9 February 2007

1. "Turkish foreign minister expects EU to come around on membership", the Turkish foreign minister said that the European Union will eventually offer membership to Turkey.

2. "NGOs propose changes to Turkey's freedom-curbing law blamed for journalist's slaying", a group of activists on Thursday submitted a proposal to the government to amend Turkey's infamous article 301 of the penal code, which has been used to prosecute intellectuals and has been blamed for the killing of a journalist.

3. "Military Coup Inflicted Seperatist Politics", a 27-year-old commemorative stamp reveals the evergrown conflict coined by consecutive governments on the island, says Mehmet Hasguler: "The politics of separation between Greeks and Turks laid roots in Cyprus following the coup in Turkey in 1980".

4. "US official says Turkey should open dialogue with Iraqi Kurds", Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried repeated US warnings against Turkish military interventions against the rebels in Iraq, which the US fears could further destabilize the region and alienate Iraqi Kurds.

5. "The growing powers of Kurds in Iraq are becoming a threat to Turkey, the Sickman of Europe", according to press and media in the last two months, Turkish threat has become a main debate among KRG, Kurdish citizens, and Kurdish representatives in Baghdad.

6. "Ethnic Tensions in Kirkuk Take a Dangerous Turn", nearly 500 Arabs took to the streets on Wednesday morning in the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, some 290km north of the capital, Baghdad, denouncing a decision by a governmental committee to relocate tens of thousands of mostly Shi'ite Arabs currently living in the city.

1. - AP - "Turkish foreign minister expects EU to come around on membership":

WASHINGTON / 8 February 2007

The Turkish foreign minister said that the European Union will eventually offer membership to Turkey.

Despite the EU's recent decision to partially freeze talks on membership, Abdullah Gul said his government expects a long process ending in Turkey's accession.

"I believe that the EU will realize the strategic importance of Turkey soon enough and reverse its negative approach," he said in a speech at the German Marshall Fund.

Gul said that Turkey's importance to Europe as a Muslim-majority country on the cusp of the Middle East with rising importance to the West as a transit point for energy sources would make it irresistible.

"The effect of EU membership will be felt across the world," he said. "There is too much at stake to fail."

Gul also repeated warnings he has made throughout a visit to Washington against a proposed congressional resolution that would recognize the World War I era killings of Armenians at the end of the Ottoman empire as genocide. He said a resolution would insult the Turkish people.

"Do you think the people in Turkey will understand when their boys are in Afghanistan and are together with your troops?" he said referring to the 800 Turkish troops operating in Afghanistan under NATO command.

The congressional resolution, which was introduced for consideration last month, is opposed by the Bush administration, but has been supported by the Democratic leadership. Gul said this week that if it was passed, it would damage relations between the two countries.

In talks with top U.S. officials, Gul has also raised Turkish frustration with U.S. policy in Iraq, particularly concern that the U.S. is not doing enough to help root out militants from the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, holed up in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq.

Gul has expressed Turkish nervousness about the status of the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk. Turkish officials have said they will not rule out military intervention amid growing tensions among ethnic Turkmens, Arabs and Kurds in the oil-rich region around Kirkuk. Kurdish leaders want to annex the city, which lies just south of the autonomous Kurdish region stretching across Iraq's northeast.

Iraq's constitution calls for a referendum on the issue by the end of this year.

Gul said that Turkey would like to see Kirkuk remain a multiethnic Iraqi city.

"This one city, this important city does not belong to one group," he said. "There are no borders within Iraq."

2. - The International Tribune - "NGOs propose changes to Turkey's freedom-curbing law blamed for journalist's slaying":

ANKARA / 8 February 2007

A group of activists on Thursday submitted a proposal to the government to amend Turkey's infamous article 301 of the penal code, which has been used to prosecute intellectuals and has been blamed for the killing of a journalist.

Nobel Prize-winning novelist Orhan Pamuk and slain ethnic Armenian journalist Hrant Dink were both prosecuted under the broad law that bans the denigration of "Turkishness." Both had spoken out about the mass killings of Armenians in the early 20th century. Numerous other writers, journalists and academics have also been prosecuted.

Dink, the editor of the minority Agos newspaper, was shot dead outside his Istanbul office on Jan. 19. His murder revived a debate about the need to change the problematic article. Many blamed article 301 for his slaying, saying his prosecution had made him a target for ultranationalist groups.

On Thursday, a group of trade unions and other nongovernmental organizations proposed a new wording to the article, which they said sets clearer limits for what would constitute insult and what would constitute criticism.

There was no immediate reaction from the government, which has said it is willing to amend the article but is waiting for recommendations from civil society groups.

Newspapers, however, have criticized the proposed amendment saying it would not put a stop to the prosecutions.

The proposal, among other things, replaces "insulting Turkishness" with wording that would translate as "openly abasing and deriding" Turkishness.

"In its existing form (the article) is too vague and open to interpretations," said Davut Okutcu, who heads the Istanbul-based Economic Development Foundation. "There was a need for a wording purified of vague expressions which would not open the way to unnecessary prosecution."

Pamuk, who won the Nobel Prize in literature last year, also had faced trial in Turkey for his comments on the Armenian killings and had been accused of treason for doing so. His case was thrown out on a technicality.

Dink's murder inspired a massive outpouring of support for liberal values, including freedom of expression, tolerance and reconciliation between Armenians and Turks,

But the killing also pointed to Turkey's continuing problems with extreme nationalism. Most Turks suspect the killing might be linked to ultranationalist groups.

3. - Bianet - "Military Coup Inflicted Seperatist Politics":

A 27-year-old commemorative stamp reveals the evergrown conflict coined by consecutive governments on the island, says Mehmet Hasguler: "The politics of separation between Greeks and Turks laid roots in Cyprus following the coup in Turkey in 1980".

NICOSIA / 8 February 2007 / by Tolga Korkut

August 16, 1980. Federate Turkish State of Cyprus issues a special stamp and envelope for the commemoration of its establishment. It reads "Republic of Cyprus" on that particular stamp, both in Greek and in Turkish.

This date is significant in two dimensions. First, it's the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Republic of Cyprus, in the constitution of which the Turkish Cypriots feature as founders siding with Greek Cypriots.

And secondly, it's just months before the military coup in Turkey.

It's Assoc. Prof. Mehmet Hasgüler who shed light on this little piece of paper, which inevitably marks a turning point in the history of this still conflicted Mediterranean island.

It features on the fifth edition of his book, "Enosis in Cyprus and the End of Politics of Division", as a monument to the conflict infected upon the island following the notorious right-wing military coup in Turkey on September 12, 1980.

What does this stamp and the commemoration envelope signify?

Federate Turkish State of Cyprus is celebrating the foundation of the Republic of Cyprus. Federate Turkish State of Cyprus is the first state founded by Turkish Cypriots on the north following the Turkish military intervention in 1975. And it's the premise of today's Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC). It's president was Rauf Denktas, who notoriously defended the division of the two peoples of Cyprus.

4. - AP - "US official says Turkey should open dialogue with Iraqi Kurds":

8 February 2007

A top US diplomat said that Turkey should work with the Kurdish regional government in northern Iraq to address Ankara's concerns that Kurdish rebels are operating bases in the region.

Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried repeated US warnings against Turkish military interventions against the rebels in Iraq, which the US fears could further destabilize the region and alienate Iraqi Kurds - the most pro-American group in the region.

5. - Kurdish Media - "The growing powers of Kurds in Iraq are becoming a threat to Turkey, the Sickman of Europe:

8 February 2007 / by Assad Waissi

According to press and media in the last two months, Turkish threat has become a main debate among KRG, Kurdish citizens, and Kurdish representatives in Baghdad. I would say the growing power of Kurds in Iraq and their influence on other parts of Kurdistan is not only threatening Turkey but Iran and Syria as well. The Turkish government and politicians are hopelessly becoming more and more desperate as the Kirkuk referendum gets closer. This fascist regime is taking every step to prevent the upcoming referenda in Kirkuk and to jeopardize peace and harmony in Kurdistan, Northern Iraq. They have held numbers of conferences with neighboring countries Iran, Syria, and other Arab nations, including members of Iraqi government as well as the Iraqi Turkmen front leader Sadettin Ergec and others to create violence and chaos between the Kurds, Arab, Turkmen, and other ethnicities. The goals of these conferences were specifically and overly aimed at the Kurds in Northern Iraq. They have achieved nothing except humiliation.

In spite of their desperation about the future of Kurds and their concern about the growing power of Kurds in Iraq, The Turks are left with anxiety about the future of the twenty-five million Kurds in their country. Their hopelessness has forced them to use threatening language to frighten Kurds in Iraq and other parts of Kurdistan. They have “repeatedly warned Iraqi Kurdish groups against trying to seize control of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, saying Turkey will not stand by amid growing tensions among ethnic Turkmens, Arabs and Kurds in Iraq's oil-rich north”(International Herald Tribune). I don’t think Turkish politicians and their support for the Turkmen would make any changes in the future of Kirkuk. The future of Kirkuk rests in the hands of the Iraqi government and Kurdish Regional Government, not with the Turkish politicians. Their interference was condemned by a large number of Kurdish representatives in Baghdad and also the KRG.

The rise of Kurdish power in Iraq is forcing the Turkish government and politicians to ally with Syria, Iran and other Arab nations to isolate Kurds. These countries have done all that was necessary in the past and today to contain the Kurds and keep control over those parts of Kurdistan that were granted to them and to assimilate and exterminate the Kurds.

They have denied Kurdish identity, deprived Kurds of their rights, and implement a policy of oppression against them. In this regard, they have in most cases cooperated and reached agreements among themselves to destroy Kurds by banning their language, media, and culture. They have brutally beaten down Kurdish uprisings by outlawing them and listing those Kurds as terrorists. The governments of Turkey, Iraq, and Iran are compelled to wage continual war against the Kurds. During this struggle, the Kurds have lost hundreds of thousands of their people and have been the victims of mass expulsions. You have all seen the result: Saddam Hussein and the massacres of Halabja and Anfal in Iraq. Tremendous suffering has been inflicted on us “Kurds,” This is, in fact, a case of genocide.

What they have done in the past and what they are trying to achieve today is to isolate the Kurds economically, socially, and culturally. They have plundered the riches of Kurdistan and prevented it from developing economically, socially, and culturally. This is exactly what Turkey hoping to achieve through his threatening language, and it is not taking them anywhere. However, they know they have lost the control and have no power to isolate the Kurds any longer. They know Kurdish questions are no longer about rights, freedom and equality. In other words, the Kurdish question is not the problem of a minority of the population of this or that country; it is the question of a divided country and a nation. The borders that divide Kurdistan are not natural, economic, or cultural borders. They are artificial borders drawn against the will of the Kurdish people according to the interests of the forces that did the dividing. In many cases, these borders have divided villages, towns, even families, and have had divisive and destructive effects on the economic, social, and cultural life of the Kurds in those regions.

They have fortunately failed in their dictatorial plans and tactics against Kurds because Kurdish national consciousness has strengthened from year to year, and we are stronger today than fifty or a hundred years ago.

Now is the time to strength our unity and nationhood. We the “Kurds” are the third largest nation in the Middle East and the largest nation in the world without our own state. Today Kurds worldwide are standing behind their proud and valuable historical movements and are working forward to end violence, racism, and oppression and to achieve social justice, peace, freedom, and equality for all Kurds. Yet we still continue to fail, despite our long history and rich culture, to attain our independence, even though we have waged resistance since the beginning of the nineteenth century and paid a high price for it. Our failure is because of the tribal social structure, divisions between religious movements, and party ideologies.

We the “Kurds” need to unite behind our brothers and sisters in Iraq, with Kurdish parties in Turkey, in Iran, and Syria and support their achievement and movement. Remember whenever it is questions about Kurdish rights and freedoms, these four nations have in most cases cooperated and reached agreements among themselves to isolate or destroy the Kurds. Yet even with this oppression, we sit silent and complain and blame other nations for not supporting our movements. It is our right and responsibility to support one another and decide on our own future. In order for us “Kurds” to be strong, we need to support one another be united. It does not matter if it is an uprising in Iraq, Turkey, Iran, and Syria. Our support through peaceful demonstration will strengthen their movement and provide a better future for you and me. These four states have always been in the state of fear whenever there is a single Kurdish demonstration or uprising in any Kurdish regions or any part of the world. These countries are no longer a threat to us “Kurds”; they know we are a threat to their colonization and dominance in Kurdish regions. For example, the growing power of Kurds in Iraq in term of economics, culture, solidarity, nationhood, and militarily has created tremendous fear in the hearts of Turkish politicians and government. Our future no longer rests with these fascist regimes; it rests within our solidarity.

Turkish government and politicians are now uniting with Iran, Syria, and other Arab nations to isolate the Kurds in Iraq from developing economically, socially, culturally, and nationally. We the Kurdish citizen of the four Kurdistan regions and particularly the Kurds in the Western Countries are sitting in silent and complain that U.S.A. and Britain betrayed the Kurds. Why wouldn’t they, when we do not support our own movements in Northern Iraq? We must support our people and their movements or will continue to fail like it has always failed in the past.

The most famous and important nationalist leader, Mohandas Gandhi, achieved the national independence of India using nonviolent methods such as organizing work stoppages and fasting until near death. We the Kurds are able to do that. We need to show our support through peaceful

demonstration to those who are fighting and dying for our freedom. For example, Turkey is taking every step that is necessary to jeopardize Kurdish improvement in Iraq and also attacking the Kurdish parties “PKK” in Iraq. There has not yet been a single Kurdish uprising and demonstration either in any Kurdish regions or in the western countries where there are hundreds of thousands of Kurds residing. This is humiliation to our history and nationhood. This is a huge disappointment for the Kurdish organization and parties that are working hard and losing their lives for the sake of our rights and freedom.

Please, forget being a Kurd of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey; unite as one nation and support the KRG and other Kurdish movements that are effective in other parts of Kurdistan till death. This is the only way to prove our unity and nationhood. We must support the KRG and Kurdish “PKK” movement.

Strengthen them through our united voice and peaceful demonstrations.

Today is the most important time and opportunity to send our united voice and movements to those oppressive, imperial governments and other nations, including Britain, U.S. and the United Nation enough is enough. Our goals and future is in our hands, and the only way to achieve our goals is by uniting with our brother and sisters in Iraq, Turkey, Iran, and Syria through their movements. We can be united and can be strong.

This stamp shows us an interesting change. What's presented to us as "State of Greek Cyprus" today was recognized as "Republic of Cyprus" until the establishment of the KKTC.

The same commemorative envelope has a stamp in honor of the 100th anniversary of British presence on the island. Together, this translates as "our roots go back to the British colonization and later to the Republic of Cyprus. We're not apart from the Republic, we're a federal state".

So, what happens then and this approach changes?

I'll quote an interesting example: My father was born on 1941. His had five different sets of passports and identities, issued by the British colonial administration, then by the Republic of Cyprus, Cyprus Autonomous Administration, Federate Turkish State of Cyprus and lastly by KKTC.

If the Annan Plan had been ratified in 2004, the sixth set was on the way. All those happened just in 50 years.

The politics of separation laid roots in Cyprus following the coup in Turkey in 1980. Cypriots suffer from the same dementia as their Turkish counterparts caused by this coup.

Late General Kenan Evren led the way to the establishment of the KKTC -which nobody recognized except his dictatorial friends Pakistani leader Ziya Ulhak and Romanian Chavushescu- on November 15, 1983. Turkish PM of the day Bulent Ulusu was responding as "we wouldn't want anybody that doesn't want us", to the Europeans who criticized the coup. KKTC was established in order to teach a lesson to them. It acted as a blanket over the social collapse caused by the military coup.

In addition to that, there's an internal motive to the establishment of the KKTC. The elections, which gave way to Rauf Denktas' presidency, were suspicious. If he wouldn't be elected that time, law had forbidden another run. Following the elections he lifted this constitutional constraint. Turkish generals of the coup wanted to hold on to Denktas on the island at that time.

Turkish officials openly intervened in the process of forming a government after the elections. Turkish ambassador to Cyprus, Inal Batu declared, "The political parties that don't support NATO are not welcome as government".

All these incidents show how the issue of Cyprus had been manipulated in Turkey as consecutive governments change.

What's needed to be done now for a solution on the island?

The critical point is the UN Security Council resolution 186 that dates to March 4, 1964. This resolution excluded the Turkish Cypriots from the Republic of Cyprus, of which they are constitutional co-founders. Result was a illegitimate republic.

Whereas Turkish Cypriots held ministerial positions in the government, had 24 undisclosed seats in the parliament before this resolution. These are our rights. Turkish Cypriots are natural citizens of the Republic of Cyprus. We don't want any favors; these are our rights.

Now if Turkey can question this illegitimate condition, the UN resolution that created it, the existence of UN peace keeping forces on the island; the current situation may change and all trumps that the conservative Greek Cypriot leader Papadopulos hold can be nulled.

The accession of the Republic of Cyprus into the EU without the Turkish Cypriots is a mistake. Turkey must emphasize this point, also in order to resolve its own deadlock with the EU.

6. - IRIN - "Ethnic Tensions in Kirkuk Take a Dangerous Turn":

BAGHDAD / 7 February 2007

Nearly 500 Arabs took to the streets on Wednesday morning in the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, some 290km north of the capital, Baghdad, denouncing a decision by a governmental committee to relocate tens of thousands of mostly Shi'ite Arabs currently living in the city.

"We vehemently reject this decision. We will not leave Kirkuk by force or without force. If they [Kurds] try to force us out of the city, then there will be dangerous reactions against them," said Sheikh Raad al-Najafi, 37, an Arab Shi'ite religious cleric at the Kirkuk office of the radical Shi'ite leader Muqtada al-Sadr.

"Implementing this decision is against the benefit of Iraq in general, and Kirkuk in particular, in terms of security and stability," al-Najafi told IRIN in a telephone interview while he was taking part in the demonstration.

On Sunday, the Iraqi Higher Committee for the Normalisation of Kirkuk ruled that Arabs who moved to the city from other parts of Iraq after 14 July 1968 -- when the Ba'athist party of former president Saddam Hussein came to power - would be returned to their original towns and given monetary compensation.

"A compensation of 20 million Iraqi dinars [about $ US 15,000] will be given to those who arrived in Kirkuk during the 'Arabisation' campaign of Saddam's government, in addition to giving them land in their home towns," said Kamilia Ibrahim, a Kurdish legislator familiar with the work of the committee. She added that the committee's decision would need to be sent to the Iraqi cabinet for endorsement.

"Why should I leave? Kirkuk is an Iraqi city and I'm an Iraqi citizen," said Awad al-Salihi, 52, a father-of-six who moved to Kirkuk in 1984 from the southern city of Basra.

"We will not leave Kirkuk by force and we will defend out existence here," al-Salihi added.

Tens of thousands of Kurds and non-Arabs fled Kirkuk in the early 1980s and during the 1990s when the Saddam government implemented its 'Arabisation' policy. Kurds and non-Arabs were replaced with pro-government Arabs from the impoverished south.

But after the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003 brought Saddam's rule to an end, Kirkuk was widely seen as a tinderbox as Kurds and other non-Arabs streamed back with their house keys in hand only to find their homes were either sold or given to Arabs.

The returning Kurds found nowhere to live except in parks and abandoned government buildings. They became displaced in their own hometown. At the same time, many Arabs were forced to leave the city, despite Sunni and Shi'ite Arab leaders pleading them not to.

As a result, areas that were once 80 percent Arab became 80 percent Kurd. Since then, the city of more than one million residents has witnessed escalating violence which reached its peak last weekend when five suicide bomb attacks claimed the lives of 11 civilians and injured 50 others.