TRKNWS-L Turkish Daily News (April 6, 1996)

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

Turkish News Directory

CONTENTS

TURKISH DAILY NEWS / 6 April 1996

[01] Fener Patriarch Bartholomeos meets Yilmaz

By Metehan Demir

Turkish Daily News

ANKARA- Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz said on Friday that he believed that Fener Greek Patriarch Bartholomeos would help to solve some of the religious problems of the Turkish minority living in the Western Thrace region of Greece.

Fener Greek Patriarch Bartholomeos visited Prime Minister Yilmaz to congratulate him on his taking office.

Yilmaz voiced his pleasure over the patriarch's visit by thanking him for the visit, and said that the Patriarchate was a Turkish national institution. At a photo opportunity before their meeting, Yilmaz said that the pair would discuss the problems of the Patriarchate and try to find solutions. He also expressed his belief that the patriarch would help solve the problems of the Turkish minority in Western Thrace.

After their meeting the patriarch avoided answering questions on Turco-Greek relations or on the subject of the Heybaliada Seminary which was closed by the Turkish government in 1971, when all foreign tertiary institutions were banned.

Asked if he brought any message from the Greek government about Yilmaz's peace initiative, the patriarch said that he was not a representative of the Greek government.

The Fener Greek Patriarchate

In the fifth century the Roman Church was divided into five patriarchal provinces: Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem. The attempts of the Bishop of Rome for universal authority finally split the church in the great schism in 1054.

Despite rivalries, theological and nationalist disputes between patriarchates, the Fener Patriarchate is considered first among equals, along with its patriarch.

When the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror conquered Constantinople in 1453, contrary to expectations, he allowed the Patriarchate to continue in what was from then on known as Istanbul. Good relations between the Ottoman Sultanate and the Patriarchate continued for 368 years.

When the Greeks in Istanbul revolted against the state in 1821, Sultan Mahmud II had Patriarch Gregorias II hanged in front of the door of the patriarchate. As a protest, the door has been kept closed ever since.

During negotiations after the Turkish War of Independence, in Lausanne in 1923, Ismet In"n insisted that the Patriarchate should leave Turkey. It didn't, and from this date, the Patriarchate has existed under the authority of the Turkish government.

[02] Greece intervenes in Turkish foundations in Western Thrace

Turkish Daily News

ANKARA- The Greek government has prepared a decree to take the administration of Turkish foundations in Western Thrace out of the hands of the Turkish minority, the Anatolia news agency reported.

The directors of Turkish foundations have previously been elected by the Turkish minority, but the new decree, which was prepared by the Greek Foreign Ministry and approved by President Kostis Stefanopoulos, foresees an appointment system for these foundations.

Fotis Ksidas, deputy chairman of the Foreign Ministry's Turkey-Cyprus department, visited Western Thrace to prevent possible complaints, and to give an impression that the Turkish minority accepted the decree.

It was reported that the Greek administration had defrauded the Turkish minority by cancelling the law which enabled this minority to vote for their muftis in elections and provided for the administration of the foundations in Western Thrace, and had assigned delegations, whose members were mostly Greek, to govern the procedures regarding these foundations.

[03] Turkey gives $300,000 to Indiana University

By Ugur Akinci

Turkish Daily News

WASHINGTON- As the latest in a series of Turkish Studies departments partially funded by the Turkish government in major American universities, the University of Indiana (UI) on Thursday received a matching seed-fund of $300,000 to establish an Ottoman and Modern Turkish Studies Chair under the directorship of Professor Ihhan Basgoz, an expert in Turkish folklore. Dr. Henri Glassie, known for his authoritative work on Turkish traditional art, will teach Turkish art and architecture in the department.

The university will match Ankara's initial contribution with another $300,000 of its own. The Turkish government has already helped to establish similar departments at Harvard, Chicago, Georgetown and Princeton universities.

During the ceremony held at the Turkish Embassy, Ambassador Nuzhet Kandemir was accompanied by Dr. Morton Lowengrub, the dean of UI's College of Arts and Sciences; Curtis Simic, president of the UI Foundation; and Dr. Fedwa Marti-Douglas, chairperson of the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures.

In his remarks during the ceremony, Ambassador Kandemir said the establishment of the chair was "another milestone in furthering enlightened understanding of Turkey." Such a development "acknowledges Turkey's relevance in international relations," he added.

Aykut Sezgin, counsellor for cultural affairs at the embassy, explained to the TDN that Turkey's contribution would eventually reach a total of $900,000 with two additional payments over the next two years. This amount exceeds the $750,000 in matching grants with which Ankara has endowed other Turkish chairs across the United States. The university will match the $900,000, for a total endowment fund of $1.8 million.

Simic told the TDN that the foundation would pump 5 percent of the principal, i.e. $90.000, back to the chair "in perpetuity" for its annual operating expenses above and beyond the university's current support for Basgoz and Glassie. The chair is expected to hire two more professors, one of Turkish Literature and the other of the sociology and history of modern Turkey. "It'll probably take about three years to form such a balanced department," Glassie said.

[04] European Union AIDS Conference

Turkish Daily News

ANTALYA- Turkish Minister of Health Yildirim Aktuna has claimed that the free market economy, which counts life as consisting of material values, has played an important role in the spread of the AIDS disease. "AIDS has found an easier opportunity to develop in a world which is becoming more materialistic," he said.

At the opening in Antalya of the conference on Strategic Approaches to STDs, HIV and AIDS, organized by the European Commission, Health Minister Aktuna emphasized that the most important item threatening the developed countries was estrangement of people. "Amongst the values which make human beings human," he continued, "are spiritual values like love and mutual assistance. People cannot become very happy by discounting these values, believing that life is composed of the material and, because of this, engaging in ruthless competition." Noting that people who could not find the love they needed took shelter in drugs, Yildirim Aktuna said, "One of the side effects of this is that diseases like AIDS are spread." He stressed that in the prevention of AIDS it was necessary to hold spiritual values, and that in this respect Turkey was in a fortunate position.

Minister Aktuna remarked that there was no effective treatment against the AIDS virus nor any immunization. He emphasized the importance of having sexual relations with a single partner and of the use of condoms. He reminded his audience that Turkey had been affected by the sex trade originating from the countries of Eastern Europe. "Official precautions against this are inadequate," he said. "In 1995 we had an AIDS explosion. We identified 1600 HIV-positive persons." According to Aktuna, early recognition is vital in the treatment of the disease and, with this aim, 1.3 million people were tested in 1995, 523 of whom were established as having full-blown AIDS. Aktuna also pointed out that nobody arriving from overseas was forced to have an AIDS test except in the case of young Turkish people returning from abroad to do military service.

The Health Minister drew attention to the importance of public education in the prevention of AIDS and recommended lessons in middle schools on AIDS and sexuality. "In this way, the new generation will be informed on the subjects of sexuality and disease and the spread of AIDS will be prevented," he said.

At the symposium, which finishes today, information will be presented on subjects such as "The Relationship between Tourism in Turkey and HIV/AIDS Infection," "Human Rights in Turkey and HIV/AIDS" and "HIV/AIDS in the Mass Media."

[05] EU and Turkey work together to combat AIDS

"We know from experience that early preventive action is the cheapest and most effective approach. There is no time to be lost in mounting a coherent, effective response to the challenge. The European Union for its part is ready to strengthen its commitments," Lake said.

Inaugurating the symposium, Ambassador Lake defined its purpose as "to assist the government of Turkey to develop policies and strategies concerning HIV/AIDS." Stating that the number of those infected by the HIV virus worldwide is put at 15 million and that each day more than 6000 people contract the virus, the ambassador said that "these grim statistics also show that AIDS affects all groups in society: children and adults, men and women, heterosexuals and homosexuals." After painting this black picture, Ambassador Lake struck a more optimistic note, stating that there was nothing inevitable about the extent or rapidity of the spread of AIDS and that the main aim of health care was now to minimize this global spread.

"In 1993, the European Commission set up a new Health and AIDS Unit backed up by the technical expertise of the AIDS Task Force. This symbolized the long-term commitment of the European Union to what was now a long-term need. Along with the rest of the international community, the EU was moving out of the emergency phase and into a long-term structural planning approach to the problem. At the same time the financial commitment increases both in volume and in time scale. One of the main roles of the unit is to take part in the analysis of health policies in developing countries, in the preparation of schemes to help the reorganization of health services and in institutional strengthening in those countries." The European Parliament and the Council of Ministers has started a 5-year action program on AIDS with a budget of Ecu 49.6 million. The European Commission's activities are directed to:

- Minimize both the spread of the epidemic and discrimination against those infected, by such means as improving STD and reproductive health services, decreasing the poverty/AIDS cycle, improving sexual education for children, and developing national AIDS charters that define the legal and ethical principles of HIV/AIDS work;

- Strengthen the health sector to enable it to cope;

- Measure the social and economic impact, so as to assist national planning;

- Promote better scientific understanding, both biomedical and socio-economic;

- Provide technical assistance and training.

Ambassador Lake stressed the necessity of clear coherence with national and regional plans and stated that the primary objective of the EU is to support national strategies.

"The EU could not get all its HIV/AIDS projects completed on its own. Its primary partners are usually governments. But to get things done, it often enters into a partnership, under contract, with agencies working in the field. It is these agencies that actually carry out the projects. Among the many partners are universities, NGOs and medical and educational institutions.

"Integration with other community activities and including all major participants was highly important. The assistance given to developing countries in combating AIDS was a major EU external policy and the total number of projects realized had now topped 220, more than 160 of them specific to one country, the remainder regional or related to all developing countries.

"The European Commission has supported two projects in Turkey run by two NGOs, namely the Family Planning Association of Turkey and the Human Resources Development Foundation. These two projects costing Ecu 546,000 (approximately $700,000) in total will be presented to you during the symposium." Perhaps the most important message Michael Lake had to give to his audience was this: "Most HIV/AIDS activity cannot just be administered. It needs the motivation and support of individuals and communities. They in turn have to have the power to take responsibility for their own behavior, risk and choices.

Similarly, governments and others in positions of power have to take responsibility for limiting the risks run by those over whom they have authority."