Time August 2, 1999 [antikvár]

TO OUR READERS IN the 15 years since it began, fighting between army broops and Kurdish rebels in southeastern Turkey has cost some 30,000 lives anddisplaced many times that number of people. Thousands more have been exiled, jailed or fined in connection with the insurgency, and cities around the world have felt ripples from the conflict in the form of demonstrations by supporters of the Kurdish rebel cause. Recently Time's correspondent in Istanbul, Andrew Finkel, found himself a casualty of sorts of the conflict. The public prosecutor in Istanbul has accused Finkel of defaming Turkey's powerful military-an offense under article 159 of the criminal code. The charge carries a possible six-year jaU sentence, but Finkel, a 46-year-old American journalist who has lived and worked in Turkey for 10 years, regards it with equanimity. "These sorts of legal attempts to intimidate the press are a sort of rite de passage that all my Turkish colleagues have been through," he says. "The embarrassing thing is that they went through this when they were in their 20s and I've had to wait until I am longer in the tooth." The charges are an indication of the ultra-sensitivity of a Turkish military that has been repeatedly criticized abroad for some of its methods in battling the Kurdish rebels. They arose from a column RITE OF PASSAGE: Andrew Finkel has been charged with defaming Turkey's military but remains unfazed Finkel wrote for a Turkish-language newspaper following a military-run press tour in the Kurdish southeast in February 1998. Finkel, who was familiar with the region from visits in 1991 in the aftermath of the Gulf War, when millions of Iraqi Kurdish refugees sought sanctuary there, wrote that the region had changed-and for the better. Now, he reported, the army was runmng schools and plastering over buUet holes- h^dly the work of an army of occupation. The phrase certainly infiinated someone, and led to the charges against Finkel. "It was a good test of my , I Turkish," he says of a preliminary 5 hearing held June 10. "I told the court, "You invite a guest to your house for dinner, ask him what he really thinks of the soup, and then try to throw him in jail when he asks for a bit more salt' The judge seemed to take the point." We're hopeful that Türke/s po-htical and military leaders will also take the point and repeal the defamation legislation in question. Meanwhile, Finkel remains confident in the fairness of the court. And case or no case, he'll continue covering one of Europe's most vibrant and vital counbies for Time's readers. Eäi/or, TIME Atlantic TRAVELER'S ADVISORY By Elizabeth Feizkhah NORTH AlVIERICA IVIISSISSIPPI For most of the year, LeClaire, Iowa, and Port Byron, 111., sit placidly enough on opposite banks of the upper Mississippi. But on the first weekend of every August, the two towns go to war. The armies are teams of 20 gloved stiongmen; the field of battle a 720-m, 350-kg rope sti-etched across the river. The engagement involves 10 three-minute tugs-of-war, and no matter what the outcome, both towns always find plenty of reasons to celebrate. Festivities on and beside the river this Aug. 13-14 will include twin fireworks shows, a firemen's water fight, water-skiing exhibitions, tugs-of-war for kids, a golf tournament, and lots of live music and dancing. BEACHES Summer in the U.S. has been unusually hot this year. But before you plunge into the waves to cool off, it may be wise to consult a doctor. "Dr. Beach," who when he's not swimming is a professor of environmental sciences in Miami, rates 650 beaches nationwide on criteria from sand color and wave size to cleanliness and amenities. See his Top 20 picks-No. 1 is Hawaii's Kailua Beach Park-at wiow.topbeaches.com. ASIA TOURS Smokers have good reason to feel ill-used when they travel: in the interest of clean air, most airlines, and growing numbers of hotels and restaurants, feel perfectly justified in trampling on tiieir right to hght up. Spotting an injustice-and a market niche—Tokyo's Nikko Travel has developed a set of holiday packages that "respect the rights of people who smoke." Participants will fly tobacco-friendly Alitalia or Malaysian Airlines to a wide choice of destinations, including the smokers' holdouts of Madrid, Cairo and Shanghai, (and Las Vegas, where cigars, at least, are welcome). For the same prices Nikko's regular clients pay, they'll stay at hotels, cruise on ships and eat in restaurants where no one frowns when you ask for an ashtray. Tel. +813 3276 0111. SINGAPORE It's part superstition, part intuition, part plain common-sense. But feng shui's adherents say its principles for orienting and arranging the places we live, work and play in can help improve our moods, our relationships, even our fortunes. Visitors to Singapore, a bastion of the ancient Chinese art—and (coincidentaUy?) one of the world's most prosperous nations—can see how it's done on a half-day bus and walking tour. "In Harmony with Feng Shui" takes in a feng shui master's office, the top of a skyscraper for a critique of city buildings, and the huge (and apparently efficacious) Fountain of Wealth. Tickets are $22; tel. +65 734 9923. EUROPE LONDON If the Houses of Parliament and the British Museum aren't your cup of tea, maybe the London Pass is. Starting in September, the card will offer unrestricted entry to 40 of the city's more unusual atti-actions-from a go-kart brack in Docklands to the Fan Museum-and limited free tiravel on trains and riverboats. A three-day pass costs about $55. Contact tourist information offices.