U.S. Increases Africa Security with Proactive Stance, General Says
By Carmen L. Gleason
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, March 23, 2007 – A proactive stance in Africa will help to enhance stability and deter terrorist activity in the future, the deputy commander of U.S. European Command said here yesterday.

By harnessing security, humanitarian, and diplomatic elements, Army Gen. William E. "Kip" Ward said, EUCOM is working with international partners to enhance the continent's commerce, education and overall success.
"The United States is using a focused approach in what we do to help them stabilize, socially and politically," he said, "so we can have a situation that doesn't foster bad things, but a situation that causes the people there to be satisfied and provide them with a horizon of hope for the future."
Ward, who recently attended the Trans-Sahara Partnership Chiefs of Defense Conference, said Africa's leaders are grateful for outside assistance in helping to improve the economy and establish solid governance of the continent, but that the United States can't do it alone.
"If we were independent, we wouldn't be as effective," he said. "The key is reaching out to other international partners to ensure collective results and aiming for the best objective."
The Defense Department has helped meet these objectives by training and equipping peacekeepers for the State Department's Global Peace Operations Initiative. Through the Africa Contingency Operations Training and Assistance program, U.S. servicemembers provide training, equipment and logistical capability to meet United Nations peace operations standards.
Ward said U.S. troops are, in essence, being diplomats as they work side by side with Africans to drill wells, build schools and provide other humanitarian assistance.
"The functions of Navy Seabees and Army engineers help increase the capability of these nations by providing an example and also following up on it," Ward said. "The services our men and women are providing are critical."
DoD also is playing an increasingly proactive role through Operation Enduring Freedom Trans-Sahara while working with the State Department in a counterterrorism partnership. This groundbreaking program seeks to leverage the capabilities of those U.S. government agencies involved in building security on the Africa continent, with an emphasis on counterterrorism in North Africa.
By implementing reforms, the partnership hopes to help nations become more self-reliant in security and more stable in governance.
U.S. special operations forces are helping to train partners on how to conduct these operations. "We are watching it evolve in a positive way," Ward said. "It does matter, and it is making a difference."
EUCOM's Maritime Domain Awareness program helps to protect natural resources and achieve long-term security and stability in the Gulf of Guinea. The focus of this initiative is to prevent the region's political, economic, and social issues from becoming regional stability problems requiring international involvement.
This is increasingly important, Ward said. The military can serve as a structure to work together in more effective ways to create stability.
The general said the United States has a great opportunity in Africa today to make a small investment, economically and socially, that will provide stability and will preclude spending major resources down the road.
"The ones doing that work are the nation's young servicemembers," he said. "They are doing it day in and day out, and are doing a great job. They know they are helping bring stability and peace to these nations."

Iraqi Police Working Independently, Top Training Official Says
By John J. Kruzel
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, March 22, 2007 – The 200,000 coalition-trained Iraqi policemen and women are an independent force, a top military official told reporters at the Pentagon today.

The force is composed of 135,000 provincial policemen in Iraq's 18 provinces, 24,000 national policemen focused mainly on Baghdad security, and more than 30,000 employees of the Department of Border Enforcement, which polices the country's ports of entry and border forts.
"From what I see here on the ground, they are in charge, ... and we are making progress," said Army Maj. Gen. Kenneth Hunzeker, the commanding general of the Civilian Police Assistance Training Team.
Hunzeker, who previously served on the Joint Staff and commanded the 1st Infantry Division as it returned to the United States from Germany, assumed control of Multinational Security Transition Command Iraq's CPATT in October.
Since 2003, Hunzeker said, coalition forces have built or refurbished nearly 500 police stations, 21 national police and emergency response units, 272 border sites, and 11 of the 13 academy sites.
He said that the "no nonsense" approach of Iraqi Interior Minister Jawad Bolani, who discharged 3,000 MOI members for various reasons, has limited "sectarian behavior" from infiltrating the ranks.
"Today, the Iraqis are in control of their police stations and their academies. The Iraqi police have made significant progress during the past four years," he said. "What I see in how (Iraqi police forces) are organized and equipped for ... Fardh al-Qanoon, they are set up for success."
Fardh al-Qanoon, an Iraqi phrase that means "Enforcing the Law," is the Baghdad security plan that was announced Feb. 13 and includes initiatives to split the Iraqi capital into 10 districts and create joint security stations in the city.
"When you look at the architects of the Fardh al-Qanoon, (you see) that every zone is given an Iraqi army unit paired with an Iraqi police unit to take advantage of the capabilities of both those organizations," he said.
This structure, which allows "synergistic teams" to fight together, is the nascent Baghdad security plan's true value, he said.
"They've task-organized within each one of those sectors, to take the advantages of the strengths and weaknesses of both organizations," Hunzeker said. "In one capability, where you need a police force to do a mission, they have it, and one capability where you need an Army force to do the mission, they have it."
Hunzeker said that Iraqi police officers, or shertas, who have volunteered for one of the toughest jobs in the country, "clearly want a safe and secure Iraq."
But echoing comments by Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, who became Multinational Force Iraq commander Feb. 10, Hunzeker said that progress, "is going to take months, not weeks and not days."

Turkey in Books
Review Essay

by Fikret Erkut Emcio?lu
Middle East Quarterly
Spring 2007
http://www.meforum.org/article/1674

Since Mustafa Kemal Atatürk founded modern Turkey in 1923, the Turkish Republic has clung to secularism and nationalism as bedrock principles. After the introduction of the multiparty democratic system in 1946, the struggle between hard-line Kemalists and others—liberals, communists, and Islamists—has dominated Turkish political history. The November 2002 victory of the Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalk?nma Partisi, AKP), an Islamist party with anti-Kemalist roots, is just the latest manifestation of this struggle.

Secularists and Islamists

Snow (Kar). By Orhan Pamuk. Istanbul: Ýletiþim Publishing House, 2002. 429 pp. 21,50 YTL.

This constant political clash creates a fertile ground for journalists and novelists. Orhan Pamuk, winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize for literature, explores the fault lines of Turkish society in Snow. While non-Turks may simply enjoy the story, Pamuk's treatment obliges Turks to consider divisive societal issues. He forces those living the debate between secularists and Islamists to challenge their notions and reexamine their positions. A secularist would be unhappy with the cynical tone in the statement, "[T]he increase in the number of women with headscarves in the streets is an easy tool for secularist intellectuals to illustrate the dangerous rise of political Islam"; a more religious Turk would react negatively to the description of an old Islamist as a "molester." Nationalists would dislike the description of houses in Kars as Armenian-style while some Kurds might prefer to be called "patriots" or "freedom fighters." The neutral term "Kurdish nationalists" does not have a positive connotation for them.

Pamuk's book was most controversial in Turkey for its treatment of the headscarf, the symbolic battlefield in Turkey's fight against political Islam. The issue is especially sensitive now as Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo?an considers a run for the presidency. Should he win, then the first lady would, for the first time, wear a scarf. The author consciously positions himself on the anti-Kemalist side, depicting a clash in which Turkish authorities are ashamed of having a religious population that, Pamuk suggests, is incapable of mobilizing against the secular state.

Challenging the Armenian Taboo

My Grandmother (Anneannem). By Fethiye Çetin. Istanbul: Metis Publishing House, 2004. 120 pp. 6,50 YTL.

While Snow may touch nerves on the secularism debate, Pamuk and other authors have also begun to challenge the Turkish perception of its past. Cultural elites are leading a silent revolution regarding how Turkey treats the Armenian question. First, they have begun to acknowledge Armenian heritage within Turkey. In December 2004, Prime Minister Erdo?an himself inaugurated Istanbul's Armenian Museum. In January 2005, the Kar?? Sanat Gallery in Pera exhibited 750 old postcards to show ordinary Turkish citizens the importance of the Armenian presence in late Ottoman times. These were later published together in a book, My Dear Brother (Sevgili Karde?im).[1]

Perhaps encouraged by such events, other books and newspapers have begun to tackle the taboo issue of what happened to the Armenian community during World War I. Since 1915, the question of whether Armenian deaths during World War I constitute genocide, or were merely the tragic corollary of a war that affected so many peoples, has been a sensitive topic. Whereas in the past, the Turkish judiciary might punish authors under Section 301 of the Turkish penal code, which criminalizes insults to the nation and state institutions, it is increasingly difficult for the state to win such convictions. In 2005, the Union of Lawyers (Hukukçular Birli?i), a nationalist lawyers' association, sued Pamuk under Section 301 after he told the Swiss-German Das Magazin that "a million Armenians had been killed in Turkey"[2] but, on January 24, 2006, the Criminal Court of First Instance closed the case. The same lawyers sued Elif ?afak, another novelist, for her bestselling novel, The Bastard of Istanbul (Baba ve Piç),[3] in which an Armenian character accuses "Turkish butchers" of massacring Christian Armenians in 1915.

Because of the Armenian question's sensitivity, many public figures had refrained from taking a position on it. Especially after the French national assembly voted to recognize the Armenian genocide and the French government's subsequent decision to assign blame to Turkey,[4] some intellectuals, including Pamuk, however, have found courage to state what they believe to be true. While these intellectuals may latch onto the politics of the issue, for others in Turkey, it is closer to home.

For decades, Turks of Armenian descent who converted to Islam to escape World War I-era massacres, tried to hide their origin. Now, some are taking advantage of the increasing openness in Turkish society to explore their roots. Among the first to come forward was Fethiye Çetin, an Istanbul lawyer. Her 2004 book My Grandmother tells the story of her grandmother who was born in an Armenian village in the Elaz?? province of eastern Turkey. Çetin's novel is based on the old woman's recollections of her life, including the events of 1915, the transfer of population from her village, and her own adoption by a Muslim family and subsequent conversion. The book sold more than 12,000 copies and is now in its seventh printing.

Çetin's background is shared by hundreds, if not thousands. After publishing My Grandmother, others began to reveal that they, too, were partly Armenian. As Turks embrace a fuller version of their history, the modern generation understands that Armenians need not be enemies. In order to look at the past with courage, the nationalist stranglehold over history must be broken. Only this way can the country's painful and troubled past be brought to light without fear of losing face or one's honor.

Nationalism Explored and Exposed

Those Crazy Turks (?u Ç?lg?n Türkler). By Turgut Özakman. Ankara: Bilgi Publishing House, 2005. 748 pp. 22 YTL.

Metal Storm 1 and 2 (Metal F?rt?na 1 ve 2). By Burak Turna and Orkun Uçar. Istanbul: Tima? Publishing House, 2004 and 2005. 304 pp. 8 YTL.

Even as cultural elites, Islamists, and liberals challenge Turkish nationalism, nationalist themes retain resonance. By depicting Turks as heroes in his novel Those Crazy Turks, scriptwriter Turgut Özakman appeals to Turks who feel humiliated by the West. Such a story has particular significance in Turkey at a time when many Turks feel bullied by Europeans as Turkey seeks European Union accession. Many Turks believe Ankara has made too many concessions to Brussels and that European intervention is diluting past Turkish glories.

This is apparent in the public acclaim for Those Crazy Turks, which describes the last three battles of the Turkish liberation war (1921–22). Özakman plays to nationalist sentiments as he enunciates the Turks' glorious past. He portrays a humiliated nation that reacts against occupation and fights for its liberation. Such nationalism, though, may not always help Turkey as it tries to consolidate its relationship with the Western world.

Although Turkey's liberation is more than eight decades past, the embrace of Those Crazy Turks demonstrates that Turks still feel they need to restore national pride. Since March 2005, more than 622,000 copies have been sold, a number made all the more significant by the lack of a culture of reading in Turkey. Such appeals to nationalism, be it in Özakman's novel or in the discourse of politicians and columnists, reflects a lack of self-confidence that still afflicts Turkey.

Nowhere has this negative side of Turkish nationalism been more manifest than in the 2004 bestseller Metal Storm. Authors Burak Turna, a former Turkish defense correspondent, and science-fiction enthusiast Orkun Uçar outline a plot in which the Turkish government, standing firm to Turkish principles, defies the White House. A U.S.-Turkish war erupts, beginning in northern Iraq in 2007, and spreads throughout the world. It reaches its peak point with the simultaneous bombings of Istanbul and Ankara, followed by the invasion of eastern Turkey by U.S. troops, and ends with the detonation of a nuclear bomb in Washington.

Their thriller, and its sequel Metal Storm 2 in which Turkey achieves a victory over Europe, achieved popularity not only among the general Turkish population but also among cabinet members, foreign ministry officials, and the Turkish officer corps. So what explains the book's success? While the authors say their work is meant to warn of what might happen should either Washington or Ankara abandon the U.S.-Turkish alliance, they do not hesitate to pander to base nationalism. They also tap into rising anti-Americanism, a trend noted by think-tank studies and press accounts.

Anti-Americanism in Turkey is rooted more in politics and disputes over the Iraq war than in a cultural clash. Turna and Uçar played on Turkish sensitivity—rooted in its liberation struggle over European partition plans and invasions—against any change in neighborhood geography. Bush administration rhetoric about a new Middle East and senior U.S. officials' public embrace of Iraqi Kurdish leaders touched raw nerves. If the authors wished to expose the roots of anti-Americanism, however, they do not fully explain the cause. While Iraq is certainly the flash point and, more specifically, the July 4, 2003 incident in which U.S. troops detained and hooded Turkish special forces, it is unclear whether the AKP is sincere in seeking to maintain strong relations with Washington in particular and the West in general. Turks need to have a more honest discourse regarding their strategic partnership with the United States. If they do, and with the irritant of Iraq overcome in time, books like Metal Storm may not again reach the bestsellers list.

The European Factor

Letter to Turkosceptics (Lettre aux turco-sceptiques). Edited by Cengiz Aktar, Edgar Morin, Ali Kazanc?gil, Nilüfer Göle, et al. Arles: Actes Sud Publishing House, 2004. 197 pp. €20.

A particularly striking feature of Metal Storm is that Turkey's saviors in this fictional war are Russia and Europe. This is particularly remarkable because Russia invaded Turkey early in the twentieth century, and European powers tried to divide the country after World War I. Might those same Europeans become the savors of Turkey? The ongoing European Union accession process sends the opposite signal to the Turkish public.

In this context, the 2004 Letter to Turkosceptics, an edited collection of essays by eight liberal Turkish intellectuals and the French philosopher Edgar Morin, is important as it addresses questions and concerns raised in Europe to possible Turkish integration.

The authors relate profound misunderstandings promoted by even educated Turkish policymakers. They remind Europeans that Turkey declared its wish to be anchored almost forty-five years ago when, in 1963, Ankara signed an association agreement. The process of application has been long but, in 2002, the European Council decided it would open negotiations once Turkey had fulfilled the Copenhagen criteria. It has.

Permeating the authors' argument is the idea that EU enlargement benefits not only the newly admitted countries but also the whole EU. Both the prospect of membership and its reality act as powerful motors for change. Turkey has reformed enormously since it began the process and, by any objective standard, it would succeed in its EU accession. The authors are aware, though, that such arguments do not win sympathy in many European ears.

Cengiz Aktar, the book's editor, is a well known Turkish expert on EU related issues. He dismisses the concerns voiced by some right-wing parties in Europe that reject Turkey's accession on religious and cultural grounds and argue that Muslim Turkey represents a demographic danger for Europe's Christian population. His message is clear: By failing to understand Turkey and by holding irrational prejudice against it, Europeans risk strengthening nationalism and the hand of those who perceive Europe as the enemy.

The other arguments are varied. Edgar Morin suggests that the idea that Muslim and Middle Eastern Turkey represents a demographic danger is a paradox, especially as Christianity entered Europe from the Middle East. Instead, he writes, Europe should be defined as a civilization based upon acceptance of common values rather than by geography. Ali Kazanc?gil, a political scientist and international relations analyst, and Nilüfer Göle, a sociologist and a leading authority on the political movement of today's urbanized, religious Turkish women, argue that the clash of civilization fails in the case of Turkey since Turkey has a long history of interrelations with Europe. The authors show how diversity of culture and religion is compatible with a unity of purpose.

Today, though, it does not appear that such arguments are working. Turkish reaction against what it believes to be excessive concessions demanded and made on the way to the EU membership have contributed to a resurgence of Turkish nationalism. Whenever Brussels requires a move or shift in policies related to Cyprus, the Kurdish question, or the Armenian issue, nationalist winds blow hard.

Conclusions

Turkish literature reflects this tense contemporary debate. Many of these debates are rooted in history. The transformation from a multiethnic empire to a nation state and from a society governed mostly by Islamic laws to a strictly secular state has made Turkey into a country of extraordinary combinations.

But the founders of Turkey believed that its citizens constituted a nation. A new beginning was only possible by getting rid of the past. Atatürk changed the alphabet, dress codes, and fundamentally altered social life. He and his successors imposed such reforms through secularism and nationalism. Islamists and liberals both continue to resist his impositions, whether to reverse what Atatürk accomplished, or to alter it to improve integration.

While the 2007 presidential and general elections will amplify the debate, the search for a common denominator that can unite Turkish society will continue. Turkish authors will be at the forefront as the debate continues.

Coalition Calls for Establishing Assyrian Safe Haven in North Iraq

GMT 3-22-2007 16:9:3
Assyrian International News Agency
To unsubscribe or set email news digest options, visit http://www.aina.org/mailinglist.html

(AINA) -- Save Assyria Front, a coalition of Assyrian groups, has called for the establishment of an Assyrian administered region in north Iraq. The coalition issued the following statement:

In order to address the complicated circumstances in our region and the fabricated democracy in Iraq resulting in marginalization and exclusion of our Assyrian case, and taking into consideration the high national Interest of our Assyrian people, the Expanded Assyrian conference held in Sweden in December 15-17, 2006 proposed the establishment of an Assyrian front to include all the Assyrian efforts and potentials representing all political parties, organizations, institutions, and independent activists under the name "Save Assyria Front" based on the following principals:

Demand that the Assyrians be recognized as the original, indigenous people of Iraq.
Demand that the Assyrian identity be confirmed in the Iraqi Constitution as a comprehensive national identity
Demand the recognition of establishing the region of "Assyria" with the following geographical borders:

North: The international borders of the state of Iraq with Turkey and Syria
East: Including the Nirwa and Rikan region down to the greater Zab River
West: The Tigris River
South: The point where the greater Zab meets with the Tigris River
Furthermore, to the expanded Assyrian conference held in Sweden, the "Save Assyrian Front" first conference was held in Tbilisi, Georgia in March 15-17, 2007 under the slogan "Our Salvation is in Our Unity" where, in those three days, the delegates discussed the timetable of the conference and submitted the bylaws and the internal political program for "Save Assyria Front" as a national political entity which believes in Assyrian identity and represents a coalition including political parties, organizations, institutions, and independent activists struggling for the national rights of Assyrian people and based on the following strategies:

To confirm the principals adopted at the Sweden conference as the essential basis for the work of the "Save Assyria Front".
To confirm the Assyrian political agenda as an independent agenda with no link to any other specific party.
To confirm that the participation in the "Save Assyria Front" is open to all political parties, organizations, institutions, and independent activist that believes in the announced goals of the Front.
In conclusion, "Save Assyria Front" extends its gratitude to the people and the government of the Republic of Georgia for facilitating this conference.

Long live the United Free Iraq
Long live the Assyrian Nation

Save Assyria Front
March 17, 2007

This item is available as: html

Copyright (C) 2007, Assyrian International News Agency. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use.

Chinese Leaders Welcome Pace to Beijing
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service
BEIJING, March 22, 2007 – Chinese leaders today warmly welcomed Marine Gen. Peter Pace here as he began a visit intended to expand military-to-military contacts between the United States and the world's most populous nation.

"Our military, economic and political ties are important to peace in Asia and the world," Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said. "This visit is very important to the militaries of both nations. I truly believe the future is very bright for U.S.-Chinese cooperation."
Pace was beaming as his walked down the steps of his C-40B aircraft upon arrival. It is the chairman's first visit to China after many years of military service in Asia.
Chinese military leaders honored Pace with a troop review at the Defense Ministry's Bayi Building, near Tiananmen Square. His counterpart, People's Liberation Army Gen. Liang Guanglie, hosted the event and held the first meeting with the chairman. Vice Chairman of the Chinese Military Commission Gen. Cao Gangchuan held the second meeting with Pace. Finally the chairman called on Gen. Guo Boxiong, roughly the equivalent to the national security advisor, who visited Pace last year in Washington.
Pace said the meetings were candid and friendly and added that it's easy to speak with other military professionals.
The general said he stressed that cooperation between the United States and China will help bring "peace, stability and prosperity" to both countries.
Pace discussed a full range of concerns with the Chinese military leaders. The Chinese want more military-to-military contacts at the most senior levels of DoD, he said, but they also want military contacts at junior-officer levels. The exchange of young officers for professional military education is "a way for our young officers to get to know each other and understand one another," he said. "This will produce benefits for 20, 25, 30 years in the future."
Pace also discussed more maritime search-and-rescue operations with the Chinese leaders.
Pace said the Chinese brought up the situation between China and Taiwan. The chairman said he told the Chinese leaders that U.S. actions in this respect are dominated by the "'One China Policy,' the 'Three Communiques' (between the United States and China), the Taiwan Relations Act and a sincere desire to see reunification done in a peaceful manner."
Discussions included talk of the Chinese defense budget, which recently jumped almost 18 percent to about $44 billion per year. Critics in the United States see this as a sign of an aggressive China seeking hegemony first in Asia and then elsewhere in the world. Pace said he told the Chinese that he sees China building defense capacity, but that the country doesn't appear to have the intent to use the forces to attack other nations.
The chairman said the Chinese explained they are modernizing their military and trying to develop a more professional force. This requires money and, they told him, much of the increase is attributable to pay raises and personnel costs for Chinese soldiers.
Pace said he told the Chinese that no one questions the need for China to modernize its military, but that making the process more transparent would help all countries in the region and world.
Pace will continue his visit to China tomorrow

http://www.defenselink.mil/bios/biographydetail.aspx?biographyid=85