Subject: Flash Bulletin !!!
From: Internationale Initiative (info@freedom-for-ocalan.com)
Date: Wed Oct 04 2000 - 06:06:04 CDT
International Initiative
Freedom for Ocalan - Peace in Kurdistan
P.O. Box 100511, D-50445 Koeln
Telephone: +49 221 130 15 59
Fax: +49 221 139 30 71
E-Mail: info@freedom-for-ocalan.com
Url: www.freedom-for-ocalan.com
Flash Bulletin 4. October:
www.freedom-for-ocalan.com/bulletin
1. "Unilateral Cease-Fire from the PKK", While the attacks against PKK guerrillas by the PUK (Patriotic Union of Kurdistan) continued, the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) announced their unilateral cease-fire beginning from 12:00 o'clock today.
2. "Ankara - South Kurdistan Bargaining", The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) leader Mesut Barzani arrived in Turkey for the contacts that will continue for three days.
3. "PUK peshmergas kill five PKK militants in northern Iraq", Turkish military officials announced that members of the PUK, which controls a strip of territory in Iraq near the Iranian border, have killed five PKK militants
4. "Georgia approves plan for natural gas pipeline to Turkey", The 60-kilometer pipeline would carry Russian natural gas via the Georgian town of Kobuleti to Turkey and other world markets. It would take about a year to build
5. "Barzani´s trip to Ankara confirmed", It has been confirmed that Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) leader Massoud Barzani will be visiting Ankara shortly.
6. "The parties role in brutality against women is great", Sewsen Selim, Europe representative of the Independent Women's Organization, said that the increasing murder of women in South Kurdistan (Iraqi Kurdistan) was a painful portrait of Kurdish women under male domination. She touched on the role of the parties in the murders in the South
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1. - Ozgur Politika - "Unilateral Cease-Fire from the PKK":
While the attacks against PKK guerrillas by the PUK (Patriotic Union of Kurdistan) continued, the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) announced their unilateral cease-fire beginning from 12:00 o'clock today. In the publicised announcement of the PKK yesterday, it stated that, "We hope also that the PUK will give a positive reply to the cease-fire. If the PUK responds to the cease-fire positively, we believe that there is no issue that will not be solved through dialogue".
In the Presidential Council of the PKK announcement a call was also made to the Kurdish people. In the announcement it was stated that, "The national reflex shown during the period of clashed was valuable. This sensitivity is the greatest support and guarantee to the cease-fire that will be realized. We call on our people and the democratic public opinion to create a democratic peace by claiming the cease-fire".
2. - Yeni Gundem - "Ankara - South Kurdistan Bargaining":
ANKARA
The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) leader Mesut Barzani arrived in Turkey for the contacts that will continue for three days. Barzani who will meet with Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit, General Staff Presidency and Foreign Affairs Ministry, was in the search of support for the Iraq federation and following Turkey will be going to Europe.
3. - Turkish Daily News - "PUK peshmergas kill five PKK militants in northern Iraq":
Turkish military officials announced that members of the PUK, which controls a strip of territory in Iraq near the Iranian border, have killed five PKK militants
TUNCELI - REUTERS
Fighting between rival Kurdish factions continued for a fourth day in northern Iraq on Monday after an Iraqi Kurdish militia killed five PKK terrorists overnight, a Turkish military official said.
Turkish military officials told Reuters that members of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), which controls a strip of territory bordering Iran, killed five militants of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
The PKK has used northern Iraq as a base for its armed struggle for autonomy in southeastern Turkey, and many of its forces retreated to the mountainous region after the 1999 capture of its chief, Abdullah Ocalan.
But two rival Iraqi Kurdish factions have controlled much of northern Iraq since seizing the region, which is protected by U.S. and British air patrols, from Baghdad after the 1991 Gulf War.
A PUK representative said the latest fighting was started by the PKK.
"The PUK doesn't allow them to infiltrate the region [it controls]," he said. "There is no campaign by us against them -- it's a campaign by them against us."
Iraqi Kurds and PKK groups say fighting between the PKK and the PUK has killed dozens of people in the last few weeks.
A PUK representative in Ankara said fighting had ended with seven of its militiamen dead.
Turkey stops journalists visiting northern Iraq, making independent confirmation of reports difficult.
Turkey frequently sends thousands of troops into northern Iraq during offensives against PKK militants and has fought them alongside the other principal Iraqi Kurdish faction, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).
4. - Turkish Daily News - "Georgia approves plan for natural gas pipeline to Turkey":
The 60-kilometer pipeline would carry Russian natural gas via the Georgian town of Kobuleti to Turkey and other world markets. It would take about a year to build
TIBLISI - THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The natural gas company Itera has secured Georgia's agreement to build a pipeline from the Caucasus mountains country to Turkey, a Georgian energy official said Tuesday.
Ghia Abashidze, the press secretary for the Georgian International Gas Corporation, said that the presidents of his company and Turkey's Turgaz-Petrol met last week with Itera Vice President Bogdan Kluk to discuss construction of the pipeline. They suggested that Itera finance the project and become the main supplier of Russian gas to the Turkish power plant in the Black Sea port of Hopa, Abashidze said.
The 60-kilometer (37-mile) pipeline would carry Russian natural gas via the Georgian town of Kobuleti to Turkey and other world markets. It would take about a year to build.
Itera had been nudging Georgian officials to authorize the pipeline construction since 1998, but Georgia initially refused because the route cut across the restive western region of Adzharia, the Russian business daily Vedomosti reported Tuesday.
Gas deliveries will begin at an annual volume of 1 billion cubic meters but could rise to 5 billion cubic meters, an Itera executive told the paper. The only limiting factor is Turkish demand, the executive was quoted as saying.
Itera is based in Jacksonville, Florida, but the company's ownership is unclear. Analysts have suggested it is linked to top managers in Russia's natural gas giant Gazprom, which owns pipelines essential to Itera's business.
Itera's operations are centered on Russia and the vast majority of its executives are Russian citizens.
5. - Kurdish Observer - "Barzani´s trip to Ankara confirmed":
It has been confirmed that Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) leader Massoud Barzani will be visiting Ankara shortly. It remains unclear, however, whether Barzani and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) leader Jalal Talabani will be meeting with the British Foreign Secretary.
BAHATTIN KARAKUTUK
While it has been confirmed that KDP leader Massoud Barzani will be visiting Ankara shortly, it remains unclear whether Barzani and PUK leader Jalal Talabani will be having contacts, as rumored to be planned, in London after that visit. According to information received from a KDP diplomat serving in Western Europe, Barzani will not be traveling to Ankara this week, as previously asserted.
The KDP diplomat asserted that Barzani will be traveling to Europe over Turkey "for personal reasons" in the coming week. The KDP representative, however, added that Barzani would be meeting with Turkish officials while in Ankara and that the agenda for those meetings was currently being prepared. Turkish diplomatic sources term Barzani's visit to Ankara as "official," and have stated that among Barzani's scheduled visits will be one with Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit.
The KDP diplomat, when asked about news that PUK leader Jalal Talabani was to visit Ankara this week, followed by contacts in London, said that Barzani's trip to Turkey had no relation to the PUK leader's program. The same source asserted that London was not on the itinerary of Barzani's trip to Europe.
Mark Matthew, spokesman for the Middle East desk of the British Foreign Ministry's Information Office, meanwhile, confirmed that the ministry had invited the PUK and KDP leaders to London. Answering our questions, the spokesman said they had not as received a response from either party confirming that they had accepted the invitation. Concerning the reason for the invitation, Matthew said: "England is determined that Kurdish reconciliation be achieved in northern Iraq. Our invitation was made within that context." The spokesman, conveying that Britain supported the 1998 Washington Agreement signed by the PUK and KDP leaders, said, "our initiative aims at Kurdish autonomy in North Iraq." The British spokesman said that both the Kurdish parties also defended this aim.
US-supported assault
Meanwhile, an expert known for his closeness to diplomatic circles in Ankara, evaluating the current situation for our newspaper, said that the US had approved the PUK assaults against the PKK and that, "strategically speaking, the US wants a complete end to the climate of military conflicts in Turkey's Southeast." Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the source continued to relay the impression he had gained from US diplomats in Ankara. He asserted that the US wants a political solution to the Kurdish problem, but that it had no intention to give room to the PKK in that solution. Acting on that premise, he said, the US supported every type of initiative that would serve to disperse the PKK's organizational existence as a military force. Beyond that, the US also had doubts as to how much HADEP could take part in a solution to the Kurdish problem in Turkey. The source said that the US was after a liberal right Kurdish political movement, and was therefore taking an encouraging stance to Kurdish political circles in Ankara. The same source explained that a similar stance was applicable from Turkey's point of view, and made the following appraisal of the objective of the PUK's assaults: "to create a balancing factor against the KDP's military and political strength in South Kurdistan and to open a corridor through the KDP-controlled region to the Habur border gate."
6. - Kurdish Observer - "The parties role in brutality against women is great":
Sewsen Selim, Europe representative of the Independent Women's Organization, said that the increasing murder of women in South Kurdistan (Iraqi Kurdistan) was a painful portrait of Kurdish women under male domination. She touched on the role of the parties in the murders in the South.
PERWER BENGI
The increase in the number of murders of women and of suicides becomes more striking every day. We spoke with Sewsen Selim, Europe representative of the Independent Women's Organization, which was established in 1992 in response to the role that the parties of the South have in this situation.
-How do you appraise the murder of women and suicides in South Kurdistan? In your opinion, what is the most important factor involved?
The murder of women and suicides in South Kurdistan is one of the most painful situations within humanity. These events paint a disturbing portrait of the Kurdish woman, who is under male domination. Control in South Kurdistan has been in the hands of just a few parties for a long time, and everyone has established a dominion unto his own. The savageness being experienced is a clear indication that the parties attack no importance to women.
Women are being murdered in the name of "protecting one's honor." As for the other reason, it is because they regard women as second-class citizens. The tribal traditions and dominance of religious views are also factors in the increase in murders. But we could say that the basic reason is the vacuum in political authority.
-Could you explain a little further the effect of the political authority vacuum on women?
After the 1991 intifada (popular uprising), the PUK, KDP, and Islamic parties came together in a common front and women began to be murdered in a systematic fashion. To this end, a list was put out of women who were to be killed on the grounds that they had sold their bodies or served as agents for the Iraqi government. And after that, there was a great explosion in murders. Of course, not a single law was passed to protect women's rights, and the right to murder women was officially given to her brothers, husband, and father. The situation that then arose is that all the rights of women are being trampled upon under the name of "a developed religious society." Because there is no political authority, the fundamentalist organizations are gathering strength by the day. These organizations issue fetwas (religious edicts) in the name of Islam concerning women every day from the mosques, and are presenting the murder of women as 'justified.' We could show cutting off of noses, throwing acid, and female circumcision as examples of this horrible brutality. According to research carried out by our organization, the number of women who have lost their lives to these types of murders in the past nine years has approached 5,000.
-What is the role of the parties of the South in these murders?
The PUK, KDP, and Islamic parties view male domination over women from the same glasses. We could therefore say that these parties are anti-woman. I would like to give a few examples of the incidents these parties have been involved in and of some of the obstacles. Our organization became the target of assaults because of inciting and provocative comments made by Mele Beshir, the head of an Islamic organization, in Hewler. The KDP not only did not touch Mele Beshir because they did not want to ruin their relations with the Islamic organization, but they also closed our organization's bureau by a decision made on May 12, 1998. Another example is from Dukah in the PUK region. Eight young men and women were killed there on the grounds that they were in love with each other. The local administration did not lift its voice against this savagery. I would like to give an even more horrible example. A great support campaign was begun for a woman named Kejal Xidir whose nose had been cut off. But the PUK did nothing in response because the murderer's clan was armed.
The silence of the parties in the South against this brutality has been broken in recent years because of the rising reactions in the international arena, and they accepted that such murders exist. But they still have not taken a stance against these murders. The savage murder of women has continued without interruption in recent months. The most recent news to reach us was that of the murder of a woman in the PUK region by the name of Nesrin Eziz.
-Could we then say that the parties are virtually leading these murders?
It is true. The parties in the South are serving for these murders to continue and to increase, rather than stopping them. But these parties have made certain pledges concerning putting a halt to these murders in recent times as a result of increasing international pressure and have promised to pass some laws. Most recently, Jalal Talabani promised in April of this year to pass a law concerning "the punishment of those who murder women" following a great campaign run by women's organizations. But shortly afterwards, the Islamic organizations in the PUK government created a big storm and opposed this law. In the end, our organization's office was raided and our activities were prohibited.
-What is the greatest obstacle to your activities in South Kurdistan?
The male-dominated society is the greatest obstacle to our work. We are striving to overcome this. On the other hand, the PUK and KDP want to obstruct our work. Just as our press organs have been banned, we have been subjected to great assaults. For example, the PUK raided our organization headquarters in July without showing any cause whatsoever. All of our equipment and archives were confiscated and some of our personnel were detained. But that center had saved 450 women from death and had taken 22 women under its protection.
-As you know, Kurdish women have followed a remarkable path of development in recent years. Then there are these murders on the other side. Don't you think this is a great contradiction?
Yes, this truly is a great contradiction. But on the other hand, the parties of the South are revealing their true faces. How can a party which does not want the freedom of women, i.e. half of society, speak about societal freedom? How can it create a society in which women can live in equality? In my opinion, the development of society and the activities of women are inextricably intertwined.
-Who is Sewsen Selim?
Sewsen Selim, who came into this world in South Kurdistan in the year 1957, entered the world of politics and began her struggle for the rights of women after the age of 20. Selim is the head of a support campaign for Kurdish women on the international level and serves as the Europe representative of the Independent Women's Organization.
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