Dutch court refuses PKK extradition
The Netherlands’ highest court has rejected the Turkish
government’s petition for the extradition of PKK member
Nuriye Kesbir.
After a lower court decided not to extradite the Kurdish
rebel, Turkish officials filed a case at the Supreme Court
and lost when it ruled that Turkey had failed to
guarantee Kesbir’s safety from torture.
The Ministry of Justice took the case to the Court once
more but received the same response. The Supreme
Court declared yesterday that it approved the initial
decision of the lower court, adding that legal grounds for
denying the extradition still exist.
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We will never assign our PKK issues to third
parties
General Büyükanıt: "What does PKK coordinator mean?
Turkey fights with its own military forces."
Opposing to the statement of "PKK coordinator",
Büyükanıt said: "Someone comes and starts bargaining
between Turkey and PKK. This is not possible. Turkey
fights with terrorist organization using its own military
forces"
Stating that the term PKK coordinator would give many
misleading meanings, Chief of the General Staff
Büyükanıt said: "It is impossible for us to bargain with
PKK terrorist organization."
Chief of the General Staff Yaşar Büyükanıt has opposed
the term "PKK coordinator" and said: "What do they
mean by PKK coordinator? Some people will arrive and
bargain with PKK for us? This is impossible."
Stating that Turkish military forces' struggle with PKK
terrorist organization continues with stability, Büyükanıt
added: "We will never assign our PKK issues to some
third parties. The term "PKK coordinator" is being
misunderstood by Turkish public.
There is no such term. We can not allow third parties
bargaining with PKK for us. The correct term should be
"special representative of Turkey's struggle with PKK
terrorist organization."
US colonel's 'new Mideast' map sparks anger
The New Anatolian / Ankara
Sep. 29, 2006
A group of Turkish army officers waded into a heated
row with a U.S. colonel during a recent NATO training
activity, when the colonel presented a new map of the
Middle East with new borders in the region, including an
independent "Kurdistan" founded on Turkish and
Iraqi territory, private channel Star TV reported late
Wednesday.
The incident has fueled already growing skepticism in
Turkey over the real intentions of the U.S. towards the
region and its alleged support for an "independent
Kurdistan," despite a reported telephone call from U.S.
Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Peter Pace to Turkish
Chief of General Staff Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, giving
assurances that those maps do not represent official
U.S. policy.
Turkish sources confirmed the recent row to The New
Anatolian yesterday and said that it took place at
NATO's Defense College in Rome two weeks ago.
The Turkish army officers were a group of newly
appointed personnel to NATO headquarters in
Brussels and they were on courses in Rome before
taking over their posts.
The controversial map, which was first published by a
former U.S. Army official Ralph Peters in the unofficial
Armed Forces Journal magazine in June together with
an article entitled "Blood brothers: How a better Middle
East would look," has been a basic reference for
U.S.-skeptics and anti-U.S. groups in Turkey since then
given their claims that Washington in fact plans to
redraw the borders in the region, including Turkey's.
According to Turkish officials, the course the military
officers were on at the NATO Defense College was
mainly on technology and the U.S. colonel's
presentation of a new map of the Middle East and the
political debate that was sparked had nothing to do with
the content of the lecture. After objections from the
Turkish military officials, the lecture was interrupted and
the Turkish official at the college then filed an official
complaint to the head of the college.
Turkey's Ambassador in Rome Ugur Ziyal also wrote
a letter to top NATO officials, expressing Ankara's
unease and demanding the official face disciplinary
action for "unacceptable behavior," a Turkish source
said.
'What happened to EU's principle of freedom of
expression?'
The New Anatolian / Ankara
Sep. 29, 2006
The Foreign Ministry's spokesperson yesterday
expressed dismay at the exclusion of three
Turkish-origin candidates from the Dutch
elections, describing the incident as a "bad
precedent" which is contrary to the European Union's
fundamental principle of freedom of expression.
Stressing that decisions on determining candidates
and elections procedures for the Dutch early general
elections, set for Nov 22, are an issue of domestic
politics and stating views on this issue would be
wrong, spokesperson Namik Tan commented on the
repercussions of the issue in foreign policy."Ankara is
upset that political parties of its friend and ally, the
Netherlands, have one-sided views about the
Armenian genocide which is contrary to freedom of
expression," Tan said in a written statement.
Three Turkish-origin candidates have been removed
from the Dutch elections list for not recognizing the
Armenian genocide claims, ahead of the early
general elections. The removal of the three
candidates -- Erdinc Sacan from the Dutch Labor
Party (PVDA) and Ayhan Tonca and Osman Elmaci
from Christian Democratic Party (CDA) -- is the result
of the activities of the Armenian lobby in the
Netherlands.
Tan continued his criticism, saying that the baseless
accusations related to the Armenian genocide
that have been covered in the media are directed
against Turkey and the Turkish nation and are
unacceptable to Ankara. "On an issue on which
historians haven't reached a consensus, the
one-sided view that was adopted by Turkey's ally and
friend, the Netherlands' political parties, by making
recognition of the genocide claims a pre-condition to
becoming a candidate in the elections, and without
taking into consideration different views that could be
held by such candidates, sets a bad precedent."
Recalling that Turkey opened its Ottoman archives,
including military ones, to contribute to efforts for an
academic investigation of the events of 1915, Tan
also underlined that Ankara suggested the
establishment of a joint commission of Turkish and
Armenian historians to study the controversial
genocide claims.
The Foreign Ministry spokesperson also stressed
that developments like the one in the Netherlands
definitely do not contribute to Turkey's good-will
efforts in the issue.