Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris

REVUE DE PRESSE~PRESS REVIEW~BERHEVOKA ÇAPÊ~RIVISTA STAMPA~DENTRO DE LA PRENSA~BASIN ÖZETi
. The editorial \-vas the harshest of a series of
condemnations from Baghdad since Turkey
launched a massive cross-border operation with
35,000 troops on March 20 against the outlawed
Kurdistan Workers party (PKK) separatists
entrenched in northern Iraq.
Turkish officials have announced that all but
three battalions have been pulled back since then.
The army says the troops killed nearly 600 rebels
before the withdrawal.
The PKK has been fighting a separatist war in
Turkey's southeastern provinces Since 1984 and
the fighting has claimed over 15,000 lives so far.
The.lraqi Foreign Ministry summoned Turkish
charge d'affaires, Saadi Çah~lar, on Wednesday
to ask for an explanation of Demirel's statements.
The official Iraqi News Agency (INA) said the
ruling Revolutionary Command Council held a
meeting on Wednesday chaired by President
Saddam Hussein in which a number of "important
political issues were discussed."
Baghdad-based diplomats said they doubted
Turkey would try to change the geopolitics of a
volatile region.
"They have enough problems in their own territory
to grapple with," said a Western diplomat.
Reuters quoted ariother as saying Ankara's aim
was to exert pressure on Baghdad to force it to
'come to terms with its own Kurdish minority and
accept U.N.conditions for partial oil sales that
would benefit Turkey's southeast region, inhabited
mainly by ethnic Kurds: .. .
Meanwhile in Tehran,an Iraqi Shiite opposition
group also slammed the remark attributed to
Demirel, demanding an apology. "Demirel's
statement is contrary to mternal10nal agreements
on which borders of all countries have been
drawn," the Supreme Assembly of the Islamic
Revolution in Iraq (SAIRI) said. "We condemn
any threat against Iraq's integrity and sovereignty."
Demirel's remarks also caused raised brows in
Washington where U.S. State Department
spokesman Nicholas Burns said Wednesday that.
the United States was against any change of bar"
ders "by force." .. .. .
"As of March 1991, the end of the Gulf War,
we have always recognized the international borders
of Iraq," Burns said. . .
"We do not support any attempt to change
those borders by force. However, in agreeing to
set up Operation Provide Comfort,back in March
of 1991, we also made .the decjsion that Iraq was
not carable, and is .still not capable, of exercising.
authonty in the northern part of this country and
certainly not capable of exercising its authority in
a responsible way regarding the Kurdish population
m northern.Iraq. So we do not support and.
will not support any efforts to change borders by.
force." .
Reminded by TDN that Demirel' s remark
impli~d. a possibl~ f~~ure.t~~d)~~tl?e~~.ti1rough
negOl1al1ons,Burns SaId, "r aIn not aware of any
specific proposal, or any general proposal over
the last couple last couple of weeks about changing
the Iraqi border."
ERNK representative
Kani Yllmaz goes
on trial in London
The sources told the TDN that the
visiting.delegationinformed the British
parliamentarians about the establishment
of the Kurdish parliament-in-exile
and the Kurdish question in general
Turkish Daily News
ANKARA- The trial of Kani Yllmaz, the European representative
of the ERNK, a cover organization for the Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK), began in London on Thursday under the
watchful eyes of various pro-Kurdish organizations, sourèes
informed the Turkish Daily News by telephone.
A delegation of Kurds, includinl Mahmut KlImç and
Nizamettin Toguç; fanner deputies o. Turkey's now banned
pro-Kurdish Democracy Party (DEP), and Necdet Buldan, the
foimer mayor of the eastern Turkish town of Yüksekova -
who are all members of the newly formed so-called Kurdish
"parliaInent-in-exile" -,- were all in London to follow the trial
ofYllmaz.
Sources close to the delegation say that, while in London, the
Turkish Kurds were also Iiolding talks with British deputies,
intellectuals' groups and nongovernmental organizations
(NGOs).The sources told the TDN that the visiting delegation
informed the British parliaInentarians about the establishment
of the Kurdish parliaInent-in-exile and the Kurdish question in
general.. "
The formation of the parliament-in-exile, comprising 65
members, was announced in April in The Hague in the
Netherlands, despite Turkish attempts to prevent the meeting.
The development has strained relations between Turkey and the
Netherlands.
The parliament-in-exile includes five former DEP deputies
who fled to Europe to .avoid persecution after the DEP was
banned, as well as some other Kurdish intellectuals and representatives
of the KUrdistan People's Liberation Front (ERNK),
the political wing of the PKK. . " .
. The parliaInent has establishedan executive board, chaired
by one of the former DEP deputies, Zübeyir Aydar. ". ..
Yllmaz was detained on Oct. 22 of lastyear in London upon
leaving the Houses of ParliaInent after a meeting with British
deputies and was charged with illegal entry into the country
despite having been invited to BritaIn by a Labour Party MP,
John Austin Walker.
. The British Labour Party later issu~d a statement s.aying
Walker had invited Yllmaz on his own and disassociated itself
from the whole affalr. .
Following Yllmaz'S arrest, Kurds living in Britain launched
demonstrations against the British government, including
hunger strikes, and called for his release. .
The German government has also made an official request,
asking the British government to hand over YIlmazSO he can
answer accusations of responsibility for Kurdish demonstrations
in Gennany during the spring of 1994. .""
The British governmentreceived a similar application from
Turkey, which wanted Ylimazreturned to faceferrorism
charges. Turkey's request was not granted. .
Y11mazhas made three court appearances since his arrest and
Thursday's hearing was his first this year.
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