Subject: TRKNWS-L Turkish Press Review (April 20, 1995)
US President Bill Clinton and Turkish Prime Minister Tansu Ciller yesterday came together for the third time since
Clinton took office. During a 50-minute meeting, Clinton said that the US considered the PKK a terrorist organization
and supported Turkey's struggle against it. American officials briefing the press after the meeting between
President Bill Clinton and Prime Minister Tansu Ciller, said that both sides had confirmed the growing importance of
Turkish-American relations. Ciller, talking to reporters in Turkish, after her meeting with Clinton said she would do
her best to push the democratic reforms through Parliament. Ciller reportedly said democratization and the so-called
"political solution" to the Kurdish issue should not be mixed-up. Ciller also said she discussed "help given to
Turkey's Kurdish separatists by some neighbouring countries" with Clinton. Ciller also stated that she had asked for US
support for Azerbaijan and the flow of Azeri oil through a proposed pipeline over Turkey. Clinton called Turkey a
"valuable and important ally" and added "our relations will become even more important in the years ahead". Clinton
also said his country understood why Turkey had to launch a military operation into northern Iraq but added "we hope
civilian casualties will be limited. We also hope the operation will be limited in duration and scope". Ciller in
return said most of the operation in northern Iraq had been completed but added she could not give a date when the
withdrawal of the Turkish forces would be completed "because this would not be fair to those who are now involved in the
operation in the mountains seeking weapons and terrorists". Clinton noted that the US would support Turkey's customs
union with Europe and entry into the EU. Turkish officials held meetings with the US Treasury officials yesterday for
new credit possibilities and support for privatization. Ciller said that Turkey was the only democratic-secular
state among 52 Moslem countries and added that the West should know that Turkey was a model country. President
Clinton told Ciller of his personal commitment to a bicommunal and federal solution to the Cyprus problem in the
next few years. Ciller said that President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) Rauf Denktas, had stated
that he accepted the Confidence-Building Measures. Ciller was accompanied in her meeting with Clinton by Foreign
Ministry Undersecretary Ozdem Sanberk, her aides Prof.Emre Gonensay, Volkan Vural and Yalim Eralp, and Turkish
Ambassador Nuzhet Kandemir. Clinton had eight aides at the meeting including Secretary of State Warren Christopher,
White House Secretary-General Leon Panetta, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers Laura D'Andrea Tyson, Under
Secretary for International Affairs Lawrence Summers, Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke, and US
Ambassador to Ankara Marc Grossman, as well as his national security and economic advisors. After the meeting with
Clinton, Ciller went to the Pentagon and participated in a banquet which Defence Secretary William Perry gave in her
honour. Ciller was welcomed with a military ceremony the first for a Turkish leader.
Just prior to her meeting with President Clinton yesterday, Prime Minister Ciller instructed the Transport Ministry to
open up the air corridor with Armenia. With this gesture, Ciller opened the way to persuading the Clinton administrat-
ion to exert pressure against the Armenians and make them pull out of occupied Azeri territories. As promised, Ciller
also conveyed a message from Azeri Head of State Haydar Aliyev to Clinton about the Armenian-Azeri issue. Another
related matter, the overland petrol pipeline project to carry petrol from Azeri refineries to port out- lets in
Turkey was also taken up. /All papers/
National Sovereignty Week will begin with Turkish Grand National Assembly Speaker Husamettin Cindoruk placing a
wreath in a ceremony at the Ataturk Monument at the Assembly. President Demirel will also address the National
Assembly during Sovereignty Week. President Demirel will be welcomed with a military ceremony. President Demirel,
President of the Constitutional Court Yekta Gungor Ozden, Motherland Party Chairman Mesut Yilmaz and Press Council
Chairman Oktay Eksi will give opening speeches at the "National Sovereignty and Democracy Congress" being held
today in the Turkish Grand National Assembly. /Cumhuriyet/
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ferhat Ataman said that the PKK terrorist organization was aiming to make propaganda out of
issues like the "Kurdish Parliament and government". Ataman called upon international community to not fall into the
trap of supporting PKK propaganda initiatives. Ataman said in his weekly press conference yesterday that "these
initiatives are only propaganda devices that the PKK uses to mislead the international community". Ataman reported that
in accordance with international agreements, no one should ignore the terrorist organization's initiatives.
/Cumhuriyet/
Necdet Menzir, the director of the Istanbul police force, left for a visit to Houston as the guest of the Mayor of
Houston, the Anatolia news agency reported yesterday. Before leaving, Menzir said at Istanbul-Ataturk Airport that
he would participate in the Houston Festival to be held on April 29. Prime Minister Tansu Ciller will also attend the
festival. Menzir added that he would visit the Chief of the Houston police force.
President Suleyman Demirel is to go to Canakkale on April 25 to mark the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Gallipoli, the
Anatolia news agency reported. He will participate in a ceremony at the Monument of Martyrs, which many foreign
statesmen will also attend. After visiting the Gallipoli Museum, Demirel will go to the recently burned forests of
Kabatepe, where he will receive a briefing on the reparation works which he believes "will be an example to the whole
world".
Dr.Lee Brown, the Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, and advisor to the US
President on drug policy, warned Turkey against becoming a consumer country itself after it becoming a main transit
route for illicit drug traffic to Europe. Thirty-five years of fruitful and mutually benefical cooperation in narcotics
interdiction between the US Drug Enforcement Administration and the Turkish government were highlighted yesterday at a
press conference given by Dr.Brown. On his first visit to Turkey as director, Brown stated that he was impressed by
meetings with Turkish law enforcement officials who saw the necessity of actively and aggressively combatting narcotics
trafficking. Brown stated that the US Office of Drug Control Policy had views that the PKK had connections with
drug trafficking. Brown also met with Istanbul Governor Hayri Kozakcioglu and Chief of Police Necdet Menzir. Brown
said that he had come to Turkey for a four-day visit and that he would make contacts with top level officials in
Ankara tomorrow.
Turkey has called upon the NATO Council consisting of the permanent representatives from 16 NATO-member countries for
an extra-ordinary meeting today. According to details from NATO representatives and new agencies, Turkish Permanent
Representative to NATO, Tugay Ozceri will condemn the attitude of the Netherlands at the meeting. /Cumhuriyet/
In the wake of Prime Minister Ciller's comment that the US should intervene in the Cyprus problem and negotiate a
settlement, former Foreign Minister Murat Karayalcin has gone to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) for
talks with President Rauf Denktas. In the capacity of special envoy, Karayalcin has con- veyed Prime Minister
Ciller's views to Denktas who agrees that it would be hopeless to try and get into Europe without the support of
Turkey. Denktas told Karayalcin that the TRNC was prepared to wait for a move coming from the US. Denktas told the
press that much depended on the Greek side, and that if the Greek community went its own way, then the only alternative
for the TRNC was union with Turkey. /Hurriyet/
Hard words are flying between Turkish and Dutch officials about the Kurdish parliament-in-exile now set up in The
Hague with Dutch government permission. During a meeting in New York, Turkish Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ozdem
Sanberk had some tough words for Dutch Foreign Minister Van Mierlo. According to some reports, the meeting was not a
happy one, with Sanberk reminding the Dutch minister that as Holland was a signatory to the international anti-terrorism
agree- ment it should hold to the principles outlined therein. /Hurriyet/
The powerful US Jewish lobby has indicated its support for Turkey's foreign policy and sympathy for its security
problems as detailed by Prime Minister Ciller during her current visit to the US. Issues of vital interest to Israel
have been taken up at high levels and these include regional security developments and the sale of fresh water supplies
to Israel from Turkey. The influ- ential Jewish lobby, represented by ten officials met with Ciller in New York
just before she left for talks with President Clinton in Washington, and conveyed its support for Turkey. /Milliyet/
In what has been described as a "severe blow" to PKK terror operations, Turkish military forces in northern Iraq have
found and seized a huge 4.5 ton cache of drugs in a cave hidden away in the mountains. Military representatives
assessing the Turkish military in- cursion into northern Iraq said yesterday that this and other military successes
have all contributed to the reduction of the PKK terrorist organization. /Sabah/
While Prime Minister Ciller makes her political and economic contacts in the States, contacts of another kind have been
finalizing in northern Iraq where a Foreign Ministry dele- gation has been setting up a meeting with Kurdish leader
Celal Talabani. Talabani and other political leaders will figure in plans for securing peace in the region once the
Turkish military operation is over and troops have been pulled out. Reports say that a meeting with Talabani could
take place fairly soon. /All papers/
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