4 January 2006

1. "NGO: Turkey's 2005 reforms failed to improve practice", Turkey failed to solve important problems in its Constitution, election system, political parties and penal codes despite a host of legal reforms in 2005 and these problems continued to pose a great danger which may exacerbate a lack of trust in politics, said a non-governmental organization (NGO) on Tuesday.

2. "Roj TV controversy growing", the objection voiced by 56 mayors against the closesure of Roj TV makes it harder to resolve the matter and almost impossible for the channel be shut down.

3. "Iran: Kurds Form Front To Demand Rights", a group of Iranian Kurds has created a movement aimed at "peacefully" promoting democracy and demanding rights that they say have been neglected. Some Kurdish activists believe, however, that the creation of the Kurdish United Front is simply an attempt by reformist groups to regain some political power.

4. "Eastern Kurds are persecuted by the Islamic Republic", three detained journalists, Dr Roya Toloai, Ejlal Ghvami and Saeed SaeidI, were tried in an Iranian court in the city of Sanandaj (Sinne) on 21st December 2005. The journalists were arrested during recent protests in the city.

5. "Kurds cool on Jaafari's bid to stay on as Iraqi PM", Ibrahim al-Jaafari will struggle to get Kurdish backing for his bid to stay on as Iraqi prime minister despite a two-day visit to drum up support for his campaign, a senior Kurdish official said on Tuesday.

6. "Is US planning to hit Iran?", Furthermore, he debunks hyped-up reports in the Turkish press that too much was read into CIA Director Porter Goss' December 12 visit to Ankara, where he is reported to have asked Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to provide support for a possible 2006 airstrike against Iranian nuclear and military facilities. In return for Turkey's support, possibly by allowing over-flight rights to American bombers across its territory, and cooperating on the intelligence front, the Bush administration would give Ankara the "green light" to strike against the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK facilities inside Iran.

1. - The New Anatolien - "NGO: Turkey's 2005 reforms failed to improve practice":

ANKARA / 4 January 2006

MAZLUMDER says many arrangements such as Penal Code and Associations Law brought significant improvement but emphasizes that these improvements give the impression that they are temporary and are tied to the EU process which in turn prevent a deep-rooted transformation.

Turkey failed to solve important problems in its Constitution, election system, political parties and penal codes despite a host of legal reforms in 2005 and these problems continued to pose a great danger which may exacerbate a lack of trust in politics, said a non-governmental organization (NGO) on Tuesday.

The Organization of Human Rights and Solidarity for Oppressed People (MAZLUMDER) evaluated the human rights situation in the country last year in a statement.

MAZLUMDER said that many arrangements such as Penal Code and Associations Law brought significant improvement but emphasized that these improvements give the impression that they are temporary and are tied to the EU process which in turn prevent a deep-rooted transformation.

The organization underlined that the bombing in a bookstore in southeastern town of Semdinli, which then triggered a series of protests, is one of the significant developments which marked 2005. It said that those claims that security forces were involved in the bombing drew attention to the extraordinary organizations.

“Those statements delivered by high-ranking military officials after the event which turned into a social outrage, strengthened the belief that the incident will not be unveiled with all its dimensions,” it added.

The government has vowed to shed light on the Nov. 9 bombing in Semdinli, which triggered a chain of confrontations and clashes between locals and security forces. The attack also spurred several political parties to rush delegations to the area to investigate the incident.

MAZLUMDER said that another development which stamped 2005 was the restrictions on freedom of expression. According to the organization, the events happened in 2005 despite the legal arrangements realized in the EU process showed that freedom of expression cannot be guaranteed solely through foreign dynamics.

Five Members of the Association of Aid and Solidarity for Prisoners' Families (TAYAD), distributing a leaflet about the isolation and hunger strikes in the prisons, were nearly lynched by a fascist crowd in the Black Sea town, Trabzon, last April. Five members were arrested under charges of “instigating disturbance”. Hüseyin Yavuzdemir, governor of Trabzon accused the members of TAYAD with disturbing the public order.

MAZLUMDER said that Trabzon incident triggered similar events Rize and Samsun, accusing local administrators and politicians for delivering statements palliating lynching attempts.

2. - Turkish Daily News - "Roj TV controversy growing":

The objection voiced by 56 mayors against the closesure of Roj TV makes it harder to resolve the matter and almost impossible for the channel be shut down.

4 January 2006 / by Mehmet Ali Birand

Fifty-six mayors objecting to the closure of Denmark-based Roj TV is not being discussed that much but has nevertheless placed Ankara in a very difficult position.

The government, and especially the Office of the Chief of General Staff, sees Roj TV as a mouthpiece of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Their stance is based on the fact that Roj TV constantly broadcasts PKK opinions and gives airtime to individuals linked to the PKK.

Roj TV doesn't even hide this fact. It doesn't have to because everything is out in the open.

This is why the state is applying pressure on Denmark to close down Roj TV.

The move to close Roj TV has become a show of force between Turkey and the pro-Kurdish movement. Ankara applies pressure, Denmark resists.

Fifty-six Turkish mayors sent a letter to Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen calling for Roj TV not to be closed, upsetting all the balances on the issue. The mayors cited freedom of expression and the needs of their constituents as the reasons the channel should not be shut down, getting themselves involved in the entire controversy.

After this letter, it has become impossible for Denmark to close down Roj TV. It is impossible for Denmark to ignore the pleas made by the democratic representatives of some of the people in Turkey just to placate Ankara.

There is also a political aspect to the matter that I believe will bring about important consequences.

The 56 mayors have indirectly supported a television channel that reflects PKK opinions. The PKK's influence in the [Southeast] region has once more become evident. This shows that an organization perceived by us as a terrorist group is not seen in that way by the people of the region.

What are we going to do now?

Will we criminally charge the mayors and then send them off to prison?

You must have noted that the test of wills between the state and the pro-Kurdish movement is getting more aggressive and pushing us in a new direction.

On a final note, so the 56 mayors sent a letter to the Danish prime minister and voiced their opinion; however, what we would have expected would have been for them to send a letter to Roj TV and warn the channel.

The mayors and the pro-Kurdish movement should reach a common point -- and that is for the guns to be silenced and the end of the armed conflict. If the PKK is to continue its armed campaign, the pro-Kurdish movement should be against it.

If they abide by these rules, the region will return to peace. If not, we will harm each other and all of us will suffer.

3. - RFE/RL - "Iran: Kurds Form Front To Demand Rights":

A group of Iranian Kurds has created a movement aimed at "peacefully" promoting democracy and demanding rights that they say have been neglected. Some Kurdish activists believe, however, that the creation of the Kurdish United Front is simply an attempt by reformist groups to regain some political power.

PRAGUE / 3 January 2006 / by Golnaz Esfandiari

A group of Iranian Kurds has formed a movement that aims to "peacefully" demand rights that they say have been neglected or denied Iran's sizable Kurdish minority.

The Kurds account for about 7% of Iran's 68 million-strong population, making them one of the country's largest ethnic groups. Most live in Iran's western provinces, amongst the least developed in the country.

The group claims to have the backing of Kurdish activists, NGOs, and several thousand supporters.

Speaking to RFE/RL, Bahaeddin Adab, the founder of the Kurdish United Front, said that democracy and equal rights are key aims of the group.

"There is very little freedom in areas with a Kurdish population, and democracy for all Iranian people -- especially for Kurds -- is a necessity," he said. "The second issue is equal rights," he continued, claiming that "Kurdish areas suffer from discrimination and [official] contempt in all political, economic, social and cultural areas of life. Kurds have no share in the distribution of power or regarding economic development; the four Kurdish provinces of our country are not developed and are deprived. They face limitations in their cultural activities, which is preventing cultural development."

Adab blames inequality and neglect for a "social problems that never before existed in Kurdish areas. Divorce, suicide, and addiction, for example, are widespread now."

Violence And Nonviolence

He also linked these problems to violent clashes with the authorities seen in several Kurdish cities in the summer of 2005. In July, the shooting in Mahabad of a Kurd, Shavaneh Qaderi, by security forces led to demonstrations and dozens of arrests. The unrest spread to other cities -- including Baneh, Sanandaj and Sardasht -- and reportedly resulted in the deaths of several civilians and police officers.

Adab sees a lack of representation as a major contributory factor in the unrest, which he believes demonstrated the need to create the Kurdish United Front.

"Because such issues are brought up and pursued individually, there are no results. That leads to the use of violence by the government," he contends. "That has a high cost for the nation and that is not, we believe, in the interests of the people or of the government because it widens the gap between the people and the establishment."

Iranian authorities blamed the unrest on "hooligan and criminal elements" and charged that "public and state-owned buildings, including banks, were damaged."

A number of rights activists and journalists were jailed after the killings, some of them for long terms. Human rights organizations have called for their release and for an investigation into the deaths.

Adab, who says the summer's violence "offended the majority of the people," promised that the Front would work within the framework of law and would eschew violence.

Advancing The Front

The Kurdish United Front says a recent opinion poll in areas with Kurdish population showed that most people supported the creation of a front that would enable them to pursue and assert their legitimate rights.

Adab insists that the movement is not an official party or a nongovernmental organization. Such groups require the state's permission to meet, advertise, and register new members. A number of Kurdish parties are banned in Iran.

The Front plans to help Kurdish representatives gain seats in city councils and in the national parliament, as well as to raise Kurds' awareness of their rights.

In August, the UN’s special rapporteur on housing and land rights Miloon Kothari concluded at the end of a 12-day visit to Iran that minorities in Iran, including the Kurds, face discrimination when it comes to gaining access to housing, civic services, and land.

While Adab is optimistic that his group will be able to achieve positive results, other Kurdish activists in Iran express doubt.

"Our current president [Mahmud Ahmadinejad] also talks about the same issue. He says he wants justice for all Iranians," says Mohammad Sadegh Kabudvand, head of the Human Rights Organization of Kurdistan. "Mr. Adab also says the same thing, or he talks about democracy. The reformists also spoke of democracy. But do the Kurdish people have democracy and justice? No."

Kabudvand is similarly skeptical about the prospects that Kurds' language rights will be observed. "Mr Adab says we will work within the framework of law. The law says ethnic languages can be taught. These laws have been in place for the past 25 years, but will the government let them be applied? No step has been taken in an issue as basic as this, let alone regarding the other rights that Kurdish people are demanding."

Kabubvand instead sees the formation of the Kurdish United Front as a personal political vehicle for Adab and other members of the movement. "Most activists believe that this front wants to gain a share of power once more. That is all," he says.

Adab, an outspoken former member of parliament, was barred from running again for parliament in 2004 after the Guardians Council, which oversees elections and vets legislation, disqualified him from the race, along with thousands of other independent and reform-minded candidates.

4. - Kurdish Media - "Eastern Kurds are persecuted by the Islamic Republic, website":

LONDON / 4 January 2006

Update from East Kurdistan: Three detained journalists, Dr Roya Toloai, Ejlal Ghvami and Saeed SaeidI, were tried in an Iranian court in the city of Sanandaj (Sinne) on 21st December 2005, reported the online information provider Kurdistanmedia.org on Tuesday. The journalists were arrested during recent protests in the city.

In the Kurdish city of Mariwan, according to Kurdistanmedia.org, the Islamic authorities persecute the traders working between both sides of Kurdistan, Iraq and Iran, and confiscate their goods. The website named one businessman who was killed by the authorities. He was Mahmoud Mergadrezh who was beaten up and died as the result of head injures.

In the Kurdistani city of Oromieh, according to Kurdistanmedia.org, one person Aziz Khalkani was executed. He was arrested with two other people, known only by their first names, Abbas and Masud. They are accused of a killing which took place in 1996.

In Saghez (Saqiz) on Thursday the 22nd December 2005, a young man, known only by his first name Farhad was executed in city.

5. - Reuters - "Kurds cool on Jaafari's bid to stay on as Iraqi PM":

BAGHDAD / 3 January 2006 / by Mariam Karouny

Ibrahim al-Jaafari will struggle to get Kurdish backing for his bid to stay on as Iraqi prime minister despite a two-day visit to drum up support for his campaign, a senior Kurdish official said on Tuesday.

The official said Jaafari's visit, which ended on Monday, failed to improve his strained relations with Kurds, who accuse him of monopolising power and failing to honour the deals he made to win Kurdish support the first time he took office.

"The visit was designed to melt the ice between us," said the official from the Kurdish Alliance, the second biggest bloc in the current Iraqi parliament.

"But it will be very difficult for Jaafari to get Kurdish support," said the official, who declined to be named. "We have strong reservations about him and the way he ran the government.

"We also have reservations about the way he deals with Kurdish demands."

Jaafari is head of one of the two main parties in the Shi'ite Islamist coalition that dominated the Dec. 15 election and is set to be the biggest bloc in the new parliament.

On paper, the bloc has the constitutional right to nominate a prime minister. Alliance sources have said their nomination will either be Jaafari or Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi.

Whoever gets the nomination will still have to win parliamentary approval and, as the Shi'ite alliance is likely to fall short of an overall majority, will have to find support from other parties.

Without Kurdish backing, Jaafari is vulnerable to mounting support within his own Shi'ite Alliance coalition for Mahdi.

Ultimately, the choice of prime minister will be part of an elaborate package deal worked out by four or more blocs now engaged in preliminary negotiations on a grand coalition.

The official said Kurdish leaders are unimpressed by Jaafari's record in government over the past eight months.

In particular, they do not believe Jaafari, a Shi'ite Islamist from southern Iraq, has done enough to support their claim to the oil-rich northern city of Kirkuk, which the Kurds want as the future capital of an autonomous region.

Jaafari wound up his visit to Kurdistan on Monday by meeting Iraq's Kurdish president Jalal Talabani.

At a news conference afterwards, Talabani said the two men had buried their differences and that he had no objection to Jaafari heading the new government.

Hazim al-Naimi, political analyst at Mustansiriya University in Baghdad, described Jaafari's trip as "a personal visit", designed to woo the Kurds.

"The first idea of the meeting was to make up with Talabani because there was tension between them," he said, adding that he doubted the Kurds would back Jaafari over Mahdi.

He also said the Kurds, stung by what they see as Jaafari's failure to keep his promises with regard to their demands, would seek watertight guarantees from the leaders of the future government -- particularly on Kirkuk.

"The Kurds want all agreements written and signed this time -- especially on settling the status of Kirkuk," he said.

At present, Kirkuk, which has a mixed population of Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen, sits to the southwest of Iraq's three Kurdish provinces -- Dohuk, Arbil and Sulaimaniya. The Kurds, who control the local government, want the boundaries redrawn to bring the city into their autonomous territory.

The Kurds say Jaafari's official spokesman Laith Kubba is unsympathetic to them and have asked Jaafari to sack him, a request which has been refused, while in October, Talabani's own spokesman said Jaafari should be sacked.

(IRAQ-JAAFARI, editing by Paul Casciato in London)

6. - The Middle East Times - "Analysis: Is US planning to hit Iran?":

WASHINGTON / 4 January 2006 / by Claude Salhani

Amid all the uncertainties plaguing the Middle East there are at least three sure things.

First, Iran will continue to build its nuclear weapons despite cries of protests from the Europeans and the United States. Second, the Bush administration will not allow the Islamic republic to pursue its nuclear dream. President George W. Bush has repeatedly stated that he is leaving "all options on the table, including the military option". And third, Iran will continue to build its nuclear weapon system, despite it being bombed by the United States.

In other words, Bush is very likely to take action against the Islamic republic in order to stop the ayatollahs from reaching the point where they can start deploying their nuclear missiles. But bombing Iran's nuclear facilities offers only a short-term deterrence, not a long-term solution.

The story behind the story about the escalating rhetoric among Jerusalem, Tehran and Washington is what Professor Raymond Tanter calls "a race of three clocks".

Tanter, who served on former US president Ronald Reagan's National Security Council as a senior staff member, currently is adjunct scholar at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy and co-chair of the Iran Policy Committee, a lobby group trying to convince the Bush administration that change in Iran needs to come from within - through the resistance.

Tanter says, "One timepiece is European-led negotiation to persuade Iran to give up its desire to acquire a complete nuclear fuel cycle from which it can build the bomb." That track has so far not yielded any results. In fact, many analysts believe that Tehran is using the European track and the negotiations with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as a delay tactic to buy the ayatollahs more time.

"The second clock," says Tanter, "is Iran's effort to develop the bomb".

This is the only clock that truly counts with Iran firmly in control of the dials, making them move as it wishes, but a clock in which the hands are inexorably moving forward, come what may.

"The third clock is regime change in Tehran," Tanter says. He explains: "Diplomacy is slowing down, Iran's bomb making is accelerating, and regime change is stymied so long as Iranian exiles and dissidents are considered terrorists rather than freedom fighters."

By astutely conducting their policy in spurts of stop and go, trying to make the EU and the IAEA believe that they are sincere, the regime in Tehran is purposely dragging its heels, playing for time while it continues to build its bomb and the delivery mechanisms that go with it. While the US government supports international diplomacy, hoping it will prevail over the use of force, President Bush is not ruling our military strikes.

Military strikes, says Tanter, can only delay bomb making for a short time, if at all. It offers the short-term solution. The Americans can blow up one or two facilities, but the Iranians will build another. Then another.

There is only one thing that can stop the bomb making altogether, says Tanter. That is "regime change from within. Not military strikes from outside Iran. In order to achieve that you need to empower and support regime change by supporting Iranian exiles and dissidents operating inside the country."

Despite the recent story in the German magazine Spiegel's online edition that "the growing likelihood of the military option is back in the headlines in Germany thanks to a slew of stories that have run in the national media here over the holidays", Tanter remains skeptic when it comes to the military option.

Furthermore, he debunks hyped-up reports in the Turkish press that too much was read into CIA Director Porter Goss' December 12 visit to Ankara, where he is reported to have asked Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to provide support for a possible 2006 airstrike against Iranian nuclear and military facilities.

More specifically, Goss is said to have asked Turkey to provide unlimited exchange of intelligence that could help the Americans with their mission.

While in Turkey, CIA chief Goss reportedly handed Turkish security officials three dossiers "that purportedly contained evidence that Tehran is cooperating with Islamic terror network Al Qaeda".

In return for Turkey's support, possibly by allowing over-flight rights to American bombers across its territory, and cooperating on the intelligence front, the Bush administration would give Ankara the "green light" to strike against the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK facilities inside Iran.

Several sources believe that hardline Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad's recent anti-Israeli antics - claiming that the Holocaust never happened, that "Israel should be wiped off the face [of the] map" and that Israel should be relocated in Europe, near Germany or Austria - only serves to drive home the point that a nuclear weapon in the hands of such a leader would be dangerous, not only to Israel, but to the security of the entire region.

But on the other hand, the American president should not ignore another certainty in the Middle East. That a strike on Iran will produce a great number of uncertainties, particularly regarding Iran's response and the fact that the 138,000 US military personnel stationed so close to the Islamic republic could become prime targets for Iran and its allies in Iraq.