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Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro de la Prensa-Basm Özeti . OHAL ends, village guards. problem endure ~Turkish Daily News Gctober 2ï 2002 EsraErduran- This time it is not the separatist or Hizbullah terror. It is not all the shortcomings that emerged pue to the Emergency Rule (OHAL) implementations. But it is directly related to the OHAL era. Village guard system that were formed as a part of the fight against separatist terror caused a brand-new problem in the Southeastern region. Parliament in a historical move in June, decided to lift the OHAL in Hakkari and Tunceli and to extend "one last time" for four months in the provinces of Diyarbakir and Sirnak. Parliament's decision was viewed as the end of an era in Turkey: the end of terrorism in the Southeast. Turkey has maintained emergency rule, giving police and the judiciary broad powers, in four southeastern provinces since 1987 as a part of Turkey's fight against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Before 1987, the fight against the PKK was carried out under martiallaw. The rule was first imposed in 13 provinces in 1987 but was gradually lifted as fighting subsided. The military apparently still sees the PKK as a threat in Diyarbakir, the main city in Turkey's southeast, and in Sirnak, a province that borders both Syria and Iraq and are transit points for terrorists based in those countries. More than 35,000 people died in the IS-year long conflict between the Turkish Armed Forces and PKK, but the clashes rapidly decreased after the capture of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan in Kenya. The PKK declared a cease-fire but it was rejected by the military. Most of the PKK terrorists have crossed the border into neighboring Iraq and Iran. Earlier this year, the PKK announced a name change to Kurdistan Freedom of Democracy Congress (KADEK)before the PKK was included on the EU's list of terrorist organizations. Turkey has been calling on the EU to view KADEK as the continuation of the PKK and include it on its list of terrorist organizations. EU diplomats say normalizing the situation in the southeast is an important part of Turkey's efforts to improve its human rights and democracy record, as it seeks to win a date for starting membership talks with the European Union (EU). As well as being an important step in Turkey's path to the IS-member block, maintaining peace would be a giant step for the domestic scene. Economic and material cost of terrorism that dominated the southeast region for more than 15 years have harmed Turkey seriously. It was estimated that the annual economic cost of the fight against terrorism was $130 billion in Turkey. Turkey could have built four giant projects similar to the Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP) or could have cleared its foreign dept. After the total lifting of the OHAL, people of the region were expecting a series of reforms as well as more industrial investment in the Southeastern Anatolia .. Village guard terror is not a new concept Amid these positive expectations, Southeastern cities and villages were witnessing the emergence of a new terror implemented by the village guards. According to the human rights associations, the village guards terror was the new way to hinder the return to the village project. In July, three people from the same family were murdered by village guards in the southeastern city of Mus's Nureddin Village. A delegation including journalists Oral Calislar, Celai Baslangic, and Ferai TInc visited the village as part of the operation into the murders. According to eyewitnesses, some village guards first beat up the family members, who were at the village in order harvest their land, and then shot them dead. There were a total of 25 village guards in the village and 20 of them were arrested as a part of the investigation. According to the allegations, families who resisted becomingvillage guards were forced to leavethe village. The . Village guards then used the land and houses of those who had left for ten years. After the "Return to Village" project gained speed, village guards resisted to change and were involved in murders in order to not return land and other property. It is estimated that there are 70,000village guards in the region. According to a monthly report prepared by the Turkish Human Rights Foundation (THIV), Chairman of Van Commerce and Industry Chamber Zehir Kandasoglu said that Van was one of the cities that played host to those who were forced to immigrate. 30
Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro de la Prensa-Basm Ozeti According to Kandasoglu, these people have no income as there are insufficient job opportunities in the city. "If the village guards system would be lifted, then people can freely return to their villages and homes. Village guards have guns and all the power. They shot people to death and then claimed that these people didn't obey the rules," Kandasoglu was quoted as saying in the TIllY report. Recent result of village guard terror. I I ;. The last example of the village guard problem took place in September in Diyarbakir's Ugrak village. Three incfuding an eight year-old, Agit Tekin were killed and five injured as a result of gun fire from village guards. The victims of the event were members of the Tekin family that had returned to their village recently. According to the Human Rights Association (lliD) Diyarbakir bureau, village guards have been using the land of the Tekin family for eight years and settled into the Tekin family house. IHD Diyarbakir bureau asks: Previously, it was the Nureddin village, today guard terror. Which village is the next? it is Ugrak village that witnessed the village *. * * * Kurdish groups unite as Turkey watches, warily By Scott Peterson Christian Science Monitor October 04, 2002 AMMAN, JORDAN With the prospect of an American-orchestrated regime change in Iraq growing closer, rival Kurdish factions in northern Iraq key potential allies of the US in any military action are burying their differences. The joint Kurdish parliament will reconvene Friday in the Kurdistan National Assembly building in the city of Arbil. High on the agenda is the consideration of a new constitution that lays out the Kurdish vision of a future, federated Iraq, post-Saddam Hussein. Weather-worn front lines marked by rocky trenches have separated Massoud Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) for most of the past decade. But the civil war, spurred by disputes over sharingrevenue and power, and mixed strategies' toward Baghdad, went quiet after a US-brokered peace accord in 1998. The revival of the regional assembly is one of the last key steps of that deal and is the first meeting of the group since 1996, when inter-Kurdish fighting was nearing its peak. "This will send a very powerful message to Baghdad and to our neighbors that the Kurdish front is solid, is unified, and that we will move. forward," says Hoshyar Zebari, a senior KDP strategist contacted in northern Iraq. 'There are some attempts in America, in some quarters, to marginalize the Kurdish role," says Mr. Zebari; "This meeting will convince our Amerj.can friends, if they had any doubts about the unity of the Kurds, that the strength of the Kurdish front is reestablished." But while Kurdish unity may bring a sigh of relief in Washington as war looms and US war planners look for viable allies on the ground it is .rattling Turkey. Turkish forces have. frequently conducted armored operations into northern Iraq to root out Kurdish guerrillas from Turkey of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK. The group waged a bloody campaign for Kurdish rights from the mid- 1980s.Several thousand Turkish troops remain inside Iraqi border areas now. "Weare there to make sure [the Iraqi Kurds] stay within bounds," says Seyfi Tashan, head of the Turkish Foreign Policy Institute in Ankara. "We are there, and can intervene at any time. We have the capability to do that." The Kurdish enclave of northern Iraq operates largely beyond Baghdad's control, protected by the US- and British-enforced no-fly zone. Kurdish leaders insist that they see their future as part of a federated Iraq, and long ago gave up as unrealistic the idea of forging an independent Kurdish state. "As we move along, our Turkish neighbors and others will realize they have nothing to fear from our aspirations," says Barham Salih, prime minister of the PUK. "We aspire to have a peaceful, democratic, and federal Iraq, and that is good for them also. We have a flourishing self-government process that can be a catalyst for all Iraq." It is no secret amongKurdish observers that prospects of regime change in Iraq have brought the rival factions together. 'The timing could not have been better for the Kurds, given all the political maneuvering about the future composition of an Iraqi government," says Michael Amitay, director of the Washington Kurdish Institute. The deal, Mr. Amitay says, "certainly speaks to the US about how the Kurds can playa role or not in their concept of regime change. It's a very clever piece of strategy." 31
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