TRKNWS-L Turkish Daily News (April 24, 1996)

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

Turkish News Directory

CONTENTS

TURKISH DAILY NEWS / 24 April 1996

[01] Sacrifice Festival (Kurban Bayrami)

By Ayse Karabat

Turkish Daily News

ANKARA- Amid increased tensions with Syria over the water question, Turkey informed Syria that it would decrease the flow of Euphrates water during the course of the upcoming Sacrifice Festival (Kurban Bayrami).

The Turkish Daily News has learned that Turkey will release to Syria 200 cubic meters of water per second during the course of the religious holiday.

Ankara did this last year, as it uses the long holiday for annual maintenance of the Ataturk dam. Despite the citing of technical reasons, Syria has been outraged by the decision.

Last year, Syria applied to the Turkish government, both in Ankara and Damascus, asking for more information, saying that "being left without water during the Sacrifice Festival was unacceptable." This year, Turkey has also informed Damascus of the change, which Turkey again says is for technical reasons.

Turkey has categorically assured Syria that it would never use water as a weapon, and claimed that Syria, in the final analysis, receives from Euphrates twice the pledged amount, which is an annual average of 500 cubic meters per second.

Ambassador Oymen in Cairo, talking about the tension between Syria, Iraq and Turkey, denied that the dams constructed by Turkey on the Tigris and Euphrates, to supply electricity and irrigation, will decrease the flow of these rivers to Syria and Iraq.

The decrease in the flow of Euphrates takes place against the backdrop of an increased war of words between Turkey and Syria.

Over the weekend, Turkish Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz warned Turkey's neighbors not to shelter Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) guerrillas. He was clearly referring to Syria, where PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan lives and "receives" visitors from some European countries.

As the venue of his warning to Syria, Yilmaz chose the border province of Hatay, over which Syria still claims sovereignty. It is also the city where the Asi river, flowing from Syria, joins the Mediterranean. Turkey says that Syria is not letting enough water to Turkey through this river, but Damascus refuses to discuss this issue.

Yilmaz told Syria not to create tension over sharing the waters of the Euphrates river, on which Turkey is building a series of dams and power plants.

Ankara has rejected Syrian accusations that the projects have reduced the quality and quantity of water flowing to Syria, saying that the Birecik dam, a regulatory one for the larger Ataturk Dam, would provide a steady flow to the two downstream countries, Syria and Iraq.

On Monday, Deputy Prime Minister Nahit Mentese joined Yilmaz in criticism of Syria.

Mentese, a former interior minister, accused Damascus of backing the PKK and threatened to give Syria a "lesson." "Syria has ambitions for a greater Syria. These ambitions will be frustrated and, if need be, Syria will be given the necessary lesson," Mentese said during a parliamentary debate on the annual budget.

Mentese also shrugged off the Syrian complaints on water: "Syria presents this to the Arab world as a water problem but the purpose is to camouflage (Syrian support for) the PKK." The remarks by Yilmaz did not go unnoticed in the Arab world, the Arab League on Monday called Yilmaz's statement "astonishing, regrettable and incompatible with good neighborly relations." The timing of the league's statement coincided with the visit of Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Onur Oymen to Cairo, the seat of the league.

Oymen sought to explain to Cairo that the Turkish-Israeli military training accord was not made against any Arab state.

Turkey angered Syria and much of the Muslim world by signing a military cooperation accord with Israel in February. Israeli planes began training flights from a Turkish Air Force base last week under the agreement.

[02] Gonensay denies German role in Turco-EU bottleneck

ANKARA- Turkish Foreign Minister Emre Gonensay denied Tuesday the allegations that Germany was in any way responsible for the bottleneck in the implementation of the customs union in particular and Turco-EU relations in general.

Gonensay, on an official visit to Bonn, said that the European Union should carry out its obligations in the implementation of the customs union. But he ruled out any German role in the present bottleneck.

"The responsibility rests with Greece which prevents the EU from carrying out its promises. Germany will help us. In fact, all the other countries are trying to lift the Greek veto," Gonensay said in a press conference in the Turkish Embassy in Bonn.

In a statement before leaving Ankara late on Monday, Gonensay said he would discuss the matter of Greece obstructing Turkey's customs union with the EU.

"I will remind my German counterpart... of the necessity of solving this problem with Greece and putting the customs union into effect as soon as possible," Gonensay had said.

He also said he would make clear Turkey's views regarding sovereignty rights in the Aegean Sea and the country's peace initiative towards Greece.

Asked whether there was any problem between the prime minister and foreign ministry undersecretary, Gonensay said: "There is no such thing. The undersecretary is responsible to me. I am surprised at the public's attention to this issue. I have said it in Parliament, I say it again. The Foreign Ministry undersecretary is a technocrat who has no political responsibility. He can take no political decisions." Gonensay's remarks follow a statement by Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz in Parliament that the Foreign Ministry "overstepped" its authority during the Kardak crisis with Greece. "The diplomats tried to make policy," he said in a thinly veiled reference to Undersecretary Onur Oymen.

But Gonensay's remarks were far from shedding light on speculation about whether Oymen would be replaced. "If you ask my opinion, it is not important to me who is the undersecretary.

There are many diplomats in the ministry who are eligible to be the undersecretary," he said, adding that a change of undersecretary would require the agreement of the foreign minister, the prime minister and the president. "However, because there is a coalition government, the consent of the True Path Party leader, Tansu Ciller, would be sought," he said.

[03] Turkish deputies react to `Barsony Report'

Turkish Daily News

ANKARA- A report on Turkey penned by the Hungarian Socialist deputy Andreas Barsony on behalf of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has elicited angry reactions from the Turkish members of the Assembly.

A statement on Tuesday on behalf of the Turkish deputies, who will arrive late at the Assembly meetings due to the budget debate in the Turkish Parliament, said that the Barsony report was rife with mistakes.

Irfan Demiralp, the head of the Turkish group at the Council of Europe's assembly, was quoted by the Anatolia news agency as saying that the former deputies from the now banned pro-Kurdish Democracy Party (DEP) had not been tried and jailed for their political views, as Barsony claims in his report.

Demiralp said these former deputies had been tried for their links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is waging a violent separatist war in Turkey and which many countries, besides Turkey, consider to be a terrorist organization.

Demiralp also underlined the fact that the former DEP deputies have the right to apply to the European Human Rights Commission in the event that they feel they have been subject to injustice.

Demiralp furthermore declared that some "pro-separatist" remarks in the Barsony report were totally unacceptable to the Turkish members of the Parliamentary Assembly.

"The problem in Turkey is not a Kurdish problem but one that has to be seen in light of the terrorism that is effecting the Southeast," Demiralp said.

Arguing that the human rights mechanism of the Council of Europe had to be applied to all countries in an equal manner, Demiralp went on to say that current problems such as terrorism and racism had to be dealt with through this mechanism and scrutinized.

He recalled that 142 people had been released from jail as a result of the amendment to the controversial Article 8 of the Anti-Terrorism Law, which critics say was used to restrict freedom of thought.

In a separate dispatch from Strasbourg, Anatolia said that an attempt by Greece to take advantage of the absence of Turkish deputies and have the report on Turkey considered a day earlier had been rejected by the Assembly.

The Greek members of the Assembly had wanted to debate the Barsony report on Tuesday and not on Thursday as originally scheduled.

The former president of the Parliamentary Assembly, Miguel Angel Martinez, responding to the Greek request said that the Turkish deputies would be arriving in Strasbourg after the crucial vote on the budget in Turkey and underlined that it would be a mistake to debate a report on their country while they are absent.

[04] Washington assures Ankara on north Iraq prior to US visit by Sungurlu

By Kemal Balci

TDN Parliament Bureau

ANKARA- The U.S. ambassador to Ankara, Marc Grossman, had a meeting with Defense Minister Oltan Sungurlu on Monday which was kept secret, and during which the policies of the two countries on northern Iraq were discussed, the Turkish Daily News has learned.

The meeting took place in Sungurlu's office in the Defense Ministry and lasted an hour-and-a-half sources informing the TDN said.

The principle aim of the meeting was reportedly to focus on "the shared points" of the policies of the two countries on northern Iraq.

The meeting was noted for taking place just prior to the upcoming visit by Sungurlu on May 12 to Washington, where he will meet his American counterpart William Perry.

Northern Iraq, which is currently under the protection of a U.S.-led multinational force based in Turkey and whose mandate is subject to Turkish parliamentary approval, is expected to be high on the agenda of these talks.

Confirming his meeting with Ambassador Grossman, Sungurlu said on Tuesday that "they had assessed the situation just prior to his visit (to Washington)." "We looked at the U.S. position on matters that we are sensitive on, and also explored the points that we share," Sungurlu said.

The TDN has learned from Defense Ministry sources that Grossman gave assurances from the U.S. side on three topics of importance to Turkey.

Grossman reportedly singled out three "sine qua non" points concerning Iraq in the following way:

- The protection of Iraq's territorial integrity is of the essence. It is out of the question that the United States should support the division of Iraq and the establishment of a separate state in northern Iraq.

- The United States attaches great importance to the security of Turkey's borders and will continue with its efforts to help prevent the infiltration of terrorists through these borders.

- Democratization in Iraq is of the highest priority. It is important to the peace and security of the region that all Iraqis have a voice in the administration of the country.

Ambassador Grossman is also said to have touched on the current visit by the U.S. State Department official for Northern Gulf affairs, Robert Deutsch, to northern Iraq.

He reportedly indicated that Deutsch was also instructed to convey the Turkish position on specific issues relating to the region to his Kurdish interlocutors.

Doubts expressed by Turkey about the future of northern Iraq and about whether the Turkish Parliament will renew the mandate for Operation Provide Comfort based in Turkey to protect northern Iraqi Kurds against Baghdad, is forcing Ankara and Washington to conduct a series of meetings on these issues, sources say.

The two countries are said to be engaged in an effort to come up with a joint policy on northern Iraq which they will try to seal during the Sungurlu-Perry meeting in Washington.

This meeting itself will be followed up by a meeting at the highest level when Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz visits Washington for talks with President Bill Clinton at the end of May.

A series of new measures prepared by Turkey in the light of these meetings are expected to be submitted to Parliament for approval around mid-June.

Sources say that these measures will concern the scope and operational modalities of Operation Provide Comfort and also have a bearing on the new measures proposed under the Emergency Rule in force in the Southeast.

What does Turkey want from the US?

Analysts note that Washington is trying to revive the "Dublin Process," so called after the U.S.-led initiative last year when leaders of the warring Kurdish factions in northern Iraq were brought together in the Irish capital to try and activate a rapprochement between them.

Deutsch's current visit to northern Iraq is being evaluated by political circles in Turkey in this context and there is talk of a five-point plan, also approved by the Turkish Foreign Ministry, to be taken by the U.S. delegation to the Kurdish leaders.

This plan is said to concern the dispute over revenues from truck traffic coming through the Habur border gate with Turkey and which has been a main point of contention between Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) leader Massoud Barzani, and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) leader Jalal Talabani.

It is also said to concern the disarming of Arbil, the city which has been the focus of clashes between these two groups.

The prevention of infiltration by members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) into Turkey, and the enhancing of measures aimed at trying to bring Iraqi Kurds with Iraqi officials in order to enhance the country's unity are also said to be parts of this plan.

The revenue earned from Turkish trucks passing through Habur is said to have reach as high as $70 million a year and not less than $25 million in a bad year.

Both the Barzani and the Talabani groups are claiming the right to collect this revenue and there are widespread reports that Turkish trucks are being charged twice because of this.

The PKK, which is outlawed in Turkey where it is waging a bloody separatist war and has an effective presence in northern Iraq, is also said to be "dipping in" to this source of income in the region from time to time.

The U.S. delegation in northern Iraq is said to be trying to solve this problem between the two principle Kurdish factions, the KDP and the PUK.

News filtering through to Ankara on the question of border security indicates however, that the Barzani group, which holds the border region, is not willing to undertake extra responsibilities in this context.

The U.S. delegation is also said to have given the green light to talks to begin between the KDP and the PKK aimed at ensuring that the latter departs from the region in a peaceful manner and without the need for using force.

Sources informing the TDN indicate that the "Regional Security Plan" announced recently by the leader of the Democratic Left Party (DSP), Bulent Ecevit whose party indirectly keeps the coalition government in power was also taken up during the meeting between Sungurlu and Grossman.

They say that it was decided that aspects of the plan which appear to be feasible should also be discussed within the context of the ongoing talks between the two countries on northern Iraq.