The way out for Denktas
Gunduz Aktan, Turkish Daily News, December 24, 2002(gunduzaktan@hotmail.com) - It is useful to analyze what Mr. Rauf Denktas said in an interview with Ankara TV last Friday (Dec 20, 2002). Before the so-called Annan plan, Mr. Denktas has accepted the entire package presented by then U.N. Secretary-General Cuellar in 1986 and 95 percent of Butros Ghali's Set of Ideas in 1992; both packages were rejected entirely by Kiprianu and Vasiliu respectively. More

Iraq's "Bosnians" : The Turkomans as Ethnic Scapegoats
Melik Kaylan, The Wall Street Journal, December 30, 2002 - Just as Yugoslavia's collapse showed up the makeshift borders of socialism, so Iraq's demise is teaching us how precariously the old British Empire foisted together much of the modern Middle East. More

Bulgarian Democracy and the Armenian Connection-4
"The original Bulgars were Turkic tribes
running away from the Mongols of Central Asia"
Ahmet Gursoy, Special to The Turkish Times (Part IV of IV) - After the massacre of Van in 1915, it was clear that the Special Forces established by the government were ineffective and the Ottoman army was spread too thin to fight against the Armenian terrorists. More

A Turkish Christmas
The Christian Science Journal, December 24, 2002(www.csmonitor.com) - Christmas Day 1966 - my first Christmas in Turkey. I was married and had a small child. We were quite poor then, and our home was a two-room, cold-water flat. More

LETTERS

National Interest Or Special Interests? The Washington Post Letter to the Editor Saturday, December 28, 2002; Page A20 The most telling aspect of the Dec. 18 news story about Armenia's quick removal from the list of nations considered high risks for producing terrorists was, once again, the power of special interest groups -- in this case the ethnic Armenian lobby -- on Washington's politics. While the war on terrorism is declared to be America's foremost priority, even in this area the influence of lobbyists is seemingly stronger than the national interest. I am not arguing for Armenia's inclusion on the list. But the way it was removed, namely under noisy political pressure, raises questions about the seriousness of Washington's commitment to fight terrorism. Caving in to special interest groups on issues of national security and national interest is simply too damaging in the long run. ELIN SULEYMANOV Somerville, Mass.