KURDS BLOCK TURKISH MISSION INTO IRAQ/FT.com/New World Media Watch

[Gloria]

Full excerpts, links up now at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical

Tomorrow at Buzzflash.....

Turkish/Kurdish thing getting interesting......First two stories tie in


WORLD MEDIA WATCH For August 8, 2003

1//Turkish Daily News, Turkey--PARLIAMENT TO VOTE SENDING TROOPS TO IRAQ IN SEPTEMBER (The Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government may call Parliament to assemble in an extraordinary session before the end of parliamentary recess in order to pass a motion to allow them to send Turkish troops to Iraq. The United States asked the Turkish government to send troops to Iraq under its occupation during Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul's visit to Washington. It is reported that the AK Party government is on the verge of reaching a decision on the demand of the United States.)



2//Financial Times, UK--KURDS BLOCK TURKISH MISSION INTO IRAQ (Kurdish leaders have refused a US request to allow 12,000 Turkish troops through northern Iraq for a possible peacekeeping assignment in the city of Falluja, a Kurdish official said on Wednesday. Adel Murad, head of the political office of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), said the request came at the weekend from General John Abizaid, head of US central command, in a meeting in the northern city of Mosul with the leaders of PUK and its occasional rival, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP)…Bush administration officials have acknowledged approaching Ankara about taking part, but Gen Abizaid's request - made to Jalal Talabani, PUK leader, and Masoud Barzani, KDP chief - is the most concrete sign that Turkey and the US have agreed on co-operation. Central command declined to comment.)



3//Inter Press Service, Italy--ECONOMY-ISRAEL: US EMBRACE TURNING PAINFUL ("Economic thinkers in both the big political parties (Labour and Likud) have been very much influenced by the American model," says Gal. He attributes that partly to the growing dependence on the U.S. for military aid and political backing…"For years we supported the Likud because of the security situation," says Eti Goari, a 38-year old single mother form the coastal town of Nahariya who has also joined the protesters in Jerusalem. "We never really took the economy into account when we voted but I'm sure that will change now because what's the use of having security if you don't have a life.")



4//The Independent, UK--BERLUSCONI LAWYER AT CENTRE OF ‘DEVASTATING CORRUPTION’ (The reputation of the Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, took another battering yesterday when a Milan court described the conviction of one of his close associates as climax of the largest corruption case in postwar Italy. The judges described the successful case against Cesare Previti, a lawyer and a parliamentary deputy from Mr Berlusconi's centre-right Forza Italia party, as one of "devastating corruption", adding: "The picture that eventually emerges is certainly that of the biggest corruption in the history of the republic in Italy.")



5//The Sydney Morning Herald, Australia--HOWARD THE YOUNGER OFF TO HELP BUSH WIN ELECTION (The conservative political genes run deep in the John Howard household - the Prime Minister's youngest son, Richard, is interested in working for President George Bush's re-election campaign next year. And just as George jnr followed his similarly named father into politics, and eventually the presidency, Richard John Winston Howard's prospective work experience in the United States has sparked speculation that a Howard political dynasty could be in the making.)