Turkey Live Coverage (12 March): A Week for the Kurdish Issue?

2100 GMT: Hayrettin Ayoglu, a 75-year old Turkish citizen was killed by Syrian border soldiers' fire while himself and the driver were approaching to cross the border. The driver didn't stop and drove to Kilis province of Turkey. Ayoglu was not saved in Kilis Hospital. It is also reported that another car was targeted by Syrian soldiers in the evening but no one was hurt.

2030 GMT: George Sabra, a spokesman for the opposition Syrian National Council, told a news conference in Istanbul said that they had already decided to arm the Free Syrian Army and added that some foreign governments were helping to send weapons.

However, despite of these, Sabra called on Arab and Western governments to intervene militarily and to protect civilians through imposing a no-fly zone across all of Syria and establishing secured humanitarian corridors. Sabra continued:

The Syrian National Council has taken concrete and practical decisions to arm Free Syrian Army that is established to protect the civilians. And we invite all colonels and other military officials in the Syrian army to take sides with the people of Syria.

1900 GMT: UN peace envoy Kofi Annan has arrived in Ankara, meeting Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan before he sees Syrian opposition members on Tuesday. Annan said:

There are grave and appalling reports of atrocities and abuses. The killing of civilians must stop now. The world has to send a clear and united message in this regard. 

This a very complex situation. We are going to press ahead for humanitarian access, for the killings of civilians to stop, and that get everybody to the table to work out a political solution.

1825 GMT: Ukranian FEMEN activist Inna Shevchenko said that Turkish police forced them to sign a paper they did not understand, kept talking in Turkish, and took activists to their cells by force. 

1810 GMT:  EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule's spokesperson Peter Stano welcomed the release of four journalists and called on authorities to solve structural problems so freedom of speech, the right to freedom and security, and fair hearings into practice. 

1745 GMT: Diyarbakir's Mayor Osman Baydemir, a member of the Peace and Democracy Party, said that Dersim, in Tunceli province in the eastern part of Turkey, shall not be characterised as Sunni. Instead, the area will be a part of the Alawite and Kurdish identity. He also added that Dersim would overcome these tough days.

1620 GMT: Eleven workers were killed in their tents inn a fire in the middle of Istanbul. Because of insufficient preventive measures, workers had to stay in tents instead of prefabricated houses on the construction field of a shopping mall. 

The Confederation of Turkish Real Trade Unions (Hak-İş) President Mahmut Arslan called Sunday's accident “a shame” and added: “Having workers live in tents in the middle of İstanbul is normal for Turkey.”

1550 GMT: Four journalists detained on charges of involvement in the media wing of Ergenekon, a so-called underground network aimed at toppling the government, were released today.

Nedim Sener, Ahmet Sik, Coskun Musluk and Sait Cakir were freed, but there are still six suspects of the Oda TV case held in prisons. 

 Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arınc welcomed the release of the journalists as a “positive development” and said: “We should in fact question why the court didn’t delivere this decision before.”

1330 GMT: Anatolia news agency reporter Samet Dogan entered a military camp of the Free Syria Army near the Turkish-Syrian border. A commander said that they had very little supplies and needed aid. He continued, "We protect our people by guns but we have nothing to prevent starvation."

1245 GMT: The opposition Republican People's Party (CHP)'s Central Executive Commission gathered and issued a statement on yesterday's 4+4+4 bill on the new education system. It said:

On 11 March, in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, a heavy blow inflicted that will be remembered as a shame in Turkish democracy and our political history by despots of the ruling party. The opposition MPs were not taken in the room [parliament's committee room], were not given right to speak and were forcefully prevented to participate in the voting. Our MPs were knocked and one of our MPs was kicked when he fell on the floor. 

Our society will be transformed into something with full of children workers, children brides, children mothers and poor families and those revengefuls of the ruling party will continue their exploitation. CHP will not give the future of our children to AKP's mentality based on exploitation, revenge and hatred.

1200 GMT: In response to Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's earlier remarks, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Emir Abdollahiyan said that their full support to the Assad regime is continuing. 

Davutoglu had reportedly stated in an interview, after his meeting with his Iranian counterpart Ali Akbar Salehi in Nakhichevan, that Russia and Iran had gradually decreased their support to Syria.  

1145 GMT: National Education Minister Omer Dincer said that Kurdish language courses and religious courses on Alevi's faith could be elective if we want Turkey to have more democracy.

1120 GMT: Iraq's Sunni Vice President, Tariq al-Hashemi who is wanted for arrest and is harboured by Kurdish leaders in northern Iraq, said in an interview that Ankara should pressure Tehran against interfering in Iraq's internal affairs:

Turkey should convince Iran to leave Iraq alone and to not interfere in Iraq’s internal affairs. No one is trying to make conditions more difficult for Iran, but it should be aware of Iraq’s sovereignty and respect Iraq’s dignity. 

1100 GMT: Turkish bus companies that operate services between Turkey's border province of Hatay and Syria's Damascus and Aleppo said that roads would be closed due to a lack of security on Syrian roads and there would be no service.

 The latest news from Turkey....

UN Envoy Arriving in Ankara

The United Nations special envoy on Syria, Kofi Annan is expected to visit Turkey today. Presumably, he will brief Turkish officials on the political prospects after his two days of talks in Damascus. We will be watching for clues to next steps.

Turkey’s Kurdish Problem 

Last week it was reported that the Kurdish Communities Union (KCK), an umbrella organization including the separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), would be transformed into a broader platform called the People’s Democratic Congress (HDK).

The Labour, Democracy and Freedom Bloc, comprised of  non-governmental organisations and many leftist political parties including the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), responded harshly. BDP’s co-chairman Gulten Kisanak said that the news was a diversion, and The BDP's MP Ertugtul Kurkcu told the daily news channel Haberturk:

I am condemning those who made this news with my all heart and soul. First of all, the People’s Democratic Congress is not going to be formed, it is already formed in October 2011 with the attendance of 900 representatives. Secondly, the Labour, Democracy and Freedom Bloc is behind this platform, that is the alliance the carried independent MPs to victory in 12 June elections. This alliance is comprised of BDP and socialist parties and movements. To carry this success into the 2014 local elections and the 2015 general elections and to expand and deepen this alliance, we started working and we are still working.

On Saturday, following a"‘Unity with Collective Mind" meeting among politicians, writers, academics, lawyers and intellectuals in Diyarbakir, the BDP tried to re-focus on the Kurdish issue with a "Declaration of Common Stance":

According to us, the Kurdish and Kurdistan problem cannot be solved without a status given to Kurds in the Kurdistan geography. Justice, freedom, collective life and honoured peace can only be possible with the actualisation of this demand. 

Turkey and the European Union

As Ankara offers a 4 million euro reward for each of the 50 most wanted PKK leaders, the European Union is calling on the Government to take important steps on the Kurdish issue.

The Committee on Foreign Affairs asked Ankara "to demonstrate resilience and intensify its efforts for a political solution to the Kurdish issue and asks all political forces to work in alliance towards the goal of reinforced political dialogue and a process of further political, cultural and socio-economic inclusion and participation of citizens of Kurdish origin, in order to guarantee the rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly".

The Committee continued:

[This statement] considers, in this context, the right to education in the native language as essential; calls on the Government of Turkey to step up its efforts to further promote socio-economic development in the South East; takes the view that the Constitutional reform provides a very useful framework to promote a democratic opening". The commission "recalls that a political solution can only be built upon an open and truly democratic debate on the Kurdish issue and expresses concern at the large number of cases launched against writers and journalists writing on the Kurdish issue and the arrest of several Kurdish politicians, locally elected mayors and members of municipal councils, lawyers, protestors and human rights defenders in connection with the KCK trial and other police operations; calls on the Government of Turkey to create the peaceful ground for political figures of Kurdish origin to have a free and pluralistic debate.

The Committee also underlined “the importance of keeping the secular structure of the army within the context of Turkey’s significance in NATO.”  

Reacting to Israeli Airstrikes on Gaza

The Foreign Ministry has strongly condemned Israel over the three days of airstrikes that killed at least 18 Palestinians in Gaza.  IT called on the world not to remain indifferent and to react to Israel’s “disproportionate and indiscriminate retaliatory attacks".

The statement concluded: “We ask Israel once again to end its inhumane and unacceptable policies toward Gaza.” 

The New Education System 

After long debates and even fights between MPs, the Parliamentary Commission approved a bill to increase the duration of compulsory education from 8 to 12 years in a 4+4+4 system.

Under the bill, students could start studying in technical schools after the end of the first four years, working in businesses from the age of 11. The legislation also paves the way for the re-opening of Imam Hatip schools, which provide relatively conservative religious education.