22 May 2006

1. "Landmines kill one Turkish soldier, wound another", a Turkish soldier was killed and another wounded Monday in separate landmine explosions blamed on Kurdish rebels in the east and southeast of the country, local security sources said.

2. "DTP: Kurds don't back violence", Kurdish people don't support violence and we don't want anybody, any soldiers or police officers, to die in this country, pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) Co-Chair Ahmet Turk said over the weekend.

3. "Vakit on Trial for 'Marking Target'", pro-Islamic Vakit newspaper owner Nuri Aykon and Editor-in-Chief Aksoy face up to 34.5 years in prison if found guilty on charges. Case listed for June 13. New investigation launched on paper's possible soliciting of armed attack on State Council.

4. "The Turkish crisis", the clash between Islamists and supporters of the secular regime of Kemal Ataturk that is currently shaking Turkey reflects a dangerous structural rift that has never before manifested itself on such a large scale and which, apart from destabilizing Turkey, is bound to increase Ankara’s political hostility toward Greece and Cyprus.

5. "Turkish rift widens after general's call", a rift between Turkey's Islamic-rooted government and the influential military widened at the weekend as the prime minister criticised a top general's call for more demonstrations in support of secularism.

6. "Former PM Ecevit Fights for His Life", Democratic Left Party Honorary Chairman and five ties Turkey's Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit fighs for his life after suffering a brain hemorrhag. Ecevit, unconcious remains in intensive care after 4.5 hour surgery.

1. - AFP - "Landmines kill one Turkish soldier, wound another":

DIYARBAKIR / 22 May 2006

A Turkish soldier was killed and another wounded Monday in separate landmine explosions blamed on Kurdish rebels in the east and southeast of the country, local security sources said.

A mine believed to have been planted by rebels from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) exploded as a military vehicle was passing near Lice, in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir, killing one soldier, the sources said.

A similar explosion near Baskale, in Van province, wounded a soldier, they said.

Landmine attacks have become a hallmark of the PKK since the group called off a five-year unilateral ceasefire in June 2004 and began to enter Turkey from their bases in northern Iraq.

Turkey has been massing troops along the Iraqi border in recent weeks to crack down on militants who cross over into Turkey with increasing frequency in the spring.

More than 37,000 people have been killed since 1984 when the PKK took up arms for self-rule in the mainly Kurdish-populated southeast of Turkey.

2. - The New Anatolien - "DTP: Kurds don't back violence":

ANKARA / 22 May 2006

Kurdish people don't support violence and we don't want anybody, any soldiers or police officers, to die in this country, pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) Co-Chair Ahmet Turk said over the weekend.

Speaking at a DTP congress in the eastern province of Van on Saturday, Turk said that the "Kurdish Question" is being debated in Turkey as well as throughout the world, and that every now and again the political authorities take positive steps towards finding a resolution to this question.

Turk said that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has already admitted that there's a Kurdish question, adding that the governments was partly to blame for creating this problem.

Prime Minister Erdogan first mentioned the "Kurdish Question" in a visit to the southeastern province of Diyarbakir in August 2005 when he promised to handle it by providing "more democracy." However, he had to backpedal after strong reactions to his speech. Demonstrations erupted in Diyarbakir in late March after youths demanding vengeance attacked police following the funerals of Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants were killed in clashes with the Turkish Armed Forces.

"Kurdish people don't back weapons or violence. We want the arms to be laid down. We don't want anybody, any soldiers or police officers, to die in this country. We can solve this problem within Turkey," said Turk.

Turk said that Erdogan then said that he wouldn't discuss this problem unless arms are laid down. "You will solve the Kurdish problem with the Kurds," said Turk. "You have to recognize us as a counterpart. You want to recognize those who want democracy as a counterpart. He's also my prime minister, and he has to understand the public."

3. - Bianet - "Vakit on Trial for 'Marking Target'":

Pro-Islamic Vakit newspaper owner Nuri Aykon and Editor-in-Chief Aksoy face up to 34.5 years in prison if found guilty on charges. Case listed for June 13. New investigation launched on paper's possible soliciting of armed attack on State Council.

ISTANBUL / 19 May 2006

The Istanbul Bagcilar Republic Prosecutor's office has filed a criminal complaint against pro-Islamic Vakit newspaper for its February 13, 2006 dated report titled "Here are those members", where it identified and published and mug shots of Council of State 2nd Chamber members who were targeted in Wednesday's armed attack.

The paper's report criticised the State Council and its land-mark decision blocking the appointment of a teacher wearing a headscarf to head a nursery school. Islamic circles claimed the decision interfered also in the teacher's private life.

Bagcilar Republic prosecutor Ercan Cengiz said they had sent all relevant documents, newspapers and investigation results to the Ankara Republic Prosecutor's office to pursue the investigation.

According to the Anatolian Agency, Cengiz has asked for it to be determined whether the newspaper was involved in soliciting the armed attack during which one judge was killed and four others were wounded.

Vakit newspaper owner Nuri Aykon and Editor-in-Chief Harun Aksoy face up to 34.5 years in prison if found guilty on charges of "showing members of the judiciary as targets for terror organisations", "insulting judges and prosecutors" and "showing contempt of and ridiculing the moral structure of justice".

The journalists are scheduled to appear for their first hearing at the Bagcilar 2nd Court of First Instance on June 13.

4. - Kathimerini - "The Turkish crisis":

22 May 2006 / by Costas Iordanidis

The clash between Islamists and supporters of the secular regime of Kemal Ataturk that is currently shaking Turkey reflects a dangerous structural rift that has never before manifested itself on such a large scale and which, apart from destabilizing Turkey, is bound to increase Ankara’s political hostility toward Greece and Cyprus.

In view of this, the crisis in Turkey should be of primary concern to Costas Karamanlis’s government and the country’s politicians. Calls by secularists for the resignation of a “government of murderers” — which resounded in Ankara during a rally in protest at the murder of a high-ranking judge at the hands of an Islamic fundamentalist — could quite accurately be described as the emotional stance of Turkey’s masses. But when the chief of Turkey’s military Hilmi Ozkok praises these demonstrators and incites them to protract and boost their protests then it is evident that the existing clash will naturally escalate.

It is clear that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is faced with a particularly complex state of affairs on the domestic front. However, being a politician not bereft of some skills, he will obviously engage in dialogue with representatives of the country’s established secular regime. And by way of compensation, he will adhere to the strict stance of Turkey’s nationalist core on the crucial issues of Cyprus and the Aegean (that is, if one believes there is a divergence in the stance of Turkey’s PM and generals, as some Greek politicians and commentators say).

It became clear quite a while ago that Turkey had started adopting a cooler stance opposite Greece and Cyprus. In his meetings with Karamanlis in Sofia and Vienna, Erdogan expressed his unacceptable views on the Muslim minority of Thrace, the slaughter of the Pontic Greeks by Ataturk’s troops and the research being conducted in the Aegean by a German vessel.

One need hardly mention the raft of problems in Greek-Turkish relations that Ankara has provoked over the years through its revisionary policy in the Aegean. But it is imperative for Athens to investigate the extent to which its mild stance toward Ankara is still advisable.

Undoubtedly, if Greece adopts a more aggressive stance it will attract international interest on bilateral issues and subsequently increase the pressure for a resolution of these differences.

On the other hand, the absence of any intense public hostility should not create the impression of Greek cautiousness or appeasement of Ankara. Essentially, Karamanlis’s government must carry out a balancing act demanding unshakeable decisiveness, avoiding counterproductive challenges which ultimately lead to compromises to the detriment of Greek interests, as we have seen so many times in the past. But Greece should also, finally, start acting like the EU member state that it is and defending the benefits its membership entails, keeping in mind the obligations undertaken by candidate state Turkey.

Last Friday, EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn made it quite clear — following talks with Turkey’s chief negotiator with Europe, Ali Babacan — that Turkey cannot avoid its obligation as an aspirant EU member state to open its ports and airports to Cypriot aircraft and vessels by the end of this year. Such an unequivocal statement on the matter has not been made by the Greek government.

Turkey’s inability to live up to its obligations as a candidate state for the EU, as well as the aversion of a large proportion of EU citizens and some European leaders too against the prospect of Turkey joining the EU family, show how untimely Ankara’s leap toward Europe really was and how badly it is has shaken the Muslim country’s domestic cohesion.

The conviction that has been reiterated by successive Greek governments — namely that Turkey’s EU membership would benefit bilateral relations — is being repeatedly refuted in reality.

It is time for the government to embark on a serious dialogue with certain European countries and particularly with German Chancellor Angela Merkel with a view to hammering out a special relationship between Turkey and the EU and thereby ease the pressure on the government and regime of a country which is sliding into a worsening crisis and eliminate the risks of this instability for neighboring Greece.

5. - Financial Times - "Turkish rift widens after general's call":

ANKARA / 22 May 2006 / by Vincent Boland

A rift between Turkey's Islamic-rooted government and the influential military widened at the weekend as the prime minister criticised a top general's call for more demonstrations in support of secularism.

Rising political tension stoked by the murder of a judge last week is likely to intensify speculation about an early election, commentators and diplomats said.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister, is reeling from a public outcry over the attack, inside the Council of State, by a gunman who claimed to be incensed by the highest administrative court's decision to uphold restrictions on the wearing of the Muslim headscarf.

Although Mr Erdogan, a former Islamist, has strongly condemned the murder, ministers at last week's funeral were heckled by mourners who accused the government of creating an atmosphere in which such a killing could occur.

Tens of thousands of people later marched in support of the secular order, which the government is accused of undermining in spite of its promises to uphold strict controls on religion in public life. On Friday, General Hilmi Ozkok, the chief of general staff, who rarely makes public pronouncements, urged Turks to continue such demonstrations.

Mr Erdogan responded at the weekend by condemning Gen Ozkok's comments as "irresponsible", with the potential to "affect financial markets and internal stability". The armed forces still see themselves as the ultimate guardians of a secular system established by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the officer who founded the Turkish republic.

The exchange cast a further shadow over Turkey after a rare three-year period of political and economic stability. The demonstrations, mainly in Ankara, were among the biggest against the government since it was elected in 2002. Sensing an opportunity, Deniz Baykal, leader of the main opposition Republican People's party, has stepped up calls for the government to quit.

A general election does not have to be held before late next year. But there has been speculation that Mr Erdogan may go to the country early to renew the government's mandate while it is ahead in opinion polls. In addition, parliament has to elect a new president next spring. A diplomat who follows the political climate closely said: "His choice becomes tougher with each passing day."

Mr Erdogan has consistently ruled out an early election. But his dilemma is complicated by signs that an economic recovery - his main achievement in office - is running out of steam.

6. - Bianet - "Former PM Ecevit Fights for His Life":

Democratic Left Party Honorary Chairman and five ties Turkey's Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit fighs for his life after suffering a brain hemorrhag. Ecevit, unconcious remains in intensive care after 4.5 hour surgery.

ANKARA / 19 May 2006

Democratic Left Party (DSP) Honorary Chairman and five times Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit was hospitalized last night and placed in intensive care in the early hours of Friday morning following a brain hemorrage due to high blood pressure.

Ecevit's personal doctor was alerted at about 23:00 hours Thursday night that the veteran Turkish politician had fallen ill and after an examination showed signs of paralysis he was immediately transferred to the Gülhane Military Medical Academy (GATA) hospital.

After a 4.5 hour surgery at GATA Ecevit was then moved under intensive care.

Ecevit had attended Thursday's funeral ceremony held for judge Mustafa Yucel Ozbilgin who was shot in the head and killed by a gunman at the Council of State on Wednesday. He was cheered and applauded by the crowds there hours before taking ill.

e Turkish left, he was also in his younger years a well-known poet and a transla
Once a leader of th tor of T.S. Eliot and Rabindranath Tagore. He was just one week shy of his 81st birthday when he was taken to the GATA hospital late on Thursday.

The centre-left politician dominated Turkish politics for nearly four decades, along with his conservative arch-rival Suleyman Demirel.
He retired in frail health after he lost the premiership and his Democratic Left Party (DSP) lost all its parliamentary seats in the November 2002 elections. That vote swept the current Justice and Develomment Party to power.
His five stints as prime minister were marked by landmark dates of recent Turkish history.

In 1974, he ordered Turkish troops into Cyprus in response to a coup engineered by Athens aimed at uniting the island with Greece. The military action led to the downfall of the Colonels' Regime in Greece and earned him the sobriquet "Conqueror of Cyprus".

In 1999, he announced the arrest in Kenya of Turkey's Public Enemy Number 1, Abdullah Ocalan, head of the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The PKK had been fighting Turkish troops for independence for the mainly Kurdish southeast since 1984.

Ecevit also witnessed three military coups. The last, in 1980, resulted in him being imprisoned for three months.

Born in 1925 to a well-off Istanbul family, Ecevit graduated from Istanbul's prestigious Robert College high school.

Instead of going to university he began a career as a journalist.

In 1959, he joined the Republican People's Party (CHP), founded by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the creator of modern Turkey. Articulate, unfailingly courteous and a tireless worker, he worked his way up the ranks to become the CHP chairman in 1972.

He won his first election in 1973 in an unlikely alliance with an Islamist party.

The government collapsed in November 1974 and his second administration, which took office in June 1977, lasted only a month.

He was back at the helm in January 1978, battling political chaos sparked by deep economic woes and nationwide violence between left- and right-wing militants, but resigned after only 21 months.

His career interrupted by a political ban after the 1980 coup, he re-emerged as chairman of the DSP, set up in 1985 by his wife Rahsan in his absence.

In January 1999, he led a minority government with the sole task of taking Turkey to elections in April, from which his DSP emerged as the biggest party.

He forged a coalition with the centre-right Motherland Party and the far-right Nationalist Action Party, which brought to Turkey some much-needed political stability.

But the tide turned when financial turmoil struck in November 2000 and February 2001, dragging the country into a severe economic crisis. His party was all but wiped out in the November 2002 elections.

Ecevit, a small, sprightly man with a black moustache who sports metal-rimmed glasses and a Greek sailor's cap, has lived for years in a modest flat in suburban Ankara with his wife Rahsan, his childhood sweetheart.

Unlike other politicians, neither he nor his wife have ever been involved in business and have enjoyed a reputation of unblemished honesty in the corruption-plagued world of Turkish politics.

The childless couple, whose affection for each other has become their trademark, has avoided the limelight, snubbing receptions and social occasions.