1 February 2007

1. "ECHR Rules For 'Stability'", the Strasbourg court decides that the 10 percent electoral threshold in Turkey doesn't constiute a violation of free expression of the opinion of the people. Yet, ruling AKP got 66 percent of seats in the assembly by only 34 percent of the vote in 2002.

2. "Parties trade charges in Article 301 debate", Justice and Development (AK) Party deputies yesterday accused the main opposition party of failing to support them on changes to controversial Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK).

3. "MEPs observe minute's silence for slain Turkish journalist", the European Parliament observed a minute's silence on Wednesday in memory of slain journalist Hrant Dink, a leading member of Turkey's tiny Armenian minority.

4. "Turkey's Pamuk cancels German trip amid safety fears", Nobel-prize winning Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk has canceled a trip to Germany at short notice, his German publisher said on Wednesday, as concerns for his personal security grow.

5. "Cyprus to protest Turkish oil warnings", Cyprus said Wednesday it will protest to the U.N. and the EU over Turkey's warnings over the island's oil exploration plans, and vowed to press ahead with a tender for the project.

6. "Iraq bans Turkish oil and meat", Iraq and Turkey are in a trade dispute over oil products and meat imports as tension between the neighboring countries continues.

1. - Bianet - "ECHR Rules For 'Stability'":

The Strasbourg court decides that the 10 percent electoral threshold in Turkey doesn't constiute a violation of free expression of the opinion of the people. Yet, ruling AKP got 66 percent of seats in the assembly by only 34 percent of the vote in 2002.

STRASBOURG / 31 January 2007

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) concluded that the 10 percent electoral threshold in Turkey results in an unfair parliamentary representation but nonetheless doesn't constitute a violation of right to expression of opinion.

Resul Sadak and Mehmet Yunak, stood for election in the parliamentary elections of 3 November 2002 as candidates of the People's Democratic Party (DEHAP) in the province of Sirnak.

Despite getting 45 percent of the vote in their electoral region neither of them was elected because the party failed to pass the national threshold.

They had alleged that the national electoral threshold of 10 percent for parliamentary elections interfered with the free expression of the opinion of the people in the choice of the legislature.

They relied on Article 3 of Protocol No.1, which provides:

"The High Contracting Parties undertake to hold free elections at reasonable intervals by secret ballot, under conditions which will ensure the free expression of the opinion of the people in the choice of the legislature."

By a decision of 9 May 2006 the ECHR declared the application partly admissible but the decision on January 30 was negative by five judges to two. The applicants lawyer Tehir Elci told bianet that they will push forward with an appeal to the Grand Chamber in the ECHR.

2. - The New Anatolian - "Parties trade charges in Article 301 debate":

ANKARA / 31 January 2007

Justice and Development (AK) Party deputies yesterday accused the main opposition party of failing to support them on changes to controversial Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK).

Over the weekend Justice Minister Cemil Cicek said that the AK Party government had made changes to the article twice and added that if another change is necessary the government will not shirk its responsibility. Cicek also asked judges to adopt new insights into the article's interpretation and implementation.

Ruling AK Party deputies lambasted the Republican People's Party (CHP), saying they had not given support for changes to the article. The CHP was quick to respond, saying, in the words of one, "They have the power to change or annul the article all by themselves, but lack the will to take this step."

"The AK Party's thoughts regarding the article haven't changed a bit," said party spokesperson Eyup Fatsa. "But some parties are playing politics over the issue. CHP leader Deniz Baykal warned us not to ring their doorbell and now since Hrant Dink was murdered they feel shame and are crying crocodile tears."

Justice Commission head Burhan Kuzu instead laid the blame on the judiciary, saying that prosecutors should pay the utmost care and leave behind old habits. He said that prosecutors should file complaints only in exceptional cases and that is why the commission added about Article 301, "Declaring an opinion with the aim of criticizing cannot constitute a crime."

Expressing a view in line with Kuzu's, Justice Commission member Ayhan Sefer Ustun, also from the AK Party, defended the article, saying, "There is no bad law, there are only bad implementations. Some circles are putting Turkey into a difficult position by stirring up the judicial system."

Article 301 was also among the major topics of a Turkish Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association (TUSIAD) report issued on Jan. 19, the very same day journalist Hrant Dink was murdered. The report called for major changes or annulment of the article. Meanwhile the European Union has maintained pressure for a change to the article as well.

A group of academics from Bogazici University recently said that no good has come from Article 301 and that it should be annulled immediately. On Monday, Baskin Oran, a political scientist from Ankara University, who also claims the article must be annulled, applied to the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office regarding a threatening letter, asking for protection.

However Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, at a press conference prior to his departure for Sudan on Sunday, said that there is no way that the article can be annulled, but that the government is open to any suggestions for change.

Speaking to the Anka news agency, former Justice Minister Oltan Sungurlu criticized the debates regarding the article, arguing that such discussions will harm Turkey. Sungurlu said, "The problems will not be solved by annulling an article. Just remember the Necmettin Erbakan case. When we were talking about a change to the TCK's Article 312, the prosecutor found another article to charge Erbakan that included tougher penalties. Issues regarding insulting Turkishness must be evaluated with utmost care."

Meanwhile lawyers claim the article sets up a wall against insults aimed at the Turkish state and its institutions, as well as securing the key values protected by the Constitution, including so-called Armenian genocide claims. Furthermore, lawyers argue that annulling the article would cause a national reaction as people would freely insult the state and nation.

Ultranationalist lawyer Kemal Kerincsiz, in an interview with Turk Solu (Turkish Left) magazine, said, "Regarding the Armenian genocide claims, Turkey can stand against the EU and the rest of the world, based on this article. Instead of annulling the article, Turkey should seek a way to overcome the pressure caused by other countries."

50 percent of the votes not represented

The electoral system is one of the subjects, which have been the most debated in Turkey; it still remains highly controversial.

It was in that context that on 31 July 2002 the National Assembly decided to bring forward the date of the next parliamentary elections to 3 November 2002.

In early September three left-wing political parties, HADEP, EMEP and SDP, decided to form a "Labor, Peace and Democracy Block" and to form a new political party, DEHAP.

The results of the elections in the province of Sirnak gave the DEHAP list 45 percent of the vote. However, as the party had not succeeded in passing the national threshold of 10 percent, the applicants were not elected.

The three seats allocated to Sirnak province were shared as two seats for the Justice and Development Party (AKP), which had polled 14 percent and one seat for an independent candidate.

Of the eighteen parties, which had taken part in the elections only AKP and the People's Republican Party (CHP) succeeded in passing the electoral threshold. With 34 percent of the votes cast, the AKP won 363 seats, 66 percent of those in the National Assembly.

3. - AFP - "MEPs observe minute's silence for slain Turkish journalist":

BRUSSELS / 31 January 2007

The European Parliament observed a minute's silence on Wednesday in memory of slain journalist Hrant Dink, a leading member of Turkey's tiny Armenian minority.

The 52-year-old was gunned down outside the offices of his bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos in central Istanbul on January 19.

"I would like, in the name of the European Parliament to express our indignation," said the assembly's president Hans-Gert Poettering during a plenary session in Brussels.

The fact that thousands attended Dink's burial "gives us hope that this sad event will be a catalyst for the Turkish authorities to go forward with fresh reforms to guarantee freedoms," he added.

The European Union has repeatedly called on candidate nation Turkey to reform its penal code which limits the freedom of expression.

Dink was hated by nationalists for calling the World War I massacres of Armenians genocide and urging an open debate into this controversial period in Turkish history.

4. - Reuters - "Turkey's Pamuk cancels German trip amid safety fears":

BERLIN / 31 January 2007 / by Madeline Chambers

Nobel-prize winning Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk has canceled a trip to Germany at short notice, his German publisher said on Wednesday, as concerns for his personal security grow.

Pamuk's safety became an issue after the murder this month of prominent Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in Istanbul. A key suspect in that murder, escorted by police into a court house, warned Pamuk to be careful.

Pamuk, who won the Nobel prize for literature in October, had been due to visit several German cities, including Cologne, Hamburg, Stuttgart and Munich on a book reading tour starting at the end of this week.

"We heard from him yesterday afternoon that he had decided to cancel," said a spokeswoman for Hanser publishers in Munich.

"It was his decision but he gave no reason."

German media reported the writer had been worried about a possible attack although Berlin police said they were unaware of any threat. The government declined to comment other than to say they did not know the reason for Pamuk's decision.

The murdered Dink had been a hate figure for ultra-nationalists because he had urged Turks to acknowledge the mass killing of Armenians on Turkish soil in 1915, still a highly sensitive issue in Turkey.

Both Dink and Pamuk have been prosecuted under laws restricting freedom of expression in Turkey, which wants to join the European Union.

In a what was seen as a test case for freedom of speech in Turkey, Pamuk was tried for insulting "Turkishness" after telling a Swiss paper in 2005 that 1 million Armenians had died in Turkey during World War One and 30,000 Kurds had perished in recent decades.

Though the court dismissed the charges on a technicality, other writers and journalists are still being prosecuted under the article and can face a jail sentence of up to three years.

PEN, a body which speaks up for persecuted writers, said threats against Pamuk had to be taken seriously and urged the EU to be strict with Turkey.

"The EU should continue to make clear that entry for Turkey is only possible if democracy is stronger there," Germany's PEN center President Johano Strasser told German radio.

Pamuk, whose best-known novels include "My Name is Red" and "Snow", has a sizeable following in Germany, home to about 2.5 million people of Turkish descent.

Kenan Kolat, head of the TGD Turkish Communities in Germany, said he did not know the background to the affair but saw no danger for the author if he came to Germany.

"Of course there are nationalists here, too, but I would really not expect any violence," Kolat told Reuters.

Last year a Berlin opera house caused a storm in Germany when it canceled a production of Mozart's "Idomeneo" which showed Prophet Mohammad's severed head, citing security fears.

5. - AP - "Cyprus to protest Turkish oil warnings":

NICOSIA / 31 January 2007

Cyprus said Wednesday it will protest to the U.N. and the EU over Turkey's warnings over the island's oil exploration plans, and vowed to press ahead with a tender for the project.

Government spokesman Christodoulos Pashiardis said Cyprus will lodge a complaint, within the day, on Turkey's "provocative behavior."

Turkey warned Lebanon and Egypt on Tuesday not to press ahead with oil and gas exploration deals signed with Cyprus on Jan. 17, saying Turkey and Turkish Cypriots also had rights in the region.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry said Turkey had "legitimate and legal rights and interests" in the eastern Mediterranean and insisted Turkish Cypriots also had a say in the island's oil and gas rights.

"We consider Turkey's threats as unjustified and baseless reactions of an incorrigible regional troublemaker, and we proceed with the implementation of our decisions," Pashiardis said.

The Cypriot government has said it would launch an international tender in February for offshore oil and gas exploration licenses.

"Nothing has changed," Pashiardis said. "We are proceeding exactly how we planned, exercising, as an independent and sovereign state, our legal, inalienable rights that are secured by international law."

Also Wednesday, Greece said Turkey had no right to interfere with Cyprus' plans, accusing Ankara of violating international law.

"(Turkey's reaction) is not productive and opposes aims which are peaceful and are designed to promote economic development in the eastern Mediterranean region," Greek Foreign Ministry spokesman Giorgos Koumoutsakos said.

"(It) is in total contradiction with international law and the right of a sovereign government to negotiate international agreements."

Greece and Turkey remain at odds over Cyprus and boundaries in the Aegean Sea, despite efforts over the past decade to resolve disputes and Greek backing for Turkey's bid to join the EU.

The Mediterranean island has been divided into a Greek Cypriot south -- home of the internationally recognized government -- and Turkish Cypriot north since a Turkish invasion in 1974 sparked by a coup supporting union of the island with Greece.

Turkey has no diplomatic relations with the government in the south and supports a breakaway Turkish Cypriot state, recognized only by Ankara.

6. - UPI - "Iraq bans Turkish oil and meat":

BAGHDAD / 31 January 2007

Iraq and Turkey are in a trade dispute over oil products and meat imports as tension between the neighboring countries continues.

The BBC reports oil products shipments from two southern Turkish cities into Iraq have been suspended over a dispute with the central Iraqi government over resigning contracts.

And, without any apparent reason, Iraq has banned red and white meat products imports from Turkey.

Turkey has begun amassing troops on its southern border shared with Iraq. It has threatened military action if the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region in Iraq's north secedes from Iraq. It also has made threats if Kurdistan is given too much control within a federal Iraq as well as if the oil city of Kirkuk, currently outside of the Kurdistan region, is incorporated.

Turkish officials began raising concerns Monday after Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organization said companies wishing to renew fuel import contracts should contact the regional government instead of the central government.

SOMO's attitude is unacceptable, said Turkey State Minister Kursat Tuzmen. If someone is trying to test Turkey's patience, they will pay a heavy price for this.Around 11 billion barrels of Iraq's 115 billion barrels of proven reserves are in Kirkuk. The Kurdistan region also contains a major share of Iraq's reserves, though production and exports have been hurt by ongoing attacks on a pipeline into Turkey.

Iraq suffers from a lack of oil products and imports most of its fuels for transportation, heat and cooking.

But the BBC reports contracts for oil products from Mersin and Iskenderun, Turkey, expired Friday at midnight.

Only the tankers taking oil for the U.S. troops can pass through Habur border crossing, and the tankers loaded with oil products for Iraq are not allowed, said Aziz Akgul, chairman of the Mersin Fuel Oil Dealers ' Association. It is a diplomatic problem. I hope problems will be resolved soon.