8 February 2007

1. "Even after death, Dink in dock over 301", the long arm of the law reached into the grave yesterday, as Hrant Dink stood trial for "insulting Turkishness," blind to the fact that he was brutally murdered last month.

2. "Gov't fights illegal groups within the system, PM says", Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his government was continuing its four-year struggle against illegitimate groupings within the legal structure in a time of increased suspicion of involvement by a network of renegade agents within the state.

3. "Turkey misses its chance with Armenia", Ankara has let a rare moment pass. Three weeks after the assassination of acclaimed Turkish Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, it appears the Turkish authorities have grasped neither the message of Hrant's life nor the significance of his death.

4. "Turkish left seeks alignment before elections", the Democratic Left Party, the Social Democratic People’s Party and the Dec. 10 Movement have stepped up efforts to form a coalition before this year's general elections.

5. "Iraqi Arabs Seek Sanctuary in Kurdistan", some 2 million Iraqis have fled to neighboring countries in the past three years and up to 3,000 more go abroad every day, according to the U.N. refugee agency. But Umm Ali and her husband, Hussein Jawad, are among nearly 85,000 Iraqi Arabs who have sought refuge in the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq.

6. "TURKEY-U.S.: PKK and Kirkuk high on Foreign Minister's Washigton Agenda", Turkish foreign minister Abdullah Gul continued his three day visit to the United States on Tuesday including a meeting with US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice in Washington set to focus on Turkey's fight against "Kurdish separatism" and the status of the Iraqi city of Kirkuk.

1. - The New Anatolian - "Even after death, Dink in dock over 301":

ANKARA / 7 February 2007

The long arm of the law reached into the grave yesterday, as Hrant Dink stood trial for "insulting Turkishness," blind to the fact that he was brutally murdered last month.

An Istanbul court yesterday started re-hearing the case against Armenian-origin Turkish journalist Dink, after the first verdict by the local court was quashed by the Supreme Court of Appeals.

Dink had stood trial on charges of "public denigration of Turkishness" -- an offense prescribed by controversial Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) -- for a series of articles he wrote for his bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos. Dink faced heavy criticism from politicians and the media following the case, and many claimed that he was killed due to a biased public portrayal of his case and articles.

Dink was killed last month by a teenager in front of Agos' offices. The murder, which came at a tense time when Turkey was under increasing pressure to recognize the Armenian genocide claims, seemed to unite the country for a quite short time, as was seen at the funeral for the journalist. The human aspect of the killing has made way for countless speculations about who was behind the murder.

Dink last year was sentenced to six months behind bars but the sentence was suspended due to the good conduct of the late journalist during his trial process. However, the case was appealed by both the defendant's lawyer and his prosecutors. The Court of Appeals overruled the decision to suspend the sentence but approved the penalty, despite a request by the Court of Appeals chief public prosecutor to drop the case, arguing that what Dink wrote should be considered within the scope of freedom of expression.

The disputed article was part of a series written three years ago, in which Dink reportedly said, "The pure blood, which will take the place of the poisonous blood to be poured out from Turks, exists in the noble artery which Armenians will establish with Armenia." Both the local court and the top appeals court said that "the poisonous blood" reference was meant to denigrate the blood of the Turkish people. However many argued that the remark should be interpreted in the context of the series of articles and that Dink has distorted remarks in an address by Ataturk to give a different meaning.

Along with Dink, Karin Karakasli, general coordinator for Agos, is on trial and was represented at the hearing by a team of 33 lawyers.

After the hearing, Fethiye Cetin, a lawyer for Dink and Karakas, said that they are waiting for the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to reach a verdict on the case.

Arabaslik: Case adjourned to 'determine Dink's status'

Judge Hacer Bayraktar, who first agreed with the ruling by the Court of Appeals, said for the purposes of court records, during a break between hearings, that Dink is alive "according to official population records."

Public Prosecutor Ibrahim Atasu asked the court to obtain Dink's population records as he is deceased. The judge adjourned the case until June 14, considering the request of the prosecutor.

2. - Turkish Daily News - "Gov't fights illegal groups within the system, PM says":

7 February 2007

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his government was continuing its four-year struggle against illegitimate groupings within the legal structure in a time of increased suspicion of involvement by a network of renegade agents within the state.

The prime minister stated that his government has been continuing its fight against illegitimate organizations within the legal structure, comments that come at a time of increasingly heated exchange between his party and the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), sparked by the assassination of the editor in chief of the Armenian newspaper Agos, Hrant Dink.

Speaking to deputies of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) yesterday, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his government had not only fought felony and law-breaking during its four years in power but has also continued a struggle against groups which he referred to as “wishing to create murky rooms and privileged fields for themselves within the legal system.”

In Tuesday's meeting the prime minister stated that there could be no “talk of defending individuals who trample the law by claiming they are saving the country.” His words refer to increased suspicion that a network of renegade agents within the state and driven by hard-line nationalism is involved in the Dink murder, a possibility acknowledged by the prime minister himself as well as many other analysts.

Erdogan said instigating a mentality that placed the people before the state and respected the concept of the rule of law was the key to ensure that the Turkish republic, democracy and secularism would prevail. “Don't confuse the law with legal regulations,” he said. “Being a ‘state of law' and ‘a state of laws' is two entirely different things.”

Everybody living in a country is bound by the laws of that state, Erdogan highlighted. He said respect for universal values such as fundamental rights and liberties was the distinguishing characteristic of a state of law.

The prime minister said his government had struggled as much to improve the general understanding of the state of law as it had worked to improve democratization.

“If there are groups or individuals who do not feel bound by laws and are expecting different treatment by legal rules, these people are making a big mistake. There can be no talk of defending individuals who trample the law claiming they are saving the country. No reason can legitimize violating the law.”

3. - Los Angeles Times - "Turkey misses its chance with Armenia":

7 February 2007

Ankara has let a rare moment pass. Three weeks after the assassination of acclaimed Turkish Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, it appears the Turkish authorities have grasped neither the message of Hrant's life nor the significance of his death.

In the days immediately following Dink's shocking death, allegedly at the hands of a fanatic Turkish nationalist, we in Armenia and others around the world wanted to believe that the outpouring of public grief would create a crack in the Turkish wall of denial and rejection, and that efforts would be made to chip away at the conditions that made the assassination possible. We all hoped that the gravity of this slaying and the breadth of the reaction would have compelled Turkey's leaders to seize the moment and make a radical shift in the policies that sustain today's dead-end situation.

However, after those initial hints at conciliation, the message out of Ankara has already changed. Last week, according to the Turkish media, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said there can be no rapprochement with Armenians because Armenians still insist on talking about the genocide.

The prime minister is right. Armenians do insist on talking about the genocide. It's a history-changing event that ought not, indeed cannot, be forgotten. However, we also advocate a rapprochement. And one is not a precondition for the other.

Dink was an advocate of many things. Chief among them, he believed that individuals have the right to think, to talk, to explore, to debate. Dink knew that if the authorities would just allow people to reflect and reason aloud, share questions and search for answers, everything would fall into place. Eventually, through public and private discourse, Turks would arrive at genocide recognition themselves.

Equally, he also believed that there must be dialogue between peoples, between nations — especially between his two peoples, the Armenians and the Turks. He himself was a one-man dialogue, carrying on both sides of the conversation, trying to make one side's needs and fears audible to the other.

Unfortunately, Turkey's policy of keeping the Armenian-Turkish border closed has resulted in a reinforcement of animosities. Dink was one of many Armenian and Turkish intellectuals who understood that there needs to be free movement of people and ideas in order to achieve reconciliation among neighbors. But Turkey insists on maintaining the last closed border in Europe as a tool to exert pressure on Armenia, to make its foreign policy more pliant, to punish Armenians for defending their rights and not renouncing their past. Armenia, on the other hand, has no preconditions to normalizing relations.

This hermetically closed border combined with a law that prevents Turkey from exploring its own history and memory (by criminalizing truth-seekers such as Dink) have created a world in which Turks can't know their past and can't forge their future. They can neither explore old memories nor replace them with new ones.

Three weeks ago, our grief was mixed with hope. Today, Turkish authorities continue to defend Article 301, the notorious "insulting Turkishness" statute used to prosecute even novelists who depict characters questioning Ankara's official line on the genocide. And there is no mention at all of the continuing damage caused by a closed border.

If Turkey can't seize the moment, it should not be surprised when others do. Last week, a resolution was introduced in the U.S. Congress to affirm the U.S. record on the Armenian genocide.

The Turks will say such a resolution is not needed. They will say that they've called for a joint Armenian-Turkish historical commission to discuss the genocide, and they don't need third parties. But recognition of the Armenian genocide is no longer a historical issue in Turkey, it's a political one. Dink would wonder how "on the one hand, they call for dialogue with Armenia and Armenians, on the other hand they want to condemn or neutralize their own citizen who is working for dialogue."

Dink was courageous but not naive. Still, he could not have predicted this kind of "neutralization." The brutality of his killing serves several political ends. First, it makes Turkey less interesting for Europe, which is exactly what some in the Turkish establishment want. Second, it may scare away Armenians and other minorities in Turkey from pursuing their civil and human rights. Third, it can frighten into silence those bold Turks who are beginning to explore these complicated, sensitive subjects in earnest.

I prefer to think that more noble political ideals will be served. Hrant Dink will remain an inspiration for Armenians who share his vision of understanding and harmony among peoples and for Turks who share his dream of living in peace with neighbors and with history.

4. - Turkish Daily News - "Turkish left seeks alignment before elections":

The Democratic Left Party, the Social Democratic People’s Party and the Dec. 10 Movement have stepped up efforts to form a coalition before this year's general elections

ANKARA / 6 February 2007 / by Göksel Bozkurt

An effort to establish an alliance of left and social democratic parties, which was put back of the left's agenda during the funeral of former Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit, an occasion which brought leaders of the left and social democrat parties somewhat closer, has not yielded any concrete results.

The Republican People's Party (CHP), currently the main opposition in Parliament, has taken a stand against such an alliance by inviting parties from the left to gather under its roof. In response, center and center-left parties have started seeking a new alliance in an effort to garner at least 10 percent of the vote – Turkey's official election threshold for political party representation in Parliament.

The Democratic Left Party (DSP), the Social Democratic People's Party (SHP) and the Dec. 10 Movement, started by the Confederation of Revolutionary Workers' Unions (DISK) have been in contact about a possible coalition. Such a coalition would be a large venture that would bring some of the socialist groups into the fold before the elections.

Figures who continue to discuss making an alliance possible include DSP leader Zeki Sezer, DSP Secretary General Ahmet Tan, DSP Deputy Chairman Masum Türker, SHP leader Murat Karayalçin, SHP Secretary-General Ahmet Güryüz Ketenci, Professor Burhan Senatalar, spokesperson for the Dec. 10 Movement, DISK President Süleyman Çelebi and former deputies Ercan Karakas, Ridvan Budak, Uluç Gürkan and Nihat Matkap.

The DSP is eager to get into a coalition, but it has openly shown it supports a structure that would allow parties to run in the general elections side-by-side while strictly opposing a unity allowing the parties to merge. The sides are initially trying to reach consensus on the fundamentals. If this can be achieved, they will start talking about the details. Although there are reservations about including the SHP, which had earlier allied with the pro-Kurdish Democratic People's Party (DEHAP), these don't seem to be insurmountable.

Sezer: ‘We have moved beyond hope':

DSP Chairman Sezer confirmed his party's initiatives to form an alliance. Sezer told the Turkish Daily News that the sides have already advanced past the “hopeful” phase. “The DSP will enter the elections as the roof bringing the left together. Contacts to form an alliance, dialogue and consolidation are proceeding at full speed. I think the establishment of such an alliance is a very serious possibility,” Sezer said.

The SHP has also expressed support for a tripartite alliance model. SHP Chairman Karayalçin said, “Those who avoid an alliance would be avoiding being brought to power,” adding that his party is ready to do whatever is necessary to ensure that such a coalition is formed.

SHP Secretary General and Istanbul deputy Ketenci talked to the Turkish Daily News about his views on the alliance plan. “We have been supporting an alliance on the left from the beginning. The CHP is reluctant. We believe that the social democratic movement the people have been waiting for will emerge out of this alliance. The left should be there as an option for the people. This is why we are holding all these talks,” he said. However, Ketenci said up-and-coming developments had to be watched before anything concrete could be said about the outcome of the talks.

The Dec. 10 Movement, led by DISK with Professor Senatalar as its spokesperson, is also for a strong alliance on the left. According to Senatalar, such an alliance or coalition should enable social democratic, democratic left and socialist parties, groups and individuals to effectively contribute to politics in Turkey. “We propose a process of integration and becoming a mass party by renewing and improving.”

The socialist Freedom and Solidarity Party (ÖDP) is another potential partner in the coalition. However, no concrete move has yet been made towards including this party.

Although the SHP and the Dec. 10 Movement have expressed support for inclusion of the ÖDP, the DSP does not yet seem convinced.

The partners, except the SHP, are openly against any inclusion of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP). The SHP, which has past alliance experience with the predecessor of this party, has not expressed support openly so far given the negative stance of its potential alliance partners.

All three parties are far from open to the idea of including other parties from the left. Meanwhile, some rumors suggest that the Socialist Democracy Party (SDP) led by Filiz Koçali and the Party of Labor (EMEP) could get involved in a coalition with the DTP.

Meanwhile, the Workers' Party (IP) seems to be keeping its distance from all of these groupings for the time being.

5. - AP - "Iraqi Arabs Seek Sanctuary in Kurdistan":

SULAIMANIYAH / 7 February 2007

Some 2 million Iraqis have fled to neighboring countries in the past three years and up to 3,000 more go abroad every day, according to the U.N. refugee agency. But Umm Ali and her husband, Hussein Jawad, are among nearly 85,000 Iraqi Arabs who have sought refuge in the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq.

Here, they find themselves in what feels like a foreign country: Kurdistan has been autonomous since 1991, and Kurds run their own affairs. While Arabic is an official language, it is all but eclipsed by Kurdish.

As snow fell outside, the smell of frying eggplant and onions burned Umm Ali's eyes as she cooked in her kitchen _ which doubles as the family bathroom. There's not much else: one other room for her, her husband and four children. Still, she says, it's better here than at the family's home in Baghdad, 180 miles south, at the center of Iraq's bloodshed.

"Even if we were living in a tent, without a real roof over our heads in this snowy weather, we'd still be happy to be away from that intimidation," said the 41-year-old Shiite.

Iraq's Kurdistan also has largely been spared the relentless car bombings, suicide attacks and Shiite-Sunni slayings that have killed thousands in Baghdad, central Iraq and the south. People here also are mostly free of the daily crime, kidnappings, death threats and fear present in Baghdad.

The result has been an economic boom in the three provinces that make up Kurdistan, with many construction jobs for Iraqis from the south.

"Our joy comes in feeling secure," said Jawad, who took his wife and children from Baghdad's Dora district after a note was left at their house calling the family "Shiite infidels" and warning the children would be "slain like sheep" if the family didn't leave.

"I didn't care about my house," he said. "I just felt my children and I needed to live our lives." He now works as an electrician at a new three-star hotel here.

The influx has strained social services in the north, however, and fueled rising housing prices. It also comes at a time when Kurdish-Arab tensions are increasing in the city of Kirkuk, just outside the Kurdish zone, over Kurdish attempts to include it in Kurdistan. Similar Kurdish-Arab tensions have arisen in the northern city of Mosul.

That makes the peaceful migration of Iraqi Arabs to Kurdish cities like Sulaimaniyah somewhat unusual in the country's history. Under Saddam Hussein, Kurds were terrorized and repressed; Saddam tried to send Arabs north in some cases to displace Kurds in key cities.

So far, the flight of Iraqi Arabs to the three Kurdish provinces has not sparked significant ethnic tensions. In fact, the governor of Sulaimaniyah, Dana Ahmad Majeed, has invited more Iraqis to come north rather than leave Iraq altogether.

Majeed said the federal government needs to give Kurdistan more medical supplies, fuel and electricity to handle the flood of refugees.

"The support these displaced people are getting is so slim compared to the skyrocketing numbers of these emigrants (to Kurdistan) every day," he told The Associated Press.

Of the nearly 85,000 displaced Iraqis who now live in the three Kurdish provinces, about 30,000 live in Sulaimaniyah province, said Anita Raman of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. The UNHCR has been providing emergency help for the most vulnerable, including kerosene, lanterns, blankets and food, she said.

At the "border" between Kurdistan and the rest of Iraq, Kurdish fighters at checkpoints stop and search the cars of entering Arabs. Families are allowed in without permits, but single men must have a Kurdish sponsor and a work permit a security measure to keep out militants, Kurdish authorities say.

Those who come have to make adjustments to the high rents, scarce housing, cold winter weather and the Kurdish language. Kurdish uses the Arabic alphabet, but is an Indo-European language unrelated to Semitic Arabic.

"We couldn't even read the signs in the streets," said Jawdat al-Obaidi, a Sunni Arab from the town of Youssifiyah, just south of Baghdad. "I am trying to learn the language so I can find a decent job and settle here."

The 46-year-old engineer fled Youssifiyah two months ago after Shiite militiamen scrawled "death to terrorists" on his house.

Now he's thrilled to have found the Jawahiri Elementary School Sulaimaniyah's only Arabic language school, where he has enrolled his three sons.

Near the school one recent day, a Kurdish street vendor selling cookies and chocolates stood surrounded by a dozen Arab children. Hussein Mazin, a 12-year-old Shiite, struggled to find a way to ask the vendor whether he sold a particular kind of potato chip.

"I speak some Kurdish," Mazin said, smiling. "But obviously not very well."

Mazin's family fled the southern city of Basra after his brother was abducted. The kidnappers returned him after the family paid a ransom, but they also threatened to seize his younger sister, too.

"We are not afraid of the kidnappers anymore," Mazin said.

6. - AKI - "TURKEY-U.S.: PKK and Kirkuk high on Foreign Minister's Washigton Agenda":

WASHINGTON / 6 February 2007

Turkish foreign minister Abdullah Gul continued his three day visit to the United States on Tuesday including a meeting with US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice in Washington set to focus on Turkey's fight against "Kurdish separatism" and the status of the Iraqi city of Kirkuk. In particular, Gul and his American counterpart are expected to discuss the presence in Northern Iraq of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) from where Ankara alleges it launches attacks against Turkey.

Ankara also opposes Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region's claim of sovereignity over the oil-rich region of Kirkuk whose population includes ethnic Turkmen, Arabs as well as Kurds.

Gul is expected to seek Washington's support to curb PKK activity and to thwart Kurdistan's ambitions in Kirkuk.

Gul raised the issues in meetings with US Vice President Dick Cheney and US National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley on Monday.

Besides Iraq and the PKK, Gul will also try to prevent Washington from recognising that the early 20th century massacre of Armenians under the Ottomans was a genocide.

A resolution introduced last week in the House of Representatives, the US Congress' lower house, calls on the Bush administration and Congress to classify the massacre, which Ankara says never took place, as a genocide.

While Bush's administration opposes the measure, the new Democratic leadership in Congress is sympathetic towards it.

On Wednesday, Gul is scheduled to meet US top Democrat officials to convince not to support the Armenian genocide legislation.