

1. - AFP - "European rights court condemns Turkey":

STRASBOURG / 17 March 2005

The European court of human rights ruled Thursday that Turkey failed to carry out a proper investigation into the death of a prisoner who was killed in a shoot-out while in police custody.

It awarded 15,000 euros (20,000 dollars) in damages and 3,000 euros in costs to Turkish citizen Besir Gezici, who sued the Turkish government on behalf of his brother, Semsettin Gezici, who he said was murdered after being tortured by security services.

Gezici was killed after making statements to police and accompanying them on a predawn raid on the home of a suspected member of the illegal Kurdish Workers' Party. When shooting broke out, both the suspect and Gezici were killed.

The Strasbourg court, which upholds the European convention on human rights, said the allegation that Gezici had been the victim of an extrajudicial killing was not corroborated by witnesses or evidence.

But it said that "authorities were under a duty to protect persons in custody, who were necessarily in a vulnerable position. By bringing the applicants brother face to face with the person whom he had denounced and whom they knew to be in possession of a combat weapon, the authorities had created a potentially dangerous situation and had subjected him to an extreme and unjustified risk."

The court said Turkey "had not provided any explanations as to why the applicants brother had been present during the visit to the suspects home, or any indication as to whether practical steps had been taken to protect him in a way that might reasonably have been expected to alleviate the potential risks he faced."

It condemned Turkey for failing to investigate the incident adequately either by conducting an autopsy or by examining ballistic evidence. But it said the allegations of torture were not substantiated.

2. - BBC - "Turkey journalists march over law":

17 March 2005

More than 150 Turkish journalists have taken part in a protest against a new penal code which they say could threaten freedom of the press.

The marchers - some in handcuffs and gags - marched to Istanbul’s main court to highlight fears the law may lead to more arbitrary arrests of journalists.

They called for a delay in introducing the code, due to apply from 1 April.

Passed as part of Turkey’s bid to start EU entry talks, the law won praise in Europe for its human rights reforms.

However, the protesters argue the new code contains vague wording which could make it easier for Turkish authorities to crack down on the media.

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

They appealed for him to suspend the code’s introduction for at least six months, so 20 articles dealing with the press could be amended.

Orhan Erinc, president of the Turkish Journalists’ Association, warned the law would restrict both "freedom of speech and the right to report", Turkish news agency Anatolia reports.

"We had relayed our views to the prime minister but they were not really taken into account," Mr Erinc said outside court on Thursday. "We want this law to be changed."

Mr Erinc said the new penal code also reintroduces prison sentences instead of fines for offences such as publishing material deemed obscene.

Cartoonist sued

Jail terms for journalists had been removed from Turkey’s press law in reforms last year - but dozens of dissident writers and academics have been jailed in the past.

Although Mr Erdogan’s government has pressed forward with human rights reforms, concerns remain over press freedom.

The prime minister was criticised last month for suing a political cartoonist who made fun of him.

Fehmi Koru, a columnist for the Turkish pro-Islamist daily Yeni Safak, told the BBC News website the 20 articles added to the new penal code were a serious setback for press freedom.

"This government, when it was first set up, claimed it would introduce new press laws which would be much more freedom-loving," he said.

"We are trying to urge the government to change these articles in accordance with their promises when they came to power, that our press would be more free."

3. - Japan Today - "'Mein Kampf' becomes best-seller in Turkey":

ANKARA / 18 March 2005

Cheap cover prices and a rise in nationalist sentiment have made an unlikely best-seller in Turkey of Adolf Hitler's infamous autobiography, "Mein Kampf."

The book was first published here in 1939, when Axis and Allied countries were competing for Turkey's soul as they tried to woo it away from the neutrality it would maintain until the very end of World War II.

But since January, the book has sold more than 50,000 copies and is No. 4 on the best-seller list drawn up by the DetR bookstore chain.

"'Mein Kampf' has always been a sleeper, a secret best-seller," said Oguz Tektas of Mefisto editions, one of several publishing houses to re-release the book Hitler wrote while in jail in 1925. "We took it out of the closet for purely commercial reasons."

His company's sole aim, he stressed, was "to make money," which they did by slashing the cover price.

"Mein Kampf," published by about a dozen companies over the years, always sold at a fairly steady annual rate of about 20,000 at some 20 New Turkish Lira (11.3 euros or $15) a copy.

And the readership? "Those who want to know about a man who wreaked death and destruction on the world," Tektas said.

"Mostly young people," said Sami Kilic, owner of the Emre publishing house, another company on the "Mein Kampf" bandwagon, which sold 26,000 copies from a run of 31,000 released in late January.

"The times we live in have a definite impact on sales," Kilic said. "It is an astonishing phenomenon."

He linked interest in the book to Turkey's bid to join the European Union, seen by the right-wing as a desertion of national values, and rising sentiment against the United States and its ally Israel over the treatment they are perceived here as meting out to the Iraqis and the Palestinians, respectively.

"This book, which does not contain a single ounce of humanity, unfortunately appears to be taken seriously in this country," political scientist Dogu Ergil complained in a recent newspaper interview.

He agreed that the unexpected popularity of "Mein Kampf" in this Muslim-majority country has its roots in a rise in anti-American sentiment sparked by the occupation of Iraq and anti-Semitism resulting from Israel's Palestinian policy.

"Nazism, buried in the dustbin of history in Europe, is beginning to re-emerge in Turkey," he warned.

But despite what the sales may imply, Turkey has never been an anti-Semitic country — on the contrary, it has been a safe haven for Jews ever since the 15th century, when Sultan Bayezit II first took in Spanish Jews fleeing the inquisition.

Throughout Ottoman times and the republic proclaimed in 1923, Jews fleeing pogroms and extermination camps were always welcome in Turkey.

Silvyo Ovadya, the head of Turkey's Jewish community, said he was "troubled" by the book's popularity.

But, he said, his complaints to the publishers have gone unheeded.

Most of Turkey's 22,000 Jews — out of a total population of 71 million — live in Istanbul, where there are 18 synagogues.

4. - AAP - "Poll says no to EU constitution":

PARIS / 18 March 2005

FRENCH Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin is "concerned" but not "worried" after a poll indicated for the first time that French voters may reject the EU constitution in a referendum.

"This possibility does not sadden me," Mr Raffarin said.
"It concerns me but it doesn't worry me because the uncertainty of the referendum is necessary so that each French citizen feels he or she has a historic role to play."

A poll published in the popular Le Parisien daily revealed 51 per cent of French voters would vote 'no' to the EU constitution in a referendum to be held on May 29 – the first poll to suggest a negative outcome.

The survey, carried out by the CSA polling institute, represented a five-point slip in support for the treaty as compared with a separate TNS-Sofres/Unilog poll published earlier this week.

The CSA poll, carried out on Wednesday and Thursday, also revealed what could be a high abstention rate – 53 per cent of respondents said they would cast blank ballots or not vote at all.

President Jacques Chirac has staked his personal prestige on a 'yes' vote to the treaty, which aims to streamline decision-making in the EU following its expansion from 15 to 25 members last year.

But the French public – angry about high unemployment, declining buying power and the prospect of Turkey's future EU membership, which Mr Chirac has supported – could turn the referendum into an anti-government protest vote.

Former EU commission president Jacques Delors, in an interview published in the regional newspaper Le Progres, warned that a 'no' vote in France, one of the founding members of the EU, could provoke a major crisis in Europe.

"If the 'no' prevails, France will be in for a political cataclysm," he said. "In Europe, it will open a very serious crisis which will slow down European construction, to the disadvantage of France."

Mr Raffarin said: "We need a historic vote. The referendum is a decision that asks each French citizen to be responsible for his or her actions. With a 50-50 result, the French people will be personally responsible for their choice.

"This uncertainty about the result (of the referendum) will create a debate, the 'yes' campaign needs a debate in order to win."

5. - IRIN - "Ethnic tension on the rise in Kirkuk":

BAGHDAD / 17 March

Political and social tensions between Kurds, Arabs and Turkoman could be escalating again in the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, 255 km from Baghdad, as Kurdish officials renew calls for the city to be part of an autonomous Kurdistan.

Arab and Turkoman representatives have promised to boycott the new Kirkuk city council unless Kurds agree to a better ethnic balance in the city. They have also asked for help from US officials on the matter.

"Kurds want their rights and are searching for a fast solution to their problems. They were forced out of Kirkuk under Saddam Hussein’s regime and it’s time for them to get back to their lands," Diar Miran, a senior official from the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), told IRIN in Kirkuk.

Miran added that he was sure the government would find a solution to the problem and guarantee that Kirkuk becomes a part of Kurdistan. Indeed, residents from all ethnicities are looking for action from the new Iraqi government on the issue.

However, so far no solution has been found, with negotiations to form a new Iraqi government floundering this week, in part on the question of Kirkuk’s status. Given the strength of feeling, it looks unlikely that a rapid solution will be found.

"I have come back to my city searching for the rights that I lost at Saddam’s hands, I don’t care if Arabs are being displaced or not because they didn’t care when we were displaced by the ex-president. They just came and took our lands and homes," Minar Bartoni, 56, a Kurd who has returned to the city, told IRIN.

Kurdish leaders call Kirkuk their Jerusalem, saying they should control it and its oil fields because it was historically Kurdish. The Kurds are pushing Shi’ite leaders like the current vice-president of Iraq, Ibrahim al-Jaffari, to help give property back to Kurdish returnees, displaced by Arab settlers who were brought to the area under Saddam Hussein’s Arabisation programme.

The Iraqi Kurdish head of the KDP, Massoud Barzani, named by Kurds, along with head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, Jalal Talabani, as a potential Iraqi president in the new government, said in an interview with Al Arabiya television last Friday, that the fate of Iraq’s oil-rich city of Kirkuk must be determined now and that they did not want to postpone a solution until after the establishment of a new constitution.

Al-Jaffari told IRIN that Kirkuk was a very sensitive case due to its ethnic and religious diversity and that they would try to do their best to ensure that the city is part of Iraq for all Iraqis, so that all the ethnic groups in Kirkuk enjoy the same rights. "Kirkuk needs a permanent solution and not a new one for each new month," he said.

The minority Turkoman accuse the government and US-led Coalition of having forgotten that Kirkuk is their home too, leaving them out of any decision processes.

The Turkoman bloc holds nine seats in the new assembly, which leaves them with little influence in the formation of a government. They say that many Turkoman groups in Kirkuk are angry at the latest statements from Kurds and are preparing to fight to have their rights recognised.

"We are the base of this city and they have forgotten that because they don’t care about people’s lives, but only about the oil here. It’s discrimination against us, the Turkomen who have built Kirkuk," Jinan Saluci, a member the Turkoman Shi’ite Council (TSC), told IRIN.

Saluci added that the city was in danger of seeing more heated clashes between Kurds, Arabs and Turkoman, especially after the alleged killing of senior members of their parties in the past week, which led to revenge killings of KDP members in the city.

According to the Turkoman National Front (TNF), there are about 3 million Turkoman in Iraq, especially in the northern areas between Tal Afar and Mandily and in north Baghdad. The figures are based on the census of 1957, the last before Saddam Hussein’s Arabisation policies that distorted the ethnic balance in the region.

Saddam’s Arabisation propramme forced most of the Turkoman people to leave the northern provinces of Kirkuk and Diyala, installing Arabs from the south in their place. But now Arabs are also being discriminated against, according to local NGO officials and members of the Arab association in the city. They are being displaced to areas around the city, where they are camped in tents or living in abandoned buildings.

Those who have returned to their original cities in the south are also often homeless and are living in camps without any government help, according to the Iraqi Red Crescent Society (IRCS).

"We want our rights as human beings. We were based in Kirkuk and they don’t have the right to force us out of here. We can all live together because Kirkuk is for all Iraqis and not only for the Kurds. The government sees what is happening and never takes action against this discrimination," Salah Abdullah, 45, father of five and displaced 5 km from Kirkuk, told IRIN. "I have prepared my gun in the case I have to fight for my rights because peaceful measures aren’t working anymore."

6. - AP - "Shiites, Kurds Work Toward Coalition Gov't":

BAGHDAD / 18 March 2005

Shiite and Kurdish officials say they may need another week to put together Iraq's coalition despite progress in resolving disagreements over territory and Cabinet posts.

In violence around Iraq, six U.S. soldiers were wounded in the northern city of Mosul when a convoy was attacked by a car bomber, Capt. Patricia Brewer said in Baghdad. According to a witness, Faisal Qasim, the bombing was carried out by a suicide bomber who slammed his car into a convoy of seven armored vehicles, striking the fourth.

Also late Thursday, gunmen shot and killed Abdul Rahman al-Samarie, the Sunni imam of the Thaat Al-Nitaqeen mosque in eastern Baghdad, Col. Ahmed Aboud, chief of the New Baghdad police station said Friday. Al-Samarie was walking outside the mosque when gunmen in a vehicle opened fire.

A day after the opening of Iraq's first freely elected parliament in a half century, outgoing U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte returned to the United States after a near nine-month stint. Negroponte has been named to serve as U.S. director of national intelligence. Charge d'affaires James F. Jeffrey will take over the Baghdad post temporarily. Administration officials say President Bush will likely replace Negroponte with Zalmay Khalilzad, an Afghan-American serving as the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan.

Nearly two months after they braved death to vote, many Iraqis are growing frustrated over the slow pace of the talks to form a new government.

The 275-seat National Assembly was elected Jan. 30 and sworn in Wednesday. But the deputies failed to set a date to reconvene, to elect a speaker or to nominate a president and vice president _ all of which they had hoped to do their first day. Instead, the session was spent reveling in the seating of Iraq's first democratic legislature in a half century.

On Thursday, however, both Kurds and Shiites reported progress on a range of issues, including the shape of the Iraqi government.

"We will be seeing a government formed next week," predicted Haitham al-Husseiny, who heads the office of Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the Shiite-dominated United Iraqi Alliance.

Azad Jundiyan, a spokesman for Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, said he thought the government will be named after Kurds celebrate Norwuz, their new year, on March 26.

"This procrastination in forming the government frustrates us and does not make us optimistic," complained Qaiss Mosa of Baghdad, echoing frustration widely heard among people on the street. "Iraqis were hoping to see a national government."

Most of the disagreement focused on whether to allow the Kurds' peshmerga militia to remain in Kurdistan as part of the Iraqi police and army, along with setting a timetable for Kurds to assume control of the oil-rich northern city of Kirkuk and permit the speedy return of nearly 100,000 refugees _ conditions included in an interim law that serves as a preliminary constitution.

"Negotiations were very constructive and the differences in the interim law and peshmerga were solved. We have agreed that some peshmerga will join the Kurdistan police and some will be part of the Iraqi army, with the same equipment and salaries and take orders from the defense ministry in Baghdad," Jundiyan said.

While in power, Saddam Hussein brutally expelled Kurds from the Kirkuk region and relocated Iraqi Arabs there in a bid to secure his control of the oil fields. Many of the Kurds who want to return to Kirkuk are now living in tent cities.

Associated Press writers Qasim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad and Yahya Barzanji in Kirkuk contributed to this report.