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Turkish Press Review, 97-03-11Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs <http://www.mfa.gov.tr>CONTENTS
TURKISH PRESS REVIEWTUESDAY, MARCH 11, 1997Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning. [01] TURKEY-EU RELATIONS UNDER DEBATEControversy over Turkey's future with the European Union (EU) has again flared up following comments by Christian Democrat Party leaders who said last week that Turkey was not a suitable candidate for membership in the EU.President Suleyman Demirel said yesterday that the EU would not benefit by pushing Turkey out of the EU family. He noted that 34 years ago the Europeans had signed the Ankara Agreement because they wanted Turkey in the Union. "Now the situation appears to be different" said Demirel, who warned that action against Turkey could only lead to problems for the Europeans. Commenting on the increase of propaganda against Turkey now so evident in some European quarters, Demirel said that Europe had made Turkey a vital member of NATO, sharing important responsibilities. But now there was a change in attitudes and certain factions wanted to isolate Turkey. Debate on just where Turkey's future lies in relation to the EU will continue all week as the European Parliament takes up the issue. The word from Holland is more encouraging: Officials there say that Holland is ready to act on Turkey's behalf, and Belgium too has declared that it supports Turkey's membership in the EU. EU officials appear to agree that religious differences are trivial in comparison to economic problems and issues involving human rights. Top Turkish government representatives are about to embark on a tour of European EU member countries to try and set matters straight and drum up more support for Turkey's full membership in the EU. /All papers/ [02] TURKISH AND EU DIPLOMACY HEATS UPCarey Cavanaugh, a U.S. diplomat heading the office of Southern European Affairs, is on a trip to leading European capitals to hold talks on Cyprus as well as Turkish-European Union relations. Diplomatic sources said the purpose of the visit was to consult on Turkish-EU relations, which have become tense following a recent Christian Democrat Party statement questioning whether Turkey would ever attain full membership in the European Union.[03] GERMAN FM KINKEL TO VISIT TURKEYGerman Foreign Minister, Klaus Kinkel, is due to visit Ankara on March 25. During a three-day visit he will meet President Suleyman Demirel, Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan and Foreign Minister Tansu Ciller, to discuss Turkish-EU relations as well as a number of issues concerning Turkey and Germany.After his meeting a Greek Cypriot representative, Alekos Mihailides in Bonn, Kinkel said in a later written statement that the Cyprus issue should be solved within a short period of time and only after that could the full-membership of Greek Cyprus to the European Union (EU) could be discussed. Kinkel added that it was necessary to find a solution acceptable to the two communities on the island./Cumhuriyet/ [04] NORTHERN IRAQI PEACE COMMITTEE TO HOLD FIRST SESSIONWith tension in northern Iraq increasing rapidly, a high-level coordination committee will come together in Ankara on Tuesday to discuss the northern Iraqi peace movement. The committee, made up of representatives of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), and the Turkmen Front, will look at exactly how to implement the agreement reached between the parties in Ankara on January 15. The sponsors of the meeting, Britain, the United States and Turkey, are expected to press for the establishment of a temporary united regional government which would be responsible for holding elections.[05] BRITISH ENVOY HANNAY TO MEET CYPRIOT LEADERSSir David Hannay, Britain's special envoy to Cyprus, will travel to Cyprus today to negotiate with officials from the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) and Southern Cyprus, the Anatolia news agency reported. Hannay will complete his report on Cyprus, which he began during his last visit to the island, when negotiations are finished this week. TRNC President Rauf Denktas and Southern Cyprus leader Glafkos Clerides are both scheduled to meet with Hannay twice.[06] KALEMLI TO VISIT TURKISH SPEAKING REPUBLICSThe speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TGNA), Mustafa Kalemli will start a 10-day tour today that will include Turkmenistan, Kazakhistan, Kyrygzstan, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan. The Kalemli led delegation will return Turkey on 20 March./Milliyet/[07] CILLER TO FINLANDTurkish Foreign Minister, Tansu Ciller is preparing a tour to Europe to discus Turkey's membership in the European Union (EU). With this aim she will visit to Finland on March 14 for talks on Turkish-EU relations and ask for support for Turkey. Ciller will return home on 15 March. It is also expected that Tansu Ciller will visit Portugal and the Netherlands to attend the EU Countries foreign ministers meeting within this month./Hurriyet/[08] FLIGHTS BETWEEN TURKEY, ARMENIAArmenian Airways is starting flights between Yerevan and Trabzon. The flights are scheduled on every Monday with YAK-40 type passanger planes. The planes have a 32 passenger capacity./Hurriyet/[09] RUSSIAN NATURAL GAS TO ISRAEL VIA TURKEYIt was noted that during the the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Moscow which started yesterday, discussions with Russian authorities to buy Russian oil occupied a lot of time. Israel and Russia will discuss a natural-gas transportation project which foresees transferring Russian natural gas to the Mediterranean via Turkey and to transport it to Israel's Ashdod harbour by constructing a pipeline under the sea./Milliyet/[10] VISITING IRANIAN FM INVITES DEMIREL TO OIC SUMMITIranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayeti arrived in Ankara on Monday for a two-day visit bringing with him an invitation, from Iranian President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, asking President Suleyman Demirel to attend a summit of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) in December in Tehran. On Monday, Velayeti met with Demirel, Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan and Foreign Minister Tansu Ciller. After speaking to Ciller, a meeting which lasted for 15 minutes, Velayeti told reporters they had discussed bilateral and regional matters. "We believe that we have to cooperate not only on bilateral issues but also on regional issues," Velayeti said./Milliyet/[11] PKK INVOLVED IN DRUG TRAFFICKINGAccording to a report by the Drug Trafficking Geopolitics Observatory based in Paris, the PKK terrorist organization is involved in drug trafficking in Europe. The terrorists are using Romania as a base for smuggling drugs into Europe, it was noted in a new Observatory report.On the other hand, in operations in southeastern Anatolia during the last three days, 49 PKK terrorists were killed. In operations initiated following the confessions of a PKK terrorist caught by the security forces, a drug and arms smuggling net in Yuksekova, Hakkari was traced and broken up. In addition, military officials announced that more than 100 terrorists were killed and another 180 injured in attacks against PKK camps in northern Iraq on February 14. /All papers/ [12] INVESTMENT PROPOSAL BY SHELLFuel oil giant Shell has extended to the government a proposal for new energy investments worth $6 billion. In consortium with Turkish Botas and some US companies, Shell is planning to carry to Turkey natural gas from Qatar, Turkmen and Iran. Shell is also willing to undertake the marketing of the natural gas in Europe. If the project materializes, Turkey will become one of the energy centers of the world./Cumhuriyet/END Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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