· TRIAL OF KURDISH FIRST NAMES: CASE DISMISSED AT DICLE, NEW CASES
BEING INVESTIGATED IN IZMIR AND ARDAHAN.   Although the Dicle court had
dismissed a similar case the day before, an Izmir Public Prosecutor
launched proceedings against nine other Kurdish families in Izmir, accused
of having given Kurdish first names to their children. The incriminated
names are Zozan (Summer pasture), Medroj (Medes Sun), Rojhat (Dawn),  Siyar
(Awake) and Baran (Rain) ­ though the last two are commonly used by Turks
as well as by Kurds. At a time when the European Union is requiring that
Turkey start serious reforms to respect Kurdish cultural rights, the Public
prosecutor describes the giving of Kurdish first names to children as acts
of "civil disobedience".

As part of the series of Kurdish name hunts, the Turkish press announced
that another family in Ardahan as well as the registry office responsible
for accepting the name, have been taken to court for registering the
Kurdish name Berivan (Milkmaid). The case is all the more farcical  in that
Berivan is the name of one of the most popular Turkish television series
"While talking about the Copenhagen criteria, we are regressing to the
point of suing our centuries old first names. I'm sorry for the European
Union. It seems that they are going to accept us amongst them. What use
will these hard heads be tom Europe ? They'll simply disturb the peace of
those poor people" wrote Fatih Altayli on 30 May in his daily column.
 

*  TURKISH ARMY ACCEPTS ABOLITION OF DEATH PENALTY:
CIVILIAN AUTHORITIES  TO FOLLOW SUIT. The all-powerful Turkish
Army says it is ready to accept the abolition of the
death sentence in Turkey on condition that Parliament passes an Act
ensuring that the chief of the ex-PKK, Abdullah Ocalan, can never leave
prison, the Turkish press reported on 29 May.

Thus the Turkish daily, Hurriyet, announced that the Turkish Army had come
out in favour of abolition on its front page with the headline "This
courageous step came from the Army".  The paper explained that, while the
Turkish Prime was trying to get his main coalition partner, Devlet Bahçeli
(head or the neo-fascist National Action Party) to take this "courageous
step", it was the Turkish Army that decided to break the silence on this
subject by coming out in favour of abolition and for suppression of any
possibility of an amnesty. The Turkish Army, which till now had publicly
declared that, being "directly involved" it could not take sides in the
matter, is said, by the paper, to have opted for a formula that would
abolish the death penalty and replace it by life imprisonment without any
possibility of conditional freedom or amnesty. The Army general who made
this statement, still anonymous, stressed that the sensitivity of public
opinion regarding the fate of Abdullah Ocalan should be taken into account
and thus "apply the same fate as that of Rudolph Hess" to him.

On an official visit to China, Devlet Bahçeli, for his part, adopted a
tougher line, stating from Pekin on 28 May, that whatever the decision of
the European Human Rights Court might be on the Ocalan case, it should be
rapidly put before the Turkish Parliament for it to decide. In reply to
Bülent Ecevit, who had declared "I am waiting for a courageous step by
Bahçeli on the question of the European Union" Bahçeli retorted that he had
five conditions for the European Union : the transfer of Abdullah Ocalan to
a type-F prison, the transfer of is case to the Turkish Parliament, the
inclusion of KADEK (the ex-PKK, now Congress for Freedom and Democracy in
Kurdistan) on the list of terrorist organisations, the capitulation of the
leaders of that organisation and a public and convincing declaration by
those leaders about the ending of terrorism and their loyalty to the
Turkish Constitution. D. Bahçeli stated that it was only under those
conditions that he would consider broadening the area of democracy and
civic rights and liberties.

The opinion of the influential Turkish Army is, however, likely to soften
the attitude of the Turkish Right. Thus Tansu Çiller, head of the True Path
Party (DYP) and former Prime Minister, who has hitherto displayed a very
hard line on the subject to catch votes from the MHP's electorate, has done
an about turn by declaring that if the choice was "between Apo and the E.U.
, we would chose the E.U."

The Army dominated National Security Council (MHK), Turkey's real executive
body, is due to meet on 30 May to discuss once again the question of
Kurdish language education and broadcasting, but also the European Union.
The poor health of Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit, which  is being watched
with great anxiety, would probably prevent him attending. On 28 May he
admitted, for the first time, that he was, indeed, ill and that though he
wanted to, he could not allow himself to abandon his post. Deputy Prime
Minister Devlet Bahçeli, at present visiting China, will also be absent
from the meeting. The Turkish President, Ahmet Necdet Sezer has, however,
called a summit meeting of all the parties represented in Parliament for 7
June, in an effort to accelerate the reforms.
 

· TURKISH GENERAL TO IRAQI KURDISTAN TO MEET KURDISH LEADERS.
According  to the Kurdish daily Hawlati (Citizen) of 20 May, General Nevzat
Bakiroglu, commanding the Turkish Special Forces, was said to be visiting
Kurdistan.  He is said to have met Massoud Barzani at Salahaddin on an
unspecified date and was later received by Jalal Talabani in Suleimaniah on 17 May.

According to a local source, Turkey is said to have sent its
highest-ranking official in the region, following the recent meeting
between the two Kurdish leaders and Western and American leaders. According
to Free Iraq Radio, Massoud Barzani has refused several invitations from
the Turkish government recently. The Turks are also irritated by the fact
that the two Kurdish leaders did not transit through Turkey for
consultation with them before leaving for Europe.
 

·  TURKISH BUSINESS FEDERATION DEMANDS ABOLITION OF DEATH
SENTENCE AND RESPECT FOR KURDISH CULTURAL RIGHTS. On 29 May,
the powerful Turkish employers organisation TUSAID called on the government to abolish
"as soon as possible" the death sentence and to grant cultural rights to
the Kurds so as to be able to open negotiations with the European Union.

"The political parties and Parliament must face their responsibilities in
this project, vital to the country's future and do what is necessary in the
way of joining the European Union" stressed this influential organisation.
It indicated that reforms to conform to the Copenhagen criteria on Human
Rights, in particular the complete abolition of the death sentence and both
teaching and a television in the Kurdish language must be passed as soon as possible.

The organisation considers that if Turkey does not carry out these reforms,
the Fifteen will not set any date for starting negotiations for membership,
demanded with such insistence by Ankara. "We will then be overtaken by
other candidate countries and be left on our own" stresses TUSAID.  It
considers that the uncertainty with which  Turkey would then be faced would
considerably complicate the task of achieving its economic objectives, a
reference to the serious economic crisis that it has been going through
since February 2001, despite massive aid from the IMF and the World Bank.
 

· CONSTITUTIONAL  COURT INVALIDATES NEW AMNESTY LAW 
On 21 May, ignoring a first Presidential veto, the Turkish Parliament had voted a
amnesty law which would have benefited Mehmet Ali Agça, the author of the
failed attempt to assassinate Pope John-Paul II in 1981  but which, once again,
excluded those sentenced for State crimes such as the Kurdish fighters, the extreme
leftists, but also, more broadly political prisoners such as the Kurdish
ex-Members of Parliament, journalists or writers jailed for their opinions.

President Ahmet Necdet Sezer had referred the matter to the Constitutional
Court on 23 May, arguing that under this law, reductions in sentences would
not be decided on the basis a prisoner's behaviour and that the law did not
have the three fifths majority required, in his view, for what was a special amnesty.

More than 40,000 detainees in Turkey have been freed by amnesty since 2000.
Some 11,500  murderers, 11,300 thieves and bandits, 1,100 persons jailed
for sexual offences have thus recovered their freedom since 2000, when
Turkey passed a law reducing sentences by 10 years.

Incidentally, a communiqué published on 29 May announced the end of the
hunger strike launched in the Turkish prisons on 20 October 2000 to protest
against he conditions of detention and the transfers of prisoners to Type-F prisons.
 

· DIYARBEKIR FOOTBALL CHANT:  "KINE EM ?" (WHO ARE  WE)
"KURDIN EM !" (WE ARE KURDS)".  As an early Turkish General Election
appears increasingly probable, the Turkish journalist Hasan Cemal is trying to feel
the pulse of society through a series of reports being published in the Turkish daily
Milliyet. After visiting some towns in the West, here he is on 28 May in
Diyarbekir where his first assessment is clearly made in the headline
"Diyarbekir is determined. There is no indecision in Diyarbekir ! There is
only one political  reality here ­ it's HADEP!"  Here are extensive
extracts from the report he devoted to Diyarbekir, published over 28 and 29 May :

"Heads were confused in the nine towns I've just visited across Anatolia.
That is not the case in Diyarbekir. There is no indecision in this town :
the People's Democratic Party (HADEP). They'll all vote for this party like
soldiers because they consider HADEP as their party, as the party that
faces up to the State.

HADEP secures the majority of votes, but as it does not pass the national
threshold of 10% it is not represented in Parliament. Diyarbekir is the
very incarnation of this fact. HADEP won 46% of the votes in the 1999
General Elections in this town ­ 187,000  votes. But not a single Member of
Parliament.

As against that the Virtue Party (Fazilet ­ Islamist) has 4 M.P.s with only
59,000 votes, the Motherland Party (ANAP)  and the True Path Party (DYP),
with 45,000  votes each  have 3 M.P.s each and the Democratic  Left Party
(Editor's note: the Prime Minister's Party ­ ultra nationalist)  with
20,000 votes has 1 MP for Diyarbekir. Note that all four of those parties
together only got 170,000 votes while HADEP, which has more than all  four
of  them doesn't have a single member in parliament. Is this acceptable ?
Here is a proverb about election systems "Justice in representation,
stability in administration !" There is no justice in this

HADEP criticises the injustice of which it is victim. "This policy must be
abandoned. It is to no one's advantage. At first on the pretext of
terrorism there was a rejection. But today there is nothing of the sort. I
am against violence, so let us engage in politics".
What then will HADEP do in this situation ?

A retired teacher said : "I'll vote HADEP!  It's a reaction, not because I
have any hope". Another adds "I expect neither services not democracy. I'll
vote HADEP to prove that I exist ".  Yet another reaction want the State to
sent people here who have a cleaner police record, we want HADEP to cease
to be excluded, because exclusion from the political scene leads to
radicalisation". Someone pursues "Here there is HADEP and  then Tayip
[Editor's Note : Recep Tayip, leader of the Islamist Justice and
Development Party (AK)].

Yilmaz's statement "the road into Europe passes through Diyarbekir"
attracted many people, but they also questioned his credibility and real
determination :  "The European Union is our common desire   We should join
it so that, all together, we can be treated as first class people" retorted
one of these men. In the blacksmith's street, I was told  "We need peace
and quiet. I want democracy and freedom. When I go to the West I feel like
another man. I feel well. You can't do things by just plastering over the
cracks" then adding "They talk about the European Union, but they ban
Kurdish. When Turkish was banned in Bulgaria we moved heaven and earth.
But here, my  brother, Kurdish is still banned".

The HADEP mayor of Diyarbekir, Feridun Çelik, won 104,000 votes in 1999. He
was elected mayor with 62.5% of the votes. Cabbar Leygara, HADEP mayor of
Baglar district, for his part, was elected with 71% of the votes  Both
pointed out that HADEP, in fact, represents even more and particularly
criticised the pressures exerted in the rural areas.

Feridun Çelik describes the fact that HADEP has no representatives in the
Turkish Parliament despite winning 46% of the votes in the 1999 elections
as a "great injustice".  "The choice of the electors should be respected.
That is a clear definite reality that must be accepted. How can you ignore
HADEP? The whole population of a region gives its votes to a party but, in
the end, has no representation in Parliament. Won't this exclusion still
further reinforce inequality ?" he asked. Cabbar Leygara continued : "No
one asks anything of our Members of Parliament. All come to see us and say
that they have chosen us. They ask when will their children be able to come
down from the mountains ? When will they come out of prison ? When will
there be an amnesty ? When will they be able to return to their villages?
They tell us that is what they elected us for". The mayor of Diyarbekir
asks himself  "Where can they go with their rejection ?". He adds that
their relations with the civilian bureaucracy are easier than three years
ago   but the distance with the military bureaucracy continues

F. Çelik also stresses that "Leyla (Zana) and her colleagues do not deserve
to be jailed for 11 years. All the murderers are free   thanks to the
amnesties, but they are still in jail. If they were to be freed they would
have a great influence on the population that elected them  "
Feridun Çelik pointed out that for the last few years there had been no
clashes in the region but "there are still no good policies applied". He
would like the authorities to stop accusing any democratic demands of
"separatism":  "The abolition of the death sentence, education in Kurdish,
audiovisual  broadcasting in Kurdish  are all proposals  made by President
Sezer. Ecevit says the same. So does Yilmaz.  Tayyip  too. But they say it
in Ankara. If we were to say it here in Diyarbekir we would be charged
under the State of Emergency regulations". He continued with an example :
"Last week the Prefect's Office sent us a note the evening before the
inauguration of a cultural and artistic festival.  It stated that, if there
were any slogans shouted  against the death penalty,  for the return to the
villages or for education in Kurdish, the festival  would be cancelled. If
leaders in Ankara make such proposals  there is no reaction ­ but if it's
us, it becomes a legal  offence".

The HADEP party leader in Diyarbekir,  Ali Urkut, declared :  "Diyarbekir
is, today, a civil society  graveyard.  So many  organisation s are banned".

Diyarbekirsport ­football is an important subject in the town. "At first
they tried to use football as a means of depolitilisation     against
HADEP,  but it didn't work.  Society even politicised football.  Quite
naturally    One of the stands shouts "Kine em ? (Who  are we ?)" and the
other replies "Kurdin em ! (We are Kurds !)" Feridun told us.