27 January 2006

1. "Turkey Charges Kurdish Ex-Deputies For Praising Ocalan", an Ankara prosecutor has charged two Kurdish former members of the Turkish parliament with praising jailed rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan, the Anatolia news agency reported Thursday.

2. "Kurdish rebels release kidnapped Turkish policeman", Turkish Kurdish rebels have released a Turkish policeman in northern Iraq after keeping him hostage for almost four months, human rights activists said Friday. The officer, Hakan Acil, was on his way to Turkey, accompanied by a group of rights activists who secured his release, a senior member of the Human Rights Association, Mihdi Perincek, told AFP.

3. "Turkey warms to talk, not action, in Iraq", more important, from a Turkish point of view, Goss also told Ankara that if it cooperated, the US would "green light" a Turkish cross-border attack on the People's Liberation Army, the armed wing of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), now known as the Kurdistan Freedom and Democracy Congress. The PKK has a 10,000-strong militia in the mountains of northern Iraq.

4. "Developing Journalistic Approach Toward Child", about 40 reporters and NGO representatives participated in the training seminar on Reporting on Children's Rights by BIA² and UNICEF in Ankara. The violations in the stories were discussed and prospects probed for a child-friendly media.

5. "'Judicial reform essential'", TÜSIAD echoes Straw’s call for more reforms.

6. "Kurdish writer sentenced to 30 years to be retried", a Kurdish writer sentenced to 30 years in prison for accusing Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani of abuse of power is to be retried, a court official said on Wednesday.

1. - AFP - "Turkey Charges Kurdish Ex-Deputies For Praising Ocalan":

ANKARA / 26 January 2006

An Ankara prosecutor has charged two Kurdish former members of the Turkish parliament with praising jailed rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan, the Anatolia news agency reported Thursday.

Selim Sadak and Hatip Dicle, former deputies for the now-banned Democracy Party, could be jailed for up to two years if convicted over an interview they gave in September to the Denmark-based Kurdish television channel, Roj TV.

The report of the indictments came as a group of 25 Kurds in neighbouring Armenia staged a hunger strike Thursday in protest over Ocalan's detention on the prison island of Imrali in the Marmara sea south of Istanbul.

"Recently the Turkish authorities have toughened Ocalan's detention conditions. His health is threatened," said organiser Jenia Amirian.

"He is not allowed to see his lawyers. His hour-long exercise sessions have been forbidden. We want to bring the attention of international opinion to Turkey's inhumane behaviour," she said.

The news agency said Dicle and Sadak were accused of terming Ocalan's jail sentence "isolation" and asserting that "this will never be accepted by the Kurdish people" of Turkey.

The pair spent 10 years behind bars with two other ex-deputies, Orhan Dogan and Leyla Zana, on charges of backing Ocalan's outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Freed in June 2004 the four are awaiting trial for a third time.

The Turkish government accuses Roj TV of being a PKK mouthpiece.

2. - AFP - "Kurdish rebels release kidnapped Turkish policeman":

ANKARA / 27 January 2006

Turkish Kurdish rebels have released a Turkish policeman in northern Iraq after keeping him hostage for almost four months, human rights activists said Friday.
The officer, Hakan Acil, was on his way to Turkey, accompanied by a group of rights activists who secured his release, a senior member of the Human Rights Association, Mihdi Perincek, told AFP.

The outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) abducted the officer in early October near a small village in the southeastern province of Sirnak, which borders Iraq and Syria.

The PKK, which has bases in the mountains of neighboring northern Iraq, has fought for self-rule in predominantly Kurdish southeastern Turkey since 1984.

3. - Asia Times - "Turkey warms to talk, not action, in Iraq":

27 January 2006 / by Bashdar Pusho Ismaeel*

Turkey suddenly finds itself in the limelight as international concern over Iran's nuclear program grows, and the chances of Tehran being hauled before the United Nations Security Council increase.

Porter Goss, director of the US Central Intelligence Agency, visited Turkey on December 12 and informed Prime Minister

Redep Tayyip Erdogan that the US was seriously considering striking Iran some time in 2006, and he asked the Turks to share intelligence on Iran.

More important, from a Turkish point of view, Goss also told Ankara that if it cooperated, the US would "green light" a Turkish cross-border attack on the People's Liberation Army, the armed wing of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), now known as the Kurdistan Freedom and Democracy Congress. The PKK has a 10,000-strong militia in the mountains of northern Iraq.

Turkey is fearful of an independent Kurdish state being established in Iraq as this could ignite its Kurdish minority in its eastern provinces. Turkey fought a war with the PKK in the mid-1980s.

Moreover, Turkey is concerned that if the Kurds seize the oilfields of Kirkuk and Mosul in Iraq, independence would be a foregone conclusion. This in turn could revive separatist demands in the Kurdish populations in Syria, Iran and, of course, Turkey.

According to Conn Hallinan, a foreign-policy analyst for Foreign Policy In Focus, these developments suggest a quid pro quo between Washington and Ankara. This would mean that the US attacks Iran, with minimal protest from the Turks, while at the same time Ankara hits the PKK and derails the formation of a Kurdish state, with minimal comment from the US.

This falls into the realm of speculation. On the ground, there are indications that Turkey is coming to the realization that armed intervention is not necessarily the answer.

Recipe for disaster

The seeds for hostility were sown in the aftermath of the fall of the Ottoman Empire, as Kurds were denied self-determination and two main swaths of Kurdish land were submersed into Iraq and the newly founded Turkish republic. Suddenly, Turkey found a large Kurdish minority on its doorstep, with a further Kurdish headache in its back yard that, unchecked, would threaten the very foundations of the republic.

Battles ensued in both Iraq and Turkey intermittently, as a concoction of repression and rebellion dominated society. With the ruthless regime of Saddam Hussein taking adequate care of the Iraqi Kurds, Turkey could more evidently concentrate on its own far bigger problem - its own restive Kurds, thought to number about 15 million and long denied cultural and ethnic rights.

When the PKK took up arms in 1984, it was in the middle of the Iran-Iraq War. Southeastern Turkey became a daily battlefield, as successive Turkish governments largely failed to overcome militants, increasingly causing havoc on the economy.

However, in 1991, somewhat ironically, the tables turned as a mass of Kurdish refugees arrived at the Turkish border in frantic flight from Ba'athist repression, in the middle of the war with the PKK. With a fierce spotlight on Turkey, it eventually had no choice but to provide partial humanitarian relief and eventually support the establishment of a "safe haven" in the north of Iraq.

Turkey found it difficulty to accept its new Kurdish neighbor, which embraced autonomy, a cultural renaissance and literal freedom. If unchecked, a discomforting paradox could soon develop, with one side of the border denying any existence of Kurds and the other side proudly welcoming visitors to the "Kurdistan of Iraq" at the border crossing.

Perhaps from then on, a sense of inevitability hit Turkey, realizing that it could not actively control the dealings of the Kurds on both sides of the border. The Iraqi Kurds, although landlocked, had the benefit of much sympathy, with their plight brought into the international arena, and crucially they had support from the United States and the United Kingdom via daily air patrols.

In turn, Turkey's focus shifted to solving the PKK dilemma. Behind the scenes, a different stance was adopted and diplomatic cross-border relationships soon prospered. After all, creating two battles was almost unwinnable where the setting was in the middle of the Kurdish plains. Trade and commerce thrived.

However, the United States' invasion of Iraq served to cement Turkish fears as the Iraqi Kurds rejoined the greater Iraq, with guaranteed sovereignty and an influential role on the new blueprint of Iraq. Certain ride lines set by Turkey, such as control of oil-rich Kirkuk, now all but a certainty, with this being a key Kurdish stipulation, were soon discarded as the Kurds continued on a new path to promise. They won control of leading ministries as Iraqi coalition partners and became close allies of the US.

Turkish fears were highlighted further with most of the key Kurdish demands being enshrined in the Iraqi constitution and Kurdistan proclaiming its first official president - Massaud Barzani.

In this light, a continuing blind eye to the proceeding across the border would be counterproductive and dangerous.

This resulted in a more cooperative era between Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan, with commerce thriving and billions of US dollars' worth of contracts been awarded to Turkish construction firms in the process. Booming cross-border trade was highlighted by the commencement of daily flights from Istanbul to Arbil and Sulaimaniya, to facilitate popular demand for a more accessible route.

Perhaps as a more political solution was sought to the Kurdish problem, there came a realization that working with the Iraqi Kurds could actually bring about much-needed stability to Turkey itself. With Iraqi Kurds the potential benefactors of a land awash in oil, Turkey could kill two birds with one stone - solve its own Kurdish dilemma and also benefit from the democratic and economic developments in Iraq.

Massaud Barzani recently acknowledged the thawing of ties and confirmed that he would be happy to mediate between the PKK and Turkey.

After all, the options left for Turkey are fast fading. If Iraqi Kurds win a strong federation, or even outright independence conducted via democratic means, a border blockade by Turkey would be catastrophic for the Iraqi Kurds, who heavily rely on Turkish supply lines, but this would not be sustainable. Any armed invasion, threatened on more than one occasion, would lead to mass bloodshed and would all but end Turkey's elusive dream of joining the European Union.

* Bashdar Ismaeel is a London-based freelance writer who also holds first-class bachelor of science degree honors. The focus of his work is primarily on Iraq, the Kurds and Middle Eastern current affairs. He can be contacted at bashdar@hotmail.com.

4. - Bianet - "Developing Journalistic Approach Toward Child":

About 40 reporters and NGO representatives participated in the training seminar on Reporting on Children's Rights by BIA² and UNICEF in Ankara. The violations in the stories were discussed and prospects probed for a child-friendly media.

ISTANBUL / 26 January 2006 / Kemal Ozmen

Local reporters rallied in Ankara for developing journalistic approach towards covering children's issues.

"Establishing a Countrywide Network for Monitoring and Covering Media Freedom and Independent Journalism" (BIA²) Project by the IPS Communications Foundation and the Turkey Unit of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) organized the third of the training seminar series on Reporting on Children's Rights in Ankara on January 21-22.

About 40 local reporters, representatives of non-governmental organizations, and academicians discussed possibilities for a child-friendly media and children's participation in the media, on the basis of rights reporting.

There were heated discussions on children who have been pushed into committing crimes and the media's violations of rights when covering issues about children.

The local media will be more sensitive

The participants agreed that children are not only the adults of the future or members of the family, but individuals who have certain rights in the society. Through a "letter of commitment" they signed after the training, the reporters pledged to "fulfill their responsibilities as members of the media, to implement the rights outlined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child."

In this letter of commitment, the participants promised to "pay attention not to violate children's rights when reporting about children, to try and protect the children's freedom of expression and their right to express their opinion on issues that concern them."

They also promised to produce a certain number of "news reports or interviews about children, or about issues that would raise awareness about children's rights in the next six months" and to spend effort to get these news reports or interviews published by the media company they work at.

Hosta: The media should take upon the role of being inquisitive and supervisory

The training began with BIA² Project Advisor Nadire Mater talking about the BIA project, and Sema Hosta, who is responsible of the UNICEF Communications Program, talking about UNICEF's New Country Programme.

Hosta drew attention to the fact that the media's mission is not only to report but also to be effective in being inquisitive and supervisory.

Hosta underlined that the media, and especially the local media, has a big responsibility in advancing children's rights. She said the most important experience of UNICEF was to work locally and expressed the fact that conditions can be very different even in regions that are geographically very close to each other.

She said the local media has a lot of say especially in campaigns. Hosta stated that the local media acted much faster and more effectively than the national media in the "Come on Girls, to School Campaign" launched to encourage girls to go to school, for example.

Geldof: Many people are not aware of the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child

"Many people in the world are not aware of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child," said Lynn Geldof, the UNICEF Europe and Central Asia Communications Adviser, who attended the training seminar.

"And very little people know that the two countries that did not ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child are the USA and Somalia."

Geldof said Turkey, as a country that has ratified the Convention is obliged to present periodical reports to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva. "The preparation of the report is a very important process because it harmonizes national regulations with the Convention," said Geldof.

Geldof said that the alternative reports by non-governmental organizations are the voices of the civil society and serve as a social control mechanism on issues not covered by the government reports.

"The media can fulfill its responsibility by making the government accountable to children," said Geldof, adding that the media should respect the privacy and rights of the children when talking to them, or writing about them.

Onat: Equal responsibility for a point of view that has a focus on children

Yasemin Onat, a lawyer from the Antalya Bar Association made the first presentation on Saturday on "Children's Rights and Reporting." During her presentation, she talked about the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the UN Millennium Development in Turkey, children's rights as the subject of the news report, and the media's handling of children.

Onat said that the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child oversees four basic rights of the child: The right to live develops, protect and participate.

She said that a child-centered perspective views children as active individuals, active members of the society.

Onat said there is a very widespread belief that the parents carry all the responsibility of the child. But she stated that the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child imposes equal responsibility to teachers, law and healthcare workers, state institutions, politics, budget, NGOs, media and international institutions and regulations.

She said the system would collapse unless all the aforementioned fully protect the children and fulfill their responsibilities.

"Legal notions that are not used correctly legitimize rights violations. Under the law, children under 18 cannot be questioned. Children under 12 do not have criminal liability. They cannot be called a 'criminal'."

Onat said all investigations that involve children should be confidential and closed to press and public.

"Article 17 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child regulate the children's right to obtain information, documents and news from means of mass communication.

* Information and documents that comply with the needs of the child.

* The publications should not have a harming or labeling effect.

The participants analyzed the expectations of the children, families, society and media managers' expectations from the media during the "Role of Press" workshop directed by trainer.

Cangoz: Language is a subjective instrument

On Saturday afternoon, Assistant Associate Prof. Dr. Incilay Cangoz from the Communications Department of the Anadolu University, made a presentation on "Children as the Source of News, Ethics, Violations of Children's Rights in the Media."

Dr. Cangoz said the media produces representations in the public space and these representations gain a social meaning. She underlined the importance of what is being chosen as representation and how it is being communicated.

She said that children are only subjects of the news on religious holidays, children's days, and at the beginning of school years.

She argued that children, who are viewed as objects of consumption, are presented as 'villains' in the media. She said the media's economy-politics, the codes of professional journalism, the hierarchical structure of the media production, sticking to certain sources and the use of masculine-language, all play a role in this.

"We perceive the world, ourselves and our surroundings with the language we create," said Cangoz. "We have to be careful when creating meanings." She examined news clips with participants.

Degirmencioglu: We need to think collectively

Associate-Professor Dr. Serdar Degirmencioglu of the Children's Rights Coalition, made a presentation after Cangoz, on "Children's Representation in the Media."

He expressed that participation is a basic right of the children and talked about the possibilities of children's participation in the media.

Degirmencioglu said research shows that children prefer the Internet and television. "There is no place for newspapers in their preferences, if the newspapers continue to ignore children, they will have no future."

Degirmencioglu said participation means, having a say in the decision-making process, to be influential, to have the opportunity to actively intervene, and to be able to work with adults.

Working with children means "less filtering, new ideas and creativity," added Degirmencioglu. He argued that the newspapers should embrace the attitude of making a difference instead of protecting the system and highlighted the advantages of the local media:

"The national media, because of its sterile structure, is distant from the children. But the local media has many opportunities."

Degirmencioglu gave examples participation of children in the media. The participation of young people in the local "Bush Radio" in South Africa, the publication of the "Agustos" (August) newspaper by the young people who were affected by the 1999 earthquake, and the storesoup.com, which is prepared by children and edited by adults in the US, are successful examples of "working together."

Duran: the media should stop producing the perception of child in society

On the second day of the training, BIA Project Advisor Nadire Mater talked about the bianet Web site, and BIA Children's Rights Editor Kemal Ozmen talked about the Children's Web site.

Ragip Duran from the Communications Department of Galatasaray University, conducted a workshop on "Violations of Children's Rights in the Media, Covering Children's Issues and Conducting Interviews with Children."

Duran, in a presentation before the workshop, advocated that the media recreates the society's perception of children. He said the notions about children, who are usually limited to ages 0-18, are not properly known and added this negatively affects the news reports.

He said it is very important for the media to correctly structure the notion and image of the child in fighting against prejudices.

"It is very dangerous to consider the child as 'the other,'" said Duran. He drew attention to the fact that children are frequently subjected to violence, discrimination and are exploited for pornography.

Duran said there are not many differences between interviewing children and interviewing adults but added the reporter must pay attention to certain issues when the interviewee is a child.

After discussing with participants what these issues may be, Duran listed what a reporter must do when interviewing a child:

* The child must be regarded as an independent individual,

* The child must be informed before the interview,

* The reporter must get permission for the interview,

* The reporter must choose a place where the child would feel comfortable,

* The questions must be clear and proceed from general to particular

* The language should be simple and understandable,

* The reporter must avoid being accusatory and should ask objective questions,

* The reporter must not be sentimental and should keep an emotional distance,

* The reporter must confirm the information taken from the child

The participants broke into four groups after the workshop and analysed the violations of children's rights in the media by using news clips.

UNICEF representative Lynn Geldof made a presentation after the workshop and talked about the importance of correct information about the avian influenza and the points that the media should pay attention to when covering this issue.

Criticisms and proposals

After the training seminar, participants presented their criticisms and proposals.

All participants said they found the training very fruitful and added they would share what they have learned with their colleagues.

There were criticisms on the technical problems that caused the training to be interrupted from time to time, and that the seminar was too short.

The participants asked for the training seminar to continue and to be conducted in their provinces as well.

Participants

Afyonkarahisar: Mustafa Daghan (Goruntu newspaper), Onur Zelveci (Odak newspaper), Selahattin Celikkol (ER TV), Sait Karaduman (Anadolu News Agency),

Ankara: Mete Karakul (Newspaper Ankara) Berin Canli (Oz-Ge Der), Janset Bay (Oz-Ge Der), Recep Dogan (SHCEK), Cilem Kaya (Birgun newspaper), Turkay Asma (Ankara Bar Association Children's Rights Commission), Melika Komurcu (Ankara Bar Association), Ismail Yuce (Manset News), Abdullah Irem (Imaj radio), Bedia Boran (Ankara Bar Association), Sevilay Celenk (Communications Department of Ankara University), Irfan Aktan (Communications Department of Ankara University/ bianet)

Aksaray: Fikret Irmak (ART), Nurcan Yolalan (ART)

Bolu: Huseyin Aykan (owner of Newspaper Express) , Bedriye Ensari (Newspaper Express)

Corum: Gunes Cuhadar Corum Haber newspaper

Hakkari: Sevket Yilmaz Yuksekova news

Cankiri: Ali Kor (Bizim Cankiri newspaper)

Konya: Umit Kalkan (Press Office of Konya Metropolitan Municipality), Mehmet Yasa (KTV), Fikret Malkoc (Memleket newspaper), Hasan Bacaksiz (Anadolu Gundem), Muhammet Sorgun (Sun TV)

Nevsehir: Hasan Sozlu (Metropol Haber), Adem Ozdemir (Gul FM), Mediha Iven (Goreme TV)

Nigde: Ahmet Oncu (Nigde Haber newspaper), Muhammet Yilmaz (Nigde Haber newspaper), Fevzi Buyukkural (Anadolu Haber newspaper), Fatih Kizilkaya (Hamle newspaper), Zonguldak: Zuriye Iskenderoglu (Inanis newspaper). Ismail Cizmeci (Hamle newspaper).

5. - Turkish Daily News - "'Judicial reform essential'":

TÜSIAD echoes Straw’s call for more reforms

ANKARA / 27 January 2006

Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen's Association (TÜSIAD) Chairman Ömer Sabanci said on Thursday that Turkey's justice system was in need of immediate and comprehensive reform, noting that without practical applications European Union harmonization reforms would not produce anything.

Speaking at TÜSIAD's 36th General Council meeting, Sabanci said the need for reform has been obvious for a long time but that failure to do so was causing more problems every day.

“In particular courts making decisions as if there have been no changes made in the laws concerning freedom of expression and cultural rights is causing certain problems,” said Sabanci.

He suggested that the structure of the Judges and Prosecutors' Supreme Board (HSYK) be changed, with less political clout over the institution. He also called for an end to amnesties.

6. - Reuters - "Kurdish writer sentenced to 30 years to be retried":

ARBIL / 26 January 2006

A Kurdish writer sentenced to 30 years in prison for accusing Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani of abuse of power is to be retried, a court official said on Wednesday.

Kamal Karim, who also accused Barzani of corruption, is expected to be released in a few days and will then stand trial in another court, Mohammed Omar, a member of the appeal court of the Kurdish capital Arbil, told Reuters.

"The verdict on the Kurdish academic was cancelled by the criminal committee of the appeal court in Arbil," said Omar.

"The file will be sent to the offences court that does not give sentences of more than five years in cases it sees."

Karim was found guilty in December under a law passed by the Kurdish regional parliament in 2003. The region has a high degree of autonomy, including the power to enact legislation.

The case could cause embarrassment for the Kurdish government, which prides itself on having a better human rights record than public bodies elsewhere in Iraq.

Kurdish leaders promised to help deliver democracy and freedom of the press in Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein, who oppressed the Kurds for decades.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said Karim was convicted of defaming Barzani last year in an article on Kurdish news Web site Kurdistanpost.

European president Austria condemned the trial and called for Karim's release. He has Austrian citizenship.

The writer was arrested in late October and brought to court on Dec. 19 for what he was told would be a procedural hearing, the CPJ said, basing its account on an e-mail which Karim wrote.

When he got to court in Arbil, the 48-year-old was told he was on trial. He had only five minutes to confer with a defence lawyer and the trial lasted just one hour, the CPJ said.