10 April 2007

1. "Journalists Suffer From Generals' Coup Plans", Bakirköy Public Prosecutor's Office launches an investigation into retired Gen. Örnek's diaries which state a coup was planned by army high command in 2004 but not into the allegations, rather to weekly Nokta magazine which disclosed the diaries.

2. "Eighteen Killed In Turkish Offensive Against Kurdish PKK", a military offensive against the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in south-eastern Turkey left 10 soldiers and eight PKK fighters dead over three days, Turkish media reported Monday.

3. "Draft Legislation on Cyber Crimes Approved", a parliamentary commission approved a draft proposal which would regulate the crimes in cyberspace. The proposal foresees bans on websites which "promote the division of the state" or "insult Ataturk", founder of the modern Turkish Republic.

4. "Barzani: Turkey's real problem is not with Kirkuk and PKK; it is with Kurdish reality", Kurdish northern Iraqi leader Masud Barzani has said "it will be possible in 10-15 years to set up a Kurdish state.

5. "Turkey warns Iraqi Kurds, complains to US", but an Iraqi Kurdish presidency official urged Turkey to keep out of plans to settle the status of Kirkuk, which under the Iraqi constitution is scheduled to be decided in a referendum before the year-end.

6. "Fight against PKK is not priority of US", retired Chief of Joint Staff of the U.S. Army General Richard Myers stated on Saturday that fight against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) is not a priority of the U.S. since essential struggle in Iraq is against the extremist groups that are violating Baghdad and other regions of Iraq.

1. - Bianet - "Journalists Suffer From Generals' Coup Plans":

Bakirköy Public Prosecutor's Office launches an investigation into retired Gen. Örnek's diaries which state a coup was planned by army high command in 2004 but not into the allegations, rather to weekly Nokta magazine which disclosed the diaries.

ISTANBUL / 9 April 2007

Bakirköy Public Prosecutor's Office launches an investigation into the diaries of retired General Özden Örnek, which states that army high command has planned and discussed military coup plans, which didn't realize.

But the investigation doesn't cover the military coup plans; rather the prosecution will interrogate the weekly Nokta magazine, which revealed the diaries in question.

Nokta chief editor Alper Görmüs said, following PM Erdogan's call to public prosecutors to investigate the allegations, they received a notice.

They will be tried with "disinclining the public from military duty" and "promoting unrest among army members". Görmüs will be interrogated today regarding the allegations.

Such are quoted in the Turkish Penal Code, articles 318 and 319.

Nokta's lawyers disclosed that the investigation has been launched following Gen. Örnek's complaints. He claims that the published diaries are fake and he never kept any diaries at all.

Görmüs criticized the investigation saying it's the revealed military coup plans that should be investigated.

"Unless the judiciary investigates those allegations, one would think that certain crimes are exempt from punishment", he added.

2. - DPA - "Eighteen Killed In Turkish Offensive Against Kurdish PKK":

ANKARA / 9 April 2007

A military offensive against the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in south-eastern Turkey left 10 soldiers and eight PKK fighters dead over three days, Turkish media reported Monday.

Six soldiers and one paramilitary village guard were killed during clashes in the provinces of Sirnak and Bingol while three soldiers were killed in a mine explosion in the eastern province of Bitlis.

The PKK, which Turkey classifies as a terrorist organization, announced a unilateral ceasefire last autumn. Since the beginning of spring the Turkish army has strengthened its positions on the border with Iraq to prevent the infiltration of Kurdish rebels from there. The PKK maintains training camps and bases in northern Iraq.

Earlier Monday Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued a harsh rebuke to Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani over comments he made concerning Turkey's stance on the status of the oil-rich Iraqi city of Kirkuk, saying that Barzani could be "crushed by his own words."

Over the weekend Barzani, president of the Kurdistan regional government in northern Iraq, said in a television interview that if Turkey intervened on behalf of the Turkmen minority concerning the status of Kirkuk he would intervene on behalf of the sizable Kurdish minority in south-east Turkey.

Turkey has long been concerned over efforts by Iraqi Kurds to have Kirkuk included in the Kurdish autonomous region. Turkey has called for the postponement of a referendum concerning the city's status, saying thousands of Kurds have moved into the area, thus seriously diluting a Turkmen minority that live there.

Turkey fears that if Kirkuk becomes a part of the Kurdish autonomous region it could lead to the Kurds eventually declaring independence, thus fuelling separatist tendencies amongst its own Kurdish minority.

3. - Bianet - "Draft Legislation on Cyber Crimes Approved":

A parliamentary commission approved a draft proposal which would regulate the crimes in cyberspace. The proposal foresees bans on websites which "promote the division of the state" or "insult Ataturk", founder of the modern Turkish Republic.

ANKARA / 9 April 2007

A parliamentary commission approved a proposal Thursday allowing Turkey to block web sites that are deemed insulting to the founder of modern Turkey, weeks after a Turkish court temporarily barred access to YouTube.

The proposal is aimed at regulating the cyberspace, as no specific legislation has been yet passed on the subject.

Recent incidents of child porn and allegations of "anti-state propaganda" on the web brought the issue into public agenda.

Parliament plans to vote on the proposal, though a date was not announced.

On Thursday, lawmakers in the commission also debated whether the proposal should be widened to allow the Turkish Telecommunications Board to block access to any sites that question the principles of the secular system or the unity of the Turkish state -a reference to websites with information on Kurdish guerilla movement in Turkey.

Several prominent Turkish journalists and writers, including last year's Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk, have been tried for allegedly insulting Ataturk or for the crime of insulting "Turkishness".

Last month, Turkey blocked access to the popular video-sharing site YouTube after a complaint that some videos insulted Ataturk. The ban was lifted two days later.

4. - Hurriyet - "Barzani: Turkey's real problem is not with Kirkuk and PKK; it is with Kurdish reality":

9 April 2007

Kurdish northern Iraqi leader Masud Barzani has said "it will be possible in 10-15 years to set up a Kurdish state." Barzani's statements came at a meeting of various student groups in northern Iraq, where he also noted that current conditions were not suitable for the set up of a Kurdish state.

Barzani, according to the "Peyamner" news agency reporting on this story, also said that in the event Iraq broke apart, the Kurds in the north would have to make their own decisions about the future. Barzani also stressed that a strong management was necessary in the northern city of Kirkuk, and that he would bring about a system that would allow Kurds, Arabs and Turkmeni to live equally. Barzani reserved words for Ankara, saying "Turkey's real problem is not with Kirkuk and the PKK, it is with the reality of the Kurdish nation."

5. - AFP - "Turkey warns Iraqi Kurds, complains to US":

ANKARA / 9 April 2007

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned the Iraqi Kurds on Monday that hostility toward his country could result in a "very heavy cost" for them in the future.

His warning came after Massud Barzani, the head of the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq, reportedly threatened to interfere in Turkey's affairs if Ankara continued to oppose Kurdish claims on the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.

"A northern Iraq which neighbours Turkey is gravely wrong in the way it is currently acting and this could result in a very heavy cost for them afterwards," Erdogan told reporters.

Barzani has "overstepped the line", he said. "I advise them not to say words they cannot live up to and to know their place because they could be later crushed under those words."

But an Iraqi Kurdish presidency official urged Turkey to keep out of plans to settle the status of Kirkuk, which under the Iraqi constitution is scheduled to be decided in a referendum before the year-end.

"Massud Barzani's statement about Turkey was in reaction to declarations from the Turkish leadership and media against us and their threats to meddle" in Iraqi Kurdish affairs, said Fuad Hussein, chief secretary of the presidency.

"We do not interfere in affairs of regional countries but also demand that others should also not interfere in Kirkuk because it is an internal issue. It belongs to Kurds, Turkmen and Arab and Assyrians," Hussein told reporters.

He said Iraqi Kurds considered the scheduled referendum the proper recourse to solve the fate of Kirkuk, which sits atop a third of Iraq's oil wealth and would cement economic independence for Iraqi Kurdistan.

"Threats are not part of our political vocabulary. Our language has always been one of self defence. At the same time we do not accept others to use threats against us," Hussein said.

The Turkish media quoted Barzani as saying at the weekend that Iraqi Kurds would meddle in Turkey's already restive, predominantly-Kurdish southeast if Ankara continued to oppose their ambitions to acquire Kirkuk.

Turkey says the referendum on Kirkuk's future status, scheduled to be held by the year-end, should be postponed, arguing that thousands of Kurds have been moved into the city to change its demography.

Tensions are already high between the two sides over Turkish accusations that Iraqi Kurds tolerate, and even support, thousands of armed Turkish Kurd rebels who have found refuge in the mountains of northern Iraq.

Turkish government spokesman Cemil Cicek said Ankara had handed Baghdad a diplomatic note on Monday, stressing Iraqi pledges to eradicate the threat posed by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants hiding in northern Iraq.

"The source of the ethnic violence which claims lives in Turkey is Iraq. Everybody knows this," he told reporters here after a cabinet meeting.

Ten members of the Turkish security forces were killed in clashes with PKK rebels in Turkey's southeast at the weekend, in what was their heaviest losses in months.

Following Barzani's reported remarks, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul also conveyed Turkey's annoyance to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in a telephone conversation at the weekend, a senior Turkish diplomat told AFP.

Asked by reporters on Monday what Turkey's response to Barzani would be, Gul only said: "You will see."

Ankara worries that Kurdish control of Kirkuk and its vast oil reserves would embolden what it believes are Kurdish ambitions to break away from Baghdad.

Kurdish independence, it fears, could fuel the two-decade insurgency led by the PKK which has already resulted in more than 37,000 deaths.

Ankara has threatened a cross-border operation into northern Iraq to crack down on the rebel camps if Baghdad and Washington fail to act against them.

Separately, the New Anatolian daily reported on Monday that Iraqi Kurdish objections to Istanbul were instrumental in Baghdad's decision to favour Egypt as the venue of international talks in early May to discuss Iraq's turmoil.

6. - The New Anatolian - "Fight against PKK is not priority of US":

ANKARA / 9 April 2007

Retired Chief of Joint Staff of the U.S. Army General Richard Myers stated on Saturday that fight against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) is not a priority of the U.S. since essential struggle in Iraq is against the extremist groups that are violating Baghdad and other regions of Iraq.

Myers said, "The fight against PKK, which is not an easy job to handle, does not have high priority in the agenda of the U.S.," speaking to the Voice of America on Saturday.

Underlining that PKK is a small rebel group and it is hard to be in struggle with it in such a mountainous terrain, Myers said that another restraint is the difficulty of intervention to the lands of a sovereign government.

Asked on the possibility of a military operation against PKK in northern Iraq by Turkey, Myers said that the forces of the Turkish and the U.S. armies may confront one another.

"Such a possibility that has also occurred at past makes me anxious. If Turkey raises an cross-border operation, that would be a ominous ciscumstance," Myers said, referring to the Sulaymaniya sack case.

The Sulaymaniya sack case was an incident on July 4, 2003 following the invasion of Iraq where a group of Turkish military personnel operating in northern Iraq were captured, led away with sacks over their heads, and interrogated by the U.S. military. The soldiers were released after 60 hours, after Turkey protested to the U.S.