8
March 2005
2. "Turkey: Hollow promises for Kurds displaced by army", EU officials visiting Ankara must press Turkey to reinvigorate rights reform.
3. "Turkey's tear-gassing of women hits EU entry bid", Police violence against Turkish women demonstrators was criticised yesterday as scenes of female protesters being tear-gassed, kicked and beaten cast a cloud over Turkey's plans to start EU membership talks.
4. "Prime Minister Continues to Sue Journalists", "Zafer" newspaper's owner Atar, chief editor Konukoglu and columnist Eyyupoglu, who criticized the Erdogan's treatment of Denktash, will pay a fine of 3,000 YTL in damages. The criminal suit against the journalists is awaiting the new penal code.
5. "Remzi Kartal freed!", Bamberg Federal High Court refuses Turkey’s application for extradition. Press statement from AZADI (German foundation that provides legal advice to Kurdish people in Germany).
6. "Turkish-Iranian-Syrian Relations: Limits of Regional Politics in the Middle East", Analysis by Dr. Bulent Aras.
7. "Turkey renames 'divisive' animals", even animal names can become contentious in politics.
8. "Kurds seek pledge on return to Kirkuk", Kurdish parties have asked for a written promise that Iraq's next government will promote the resettlement of Kurds in the disputed province of Kirkuk as the price of their support for a new governing coalition.
1. - IHD - "Critical Report By IHD: In 2 Months 2855 Rights Violations Occurred In Turkey":
7 March 2005
The Human Rights Association (IHD) Diyarbakir Branch Office has issued its monthly reports for January and February 2005. In these reports the IHD states that there were 2855 rights violations in this period. According to the reports 126 torture and mistreatment violations were registered; in these two months 1886 investigations were opened and 64 people were arrested. In armed conflict 7 were killed, while 5 people lost their lives in extra-judicial and summary killings, 6 were wounded, and 12 women were subjected to violence.
IHD Vice-President Lawyer Reyhan Yalcindag stated that everyone anticipated that there would be positive steps taken in terms of human rights following the 17 December agreement to open European Union negotiations; in reality, however, after this date developments appear to be not so good.
In the last two months the most serious rights’ violations occurred during armed conflict, followed by the right to demonstrate, freedom of speech, torture and violence against women.
The IHD statement states that the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government relaxed control after 17 December and it appears that all the violations were committed after that date. The statement continued with the following:
"There were especially perplexing hard interventions against people using their right to meeting and protest, the most clear evidence of which are violations against the right to life, arbitrary custodies and arrests after demonstrations. The most dramatic example of this is the killing of Umit Gonultas in Mersin just because he was using his right to demonstrate. In our region in the last 2 months 80 people were taken into custody and 109 people were injured during demonstrations. There were investigations opened against 1886 people for expressing their thoughts! All these developments in respect of human rights show us once again that the state has not changed its autocratic and oppressive character."
"There is a measure of democracy and human rights but these are limited by how much the state allows. Demands beyond this limit are treated by the government as anti-state and deserving of destruction. Despite the directives and seminars held by the Interior Ministry with the purpose of educating the police, forces who disperse demonstrators pursue people trying to run away for hundreds of metres and once they catch them they are beaten with rafters and truncheons. This work is carried out even by police officers in senior positions who are leading their forces. However, there are no administrative investigations opened against any security officer practising these violations."
The IHD statement said that the intolerance shown against Kurdish citizens wanting to use their right to demonstrate and their fundamental rights reached alarming levels in the last 2 months; most of the harsher violations have occurred in the East and Southeast Anatolia Region. The statement contains the following:statement:
“The government shows serious contradictions between what it says and what it practices. The serious violations in our region cast a shadow over the positive steps being taken. For this reason we request that the government establish a special committee to monitor violations in this region. It should work in close dialogue with human rights organisations.”
Violations are as follows:
In January:
Death in Combat: 7 dead - 6 wounded,
Extra-judicial Killings, Attacks, Summary Killings: 5 dead
Number of Detentions: 29
Claims of Torture and Ill-treatment: 6
Missing Persons Claims: 3
Arrests: 20
Expulsion from Work: 165
Administrative Investigations and fines in working environment: 36
Investigations and Fines against freedom of thought and speech: 1868
Requests to dispatch to prison: 4
Violence against Women: 9
Right to Health: 14
Suicide: 4
Total Number of Violations: 2186
There were a total of 59 applications sent to the IHD Diyarbakir Branch Office in January.
February:
Taken into custody: 97
Violence during Social Events: 102
Torture and Ill-Treatment: 120,
a) By Officials of Gendarmerie: 44,
b) By Officials of Security Forces: 74
c) By GKK: 2
Arrests: 44
Administrative Investigations and fines in working environment: 11
Investigations and Fines against freedom of thought and speech: 18
Requests to dispatch to prison: 3
Violence against Women: 3
Suicides: 2
Total Number of Violations: 669
There were a total of 249 applications sent to the IHD
Diyarbakir Branch Office in February. The number of violations of rights
in January and February is 2855. There were 308 applications made just
to the IHD Branch Office in Diyarbakir. 
2. - Human Rights Watch - "Turkey: Hollow promises
for Kurds displaced by army":
EU officials visiting Ankara must press Turkey to reinvigorate rights
reform
ANKARA / 7 March 2005
On a key benchmark for European Union membership, the Turkish government has failed to honor pledges to help 378,000 displaced people, mainly Kurds, return home more than a decade after the army forced them from their villages in southeastern Turkey, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.
On March 7-8, the European Union’s commissioner for enlargement, Olli Rehn, and a delegation of other high-level EU officials will visit Ankara to discuss Turkey’s membership. The EU officials should press Turkey to take effective steps to facilitate the return of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) to southeastern Turkey, where Turkish security forces expelled hundreds of thousands from their villages during an internal armed conflict that raged during the 1980s and 1990s.
The 37-page report, “Still Critical: Prospects in
2005 for Internally Displaced Kurds in Turkey,” details how the
Turkish government has failed to implement measures for IDPs the United
Nations recommended nearly three years ago. Since the European Union
confirmed Turkey’s membership candidacy in December, the Turkish
government appears to have shelved plans to enact those measures.
The report also details how Turkey has overstated its progress on internal
displacement in reports to the European Commission. Before the European
Union announced its decision to open membership talks, the Turkish government
sent the European Commission statistics suggesting that the problem
was well on its way to a solution—a requirement Turkey must fulfill
for full membership. Turkey claimed that a third of the displaced had
already returned, but Human Rights Watch revealed that permanent returns
in some places were less than a fifth of the government’s estimate.
“When we checked Turkey’s figures on helping the displaced return home, the numbers proved unreliable,” said Rachel Denber, acting executive director of Human Rights Watch’s Europe and Central Asia Division. “Also, the bare figures don’t convey how, thanks to government inaction, villagers are returning to places that are practically uninhabitable.”
In southeastern Turkey, the government has failed to provide infrastructure such as electricity, telephone lines and schools to returning communities, and has not provided proper assistance with house reconstruction.
“What’s worse, the government’s paramilitary village guards are attacking and killing returnees in some parts of southeastern Turkey,” added Denber.
Numerous intergovernmental bodies, as well as Turkish parliamentary commissions, have condemned the village guard system, which was devised in the 1980s to combat the illegal armed Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK, now known as Kongra Gel). More than 58,000 paramilitary village guards remain on the government payroll.
Human Rights Watch said that the government’s paramilitary guards have killed 11 returned villagers in southeastern Turkey in the past three years.
When the United Nations examined the plight of the displaced in Turkey in 2002, it recommended that the government establish a dedicated IDP unit, develop a partnership with the international community for the resolution of IDP problems, and provide compensation for the damages arising from the displacement. Nearly three years later, the Turkish government has established no joint projects with intergovernmental organizations, and there is still no central governmental office responsible for IDPs. Last year, the Turkish parliament passed a compensation law, but no payments have yet been made.
It is now 18 years since Human Rights Watch warned of the impending program of village destruction in a 1987 report during the conflict in southeastern Turkey. The Turkish army duly carried out its campaign with considerable violence, torturing, “disappearing” and extrajudicially executing villagers in the process. Human Rights Watch has since repeatedly criticized the Turkish government’s empty gestures in its return programs, issuing further reports in 1995 and 2002.
“The Turkish state tried to cover up what it did, and now it’s subjecting the displaced to years of delay,” said Denber. “When EU officials arrive in Ankara, they need to put the problem of the displaced at the top of their agenda.”
Human Rights Watch called on the European Union to press the Turkish government to move ahead by immediately approving an IDP project submitted last year by the United Nations Development Program. In addition, Ankara needs to establish an agency for IDPs that will take effective measures.
Since the European Union accepted Turkey’s membership candidacy in 1999, human rights reform has been a stop-start process in the country. Turkey still has much to do on the protection of freedom of expression, freedom of religion, language rights and protection against torture.
“The predicament of the displaced is the most pressing concern, but the Turkish government has lost focus on its reform task as a whole,” Denber noted. “Last week we had three delegates observing trials of Ragip Zarakolu and Fikret Baskaya, a publisher and a professor threatened with imprisonment for expressing their nonviolent opinions.”
Preventing torture is another area where the Turkish government seems to have run out of energy. Turkey has made substantial improvement in recent years, but in order to combat persistent incidents of torture and ill-treatment, the European Union recommended in October 2004 that the Turkish government establish independent monitoring of detention facilities. Five months later, Turkey has still not implemented independent monitoring, even though the necessary legal mechanisms are already in place.
In 2000, the European Union presented Turkey with a list
of benchmarks—known as the Accession Partnership—that Turkey
had to meet to become a full member. This was revised in 2003, and will
be revised again later this year.
3. - Daily Telegraph - "Turkey's tear-gassing of women hits EU entry bid":
BRUSSELS / 8 March 2005 / by Stephen Castle
Police violence against Turkish women demonstrators was criticised yesterday as scenes of female protesters being tear-gassed, kicked and beaten cast a cloud over Turkey's plans to start EU membership talks.
Riot police broke up the unauthorised protest, to mark International Women's Day, with truncheons and tear gas on Sunday, as EU officials and politicians arrived in the country for three days of talks with government officials.
Television images of the protest by about 300 people in Istanbul showed tear gas being sprayed at the eyes of demonstrators and a woman being kicked in the face.
Under attack over police tactics, Abdullah Gul, the Turkish foreign minister, promised an inquiry. But the incident has increased doubts about the readiness of the government for negotiations over EU membership which start on 3 October.
The EU delegation, which included Denis MacShane, Britain's Europe minister, and Olli Rehn, the EU enlargement commissioner, issued a statement saying it was "shocked by images of the police beating women and young people". It added: "On the eve of a visit by the EU during which the rights of women will be an important issue, we are concerned to see such disproportionate force used against demonstrators."
Britain, which will hold the EU presidency in the second half of the year, is among the strongest supporters of Turkey's membership bid, but it has privately urged Ankara to keep up the momentum for reform. At a private meeting last month, Tony Blair pressed Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish leader, to sign up to a deal extending a customs union with the EU to include Cyprus. This step is a precondition of the talks but Ankara has made no effort to move on the issue.
The UK is also concerned that Turkey, a member of Nato, is blocking co-operation with Europe's new defence structures because of Cyprus's membership of the EU.
EU diplomats said they did not think the riot incident could derail membership talks, and welcomed the promise of an inquiry, and the fact there was no attempt to sweep the events under the carpet.
But the police over-reaction has fuelled wider fears that Turkey has yet to make crucial adjustments required of countries joining the EU. Josep Borrell, president of the European Parliament, condemned the episode in the "strongest manner" adding: "The Turkish government must punish the perpetrators of these unspeakable acts which are incompatible with Turkey's ambitions to be part, one day, of the EU."
Jean Asselborn, foreign minister of Luxembourg which holds the EU presidency, urged Turkey to adopt a policy of zero tolerance towards torture, and to extend full property rights for non-Muslim religious groups.
Martin Schulz, leader of the socialist group in the European Parliament said the action was "absolutely appalling", and added: "The police behaviour demonstrates the gulf that exists between the official position that reforms are underway and the reality of life on the ground."
Mr Gul insisted Turkey was fully committed to meeting
all EU standards as it prepared for entry negotiations.
4. - Bianet - "Prime Minister Continues to Sue Journalists":
"Zafer" newspaper's owner Atar, chief editor Konukoglu and columnist Eyyupoglu, who criticized the Erdogan's treatment of Denktash, will pay a fine of 3,000 YTL in damages. The criminal suit against the journalists is awaiting the new penal code.
GAZIANTEP / 7 March 2005 / by Erol Onderoglu
Ismet Atar, the owner of "Zafer" (Victory) newspaper published in Gaziantep, the newspaper's editor-in-chief Atilla Konukoglu and columnist Halil Eyyupoglu were fined 3,000 YTL (new Turkish liras - USD 2,350) in damages for insulting Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The Prime Minister, who previously sued "Gunluk Evrensel" (Daily Evrensel) and "Cumhuriyet" (Republic) newspapers for publishing caricatures about him, and who lost a case against the "Sakarya" newspaper in Eskisehir, this time managed to convict the journalists of "Zafer" newspaper.
A Gaziantep court rejected a request by the journalists to postpone the case until the new Turkish Penal Code goes into effect in April. The court ruled that the defendants have to pay a fine of 3,000 liras in damages. The fine includes interest since April 14, when the article in question was published.
Eyyupoglu, in his column called "Karakalem" (Charcoal Pencil) had criticized Prime Minister Erdogan for his treatment of Rauf Denktash, the president of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Erdogan had told Denktash, who wanted to come to Turkey and make an announcement ahead of a reunification referendum in Cyprus, to "go and say whatever he has to say in Cyprus.''
Another lawsuit for an article titled, "Kurdistan after Cyprus?" is awaiting the new Turkish Penal Code (TCK), which will go into effect in April 1. During the last hearing, the court had ruled to postpone the trial until June 10. The journalists face from three to eight years in prison in found guilty.
Less fines in the new TCK
In the new TCK the "insult" action is under "crimes against honor."
Under article 125 of the new TCK damaging the honor, dignity
or prestige of a person is punishable by three months to two years in
prison or a fine. The punishment is increased by one sixth if the insult
is made openly in public, and one third if it is made through the media.
5. - AZADI - "Remzi Kartal freed!":
Bamberg Federal High Court refuses Turkey’s application
for extradition. Press statement from AZADI (German foundation that
provides legal advice to Kurdish people in Germany)
2 March 2005 / translated by Peace in Kurdistan Campaign
AZADI welcomes the decision yesterday by the Bamberg Federal High Court
to reject Turkey’s application for the extradition of Dr. Remzi
Kartal and to cancel the arrest warrant that had been in force. The
grounds given by the judges for the decision were that the documents
supporting the extradition request, received from the Turkish authorities
on 25 February, were “so inadequate and contradictory” that
the court was not able to “agree to maintain an arrest warrant
in force on the basis of them”. In particulars produced by Court
no.14 in Istanbul on 9 August 2004 and laid before the Bamberg Federal
High Court, Dr. Kartal was accused by way of criminal action only of
“membership of the terrorist organisation”, without giving
the name of the organisation referred to. “Time” and “Place”
of the crime, as well as citation of the applicable section of the penal
code were completely absent. Evidence to back the accusation and provide
grounds for arrest was similarly lacking. In the opinion of the Court,
“arrest warrant documentation so markedly lacking in contents did
not meet European standards or conform to the principles of the rule
of law” and therefore could not be “legally effective”.
Also the description of the facts of the case was “essentially”
limited to a description of the “political career of the accused”.
The central point is that Remzi Kartal is simply accused of being the
vice-chair of KONGRA-GEL. According to the Bamberg Federal High Court,
the assertion by the Turkish Justice Ministry that KONGRA-GEL aims at
the secession of part of Turkey does not satisfy the criteria for the
elements of the crime of creating a terrorist organisation (Penal Code
§129a).
Also the fact that the PKK/KADEK/KONGRA-GEL was put on the EU list of
terrorist organisations does not in the view of the court absolve an
applicant from submitting to the court details of concrete facts from
which “arise the commission or at least the threat of the most
serious criminal acts”.
The judges refused to answer the proposal to the Bamberg Federal High Court by the public prosecutor’s office to extend the 40 day period for submission of documents relating to the requested extradition, as they had legal doubt as to whether the defective documents were “at all capable of rectification”. According to Article 16 Para 4 of the European Convention on Extradition, the duration of a provisional detention for the purpose of extradition may not exceed 40 days. This period expired on 3 March. Dr. Kartal had been detained by a special police unit on 22 January 2005 on the way to a cultural event in Würzburg and formally arrested on the following day. The reason for this was an international arrest warrant, which the Turkish Justice Ministry was trying to use, via Interpol, to have Dr. Kartal provisionally arrested, in order to prosecute him in Turkey under the Turkish Penal Code on suspicion of membership of a terrorist organisation.
AZADI wishes Dr. Kartal well and hopes that he will be
able to continue freely and unhindered as vice-chair of KONGRA-GEL with
his activities on behalf of Kurdish people’s legitimate demands
for freedom.
6. - Global Politican - "Turkish-Iranian-Syrian Relations: Limits of Regional Politics in the Middle East":
9 March 2005 / by Dr. Bulent Aras*
The geography of the Middle East is subject to direct international interference through the interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq and through political attempts to transform the region socially, politically, and economically. Calls for reform and renovation have reached a heightened level, and Western states are pushing for the development of good governance, democracy, and human rights in Middle Eastern societies.
Turkey, Syria and Iran are influential actors in Middle Eastern politics. The relations and the cooperation between these states occur at a time when Syria and Iran have been accused by the Bush administration of being antagonists to a peaceful and democratic international system. The ongoing relations between these states, and how these states interact with the international community, is revealing since they are important components of the regional power balance.
Regional Interactions
The U.S. administration adopted a high profile policy against Syria and Iran and poses a threat to these countries. Washington accuses the two states of supporting terrorism in the region, pursuing clandestine activities in Iraq and building weapons of mass destruction. Among these two, the Bush administration primarily points out Iran for its alleged nuclear weapons program. The Bush administration argues that Iran is very close to acquiring nuclear weapons considering the progress of its nuclear-enrichment facilities. The administration is pursuing a number of measures to slow Iran's development of nuclear material, from tightening the economic sanctions policy on the country to attacking its nuclear facilities.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has pursued a more pragmatic line in relations with the West, particularly after the 9/11 attacks. His pursuing a constructive policy line helped his relations with the international community but could not rid the suspicions directed at his country. Syria is accused of supporting international terrorism, in addition to the old and continuous allegations of Damascus' support for terrorist and militant activities in Israel. In addition, there are new accusations that terrorist networks -- mainly al-Qaeda -- have connections in Syria and that Syrian Ba'athists support old Ba'athist cadres in Iraq, who are believed to constitute the backbone of the resistance in the country. Although evidence has not been provided for many of these accusations, the Bush administration has used them to heighten its pressure on Syria.
Turkey has long borders with both Iran and Syria and is in the same region. However, it displays a different regional and international profile. Turkey has undergone a reform process in the legal, political and economic realms in an effort to fulfill the Copenhagen criteria of the European Union; it also worked with an I.M.F.-led economic program. Turkey's transformation put an end to the Cold War style of a security state apparatus and changed the framework of its domestic and foreign policy. The practical result has been adopting an active diplomacy to minimize problems with neighboring countries.
The March 2003 motion that forbade U.S. troops from using Turkish territory in the war against Iraq was a historical turning point for Turkey. The Turkish parliament prevented the United States from opening a northern front against Iraq on the given justification that the international community considered the war illegitimate. Turkey's decision prolonged the process of the Iraqi invasion, forced the U.S. to search for greater legitimacy, and drew more attention to the Palestinian question as a reason for much of the region's instability. Whilst Turkey is accustomed to balancing between the chaotic Middle Eastern system and the peace and stability of Europe, it now appears to be moving closer to the E.U. In this respect, Syria and Iran approved of Turkey's E.U. membership process and consider a European Turkey as a chance to develop their relations with the E.U.
Turkish-Syrian-Iranian Relations
For a long time, both Turkey and Syria were locked in a relationship shaped by historical enmity, the prevalence of hostile establishment ideologies, and the attempts of policymakers to "externalize" some major domestic problems. After Syria's expulsion of the leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party in 1997, the relations returned to a good track. Syria also has been the first test case of Turkey's good neighborhood policy. In late December 2004, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan paid a two-day visit to Syria, which brought optimistic prospects for future bilateral relations.
More specifically, close relations between Turkey and Syria seem meaningful from the commercial and security standpoints. During the Turkish delegation's visit to Damascus, both sides signed a free trade agreement with the idea of expanding it to the regional level. Policymakers in both countries share the view that they have legitimate concerns about the future of Iraq and should cooperate in every possible way, as they already have started doing through the meeting of the countries bordering Iraq, to enhance stability.
Turkish-Iranian relations were shaped under the effect of the nature of the changing regime in Iran, conflicting interests in Central Asia and the Caucasus, relations with the United States and Israel, and the anxiety about the future of Iraq in general and northern Iraq in particular. Investments of Turkish companies in Iran and agreements concerning the purchase of natural gas have added a new dimension to the relations in recent years. Domestic politics in both countries has come to play an important role towards each other. Turkey follows a similar accommodating policy line as the E.U. when it comes to Iran.
Ankara is anxious over the context of international relations emerging in the triangle of the U.S., Israel and nuclear weapons. Turkey had a sense of security based on its superiority of conventional weapons and promotes the idea of an active international diplomacy to bring Iran to internationally acceptable terms in this regard. Ankara's one major concern is that both countries strive for the territorial integrity of Iraq and for the establishment of a stable neighbor state.
Syrian-Iranian relations follow a different path. Damascus keeps its troops in Lebanon and supports, along with Iran, militant groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah. After the U.S. administration's recall of its ambassador in Damascus and the heightening of tension between the U.S. and Iran, these two countries declared that they will act together and form a common front against perceived external threats.
Is an Enduring Cooperation Possible?
Although most of the structural and historical problems for improving relations between these three countries have been part of history, there are a number of impediments that are likely to prevent this relationship from emerging as long-term cooperation. The major impediment is Washington's hard-line policy against Syria and Iran. It has been a catchword in the influential circles of the U.S. administration that these two countries are serious problems for American interests in the greater Middle East.
Although the U.S. administration is mostly alone in its allegations of organized Syrian meddling in Iraq, it has the E.U. on board, especially France, in its opposition to Syrian interference in Lebanon. The U.S.-Iran tensions are more serious and likely to yield more destructive results in a shorter period of time. The U.S. attitude differs from the general approach of the international community, but if Iranian uranium enrichment activities continue, this situation may change against Iran.
The recent period also witnessed oscillating relations between Turkey and the U.S. due to the conflict in Iraq. Turkey's parliamentary motion that disallowed U.S. soldiers to enter Iraq through Turkish territory was a surprising development for U.S. policymakers. Although relations have improved in due course, there is an implicit mistrust on both sides.
Ankara is not satisfied with the U.S. administration's declaration that they are in favor of Iraq's territorial integrity and do not support the idea of a Kurdish state in northern Iraq. The U.S. administration is not happy with the rising anti-Americanism in Turkish society and anti-American discourse in the media and academic circles. There have been problematic periods between Turkey and the U.S. in the past, but the Turkish administration did not permit the escalation of the tension to a level that would undermine relations. Considering the current state of relations, Turkey gained more room to maneuver vis-à-vis U.S. policies in the Middle East. However, Turkey's domestic political balances, regional preferences and international orientations set a limit for its alienation from the U.S. Turkey's main strength in the region derives from its close relations with both the U.S. and E.U.
Turkey's new policy line aims to promote a regional peacemaker role and gives priority to democratic legitimacy in international relations. If Syria and Iran do not act according to the demands of the international community, then it may be difficult for Turkey to pursue relations at the current level. Turkey's new neighborhood policy has a vision of minimizing the problems in its neighboring regions, but to avoid being pulled into international confrontations. Otherwise, Turkey will contradict with its projected aims and targets in the region.
Conclusion
The escalation of tension between the U.S. and Syria and Iran will dominate the fate of the region in the near future. The regional countries face the reality that regional politics is no longer independent from the realities of world politics of the 9/11 era. The relations between Turkey, Syria and Iran are exemplary in this sense. An enduring cooperation among countries needs to be built on a delicate balance between shared interests of the parties and the perceptions of international society, especially those in the top echelons of the power hierarchy in international relations.
The second half of this decade will be difficult for both the allies and the enemies of the U.S. in the Middle East. On the enemy side, the U.S. administration poses serious threats to Iran and Syria. On the ally side, as Turkey recognized in the recent period, they may come to face with making a choice between their regional interests and U.S. regional designs. U.S. pressure on its allies and enemies is likely to yield changes on the domestic and foreign policies of these countries and to change the patterns of cooperation and conflict in the region. (07 March 2005)
Copyright The Power and Interest News Report (PINR) is an independent organization that utilizes open source intelligence to provide conflict analysis services in the context of international relations. PINR approaches a subject based upon the powers and interests involved, leaving the moral judgments to the reader. This report may not be reproduced, reprinted or broadcast without the written permission of inquiries@pinr.com. All comments should be directed to content@pinr.com.
* Bulent Aras, a Professor of International Relations
at Fatih University in Istanbul, is an independent political consultant
on Turkish and Middle Eastern affairs. Email: abulent@fatih.edu.tr.
7. - BBC - "Turkey renames 'divisive' animals":
Even animal names can become contentious in politics
7 March 2005
Turkey has said it is changing the names of three animals found on its territory to remove references to Kurdistan or Armenia.
The environment ministry says the Latin names of the red fox, the wild sheep and the roe deer will be altered.
The red fox for instance, known as Vulpes Vulpes Kurdistanica, will now be known as Vulpes Vulpes.
Turkey has uneasy relations with neighbouring Armenia and opposes Kurdish separatists in Turkey.
The ministry said the old names were contrary to Turkish unity.
"Unfortunately there are many other species in Turkey which were named this way with ill intentions. This ill intent is so obvious that even species only found in our country were given names against Turkey's unity," a ministry statement quoted by Reuters news agency said.
Some Turkish officials say the names are being used to argue that Armenians or Kurds had lived in the areas where the animals were found.
Turkey has tense ties with its eastern neighbour Armenia, which it does not officially recognise.
Armenians accuse Turkey of genocide, saying 1.5 million of their people died or were deported from their homelands under Turkish Ottoman rule.
Turkey denies the genocide and says the death count is inflated.
For the last two decades, Turkey has also been fighting Kurdish separatists, who have sought an independent state in Turkey's south-east.
NAME CHANGES
Red fox known as Vulpes Vulpes Kurdistanica becomes Vulpes Vulpes.
Wild sheep called Ovis Armeniana becomes Ovis Orientalis Anatolicus.
Roe deer known as Capreolus Capreolus Armenus becomes
Capreolus Cuprelus Capreolus.
8. - Financial Times - "Kurds seek pledge on return to Kirkuk":
BAGHDAD / 8 March 2005 / by Steve Negus and Dhiya Rasan
Kurdish parties have asked for a written promise that
Iraq's next government will promote the resettlement of Kurds in the
disputed province of Kirkuk as the price of their support for a new
governing coalition.
In a sign that such a promise may be forthcoming and that a government
may soon be formed, members of the United Iraqi Alliance, which won
140 of 275 seats in the next parliament, expressed sympathy for the
Kurds' demands. The Shia-dominated Alliance needs the Kurds' 75 parliamentary
seats to get the two-thirds majority needed to form a new government.
"We hope that the deportees and immigrants can be returned [to their respective places of origin] in less than six months," said Jawad Talab, political counsel to Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a Shia politician likely to become the next prime minister.
Hoshyar Zebari, Iraq's current foreign minister and a negotiator for the Kurdish bloc, said yesterday that Iraq's next government should offer "written assurances" that it will adhere to Iraq's Transitional Administrative Law (TAL), which requires the reversal of deportation of Kurds from Kirkuk which occurred under Saddam Hussein.
The TAL was promulgated under US occupation, and contained several controversial articles in addition to the resettlement of Kurds. Most important, it granted Iraq's three Kurdish provinces an effective veto over a draft constitution to be put to referendum later this year -arequirement that has been questioned by Shia and Sunni Arabs.
Resettlement is opposed by some Turkoman and Sunni Arab
leaders from Kirkuk, who fear Kurds will flood Kirkuk and seize control
of the oil-rich province.