Turkey's supreme anti-terrorism board met following Tuesday's attempted bomb attack in Ankara, on the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks against the United States.

  Efkan Ala, who was appointed undersecretary of the Prime Ministry, Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Şahin, Interior Minister Beşir Atalay, Gendarmerie Commander Gen. Işık Koşaner, Deputy Chief of Staff Ergin Saygun and undersecretary of the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) Emre Taner discussed the fight against terrorism, as well as the confiscated explosives from the attempted terrorist attack in the Turkish capital.

  Turkish police Wednesday investigated the potential target and masterminds of a foiled bomb attack in Ankara as officials pointed to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) for planning a devastating blast.  The Ankara governor's office said the explosives found on a mini-bus in a multi-storey car park in the city center Tuesday were akin to those used by the PKK in 2005 and 2006. "Police are continuing their investigations and laboratory analyses," a statement said.

 Gül's visit to southeast welcomed by Kurds:

  President Gül had a four-day trip to the southeastern provinces of Van, Hakkari, Siirt, Şırnak and Diyarbakır, all of which have suffered attacks by the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) over the last two-and-a-half decades. This was the new president's first domestic trip and is significant in that it reflects Gül's priority in acting as a president representing “national unity.” Büyükanıt and top commanders were accompanying Gül while he contacted provincial governors, garrison commanders, university representatives and various nongovernmental organizations. Gül moved on to Başkale in Van and boosted the morale of the military units stationed there, who often clash with the PKK. He had this Ramadan's first “sahur,” pre-dawn meal before the daily fast and “iftar,” the meal breaking the fast after sunset, with soldiers in Şırnak the following day. Gül's program included inspection of border posts in Hakkari, a southeastern province bordering both Iraq and Iran. Gül is scheduled to return to Ankara on Friday.

  “Gül's visit is a gift to the local people,” said Fahrettin Akyıl, the president of Diyarbakir Trade Exchange in a written statement. “Only we, the inhabitants of this place can fully appreciate the importance of the event. We will guard this gift in the best way possible.” The region needs messages on human rights Akyıl said, adding that the president is already aware of the many problems endured by the whole region.

  Gül's preference of the southeastern part of the country as the first destination of domestic visits is meaningful for the Democratic Society Party (DTP), said Selahattin Demirtaş, group vice president of the party. “Our colleagues and deputies wish to host him in every city he goes. The president is the guest everywhere.” Demirtaş underlined that Gül's declarations during the trip may create a relaxing and motivating mood. Democratic Society Party leader, Ahmet Türk, requested permission to join Gül in his visit, but did not get a reply, reported the private NTV channel.

Talabani: AKP policies give Kurds hope:

  Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has said Turkish democracy offers significant opportunities to Kurds and warned that waging a war against Turkish democracy would amount to waging war against democracy and the rights of Kurdish people.

  Iraqi Kurdish leaders Talabani and Massoud Barzani, head of the semi-autonomous Kurdish administration, are pleased with the ruling Justice and Development Party's (AKP) success in the July 22 general elections in Turkey.

  “I believe that the future is the AKP's in the region,” Talabani said in an interview with the Turkish daily Akşam. Both leaders made statements on a range of issues during the interview.

  Barzani described the election results in Turkey as a great achievement on the part of the AKP, which proved that the Turkish people turned a deaf ear to nationalist, racist rhetoric, he said.

  Talabani stressed that Turkish democracy was offering important opportunities to Kurds, referring to Kurdish deputies having seats in the Turkish Parliament.

  “Kurds are sending their own deputies to Parliament,” he said. “They have their own (political) parties and press and broadcasting organs. The new Constitution will grant them broader rights. Therefore, waging a war against the AKP government and the Turkish state would amount to waging war against democracy and even the rights of the Kurds.”

  Talabani said Kurdish politicians should contribute to the democratic process in Turkey. “I think Kurdish political leaders including Ahmet Türk (leader of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party, DTP) understand this very well.” 

Kurdish problem

  The Kurds in Turkey are fed up with the armed struggle, said Talabani, because the war only brought migration and death.

  “However, AKP policies gave them (Kurds) hope. Prime Minister Erdoğan admitted the presence of the Kurdish problem in the country and pledged a democratic solution. Kurds preferred the AKP even in Diyarbakır and sent eight AKP deputies to parliament, while the DTP sent four,” he said.

  He underlined that the APK has proved it is not a nationalist or racist party.

  Liberal constitution on the way:

  Basic rights and freedoms will be protected within the framework of the European Convention on Human Rights in the new constitution being drafted by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and a group of academics.

  The constitutional draft is still a work in progress and many amendment proposals are being submitted by the academics involved. According to the latest amendment proposal, the first paragraph of Article 14 of the existing constitution, which determines the criterion for basic rights and freedoms as well as freedom of religion and conscience in Turkey, is going to be replaced with Article 17 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

  In this light, the expression “None of the rights and freedoms embodied in the Constitution shall be exercised with the aim of violating the indivisible integrity of the state with its territory and nation, and endangering the existence of the democratic and secular order of the Turkish Republic based upon human rights,” will be replaced by “Provided that no one may use the rights guaranteed by the Convention to seek the abolition or limitation of rights guaranteed in the Convention.” 

  If the amendment is approved, the new constitution will take the Convention to which Turkey is a party as a basis instead of the criterion requiring the protection of the democratic and secular order of the Turkish Republic, prohibiting abuse of fundamental rights and freedoms.

  The new constitutional draft also prohibits the act of killing as a result of the use of a weapon permitted by law, or by orders of authorized bodies during martial law or a state of emergency.

  The physical integrity of the individual cannot be violated except under medical necessity and in cases prescribed by law. No one can be subjected to torture or mistreatment, and no one can be subjected to penalties or treatment incompatible with human dignity, according to the Article 17 of the existing Constitution.  However, “Cases such as the act of killing in self-defense, occurrences of death as a result of the use of a weapon permitted by law as a necessary measure during apprehension, the execution of warrants of arrest, the prevention of the escape of lawfully arrested or convicted persons, the quelling of riots or insurrections, or carrying out the orders of authorized bodies during martial law or a state of emergency,” were left out of the scope of the same article.

  The exceptions mentioned in the last part of Article 17, which used to provide a kind of “constitutional guarantee” for violations of human rights during martial law or a state of emergency, were removed from the article in the newly prepared constitution.

 Xenophobia on the rise among Turks, say experts:

  A day after a major survey showed Turkey was cooling toward both the West and the East, local experts argued this is a clear indicator of growing xenophobia among Turks. 

  “Turks are growing suspicious of outsiders,” said İlter Turan, a political scientist at Istanbul's Bilgi University. “They do not trust foreigners and rather believe aliens have hidden intentions.” 

  The annual Transatlantic Trends study by the German Marshall Fund of the United States and four European foundations revealed Thursday that feelings of Turkish people toward the United States, European Union and NATO cooled significantly in the past year.

  This sentiment, however, is not restricted to the West. The survey found that the Turkish mood toward Iran had also cooled. Israel inspired the coldest feelings.

  The survey results can hardly be explained in rational terms but with emotions, said Turan. 

  Ersin Kalaycıoğlu of Işık University described the outcome as nothing new and said past surveys disclosed similar findings illustrating Turkish sentiments of isolation from the East and the West.

  He further added that Turks began to look at all its neighbors with suspicion since the 1990s when the Soviet Union dissolved, amid fears that its borders would change.

  “The belief that the EU and the United States support Armenians and Greeks against Turkey is widely accepted among Turks at a time when the Lausanne Treaty, the founding document of the republic, is opened to discussion and the Sevres syndrome has re-emerged,” said Kalaycıoğlu. 

  Baykal under siege as calls for his resignation grow louder:

  The 84th anniversary celebration of the founding of the Republican People's Party (CHP) witnessed the party's leadership paying their respect at the mausoleum of its founder of the party while its internal opposition staged a rally in front of the head-quarters to call for the leader to resign.

  A 5,000-strong group called on CHP leader Deniz Baykal to resign from his post, as the popular mayor of the Şişli municipality in Istanbul, Mustafa Sarıgül, said Baykal was protecting only his seat, not the country or the republic.

  Ankara Police took intensive security measures in front of the party headquarters in order to prevent fighting between protesters and party officials.

  Meanwhile, Deniz Baykal and the senior party officials preferred to celebrate the party's anniversary at Anıtkabir, Atatürk's Mausoleum, where Baykal warned that the republic and national unity were under threat.

Nine arrested for calling PKK members martyrs:

  Turkish authorities have arrested nine members of a pro-Kurdish political party for referring to Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) members killed in clashes with Turkish security forces as "martyrs", security sources said.

  The nine are members of the Democratic Society Party (DTP), which campaigns for more political and cultural rights for Kurds.

  The DTP won 20 seats in Turkey's parliament in July general elections.

  If convicted, they could face several years in jail under Turkey's penal code for praising and supporting terrorism.

  Ankara blames members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) for the deaths of more than 30,000 people since it launched its armed struggle for an ethnic homeland in southeast Turkey in 1984.

  Turkey routinely uses the word "martyr" to describe soldiers and other security personnel killed in clashes with the PKK.

  Gay and transsexual organizations protested media portrayal:

  Starting from illegal arrests to media portrayal of the events, a series of human rights violations have taken place, argue gay, lesbian, transvestite and transsexual nongovernmental organizations Kaos GL and Pembe Hayat (Pink Life) LGBTT Association in a press release regarding events surrounding the arrest of what the media termed a “transvestite gang.”  

  Eighteen members of the Gökuşagı (Rainbow) Association, an association for transvestites, transsexuals, gays, and lesbians in Bursa, were taken into custody on Sept. 2 on charges of “forming a gang to commit crimes, being an associate with a gang, and inciting prostitution.” The Bursa public prosecutor's office is continuing its investigation of the group.  

  “The establishing of organizations and associations is a right for gays and transsexuals as well. It is unacceptable that the security forces and the media defined the establishing of the association as ‘becoming a gang' and reflected the association as ‘gay organization,” read the statement.  

  Following the decade that gays in Turkey struggled for their existence and freedom, they could found their own legal association, declared the press release. Kaos GL and Pembe Hayat LGBTT declared that they do not recognize Gökkuşağı as a real organization of gays and transsexuals. “We do not have an organic connection with the mentioned association.”