16 March 2006

1. "Kurdish protesters clash with police in Tunceli", about 250 stone-throwing Kurds, protesting the detention of three members of a Kurdish human rights association, clashed with police in eastern Turkey on Tuesday night, reported the Anatolia news agency.

2. "Turkey HSBC blast 'injures two'", two people have been injured in an explosion outside an HSBC bank branch in southern Turkey, local police say.

3. "Christian Democrats criticize start of negotiations with Turkey", the Chairwoman of the European Parliament's Delegation to Southeastern Europe, Doris Pack (EPP-ED/D), has supported the position of the European Parliament's rapporteur in today's plenary debate on the future enlargement strategy.

4. "Austria to debate referendum on Turkey and EU constitution", Austria's far-right Freedom Party has collected enough signatures for a parliament debate on holding a referendum on Turkey's EU membership and the EU constitution.

5. "One killed as Iraqi Kurds riot in Halabja", a 14-year-old boy was killed when Iraqi security forces fired into a massive crowd of Kurds rioting in Halabja Thursday on the anniversary of Saddam Hussein's gas attack on the Kurdish town, an AFP reporter said.

6. "SYRIA: Kurds detained after protest on anniversary of clash", security forces detained human rights activists and a former opposition MP following demonstrations on 14 March marking the anniversary of deadly clashes between Kurds and Syrian security officials in 2004, according to protest participants.

1. - Turkish Daily News - "Kurdish protesters clash with police in Tunceli":

ANKARA / 16 March 2006

About 250 stone-throwing Kurds, protesting the detention of three members of a Kurdish human rights association, clashed with police in eastern Turkey on Tuesday night, reported the Anatolia news agency.

At least four policemen were injured and a few police cars were set ablaze during the clash in the eastern city of Tunceli, Governor Mustafa Erkal was quoted as saying by Anatolia. Police detained 31 demonstrators, the report said.

Officials were not immediately available for comment.

Tensions have been running high in southeastern Turkey, where escalated attacks by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) have recently been seen.

The fight for autonomy by the PKK has claimed more than 37,000 lives since 1984.

2. - BBC - "Turkey HSBC blast 'injures two'":

DIYARBAKIR / 15 March 2006

Two people have been injured in an explosion outside an HSBC bank branch in southern Turkey, local police say.

Bomb squads have been inspecting the area in front of the British-owned bank in Diyarbakir, a mainly Kurdish city close to the Syrian border.

The cause of the blast is not yet known, according to the city's police.

A Turkish branch of the HSBC in Istanbul was targeted during a bombing campaign in November 2003, when the British Consulate was also attacked.

3. - ABhaber - "Christian Democrats criticize start of negotiations with Turkey":

16 March 2006

The Chairwoman of the European Parliament's Delegation to Southeastern Europe, Doris Pack (EPP-ED/D), has supported the position of the European Parliament's rapporteur in today's plenary debate on the future enlargement strategy: "Each candidate country has its own problems and must be assessed according to its individual progress. For this reason, the accession of Croatia would be an important stabilising signal for the entire region, especially since the country has made good progress in fulfilling the accession criteria".

Doris Pack commented on the change of the enlargement strategy indicated in the report: "There is no answer yet what the boundaries of the EU are. For me, the boundaries of the EU are reached with the accession of Bulgaria, Romania and the Western Balkans. For all other countries there has to be an effective instrument within the neighbourhood policy".

The Chairwoman criticised the start of negotiations with Turkey, which had contributed to a loss of orientation and led to insecurity amongst the European public. "For 10 years we have been demanding a deepening of the Union before its enlargement. Unfortunately, this call was only belatedly answered by member states by the constitutional convention, but it has yet to be put into practice. To argue for a stop to enlargement after the fulfilment of all criteria would, on the other hand, be wrong. We have to acquire the instruments the European constitution would have given us, and improve the European Union's capacity to act.

There were good reasons that the states in the region had been offered EU membership, Doris Pack said. "If we do not want to risk our achievements in the Balkans, we have to continue on the path of bringing these countries closer to the European Union. After the terrible conflicts in former Yugoslavia, this is an important engine for change. A simple look at the map shows that this region is at the centre of the EU. Its stability is our stability. For this reason we must not abandon the countries of Southeastern Europe".

4. - EUobserver - "Austria to debate referendum on Turkey and EU constitution":

15 March 2006 / by Lucia Kubosova

Austria's far-right Freedom Party has collected enough signatures for a parliament debate on holding a referendum on Turkey's EU membership and the EU constitution.

The "Austria, stay free" petition was launched by the FPO (Freedom Party) on March 6 and closed on late 13 March.

According to the interior ministry, the poll gathered 258,277 signatures, above the threshold of 100,000 supporters needed to push the parliamentary debate on its proposal.

However, observers doubt the chances of the initiative, which has been backed by 4.28 percent of the country's voters.

The FPO petition calls for decisions on the new EU constitution and Turkey's accession to the union to be made by popular referendums.

A referendum on Austria's neutrality to be clearly spelled out in its constitution should also be held, according to the initiative.

The FPO leader Heinz-Christian Strache, a successor of its former head Jorg Haider, said the result of the petition was an "awesome success," according to AFP.

He also suggested the law on petitions should be changed so that a petition drawing a minimum of 250,000 signatures would automatically lead to a referendum.

But Mr Strache's political opponents have played down the result of the initiative, with Reinhold Lopatka from the conservative OVP claiming referendums would be "unnecessary and expensive," as they would cost taxpayers €2 million.

The country's social democrats have expressed similar views, while political analysts stressed that the number of signatures under the petition is less than FPO would need to get seats in the parliament after this autumn's elections.

Out of 32 petitions in Austrian history, the FPO's plan ended up on the twenty first place regarding the number of signatories.

However, observers note that the upcoming parliamentary debate on the anti-EU petition as well as its media coverage may further fuel the already eurosceptic and anti-Turkey views of Austria's electorate.

According to the latest Eurobarometer statistics, only 32 percent of Austrians consider the EU as a good thing, while like 80 percent of voters are against Turkey's EU membership, compared to an EU average of 39 percent.

5. - AFP - "One killed as Iraqi Kurds riot in Halabja":

HALABJA / 16 March 2006

A 14-year-old boy was killed when Iraqi security forces fired into a massive crowd of Kurds rioting in Halabja Thursday on the anniversary of Saddam Hussein's gas attack on the Kurdish town, an AFP reporter said.

About 7,000 demonstrators, including relatives of the 5,000 victims of the March 17, 1988 aerial poison gas attack on Halabja, set up road blocks, attacked government offices and set fire to a memorial built to honour the dead.

Six protestors were also injured in the fracas.

The demonstrators, who were protesting a lack of government services and corruption in the local administration, prevented officials from driving into town to mark the anniversary, waving banners saying "you have done nothing for the city" and "all government officials are corrupt".

Dissatisfaction over local government, which is widespread in Kurdish areas, is compounded in Halabja by the perception that government promises of compensation for the relatives of the victims of the gassing have not been honored.

In the aftermath of the attacks, the people of Halabja have shown lingering effects of the poison gases, including a higher frequency of congenital defects, respiratory problems and cancer.

Iraq's President Jalal Talabani, himself a Kurd, had earlier called on the country to unite against dictatorship in a statement commemorating the anniversary.

"The Halabja tragedy and the massacres that followed of Kurds and Iraqis remind us of the need to strengthen our unity in the face of efforts by supporters of the former regime and by terrorists to restore dictatorship," Talabani said in a statement.

The gassing of Halabja took place during the former Iraqi regime's Anfal campaign, a systematic attack on the Kurdish population in the north of the country between 1986 and 1989 which left some 180,000 dead and 4,500 villages destroyed.

In December 2005, a court in The Hague trying a Dutch trader on charges of selling chemicals to Saddam's regime in the 1980s, had to decide whether the Anfal campaign, and specifically Halabja, amounted to genocide.

The court concluded that according to the principles laid down in the 1948 Geneva Convention, the events amounted to genocide against the Kurdish people.

"The court has no other conclusion than that these attacks were committed with the intent to destroy the Kurdish population of Iraq," it said.

Saddam, who is currently on trial in Iraq for the massacre of Shiites from the village of Dujail after an assassination attempt in 1982, is expected to next face charges of crimes against humanity over the Anfal campaign.

6. - IRIN - "SYRIA: Kurds detained after protest on anniversary of clash":

DAMASCUS / 15 March 2006

Security forces detained human rights activists and a former opposition MP following demonstrations on 14 March marking the anniversary of deadly clashes between Kurds and Syrian security officials in 2004, according to protest participants.

On the same day, Human Rights Watch demanded the immediate release of Ammar Qurabi, a spokesman for the Arab Organisation for Human Rights in Syria. Qurabi was detained by security forces two days earlier as he returned from a trip to Washington and Paris, where he attended conferences on democratic reform and human rights.

Security forces also detained former MP and opposition activist Riad Seif, along with at least five members of the Kurdish Democratic Progressive Party. The arrests came after Kurdish and Arab demonstrators held a sit-in outside Damascus' Cabinet office to commemorate the 2004 clashes in the northern city of Qamishli that left 30 dead.

"Three of the activists wanted to send a message to the Prime Minister on Kurdish demands, such as compensations for the damage following the 2004 clash," said human rights lawyer Anwar al-Bunni, adding that several demonstrators had been injured in the melee. "Riot police arrested Seif and five other Kurdish activists." While Seif was later released, the five Kurdish activists remain in detention, according to local human rights lawyers.

On the same day, security forces also quelled a demonstration by over 500 Kurdish students outside Damascus University. Demonstrators carried red roses and posters of those killed two years ago in the three-day riot, which had followed a football match between rival Arab and Kurdish teams.

In Qamishli, the site of the clash and home to a large number of Syria's 1.5 million Kurds, some 15,000 people gathered at the graveyard of the slain. Attendees included representatives of the Kurdish Yakiti and Azadi parties, both of which have been outlawed by Damascus.

"The security forces patrolled around the graveyard, but didn't interfere with or hinder the rally," said Kurdish Future Party Secretary-General Misha'al Timo, speaking from Qamishli. "The Kurdish people took the decision to hold the rally whatever the consequences."

The arrests in Damascus came as a number of opposition figures were prevented from travelling to the US to attend a 13 March conference organised by the Kurdish Front for Promoting Democracy and Freedom in Syria. The Washington-based group seeks to improve the legal status and human-rights conditions of Syrian Kurds.

"A number of people we invited weren't allowed to come," said conference president Sherkoh Abbas. "Some had their passports taken away and some were even imprisoned." According to Abbas, "seven or eight" Syrian Kurdish parties accepted the invitation to attend the conference.

After a 1962 census stripped many Kurdish families of their Syrian nationality, an estimated 300,000 now remain without citizenship. As a result, many Syrian Kurds have limited access to education, property ownership, political participation and even legal marriage.

"Syria is denying its Kurdish population numerous fundamental human rights by refusing to address these issues of nationality," US-based Refugees International noted in a recent statement. "Although President Bashar al-Assad has said he wants to resolve the problem, few actions have been taken to reinstate nationality for the Kurdish people."

In a 10 November speech, al-Assad announced that the government would soon address the issue in "an expression of the importance of Syrian national unity". Nevertheless, until now, there has been no change to the Kurds' stateless status.

Although there are over a dozen Kurdish opposition parties operating in Syria, they have largely failed to unite effectively. "People have to understand that Kurds aren't a separatist group, but are very willing to work with other Syrian organisations to bring democracy," said Abbas. "Our goal is also to create a committee to speak with one, united voice on Kurdish issues in Syria."