TRKNWS-L Turkish Press Review (July 10, 1995)

CONTENTS

  • [01] DEMIREL TO VISIT ALBANIA AND MACEDONIA

  • [02] CILLER IN UZBEKISTAN

  • [03] FM INONU ARRIVES IN TURKMENISTAN

  • [04] TURKEY LAUNCHES DIPLOMATIC INITIATIVE FOR BOSNIA

  • [05] PKK BECOMING A PROBLEM FOR GERMANY

  • [06] US WARNS ATHENS ABOUT PKK

  • [07] US MEETING WITH KURDISH LEADERS

  • [08] INTERNATIONAL CHECHEN CONGRESS FORMED

  • [09] ANKARA URGES HELSINKI COMMISSION TO THINK OBJECTIVELY

  • [10] SOLIDARITY MEETING STARTS IN ALMATY

  • [11] FORESTRY MINISTER PROMISES AID TO AFFOREST TRNC

  • [12] GUEST FOR THE CUSTOMS UNION

  • [13] IRAN ENTERS IRAQ AND HITS REBEL CAMP WITH ROCKETS

  • [14] TOURISTS POUR INTO ANTALYA

  • [15] EUROPEAN PRESS PRAISES TURKEY AS HOLIDAY SPOT

  • [16] CEM BECOMES CULTURE MINISTER

  • [17] TURKEY:"AI HAS LONG LOST ITS CREDIBILITY"

    •

    WITH THE COMPLIMENT OF

    DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION

    TURKISH PRESS REVIEW

    JULY 10, 1995

    Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish

    press this morning

    [01] DEMIREL TO VISIT ALBANIA AND MACEDONIA

    President Suleyman Demirel will visitAlbania and Macedonia betweenJuly 12-14 as the guest of each country's president, theAnatolia news agency reported. The development of bilateral relations and regional and international issues will be discussed, the ForeignMinistry said. Foreign Minister Erdal Inonu will accompany the president on this trip.

    [02] CILLER IN UZBEKISTAN

    Prime Minister Tansu Cillerleft yesterday morning for an officialvisit to Uzbekistan, after which she will move on to visit Azerbaijan."Our main aim is to develop relations betweenour countries in every field on the basis of non- interferencein each other's internal affairs and the furtheringof common interests" Ciller said at a press conference at Esenboga Airport.Relations between Uzbekistan and Turkey have developed to a great extent in the three-and-a-halfyears since the country gained its independence,Ciller said. Prime Minister Tansu Ciller has signed four agreements in Uzbekistan where she is on a two-day official visit.Uzbek President Islam Kerimov welcomed Ciller with a military ceremony at TashkentAirport yesterday. On theway to the state guest house the road was decorated with Turkish and Uzbek flags and peoplewaived welcoming slogans andrequests about strengthening Turkish-Uzbek cooperation. Tansu Ciller'shusband Ozer Ciller, State Minister Ayvaz Gokdemir,Veysel Atasoy, Energy and Natural Sources Minister, Ziya Halis, Ministerof Labour and Social Security, some deputies,Yalim Erez, chairman of the Turkish Union of Chambersand Stock Exchanges (TOBB), some high level bureaucrats,businessmen and general directors of some public institutions are accompanyingTansu Ciller. Ciller talked withIslam Kerimov the Uzbek President after resting at the state guest house.Meanwile, State Minister Ayvaz Gokdemir, VeyselAtasoy, Minister of Energy and Natural Sources, Ziya Halis, Minister of Labour and SocialSecurity and Abdulaziz Kamilov,the Uzbek Foreign Minister signed four agreements in connectionwith easing visa procedures, scientific and technical cooperation and the establishment of a mixed economicy commission.Prime Minister Tansu Ciller said that theyhad agreed with Uzbek President Islam Kerimov on a road construction projectbetween Turkey and Uzbekistan and a naturalgas project. Ciller and Kerimov have called to Turkish companies to make newinvestments. Uzbek President Kerimovgave a dinner at the Nevruz Palace yesterday night in honour of Prime Minister Tansu Ciller.In her speech at the dinner,Ciller stated that she was making her first visit to Central Asia.Stressing that Turkey was the first country to recognizeUzbekistan and open an embassy in Tashkent, Ciller said:"Turkey has exerted every effort to support Uzbekistan andhelp stabilize her independency, to realize necessary reforms and to establish institutions for her national unity." Uzbek President Islam Kerimov stated that the ties between the two countries stemmed from the past.He explained that these connectionswere not only coming from the same racial origins or having the same languages and religion, and said: "Turkey isin the vanguard of the countries beginning to establish a new system in the East"./Cumhuriyet-Sabah/

    [03] FM INONU ARRIVES IN TURKMENISTAN

    Foreign Minister Erdal Inonu has arrivedin Turkmenistan as theguest of Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Boris Shimuradov. The first talks he held were with Turkish businessmenoperating in the country. They told the minister that,while generally successful, business was slowing slightlybecause payments were not being made on time. Inonu promised to do all he could to solve the problem.The volume of trade between Turkey and Turkmenistan has increased fivefold since 1992, increasing to a totalof $150 million. Investmentsby Turkish businessmen in the country now total $1.5 billion."Turkmenistan is leaning more and more toward anindependent foreign policy. Turkey supports this tendency fully" Inonu said.Inonu will meet with the Turkmen President today and is expected to return to Turkey on Tuesday morning.

    [04] TURKEY LAUNCHES DIPLOMATIC INITIATIVE FOR BOSNIA

    Turkey, concerned about the Serbian attacks on the safe havens inBosnia-Herzegovina, has sent a number of messages to the leaders ofkey countries and international organizations. PresidentSuleyman Demirel contacted a group of international leaders,a statement from the president's press office reportedyesterday. Bosnian President Alija Izzetbegovic called Demirel yesterday morning to reportthat the Serbian attackson the safe havens, particularly Srebrenica, had been intensified. Izzetbegovic asked Demirel to start an initiativevis-a-vis the "interested" heads of state or government, the press release said. Within this framework, Demirelsent a message to 11 leaders, asking them to "help take necessary measures to stop the Serbian attacks" itsaid. Theleaders to whom messages were sent include US President BillClinton, French President Jacques Chirac, Russian PresidentBoris Yeltsin, German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and BritishPrime Minister John Major. The Organization of IslamicConference countries to which Demirel sent a message are Pakistan,Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Egypt, Malaysia and Indonesia. In a related development, Hikmet Cetin, Deputy Prime Minister, has appealed to UNSecretary-General Boutros Ghali and NATO Secretary-General Willy Claes to "intervene", a statement from his office said."NATO and the UN should carry outtheir obligations in Bosnia-Herzegovina" Cetin said. /Hurriyet-Cumhuriyet/

    [05] PKK BECOMING A PROBLEM FOR GERMANY

    According to a report by the German security services, the PKK terroristorganization is fast becoming a serious problem in Germany.The German report notes the developments made by the PKKin Germany and confirms that the PKK has been behind an increasing number of seriouscrimes in various regions of Germany. Back in Turkey, where the fight against PKK terrorism continues unabated, representatives ofthe Turkish military forces said over the weekend that they were preparing even now to carry on the fight through the winter, keeping PKK groupsbottled up in the mountains. Military and police security points will be specially equipped todeal with PKK attacksthat in the past have caused many deaths and serious damage.The military representatives also claim that Turkish forcesduring the last military incursion into northern Iraq killed 110 PKK terrorists.Although the fighting has ended, militaryunits are still carrying on with search and destroy operations.Reports from the southeast of the country say thatweekend clashes between security forces and the PKK led to the death of six more PKK terrorists in the Cukurca region. Thirteenmore are reported to have been killed in other regions./All papers/

    [06] US WARNS ATHENS ABOUT PKK

    TheWashington administration has warned Athens about developingties with the PKK terror organization at the cost of increasing tension with Turkey.The US has told Athens that an increase in tension between Greece and Turkey over the PKK issues and developments in theAegean Sea must not be allowedto develop into something more serious. With more evidence accumulating that Greece is giving extensivesupport tothe PKK, the US has let it be known that it is most uneasy over developmentsbetween Turkey and Greece. The US is concernedthat a serious clash could erupt between Turkey and Greece in the Aegean Sea.Despite the US warning and sharp wordsfrom Turkey, reports from Athens say that the Greek government is getting ready to send more military units to the Greekislands that fill the Aegean Sea. The Greek Military DefenceCouncil meeting for the first time will likely considera "new defence policy" against Turkey, and support this by beefing up the Greek islands with weapons andtroops. /All papers/

    [07] US MEETING WITH KURDISH LEADERS

    In a move to exert more pressure against theKurdish leaders in northern Iraq, US government representatives will meet with Kurdish party leaders Mesut Barzani and CelalTalabani in a yetundisclosed European city. There are rumours that Ankara couldhost the meeting. The main message that the US representativeswill convey to Talabani and Barzani is that they must do something about the PKK by blocking its movesin theregion. Turkey and Iraq will be involved to some extent in the new US initiatives./Cumhuriyet/

    [08] INTERNATIONAL CHECHEN CONGRESS FORMED

    The formation of an International Chechen Congress,based in theUS but with representatives from 12 states and regions including Turkey, has been announced at a press conferencein Istanbul. Professor Mohammed Sisani, Chairman of the organization, said that their aimwas to inform the world aboutthe reality of Chechnya and hold meetings twice a year. Dr.Seyit Hasan Ebumuslum, chairmanof the Chechnya foreign affairs'committee, said they would continue the struggle for independence and thanked Turkeyfor its support since the start of the war./All papers/

    [09] ANKARA URGES HELSINKI COMMISSION TO THINK OBJECTIVELY

    Turkey, angered by the urging ofthe US Congress' Helsinki Commission to free 242 people detained for protesting during a trial, urged the commission to be "objective andresponsible" inthe claims it makes about Turkey. "The Helsinki comission would rather judge before learning of the facts of the case" a statementfrom the Turkish Embassy in Washington said. "The people whohad been detained were obstructing the legal process".

    [10] SOLIDARITY MEETING STARTS IN ALMATY

    The third solidarity meeting of visually-impaired peoplefrom the Turkish-speaking Republics will start today in Almaty, the capital of Kazakhstan, and last until Friday. Education and rehabilitationmodels for the visually- impaired will be discussed at the gathering, which will be coordinatedby the PrimeMinistry's General Directorate of Social Services and the Society for the Protection of Children.

    [11] FORESTRY MINISTER PROMISES AID TO AFFOREST TRNC

    Turkeywill provide labour to afforest the newly-bare 5,800-acreforest area in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) which wasrecently burned, Forestry Minister HasanEkinci said yesterday. Ekinci, who left for the TRNC after the press conference, said that the ministry would focus on5,800 fertile acres, although a total of 8,000 acres had been destroyed.

    [12] GUEST FOR THE CUSTOMS UNION

    Turkish Desk Chief of the EU, Serge Abou will arrive in Ankara todayand make important contacts on the customs union issue. At the meetings with Abou, who will stayin Ankara for two days,technical studies that the sides are obliged to carry out beforethe customs union goes into effect, will be reviewed./Hurriyet/

    [13] IRAN ENTERS IRAQ AND HITS REBEL CAMP WITH ROCKETS

    Iranian troops yesterdayblasted the country's main armed oppositiongroup at a base inside Iraq after slipping across the border, but caused no casualties, the People'sMujahedeen groupsaid. Revolutionary Guards hit Ashraf Camp with five 107 mm Katyusha rocketsafter staging the pre-dawn attack sevenkilometres from the camp, the Mujahedeen said in a statement.Other rockets landed outside the camp, which is eastof Baghdad and about 50 kilometres west of the border. The People's Mujahedeen National Liberation Army tookcontrol of the site where the attack was staged about 45 minutes later and seized rocket launchers, the group saidin a statement. Mujahedeenleader Massoud Rajavi told UN Secretary-General Boutros Ghali in a letter that the attack was "the 34th attack stagedby the Iranian regime against the Mujahedeen in Iraq since the start of 1993".The last Iranian attack against Ashraf camp was staged on October 19, 1994./Cumhuriyet/

    [14] TOURISTS POUR INTO ANTALYA

    Officials at Antalya Airport said that the number oftourists visitingAntalya during the first six months of 1995 was 82 % more than the same period last year.Tourism officials said thatthe hotels and holiday villages are 90 or 100 % full and added that they were expecting to pass the estimates forJuly and August./All papers/

    [15] EUROPEAN PRESS PRAISES TURKEY AS HOLIDAY SPOT

    Turkey and Turkish tourism continuesto be praised by the Europeanpress, the Anatolia news agency reported. Officials fromthe Tourism Ministry said that the weekly "Travel Magazine"in Belgium said that 72 % of Belgian tourists preferred Turkey for their summer holiday.Mugla's Marmaris, Icmelerand Fethiye districts were introduced in a program on Belgium's BRT-N TV channel which said that Turkey was the best buy in Europe for vacations.

    [16] CEM BECOMES CULTURE MINISTER

    IsmailCem, Istanbul deputy from the junior coalition RepublicanPeople's Party (CHP) became Turkey's new culture minister.The post had become vacant due to the resignation of Ercan Karakas./All papers/

    [17] TURKEY:"AI HAS LONG LOST ITS CREDIBILITY"

    Turkey, angered by a severe human rights reportfrom Amnesty International,retorted by saying that the London-based group had lost its credibility longago. "As far as claims of tortureare concerned, this organization has made so many exaggerated and false claims in the pastthat is no longer possibleto understand how many of its claims are true this time" Foreign Ministry Omer Akbel saidin a response to a question on the report.

    END

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