Bulletin de liaison etd'information - Institut kurde de Paris

Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro de la Prensa-Baszn Özeti
In an article published on 29 January i.l1 the conservative "Milliyet" daily, columnist Sami Kohen lamented that the
disputeover the-draft legal changes could undermine Turkey-EUreliltionsjust as Ankara and Brussels had marked
some progress onCyprus and other international issues.
Kohen added: "Most importantly, however, is that [the debate] could deal a blow to the hopes and expectations of
the Turkish people regarding modernization and democratization."
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Are negotiations being carried on with PKK?'
Radikal February 7, 2002 By Ismet Berkan
oj
The PKK's decision to cease its activities Under the PKK name in the European Union (EU) and Turkey is making
people wonder what to think.
A news article sent from Diyarbakir by the Dogan New Agency the other evening was quite attention-grabbing. It
was announced in a statement made on Medya Tv, the PKK's broadcasting organ, that the separatist terrorist organization
would no longer carry out activities under the name PKK in Turkey and the countries of the EU.
It is possible to interpret this as a new maneuver on the PKK's road to politicization. Case in point, it appears that
the organization wi.ll be active under the same name in northern Iraq and countries such as Russia, Armenia, and
Iran. Moreover, as long as the PKK maintains its armed people and camps in northern Iraq, refraining from action
within the borders of Turkey and the EU represents more a position of waiting than a real change in any case.
On the other hand, the same statement discussed the PKK's changing its name in the future. News coming from
the region is to the effect that there are even thoughts of taking the expression "Kurdistan" from the PKK's name.
(It is asserted that one of the new names being considered is "Democratic Republic Party.")
Actually, even this step is not a development that means much in and of itself if weapons are not dropped. But, of
course, it is still a step. Essentially, it would be useful to read the PKK's latest announcement together with another
text. That text was published in Hurriyet on 16 January 2002. The article published with the title "An interesting
warning to the PKK" in that day's Hurriyet said the following: "The state security units have given the PKK
a 12-point warning full of meaning." The warning was included in a report prepared by security units.
Saying, "If the terrorist organization ends the indicated practices, it is clear that Turkey could, removed from the
environment of terror and separatism, evaluate its problems as a natural result of democracy," this work, which is
one of the more interesting reports prepared on this subject, presented a 12-point note. Here is the note:
1. The word Kurdistan--including the Kurdistan in the PKK's name--must be removed from all PKK organizations
operating outside the country.
2. The PKK must end, in particular, separatist practices such as participating in official or semi-official meetings
held in countries such as Italy and Belgium as representing Kurdistan.
3. Medya TV must not refer to Turkey's Southeast and East Anatolia regions as Kurdistan or to the provinces in
these regions as Kurdish cities in the news it broadcasts in Turkish and two Kurdish dialects. It must end the heavy
propaganda being waged against Turkey.
4. The practice by the same TV establishment of announcing the weather in the provinces in the aforementioned
regions under the name of Kurdistan must be ended.
5. It 'must end the activities of the Kurdistan National ,Congress.
6. The map of Kurdistan that appears in the PKK's visual and written broadcasts and publications and on its internet
sites must be done away with.
7. The removal from the agenda of such projects as the Kurdish Businessmen's Association, the Kurdish Language
Institute, the Kurdish Bank, the Kurdish Encyclopedia, and the Kurdish Economic Congress must be assured.
8. The citizens of Southeast and East Anatolian regions absolutely must be distanced from the aim of breaking
away from the Turkish community and of creating, in terrorist Osman Ocalan's words, a Kurdish nation.
9. The stance based on denial kept up by the PKK and its offshoot organizations against the national anthem and
Ataturk must be ended.
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