·  TURKISH CONSTITUTIONAL COURT: LAW ON CONDITIONAL FREEDOM
"LIMITED AMNESTY":  POLITICAL BAN ON  ISLAMIST LEADERS CONTINUES.
On 29 October, the Turkish Constitutional Court quashed the arrangements the amnesty for
"crimes of thought " contained in the law on conditional freedom and the
prorogation of sentence. The Court ruled that this law was in reality a
limited amnesty, liable to provide the basis for political bans.

The Islamist Justice and Development Party (AK) had hoped that its leader,
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, condemned on the basis of Article 312 of the Turkish
Penal Code and so declared ineligible, would benefit from the law on
conditional freedom. However, the Court's ruling that this law is a limited
amnesty blocks any interpretation and so Mr. Erdogan's eligibility.
 

·   ARMY TO SUPERVISE POLITICAL LIFE "FOR A THOUSAND YEARS IF NECESSARY"
TO BLOCK " REACTIONARY THREAT" OF ISLAMISTS.
On 30 October, the Turkish National Security Council, (MGK) that,
every month, brings together the Armed Forces top brass and part of the
Government, proposed to extend the State of Emergency in Kurdistan which
has been in force for the last 14 years. In law, this has to be renewed
every 4 months, and is currently operative for the Kurdish provinces of
Tunceli, Diyarbakir, Hakkari and Sirnak. The Turkish Parliament must decide
every four months whether to continue this State of Emergency ­ essentially
on the recommendations of the National Security Council.
 
However, the PKK, at the request of its chief Abdullah Ocalan, sentenced to
death for "treason and separatism " in June 1999, put an end to its fifteen
year armed struggle in September 1999. Since then armed clashes have
virtually ceased in the region. But the Turkish Army has declared itself
determined to hunt down the fighters to the last man, unless they
surrender, and has continued its operations into Northern Iraq. The lifting
of these emergency laws is amongst the "medium term " measures demanded of
Turkey by the European Union, before opening negotiations for membership.
The Turkish government has committed itself to lifting them ­ but without
giving any timetable.

Invited to the Presidential reception to celebrate Republic Day, the
Turkish Armed forces Chief of Staff, Huseyin Kivrikoglu, stressed that the
number of civilians in the MGK has increased following the latest
Constitutional amendments, but that "that is unimportant. We, too, remove
our uniforms to take part in those meetings. There is a real democracy in
this framework. Everyone is free to say what he wants. Article 312
(Editor's Note: the Article of the Turkish penal Code that provides
punishments for to great a liberty of expression of opinion) does not apply
 " (sic). General Kivrikoglu also praised the Turkish model saying:
"everyone, today, defends the Turkish model   I repeat what I have already
said. So long as there is any reactionary danger  (Ed. Note: i.e. Islamist)
there will be other 28 Februarys. (Ed. Note: on 28 February 1997, an Army
meeting took place in the course of which the Turkish Army decided to fire
the Islamist Prime Minister, Necmettin Erbakan ­ an intervention of the
Army described by some as a disguised coup d'état and by the former General
Secretary of the Turkish General Staff, General Ozkasnak as "a post-modern
coup d'état  "). If 150 years are needed, it will last 150 years or, if
necessary, 1000 years  "
 

· INCITEMENT TO VIOLENCE  BASIS FOR MEMOIRS OF TRIGGER-HAPPY
TURKISH AMBASSADOR TO BERN. In an interview in the Turkish daily Hurriyet,
dated 29 and 30 October, the former Turkish Ambassador to Bern, Kaya
Toperi, recalled the events of 23 June 1993, when the Embassy was taken by
storm by unarmed activists of the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) who were
protesting at Ankara's policies regarding the Kurds and which resulted 9in
the death of a young Kurd killed by bullets fired by the Ambassador and his
bodyguards. "The Rambo Ambassador tells how he forced the PKK to flee " the
paper proudly headlined for the first part of the interview. Indeed, it
chose to put, on its front page, the warlike memoirs of K. Toperi, under
the heading "I rushed in. a gun in each hand ". Then former Ambassador, who
talks of a "war of honour " against Switzerland and does not hesitate to
accuse Hikmet Çetin, Turkish Foreign Minister at the time, of inertia,
continues thus: "The same evening the Swiss response was that every
entrance would have to be searched. I asked for protests, but nothing was
done.  The Bern Public Prosecutor's Office called for my diplomatic
immunity to be lifted, as well as that of my comrades   Yet those who had
fired were five police officers and myself. I got them out of Bern by car,
one at a time, and sent them back to Turkey. I called Hikmet Çetin   My
Minister didn't turn a hair "

Hikmet Çetin, for his part, gave his version the next day, declaring "We
had warned all our Embassies and Consulates 18 hours before of the
likelihood of incidents and begged them to take all necessary measures "
The paper expressed astonishment at the rest of Mr. Çetin's statement which
maintained that "on that day, our Embassy at Bern forgot to lock its main
entrance " adding that this was clearly proved by video recordings of that
day which showed this clearly. Hikmet Çetin went on to describe what he had
seen on the video recording: "The majority of the people who had come
before the Embassy were women and children. They had no weapons. They
simply tried to climb the railings round the Embassy when suddenly someone
shouted 'the door is open". Consequently the crowd pushed open the door and
entered the building. I had, nevertheless sent a coded message 18 hours
earlier telling them to take all necessary measures, but the garden door
was broken and they had not repaired it "

Regarding the organised escape of the consular members, Hikmet Çetin
unashamedly declared "in this case we made considerable efforts   We even
declared the Swiss Ambassador in Ankara persona non grata " The former
Minister also added "Can an Ambassador use weapons? Despite his bodyguards?
It took me six months to re-establish Turkish-Swiss relations after the
Ambassadors blunder ". Kaya Toperi did not fail to reply on 31 October,
again the columns of Hurriyet: "I didn't know that the arms bought by the
Foreign Ministry and sent to our diplomats were just decorative and not for
our self-defence ".

The Chief Editor of Hurriyet, Ertugrul Ozkök, completely committed to the
Army's views and to its opposition to Turkish political change, overbid,
adopting the remarks attributed to the Turkish population regarding Kaya
Toperi, ending his editorial thus: "May God bless you! " after having
specified that "after all, no one made as much noise as they did for Toperi
when the Israeli security services Killed four members of the PKK who tried
to burst into the Israeli Embassy in Berlin " in February 1999.
 

· TURKISH PRESS:  ARGUMENT AGAINST KURDISH STATE IN
IRAQ. The former Turkish Ambassador to the United States, Sukru Elekdag, in
an article entitled "Those who miss the opportunity will regret it later!
", published on 22 October in the Turkish daily Sabah sharply enjoined the
Turkish authorities to react against any Kurdish entity in Northern Iraq
and to set preconditions to American policy in the region to which look
after Turkish interests:

"Ankara is seriously worried about the possibility that a military
operation will be staged against Iraq in the course of the process of
waging war on terrorism in the wake of Sept. 11. On CNN's Larry King Live
program last week Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit stressed that if that
happened Iraq would be split up, and that this would create problems for
Turkey's independence and territorial integrity.

Ecevit's remarks require that we ask the following questions and analyze
the relevant issues:

Is it definite that a Kurdish state will be founded in Northern Iraq if
Saddam gets overthrown?  How would Turkey be affected by the establishment
of an independent Kurdish state?  Is the United States supporting
establishment of a Kurdish state?  What kind of strategy should Turkey
have?

Iraq would be split up if Saddam is overthrown

Ankara's view on the first question is quite clear. Ankara believes that
Iraq's unity can be preserved only with an authoritarian rule; and that if
Saddam gets overthrown Iraq will be split up.

During the Ottoman era Iraq was governed as three separate provinces or
states: The Baghdad province was predominantly Sunni-Arab, Basra
Shiite-Arab and Mosul Kurdish and Turcoman.    Ankara thinks that such a
state would forge alliances with some of Turkey's neighbors as well as with
the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) to make territorial demands on
Turkey, adhering to the "Greater Kurdistan" cause and fueling Kurdish
nationalism.

These worries are not groundless, considering that in the aftermath of 1991
the U.S. policy has favored the establishment of a Kurdish state.

Indeed, it was only with Washington's support that a parliamentary election
could be held in Northern Iraq in May 1992 and a Kurdish government could
be formed.

And the "Kurdistan Federated State" was proclaimed on Oct. 4, 1992 in the
wake of the visit [Northern Iraqi Kurdish leaders] Massoud Barzani and
Jalal Talabani paid to the United States.

During the Gulf crisis, Turgut Ozal, the president at the time, maintained
elbow contact with U.S. President George Bush of how to split up Iraq.
Ozal's "vision" was as follows: First a Kurdish state would be established
in Northern Iraq and then ensure that it joins Turkey as a "Kurdish
federated state." Thus, a "Turkish-Kurdish Federal State" would be created.
 
 

Turkey's being plunged on such a dangerous path was prevented thanks to
Gen. Necip Torumtay to resigned as chief of staff when Ozal gave him
instructions to "occupy" Iraq's Mosul and Kirkuk regions.

Kurdish state and US interests

Yet, the "Iraqi Federated State" proved short-lived because the tribal
system that prevails in the region is hardly suitable for creation of a
state.

It is a fact that at a certain point the United States' Northern Iraq
policy took a path hazardous to Turkey, and that was due to a great extent
to the erroneous reasoning of Ozal.

Under the current international conditions, on the other hand, the United
States should well be aware that it would go against American interests if
the United States conducted the kind of policies that would result in the
establishment of a Kurdish state in Northern Iraq.
 

If the United States did create a landlocked Kurdish state surrounded by
hostile countries on all sides, a state which would be dependent on the
United States in all aspects, Washington would, whether it liked it or not,
have to "index" its Middle East policy to the safeguarding of that state.

That would cause Iraq, Syria and Iran, countries who have a Kurdish
minority of their own, would be inclined to resolve the differences among
them and to create a bloc against America and Israel.

In other words, the consequences of such a policy could undermine the U.S.
interests in the region.

It is a very strong possibility that the moment they decide that the United
States has -- relatively -- attained its goals in Afghanistan, the "hawks"
in Washington will push for the opening of a second front and succeed in
initiating a military operation against Iraq.

Turkey must be prepared for such developments. Turkey must not let Massoud
Barzani and Jalal Talabani to have a clear field in Northern Iraq.

Otherwise, Turkey will not have a say in the restructuring of Iraq in the
post-Saddam period".
 

·  PROVINCIAL GOVERNOR REFUSES TO CUT CAKE
SHAPED LIKE  TURKEY SO AS NOT TO DIVIDE COUNTRY!
According to the Turkish daily Milliyet of 31 October, the prefect (provincial governor)
of Bolu, Mehmet Ali Turker, in the course of a reception to celebrate the
75th Anniversary of the Turkish Republic refused to cut a cake shaped to
represent Turkey saying: "That's a fine piece of work  But I can't cut a
cake representing Turkish territory, with a picture of Ataturk in the
middle. I cannot divide my country! " The paper continued saying that "he
liked the cake but didn't cut it for fear of committing treason  The cake
(to the accompaniment of cheers from the guests) was returned to the
kitchen intact "  The country was saved

End