TRKNWS-L Turkish Press Review (June 22, 1995)

From: hristu@arcadia.harvard.edu (Dimitrios Hristu)

Subject: TRKNWS-L Turkish Press Review (June 22, 1995)

CONTENTS

  • [01] A NEW BEGINNING WITH FRANCE

  • [02] DEMIREL CALLS UPON TERRORISTS TO SURRENDER

  • [03] TURKEY WELCOMES BELARUS MOVE TO RESUME WARM TIES

  • [04] TEHRAN ASSURES ANKARA ON FIGHT AGAINST PKK TERROR

  • [05] TURKEY PLANS TO SEND AMBASSADOR BACK TO THE HAGUE

  • [06] TURKEY WELCOMES PEACEFUL END TO RUSSIAN HOSTAGE CRISIS

  • [07] BULGARIA PROMISES TO SUPPORT TURKEY AGAINST PKK

  • [08] MILITANTS KILL ONE WORKER, KIDNAP FOUR

  • [09] TURKEY, IRAN SIGN HEALTH CARE COOPERATION TREATY

  • [10] PKK HITS OUTPOST: 11 SOLDIERS, 21 TERRORISTS DIE

  • [11] TOURISTS PREFER TURKEY

  • [12] US: "WE DON'T SUPPORT INDEPENDENT KURDISTAN IN N.IRAQ"

  • [13] JUPPE CALLS UPON TURKEY TO PARDON THE DEP DEPUTIES

  • [14] ATHENS AWARDS APO WITH A PLAQUE

  • [15] TURKISH PRESENCE IN TATARSTAN GROWING

  • [16] BUSINESSMEN MEET IN ISTANBUL

  • [17] ATHENS RESENTS CILLER SUCCESS

    •

    WITH THE COMPLIMENT OF

    DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION

    TURKISH PRESS REVIEW

    JUNE 22, 1995

    Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish

    press this morning.

    [01] A NEW BEGINNING WITH FRANCE

    All the indications are that following Prime Minister Ciller's talks with French President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Alain Juppe, there is a new start to Turkey-France ties.

    Chirac has promised full French support for Turkish efforts to complete customs union with the European Union (EU), and then go on to full membership in the EU.

    Prime Minister Ciller had long talks with the French leaders during her recent visit to Paris to participate in meetings of the Western European Union (WEU), and afterwards noted that France supports Turkish inclusion in upcoming EU top-level meetings. According to Ciller, The Europeans have at last come to accept that Turkey is vital to European interests- just as Turkey needs Europe.

    The newly-won French support is seen as being one the major successes of Ciller's latest visit to Europe. /Hurriyet/

    [02] DEMIREL CALLS UPON TERRORISTS TO SURRENDER

    During a tour of the Erzincan and Tunceli regions, President Demirel noted the developments being made and also renewed his call to members of the PKK separatist organization to give themselves up -and take advantage of government provisions to re-establish themselves usefully in society.

    Demirel took advantage of his inspection tour of the region to have talks with military commanders as he made his visits with Defence Minister Mehmet Golhan and Security Chief Mehmet Agar.

    President Demirel pointed out that the state was not responsible for terrorism, and noted that security and defence arrangements were in place. Demirel stressed that terrorist-separatist groups would not succeed even though members of the public and even some government employees aid and support them. Demirel later returned to Ankara in a private plane from Diyarbakir. /Hurriyet/

    [03] TURKEY WELCOMES BELARUS MOVE TO RESUME WARM TIES

    Turkey welcomed a Belarussian request to resume friendly ties after bilateral relations deteriorated last year because of a scandal over spying allegations, the Foreign Ministry said yesterday. Ministry Spokesman Omer Akbel told reporters that Belarussian Foreign Minister Uladzimir Syanko met with the Turkish Ambassador in Minsk on Monday and conveyed his country's wish to resume friendly relations. Syanko also invited Foreign Minister Erdal Inonu to visit Belarus. Akbel said that Ankara's principle in its foreign policy was to establish ties of friendship and cooperation with other countries, in particular with those in its own region.

    [04] TEHRAN ASSURES ANKARA ON FIGHT AGAINST PKK TERROR

    Concerned about escalating attacks by the PKK terrorist organization from Iranian territory, Turkey has launched a series of diplomatic initiatives aimed at Tehran and has received a positive response. Iran has assured Ankara that it has the political will to fight against PKK terrorist acitivities, Turkish Foreign Ministry Spokesman Omer Akbel said yesterday. Akbel told reporters that Mohammed Reza Bagheri, Iranian Ambassador in Ankara, had been summoned to the Foreign Ministry and had met with Foreign Minister Erdal Inonu on June 17, one day after two terrorist attacks hit Turkish troops on the Iran-Turkey border.

    [05] TURKEY PLANS TO SEND AMBASSADOR BACK TO THE HAGUE

    Turkey yesterday reported progress toward normalization of ties with the Netherlands, which deteriorated in April due to a dispute over the Kurdish issue. Foreign Ministry Spokesman Omer Akbel hinted that Ankara would soon send its ambassador back to The Hague, after being recalled home. A delegation, which later came to Ankara, agreed to take concrete measures for fighting against terrorism, according to Akbel. "We hope that the positive development seen in the Netherlands' attitude in fighting against terrorism will provide an opportunity for our ambassador to resume his duties" Akbel said at his weekly press conference.

    [06] TURKEY WELCOMES PEACEFUL END TO RUSSIAN HOSTAGE CRISIS

    Turkey said yesterday it was pleased that a hostage crisis in Russia's southern town of Budennovsk had ended peacefully. "We are happy that there was not more bloodshed", Foreign Ministry Spokesman Omer Akbel told reporters in Ankara. Akbel reiterated the Turkish view that the Chechnya problem should be solved through negotiations and with the preservation of Russia's territorial integrity. The Budennovsk crisis came to an end on Tuesday as Chechen guerillas, who had taken hundreds of people hostage at a town hospital, released all their captives. In return they were granted safe passage into Chechnya under a deal accepted by Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin.

    [07] BULGARIA PROMISES TO SUPPORT TURKEY AGAINST PKK

    Bekir Aksoy, Interior Ministry Undersecretary, said the Bulgarian government had promised to support Turkey against the PKK terrorist organization. Aksoy led the Turkish delegation in Sofia at a third meeting of the permanent joint commission established within the framework of the cooperation agreement on the "struggle against drug smuggling, terrorism and organized crimes" signed between Bulgaria and Turkey. Aksoy continued by saying that the PKK had made millions of dollars from drug smuggling acitivities in Europe, adding that the terrorist organization will pose a potential danger in Bulgaria and the Bulgarian government should certainly struggle against the PKK. /Cumhuriyet/

    [08] MILITANTS KILL ONE WORKER, KIDNAP FOUR

    Militants of the PKK terrorist organization killed one 52-year-old forest worker and kidnapped four others in the region between Bingol's Yukariagateli and Elmali villages, the Anatolia news agency reported yesterday. Security officials said military operations were continuing to catch PKK militants in the region, Anatolia reported.

    [09] TURKEY, IRAN SIGN HEALTH CARE COOPERATION TREATY

    Turkish Health Minister Dogan Baran and Iranian Health Minister Ali Riza Marandi signed a treaty on bilateral health care cooperation. Baran said they wanted the treaty to assist peace efforts in the region as well as bring improvements in health services. He added that the treaty mentions medication, family planning programmes, ambulance services, mother and child health, anti-drug and anti-smoking programmes and contagious disease control.

    [10] PKK HITS OUTPOST: 11 SOLDIERS, 21 TERRORISTS DIE

    Troops beat back a new assault by PKK terrorist organization militants on an army outpost on the Turkish- Iraqi border early yesterday, killing 21 separatists, local officials said. Eleven soldiers were also killed, and four wounded when the separatists opened fire on the Pirinceken outpost near Cukurca in Hakkari province, the officials added. Reinforcements were flown in and operations were reportedly underway to capture the attackers. Twelve other militants have been killed in neighbouring provinces, bringing terrorist casualties during the past 24 hours to 33. This was the eight attack by the PKK against the Pirinceken outpost. /Hurriyet/

    [11] TOURISTS PREFER TURKEY

    Tourism companies and tour operators in Europe say: "Turkey has become the favourite country among other countries in tourism". Officials from the BDS Tourism Company-based in Germany stated that they brought 51,150 German tourists to Turkish southern coasts in April, May and June. Turkish company representative, Taner Basgol, said that the BDS, which brought 11,000 tourists to Turkey in 1990, planned to increase this number to 175,000 in 1996. Taner added that the Turkish Airlines (THY)Bodrum Airport project would boost tourism in Turkey. /Sabah/

    [12] US: "WE DON'T SUPPORT INDEPENDENT KURDISTAN IN N.IRAQ"

    US State Department Spokesman Nicholas Burns said: "I am not aware that there are any Western countries who favour an independent state -at least none of our major allies- of Kurdistan, and that's certainly not the direction in which our own policy is leading us". Burns added: "There is no change in our policy towards Iraq or that portion of Iraq which includes northern Iraq". He said the US supported the territorial integrity of Iraq but that Saddam Huseyin should be held accountable "for the welfare of the people in northern Iraq". "That's why we have consistently supported Operation Provide Comfort" Burns continued. "We were very pleased to see the Turkish government decide last week that it would extend Operation Provide Comfort. That remains our core interest in northern Iraq, to provide protection for the Kurdish populations of northern Iraq, and that will remain the basis of the US' policy". /Milliyet/

    [13] JUPPE CALLS UPON TURKEY TO PARDON THE DEP DEPUTIES

    Prime Minister Tansu Ciller returned home after attending the meeting of the Western European Union (WEU) in Paris. It is reported that most of the questions asked Ciller were about the situation of the former DEP deputies in prison. It is stated that French Prime Minister Alain Juppe requested Ciller to pardon the DEP deputies. In response, Ciller said that this issue was relevant to the independent judiciary and that constitutional reforms were on the way. /Cumhuriyet/

    [14] ATHENS AWARDS APO WITH A PLAQUE

    The Greek government, which has announced on international platforms that it had no connection with the PKK separatist terrorist organization, tries all ways to develop its relations with the PKK. The second speaker of the Greek Parliament Panayottis Sgurides visited the leader of the PKK, Abdullah "Apo" Ocalan, who is thought to have killed thousands of innocent people, at his secret hiding place. Sgurides decorated Ocalan with an "antique Macedonian plaque" which has also become a "Greek national emblem". Sgurides noted that he had been accompanied with a parliamentarian delegation consisting of five extreme nationalist Greek deputies during his visit to Apo. He indicated that this plaque represented his and the Greek Parliament's admiration to the leader of the violent PKK terrorist organization. In a later statement, Sgurides avoided furnishing any information regarding where and how he visited Apo. He only said: "Somewhere in the Middle East". He also expressed his pleasure over Apo's support for Greece over its dispute with the Macedonian Republic. On one hand, Greece insists on imposing a one-sided embargo against Macedonia, despite the EU countries' objections, on the other, it continues to support the Serbian opposition to the UN and NATO. International political circles point out that the Greek Parliamentarians' visit to Apo will help to isolate Greece even more. /Sabah/

    [15] TURKISH PRESENCE IN TATARSTAN GROWING

    Commercial and trade ties between Turkey and Tatarstan are increasing daily as Turkish businessmen and companies get a stronger grip on the market there.

    Chairman of the Turkish Union of Chambers and Borses (TOBB), Yalim Erez and a one hundred person delegation made their last stop in Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan, in completion of a tour of the Central Asian region. Noting the progress being made in connection with trade projects, Erez said that Turkish companies were involved in new radio stations, setting up three new Turkish schools in the capital and sending buses for public transport. So far, 179 Mercedes Benz 303 buses have been sold to Tataristan.

    Turkey is also heavily involved in the food sector, and in supplying military equipment, including highly developed helicopters. Erez was also pleased to note that project partnerships were growing number, and that Turkish know-how was helping Tatarstan to put itself on the international trade map. /Sabah/

    [16] BUSINESSMEN MEET IN ISTANBUL

    Members of the Turkish-American Businessmen's Association (TABA) met yesterday with fellow businessmen at the new IMKB offices in Istinye. IMKB chairman Tuncay Artun was presented with a plaque and in a speech of thanks noted that Istanbul was taking its place among the money centres of the world.

    Artun drew attention to the way Istanbul had become the London or New York of the developing countries, and that the IMKB and other trade organizations had done all they could to help achieve this. /Cumhuriyet/

    [17] ATHENS RESENTS CILLER SUCCESS

    Prime Minister Tansu Ciller's meeting with new French President Jacques Chirac in Paris, and her speech at the Paris Western European Union (WEU) Parliamentarians' Assembly meeting has made Athens jealous and anxious. The Greek "Katimerini" newspaper, known for its objectivity, under the headline: "hypocritical West revering with respect" showed Chirac kissing Prime Minister Ciller's hand in a big front page photo yesterday. After accusing the West and the US of giving support to Turkey, the newspaper said: "At a time when human rights are being abused in Turkey, Chirac has accepted Ciller with a gallant reverence from the time of the Louis dynasty. The US is exerting pressure on the EU member countries with her continuous interventions, in order to have Turkey completely integrated with the West." The newspaper admitted that they accepted that the diplomatic effort of "brother" country Turkey had yielded its fruitage. Katimerini newspaper also drew attention to the fact that during the WEU meeting, Ciller explained the reasons why Turkey was so against an extention of the Greek coastal limits in the Aegean Sea. This also helped to put Greece in a bad light. /Sabah/

    END

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