The Fourth High Level Group Meeting, part of the UN-led Alliance of Civilizations initiative to take place on Sept. 5-6 at UN headquarters in New York

The Fourth High Level Group Meeting, part of the U.N.-led Alliance of Civilizations initiative, will take place on Sept. 5-6 at United Nations headquarters in New York.

State Minister Mehmet Aydın will represent Turkey at the meeting. Aydın and former UNESCO chief Federico Mayor of Spain will deliver the opening remarks today. Aydın and Mayor will hold a press conference on Wednesday.

The two Mediterranean countries, Turkey and European Union member Spain, are co-sponsoring the Alliance of Civilizations initiative, which urges national and international action to overcome prejudice, misperceptions and polarization between cultures and civilizations -- particularly between Islam and the West.

Mehmet Ayudin, right, and Federico Mayor, co-chairs of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations briefed journalists after their 2-day meeting at the offices of the Turkish Mission to the United Nations at the U.N. Headquarters, Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2006. (AP Photo/David Karp) (David Karp - AP)

Alliance of Civilizations meeting makes ‘significant progress’ towards first report

Co-chairs Mehmet Aydin (R) and Federico Mayor

6 September 2006 – Education, youth, immigration, women and media will be the priorities of the first major report by the Alliance of Civilizations, an initiative set up by Secretary-General Kofi Annan last year to try to bridge the gap between Islam and the West.

The policies of the integration of immigrants into their new societies will also be examined in the report, following a two-day working meeting in New York of the Alliance’s High-Level Group.

One of the co-chairs of the High-Level Group, Mehmet Aydin, Minister of State of Turkey, told reporters at United Nations Headquarters today that participants in the meeting agreed that the UN and other international organizations should play an even more important role than they do at present in upholding global peace and security.

“There is a general agreement that human rights and commonly shared values in our contemporary world need to be supported, and no concession must be given under no circumstances, as far as these commonly shared values are concerned,” Mr. Aydin said.

The meeting, which concluded today, focused on reviewing the draft of a report that is scheduled to be delivered to Mr. Annan in mid-November in Istanbul.

Mr. Aydin said delegates to the meeting had made “significant progress” towards a final text, and he said the document would have several priority themes – education, youth, immigration, women and media.

The High-Level Group’s other co-chair, Federico Mayor, President of the Culture of Peace Foundation, stressed to journalists that the Alliance is working during “a crucial moment of turbulence” in international relations.

Professor Mayor, a former Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), said it was therefore vital that Member States show greater support for the world body and its work in reducing global tensions and inequalities.

Participants in the High-Level Group include such renowned international figures as Mohamed Khatami, the former Iranian president; Ali Alatas, Indonesia’s former Foreign Minister; South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the religious historian Karen Armstrong.

The Alliance was proposed by the Prime Ministers of Spain and Turkey and launched by Mr. Annan last year with the brief of trying to tackle the mutual suspicion, fear and misunderstanding that can exist between Western and Muslim communities.

IN NEW YORK, STATE MINISTER AYDIN MEETS WITH KHATAMI UNDER ALLIANCE OF CIVILIZATIONS INITIATIVE

State Minister Mehmet Aydin, the Turkish co-chairman of the alliance of civilizations initiative, yesterday met with former Iranian President Khatami in New York under the auspices of the Turkish and Spanish effort. Spanish Co-Chair Federico Mayor was also present at the meeting. Speaking at a joint press conference afterwards, Aydin and Mayor briefed the reporters on the content of a report set to be presented to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Nov. 14. For his part, Aydin said that the initiative’s goal was to end prejudices against various cultures. /Milliyet/ Sept. 11, 2006

Panel on dialogue among civilizations ends debate

Sep 6, 2006

New York - A United Nations panel known as the Alliance of Civilizations ended discussion Wednesday on ways to foster understanding among civilizations, particularly between Western and Moslem nations.

The 15-member panel, which includes former Iranian President Mohamed Khatami, met for two days in closed-door discussion to work out its final recommendations on how to bridge differences among civilizations. It will present the document to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in November.

Khatami refused to address the media during the time he was at UN headquarters to attend the meetings.

The panel's co-chairs, Federico Mayor of Spain and Mehmet Aydin of Turkey, said the group had spent the past two years studying the roots of violence and extremism that have deeply divided the world since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against the United States.

'We can offer mediation to bridge differences and bring about dialogue,' Mayor said.

Both Mayor and Aydin said the recommendations, which were not made public, would include suggestions to strengthen organizations like the UN and support multilateralism as ways to unite the world's civilizations. Other areas that need to be strengthened include education, youth issues, emigration and media, they said.

The 15-member panel includes prominent personalities in politics, religions and education, like British historian Karen Armstrong, former Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas, South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Pan Guang, a professor at Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.
© 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

Angry young men against the West

By Linda McQuaig September 11, 2006

In the days after 9/11, Iranian president Mohammad Khatami condemned the terrorist attack and reached out to the West to fight terrorism together.

Too bad we ignored him. We'd be safer today if we hadn't.

Khatami was a moderate reformer, a popular democratically elected president who had been struggling to limit the power of Iran's reactionary religious leaders, and to open up a dialogue between the West and the Muslim world.

You'd think the West would love a guy like that. But the Bush administration was determined to treat 9/11 as a battle in the “clash of civilizations” — a clash that Khatami was trying to steer the world away from.

So, despite an outpouring of sympathy from Iranians over 9/11 — including a moment of silence at an Iranian soccer match — Washington declared Iran part of the “axis of evil” and dragged the West into a “war on terror” that involved invading Muslim countries.

We're paying the price today with growing anti-Western rage in the Muslim world.

We should have known better. From time immemorial, invading a country has been a sure way to turn the people against the invaders.

It's only Western arrogance that leads us to imagine our invasions will be received differently. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart captured the absurdity of this notion with a spoof on Condoleezza Rice's blithe dismissal of the recent suffering in Lebanon as just part of the “birth pangs of a new Middle East.” In the spoof, an Arab commentator suggests that Middle Easterners willingly accept these birth pangs, just as Americans accept 9/11 as the “birth pangs of a new America.”

Violence somehow feels different when it's directed at you.

What Western commentators dismiss as mere “collateral damage” is experienced by those on the receiving end as the devastating deaths of family members.

British MP George Galloway, in a riveting TV interview last month, berated a British television anchor for her insensitivity to the suffering of Palestinians, noting that she knew the name of every captured Israeli soldier, but not the name of the Palestinian family killed by an Israeli gunboat on a Gaza beach.

Western nations are now battling resistance movements in Iraq and Afghanistan that get fiercer by the day.

We can see why these fronts in the “war on terror” are so hopeless from remarks made last year by Canadian Maj.-Gen. Andrew Leslie. Explaining why Afghanistan could be a 20-year venture, he noted that “every time you kill an angry young man overseas, you're creating 15 more who will come after you.”

Yet we cheerfully count the number of Taliban our soldiers killed last week, forgetting about the 15 fresh recruits each of these deaths generates.

Meanwhile, the moderate Khatami has been replaced by Iran's new hard-line president as the “clash of civilizations” heats up.

So are we safer? You bet. Just don't forget to shut the bunker door behind you.

Originally published by The Toronto Star Linda McQuaig's column usually appears every Monday.

Notion of assimilated American Muslim is wrong, too. Story is one of increasing alienation

By GENEVE ABDO Sept. 9, 2006, 8:56PM

If only the Muslims in Europe — with their hearts focused on the Islamic world and their carry-on liquids poised for destruction in the West — could behave like the well-educated, secular and Americanizing Muslims in the United States, no one would have to worry.

So runs the comforting media narrative that has developed around the approximately 6 million Muslims in the United States, who are often portrayed as well-assimilated and willing to leave their religion and culture behind in pursuit of American values and lifestyle. But over the past two years, I have traveled the country, visiting mosques, interviewing Muslim leaders and speaking to Muslim youths in universities and Islamic centers from New York to Michigan to California — and I have encountered a different truth. I found few signs of London-style radicalism among Muslims in the United States. At the same time, the real story of American Muslims is one of accelerating alienation from the mainstream of U.S. life, with Muslims in this country choosing their Islamic identity over their American one.

A new generation of American Muslims — living in the shadow of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks — is becoming more religious. They are more likely to take comfort in their own communities, and less likely to embrace the nation's fabled melting pot of shared values and common culture.

Part of this is linked to the resurgence Islam over the past several decades, a growth as visible in Western Europe and the United States as it is in Egypt and Morocco. But the Sept. 11 attacks also had the dual effect of making American Muslims feel isolated in their adopted country, while pushing them to rediscover their faith.

From schools to language to religion, American Muslims are becoming a people apart. Young, first-generation American Muslim women — whose parents were born in Egypt, Pakistan and other Islamic countries — are wearing head scarves even if their mothers had left them behind; increasing numbers of young Muslims are attending Islamic schools and lectures; Muslim student associations in high schools and at colleges are proliferating; and the role of the mosque has evolved from strictly a place of worship to a center for socializing and for learning Arabic and Urdu as well as the Koran.

The men and women I spoke to — all mosque-goers, most born in the United States to immigrants — include students, activists, imams and everyday working Muslims.

Almost without exception, they recall feeling under siege after Sept. 11, with FBI agents raiding their mosques and homes, neighbors eyeing them suspiciously and television programs portraying Muslims as the new enemies of the West.

Such feelings led them, they say, to adopt Islamic symbols — the hijab, or head covering, for women and the kufi, or cap, for men — as a defense mechanism. Many, such as Rehan, whom I met at a madrassa (religious school) in California with her husband, Ramy, also felt compelled to deepen their faith.

"After I covered, I changed," Rehan told me. "I felt I wanted to give people a good impression of Islam. I wanted people to know how happy I am to be Muslim." But not everyone understood, she said, recalling an incident in a supermarket in 2003: "The man next to me in the vegetable section said, 'You'd be much more beautiful without that thing on your head. It's demeaning to women.' " But to her the head scarf symbolized piety, not oppression.

A group of young, college-educated women at the Dix mosque in Dearborn, Mich., described the challenges many Muslims face as they carve out their identity in the United States.

I spoke with them in the winter of 2004, after they had been to the mosque one Sunday for a halaqa (a study circle) focused on integrating faith and daily life. They were in their twenties: Hayat, a psychologist; Ismahan, a computer scientist; and Fatma, a third-grade teacher.

Hayat said veiling was easier for her than it had been for her sister, 10 years her senior, because Hayat had more Muslim peers when she reached high school and felt far less pressure to conform to American ways. When she went on to the University of Michigan, she was surrounded for the first time by young Muslims who dared to show pride in their religion in a non-Muslim setting.

Fatma described the mosque as central to her future: "What made me sane during years of public high school," she said, "was coming to the halaqa every Sunday."

Fatma was also quick to distinguish herself from other young Muslim women who embrace American mores. "Some Muslims do anything to fit in. They drink. They date. My biggest fear is that I might assimilate to the American lifestyle so much that my modesty goes out the window."

Imam Zaid Shakir — who teaches at San Francisco's Zaytuna Institute, America's only true madrassa — refers to such young Muslims as the "rejectionist generation." They are rejectionist, he says, because they turn their backs not only on absolutist religious interpretations, but also on America's secular ways. Many of these young American Muslims look to Shakir (and to celebrated Zaytuna founder Hamza Yusuf) for guidance on how to live pious lives in the United States.

I spent several days at one of the institute's "mobile madrassas," this one in San Jose, and watched hundreds of young Muslim professionals sit on cushioned folding chairs and listen intently as Yusuf delivered his lecture. "Everywhere I go, I see Muslims," he told them. "Go to the gas station and the airport. Muslims are present in the United States, and that was not true 20 years ago. There are more Muslims living outside the Dar al-Islam (Islamic countries, or literally the House of Islam) than ever. So we have to be strategic in our thinking, because people who are our enemies are strategic in their thinking."

The "enemies" Yusuf referred to that day were not non-Muslims, but rather those who use Islam as a rationale for violence.

For the students at this madrassa and for many Muslims I interviewed, their strategy focuses on public displays of their faith.

Being ambassadors of Islam is daring behavior when you consider that American Muslims live in a country where so many people are ignorant of — if not hostile to — their faith.

In a Gallup poll this year, when U.S. respondents were asked what they admire about the Muslim world, the most common response was "nothing" (33 percent); the second most common was "I don't know" (22 percent).

Despite contemporary public opinion — or perhaps because of it — Muslim-Americans consider Islam their defining characteristic, beyond any national identity.

In this way, their experience in the United States resembles that of their co-religionists in Europe, where mosques are also growing, Islamic schools are being built, and practicing the faith is the center of life, particularly for the young generation.

In Europe and the United States, young Muslims are unifying around popular imams they believe understand the challenges they face in Western societies; these leaders include Yusuf in the United States and Amer Khaled, an Egyptian-born imam who lives in Britain. Thousands of young Muslims attend their lectures.

In my years of interviews, I found few indications of homegrown militancy among American Muslims. Indeed, thus far, they have proved they can compete economically with other Americans. Although the unemployment rate for Muslims in Britain is far higher than for most other groups, the average annual income of a Muslim household surpasses that of average American households. Yet, outside the workplace, Muslims retreat into the comfort zone of their mosques and Islamic schools.

It is too soon to say where the growing alienation of American Muslims will lead, but it seems clear that the factors contributing to it will endure.

U.S. foreign policy persists in dividing Muslim and Western societies, making it harder still for Americans to realize that there is a difference between their Muslim neighbor and the plotter in London or the kidnapper in Baghdad.

Abdo is the liaison for the Alliance of Civilizations at the United Nations and author of "Mecca and Main Street: Muslim Life in America After 9/11" (Oxford). She can be e-mailed at geneive.abdo@geneiveabdo.com. This article originally appeared in the Washington Post.

Success of Turkey talks 'vital to whole world'

By George Parker and Daniel Dombey in Brussels

Financial Times Sept. 8, 2006

The European Union risks sending a dangerous signal to the Muslim world if Turkey membership negotiations collapse, Ankara's chief negotiator with Brussels warned on Thursday.

Ali Babacan said the consequence of a breakdown of negotiations would be "devastating", emphasising that Turkey's membership talks were a crucial event not just for Turkey and the EU "but also for the future of the world".

The issue of Turkish membership of the EU was a test for "this whole idea that the values and ideals of the EU could be shared also by a country which has a Muslim population", he told the FT.

Countries in North Africa, the Middle East and Caucasus were following the pro-gress of Turkey's talks, he said – even though many European diplomats are sceptical about the links between Turkey and the Arab world.

Mr Babacan's comments come amid warnings from Olli Rehn, EU enlargement commissioner, that negotiations with Turkey are heading for a "train crash" over a dispute with Cyprus. Many diplomats worry that in the next few months the issue could plunge Turkey's membership bid into a crisis from which it would not recover.

The EU has demanded that Turkey open up its ports and airports to Cypriot vessels this year. But Ankara refuses to do this while the EU fails to honour its own pledge to reduce the isolation of the Turkish community in the north of the island.

Cyprus, which is an EU member but is not recognised by Turkey, has threatened to block all future progress in the negotiations unless Ankara changes its stance. "Turkey is not going to do anything unilaterally on ports and airports – that is clear," Mr Babacan said.

He said he did not believe Cyprus would bear the responsibility of using its veto to break off EU negotiations with Turkey, but urged the international community to put pressure on Nicosia to step back from the brink.

If the talks were suspended, he warned that Turks would see it as a breach of faith by the EU and that the Cyprus dispute was a smokescreen.

"People would see it as the end," he said. "It's difficult to make people think that Cyprus is the real issue. People will think there are other issues and the whole EU project was simply too good to be true."

Mr Babacan acknowledged that Turkey was failing to win the public relations battle over Europe both at home and abroad.

He said he was open to a Commission initiative to put the Cyprus issue on the backburner by referring the dispute over port access to the European Court of Justice, thus pushing a showdown beyond next year's Turkish elections.

But Cypriot diplomats said on Thursday the idea was "categorically a non-starter".

URL: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14728620/

Turkey, Germany Bridge West-Islam Gap

IslamOnline.net & News Agencies http://www.islam-online.net/English/News/2006-09/08/06.shtml

"We are just laying the foundation stone here," Gul (R) said of the Turkish-German initiative.

ISANBUL — Turkey and Germany on Thursday, September 7, launched a joint initiative to promote cultural exchanges in a bid to develop stronger ties between the Muslim world and the West.

"We are just laying the foundation stone here," said Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul while launching the initiative with his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

The initiative aims to further cooperation between the media and academic communities and promote exchange programs for students and teachers from both countries.

It also aims to help overcome cultural and religious misunderstandings and to combat extremism.

Gul said that the real burden of achieving the initiative's goals would be on civic organizations.

Spain and Turkey have championed an "Alliance of Civilizations" initiative to promote ties between the West and the Muslim world.

The Turkish-German initiative also underlined the need for the sizeable Turkish minority in Germany to better integrate into German society.

Germany is home to about 3.4 million Muslims, of whom two-thirds are of Turkish origin.

Bridge

By launching the initiative, Turkey hopes to be a bridge between the West and the Muslim world.

"A modern Turkey fully integrated in European institutions and sharing European values will become a strong argument in favor of a world where culture and religion no longer divide," said a joint statement.

Turkey is a predominantly Muslim but secular NATO-member country bidding to join the European Union.

A strategy study by an American think tank has recommended repairing and redefining relations with Turkey to help promote America's ties with the Muslim world.

The venue of the inaugural ceremony for the Turkish-German initiative had also symbolic import as Istanbul straddles the European and Asian shores of the Bosphorus strait, the geographical dividing line between Europe and Asia.

The project was named after Ernst Reuter, the respected German politician and Cold War-era mayor of Berlin who went into exile in Turkey while the Nazis were in power in Germany.

The initiative is also aimed at healing a rift created by Danish cartoons that lampooned Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessing be upon him).

"The cartoon crisis... revealed an alarming degree of Islamophobic feeling in the West and anti-Western sentiment in the Islamic world," the declaration said.

Last September, cartoons mocking Prophet Muhammad were published by Denmark's mass circulation Jyllands-Posten, sparking furor in the Muslim world.

The insulting drawings were later reprinted by European newspapers on claims of freedom of expression.

Turks Warm to Iran, Jilting Allies, Poll Finds

By INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE

International Herald Tribune September 7, 2006

BERLIN, Sept. 6 — Turkey has increasingly warmed toward Iran while cooling toward its NATO allies and the goal of European Union membership, according to a survey of international attitudes published Wednesday.

The survey, Transatlantic Trends, an annual poll of European and American public opinion conducted for the German Marshall Fund of the United States, shows a striking shift in attitudes within Turkey.

The survey found that on a 100-point “thermometer” scale, with 100 being the friendliest feeling, Turkish attitudes toward the United States fell to 20 degrees, from 28 degrees, in the past two years.

Over the same period, feelings toward Iran increased to 43 degrees, from 34 degrees.

Further, in a different part of the survey, while a majority in Turkey continued to see membership in the European Union as a good thing, support for that goal fell to 54 percent, from 73 percent in 2004.

The poll, conducted in each of the past five years, was carried out in the United States and 12 European countries: Britain, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain and Turkey.

In Turkey, the survey was based on in-person interviews of 1,000 randomly selected adults from June 6 to June 24. The margin of sampling error was plus or minus three percentage points.

A renewed focus on Turkey is in the United States' self interest.

September 10, 2006 Editorial New York Times

Turkey at the Tipping Point

After a Kurdish group claimed responsibility for a series of recent bombings in Turkey that killed three civilians and injured many others, the United States appointed a retired Air Force general and former NATO commander, Joseph Ralston, to work with Turkish authorities. General Ralston will be responsible for coordinating American antiterrorist efforts with Iraq and Turkey, both of which have sizable Kurdish minorities — and minorities within those minorities who have resorted to terror.

The Turkish foreign ministry hailed the appointment as a “new opportunity” for cooperation between the United States and Turkey.

The United States would be wise to create many more and varied opportunities to engage with Turkey, a longtime ally, and a uniquely important one. Turkey is a predominantly Muslim, secular democracy, situated between Europe and the Middle East. After years of trying to make amends for having suppressed its Kurdish population, often brutally, Turkey has seen violence resume of late. The United States needs to frankly acknowledge that instability in Iraq, on Turkey’s southeast border, has fomented instability in Turkey. That morally obligates the United States to help with corrective action.

Equally important, a renewed focus on Turkey is in the United States’ self interest. Last week, the nonprofit German Marshall Fund of the United States released the results of its annual survey of public opinion in the United States and 12 countries in Europe, including Turkey. The survey’s most striking finding is the degree to which Turks now question their ties to the United States and Europe, and have warmed to Iran, their neighbor to the east.

The discontent appears anchored in Turks’ overwhelming disapproval of President Bush’s handling of international affairs and growing disapproval of European Union leadership. Both are manifest in waning Turkish support for the institutions that have bound Turkey to the West. Though Turkey has been a staunch NATO member since 1952, only 44 percent of Turks in this year’s survey agreed that NATO was essential for Turkey’s security, versus 52 percent in 2005. Even though Turkey opened official membership talks with the European Union last year — after strenuous efforts to meet the union’s criteria — only 54 percent of Turks now view membership as a good thing, versus 73 percent in 2004.

As Turks see it, their support over decades for the West and for democracy has been rewarded with severe regional tension brought on by the United States, and by a cold shoulder, particularly from France and Austria, ever since Turkey qualified for European Union accession talks.

The appointment of General Ralston may help the United States to re-engage with Turkey, though ending Kurdish violence and tensions requires mainly political solutions. The United States can also help to keep Turkey’s aspiration to join the European Union on track, by advocating more openly for resolution of the division of Cyprus between Greek and Turkish Cypriots.

The United States must not ever take Turkey for granted.

Aydın: UN-led initiative aims at introducing action plan:

ANK - Turkish Daily News Sept. 8, 2006

State Minister Mehmet Aydın said yesterday the objective of the High Level Group of the U.N.-led Alliance of Civilizations initiative was to introduce a practical action plan aimed at eliminating threats against security and peace in the world and contributing to harmonization between cultures and religions.

Aydın and former United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) chief Federico Mayor of Spain held a joint press conference at U.N. headquarters in New York following the Fourth High Level Group meeting, as part of the U.N.-led initiative, whose co-sponsors are Turkey and Spain.

The minister said they worked on a report during the group's two-day meeting, adding that the report would be submitted to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in November in Istanbul.

He said the report would contain a series of recommendations and political analyses, particularly on education, youth, media, women and migrants. “We hope the report and its recommendations will facilitate efforts to alleviate discrimination in the world and to find solutions to problems on the basis of cooperation and a multifaceted outlook,” he said.

UN Chief Annan Arrives in Ankara

Annan arrived in the Turkish capital just as the country's parliament debated a government motion to contribute troops to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL)

Annan visits Ankara as part of his Middle East tour which includes Iran, Egypt, Israel, Palestine, Qatar, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Syria

2006-09-06 AP

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan arrived in Ankara on Tuesday as the Turkish parliament debated whether to send troops to Lebanon as part of an expanded UN peacekeeping force.

The government is strongly supporting the deployment, and is not expected to face any difficulty in endorsing the mission, despite strong public opposition.

Annan was scheduled to meet with Turkish leaders Wednesday to discuss Lebanon, as well as Iran's controversial nuclear program and stalled efforts to reunify the Mediterranean island of Cyprus.

UN Chief Annan Arrives in Ankara

2006-09-06 www.chinaview.cn

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Monday he would appoint a secret mediator for the release of two Israeli soldiers

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan speaks at a news conference in Jeddah Sept. 4, 2006. (Xinhua/Reuters photo)

ANKARA, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan arrived in Turkish capital Ankara on Tuesday, the last leg of his Middle East tour aimed at strengthening the truce between Israel and Hezbollah, Turkey's semi-official Anatolia news agency reported.

Annan is expected to hold talks with Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul on Wednesday, said the report.

Turkey's possible contribution to the UN peacekeeping force deployed in Lebanon, Cyprus and other international topics are expected to be high on the agenda during his talks with the Turkish leaders.

Annan arrived in Ankara as the Turkish Parliament was debating the government's motion authorizing the deployment of Turkish peacekeeping troops to Lebanon.

Annan just wrapped up his visit to Egypt where he suggested Israel to lift its air and sea blockade of Lebanon within 48 hours.

Turkey Debates Cliffhanger Lebanon Decision

Sunday, September 3, 2006

The decision to send troops to Lebanon as part of a multi-national UN peacekeeping force is proving to be controversial in Turkey, which stayed out of the Iraqi quagmire by a parliamentary vote that came at the 11th hour

GÖKSEL BOZKURT ANKARA- TDN Parliament Bureau

Parliament will convene on Tuesday Sept. 5 to vote on a government resolution for contributing troops to a U.N. force in Lebanon, amid growing opposition to the plan.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan dismissed arguments against the plan as "isolationism, adopted by certain opposition circles, arising from a chronic illness that involves opposing everything the government does or from a failure to comprehend the realities of the world." President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, meanwhile, expressed objections to the government resolution on sending troops at a military reception earlier this week, asserting his opinion that it was not Turkey's responsibility to protect the interests of other nations, especially at a time when Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) terrorism is on the rise. In addition, there are concerns over the rules of engagement proposed by the United Nations, while the mission and location of Turkish troops in Lebanon are yet not clear, critics note.

Behind most of the preoccupation against sending troops lies the fallout from the U.S. experience in Iraq; Turkey had avoided a contribution to the war in Iraq at the last minute with a parliamentary vote on March 1, 2003. Opponents of Turkish participation in a Lebanon force feel that chaos similar to the state prevailing in Iraq could inundate Turkey and plunge it into a Middle East nightmare.

Turkey Pledges Peacekeepers for Lebanon
By TODD PITMAN The Associated Press
Wednesday, September 6, 2006; 4:50 AM

BEIRUT, Lebanon -- Turkey on Tuesday became the first Muslim country with diplomatic ties to Israel to pledge troops to an expanding international peacekeeping force that will monitor a fragile cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah.

Hundreds of Lebanese army troops rolled into southern villages after Israeli soldiers withdrew from five of them, slow but steady steps toward implementing a U.N.-brokered peace plan agreed last month. In two of the villages, dancing women showered the soldiers with rice and men slaughtered sheep to fete their arrival, witnesses said.

Meanwhile, U.N. chief Kofi Annan said he could get some positive news within two days on a deal to convince Israel to lift its blockade of Lebanon.

Ruling party lawmakers in Turkey voted in favor of the deployment of peacekeeping troops despite objections from opposition parties and street protests by thousands.

While many Turks regard the Lebanon peacekeeping mission as a dangerous venture that could lead to clashes with fellow Muslims, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's party insisted on contributing. He argued it would raise Turkey's profile on the international stage. Turkey, which has diplomatic relations with Israel, is aspiring to join the European Union.

The peacekeeping force in Lebanon is expected to swell from 2,000 to 15,000 troops. About 1,250 Italian and French reinforcements have already arrived. Under a U.N. Security Council mandate, the mission known as UNIFIL is deploying throughout the south with an equal number of Lebanese soldiers as Israeli forces withdraw.

Annan's spokesman Ahmad Fawzi told The Associated Press a deal to lift the Israeli blockade was in the works and would entail deploying French, Italian, Greek and German ships to patrol the Lebanese coastline. Such a move could assure Israel its arms embargo on Hezbollah would still be enforced.

Israel has said it would lift the blockade only after protections are in place to prevent the Hezbollah militants from getting more arms. Israel has allowed some commercial flights into Beirut airport and has let some aid in despite the blockade.

Annan "has said time and time again that he calls on Israel to lift the blockade, it is strangling the country. He expects them to cooperate," Fawzi said.

Annan discussed the issue by telephone with Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Saniora, Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and French President Jacques Chirac, Fawzi said.

Speaking in Alexandria, Egypt on the last leg of a Mideast tour, Annan said he expected "some constructive and positive news" on the blockade within two days.

Annan stopped afterward in Turkey.

Annan Meets With Leaders of Turkey

By SELCAN HACAOGLU
The Associated Press
Wednesday, September 6, 2006; 5:57 AM

ANKARA, Turkey -- U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Wednesday met with leaders of Turkey, the first Muslim country with diplomatic ties to Israel to pledge troops for the expanded U.N. peacekeeping force in south Lebanon.

Ruling party lawmakers voted in favor of the deployment of peacekeeping troops Tuesday, despite objections from opposition parties and street protests by thousands of people.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, left, is welcomed by Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul upon his arrival to the foreign ministry building in Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2006. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan met with Turkish leaders a day after parliament authorized the participation of Turkish soldiers in an expanded U.N. peace mission in Lebanon. The decision makes Turkey the first Muslim country with diplomatic ties with Israel to send troops to Lebanon and is likely to enhance Muslim presence in the task force. (AP Photo/Murad Sezer)

Many Turks regard the peacekeeping mission _ to monitor a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah militants _ as a dangerous venture that could lead to clashes with fellow Muslims. But Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan insisted on contributing troops, arguing it would raise Turkey's profile as it as aspires to join the European Union.

Annan met with Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, and was scheduled to meet with Erdogan and President Ahmet Necdet Sezer to discuss details of Turkey's contribution to the force. Gul said the number of Turkish soldiers is likely not to exceed 1,000.

Turkey's decision to send troops was an important boost to efforts to expand the force from 2,000 to 15,000 members, amid hopes that strong Muslim participation would avert any impression the force is primarily a Christian entity.

Erdogan has said the Turkish force will focus on reconstruction in Lebanon and that Turkish troops would be withdrawn if asked to disarm Hezbollah.

Hundreds of Lebanese army troops rolled into southern villages after Israeli soldiers withdrew from five of them on Tuesday _ slow but steady steps toward implementing the U.N.-brokered peace plan adopted last month. Annan said Tuesday that he could get some positive news within two days on a deal to persuade Israel to lift its blockade of Lebanon.

About 1,250 Italian and French reinforcements have already arrived. Under a U.N. Security Council mandate, the mission known as UNIFIL is deploying throughout the south with an equal number of Lebanese soldiers as Israeli forces withdraw.

Annan's spokesman, Ahmad Fawzi, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that a deal to lift the Israeli blockade was in the works and would entail deploying French, Italian, Greek and German ships to patrol the Lebanese coastline. Such a move could assure Israel its arms embargo on Hezbollah would still be enforced.

Israel has said it would lift the blockade only after protections are in place to prevent Hezbollah militants from getting more arms. Israel has allowed some commercial flights into Beirut airport and has let some aid in despite the blockade.

Speaking in Alexandria, Egypt, Annan said Tuesday that he expected "some constructive and positive news" on the blockade within two days.

The Turkish parliament voted 340-192 in favor of sending troops to Lebanon, with one lawmaker abstaining, after a lengthy debate on the floor. Earlier, thousands protested outside against deployment because of fears the Turkish troops could face hostile fire or clashes with fellow Muslims supporting Hezbollah.

Turkey Agrees To Deploy Troops In South Lebanon

Associated Press
Wednesday, September 6, 2006

ANKARA, Turkey, Sept. 5 -- Turkey agreed Tuesday to send troops to Lebanon to monitor a tense cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah, becoming the first Muslim country with diplomatic ties with Israel to do so.

After a lengthy debate, the parliament voted 340 to 192 in favor of sending troops to Lebanon, with one lawmaker abstaining. Earlier, thousands outside protested against deployment because of fears the Turkish troops could face hostile fire or clashes with fellow Muslims supporting Hezbollah.

The number of troops was not specified. Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul has said it likely would not exceed 1,000.

The decision provided a boost to efforts to deploy an expanded U.N. peacekeeping force amid hopes that strong Muslim participation would avoid any impression that the force is primarily a Christian entity. The U.N. force is preparing to expand from 2,000 to 15,000 troops and deploy throughout the south with an equal number of Lebanese soldiers as Israeli forces withdraw as part of a cease-fire that took effect Aug. 14.

Turkey is NATO's only Muslim member and one of the few Muslim nations with close ties to Israel. An Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mark Regev, said Israel was especially interested in having Turkey in the force because it is a largely Muslim country and a regional power.

The vote also was a victory for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who called Turkey's participation a moral duty that would contribute to regional stability and raise Turkey's profile on the global stage.

The Turkish contribution to the U.N. mission is expected to include a naval task force to patrol the eastern Mediterranean and prevent arms smuggling, as well as officers to train Lebanese army troops. Turkey also would provide sea and air transport in support of other national contingents in the U.N. force.

Parliament gives consent to sending troops to Lebanon

Wednesday, September 6, 2006

The ruling AKP deputies, in defiance of fierce criticism from the opposition and street protests, votes to support a government motion to send peacekeeping troops to Lebanon, as Kofi Annan arrives to give more details to Ankara

ANKARA - TDN Parliament Bureau

Deputies of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) threw their support behind a government motion to send troops to Lebanon to boost an expanded U.N. peacekeeping force there, voting 340-192 to endorse the plans.

Taking the floor at Parliament's extraordinary session, opposition deputies slammed the government's plan, saying that it was not in Turkey's interests and warning that the risks were high. Meanwhile thousands of protestors took to the streets in Ankara to chant slogans against the government decision to contribute troops.

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül, responding to criticism, insisted that Turkey could not remain indifferent as instability in the region would affect it, too, and reiterated that the U.N. force is not tasked with disarming Hezbollah.

Opposition parties the Republican People's Party (CHP) and the Motherland Party (ANAVATAN) managed to delay the vote by hours by submitting formal proposals to extend the maximum time period allowed for speeches by different political parties.

The motion requests a one-year authorization to deploy a naval force unit to patrol the waters off Lebanon and help train the Lebanese army. The 11-page document also leaves the door open for a possible deployment of ground troops, saying such forces could be required by Turkey in the future by possible humanitarian aid missions in the region.

The number of troops has not been specified, but Gül said it would not exceed 1,000 and insisted that it would not be a combat force.

Details concerning the number, duties, composition and area of deployment of the Turkish troops are expected to become clearer after talks between Turkish leaders and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who arrived in Ankara late yesterday as part of a regional tour.

Annan sees end soon for Israel's Lebanon blockade
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Tuesday he is hopeful Israel will end its air, land and sea blockade of Lebanon by Thursday. Annan, speaking in Turkey as part of his ongoing Mideast tour, is working with participants to end that blockade and to secure the release of two kidnapped Israeli soldiers, stressing that both events are crucial to shoring up the fragile Israel-Hezbollah truce

Annan: IDF pullout from Lebanon crucial to success of UN mission

Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan speaking to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan at the entrance to his office in Ankara on Wednesday. (AP)

Annan: IDF pullout from Lebanon crucial to success of UN mission

By The Associated Press 06/09/2006 www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/759598.html

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan on Wednesday said the withdrawal of Israel Defense Forces troops from southern Lebanon was crucial to the success of the UN peacekeeping mission.

"We will have a credible force," he said, adding that "the withdrawal of Israeli forces is equally crucial."

Speaking in Turkey one day after the Muslim nation decided to send troops to Lebanon as part of the UN force, Annan also said he hoped Israel would lift its blockade of Lebanon with 48 hours.

"I am still hopeful that the air, land and sea blockade will be lifted in the next 36 to 48 hours and I'm working on that with the participants," Annan told a joint news conference with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan.

Earlier Wednesday, the commander of UN peacekeepers in Lebanon said Israel is moving close to lifting its eight-week old a blockade on Lebanon.

"I have the feeling that it is coming closer," Major-General Alain Pellegrini told France's Europe 1 radio when asked when the blockade could be lifted.

A deployment of foreign navies is designed to persuade Israel to lift a blockade of Lebanon's ports that has been in place since the start of the month-long war between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas on July 12.

"I think the United Nations and the contributing countries are able to react very quickly," said Pellegrini, who is head of the UNIFIL peacekeeping force in Lebanon.

French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy reiterated on Wednesday that France was ready to help monitor the Lebanese coast. "If (the Lebanese government) wants us to help, we can do that," Douste-Blazy told RMC radio.

A Lebanese political source has said the Beirut government had prepared a letter asking the United Nations to help patrol its coast, but would not send it until Israel had lifted its restrictions on flights in and out of Beirut.

Once that happens and the letter has gone, French and Italian naval ships would deploy off the Lebanese coast, meeting an Israeli demand for measures to stop Hezbollah rearming.

Five days later, Israel would lift its sea blockade, the Lebanese source said. Israel has said that the blockade would stay in place until Hezbollah was prevented from rearming.

Israel did not have a problem with a graduated lifting of the restrictions, foreign ministry spokesman Mark Regev said.

"The idea being, however, that when the Lebanese army forces are in place, and reinforced by the international forces, at that particular port of entry, then we could lift restrictions," he said.

"When they are ready, we will be ready. It doesn't have to be all or nothing. We can move on specific places," he said.

Pellegrini said the ceasefire in Lebanon remained fragile.

"It remains fragile as far as there is an Israeli presence in Lebanon because every incident, misunderstanding or provocation can escalate very quickly," he said.

Turkey to send troops to Lebanon
The Turkish parliament on Tuesday voted to send troops to Lebanon, becoming the first Muslim country with diplomatic ties to Israel to pledge troops to an expanding international peacekeeping force that will monitor a fragile cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah.

Ruling party lawmakers voted in favor of the deployment of peacekeeping troops Tuesday, despite objections from opposition parties and street protests by thousands.

Annan was to meet with Prime Minister Erdogan, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul and President Ahmet Necdet Sezer to discuss details of Turkey's contribution to the force. Gul said the number of Turkish soldiers is likely not to exceed 1,000.

The Turkish parliament voted 340-192 in favor of sending troops to Lebanon, with one lawmaker abstaining, after a lengthy debate on the floor. Earlier, thousands protested outside against deployment because of fears the Turkish troops could face hostile fire or clashes with fellow Muslims supporting the Islamic militant group Hezbollah.

The decision was an important boost to efforts to deploy an expanded UN peacekeeping force amid hopes that strong Muslim participation would avoid any impression that the force is primarily a Christian entity.

Erdogan has said the Turkish force will focus on reconstruction in Lebanon and that Turkish troops would be withdrawn if asked to disarm Hezbollah.

While many Turks regard the Lebanon peacekeeping mission as a dangerous venture that could lead to clashes with fellow Muslims, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's party insisted on contributing. He argued it would raise Turkey's profile on the international stage. Turkey, which has diplomatic relations with Israel, is aspiring to join the European Union.

Hundreds of Lebanese army troops rolled into southern villages after Israeli soldiers withdrew from five of them on Tuesday - slow but steady steps toward implementing the UN-brokered peace plan agreed last month. Annan said Tuesday that he could get some positive news within two days on a deal to persuade Israel to lift its blockade of Lebanon.

The peacekeeping force in Lebanon is expected to swell from 2,000 to 15,000 troops. About 1,250 Italian and French reinforcements have already arrived.

Under a UN Security Council mandate, the mission known as UNIFIL is deploying throughout the south with an equal number of Lebanese soldiers as Israeli forces withdraw.

Annan's spokesman, Ahmad Fawzi, said Tuesday that a deal to lift the Israeli blockade was in the works and would entail deploying French, Italian, Greek and German ships to patrol the Lebanese coastline. Such a move could assure Israel its arms embargo on Hezbollah would still be enforced.

Israel has said it would lift the blockade only after protections are in place to prevent the Hezbollah militants from getting more arms. Israel has allowed some commercial flights into Beirut airport and has let some aid in despite the blockade.

Speaking in Alexandria, Egypt on the last leg of a Mideast tour, Annan said Tuesday that he expected "some constructive and positive news" on the blockade within two days.

Israel’s move to lift its blockade of Lebanon will speed up the Lebanese recovery: Annan

6 September 2006 www.un.org – Welcoming Israel’s decision to lift its blockade of Lebanon tomorrow, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the move will speed up Lebanese reconstruction efforts after the month of conflict and added he would continue to explore all avenues to ensure full implementation of the Security Council resolution that ended the fighting.

“I am pleased that the Israeli Government has agreed to lift its blockade of Lebanon, effective 6pm Beirut local time tomorrow, Thursday, 7 September 2006,” Mr. Annan said in a statement issued in Spain, where he is on the last leg of his shuttle diplomacy aimed at shoring up support for the cessation of hostilities.

“The lifting of the blockade will enable Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and his Government to accelerate their economic recovery and reconstruction programme. I would like to thank the governments which contributed to making this possible.”

“I will continue to exert every effort to secure the full implementation of Security Council resolution 1701, enabling the Government of Lebanon to extend its authority over its territory and to exercise its full sovereignty.”

Mr. Annan, who has visited Israel, Lebanon, Syria and other regional countries in the last two weeks, has repeatedly called for the blockade against Lebanon to be lifted, warning last week that it risked being seen as “collective punishment” of the Lebanese people.

Before arriving in Spain today, the Secretary-General was in Turkey, where Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul officially informed him that Ankara was willing to contribute troops to a strengthened UN force in southern Lebanon, as stipulated in resolution 1701.

Describing the Turkish move as a “bold and noble decision,” Mr. Annan also held talks with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss further details of the deployment and also met President Ahmed Necdet Sezer.

The meetings in Turkey also covered the issue of the abducted Israeli soldiers and other prisoners and the need to “move forward on reaching a just, lasting and comprehensive peace in the region, in particular resolving the root cause of the crisis in the Middle East: the Palestinian problem,” a UN statement said. Cyprus and Iraq were also discussed.

Tomorrow the Secretary-General will hold discussions with Spanish officials before returning to New York, a UN spokesman told reporters today.

Germany welcomes Turkish decision to send troops to Lebanon, says Berlin to decide soon

The Associated Press

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2006

ISTANBUL, Turkey Germany's foreign minister on Thursday welcomed Turkey's decision to send troops to an expanded U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon and said Germany would soon make a decision about its own contribution.

Frank-Walter Steinmeier said four experts from Germany's customs and border police would travel with him to the Lebanese capital later Thursday to advise the country on how to handle the lifting of Israel's sea and air blockade.

"I was happy to see the Turkish parliament's approval of joining the efforts to enforce the still sensitive cease-fire in Lebanon," Steinmeier said during a joint news conference with Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul. "I hope that ... our parliament and our council of ministers will also be making a decision soon."

Steinmeier was in Istanbul to launch a joint cultural project devoted to increasing understanding between the Christian and Muslim worlds.

Turkey's parliament on Tuesday approved sending an unspecified number of troops to take part in the U.N. mission to solidify the fragile cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah. Turkish leaders have said the deployment would not exceed 1,000 troops.

A Turkish military delegation led by Brig. Gen. Tahir Bekiroglu was expected to travel to Lebanon on Saturday to make necessary evaluations before the deployment, while a delegation of diplomats was scheduled to fly to New York on Sunday for consultations with U.N. officials over the mission, private NTV television reported Thursday.

Germany has said it could send naval troops to help patrol the coast, but would first require a formal request from the Lebanese government that clearly spells out what the troops' mandate would be. Parliament must also approve the deployment.

Germany is not offering ground troops. German officials, mindful of sensitivities over the Nazi past, have expressed concern about deploying German troops in any situation that might bring them into confrontation with Israeli soldiers.

Steinmeier and Gul later inaugurate the Ernst Reuter Initiative for Intercultural Dialogue and Understanding, a project that will explore ways to ease the integration of Muslim immigrants into Western societies.

It will also aim to increase the number of educational exchange programs, examine school curricula and train religious leaders.

"The aim is to increase and spread understanding between cultures and between faiths," Steinmeier said.

Ernst Reuter was a German politician who fled Nazi Germany and sought refuge in Turkey.

Germany and Turkey have close historical ties, and some 2 million Turkish immigrants live in Germany. Turkey, which is a 99 percent Muslim country and a candidate for EU membership, sees itself as a key player in improving intercultural and interfaith relations.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan frequently refers in speeches to a similar U.N.-backed project with the prime minister of Spain, which aims to defuse Muslim-Christian disputes and misunderstandings and establish an "Alliance of Civilizations."

At Cathedral, Iran's Khatami Urges Dialogue

By Robin Wright
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 8, 2006

Amid noisy protests and tight security, former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami issued a call at the Washington National Cathedral yesterday for leaders in both the West and the Islamic world to launch a historic dialogue to "rescue life from the claws of the warmongers and violence-seekers and ostentatious leaders."

But Khatami, who served as president between 1997 and 2005, signaled that the time is not yet right for direct dialogue between the United States and Iran. He warned that the language of threats needs to end for any negotiation to have a chance -- an indirect reference to U.S. and U.N. pressure to impose new sanctions on Iran because of disputes over its nuclear program.

Khatami said Iran is prepared to discuss the suspension -- both the timing and the scope -- of its uranium enrichment in negotiations.

The former Iranian leader, who was elected on a reform platform but failed to deliver significant change, called the United States a "great" country "with great people, great capacities, and potential" -- language that stood in stark contrast to more than a quarter-century of Iran calling the United States "the Great Satan."

But he also condemned its unilateral foreign policy, and he cautioned at a news conference before last night's speech that Washington would be more effective if it worked alongside other nations.

Khatami, who is a mid-level Shiite cleric and wears the black turban of a descendant of the prophet Muhammad, focused heavily on religious themes and the need for the three Abrahamic faiths -- Judaism, Islam and Christianity -- to work together.

"Jesus is the prophet of kindness and peace. Muhammad is the prophet of ethics, morality and grace. Moses is the prophet of dialogue and exchange," he said. "It's good at the present time, where war, violence and repression is so prevalent across the world, for all of us who are followers of God's religion to pursue all efforts for the establishment of peace and security."

Khatami said he was not concerned about the vitriolic criticism that his five-city speaking tour of the United States has prompted in Iran. "If you want to accept to live in a democratic state, a democratic society, we have to tolerate the voices of dissent," he said.

Critics have charged that Khatami's trip is riddled with hypocritical contradictions since, during his presidency, the Islamic republic was guilty of widespread human rights abuses. Although Iran's hard-line judiciary is widely blamed for the arrest of dissidents, Khatami was unable to restrain political rivals.

Pressed on Iran's abuses, Khatami said he would not deny that his country has serious problems, but he cautioned that democracy is a "process" that cannot reverse centuries of despotic rule overnight. Iran was ruled by various dynasties for some 2,500 years.

As Khatami spoke inside the limestone Gothic cathedral, hundreds of diplomatic security agents, including their own SWAT teams, surrounded the church grounds.

On the other side of Wisconsin Avenue, a crowd of about 200 shouted, "Shame on you," as invitees waited to pass through security and enter the cathedral gates. Khatami spoke before an audience of 1,300.

Many of the protesters waved photographs of victims of Iranian government torture and pictures of Reza Pahlavi, the son of the last shah, toppled in the 1979 revolution. Banners urged, "No dialogue, no war, only regime change," and "Free all political prisoners in Iran."

Police cars lined up in front of the crowd and helicopters with searchlights circled overhead, but there were no incidents reported and no noticeable traffic delays from the protest.

Khatami is the highest-ranking Iranian figure to visit Washington since the United States severed ties in 1979, after its embassy in Tehran was overrun by revolutionaries who took 52 hostages and held them for 444 days.

He comes at a time when the United States is pressing for new international sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear program, and on a day when officials from the five countries with permanent seats on the U.N. Security Council joined German officials in Berlin to discuss those sanctions.

The visit prompted condemnation not only in some Iranian circles but also from some lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

At a news conference yesterday morning organized by Iranian dissidents, Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) announced that he planned to mark Khatami's visit by introducing the Iran Human Rights Act, to ensure that the United States supports opposition groups.

The proposal calls for a new U.S. special envoy to coordinate with Iranian opposition groups, authorizes $100 million for new U.S. programs that focus on Iran's human rights practices, and requires more broadcasting into Iran on democracy and human rights issues.

Brownback also called on the State Department to give visas to liberal professors whom the Iranian government this week threatened to purge.

"For too long, the focus on Iran's nuclear program has overshadowed the human rights violations perpetrated by its tyrannical regime," Brownback said. His legislation would make Iran's human rights practices a top priority of U.S. foreign policy.

Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) criticized the Bush administration for allowing U.S. taxpayers to "subsidize" the former Iranian leader's visit by providing a security detail -- particularly after the treatment of U.S. diplomats in Iran during their captivity. The State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security is in charge of such protection.

A handful of former prisoners, as well as the sister of a student activist who was arrested during Khatami's presidency and died last month in jail, spoke emotionally to reporters about the incarcerations and their opposition to the regime.

"Don't be deceived by his smile," said Roya Tolooei, who said she once thought Khatami would be different. "It didn't take us long to realize he wasn't the one."

Reza Pahlavi urged the international community not to "waste time" on negotiating with Iran since an Aug. 31 deadline has passed for Tehran to comply with a U.N. demand that it stop uranium enrichment.

Before coming to the cathedral, Khatami spoke yesterday in Charlottesville at the University of Virginia, where he excoriated the idea of dividing the world into "us and them."

"This 'us' is a small circle encompassing a few that have the right to arrive at any verdict they please regarding the ones they consider 'the other.' They can force this 'other' to submit to their whims or even eliminate 'the other' altogether," Khatami said.

Staff writer Allan Lengel contributed to this report.

Governor's got it wrong on Khatami

By Kaveh Afrasiabi | September 7, 2006

IRAN'S FORMER PRESIDENT, Mohammad Khatami, is scheduled to deliver a lecture this weekend at Harvard University on the topic of ``ethics of tolerance in the age of violence," but Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has criticized Khatami as a ``terrorist" undeserving of the state's security protection during his brief visit.

Romney may have put himself in the national limelight by taking a stand against Khatami, but he is wrong on several accounts.

First, Khatami has been lavishly praised by various world leaders -- including the late Pope John Paul II, former president of Germany Johannes Rau, theologian Hans Kung, and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan -- for his role in initiating the idea of ``dialogue among civilizations."

Calling for ``replacing hostility and confrontation with discourse and understanding," Khatami unveiled this idea in his address to the General Assembly in September 1998. Following his advice, the UN adopted the year 2001 as the Year of Dialogue Among Civilizations and promoted activities aimed ``to strengthen solidarity, respect, and tolerance" in the world.

Far from a cliche or a bygone agenda, both the UN and UNESCO have continued with their efforts in promoting the idea of dialogue. In 2005, Annan appointed Khatami as a member of a high-calibered group of notables called ``Alliance of Civilizations."

To ignore the significance of Khatami's message of tolerance and reciprocal understanding and call him a terrorist, as Romney has done, is an unjustified affront that overlooks Khatami's other legacy as the first Muslim leader who forecefully condemned the ``barbaric" atrocities in New York on Sept. 11, 2001.

Khatami has also spoken against the ``myth of Holocaust" rhetoric from Iran's current president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and has called the Holocaust a ``tragic historical reality."

A former minister of culture who was forced to resign in 1992 because of his moderate sensibility, Khatami has a remarkable record as president of Iran for eight years. Sure, he did not have much power and was constantly under siege by the more militant factions. However, he did his best to advance the cause of civil society in Iran, by promoting free press, women's rights, and the like.

In retrospect, the ``failure" of reform movement in Iran had much to do with the post-9/11 Iranian security paranoia caused by President Bush's interventionist policies in the region, causing a hard-line backlash against Khatami's perceived politics of appeasement, vis-à-vis the United States. However, Khatami is increasingly playing a leading role in resurrecting the reform movement by setting aside his previous misgivings to get directly involved in party politics -- a good sign for the future of Iran's faction-ridden politics and the prospects for next rounds of parliamentary and presidential elections in Iran.

Finally, in his current tour of the United States, Khatami has reminded people that his administration agreed to suspend the uranium enrichment program and has called for a more conciliatory approach by Iran's nuclear negotiation team. This has caused vehement criticism by militants in Iran, with some calling for his ``defrocking" upon his return.

Unfortunately, Romney's one-dimensional assessment of Khatami, ignoring the protean value of Khatami's message of tolerance and cross-cultural understanding, puts him in company with the voices of intolerance who wish to silence Khatami. Romney may want to take a cue from Khatami's observation: ``The political translation of Dialogue Among Civilizations would mean that culture, morality, and art must prevail over politics."

Khatami deserves a hero's welcome by the governor.

Kaveh Afrasiabi is a former consultant to the UN's Program of Dialogue Among Civilizations and director of the organization Global Interfaith Peace.

Bush, Ahmadinejad to address UN on same day

In what promises to be one of the most interesting foreign policy displays in some time, U.S. President George W. Bush and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are both scheduled to address the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 19. The two leaders' addresses, which will be part of the annual meeting of world leaders at the UN, come as the U.S. is pressing for sanctions against Iran for its refusal to comply with a Security Council demand that it stops enriching uranium. Financial Times (London)

Bush and Iran's president prepare to duel at UN

By Guy Dinmore in Washington

Published: September 7 2006

The scene is set for a clash of the "Great Satan" and the "axis of evil" at the United Nations this month when presidents George W. Bush and Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad address the general assembly on the same day, with the US pressing the world body to impose sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme.

The White House confirmed yesterday that the Iranian president would be granted a US visa to go to New York. "This will be the debate," a US official said, referring to Mr Ahmadi-Nejad's challenge to Mr Bush to hold a televised debate.

According to the UN agenda, Mr Bush is due to speak ahead of the Iranian president on September 19, the official noted.

Mr Ahmadi-Nejad attended the general assembly last year shortly after his election victory but only after US officials raised questions over his visa application following allegations - never substantiated - that he had played a role in the 1979-81 US embassy hostage crisis in Tehran.

Since then Mr Ahmadi-Nejad has been widely condemned for questioning the Holocaust and calling for Israel to be wiped off the map by Palestinians. However, the White House said that had no bearing on his visa application. The US has never denied a visa to a head of state to attend the UN general assembly, but did once refuse entry to Yassir Arafat, the Palestinian leader.

The US is pressing the UN to impose sanctions on Iran following its refusal to halt uranium enrichment by last week's UN-imposed deadline. China and Russia appear reluctant to move quickly with punitive measures, however, and this year's general assembly is likely to see intense lobbying by all sides.

Mr Ahmadi-Nejad told a cabinet meeting yesterday that the UN visit was a "good chance" for the debate and that the US side, if it wished, could bring advisers, according to his website.

On Tuesday Mr Bush launched a fierce personal attack on Mr Ahmadi-Nejad in a speech that equated what the US president called Shia Muslim extremists in Iran, Iraq and Lebanon (Hizbollah) with the threats presented by Sunni extremists affiliated to the al-Qaeda network. Iran and Iraq both have Shia majorities.

"We will not bow down to tyrants, and the world's free nations will not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon," Mr Bush said, referring to the Iranian president.

Mr Bush first called Iran part of the "axis of evil" in 2002. Iranian leaders habitually refer to the US as the "Great Satan".

World powers meet for Iran talks

BERLIN, Germany (Reuters) -- Senior diplomats from six world powers meet in the German capital on Thursday to discuss what to do with Iran after it ignored a U.N. Security Council deadline to freeze its nuclear enrichment program.

The negotiators from Germany and the five permanent Security Council members -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China -- were expected to consider the possibility of imposing sanctions on the Islamic republic for continuing to enrich uranium past the August 31 deadline, diplomats said.

Declining to give details about the talks, the first such meeting since the deadline expired, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried told reporters in Berlin he had "no doubt they will be very substantive and very serious."

Diplomats from several countries to be represented at the talks told Reuters on condition of anonymity that the United States hoped to use the meeting to persuade Russia and China that it was time to increase pressure on Iran by preparing to ask the U.N. Security Council to consider sanctions.

"Washington believes it's time to consider sanctions and the EU3 (France, Britain and Germany) also see no signs that Iran is willing to stop enriching uranium. But it's going to be a hard sell for Russia and China," a European Union diplomat said.

Diplomats said Russia and China would probably want to know the outcome of a planned meeting between EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani before discussing possible sanctions.

Referring to U.N. Security Council resolution 1696 passed on July 31, Undersecretary of State Robert Joseph, the top U.S. non-proliferation official, told reporters that the Council had already struck the "fundamental bargain" by agreeing that sanctions should be the next step if Iran continued enriching.

But Russia and China have made it clear that they dislike the idea of sanctions and question whether Tehran really poses a nuclear threat to the world as the United States and EU believe.

Tehran rejects Western accusations that it is trying to develop the capability to produce atomic weapons and insists it only wants nuclear fuel to peacefully generate electricity.

EU-Iran meeting?

The Solana-Larijani meeting was originally planned for Vienna, Austria on Wednesday but was postponed at the last minute, EU diplomats said.

Iranian state television reported that the meeting would take place on Thursday in Spain but Solana's office said he had no plans to travel there.

EU diplomats said the meeting between Larijani and Solana was aimed at finding out if there was a chance Iran might halt enrichment work and begin negotiations on an offer of economic and political incentives the six powers made to Iran in June.

Tehran has said it was willing to discuss the offer but not on condition that it suspend its nuclear fuel program.

Germany, which has been the most reluctant of the Western powers negotiating with Iran to consider economic sanctions, made it clear that Berlin was losing patience with Tehran.

"We won't close the door to negotiations but we the international community won't stand by and watch as Iran harms the rules of the U.N. nuclear authorities," Chancellor Angela Merkel told German lawmakers.

The U.N. nuclear watchdog said in a report last week that Iran has not been fully cooperating with its inspectors and has pressed ahead with enrichment, a process of purifying uranium for use in nuclear power plants or atomic weapons.

Merkel made clear that military action against Iran was not an option. Washington has not ruled this out as a last-resort alternative should negotiations or sanctions fail to sway Iran.

Türk askeri 88 yıl sonra Lübnan’da

Uğur ERGAN / ANKARA Turan YILMAZ-Şehriban OĞHAN-Ateş YALAZAN-Ümit ÇETİN-Okan KONURALP-Hasan TÜFEKÇİ

Lübnan’a asker gönderilmesine ilişkin tezkere 192 ret oyuna karşılık 340 evet oyuyla TBMM’den geçti. AKP’den 6 milletvekili ret oyu verdi, biri de çekimser kaldı. Tezkerenin geçmesiyle Türk askerine 88 yıl sonra Lübnan yolu gözüktü.

LÜBNAN’a asker gönderilmesine ilişkin hükümet tezkeresi 192 oya karşılık 340 oyla kabul edildi. 533 milletvekilinin katıldığı oylamada AKP’den 6 kişi ret oyu, 1 milletvekili de çekimser oy kullandı. Oylamaya geç gelen Başbakan Tayyip Erdoğan oyunu yazıp kavasla gönderilmesine rağmen geçersiz sayıldı. TBMM’nin aldığı bu kararla Türk askeri, 88 yıl aradan sonra yeniden Lübnan topraklarına gidiyor. Osmanlı İmparatorluğu, Birinci Dünya Savaşı’nı kaybettikten sonra 1918 sonbaharında Lübnan’ı, Fransa’ya terk etmişti.

AKP’DEN 8 FİRE

TBMM Başkanı Bülent Arınç, Kırgız Cumhurbaşkanı ile görüşmesi nedeniyle kürsüye çıkamadı. Oturumu Başkanvekili Nevzat Pakdil yönetince AKP’den iki oy eksildi. Sağlık sorunu nedeniyle Akif Gülle, Abdullah Çalışkan ve Vahit Kiler mazeretli olarak oy kullanmadı. Yurt dışında bulunan İsmail Alptekin’e ulaşılamadı. Mustafa Ünaldı ise mazereti olmadığı halde oylamaya katılmadı. Çin’de olan Bayındırlık Bakanı Faruk Özak da oylamada bulunamadı.

BAŞBAKAN DA FİRECİ

Erdoğan, Köşk’teki yemeği yarıda bırakarak gelip oyunu kullanmasına rağmen ismi oylamaya katılmayanlar arasında yer aldı. Meclis Başkanlığı yetkilileri Başbakan’ın pusulasının kendilerine ulaşmadığını belirtirken, AKP Grup Başkanvekili Salih Kapusuz "Gözümle gördüm, pusulasını yazıp bayan kavasa verdi. Bu işte bir yanlışlık var, düzeltilir" dedi.

AKP’den Nurettin Aktaş, Halil Kaya, Sadık Yakut, İbrahim Hakkı Aşkar, Turan Çömez ve Ertuğrul Yalçınbayır tezkereye ret oyu verirken, Mehmet Emin Bilgiç çekimser kaldı.

ÇANTA ATTI

Genel Kurul’da zaman zaman sinirler gerildi. AKP’li Egemen Bağış’ın konuşması sonrasında iktidar ile CHP milletvekilleri arasında gerginlik yaşandı. CHP Milletvekili Halil Tiryaki sinirlenip çantasını AKP’lilere fırlattı. Çantaların karşılıklı havada uçuşmasını yine araya giren milletvekilleri engelledi.

CHP’li Ankara Milletvekili Bayram Meral’in, Kurtuluş Savaşı’na atıfta bulunarak, "Mazallah siz olsaydınız İngiliz, Fransız askerleri karşısında ellerinizi kaldırır teslim olurdunuz" sözleri tansiyonu yükseltti. Başkanvekili, "Böyle bir uslup olmaz" diyerek, Meral’i uyardı.

ABD MEMNUN

ABD Dışişleri Bakanlığı’ndan bir yetkili, "Tezkerenin Türk parlamentosu tarafından onaylandığını anlıyoruz. Türkiye’nin bu hayati göreve katkısına memnun olduk. Bu karar, Türkiye’nin Ortadoğu’daki barış ve istikrara katkısını yansıtıyor" diye konuştu.

Mehmetçik ay sonunda gidiyor

LÜBNAN’a asker gönderme tezkeresinin TBMM’de kabul edilmesi sonrası, hükümet bugün Genelkurmay Başkanlığı’na resmen "hazırlanın" talimatı verme yetkisine sahip oldu. Genelkurmay’ın bundan sonraki çalışmalarında Lübnan’daki görev yeri ve gidecek asker sayısı netleştirilecek. Bu hafta Dışişleri ve Genelkurmay yetkilileri teknik detayları görüşmek üzere bir araya gelecek. Askeri uzmanlar, Türk birliğinin Lübnan’a sevkiyatının bu ay sonunda veya ekimin ilk haftasında gerçekleşebileceğini belirtiyorlar.

Hiçbirinin çocuğu Lübnan’a gitmeyecek

Barut fıçısı Lübnan’a Türk askeri gönderilmesini öngören tezkere dün AKP oylarıyla Meclis’ten geçti

06.09.2006 www.vatanim.com.tr

Meclis’in Lübnan’a asker gönderme oylaması için toplanması, siyasilerin çocuklarının askerlik durumlarını gündeme getirdi. CHP İstanbul Milletvekili Berhan Şimşek, Başbakan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’ın yanıtlaması istemiyle AKP’li bakan ve milletvekillerinin çocuklarının askerlik durumunu sordu. Şimşek, “Tezkere konusunda son derece istekli bir parti olarak, Lübnan’a gönderilecek birliğin içinde bu kişilerin çocuklarının yer almasını sağlayabilir misiniz?” sorusunu yöneltti. Şimşek’in soru önergesine Başbakan’ın vereceği yanıt merakla beklenirken, VATAN, siyasilerin çocuklarının askerlik durumunu araştırdı ve şu bilgilere ulaştı:

* BAKAN OĞLU DENİZCİ: Ulaştırma Bakanı Binali Yıldırım’ın iki oğlundan geçen yıl evlenen Bülent Yıldırım İzmir’de asker. Denizci olarak askerliğini yapan Bülent Yıldırım’ın, vatani görevine kısa dönem asker olarak geçen ay başladığı öğrenildi. Ulaştırma Bakanı Binali Yıldırım oğlunun Lübnan’a gitme ihtimalini şöyle değerlendirdi: “Benim çocuğumun diğer evlatlardan ne farkı var? Biz tek bir askerimizin tırnağı bile incinse rahatsızlık duyarız. Şu anda kısa dönem askerlik yapıyor. Onun gidip gitmeyeceğine kurumu, komutanları karar verir. Ama benim ’ya giderse’diye endişem yok. Bizim çocuğumuzun diğer askerlerimizden ayrıcalıklı tutulması konusunda ne bir ricamız olur ne de böyle bir beklentimiz olur. Nerede olursa olsun askerliğini gururla tamamlar.”

* ERDOĞAN’IN ÖZEL KALEMİ: 2002 yılından itibaren Başbakanlık Özel Kalem Müdür Yardımcılığı görevinde bulunan Hasan Doğan, Kars Sarıkamış’ta kısa dönem askerlik yapıyor. Ağustos’ta askere giden Hasan Doğan, Şubat 2007’de tezkere alacak.

* KOÇ’UN OĞLU YENİ TEZKERE ALDI: Kültür ve Turizm Bakanı Atilla Koç’un oğlu Ali Taha Koç. Temmuz-Ağustos döneminde Burdur’da bedelli askerlik yaptı. Burdur 58. Piyade Eğitim Alay Komutanlığı’ndaki yemin törenine babası katılırken, türbanlı olması nedeniyle annesi katılamadı. Ali Taha Koç, askerlik görevini tamamlayarak terhis oldu.

* CHP MİLLETVEKİLİNİN OĞLU: CHP Zonguldak Milletvekili Nadir Saraç’ın oğlu Umut Saraç Ağrı Doğubeyazıd’da muharebe asteğmeni olarak askerliğini yapıyor. 5.5 ay önce askerliğe başlayan Saraç 2.5 ay sonra tezkere alacak. Tezkereye “hayır” oyu kullanan Nadir Saraç ise oğlunun Lübnan’a gönderilmesi ihtimali için şunları söylüyor: “Yan gelip yatmıyor aslanlar gibi askerlik yapıyor. Her gün doğudan şehitler geliyor bu psikolojiyi evladı şehit, gazi olan ya da bölgede askerlik yapan aileler bilir. Benim oğlum askerde ben ilkesel olarak Lübnan’a asker gönderilmesine red oyu veriyorum ancak çocuğu askerde olan ana baba anlar. Ama bu tezkere burdan geçerse ve silah altında olan oğluma da Lübnan’a git derlerse, tabii ki gidecektir.”

* TUNCELİ’DE ASKER: CHP İstanbul Milletvekili Mehmet Ali Özpolat’ın tek oğlu, yaklaşık bir ay önce askere gitti. Askerlik görevini Tunceli’de yapan Özpolat’ın da 6 aylık kısa dönem askerlik yapacağı öğrenildi.

ASKERE GİTMEDİLER
* Başbakan Erdoğan’ın oğulları Burak ve Bilal Erdoğan henüz askerlik görevini yapmadı. Bilgi Üniversitesi’nde okurken, yüksek öğrenimini İngiltere’de sürdüren ve tamamlayan 27 yaşındaki Burak Erdoğan, askere gitmedi. Erdoğan’ın ABD’de yaşayan küçük oğlu Bilal Erdoğan ise kısa bir süre önce master’ını tamamladı ve Dünya Bankası’nda çalışmaya başladı. Askerliğini tecil ettirdiği belirtiliyor.

* Dışişleri Bakanı ve Başbakan Yardımcısı Abdullah Gül’un büyük oğlu Ahmet Münir Gül Bilkent Üniversitesi’nden yeni mezun olduğu için henüz askere gitmedi.

* Sağlık Bakanı Recep Akdağ’ın büyük oğlu Muhammet Akdağ (20) yaşında. Küçük oğlu Ramazan Akdağ (17) bu yıl Bilkent Üniversitesi İşletme Bölümünü burslu kazandı.

* Eski Başbakanlardan eski RP Genel Başkanı Necmettin Erbakan’ın önceki yıl evlenen oğlu Fatih Erbakan, İngiltere’de master yaptığı için askerliğini tecil ettirdi.

* Eski başbakanlardan eski ANAP Genel Başkanı Mesut Yılmaz’ın büyük oğlu Yavuz Yılmaz da henüz askere gitmedi.

Annan Ankara'da

6 Eylul 2006 www.sabah.com.tr

Birleşmiş Milletler Genel Sekreteri Annan, Ankara'da resmi temasları bugün başlıyor.

Annan'ın Ankara ziyaretinde Lübnan'da konuşlanacak yeni BM barış gücüne Türkiye'nin yapacağı katkı ele alınacak. Kıbrıs, İran ve Irak'a ilişkin gelişmelerin de görüşmeler sırasında değerlendirilmesi bekleniyor.

Annan ilk olarak Dışişleri Bakanı Abdullah Gül'le görüşecek. Ardından Annan, Başbakan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan ve Annan, Başbakanlıktaki görüşmelerinin sonrasında ortak basın toplantısı düzenleyecek.

Erdoğan, Annan onuruna Başbakanlık resmi konutunda öğle yemeği verecek.

Annan ve beraberindeki heyet Çankaya Köşkü'ne çıkarak Cumhurbaşkanı Ahmet Necdet Sezer'in konuğu olacak.

Turkey: Thousands protest against joining UNIFIL

Sep. 5, 2006 AP

More than 10,000 protesters, chanting slogans against sending Turkish soldiers to Lebanon, gathered Tuesday in Ankara as lawmakers were set to vote on the government's plan to deploy peacekeepers.

Hundreds of riot police were deployed behind a line of armored personnel carriers to stop the protesters from marching toward the parliament building.

A handful of protesters climbed on top of several of the armored police vehicles and briefly waved a Lebanese flag. Crowds of demonstrators sat down in the street in defiance of police efforts to move them. Police used loudspeakers to urge the crowd to disperse.

The protesters carried banners that read: "We won't be the soldiers of the United States and Israel" and "Mehmet's blood is not for sale." Turks affectionately call their soldiers "Mehmet," a common Turkish name.

Mehmetçik Lübnan’a gidiyor

06 Eylül 2006 Çarşamba www.turkiye.com.tr

Asker 1 yıl orada kalacak

MECLİS’ten geçen tezkereye göre, 1000’e yakın Türk askeri yakında Lübnan’a gidecek. Ancak hangi bölgede konuşlanacağı ve hangi tarihte yola çıkacağı daha sonra belirlenecek. Türk timinin içerisinde siviller de yer alacak. Görev süresi bir yıl ile sınırlı bulunan Türk askeri, Hizbullah’ın silahsızlandırılması operasyonlarına katılmayacak, insanî yardım amaçlı görev üstlenecek.

ANKARA - Türkiye’nin Lübnan’a BM Barış Gücü kapsamında asker göndermesini öngören tezkere TBMM’de kabul edildi. Gergin geçen görüşmelerde muhalefet partileri ret oyu kullanırken, tezkere AK Partili milletvekillerinin oyu ile kabul edildi. Yapılan açık oylamada 533 milletvekilli katıldı. Tezkereye 340 kabul, 192 ret, 1 de çekimser oy çıktı.
TBMM Genel Kurulunun dün yapılan olağanüstü toplantısında kabul edilen tezkere ile gereği, kapsamı, zamanı ve süresi hükümetçe belirlenecek şekilde TSK’nın Lübnan’a gönderilmesi ve bununla ilgili gerekli düzenlemelerin yapılması için hükümete 1 yıl süreyle izin veriliyor. Tezkerede, gönderilecek kuvvetin, bölgedeki silahlı unsurların silahtan arındırılması dahil olmak üzere belirtilen taahhütlerin dışında hiçbir görevde kullanılmayacağı bildirildi. Tezkerede, Türkiye’nin Lübnan Barış Gücü’ne; “Doğu Akdeniz’de devriye görevi yapacak deniz görev gücü için yeterli kuvvet tahsisi; taleplerin tek tek değerlendirilmesi kaydıyla dost ve müttefik ülkeler için deniz ve hava ulaşım desteği sağlanması; Lübnan ordusuna eğitim verilmesi” konularında katkı sağlaması öngörülüyor. Tezkerede “Yeterli kuvvetle katılacağımız Deniz Görev Gücü, BM Güvenlik Konseyi’nin 1701 sayılı kararının verdiği yetkiye uygun olarak Doğu Akdeniz’de ve Lübnan kıyılarına mücavir bölgelerde deniz kontrolünü sağlamak için keşif ve devriye görevleri icra edecektir” denildi.

Hareket konsepti
BM Güvenlik Konseyi’nin kararının, İsrail ve Lübnan hükümetleri ile bu hükümetleri oluşturan tüm koalisyon ortakları ve liderleri tarafından da kabul edildiği belirtilen tezkerede şunlar kaydedildi: “BM Güvenlik Konseyi’nin anılan kararlarında yer alan görev yönergesi ve bilahare hazırlanan (harekat konsepti) ve (çatışma kuralları), UNIFIL’in meşru savunma ve çok istisnai durumlar dışında muharip görev üstlenmesini, çatışmalara girmesini öngörmemektedir. Temel amacı, Lübnan ve İsrail arasındaki istikrar ortamının sürmesine katkıda bulunmak olan BM Barış Gücü’nün temel işlevi, Lübnan Hükümeti’nin egemenliğinin tüm ülke sathında tesisinde ve Güney Lübnan’daki güvenlik sorumluluklarını yerine getirmesinde, Lübnan ordusuna yardım etmek olacaktır. Söz konusu kararda ayrıca tüm devletlerin vatandaşları tarafından veya toprakları üzerinden ya da bandıralarını taşıyan gemiler ve uçaklarla Lübnan’a, Lübnan hükümetinin veya UNIFIL’ın yetkilendirmediği her türlü silah, mühimmat veya benzeri maddelerin satışını veya ulaşımını engellemek için gerekli tedbirleri almaları ve bu tür teçhizatın kullanımına ilişkin teknik eğitimin sağlanmasının da engellenmesi istenmektedir.’’
Türkiye’nin, uluslararası barış ve istikrarın korunması konusundaki rolü ve ağırlığına ilişkin beklentilerin yüksek olmasında, TSK’nın, başta Balkanlar ve Afganistan olmak üzere çeşitli ihtilaf bölgelerinde üstün başarıyla yaptığı görevlerin büyük payı olduğu hatırlatılan tezkerede, “Türkiye, bölgesinde istikrar unsuru olan güçlü bir ülkedir. İçinde yaşadığımız bölgede hüküm süren gerginlik ve ihtilafların, Türkiye’nin güvenliği üzerinde olumsuz yansımaları olduğu bir vakıadır. Bu nedenle barış ve istikrarı tehlikeye düşürecek gelişmelere karşı kayıtsız ve ilgisiz kalmayacak olan Türkiye’nin, barış ortamının korunması yönündeki uluslararası çabalara etkin destek vermesi, milli sorumluluğumuzun icabı olarak görülmektedir” denildi.

AK Parti’den 6 ret
Bu arada tezkerenin oylamasında AK Partili Mehmet Emin Bilgiç oylamada çekimser kalırken, Halil Kaya, Sadık Yakut, Turhan Çömez, Ertuğrul Yalçınbayır, İbrahim Hakkı Aşkar, Nurettin Aktaş ret oyu verdi. AK Parti’den Bülent Arınç, TBMM Başkanı sıfatı nedeniyle, Meclis Başkanvekili Nevzat Pakdil ise oturumu yönettiği için oy kullanamadılar. AK Parti’den Vahit Kiler, Akif Gülle, Abdullah Çalışkan, İsmail Alptekin, Mustafa Ünaldı ve Bayındırlık Bakanı Faruk Nafiz Özak mazeretleri nedeniyle oylamaya katılamadılar. Bağımsız milletvekillerinden ise sadece Süleyman Bölünmez kabul yönünde oy kullandı. Öte yandan, Ulaştırma Bakanı Binali Yıldırım, İzmir Poligon’da kısa dönem denizci olarak askerlik yapan oğlu Bülent Yıldırım’ın Lübnan’a gönderilmesinden endişe etmediğini söyledi. Yıldırım, “Ben oğlumu Silahlı Kuvvetler’e teslim ettim. Gitmesi gerekiyorsa gidecektir” dedi. > TBMM BÜROSU

Erdoğan: Hayırlı olsun
ANKARA- Lübnan’a asker gönderilmesine ilişkin tezkerenin kabul edilmesinin ardından Başbakan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, “Hayırlı olsun” değerlendirmesini yaptı. Erdoğan, Meclis’ten ayrılırken gazetecilerin tezkerenin kabul edilmesine yönelik düşüncelerini sorması üzerine “Arkadaşlar açıklamalarını yaptı. Bu açıklamalar neticesinde parlamento kararı gördüğünüz gibi tezkere istikametinde olumlu şekilde vermiştir. Hayırlı olsun” dedi. Dışişleri Bakanı Abdullah Gül ise, “Beklediğimiz bir sonuçtu. Çok suni tartışmalar yapıldı” derken, Milli Savunma Bakanı Vecdi Gönül, “Hayırlı olsun” demekle yetindi. CHP Genel Başkanı Deniz Baykal ise, “Muhalefetin anlayışının topluma yansıması bakımından toplantı yararlı olmuştur” dedi.

Lübnan’ı tam 400 yıl yönettik
BEYRUT- Yaklaşık 400 yıl Osmanlı idaresinde kalan Lübnan ile Türkiye arasındaki ilişkiler, son 15 yılda ivme kazandı. Osmanlı Devleti ile o dönemde Suriye’nin bir eyaleti olan Beyrut ve dolayısıyla Lübnan arasındaki ilişkiler, 1517 yılında Yavuz Sultan Selim’in Ridaniye seferiyle başladı. Selim, 25 Ağustos 1516 yılında Halep’e girdi. Arkasından Şam teslim olurken, Lübnan Emirleri de Osmanlı yönetimini kabul ettiklerini açıkladı. Osmanlı döneminde Lübnan’a, yüzlerce yıl boyunca merkezden valiler ve kaymakamlar gönderilmesine rağmen, asıl idare Lübnan Emiri olarak adlandırılan Dürzi derebeyleri tarafından yapılıyordu. Lübnan’da hemen her Osmanlı hükümdarı, kendi dönemini yansıtan eserler bıraktı. 1517 yılından bu yana yapılan eser sayısı 500’ün üzerinde ama kesin rakam tespit edilebilmiş değil. Osmanlı İmparatorluğu, Lübnan’la olan ilişkilerini 1920 yılında sona erdirirken, Lübnan’da bu tarihten itibaren 23 yıl süreyle Fransız manda yönetimi yer aldı. Ülke, 1943 yılında bağımsızlığını kazandı.

Tezkere kolay geçti

Laf atmalar nedeniyle sık sık tartışan vekiller oturumun sonlarına doğru birbirine girdi. Karşılıklı çanta fırlatan vekilleri arkadaşları güçlükle ayırdı. FOTOĞRAF: MUSTAFA İSTEMİ

Olağanüstü toplanan Meclis'te muhalefet sözcüleri aynı fikirdeydi: 'Bizim Lübnan'da işimiz yok. ABD'nin çıkarları için çalışıyorsunuz.' Dışişleri Bakanı Gül ise 'Halkın kafasını karıştırmayın' dedi

06/09/2006 www.radikal.com.tr

'Riskleri azalttık bu güç göstergesi'
Dışişleri Bakanı Gül tezkereyle risklerin en aza indirildiğini savunurken, AKP İstanbul Milletvekili Bağış, 'Bu bir itibar ve kuvvet göstergesidir' dedi

ANKARA - Tezkereyi savunmak için kürsüye AKP'den Dışişleri Bakanı Abdullah Gül, AKP İstanbul Milletvekili Egemen Bağış ve AKP Grup Başkanvekili Salih Kapusuz çıktı. Gül "Riskler en aza indirilmiştir", Bağış "Bu itibar ve kuvvet göstergesi" dedi.

'Hizbullahçı bakanlar da var'
Abdullah Gül: "Türkiye bir Doğu Akdeniz ülkesidir. Doğu Akdeniz'in barış ve istikrarına katkı yapmak bizim de çıkarımızadır. BTC Hattı'nın güvenliği dahi bu kapsamda değerlendirilebilir. Türkiye'nin askeri katkısı tüm taraflarca samimiyetle arzulanmakta, açıkça da desteklenmektedir. Uluslararası toplumun yanı sıra, içinde Hizbullah mensubu iki bakanın da yer aldığı Lübnan hükümeti Türkiye'yi davet etmiştir. Tezkere Türk askerinin karşılaşacağı riskleri en aza indirecek çerçeveye indirilmiştir. Türk askerinin yapacağı ve yapmayacağı işler tezkereye açıkça konulmuştur. Bu konuda halkın kafasını karıştırmaya gerek yok." Gül, muhalefeti yanıtladığı ikinci konuşmasında da tezkerenin siyasi sorumluluğunu üstlenmekten kaçınmayacaklarını söyledi.
Egemen Bağış: "Ortadoğu'da barış olmadıkça dünyada barıştan söz etmek imkânsız. Lübnan'da çok işimiz var, Lübnan'ı kendi halinize bırakırsanız sorun gelir sizin sınırınıza dayanır. Fransa, İngiltere, ABD, İsrail gibi ülkelerin yanı sıra, Hizbullah, Hamas gibi unsurlarla da temas halindeyiz. Bu bir itibar ve kuvvet göstergesidir. Bu ülkelerin liderlerini telefon açtığında bulabilen kaç lider vardır. Biz Başbakanımızdan gurur duyuyoruz, siz de duyun. Sizin hayalleriniz bile yetmez bizim yaptığımız temasları yapmaya. Muhalefet bu dış krizden iç kriz yaratabilmenin yollarını arıyor. AB'nin 22 üyesi ve birçok İslam Konferansı Örgütü üyesi asker gönderirken, Türkiye kayıtsız kalamaz."

'Sınır ötesinde şehit olunur'
Salih Kapusuz: "Hükümet bölgede kan ve gözyaşının durması için gece gündüz çalışıyor. Bir ülkenin menfaati, eğer sınır ötesinde bulunmaksa, orada olunulacak ve şehit olunacaktır. Bu milletten yetki alan hükümet, bu Meclis'ten güvenoyu almıştır. Cumhurbaşkanı ve MGK ile görüşmeler yapıldı. İlgili çevrelerle görüşüldü, bir kanaat ortaya konuldu. Dışişleri Bakanı'ndan bilgi almadan, gazete haberleriyle konuya karşı çıkıyorsunuz."

'Süngünün üzerine oturulmaz'

CHP'li Sav: 'Angajman belgesinde süngü çatışmasından söz ediliyor, süngünün üzerine oturmayın.' Anavatan lideri Mumcu: 'Milletin Lübnan'a gönderilecek evladı yok'

ANKARA - TBMM'deki görüşmelerde tezkereye karşı çıkan anamuhalefet partisi CHP'yle DYP ve Anavatan, hükümeti sıkıştırmayı başardı. Muhalefet sözcülerinin görüşleri şöyle:
CHP Genel Sekreteri Önder Sav: Bölge ve İslam ülkeleri görev gücüne katılmıyor. Peki Türkiye'nin Lübnan'da ne işi var? Angajman belgesinde süngü çatışmasından söz ediliyor. Süngülerle çok şey yapılabilir, ama üstüne oturulamaz. Akıllı olun süngünün üzerine oturmayın. Önce teröre karşı başarı sağlayın, Dimyat'a giderken evdeki bulgurdan olmayın. Gücünüzü gariban vatandaşa değil, Kandil'e asker göndererek gösterin. Eski ustanız Erbakan bile sizi uyarıyor. Tarih önünde sorumlu olursunuz. Başbakan tezkereye karşı çıkanları ihanetle suçluyor. Allah siyasi terbiyesi erozyona uğrayanlara sağlık versin.
CHP Grup Başkanvekili Ali Topuz: 'Çıkarsa tezkere, Bilal gitsin askere' sloganlarına kulak verin. Lübnan'a kendi çocuklarınızı gönderin. ABD'nin çıkarları için çalışıyorsunuz
CHP İstanbul Milletvekili Şükrü Elekdağ: Tezkere, Ortadoğu bölgesinde yeni acımasız kıyımlara neden olacaktır. Vebali büyüktür.
CHP Ankara Milletvekili Bayram Meral: Kurtuluş Savaşı sırasında olsaydınız ellerinizi kaldırıp bu memleketi Fransıza, Yunana bırakır giderdiniz. Asker gönderilecekse siz çocuklarınızı gönderin. Biliyorum yüzde 70'iniz bu tezkereye karşı, ama seçimin gözü kör olsun.

'Vicdanınızın sesini dinleyin'
CHP Genel Başkan Yardımcısı Onur Öymen: Orası piknik alanı, izci kampı değildir. Hizbullah'ın silahsızlandırılmasında askerlerimiz kullanılacak, Fransız komutanın emrine girecek. O komutan ne derse onu yapacaklar. Komutan emir verdiğinde 'Biz Başbakanımıza, Dışişleri Bakanımıza bir soralım' mı diyecekler? Sandığın sesini değil vicdanınızın sesini dinleyin. Hiçbir seçim bir askerimizin canından daha değerli değildir.
Anavatan Partisi Genel Başkanı Erkan Mumcu: Belki bir siyasetçiye yakışmayacak, ama 18 yaşında evladı olan bir baba olarak düşündüğümde evladımı Lübnan'a göndermem. Allah TBMM'nin bütün üyelerini böyle bir zilletten korusun. Benim İsrail'in güvenliği için feda edilecek evladım yok. Bu milletin de yok. Siz de 'Evladımı gönderir miydim' diye sorarak oy kullanın.

192 ret, 340 kabulle asker Lübnan'a

Hükümete Lübnan'a asker gönderme yetkisi veren tezkere TBMM'de sert tartışmaların ardından kabul edildi. Oylamada 192 'hayır'a karşılık 340 'evet' oyu çıktı. Sadece altı AKP'li tezkereye ret oyu verdi. Başbakan Erdoğan bugün Genelkurmay'a Meclis'ten aldığı yetkiyi devreden direktifi sunacak

ANKARA - Hükümetin Lübnan'da görev yapan Birleşmiş Milletler Görev Gücü'ne katılmak üzere bu ülkeye asker gönderilmesini içeren tezkeresi dün TBMM'deki sert tartışmaların ardından AKP'lilerin oylarıyla kabul
edildi. 533 milletvekilinin katıldığı oylamada 340 milletvekili kabul oyu kullanırken, 'ret' oyları 192'de kaldı. Bir milletvekili de çekimser oy kullandı. Altı AKP'linin tezkereye karşı oy verdiği AKP'de, Başbakan Tayyip Erdoğan da 'fireler' arasında yer aldı.
AKP'li Meclis Başkanvekili Nevzat Pakdil'in yönettiği oturumda CHP tam kadroydu. Bir süre önce ayağı kırılan CHP İstanbul Milletvekili Bihlun Tamaylıgil'in koltuk değnekleriyle geldiği oturuma, Ardahan Milletvekili Ensar Ögüt trafik kazasında kırılan kolu ve kaburgaları sarılı halde katıldı. Babası vefat eden İzmir Milletvekili Ahmet Ersin de görüşmelerdeydi.
CHP ile Anavatan görüşmeleri uzatabilmek için içtüzüğün sağladığı olanakları sonuna kadar kullandı. CHP önce usul ardından da Anavatan ile birlikte süre tartışması açtırdı. Görüşmeler saat 18.00 sıralarında başlayabildi.
CHP Ankara Milletvekili Bayram Meral'in, AKP'lileri ihanetle suçladığı konuşması sırasında tepkilerin artması üzerine Pakdil, konuşmayı kesti ve AKP'lilerin alkışları, CHP'lilerin sıra kapaklarına vurmaları arasında birleşime beş dakika ara verdi. Meral bu arada kürsüden ayrılmadı ve birleşim yeniden açıldığında da "Milletvekili olacaksınız da ne olacak, nefesiniz kokuyor, 6,5 milyar maaşla. Gelin tezkereyi reddedin" sözleri tartışma yarattı.
En büyük sürpriz Erdoğan'ın oyunda yaşandı. Elektronik sisteme girmeyen Erdoğan, pusula göndermediği için de tutanaklarda oylamaya katılmayanlar arasında yer aldı.

AKP'de altı ret oyu
AKP'den Turan Çömez, Ertuğrul Yalçınbayır, Nurettin Aktaş, Sadık Yakut, Halil Kaya ve İbrahim Hakkı Aşkar 'ret' oyu verdi.
Böylece AKP'nin beşi mazeretli olmak üzere firelerinin toplamı 16 oldu. Muhalefetten tek kabul oyu bağımsız Süleyman Bölünmez'den geldi. Tezkereye destek veren tek muhalefet partisi SHP'nin Genel Sekreteri Ahmet Güryüz Ketenci oylamaya katılmadı.
Irak'la ilgili 1 Mart tezkeresinin oylamasında AKP 97 fire vermişti. Oylamada 264 kabul, 250 ret ve 19 çekimser oy kullanılmıştı. Lübnan'a asker göndermeyi içeren 5 Eylül tezkeresinin oylamasına katılan 533 milletvekilinden 340'ı kabul, 192 milletvekili 'ret' oyu kullandı. AKP'li Mehmet Emin Bilgiç çekimser oy verdi. TBMM'deki sandalye dağılımıysa şöyle: AKP: 355, CHP: 154, Anavatan: 21, DYP: 4, SHP: 1, HYP: 1, Bağımsız: 10, Boş: 4.
Sonuç için "Hayırlı olsun" diyen Başbakan Erdoğan, "Beklediğiniz sonuç muydu?" sorusu üzerine de "Dün (pazartesi) akşam söylememiş miydim" diyerek, "Sürpriz beklemiyorum" açıklamasına gönderme yaptı.

Baykal: Sürpriz olmadı
Baykal ise, "Sürpriz olmadı. Görüşlerimizi topluma Meclis'ten yansıtmış olduk" dedi.
Başbakan Erdoğan bugün saat 16.00'da Genelkurmay Başkanı Orgeneral Yaşar Büyükanıt'a, TBMM'den aldığı yetkiyi Genelkurmay'a devreden direktifini verecek. Ardından asker sayısı gibi teknik detayları Genelkurmay ve Dışişleri takip edecek. Genelkurmay'ın belirleyeceği sayı ve içerik, yine Erdoğan'ın onayından geçtikten sonra uygulanacak.
Haberler: İsmet Demirdöğen / Nazif İflazoğlu / Zihni Erdem / Ahmet Kıvanç

Erdoğan: Keşke Irak’a gitseydik

7 Eylül 2006 www.hurriyet.com.tr