TRKNWS-L Turkish Daily News (January 26, 1996)

From: TRKNWS-L <trh@aimnet.com>

Turkish News Directory

CONTENTS

TURKISH DAILY NEWS / 26 January 1996

[01] Turkey made no compromise on Cyprus, says Abou

IZMIR- A senior European Commission official denied Thursday claims that Turkey had made a "compromise" on Cyprus for the realization of the customs union.

Serge Abou, the European Commission's head of the unit responsible for Cyprus, Malta, Turkey and Slovenia, said that the Cyprus question and the customs union belonged in separate platforms altogether.

"Turkey did not achieve the customs union by giving up Cyprus," Abou said, in reference to such claims that have been made in the media and in political circles.

"The Cyprus question is a political one and the customs union is an economic deal ... The solution to the Cyprus problem can only be realized through dialogue, it cannot find a solution within the framework of an economic deal," Abou was quoted by Anatolia news agency as saying.

Accusing those who are against the customs union of never reading the agreement, he pointed out that there could be no turning back from the customs union.

He said that the European Union hoped that the new Turkish government would be formed as soon as possible.

[02] Britain sends envoy to Cyprus

ANKARA- Following Ireland, Britain is sending a top official to Cyprus at the end of February for consultations on the political conflict on the divided island.

Britain's ambassador to (South) Cyprus, David Madden, told reporters in Nicosia on Thursday that 1996 offered prospects for progress towards ending the division of Cyprus, echoing sentiments expressed by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke who has said a "big push" would be made this year.

"Everyone is doing their bit in a coordinated way to make that prediction come true," said Madden, adding that Britain believed it was time for greater efforts on the Cyprus problem.

Foreign Office political director Jeremy Greenstock will be visiting the island on Feb. 22, he said.

Holbrooke, who brokered the Bosnian peace deal, is expected on the island sometime in February.

The Greek Cypriot government is angry with Britain over a meeting between Osman Ertug, a representative of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in New York, and U.N. Security Council President Sir John Weston of Britain on Tuesday.

Ertug saw Weston to protest against the recent Cypriot condemnation of a declaration by Turkish-Cypriot leader Rauf Denktas and Turkish President Suleyman Demirel, which said trade would continue between the Turkish-Cypriot community and Turkey.

Europe has imposed a trade embargo on the northern part of the island.

British officials have said Weston met Ertug in his capacity as representative of the Turkish-Cypriot community, and not as a representative of the Republic.

An official protest over Ertug's visit was made by Greek Cypriot Foreign Minister Alecos Michaelides, whom Madden met on Thursday.

[03] Turkey and Bulgaria sign military agreement

ANKARA- Turkey and Bulgaria signed a military agreement for 1996 on Wednesday in Sofia.

The cooperation agreement was signed by the deputy chief of the Bulgarian general staff, Gen. Petko Prokopiyev, and the deputy chief of the Turkish general staff, Gen. Cevik Bir, who was invited to Sofia by his counterpart.

The agreement calls for Turkey and Bulgaria to participate in joint military exercises in 1996 and for the exchange of military advisors.

Bir said that the agreement, which also covers security measures, was the best example of developing military relations between two countries.

Bir, commenting on Turkish troops who flew to Bosnia on Thursday, said that Turkey's aim was to provide peace and security in the region where it has international peacekeeping duties.

[04] Turkish troops arrive in Split

Turkish Daily News

ANKARA- Turkish troops who are to reinforce the Turkish contingent currently stationed at Zenica military base as a part of the International Implementation Force (IFOR) arrived at the Croatian capital of Split on Thursday.

The reinforcement troops, travelling on two Turkish Airlines (THY) planes, consist of artillery units, a mechanized infantry company, a tank company and a bomb disposal team.

Greece did not give permission for the planes to pass through its airspace so they flew over the Black Sea and passed over Russia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Austria and Italy.

Gen. Ayhan Tas, commander of the 28th Mechanized Infantry Company, which will provide security at the IFOR headquarters in the U.S. command area, spoke at the sending off ceremony at Ankara's Esenboga Airport. Tas said that with the arrival of the reinforcements, the number of Turkish troops will be enough for the contingent to be called a brigade.

Capt. Vahit Ocalan, the reinforcements' commander, said that their password would be "charity" and their hearts were full of feelings of peace and friendship. He pointed out that their assignment was a difficult one, and they were determined to do their best to be successful.

The Turkish Land Forces' chief of staff, Gen. Dogu Aktulga, and Bosnia-Herzagovina's ambassador to Ankara, Hayrettin Somun, also participated in the sending off ceremony, The reinforcement contingent's equipment and vehicles are being sent on a ship scheduled to arrive in Split sometime in the early hours of Friday morning.

A Turkish frigate, which is on patrol in the Adriatic Sea, and 18 F-16 aircraft, based in Italy at Ghedi Air Base, will also be placed under IFOR command

[05] Iraq's Turkish Pipeline Ready for Oil

BAGHDAD, Jan 25 (Reuter) - Iraq's corroding trans-Turkey pipeline can easily handle 700,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd), the amount Baghdad is permitted to export under a U.N. oil offer, diplomats said on Thursday.

The offer, which the two sides are set to negotiate next week, allows Iraq oil exports worth $2 billion over six months and at current prices that would amount to approximately 700,000 bpd.

The twin 1,049 km (655 mile) Kirkuk-Yumurtalik line has a maximum capacity of two million bpd. Iraq used to export about 1.6 million bpd before Ankara shut down the line in compliance with the trade sanctions the U.N. imposed on Iraq for its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

Iraq's pipeline network was a key target for the U.S.-led multinational forces which drove Iraqi forces out of Kuwait. While the two pipelines remained intact and full of crude, one of the main pumping stations was virtually destroyed and another suffered serious damage.

Both Iraq and Turkey succeeded in patching up the line shortly after the war in expectation of a quick resumption of Iraqi oil exports.

``There have always been repairs and the portion in Turkey's territory can easily handle up to 750,000,'' one diplomat said.

He said the two sides needed to repair some of the pumping stations and carry out extensive maintenance for any substantial increase in Iraqi exports through Turkey.

Under the terms of the U.N. offer, Iraq will be permitted to import equipment needed to repair the pipeline and could finance such purchases through letters of credit on future sales.

The pipeline has been idle and rusting with its 27 million barrels of crude. In the past, Turkey failed to get Iraq's consent to have it flushed and refilled.

Unrepaired is the key pumping station close to Mosul, 400 km (250 miles) north of Baghdad. Iraq has constructed a temporary line bypassing the station.

U.N. Resolution 986, which Iraq has agreed to discuss after months of stalling, stipulates that the larger share of Iraqi oil exports be shipped to international markets through Turkey.

Iraq is allowed an additional $28 million of exports for each $1 billion to pay tariffs that Turkey may charge for the use of the pipeline.

Iraq strongly objects to these procedures and diplomats said it would lobby hard to divert part of its exports through its Mina al-Bakr and Khor al-Amaya ports in the northern Gulf.

``It fears that compelling it to export through Turkey will make it a scapegoat to the political whims of Kurdish rebels on both sides of the border,'' said another diplomat.

The pipeline passes through territory held by Iraqi Kurdish rebels who have aligned themselves with other Iraqi opposition groups bent on toppling the authorities in Baghdad.

It also crosses Turkey's southeastern region where rebels of the outlawed Turkish Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) threatened in the past to blow it up in retaliation for the Turkish army's operations against their hideouts in the area.

Before the sanctions against Iraq, Ankara received about $300 million a year in transit fees from Iraqi oil exports through its territory.

[06] Turkish Court Refuses to Release 18 Year Old Husband of 13 Year Old Girl

Anatolian news agency reported that the appeal by Musa Komeagac was rejected by the local court in Kahramanmaras, the central Anatolian city where the couple has lived with the boy's parents since marrying two weeks ago.

The mother of Sarah Cook arrived in Turkey Wednesday night and immediately went to see her daughter to sort out the international wrangle over the marriage.

The child bride was made ward of court Wednesday by a senior judge in London after an application to the Family Division of High Court by lawyers for Essex County Council social services.

The judge ordered Cook returned to the jurisdiction of the British court and that after her return her parents should be restrained from removing her without court permission.

Local officials have voiced support for Cook, who has told Turkish television that she is very happy and wants to be left alone.

The mayor of Kahramanmaras, Ali Sezal, told Anatolian he wanted to help the couple and that in two months' time, when Sarah apparently turns 14, he hoped to perform a civil ceremony that would be binding under Turkish law.

``The fact that a British bride has come to our province and accepted our religion is a very joyous event. I am ready to do everything to help them,'' he said.

Under Turkish law civil marriage can be performed for people between the age of 15 and 18 with permission of parents, while 14-year-old girls can marry under extenuating circumstances.

The religious wedding ceremony between Cook and Komeagac, whom she met on holiday on the Turkish coast last year, is not officially recognized in Turkey but couples are free to have it performed.

The prosecutors' inquiry into the marriage began after media reports in both Turkey and Britain of the marriage.

[07] DYP Helps ANAP Candidate Win Speakership

ANKARA, Jan 25 (Reuter) - Turkish caretaker Prime Minister Tansu Ciller on Thursday helped a rival right-wing party win the post of parliamentary speaker, but it did not persuade the party to agree to a coalition government under her premiership.

Turkey's new 550-seat assembly elected Mustafa Kalemli of the Motherland Party (ANAP) as its speaker. He won 343 votes to 196 for a candidate from the Islamist Welfare Party which came first in December polls. Eleven MPs did not vote or cast blank ballots.

But ANAP leader Mesut Yilmaz said Ciller was wrong if she thought that by supporting Kalemli she could make him drop his objection to her proposal that she lead an alliance between them.

``I get the impression from the prime minister's statement today that she is trying to link today's...election and the efforts to form a government,'' Anatolian news agency quoted Yilmaz as saying.

``We are pleased for the prime minister's personal support for our candidate...but this is not the step she needs to take for a compromise,'' he said.

Ciller on Tuesday offered that she and Yilmaz share the premiership on a rotating basis in a coalition government, but that she should hold the post first.

Before Kalemli's election on Thursday she said the offer included rotating the post of the parliamentary speaker, with ANAP getting the first call. ``We hope to see Kalemli as parliament speaker today,'' she told reporters.

Yilmaz, whose party won 133 seats compared with the 135 of Ciller's True Path Party (DYP), rejected Ciller's offer on Wednesday.

He said her insistence on retaining her post was standing in the way of their planned coalition, which aims to keep the Islamists out of power.

Yilmaz then set out a list of alternatives that he said he would have to resort to if Ciller did not budge, including an ANAP minority government with the support of the left or a coalition with the Islamists.

Ciller and Yilmaz are bitter personal rivals whose mutual animosity has blocked their two parties uniting in the past.

Ciller, in an apparent softening of her earlier stance that she had made all the sacrifices she was prepared to for the DYP-ANAP coalition long demanded by business and the mainstream media, said she was prepared to discuss any ideas ANAP may have.

``We are ready to discuss anything,'' she said. ``We are taking another step with hope and conviction...And we are ready to keep talking even after Yilmaz gives us his party's reply on our offer on Saturday.''

[08] 15 Turkish Policemen Stripped of Duties In Probe Of Reporter's Death

Among the 15, pinpointed in an interior ministry investigation, are members of a special anti-riot unit.

Reporter Metin Goktepe was detained Jan. 8 while covering the funeral of leftist inmates killed in a prison riot.

The 27-year-old Goktepe was found dead later that night in a city sports complex. The official autopsy report said he died from a brain haemorrhage brought on by blows to the head. Human rights monitors and lawyers say he was beaten to death by police.

Anatolian quoted sources close to the investigation as saying the 15 all shared some responsibility in the killing, but only seven of them were believed to have beaten Goktepe.

The interior ministry officials had confiscated the weapons of the 15 policemen, the semiofficial agency said.

Police officials told Reuters Wednesday that several police officials had been detained for questioning. Anatolian reported that the suspects had later been freed pending charges as the investigators felt they would not attempt to flee.

One of the policemen questioned -- but not one of the 15 final suspects -- filed a complaint Wednesday against fellow police whom he said had tortured him during questioning.

Goktepe worked for the left-wing Evrensel daily.

Police have denied that Goktepe was among the scores of people picked up at the funeral and held at the sports complex for an identity check.

Human rights monitors say torture is routine in Turkish police stations, something officials deny.