TRKNWS-L Turkish Daily News (March 4, 1996)

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

Turkish News Directory

CONTENTS

TURKISH DAILY NEWS / 4 March 1996

[01] DYP, ANAP form Motherpath

TDN Parliament Bureau

ANKARA- Caretaker prime minister Tansu Ciller and Motherland Party (ANAP) leader Mesut Yilmaz on Sunday put their signatures to the protocol setting out the terms of the five-year partnership between the two right-wing parties and ending at least temporarily the years-long bitter rivalry between the two leaders.

The 25-page document, to enter force after approval by the deputies of both parties, will end months of shaky rule by the caretaker government and pave the way for the formation of a relatively strong coalition 68 days after the Dec. 24 poll.

The coalition between ANAP and Ciller's True Path Party (DYP) is still 15 seats short of an absolute majority in the 550-strong parliament. But a formal pledge by veteran leftist Bulent Ecevit to back the alliance in confidence votes ensures its survival, at least at the outset.

In earlier meetings, the two leaders agreed that Yilmaz would take the first turn in heading the center-right alliance, ending a bitter row which had wrecked previous attempts to form the partnership seen as the only way to bar the Islamists from power.

After the signing ceremony, Ciller confirmed to the Turkish Daily News that she would not take part in the government while Yilmaz led it. "Someone had to make a sacrifice, and I stepped forward," Ciller said.

Addressing the ceremony after the two leaders exchanged copies of the signed protocol, Ciller referred to the (former) distrust between their respective parties, adding, however, that "for us, the promises made before the public constitute enough guarantees." She said under the agreed mechanism for the rotating premiership, Yilmaz would head the government until the end of the year, with herself then taking over as prime minister for the next two years. In the fourth year, Yilmaz would take another turn and in the fifth and final year, the partnership would be led by a deputy from the DYP until new elections, Ciller explained.

"What is formed is still not the Motherpath government in the full sense," Ciller said, adding her hope that the government partnership would in time culminate in a complete merger.

Speaking after Ciller, Yilmaz said his ANAP would fully honor the commitments undertaken in the protocol.

He also thanked President Suleyman Demirel for allowing him enough time to crown his government-forming efforts with success (after a full month), and Ciller for allowing him to take the first turn.

He said they were assuming a difficult task, but would disprove pessimistic predictions about the durability of the coalition.

Before the signing of the coalition protocol, the two leaders met privately for 45 minutes to discuss three additional protocols to be appended to the main document.

Under the agreement they reached, a supplementary document listing priority legislation was appended to the text. The two leaders also agreed on the division of institutions falling under the jurisdiction of the ministries shared between the two parties, with only minor differences to be ironed out.

But a bigger rift is reported over the allocation of state ministries.

Remaining thorns

Despite the ceremonious unveiling of the coalition protocols, it appeared that the bargaining was still intense on two key issues on which the sides differed widely.

According to a deputy who participated in the drafting of the protocol from the very start, the sides were still far from an agreement on the monetary policies to be followed by the partnership and the control of the Central Bank.

Despite the differences on the government departments falling under state ministries, the two parties agreed on the distribution of the ministerial portfolios with eight going to DYP and seven to ANAP.

The sides further agreed to split the state ministries (without portfolios) evenly between themselves.

Sources said the finance portfolio, a bone of contention between the partners, had in the end gone to ANAP and Ekrem Pakdemirli, a top yilmaz aide. or Rustu Saracoglu, a former Central Bank governor will head the ministry.

Same sources said the treasury was given to the DYP and Aykon Dogan, currently heading the state ministry responsible for the key institution would retain his post.

Emre Gonensay, a leading aide for Ciller was the most likely candidate for the foreign ministry while ANAP's Oltan Sungurlu looked marked to head the interior ministry. Sources said ANAP's Ulku Guney would get the defense portfolio.

[02] Denktas suffers heart attack, placed under intensive care

ANKARA- Turkish Cypriot President Rauf Denktas was placed under intensive care after suffering a heart attack on Sunday.

His doctors said that the 72-year-old president was in stable condition but the next 48 hours were of crucial importance to see if he was completely out of danger.

"Our patient is now sleeping. He is in stable condition. But in such cases, the first forty-eight hours is of crucial importance. But all the necessary care is being given," Sait Kenan, Denktas' private doctor, said at Dr. Burhan Nalbantoglu Hospital, where Denktas was taken after the early-morning heart attack.

This is the first heart attack suffered by the 72-year-old leader, Dr. Kenan said.

At three a.m. Denktas woke up with pains in his right arm and his back, and called his doctors, who arrived at six o'clock. He was taken to hospital at the 7 a.m. and was given an electrocardiogram, then placed in intensive care.

"The doctors have said that the president will survive this attack. But we have asked for a health team from Turkey for a consultation on his condition," Aydan Karahan, Turkey's ambassador to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, told Anatolia news agency after visiting the hospital.

The Turkish medical team, headed by two senior cardiologists, flew to Nicosia in President Suleyman Demirel's private plane, GAP. Denktas' wife, daughter and daughter-in-law also travelled to the Mediterranean island on the same plane.

Demirel called Denktas's son, Serdar Denktas, by telephone to convey his wish for a speedy recovery.

Denktas' doctor Kenan said that the attack was a result of exhaustion and stress.

The attack comes a day after a major controversy, where Greek Cypriots allegedly "distorted" the words of Denktas.

The Turkish Cypriot leader said in an interview with the private television station Sigma on Saturday that over 2,000 people missing since 1974 must be presumed dead.

He accused a Greek Cypriot television station of "misrepresentation" for quoting him as saying that missing Greek Cypriots said by the Cyprus government to total 1,619 were killed in cold blood.

Yiannakis Cassoulides, spokesman for the Greek Cyprus government, said: "Others are led to international courts because they oversaw and organized procedures of ethnic cleansing." But he later told Reuters the government had not yet made a decision to press war crimes charges. "It is an open matter. Our priority is to continue with the efforts of the tripartite committee," he said, referring to an investigation team working under U.N. auspices.

The committee, working for over a decade, has not produced results on any of the Turkish or Greek Cypriots who are missing.

In the television interview, Denktas was asked what happened to Greek Cypriots captured by the invading Turkish army.

According to a tape of the interview, he replied: "What happened was this. As the Turkish army moved, it captured Greek Cypriots. Unfortunately they were handed to our fighters (Turkish Cypriot militia) amongst whom there were people who had lost family over the years. Instead of taking them to police stations and prison camps, they were killed." He added that when the army realized this, Greek Cypriots later taken prisoner were sent to Turkey. He said that all these POWs subsequently returned to Cyprus.

The Greek Cypriot government says documents from the International Committee of the Red Cross, used by the Turkish Cypriot side to support this, are incomplete.

Denktas told Reuters on Saturday: "There are 803 Turkish Cypriots and, as alleged by the Greek Cypriot leadership, 1,400 Greek Cypriots missing." He added: "I call upon the Greek Cypriot leadership to stop this inhuman and ghastly propaganda on missing persons. I stated years ago that there are no missing persons. Those alleged to be missing must be presumed dead." He said that "ninety-five percent of the Greek Cypriots alleged to be missing are military combatant personnel, some of whom perished during the Greek military coup and others while fighting with the Turkish side." Denktas acknowledged again on Saturday that Turkish Cypriots had killed some Greek Cypriots in retaliation for attacks after Cyprus gained independence from Britain.

"I have always stated that some Greek Cypriots were killed by their Turkish Cypriot captors in revenge for what had been done to their loved ones from 1963 to 1974," he said.

Greece also took the opportunity to slam Denktas. "Denktas' unabashed confession is one more proof of Turkey's brutality," the government said in a statement.

"International law and order remain crippled as long as international organizations fail to deal with the drama of the missing people of Cyprus."

[03] Ankara-Tel Aviv trade agreement may take effect from September

ANKARA- A proposed free trade agreement between Turkey and Israel may take effect from September, Turkish trade officials have said.

The agreement is expected to be signed during Turkish President Suleyman Demirel's visit to Israel and Palestine between March 11 and 14.

Turkish officials said a trade mission from Ankara would arrive in Tel Aviv on March 6 to finalize a draft for the trade agreement.

"The draft should be ready by March 8," one official told the Anatolia news agency.

The agreement will initially cover commodities, then in the second phase labor and finally settlement rights.

A spokesman for the Foreign Trade Undersecretariat, Turkey's top trade office, said the agreement would offer several lucrative business opportunities to both Turkish and Israeli companies.

In a related development, Turkish officials said they saw significant progress in free trade talks with Hungary during a meeting between Feb. 27 and 29 in Izmir.

They said a draft should be ready by the time a Turkish mission is scheduled to visit Budapest in April.

The agreement will be signed by August, when Hungary's President Arpad Goncz will be on a state visit to Turkey.

[04] Turkish consumers win most disputes against producers

ANKARA- Turkish consumers appeared triumphant in a clear majority of legal disputes last year, official statistics have shown.

Consumers, in the last quarter of 1995, that is, after the consumer protection law took effect, made a total of 992 appeals, in 56 provinces, to the local arbitration committees exclusively assigned to rule on consumer-related disputes.

Of that, official figures revealed 730, or nearly 75 percent, ended with victory for the consumer.

The committees ruled in favor of the (defendant) producers in 83 cases only.

The remaining 179 files are currently under legal examination process.

"There is an overwhelming victory on the part of the consumers. I believe almost 90 percent of all appeals would have been ruled in favor of the consumers when all files are concluded," said Salih Zeki Bengu, general director of the Industry Ministry's department for the protection of consumers.

He explained that the producers are legally forced to either change, repair or refund the faulty items subject to consumers' complaints when the ruling is in favor of the consumer.

"It is encouraging to see that many cases settled at the committees, despite a brief history of only three months," Bengu commented.

The ministry's statistics also show that consumers filed a total of 1,358 complaints to the ministry during the entire 1995.

Consumers won 870 of those complaints and lost 186. Another 36 were sent to the prosecutor's offices to launch legal action against the producers and 71 were referred to other administrative offices for further investigation. The remaining 195 are still under investigation.

"Following the enactment of the consumer protection legislation, consumers have rapidly gained advanced consciousness to seek their rights," Bengu said.

He called on all consumers not to hesitate to appeal to the local arbitration committees in the event that they feel unhappy with any item.

[05] Ambassador Elepeleg: Turkey is not oil-rich but water-rich

ANKARA- Zvi Elpeleg, Israeli ambassador to Turkey, said Sunday that Turkey is not oil-rich, but rich in water, soil and skilled labor.

In a statement to the Anatolia news agency, Ambassador Elpeleg said Turkey had the Southeast Anatolia Project (GAP), the Euphrates and the water-rich Manavgat falls.

"GAP is really very important. It would alter the structure of the region. Migration would flow from the cities towards the rural areas. It would improve the living standards of the people in the region," Elpeleg said.

The ambassador said that developing an agricultural irrigation system in the GAP region could help the area become like California.

Elpeleg described the province of Gaziantep as the "industrial capital" of the region, saying that it possessed highly developed industry.

Pointing out that his country is poor in terms of water and arable land, Elpeleg said, "We have only 8,000 square kilometers of arable land. Turkey possesses a rich potential in terms of its arable land. If the agricultural technology used by Israel is utilized in the GAP region, Turkey can obtain five times the agricultural output from the same area." Stating that Israel needed water, Elpeleg said his country could purchase water from the Manavgat project if Turkey accepted.

Noting that Syria had opposed construction of the Birecik Dam, Elpeleg said it was very natural for Turkey, which had a growing population, to build dams on its rivers.

Elpeleg said that President Suleyman Demirel's scheduled visit to Israel on March 11 would help to promote economic relations between the two countries.