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Turkish Press Review, 96-12-17Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs <http://www.mfa.gov.tr>CONTENTS
TURKISH PRESS REVIEWTUESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1996Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning. [01] ERBAKAN, CILLER OPENS TAPS FOR IRAQI OILPrime Minister Necmettin Erbakan and Foreign Minister Tansu Ciller on Monday symbolically turned the tap open at the Mediterranean terminal of the Iraq-Turkey pipeline after it remained shut for more than six years. Iraqi ambassador Rafi Dahham Mejwel al-Tikriti also attend the ceremony in the terminal adorned with Turkish and Iraqi flags.Addressing the ceremony at the Yumurtalik oil terminal near the port of Ceyhan, Erbakan said the terminal will not only be a terminal for Iraqi oil, but also for the oil from the Middle East, the Caspian and Central Asia. "The region is going to become an energy distribution center. Now a new era is beginning in which Turkey is going to be the center of the world," said Erbakan. Also speaking at the ceremony Foreign Minister Tansu Ciller said that Turkey's goal was to bring in oil from Azerbaijan and Central Asia through another pipeline. Energy Minister Recai Kutan said during the ceremony that the embargo had unjustly hit Turkey which had nothing to do with the issue. He said he hoped that the embargo would be totally lifted. /Milliyet,Sabah/ [02] DEMIREL TO PUSH FOR CLOSER ECONOMIC TIES WITH KAZAKHSTANTurkish President Suleyman Demirel met Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev on Monday in the Kazak capital Almaty and declared his hope for "eternal" relations with that country.The issue dominating the two-day official visit are considered to be: the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline, facilitating Turkish business venture in Kazakhstan and promoting cultural relations with Turkish-speaking central Asian countries. The Turkish president, speaking on the eve of the 5th anniversary of Kazakhstan's independence, congratulated the nation on the number of its achievements in such a short time and noted its importance in Central Asia. Demirel and the accompanying delegation will return to Turkey on Tuesday. /Milliyet,Sabah/ [03] CILLER TO RUSSIAToday, Turkish Foreign Minister Tansu Ciller departs to Russia on a visit during which Ankara's concern Moscow may sell missiles to Cyprus threatens to overshadow talks on joint energy projects."The energy ministry is working on increasing the capacity of the existing natural gas line between the two countries and given Turkey's growing natural gas needs, on building a news gas pipeline from Russia -- this will be on the agenda." foreign ministry sources reported./Cumhuriyet/ [04] TURKEY TO OPEN NUCLEAR PLANT TENDER TODAYTurkey will open a tender on Tuesday for its first nuclear power plant near the village of Akkuyu near the southern Turkish power plant near the village of Akkuyu near the southern Turkish coastal town of Mersin, the state-owned power authority TEAS said in a statement.TEAS said Energy and Natural Resources Minister Recai Kutan will hold a press conference on Tuesday morning to announce the details of the which will be published in the Official Gazette on Tuesday. Officials had earlier said the plant was expected to be built with a capacity of 1,200 MW or two equal units each having a capacity of 600 MW at an estimated total cost of $1.5 billion. [05] DENKTAS TURNED DOWN RIFKIND CALL FOR NEW GUARANTEE PLAN FOR CYPRUSThe Turkish REpublic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) on Monday rejected British Foreign Secretary Malcom Rifkind's proposal to "reinterpret the guarantorship" with respect to the Cyprus issue.Rauf Denktas, president of the TRNC, in reply to Rifkind's proposal to extend the guarantorship in a way that meets the demands of both communities, said that the agreement of guarantorship did not lead to any problems on the island. "On the contrary, it prevented the Greek invasion of the island and the annihilation of Cyprus Turks. It is a good system; there cannot be an alternative. We cannot give up on the guarantorship of Turkey because we cannot give up on the bsic rights granted to us in the 1960 agreements," said Denktas. Denktas also warned the European Union that if they continue to act with ignorance only southern Cyprus, not Cyprus as a whole would end up joining the EU, the Anatolia news agency reported. Speaking on Turkish Cypriot television Denktas said there was no such country as Cyprus, but a Northern and Southern Cyprus. /All papers/ [06] ANKARA WELCOMES CLINTON REPORT ON CYPRUSU.S. President Bill Clinton's report on Cyprus point out that it is the Greek Cypriots who are creating tension on the divided island, according to Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Omer Akbel. At his weekly press conference on Monday, Akbel said the U.S. presidential report, which looked at the events of August and September, blamed the tension on the Greel Cypriots. Akbel said the report mentioned that Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Rauf Denktas had called for bilateral talks between the leaders of two societies on the island and that this implied that it was the Greek Cypriots who did not want to negotiated./Milliyet/[07] AMBASSADOR LAKE SEES NO RISK FOR EUROPEAN INVESTORS IN TURKEYThe European Commission's representative in Ankara, Ambassador Michael Lake, dismissed European investors' unwillingness to invest in Turkey as founded and said Turkey carried no political risk for foreign capital. Lake met with Ahmet Uyanik, head of the Parliamentary commission on the State Economic Enterprises, on Monday to discuss the Turkish privatization program. "You should actively encourage European investors to come and invest in Turkey. Foreign trade has increased 80 percent in the past three years but there is need for more foreign investment," said Lake./All papers/[08] BIGGER NATO ROLE FOR TURKEYSince the end of the cold war, NATO has been extending its sphere of influence and with plans afoot to develop NATO nuclear strategy, it looks as though Turkey could well have its own area of influence increased.Within the framework of NATO expansion, Turkey is increasingly being seen as a vital barrier to "high risk" countries like Libya and Iran with growing responsibilities in the region. Britain's Independent newspaper points out that Turkey could have a "key role" in the specific plans that NATO has for future expansion. /Milliyet/ [09] TURKEY WELCOMES ATRUS CAMP CLOSURETurkish government officials have declared that Turkey welcomes the decision of the UN High Commission for Refugees to close down the Atrus refugee camp in northern Iraq.During a press meeting for foreign journalists in Ankara, Foreign Ministry spokesman Omer Akbel said that Turkey welcomed the decision and hoped that the camp would be closed down as soon as possible. /Sabah/ [10] GERMANY TAKES HARD LINE AGAINST PKKGerman authorities have declared that PKK terror organization cells operating in Germany will be forced to stop using weapons and their activities further restricted.This tougher line is seen as a response by the German authorities to a PKK letter sent to German Prime Minister Helmuth Kohl who has turned down a PKK request calling on him to mediate a new deal with Turkey. Even while Germany takes a hard line against the PKK, reports from Kazakhstan say that the PKK has opened a "Kurdish House" there. These so-called culture centres are known to be used by the PKK to direct operations in the regions where they are sited./Sabah/ [11] DRUG REPORTS FINGER PKKReports by the international Associated Press news agency show that the PKK terrorist organization has a huge share in the US drug market. The news agency describes the PKK as a terrorist organization responsible for many murders, and adds that it has a tight grip especially on heroin trafficking.Other reports also suggest that the PKK is one of the four leading world drug smuggling organizations with major connections to Afghanistan. /Sabah/ [12] JUSTICE MINISTER ASSURES THE EUROPEANSMinister for Justice Sevket Kazan has assured European parliamentarians that Turkey's new press laws will not lead to censorship or gag the press in defiance of democratic freedoms.Sevket Kazan said that any fears that press freedoms would be restricted were unfounded, and that debate in some European circles about the issue were needless. In a four page letter to the president of the European Parliament, Klaus Haensch, Kazan clarified the matter and extended assurances that Turkey was not about to restrict the press. /sabah/ [13] INDONESIAN ADMIRAL VISITS TURKEYIndonesian Naval Force Commander Vice Admiral Arief Kushariardi has arrived in Turkey for an official visit. He met yesterday with Turkish Naval Forces Commander Admiral Guven Erkaya. During the meeting issues related to bilateral cooperation in military training and the defence industry were discussed. /Cumhuriyet/[14] GREECE WILL BLOCK TURKEY'S WEU MEMBERSHIPGreek Defence Minister Akis Cohacopulos, who left yesterday for Brussels to participate in a NATO Defence Ministers meeting, discussed in a press meeting at Athens airport the possibilities for granting Turkey full WEU membership. Cohacopulos said that Greece was determined to block all Turkish efforts in this respect and that Greece would not change its former stance on this./Cumhuriyet/[15] TURKEY DISCUSSED AT EU-US SUMMITIn a summit meeting with EU Term Chairman Irish Prime Minister John Bruton and EU Chairman Jacques Santer, US President Bill Clinton said he was ready to exert every effort to resolve disagreements between Turkey and Greece. He urged Turkey and Greece to give up on insisting on bringing up former problems, and review possibilities for improving their relations. /Cumhuriyet/END Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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