21 March 2005

1. "Kurds in Turkey mark Newroz spring festival with parties and politics", throughout Turkey Kurds marked the arrival of spring with the celebration of the new year's festival of Newroz, some using the occasion to promote pro-Kurdish politics.

2. "PKK's New Tactic: Democratic Confederation", on March 20, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) announced the new formation that they were working on for some time called the "Democratic Confederation".

3. "Turkish Rights Group Says Abuses Still Widespread", human rights abuses including torture and curbs on freedom of expression remained widespread in Turkey in 2004 despite a flurry of EU-inspired reforms, a leading Turkish rights group said on Friday.

4. "Germany pressures Turkey over EU reforms", Turkey needs to reinvigorate its reform drive if it wants to start European Union entry talks as planned on October 3, two leading German politicians say.

5. "Water turns Turkey into regional power", if there is one thing that gives leverage in the arid Middle East it's water -- and Turkey has plenty of it.

6. "The birth of genocide", the template for genocide in the modern era happened in 1915 to the Armenian people in their homeland of the Ottoman Empire, an acclaimed author on this subject shared with an education-minded audience last week at Rhode Island College.

+++ NEWROZA WE PIROZ BE +++ HAPPY NEWROZ +++ NEWROZA WE PIROZ BE+++

1. - AFP - "Kurds in Turkey mark Newroz spring festival with parties and politics":

ANKARA / 20 March 2005

Throughout Turkey Kurds marked the arrival of spring with the celebration of the new year's festival of Newroz, some using the occasion to promote pro-Kurdish politics.

Newroz, which means "new day" in the Kurdish language, is an ancient pagan festival hailing the revival of nature with the spring equinox.

In Istanbul, crowds started gathering in the early morning hours to take part in a celebration with folksongs and dancing organized by the main pro-Kurdish party in Turkey, the Democratic People's Party, and watched over by scores of police.

In the southern Turkish town of Mersin, three police officers and three journalists were slightly injured in incidents involving security forces and protesters who wanted to burn the Turkish flag, according to the NTV television channel.

The Kurds in Turkey, who make up a community of some 10 million people, often use the Newroz holiday to demand more rights in the country.

The holiday also provokes demonstrations of support for the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), now known as KONGRA-GEL, which fought Turkish forces between 1984 and 1999.

In Istanbul, some people carried a photograph of imprisoned Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan.

Other gatherings to mark the holiday were held in the Turkish capital, Ankara, and the western city of Izmir, which also have large Kurdish communities.

A major celebration is planned for Monday in Diyarbakir, the main city in the southeast with a majority population of Kurds.

In 1992, the Newroz holiday was marred by bloody confrontations between the PKK and Turkish security forces in the southeast that left about 50 people dead.

2. - Zaman Online - "PKK's New Tactic: Democratic Confederation":

21 March 2005 / by Habib Guler

On March 20, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) announced the new formation that they were working on for some time called the "Democratic Confederation".

Abdullah Ocalan, head of the rebel organization, gave the directives for the formation of the Project that gathers together organization's members living in Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran under one roof.

Introducing himself as the "leader of the confederation", Ocalan also suggested a "flag" consisting of a yellow sun and red star on a green background to by used by the group. Organization members waved the flag for the first time at the Newroz celebrations yesterday.

According to information, the ringleader of the rebel organization who is serving jail time at Imrali prison opposed a Kurdish state under the context of the formation in Northern Iraq during talks with his lawyers last month and demanded that Kurds meet under the roof of a confederation and move ahead as one.

Therefore, organization members held meetings in various Turkish cities and decided to begin activities for a democratic confederation as suggested by Ocalan.

The main target of the confederation is confirmed as the "independence of Apo (nickname of Ocalan)". Ocalan clarified that his demands are different from the Kurdish leaders in Iraq, that is Mesud Barzani and Jalal Talabani's federal state demands: "There is not a state axis in my suggestion. This is a relaxed organization."

Apo, who had previously been referred to by PKK members as the "president" or "serok", also demanded to be referred to as the "leader of the confederation" and added: "Being called the president suggests despotism. If an agha enters into politics, he might be serok as well. My new definition was announced on March 20."

Apo also suggested that the "red star within a yellow sun on a green background" was the new flag. PKK members put the rebel leader's new demands forward during the Newroz celebrations held yesterday.

PKK supporters waved their new flags for the first time and referred to Apo as the "leader of the democratic confederation". Nobody will lead the new formation apart from Apo.

3. - Reuters - "Turkish Rights Group Says Abuses Still Widespread":

ANKARA / 18 March 2005

Human rights abuses including torture and curbs on freedom of expression remained widespread in Turkey in 2004 despite a flurry of EU-inspired reforms, a leading Turkish rights group said on Friday.

In its annual report, the Ankara-based Human Rights Association (IHD) also complained of what it called a trend toward nationalism and intolerance in Turkey since it won a date last December to open EU entry talks later this year. "Prime Minister 'zero tolerance' for torture and Deputy Prime Minister (Abdullah) Gul's claim that 'Turkey has done its homework to join the European Union' have not been realised," it said.

"Torture is still very widespread, the right to life still cannot be guaranteed and (freedom of) thought continues to be criminalised and punished," it said.

It recorded 1,040 reported cases of torture and maltreatment in 2004, police detention centers being the most common place for such practices. This compared with 1,202 reported cases in 2003 and 876 cases in 2002.

Rights activists say the figures can be misleading because in the past victims of torture were more afraid to come forward or were less aware of the legal situation than is now the case.

The European Commission, the EU's executive body, has urged Turkey to fully implement its human rights reforms and to swiftly punish officials found guilty of rights violations.

The report complained of a trend toward intolerance since the EU set October for the opening of EU entry talks.

That EU decision marked a diplomatic victory for Turkey, but some Turks resent conditions that came with the date and believe their country is treated more harshly than other candidates.

As an example of increased intolerance, the IHD cited death threats and court cases opened against best-selling novelist Orhan Pamuk after he backed Armenian claims that their people suffered "genocide" at Ottoman Turkish hands in 1915-23.

In the area of freedom of expression, the IHD reported the opening of 467 court cases against people for expressing ideas deemed unlawful by state prosecutors in 2004, down from 1,706 cases the previous year.

Authorities also banned nine different publications -- including books, magazines and newspapers -- and halted 12 radio and television broadcasts. It did not say why they were banned.

4. - Reuters - "Germany pressures Turkey over EU reforms":

BERLIN / 20 March 2005

Turkey needs to reinvigorate its reform drive if it wants to start European Union entry talks as planned on October 3, two leading German politicians say.

"At the moment, I do not see any movement. If that remains the case, there will be no start to entry negotiations," Martin Schulz, the Socialist leader of the European Parliament, told Berliner Zeitung newspaper on Sunday.

"We must say clearly: If Turkey wants negotiations, further things need to happen," he told Sunday's edition of Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung newspaper.

Guenter Gloser, the European spokesman of Germany's ruling Social Democrats, told the same newspaper he feared Turkey was in a "weak phase of fatigue" after a string of reforms encouraged EU leaders in December to offer Ankara a date for talks.

The EU might have to delay the start of talks if Turkey did not act, he said.

The German lawmakers' comments partly echo those of EU envoy Hansjorg Kretschmer, who said earlier this month Turkey was showing "slippage" in its reform drive.

Television footage showing police beating and kicking mainly women demonstrators at a rally on March 6 shocked many in Europe and drew sharp criticism from EU officials. Turkey has pledged a full probe and six police officers have so far been suspended.

The Istanbul incident revived concerns that Turkey is not fully implementing a range of EU-inspired human rights reforms.

5. - AFP - "Water turns Turkey into regional power":

ANKARA / 21 March 2005 / by Burak Akinci

If there is one thing that gives leverage in the arid Middle East it's water -- and Turkey has plenty of it.

But Turkey's water wealth -- it is home to sources of the Euphrates and Tigris along with 24 other large river basins -- has also been a source of tension with its water-starved southern neighbors, Syria and Iraq.

As the world marks the 13th World Water Day Tuesday, analysts say the wave of democratisation in Iraq and Syria is a source of hope that lingering ill feeling over the share of the region's water may be amicably solved.

Controlling the source of the two rivers, gives Turkey first use of the water to best serve its agriculture and industry and leaves the two southern neighbours at Ankara's mercy over the crucial supply.

Tensions rose when in 1981 Turkey embarked upon the construction of the Ataturk dam, the fifth largest in the world and part of the ambitious Southeastern Anatolia project (GAP).

The project, due for completion in 2010 but expected closer to 2020 due to lack of funding, is designed to develop one of Turkey's poorest regions. It will also cut Syria's flow from the Euphrates by 40 percent and Iraq's by 90 percent.

The Euphrates is 2,300 kilometers (1,429 miles) long running south into Syria and then on into Iraq.

Turkey lays claim to 88 percent of the Euphrates's flow and 50 percent of the Tigris's, which Ankara claims gives it every right to a free and independent use of the water. There are no international agreements governing the division of water resources between countries sharing a river.

While Syria has accused Turkey of depriving them of their rightful heritage with the GAP project, Ankara argues that Damascus is wasting the water it gets due to an archaic irrigation system.

Turkey and Syria first came to an agreement in 1987, when Ankara guaranteed a flow of 500 cubic meters per second to Syria, half of its natural flow. The agreement did not stipulate how much water Syria had to let through to Iraq.

In 1992, the three neighbours established a technical committee to negotiate how to share the water, but it has still to yield any results.

Relations though have improved since Syria signed a security pact with Turkey in 1998 after the two came to brink of war over Damascus' support for Kurdish rebels. The regime change in Iraq could also help talks, officials and analysts say.

"The changes in the region have created a better environment to discuss the water question," said one Turkish diplomat who asked to remain anonymous.

"The problem persists," said Huseyin Bagci, a professor in international relations, but the means to overcome the problem have changed considerably thanks to the democratisation of Iraq and the greater political transparency in Damascus.

"The question can be negotiated without any of the protagonists feeling threatened," Bagci said.

Turkey is also trying to cash in on the precious resource by selling water from the Manavgat river, shipping it from the Mediterranean port of Antalya to potential clients such as Israel or Jordan in a project named "Water of Peace".

6. - The Call - "The birth of genocide":

20 March 2005 / by Michael Holtzman

The template for genocide in the modern era happened in 1915 to the Armenian people in their homeland of the Ottoman Empire, an acclaimed author on this subject shared with an education-minded audience last week at Rhode Island College.

Former President Theodore Roosevelt called the annihilation of 1-1½ million Armenians "the greatest crime" of World War I, said Peter Balakian, a Colgate University English professor and author of "The Burning Tigris: The Armenian Genocide and America's Response."

Balakian, the keynote speaker, and other scholars and writers addressed an audience of teachers, students and participants during a "genocide symposium" of workshops titled "Remembering Our Past, Educating Our Future."

Organizers distributed to teachers a California curriculum guide on human rights and genocide, the first in the country focused on the Armenians as a case- study of victims in the 20th century. World history teachers in the San Francisco Continued from Page A-1

Unified School District prepared it.

"I think this history is in the process of an exciting recovery," said Balakian, likening this relearning to previous rebirths of African American, Native American Indian and women's history in recent decades.

He and other presenters encouraged educators to find opportunities to teach about the Armenian and subsequent modern genocides.

Decades of continued Turkish government denial of the Armenian genocide remains a potent weapon for keeping the event buried beneath world history. At the same time, genocide scholars like Balakian say America retains "blood on its hands" for its unacknowledged extermination of Native American Indians tribes.

With Rhode Island one of a handful of states in the country to recently legislate pursuit of teaching genocide and human rights issues -- coupled with the 90th anniversary of the Armenian genocide next month -- Armenian committees organized the symposium at RIC.

Crimes of these proportions, U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, (D-R.I.,) told about 100 people, "are usually perpetrated by ordinary people. The people who actually do it are not too much different than us," he said.

Reed cautioned that Americans would not necessarily be different under similar wartime circumstances. "We, individually, have a responsibility to resist" atrocities like genocide, he noted.

In 1915, the most able-bodied Armenians in the Ottoman Turkish Army were disarmed, thrown into labor camps and gunned down by their military comrades. But an even more insidious, systematic extermination followed, Balakian said.

On the night of April 24, 1915, and the following day, about 250 of the cultural and community leaders in the capital city of Constantinople (present-day Istanbul) were rounded up and tortured by the Turks. Most of them were killed, reported Balakian, who in his award-winning memoir "Black Dog of Fate" traced his own family roots to this genocide.

"After April 24 it would be easy to carry out the genocide program, for many of the most gifted voices of resistance were gone," Balakian wrote. Subsequently, thousands of other Armenian leaders were quickly rounded up and killed throughout the country.

He likened the killing the Armenian soldiers and intellectuals by the Turkish government during World War I to "cutting out the tongue" and "chopping off the head."

The women, children and less able men became easy prey for a purpose Adolf Hitler would openly emulate during his extermination of six million European Jews during the Holocaust of World War II.

As the Nazi Armies invaded Poland, on Aug. 22, 1939, Hitler reportedly told his commanding generals that any criticism of his planned genocide would bring execution by firing squad. "Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?" Hitler said.

The Holocaust has been followed in this century by Cambodian dictator Pol Pot in the 1970s killing and starving 1.8 million of his people, the Hutus eliminating 800,000 Tutsi in Rwanda and 200,000 to 300,000 killed and 1 million homeless during the ongoing Sudanese genocide in Darfur. Yet the Armenian genocide, Balakian said, "remains a seminal event."

"It was the first time Americans were confronted with unfathomable numbers of the murder of innocent, unarmed civilians," he said.

When Balakian said half to two-thirds of the 2.5 million Christian Armenians perished at the hands of the Turkish government, one listener asked if it was the responsibility of teachers like himself to place this history into its proper place in the classroom.

"How did this fall off the map?" asked Marco McWilliams, a junior African American history major at RIC.

Terry McMichael, who teaches social studies at Cumberland High School, said the symposium information and resources she's gained would help bridge the gaps in instruction she provides her students.

"I know the history of the genocide has been neglected in the history books," said McMichael. "I think this is important enough to spend a few days on it. I know about the Armenian genocide. I'm interested in Middle Eastern history."

McMichael said she immediately acquired Balakian's books and two about the Armenian genocide written for young adults called "Forgotten Fire" and "The Road from Home" that she'd use in her classroom. "I feel a strong duty to teach them social responsibility," McMichael said.

As testimony to that aim, she said after discussing with students the genocides in Rwanda and elsewhere around the globe, she wrote a letter to United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan. She told him the United Nations "was shirking its duties."

"How can I teach my kids about the responsibilities of the U.N.?" she asked.

Beth Bloomer, a junior at Cumberland High who accompanied McMichael to the symposium, said she's enthusiastic about the Armenian genocide being taught at her school. Her classmates, she believes, "will respond in a kind of awe or shock that this was happening," Bloomer said.

Her parents asked initially why she was going. "I'm into history and I want to learn more about the world and people around us," she said, "and how other people survived."

"In most history books, it's not there," agreed Lincoln High social studies teacher Caroline Ricci.

"It's originally a political issue," said Ricci, who called the symposium "very valuable." If you're at the forefront of a movement and are vocal, you get your voice heard. And it took a long time to get their voices heard."

Perhaps it takes a reading of the 400-page "Burning Tigris" and other literature of the Armenian genocide to understand how it happened -- and why there have been so many obstacles to uncovering this critical piece of history.

In a way, it's stunning, because the history is well documented, Balakian said. In 1915The New York Times published 145 stories, many on the front page, about a "campaign of extermination" perpetrated upon upwards of 1 million of the Armenian people.

America responded with unprecedented aid to the "starving Armenians," sending more than $100 million at a time a loaf of bread cost a nickel.

As the horrors of the genocide unfolded, it was also a time that American ambassadors in Turkey -- most notably Henry Morgenthau -- documented the mass murders of Armenians in an effort to raise alarm and action back home. Balakian said he used hundreds of those documents in the National Archives in Washington, D.C. for "Burning Tigris."

"It was a reminder of a time," he said, "people in government wrote with clarity and ethical purpose." He said it was also shortly before America adopted its new policies toward the Middle East in the pursuit of oil.