jueves 7 de junio de 2007 Siria quiere negociaciones de Paz Funcionarios de Siria dijeron que el gobierno de Damasco está interesado en iniciar un proceso de negociaciones de paz con Israel. Esto fue formulado a partir de las palabras del Primer Ministro Ehud Olmert, quien dijo que "Israel quiere la paz con Siria, no la guerra". Los sirios dijeron que siguen con mucha atención los desarrollos en Israel y aunque no tienen grandes espectativas de que la situación entre los dos países pueda cambiar en el corto plazo, están dispuestos a entablar el diálogo. Vea la información en:http://www.infolive.tv/es/home
9 Junio 2007
Military buffering the Iraqi border
Friday, June 8, 2007
Turkish military officials decide to create interim security zones in three provinces bordering Iraq, calling it a routine practice without clarifying what the measure really means
FULYA ÖZERKAN
ANKARA - Turkish Daily News
The General Staff on Wednesday declared three provinces in southeastern Turkey to be interim security zones as attacks by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Turkey are escalating.
The measure amounts to a boost in operations by the Turkish military from June 9 to September 9 in order to stop terrorist attacks in the security zones in Siirt, Hakkari and Şırnak.
Military officials described the measure as a routine practice aimed at preventing PKK attacks, which tend to increase in spring when snow on the northern Iraqi mountains, where the PKK terrorists are based, melts.
But the military did not clarify what establishing the interim security zones means in practice. Speaking with the Turkish Daily News, experts said that the Turkish military would create a so-called “buffer-zone” on the Iraqi border.
“If you take a look at the given coordinates of the security zones, you will see that they are located along the Iraqi border, so it would not be wrong if we say that a buffer-zone is being created on the border near Iraq,” Sedat Laçiner, head of the Ankara-based International Strategic Research Organization (ISRO/USAK), told the TDN.
He said the Turkish Armed Forces were now in the phase of creating a deep (15 kilometer) and long (up to 120 kilometers) buffer zone on the two sides of the Iraqi border to prevent PKK terrorists from infiltrating into the country.
“It is not possible to launch such operations all along the border where local Iraqi peshmergas are already based. So far, the Turkish military has carried out maneuvers in the context of shelling, F-16 jets surveillance and hot pursuit to chase terrorists. There will be an increase in the number of operations in the coming days,” he added.
Two of the interim security zones, Şırnak and Hakkari, border northern Iraq, while Siirt is further north from the border. But all three provinces share a common characteristic of being a scene of clashes between the Turkish security forces and PKK terrorists. The zones have been created under the Turkish Military and Forbidden Security Area Law No. 2565 at the request of the General Staff and at the approval of the Cabinet. In a televised interview on late Wednesday, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that the military declared numerous areas to be security zones with the government's authorization. Asked if the zones will be expanded in the near future, Erdoğan said that the situation was not an emergency, but also implied at an increase in military buildup in the areas bordering Iraq.
NOTAM comes after May 24 infringement
ArmaÄŸan KuloÄŸlu, chief advisor for the Ankara-based Global Strategy Institute, said that the fact that the zones would remain in place for three months was a long time, indicating that the military is expected to launch big operations to fight the PKK.
“This is crystal clear. The military is very determined in the fight against terrorism,” he told the TDN. Explaining further, KuloÄŸlu said the military initiative to declare security zones meant to be a “Notice to Airmen” (NOTAM) activity aimed at preventing any civilian access to certain areas. In dictionary meaning, NOTAM or NoTAM is described as the quasi-acronym for a “Notice to Airmen.” A NOTAM is filed with an aviation authority to alert aircraft pilots of any hazards en route to or at a specific location. The authority in turn provides means of disseminating relevant NOTAMs to pilots. Again, according to dictionaries, NOTAMs are issued and reported for a number of reasons such as: dangers including air-shows and parachute flights by prominent people, closed runways, inoperable radio navigational aids and military exercises with resulting airspace restrictions.
Observers draw attention to the timing of the NOTAM activity on the part of the Turkish military that follows airspace violations by two U.S. F-16 jets on May 24, which some Turkish media described as a deliberate attempt at intimidation at a time when Ankara was discussing a possible cross-border operation into northern Iraq to crush the PKK camps.
Talabani, Barzani warn Ankara In the meantime, Iraqi Kurdish leaders Jalal Talabani and Massoud Barzani repeated opposition yesterday to a possible Turkish military incursion into northern Iraq, saying that such an operation would be considered to target entire Iraq. Barzani, speaking to reporters following a meeting with Talabani in northern Iraqi city of Salahaddin, said that a possible operation would target not only the Kurdish region but also Iraq's independence and sovereignty. Talabani said that Iraq would staunchly stand against any external intervention.
9 Junio 2007
All Lebanese factions welcome proposal for Paris talks
French foreign minister says informal meeting aims to break ice between rival groups
Compiled by Daily Star staff
Saturday, June 09, 2007
Factions from both sides of Leb-anon's political divide voiced their support on Friday for a French proposal to host informal fence-mending talks in Paris. The Future Movement, Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, and opposition parties Hizbullah, Amal and the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) welcomed the new French proposal.
France said on Friday that it would invite Lebanese politi-cal leaders and prominent civic figures to an informal meeting aimed at improving political dialogue in the country.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner has "taken the initiative to invite to France representatives of all the Lebanese political forces and of civil society to participate in an informal meeting to help restore a dialogue between all political forces of the country," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Denis Simonneau at a news conference. The meeting was likely to be held in late June, he added.
Simonneau said the aim of the planned meeting was "to help the Lebanese meet in a convivial, passion-free setting, which we hope will enable the renewal of dialogue between the different parties."
In Beirut, the majority coalition quickly welcomed the French plan and said it was willing to take part in the meeting.
A Future Movement official who asked not to be identified said the group "welcomes the initiative" to broker an end to a political deadlock that has paralyzed the state for nearly seven months.
"We are absolutely ready to respond positively to the initiative, once it has been formally made," the official said.
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said the ruling coalition has long been calling for a return to roundtable talks, which were abandoned in the middle of last year after months of fruitless negotiations.
In a news conference on Thursday, Geagea said the March 14 Forces would agree to establish a national unity government on the condition that all the country's major controversial political issues were resolved at the same time.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb
While Lebanon's opposition expressed its willingness to take part in a meeting of Lebanese political leaders and other dignitaries to be hosted by France, it did not have high expectations, a senior opposition source said on Friday "We do not mind participating, but the invitation does not carry high expectations for a solution," the source said.
Hizbullah MP Hassan Hobballah said his party will deal positively "with any initiative from any friendly or brotherly state which will attempt to help Lebanon out of its crisis." Hobballah reiterated Hizbullah's demand that "any solution be based on guaranteed, real and effective participation of the political groups in Lebanon's political decision-making."
An official from Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri's Amal Movement, another pillar of the opposition, said: "We will deal positively with the proposal."
Visitors who called on Berri at his Ain al-Tineh residence on Friday said that the speaker was showing a "more flexible attitude," because he "apparently" no longer opposes dialogue before the formation of a national unity government.
Berri's visitors said he did not mind holding dialogue, but he would prefer such a meeting take place "away from the media," while adding that Berri was ready to hold talks with parliamentary majority leader MP Saad Hariri.
The opposition faction FPM also welcomed the French initiative. Simon Abi Ramia, a spokesman for FPM leader Michel Aoun, said Aoun had already indicated he would respond favorably to the proposal when he meets Kouchner in Paris on May 28.
9 Junio 2007
