· ZANA TRIAL: COURT REFUSES BAIL FOR FORMER MPs POSTPONES
NEXT HEARING TO 23 APRIL. The retrial of the former Kurdish Members of
Parliament opened on the morning of 28 March at the Ankara State Security Court, before
an audience of many lawyers, Human Rights defenders, diplomats and journalists
as well two Members of the European Parliament present as observers. Over
200 police, including riot squad units had been mobilised for the occasion.

Leyla Zana, Hatip Dicle, Orhan Dogan and Selim Sadak, former M.P.s for the
pro-Kurdish Party for Democracy (DEP), who have already served nine years
imprisonment in Turkey, had been sentenced to 15 years imprisonment in 1994
on charges of "separatism". They owe their retrial to a ruling of the
European Human Rights Court that found their first trial "inequitable" and
also to a decision of the Turkish Parliament authorising a retrial to
people whose sentences had been condemned by the European Human Rights
Court. This is the first trial of this kind since the adoption of these
measures by Parliament in January 2003.

On the first day of the trial, the former M.P.s called for a speeding up of
the democratisation process in the country, "Some important progress has
been achieved over the last few years in respect of democratisation" said
Mrs. Zana, who considered that Turkey must still do much more in the area
of Human Rights. Moreover Mrs. Zana, winner of the European Parliament's
1995 Sakharov Prize, whose trial is being followed with special attention
by the European Commission, called on the European Union to encourage the
reforms by immediately opening negotiations on Turkey's membership. "This
would accelerate Turkey's democratisation process" she considered. Mrs.
Zana denied having incited the Kurds to "rebellion". "We have never
proposed violence, but we have been the targets of violence" she declared.
"We had only one objective in Parliament and that was to stop the
fratricidal shedding of blood" she added.

Leyla Zana continued by stating: "On the occasion of this retrial, in the
tenth year of our imprisonment, I would like to stress that, primarily we ­
and you, our judges, but also the journalists and observers ­ are sitting
an examination in democracy. Consequently, even if the impression is given
that this period of legal procedures is about our individual liberties, in
fact it is about our common future. If our problem had been solely one of
individual liberty, we would not have waited all this time in Turkey, we
would have exercised our right to voluntary exile".

"We welcome and support, despite their inadequacies, the democratic
openings like the abolition of the death sentence, education in languages
other than Turkish, the right to broadcast on the national TV channels. But
we would like to draw attention to the fact that these reforms have still
not been applied in practice and the fact that this delay could provide
fertile soil for provocations. We cannot heal the wounds of a period that
we don't want to go through again with rancour, with hatred and feelings of
vengeance or social regression" she stressed.

For his part, Orhan Dogan stated "Some years ago, we went into politics to
work for peace, democracy and brotherhood, taking into account the
sacrifices involved. A solution of the Kurdish problem based on tolerance
and mutual understanding could only strengthen Turkey's unity and
geographic borders. That is the reason why hope that the reforms of August
2002 will be rapidly put into practice and confidence established. It is
also important for Turkey to be linked in friendship with neighbouring
populations. Instead of considering our friends of neighbouring countries
as enemies, fraternal respect can only act in favour of Turkey and our
neighbouring brothers".

"We were tried for our political opinions" stated Mr. Dicle for his part.
The State Security Court refused to release them pending their retrial, as
the defence lawyers had requested. At the end of the hearing, the judge set
25 April as the date for the continuation of the trial. "This is
disappointing  ­ Turkey has lost an opportunity for giving some proof of a
democratic and pragmatic attitude" commented Luigi Vinci, and Italian
Member of the European Parliament who was attending the trial.  "If the
four M.P.s are not released at the next hearing it will be a scandal" he
stated. "We want to see an equitable trial because the proceeding in 1994
were not equitable and the rights of the defence, at that time were
violated" the European MP stressed.
 

EUROPEAN COMMISSION PROPOSES "ROAD MAP" TO TURKEY AND
FINANCIAL AID OF A BILLION EUROS.  The European Commission has just
proposed a "road map" to Turkey, which, if followed, would allow it to join the European
Union. "The requirements we are setting before Turkey are high, but the challenge
can be taken up" declared the European Commissioner for enlargement, Günter
Verheugen. In December 2002, the Fifteen had assured Turkey that
negotiations for membership would begin at the end of 2004 if decisive
progress had been achieved towards the criteria set by the European Union.
Brussels will play a crucial role in drafting a report for the Head of
State and Government of the Union determining the extent of Ankara's
respect of the criteria.

Concretely, the Commission proposes to grant a financial aid of 1.05
billion euros over the period 2004 - 2006, which is about double the present level.

However, in exchange, Turkey must show the greatest restraint regarding
Iraqi Kurdistan, whereas Ankara would like to send in thousands of men,
under the cover of humanitarian  aid for Iraqi Kurdistan. "It is clear that
any Turkish incursion into Northern Iraq would  be undesirable and
misplaced" he declared. "It would be difficult to commit a bigger blunder
in the middle of the crisis" he added. "If there were to be an incursion it
would have serious consequences for the future of any relations between the
European Union and Turkey". Brussels also hopes that the Turkish
authorities put pressure on the Turkish Cypriot community leaders to ensure
that a peace agreement be concluded allowing a united island to join the
European Union. The National Security Council (MGK) must also be reformed
to loosen the Army's control over the civilian authorities. The European
Commissioner considered that the Turkish Government and Parliament must
control the Army "and not the reverse". The Turkish authorities must also
ratify the International Convention on political and civil rights and put
into practice measure to fight against the use of torture and guarantee "in
practice" prisoners' defence rights. Finally freedom of expression and
association must be real and the rights of minorities, particularly the
Kurds, be guaranteed by access to television broadcasting and education.
 
TURKISH ARMY ALIGNS ITSELF WITH US STAND AND DECLARES
IT WILL NOT INTERVENE IN KURDISTAN.  On 26 March, the Turkish
Chief of Staff gave assurances that the Turkish Army would coordinate with the
United States before sending any troops into Iraqi Kurdistan, adding that there
wouldn't be any deployment unless there was a humanitarian crisis or a threat to
Turkey's security. "Because our strategic ally, the United States, is still at war in this
region, we will coordinate our action with it" declared General Hilmi Ozkok
during a Press Conference in Diyarbekir.`

Washington is worried about the possibility of mix ups between Turkish and
allied troops that could provoke bloody blunders, not to speak of the
danger of clashes between Turkish and Iraqi Kurdish forces. After intense
pressure by the European Union and Washington to avoid any unilateral
despatch of Turkish troops into Kurdistan, the Turkish political and
military authorities thus seem tom have adopted a more reassuring position.

The Turkish Foreign Minister, Abdullah Gül, thus announced on 25 March that
Ankara envisaged sending Turkish troops only 20 Kilometres into Iraqi
Kurdistan, but solely in the event of a crisis. General Ozkok, for his part
stressed that the Army would only send reinforcements into Iraqi Kurdistan
in the event of attacks on Turkish soldiers already there, of an offensive
"by one of the regional forces against the other or against civilians" or
of "a massive influx of refugees". While promising coordinated action, the
Turkish General also expressed some resentment against Washington "I find
it hard to understand why those who are on the other side of the oceans and
say that they are threatened do not believe Turkey when it says that it is
facing the same danger, just on the other side of its borders".

The American representative with the Iraqi opposition, Zalmay Khalilzad,
for his part went to see the Turkish Foreign Minister so as to reassure
Ankara about developments inside Kurdistan and to convince the government
of the necessity of not sending its forces onto Kurdish territory, while
the Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, left open the possibility
of such an intervention by declaring that the country "would do whatever
was necessary if its feeling were offended".
 

COLIN POWELL TO VISIT TURKEY, BRUSSELS, TO SMOOTH  OVER
DIFFERENCES. Colin Powell is due to leave Washington on 1st April for a
lightning visit to Ankara then Brussels during which he is due to meet
Turkish, European and NATO leaders and try and smooth over differences over
the Iraq conflict. The chief of American diplomatic corps is due to meet
Turkish leaders on 2nd April. This will be Powell's first trip abroad since
the beginning of the Iraqi conflict.

Richard Boucher, the Secretary of State's spokesman, declared that C.
Powell intends in particular to raise with his interlocutors "questions
relative to the conflict but also to the post-conflict", an allusion to the
reconstruction of Iraq in the perspective of Saddam Hussein's departure.
Mr. Powell might also raise, particularly in Brussels, the possibility of
associating other countries than the US and Britain in the stabilisation
and maintenance of order after the fighting, he added. "Concerning the
stabilisation and maintenance of peace, the American forces will be there
but they may be means of associating other countries" he stated, while
stressing that thinking on this subject were still just "at the very beginning".

Mr. Boucher also indicated that he would solemnly reaffirm Washington's
opposition to the intervention of Turkish troops in Iraqi Kurdistan. "We
think that, with the work that we are doing (in Iraqi Kurdistan) it is not
necessary for the Turks to envisage any incursion into the region" he
stressed. The Turkish Parliament has, so far, refused to give a go ahead to
the passage of American troops through Turkish territory, which would have
enabled the US rapidly to open a second front in Northern Iraq, forcing the
Pentagon to shelve this project.

The American Under-Secretary of State, Paul Wolfowitz, had, on 27 March
criticised the Turkish government, declaring that it "didn't really know
what it was doing" and was not capable of securing the authorisation of its
Parliament for the deployment of American troops for opening a second front
in Iraq. In his view, Ankara had thus committed "a big, big mistake" even
if he recognised that Washington had asked a great deal of Turkey and that
that country had, nevertheless, accepted to open its air space to the
American Air Force. Mr. Wolfowitz was appearing before a House of
Representatives Finance sub-Commission to defend President Bush's demand of
a billion dollars of aid for Turkey in the context of the budgetary
extension of $74.7 billion for the war in Iraq.
 

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT'S  DRAFT REPORT ON TURKEY CALLS FOR NEW
DEMOCRATIC  TURKISH CONSTITUTION  NOT BASED ON KEMALISM.
On 12 March, the European Parliament made public a draft report, drawn up by Mr.
Arie M. Ooslander, on " Turkey's application for membership of the European
Union". Here are extensive extracts from this report which pinpoint "Kemalism":

"Whereas on 3 November 2002 the AKP won the parliamentary elections, which
had been brought forward, by an overwhelming majority; whereas the people
have shown their dissatisfaction with the existing establishment, thus
implying a new direction for government policy; whereas the AKP is now
faced with the difficult task of implementing legal reforms and carrying
out further reforms in order to bring about a properly functioning
democratic state based on the rule of law"

"Whereas the 10% electoral threshold, while it prevented a fragmented
parliament, sacrificed to that end the representative nature of the
parliament, which now represents only 55% of voters"

"Whereas the Constitution adopted in 1982 under a military regime does not
form an appropriate legal basis to guarantee the rule of law and
fundamental freedoms, and whereas Turkey can express its choice of a
democratic constitutional model by establishing a new Constitution based on
European values; whereas the deepest structures of the State and style of
government are at issue here"

"Whereas the underlying philosophy of the Turkish state, 'Kemalism',
implies an exaggerated fear of the undermining of the integrity of the
Turkish state and an emphasis on the homogeneity of Turkish culture
(nationalism), together with statism, an important role for the army, and a
very rigid attitude to religion, which means that this underlying
philosophy is itself a barrier to EU membership"

"Whereas the changes requested must imply more than cosmetic adjustments;
having regard in this connection to the signature of conventions which have
not been subsequently ratified, and to legal amendments which have not
been, or only inadequately, implemented"

" Notes that over the last 15 years the army has occupied an increasingly
central position in the Turkish state and society, and that Turkish
citizens credit it with greater importance even than other state
institutions including the parliament; notes that the army's role slows
down Turkey's development towards a democratic and pluralist system, and
therefore calls for the political decision-making power to be allocated
entirely to the civilian authorities, based on the confidence of citizens
and democratically elected, so that the traditional power of the
bureaucracy and the army (the 'deep State') can resume the forms which are
normal in the Member States"

"Considers that, in the context of state reform, it will be necessary in
the long term to abolish the National Security Council in its current form
and position; realises that the desired structural change will be very hard
to swallow"

"Proposes, interalia, that the military representatives should withdraw
from civilian bodies such as the high councils on education and the
audiovisual media, in order to ensure that these institutions are fully
independent; encourages the Turkish authorities to establish full
Parliamentary control over the military budget as a part of the national budget"

"Stresses that the changes demanded are so fundamental that they require
the establishment of a new constitution, explicitly based not on Kemalist
but on European democratic foundations, with the rights of the individual
and of minorities balanced against collective rights in accordance with the
customary European standards, as set out for example in the European
Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms"

"Recalls the commitment by the Turkish government to finally eradicate
torture (zero tolerance); notes with concern that torture practices still
continue and that torturers often go unpunished; calls for the most
energetic and consistent measures to be taken to heal this open sore on the
Turkish body politic, and for the Centre for the Treatment and
Rehabilitation of torture victims in Diyarbakir, supported by the
Commission, to be able to continue its work unhindered"

"Notes the very limited amendments to laws of 3 August 2002 recognising the
right of Kurds to education and the right to broadcast in Kurdish; calls on
Turkey, however, to act fully in the spirit of the European Charter for
Regional or Minority Languages, the Framework Convention for the Protection
of National Minorities and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the
European Union"

" Urges that an amnesty be granted to those imprisoned for their opinions
who are serving their sentences in Turkish prisons for expressing
non-violent sentiments"

"Welcomes the ending of the state of emergency on 30 November 2002 in the
last two provinces of Diyarbakir and Sirnak, but calls on Turkey to
contribute to the elimination of tensions with the Kurdish people and to
give support to the reconstruction of the south-east region, to facilitate
the return of internally displaced persons and returning refugees from the
EU, and to lift the de facto occupation of Kurdish and Syrian Orthodox
villages by armed village guards"