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Voice of America, 99-11-25
CONTENTS
[01] OCALAN SENTENCE UPHELD (L) BY AMBERIN ZAMAN (ANKARA)
[02] MEXICO/EUROPE TRADE (CQ) BY GREG FLAKUS (MEXICO CITY)
[03] RUSSIA / CHECHNYA (L-ONLY) BY PETER HEINLEIN (MOSCOW)
[04] RUSSIA / CHECHNYA (L UPDATE) BY PETER HEINLEIN (MOSCOW)
[01] OCALAN SENTENCE UPHELD (L) BY AMBERIN ZAMAN (ANKARA)
DATE=11/25/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
NUMBER=2-256534
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: A Turkish appeals court has upheld the death
sentence handed down to Kurdish rebel chief Abdullah
Ocalan. Amberin Zaman in Ankara reports the verdict
was welcomed by relatives of Turkish soldiers killed
in the 15-year separatist campaign carried out by
Ocalan and his outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or
P-K-K.
TEXT: Hundreds of family members of Turkish soldiers
killed in the Kurds' struggle for self-rule broke into
cheers when news of the court's verdict came through.
But for many, the joy was quickly tempered by
widespread predictions that even though the death
sentence against Ocalan was upheld, it is not likely
to be carried out any time soon - if at all.
/// OPT /// Soon after the verdict was announced,
about 30 mothers of slain soldiers raided the offices
of the Human Rights Association. The organization has
frequently been criticized for publicizing the plight
of the Kurds but rarely that of P-K-K victims. ///
END OPT ///
Observers say there is a growing recognition among
many Turks that executing Ocalan runs counter to their
nation's interests. Turkey hopes to be officially
declared a candidate for membership in the European
Union when E-U leaders meet in Helsinki next month.
The European Union has been unequivocal in its
opposition to the death penalty, which remains on the
books in Turkey even though there have been no
executions over the past 15 years. European leaders
renewed warnings following Thursday's verdict that if
Turkey executes Ocalan, its chances of becoming a full
E-U member will vanish completely.
Ocalan's defense team says it will take his case to
the European Court of Human Rights, seeking a ruling
to halt the execution.
The European court is the legal arm of the Council of
Europe, of which Turkey is a founding member. And
Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit has said the country
would be obliged to take the European court's demands
into consideration.
There also are signs that Turkey may soon consider
abolishing the death penalty. The country's justice
minister and human rights minister have made such a
recommendation. (Signed)
NEB/AZ/JWH/JP
25-Nov-1999 09:56 AM EDT (25-Nov-1999 1456 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
[02] MEXICO/EUROPE TRADE (CQ) BY GREG FLAKUS (MEXICO CITY)
DATE=11/25/1999
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
NUMBER=5-44844
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
// Re-issuing to correct last sentence of next to last
graf - deleting reference to Mexico's trade with
Europe //
INTRO: Mexican officials and private sector
representatives are expressing joy over the free trade
agreement reached with the European Union in Brussels
on Wednesday. As VOA's Greg Flakus reports from
Mexico City, the agreement, which has yet to be
ratified by the Mexican senate, would lessen the
country's dependence on trade with the United States.
TEXT: After months of negotiations, Mexico now has a
trade agreement with the European Union that, to some
extent, mirrors the North American Free Trade
Agreement, known as NAFTA. That agreement, between
Mexico, Canada and the United States, was reached in
1994 and has resulted in a huge increase in trade
among the three countries.
Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo says the agreement
with Europe puts Mexico in a favorable trading
position with the entire world.
/// ZEDILLO ACT (SPANISH) ///
He says that with this trade accord with Europe,
Mexico will enter the year 2000 in a fortified
international position. He says that Mexico is the
only country in the world that now has free trade
agreements with six Latin American nations and the two
largest economies of the world - North America and
Europe.
Currently, about 80 percent of Mexican exports go to
the United States. This fact has made Mexican
financial analysts worry about the effect on Mexico if
there were an economic slowdown in its neighbor to the
north. Alejandro Martinez of the Mexican
Confederation of Industrial Chambers says the accord
with Europe will open a large new market for Mexican
goods.
/// MARTINEZ ACT (SPANISH) ///
He says the expectation is that within four or five
years, 20 percent of Mexico's industrial exports will
go to the European community. Under the agreement, 82
percent of Mexico's industrial exports would be able
to enter the European market duty free. Mexican
tariffs on European goods would drop gradually in the
coming years and be eliminated entirely by the year
2007. Mexico currently maintains tariffs as high as 20
percent on goods from Europe.
But given Europe's distance from Mexico, some analysts
see limited trade possibilities compared to what the
nation already has with the United States. Much of
what is counted as exports to the U-S market consists
of products from assembly plants near the border
called maquiladoras (mah kee lah dohr' ahs). In a VOA
interview, Mexican historian and newspaper columnist
Juan Maria Alponte, who has studied trade issues in
North America and Europe, says the United States is
likely to remain Mexico's biggest trading partner.
/// ALMONTE ACT (SPANISH) ///
He says the European trade agreement is good but that
it is unlikely to effect the predominance of the
United States in trade with Mexico. He says output
from maquiladoras accounts for 45 percent of Mexican
exports and that more than one million Mexicans work
in these border plants.
/// ALMONTE ACT TWO (SPANISH) ///
As for the Europeans, Mr. Almonte says, they, too, may
see Mexico's proximity to the world's largest consumer
market as the principal attraction of this new
agreement, the first ever with a Latin American
nation. The Mexico accord could permit some European
nations to use Mexico as a bridge for introducing
goods into the U-S market.
Mr. Almonte says that for Mexico to truly take
advantage of its trade agreement with Europe, it will
need to undergo a certain change in culture. He says
the country must become more open to the world and
more ready to compete. As was the case with NAFTA, he
says he expects resistance to the European trade
accord from some labor unions and some politicians,
but he sees no major political barrier.
Mexico's current trade with Europe is only a small
fraction of its trade with the United States and
Canada. Exports to those two nations in the first
eight months of this year were around eight billion
dollars per month.
If the Mexican senate and the European Community
parliament approve the agreement, the process of
reducing trade barriers will begin on July first of
next year. The period set for fully implementing the
accord will end in the year 2007. (Signed)
NEB/GF/KL
25-Nov-1999 12:58 PM EDT (25-Nov-1999 1758 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
[03] RUSSIA / CHECHNYA (L-ONLY) BY PETER HEINLEIN (MOSCOW)
DATE=11/25/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
NUMBER=2-256531
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Russian President Boris Yeltsin has called in
his prime minister and other senior officials for
talks expected to focus on the military offensive in
Chechnya. V-O-A Correspondent Peter Heinlein in Moscow
reports a human rights group is urging Russia to allow
safe passage for civilians trying to escape the
military campaign.
TEXT: The U-S based group, Human Rights Watch, says
refugees reaching the Chechen border are telling of
Russian bomb attacks on villages used by civilians
hiding from air and artillery strikes on bigger towns
and cities.
The witnesses report warplanes attacked the village of
Goyty, just south of the Chechen capital, Grozny,
where more than 10-thousand civilians were sheltering.
When frightened people started to flee in panic,
artillery shells rained down on the main road out of
the village.
More than 200-thousand Chechens have already fled to
the neighboring Ingushetia region, where they face
rapidly deteriorating conditions. Hundreds of
thousands more are believed hiding inside the
republic, hoping to avoid the Russian military
onslaught.
President Yeltsin Thursday summoned Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin and other senior officials for talks at
the Kremlin as troops kept up the air and artillery
assaults and Chechen fighters vowed to defend the
capital. The heaviest Russian attacks were around the
strategic southern town, Urus-Martan, where some
skirmishes were reported on the ground.
In a television interview, Prime Minister Putin
offered a conditional amnesty to rebel fighters who
put down their weapons. Mr. Putin, whose tough
leadership of the war effort has made him Russia's
most popular politician, promised not to prosecute
those whose "hands are not stained with the blood of
Russian citizens."
/// Opt /// In another development, ten Russian
soldiers were killed in the northern Caucasus region
Thursday when the truck carrying them overturned on an
icy road and plunged into a river. Thirteen others
were injured, some critically. The accident occurred
in the North Ossetia region, where the headquarters of
the Russian military effort in Chechnya is located.
/// End opt /// (Signed)
NEB/PFH/GE/JP
25-Nov-1999 07:23 AM EDT (25-Nov-1999 1223 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
[04] RUSSIA / CHECHNYA (L UPDATE) BY PETER HEINLEIN (MOSCOW)
DATE=11/25/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
NUMBER=2-256538
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
/// EDS: THIS REPORT UPDATES CR 2-256531 ///
INTRO: A human rights group is charging Russia with
bombing a Chechen village used as a safe haven by
civilians fleeing the current military offensive. V-
O-A's Peter Heinlein in Moscow reports Russian troops
are being slowed by bad weather and stiffening rebel
defenses as they advance toward the Chechen capital,
Grozny.
TEXT: The U-S based group Human Rights Watch says
refugees reaching the Chechen border are telling of
air strikes on a village where thousands of civilians
had taken shelter to escape Russian attacks in other
areas.
Human Rights Watch Moscow spokesman Malcolm Hawkes
says warplanes first bombed the village of Goyty, just
south of the Chechen capital, Grozny last Sunday. He
says that then, when frightened people started to flee
in panic, they were met with artillery fire.
/// HAWKES ACT ONE ///
It is a cause for extreme concern because the
rumors had spread amongst the Chechen
population, Goyty was what we've called a safe
haven. It was a town that had not been
targeted by Russian forces.
/// END ACT ///
More than 200-thousand Chechens have already fled to
the neighboring Ingushetia region, where they face
rapidly deteriorating conditions as cold weather sets
in.
/// OPT /// There are no firm figures on how
many more civilians are hiding in what they hope are
safe-haven villages inside Chechnya. But Malcolm
Hawkes of Human Rights Watch says there are
indications more than half the republic's population
is displaced.
/// OPT // HAWKES ACT TWO ///
According to one school teacher that we
interviewed that fled from the region, he
maintained that the town of Goyty had a
population of around 15 (thousand) to 20-
thousand, that has risen to over 100-thousand.
It's impossible to check that, but I think it's
indicative that in Chechnya, as people have fled
the bombardment, that these little pockets have
become very highly concentrated areas of
population.
/// END ACT // END OPT ///
Rain and fog were reported limiting Russia's air
strike capability Thursday. The state-run ITAR-Tass
news agency quoted the army's western commander as
saying troops were using the opportunity to regroup.
The Associated Press quoted a young Chechen man in
Grozny as saying he was using the heavy clouds as a
cover to take food to his family in the town of Urus-
Martan, 20 kilometers to the southwest.
Urus-Martan has been the main target of Russian air
and artillery attacks during the past week, as federal
troops steadily move to encircle the capital. The
town lies near the main route south from Grozny to the
border with neighboring Georgia.
With approaches from the east, west, and north already
sealed, Urus-Martan would be a significant prize for
the federal forces. But several thousand Chechen
defenders are believed to be in the city, and Russian
army commanders have so far ruled out a ground assault
for fear of suffering heavy casualties. (Signed)
NEB/PFH/JWH/KL
25-Nov-1999 11:16 AM EDT (25-Nov-1999 1616 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
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