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

Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka
Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro de la Prensa-Basm Özeti
ftlllo.ae
5 OCTOBRE 2002
Turquie
: Abdullah Öçalan
ne-sera--pas-exée~té .
ANKARÀ:La peine de mort pronontée pär la justice turque à l'encon-::
tre du chef rebelle kurde Abdullah Öçalan a été commuée, jeudi
3 octobre, en réclusion à perpétuité après l'abolition, cet été, de la peine
capitale, en temps de paix, par le Parlement turc. Le chef du Parti
des travailleurs du Kurdistan (PKK) avait été condamné à la peine capitale,
en juin 1999, pour trahison et séparatisme. La décision de la Cour
devait être immédiatement notifiée à Abdullah Öçalan sUr l'île prison
. d'Il11Jali (en mer de Marmara, au sud d'IstanbuJ), où il es.t le seul détenu.
Agé de 54 ans, Abdullah Öçalan restera derrière les barreaux jusqu'à
la fin de ses jours sans espoir d'amnistie, selon la décision du tribunal.Le
commissaire européen à l'élargissement, Günter Verheugen,
a immédiatement réagi, jeudi soir, à l'annonce de la décision de
I~justice turque. «Je me félicite de cette décision qui est manifestement
conforme à l'esprit des réformes adoptées récemment en Turquie» a
déclaré le commissaire européen. - (AFP.) ,
'. .
The Iraq debate' I • By David Ignatius
Think now about after-Saddam
PARIS even Europeans, to feel that the war is haven't paid more attention to the hu-
T .he firSt time I went to Iraq, in worth fighting. . man rights abuses of the Iraqi regime.
1980, the authorities there In truth, Iraq is probably more ready To quote one horrific passage from the
confIScated my Olivetti port- for democracy than any nation in the recent - widely ignored - British
, able typewriter. That was a Arab world. That's partly because its government report on Iraq: "Prisoners
nuisance for me as a reporter, but it. people have suffered so much from the at the QJ1rtiyya Prison in Baghdad and
suggested what frightened Saddam cruelty of the current regime. But it's elsewhere are kept in metal boxes the '
Hussein: an open exchange of ideas, also because the Iraqis are the most size of tea chests. If they do not. coneven
simple typewritten leaflets, that likely Arabs to build a truly modem na- fess they are left to die."
might foster democracy in Iraq. The tion. For centuries, Baghdad has been a In his recent writings about Iraqi
moment Saddam has feared for so center of learning, and the Iraqis democracy, Makiya illustrates the leap
long may finally be at hand. Democra- gained a reputation as the Prussians of of imagination that is part of the birth
cy is pounding at his door, and a new the Arab world. It was no accident that of any new government He calls for a
Iraq is ready to find its voice. . Iraq was the only Arab country with federal state, in which the Kurds of the
Thinking about postwar Iraq is an the scientific brainpower to mount a north, the Sunnis of the center and the
urgent task. Yet for some reason, the serious nuclear weapons program. Shiites of the south all have .local
subject is rareJy discussed by the Bush And the talk of Iraq's internecine power, but in which the rights of .
.administration amid the daily leaks strife is Qverblown, too. The long- minorities are protected, everywhere.
from Washington about war planning. . repressed Shiite community forms a Other Iraqis have been working on
The time to think about Iraq's future majority ofits population, which leads procedures for integrating decent
government is now. This is. one of some analysts to fear Shiites will cre- members of Saddam's army, and even
.those rare chances for history to really ate a. radical Muslim regime: But the members of the Ba'ath party, into postturn
a page ..The next chapters could Shiites of Iraq are Arabs who stayed war life. A new generation is taking,
be triumph or tragedy, but the Iraqi loyal to Saddam through nearly a de- power, pushing aside the old men who
people will write the story themselves, cade of war apinst the Persians of ruled for so long. You can see this prowith
a little help from their friends. Iran. Iraq's Shute elite have been the cess in China and Russia. And soon,
Many analysts warn of the disasters . country's leading modernizers, suP-. one hopes, in Iraq and the Arab world.
that await in this postwar Iraq, but plying more than their share of scien- The postwar imaginings of Makiya
frankly I'm notconvinced. Yes, Iraq is tists and enpneers. and others are invigorating stuff: They
a country with many ethnic groups One, Iraq! who is planning for the should help answer the question that is
that don't always get along. And, yes, .future is Kanan Makiya, who is head- vexing the world: Why go to war
there will be a risk of revenge killings ing a project to draft a new constitu- against Saddam? For all of President
and general mayhem as the millions of tion, under the sponsorship of the op- ~rge W. Bush's speeches, it's not
Iraqis who suffered from Saddam's position group, the Iraqi National clear that Iraq poses an imminent
torturers seek to settle scores.. Congress. I first talked with Makiya threat that can't be deterred or con-
But these strike me as manageable .more than a decade ago, after he tained through inspections and other
problems, especially if people think J>ravelypublished a book called "Re- means.
carefully. about them beforehand.. public of Fear," which documented the The best argument for military in-
Maintaining order will be essential in, vicious torture and repression. that tervention is to support the millions.
the first months after Saddaoi and his sustained Saddam and his cronies in of Iraqi people who want political
secret police are gone, and Washing- power. . change. They need, somehow, to show
ton should be training military poli~e Makiya. and other Iraqi dissidents the world they want outside help. For
who will keep the peace, even as it desc~be scenes of unimaginable in the end, it's their country, their war
drills the soldiers who will do the cruelty - children thrown from heli- . and their new vision that will begin to
fighting. Yet we hear little of these copters to force their parents to con- transform Iraq, the day after.
plans - even though they would en- fess to crimes against the regime, for International Herald lilbune
courage Iraqis and other Arabs, and example. It's stra~e that liberals The \\UhÎngtOD l'ost
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