TRKNWS-L Turkish Daily News (April 17, 1996)

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

Turkish News Directory

CONTENTS

TURKISH DAILY NEWS / 17 April 1996

[01] Ankara reviews its policy on postwar Balkan region

ANKARA- Turkey's ambassadors from nine Balkan capitals started their policy review meeting on Tuesday to determine Turkey's role in postwar peace-building in the region.

The meeting, which was chaired by Foreign Ministry Deputy Undersecretary Ali Tuygan, aims to take up Turkey's bilateral relations with regional countries as well as Turkey's role in the multilateral "reconstruction period" in the region. The participants include Turkey's ambassadors to Greece, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Bosnia, Romania, Albania, Macedonia, Croatia and its charge d'affairs in Yugoslavia.

Turkey's permanent representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Hikmet Alp, also attended the meeting.

"The meeting will give us a good opportunity to assess prospects of multilateral cooperation, Tuygan said.

"With the Dayton agreement, the difficult period in the region has been left behind. Now cooperation can be restored in the region." Turkish diplomats say since the troubled region is Turkey's geographical link to Europe, Ankara considers establishment of peace and stability in the region an issue of vital interest.

Turkey is also expected to participate in the meeting of Balkan foreign ministers in Sofia.

The policy assessment meeting takes place before Turkish President Suleyman Demirel's visit to Romania.

[02] IMF, Turkey to discuss new standby accord

ANKARA- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Turkish government will discuss whether to sign a fresh standby arrangement, a Turkish Cabinet minister said on Tuesday. State Minister (for Treasury) Ufuk Soylemez said that a mission, led by the minister himself, would fly to Washington on April 19 for spring meetings of the Bretton Woods twins the IMF and the World Bank.

"The meetings, between April 19 and 23 are routine discussions. It would therefore be misleading to say Turkey and the Fund would sign a new standby accord. We shall only seek ways to secure loans. We shall try to see if the circumstances for a standby agreement are convenient," Soylemez said.

He said if the possibility of an accord comes out at the Washington talks, a mission from the IMF would later arrive in Ankara for further discussions on the subject.

Turkey, a member of the Fund since 1947, and the IMF have so far signed 15 standby agreements. The latest expired on Feb. 2, 1996.

The minister said he would represent Turkey during talks with the IMF because it was customary that the minister responsible for the Treasury should do so.

"Turkish ministers for the Treasury have represented Turkey during talks with the Fund since 1983. Therefore, being the minister for the Treasury counts, rather than being a minister," he explained the representation rule.

Asked would it not be convenient for State Minister (for economy) Rusdu Saracoglu, who is a popular figure in IMF and the World Bank, to represent Turkey, Soylemez said: "At those meeting, it is not important who is popular and who is not. What matters is the country's economic parameters."

He added: "But if Mr. Saracoglu wishes to join us, we shall certainly take him with us."

The Turkish mission will include Deputy Undersecretary of Treasury Cuneyt Sel; Foreign Economic Relations General Director Aydin Karaoz; State Economic Enterprises General Director Hakan Ozyildiz; head of IMF department Vural Kural; head of World Bank department Sen Akman; Deputy Undersecretary of State Planning Organization Timucin Sanalan; and high-ranking officials from the Finance Ministry, the Privatization Office (OIB) and the Central Bank.

[03] Turkey's diplomatic traffic intensifies

ANKARA- Turkish diplomacy enters a period of hectic activity on a variety of issues from terrorism to Balkan stability. On Thursday, as president Suleyman Demirel makes his one-day working visit to Romania, Robert Deutch, the U.S. State Department s director for Gulf affairs, will pay a visit to Ankara. After consultations with the Turkish Foreign Ministry, Deutch, accompanied by a Turkish official, will go to northern Iraq to talk to Kurdish leaders to broker a peace accord between them.

On April 22, Foreign Minister Emre Gonensay will go to Luxembourg to attend the follow-up meeting of the anti-terrorism summit that took place in Sharm el-Sheikh. Gonensay will meet there with his Egyptian counterpart Amr Moussa, whose visit to Turkey this week was postponed. The foreign minister may then travel to Germany, although this is not yet confirm.

On April 27, Gonensay will travel to Bucharest to attend the meeting of Black Sea Economic Cooperation ministers, where he will hold an "open agenda" meeting with his Greek counterpart Theodoros Pangalos.

Ankara will host two important guests in the second half of April. Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayeti will come to Ankara to discuss the bilateral relations which have been strained as both sides accused each other's diplomats of spying. The second visitor will be John Kornblum, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for relations with Canada and Europe. The visit, which is expected to take place on April 24, aims to concentrate mainly on Turco-Greek relations and the Cyprus question.