TRKNWS-L Turkish Daily News (February 29, 1996)

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

Turkish News Directory

CONTENTS

TURKISH DAILY NEWS / 29 February 1996

[01] Ciller and Yilmaz agree on coalition

TDN Parliament Bureau

ANKARA- Motherland Party (ANAP) leader Mesut Yilmaz and True Path Party (DYP) Chairwoman Tansu Ciller announced on Wednesday that they had reached agreement in principle on the formation of a coalition government between their parties, a coalition publicly referred to as Motherpath.

Following indirect contacts, both leaders held a tete-a-tete meeting at the Prime Ministry for two-and-a-half hours. Flanked by their top party executives, Yilmaz and Ciller held a joint press conference and announced that they would continue their efforts until the end of this week.

She and Yilmaz had reached a consensus on the formation of Motherpath in its general outlines, Ciller said, and added that they had also decided that it would remain in power for a period of five years.

Yilmaz also said he and Ciller had reached an agreement on all issues in principle.

Both leaders refrained from replying to questions on the framework of the coalition. Ciller, however, said she and Yilmaz had agreed in principle on the implementation of the rotational premiership model. "We will have determined the further details of this in the coming days particularly on Friday," Ciller said.

Ciller did not make any statement on Yilmaz as prime minister for the first year.

The fact that no definite statement was made on the sharing of time in the top spot has led to speculation that talks between the two leaders still have some way to go.

[02] Left sets terms for support for Motherpath

TDN Parliament Bureau

ANKARA- The two center-left parties represented in Parliament have taken a favorable stance toward the planned Motherland Party (ANAP) - True Path Party (DYP) coalition, popularly dubbed Motherpath, but have made their support for it dependent on certain conditions.

Democratic Left Party (DSP) leader Bulent Ecevit announced that his party could support a Motherpath government indirectly, without sharing the responsibility of government, by abstaining during the eventual vote of confidence.

As a precondition, he said Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Alparslan Turkes should not be given a ministerial post.

Referring to the fact that the MHP had been unable to pass the nationwide 10 percent threshold in the Dec. 24 election, Ecevit told the DSP group in Parliament on Wednesday there would be no logic in giving a ministerial post to a party leader "who has failed to secure a mandate from the people, and could not be elected to Parliament." He said: "We receive information to the effect that Mr. Turkes will be taking part in the Cabinet. DSP members and sympathizers have definitely become sensitized on this issue. If faced with the possibility of Mr. Turkes taking part in that coalition as a minister from outside Parliament, I would not be able to take the authorized DSP bodies the issue of providing the government with indirect support with enough conviction." Ecevit's remarks drew a round of applause from the DSP deputies.

Referring to the possibility of ANAP and the DYP entering into an election alliance with the MHP in the future, Ecevit said, "We have no obligation to make a contribution to other parties' election alliance plans." Ecevit said, "Neither can we remain indifferent to any party's cadre-formation activities in public administration." Noting that in the past they had been unable adequately to prevent such processes, he said, "Now our party is in a stronger position in Parliament and we are in a position to put up a struggle in this regard." The DSP considered a coalition involving the pro-Islamic Welfare Party (RP) to be a danger for the secular, democratic republic but such a possibility had by now dropped from the country's agenda, Ecevit noted.

He said that there were certain doubts about a Motherpath coalition performing successfully, doubts which he shared. An early general election could become a possibility if the bickering between the two countries continued and the coalition could not perform successfully.

Ecevit said if they provided the Motherpath with indirect support they would act sensitively on a number of national issues. Ecevit has already relayed to Prime Minister designate Mesut Yilmaz his views on the EU-Turkey customs union and the Operation Provide Comfort force. He said it might not be possible to scrap Provide Comfort, an international force designed to protect Kurds in northern Iraq, immediately. Its mandate could be renewed for a limited period and in the meantime the required new arrangements could be made. If the government does not reach an agreement to this effect the DSP would do its duty as an opposition party, he stressed.

Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal, meanwhile, said that a highly dangerous impression was being created. That is the impression that all problems would be over now that ANAP and the DYP were joining hands. The two center-right parties coming together amounted to no more than a modest start. Noting that the Motherland coalition would be minority government, Baykal said, "Turkey has serious problems which cannot be solved with a minority government." Obviously referring to the DSP, he said a party which wants to make a contribution to that coalition should take part in the government and share the responsibility.

[03] Iraqi oil minister to visit Turkey for pipeline talks

ANKARA- Iraq will send its energy minister to Turkey for a technical assessment of the condition of its main oil outlet, the Yumurtalik-Kirkuk pipeline, before it starts a second round of talks with the United Nations on an oil-for-food plan.

Iraqi Oil Minister Amir Muhammad Rasheed will pay a two-day visit to Turkey on March 4, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Omer Akbel said at Wednesday's press conference.

Akbel said that the visit would take up whether the Yumurtalik-Kirkuk pipeline was ready to be reopened after the United Nations allowed Iraq to sell part of its oil.

The Iraqi delegation would also include a team of technicians to debate how the pipeline from Iraq's Kirkuk oil fields to Turkey's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan can be repaired. According to Turkish technicians, the part of the pipeline which is most damaged is in northern Iraq. Two years ago, Turkey proposed that it could carry out repairs in the area if the Iraqi officials did not want to or could not.

U.N. Security Council resolution 986 says that the major part of the oil -- worth $2 billion -- should be pumped through the Yumurtalik-Kirkuk pipeline, although Iraq has indicated in the past that it would prefer the Mina al-Bakr line in the south.

The Yumurtalik-Kirkuk pipeline pumped 1.5 million barrels per day of Iraqi crude before it was shut down as part of a U.N. embargo on Iraq after its invasion of Kuwait in August 1990.

"The next round of the discussions with Iraq on implementation of Security Council resolution 986 will begin in New York on Monday, March 11," U.N. spokeswoman Sylvana Foa said.

[04] Nationalistic winds in Bulgaria threatens ethnic-Turk citizens

Turkish Daily News

ANKARA- A Bulgarian parliamentary committee is currently discussing a law, submitted by the Committee of Preserving National Interests, which would cancel the legal right of dual citizenship, the Anatolia news agency on Wednesday.

Dobromir Zadgorski, a deputy from the ruling Socialist Party, announced that if the decree passed, any person, who accepted the citizenship of an other country on his own will, would automatically lose his Bulgarian citizenship.

The decree, apparently threatens thousands of ethnically-Turkish Bulgarians, especially those who have migrated to Turkey. It appears that these people will be stripped of many of their social rights if they happen to lose their Bulgarian citizenship.

The mainly ethnically-Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MFR) harshly condemned the decree.

Ibrahim Tatarli, an MRM deputy, told Anatolia that the decree, in reality, was aimed at harming ethnically-Turkish Bulgarians, who were forced to leave Bulgaria in 1989. "This move signals the nearing of an other assimilation campaign in Bulgaria," Tatarli added.

Tatarli also predicted that the decree would be passed by the Bulgarian Parliament.

[05] Ethnic Turks of Greece visit Turkey

ANKARA- A group of ethnic Turkish representatives from Greece started Wednesday their visit to Turkey where they will mainly voice their woes on education.

The delegation includes Mehmet Emin Aga, the mufti (Islamic clergy) of Xanthi; Ibrahim Serif, the mufti of Komotini, and ethnic Turkish politicians such as Ahmet Faikoglu, Ismail Rodoplu and Isik Ahmet.

The 25-person delegation will be received by President Suleyman Demirel, Parliament Speaker Mustafa Kalemli and various ministers.

Their expected meetings with the Higher Education Board (YOK) and the Ministry of Education indicate that their problems in the field of education will constitute an important item. Ethnic Turks in Greece have long complained that the school books they have been using are outdated and appealed to Turkey to send new ones. Books sent by Turkey, however, are kept by the Greek officials for an extended examination and not distributed to the schools.

Turkish Foreign Ministry officials firmly deny that the visit by the ethnic Turks, a factor of friction between the two countries, has anything to do with the recent tensions caused by the military stand-off over the Kardak rocks which each country claims as its own.

Turkey's Ambassador to Athens Umit Pamir has been in Turkey since Monday for consultations regarding what Ankara calls Greece's hostile moves to prevent Turkish interests.

The ambassador has already met with Turkish Foreign Ministry officials, military officials and President Suleyman Demirel.

"The date of Ambassador Pamir's return is not yet determined," Foreign Ministry spokesman Omer Akbel said.

As Turkey continues its consultations to combat Greek moves, Greece has decided to visit Britain, which has prevented Greece from forcing a common European Union declaration to condemn Turkey.

Diplomatic sources in Athens indicate that Greece is determined to block community aid to Turkey, and, if possible, postpone the EU-Turkey Association Council meeting on March 25.

"There is no indication that the meeting will be postponed," Akbel said, brushing aside any link between the date and the establishment of a government in Turkey. "There will be a government in Turkey then, and there is a government now." Caretaker Prime Minister Tansu Ciller, who visited Rome Tuesday, said upon return that Italy -- the term president of the European Union -- had supported "all Turkish theses." Ciller told a news conference after meeting Italian Prime Minister Lamberto Dini: "Europe's impartiality to the disputes that exist between Turkey and Greece would be welcome." "The financial agreement between the European Union and Turkey should be implemented immediately," Ciller said.

Greece is blocking release of a five-year 375 million Ecu ($487 million) aid package to help Turkey adjust to the customs union, which came into effect on Jan. 1.

Ciller said she was pleased with the outcome of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday in which Greece had sought, in vain, a firm statement of support in its dispute with Turkey.

"As far as our relations with Greece are concerned, I indicated to our friends in general that we want solidarity in the Mediterranean and we want to see Greece in that solidarity," Ciller said.

She said "dialogue between our two countries should be initiated as soon as possible ... to ensure that we start understanding each other." Ciller said she also asked Dini to allow Turkey a presence at the inter-governmental conference review of the EU's workings which will open in the Italian city of Turin on March 29.

"We feel strongly that we have a lot to contribute to the making of a new Europe in the years to come and we feel we should be a part of that consultation mechanism," she said.

Ciller said Turkey would also like to attend the closing summit of Italy's six-month EU presidency in June.

"All these matters, I am happy to say, were received favorably by the presidency of Italy," she said.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry said that no formal invitation to any of the two meetings had come to Turkey yet.

[06] European Commission to give financial assistance to projects in Turkey

ANKARA- The European Commission is to give financial assistance to eight projects in Turkey in areas including urban planning, the environment and social and economic development.

A press release from the representation of the Commission of the European Community in Turkey said on Wednesday that these selected projects costs would be met by the budget of European Commission.

The press release pointed out that funds will be available under the framework of the EU's 1993 Renovated Mediterranean Policy. Throughout the Mediterranean region, the number of the projects which will be supported is 59.

The program aims at increasing cooperation between European and Mediterranean local authorities and developing their capacity to pursue the main objectives of the European Union's Mediterranean policy: economic development, social stability, management of the environment and improving the quality of life.

According to the press release, the 59 projects selected for funding will receive in total around Ecu 1.58 million (around $2 million).

A total of 10 municipalities and two non-governmental organizations will participate in the program. Turkey has been involved in 36 joint projects supported by the European Union since 1993.

The eight projects will be located in Izmir, the Nazilli district of Aydin, Izmit, municipalities of Marmara region, Canakkale, Istanbul and its Bakirkoy and Sisli districts and Bursa would benefit from the program in their projects.

Southeastern businessmen ask to eliminate regional differences

The chairman of the Diyarbakir Commerce of Trade and Industry, Sirin Yigit, said that they made efforts to convince the representation of the Commission of the European Community in Turkey to give a part of the financial assistance of Ecu 2.5 billion that will be given to Turkey by European Union under the aid provisions of the customs union.

Yigit said that despite the fact that Michael Lake, the EU's representative to Turkey, was supportive of the proposal, Lake said that it is Turkish government officials who are authorized on the distribution of financial assistance, not them.

Yigit said that they, 21 chambers in the region, would launch a campaign to reach their aim. He added that they would also apply to the heavyweights of the state -- such as the president, the prime minister and the parliament speaker -- to support them.

He pointed out that with this attempt, they want to eliminate the differences between the region and Turkey.