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Turkish Press Review, 98-04-02
From: Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs <http://www.mfa.gov.tr>
02.04.98
Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning
CONTENTS
[01] CEM IN PAKISTAN
[02] "TURKEY-TRNC FEDERATION"
[03] WESTERN PAPERS REFLECT EUROPEAN CONCERN OVER TURKEY-TRNC CLOSENESS
[04] CALL TO GREECE
[05] HOLBROOKE TO CYPRUS
[06] KARADAYI TO GREECE
[07] TURKEY CONGRATULATES KOCARIAN
[08] 296 PKK TERRORISTS KILLED OVER THE LAST THREE MONTHS
[09] ELECTRONIC TRADE SEMINAR
[10] 220 REFUGEES DETAINED IN ITALY
[11] EOKA AND PKK HAND-IN-HAND
[12] THY MONOPOLY OVER TURKEY-DENMARK FLIGHTS
[13] GREEK DEFENSE MINISTER IN MOSCOW
[14] PARLIAMENT APPROVES DEAL WITH RUSSIA ON NATURAL GAS TRANSPORTATION
[15] UN's KINDNESS TO ITS MUSLIM EMPLOYEES
[01] CEM IN PAKISTAN
Nawaz Shariff, Pakistani Prime Minister, received yesterday Turkish
Foreign Minister Ismail Cem, who is currently paying an official visit
to Pakistan. Addressing a statement to the Anatolia news agency
correspondent after the meeting, Nawaz Shariff said that Pakistan wishes
to improve relations with Turkey in the fields of economy, defense,
politics and culture. Cem also met with Ishak Dar, Pakistani Minister
of Trade. Cem will proceed to Turkmenistan after meeting today with
Cafer Ikbal, Pakistani Deputy Speaker of the Parliament and Sertac Aziz,
Minister of Finance.
[02] "TURKEY-TRNC FEDERATION"
Turkish State Minister responsible for Turkish Republic of Northern
Cyprus (TRNC), Sukru Sina Gurel, showed harsh reaction to the
negotiations between the European Union (EU) and Greek Cyprus when he
said yesterday that "Everybody should know that the island of Cyprus
cannot be separated from Turkey. Turkish Cypriots cannot be reduced to
a minority in a night. Turkey cannot and will not let such an attitute
prevail." Minister Gurel added that all the agreements between Turkey
and TRNC up until today would carry the two sides towards the formation
of a federation. /Cumhuriyet/
[03] WESTERN PAPERS REFLECT EUROPEAN CONCERN OVER TURKEY-TRNC CLOSENESS
Leading newspapers of the Western press, including the Washington
Post, the Daily Telegraph, the Financial Times, the Guardian and the
German "Suddeutsche Zeitung", in their previous day's issues, all
included comments on the intensifying cooperation between Turkey and the
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). The articles evaluated this
accelerating closeness between the two countries as a step towards
integration. The Washington Post, in its editorial, criticised the EU
by stating that the EU had wasted an opportunity to ease the tension
between Turkey and Greece and also between Greek Cypriots and Turkish
Cypriots, by following a policy which ignored Turkey and the TRNC. "Now
'war' speculations have started up again and US diplomacy is being
called on to avert possible unpleasant situation. The UN, at least,
could have been more cautious in its enlargement process," it said. The
Guardian considered the latest occurences as "intensifying the division
on the island." /Hurriyet/
[04] CALL TO GREECE
German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel has made a special call to
Greece saying: "Within the structure of the European Union (EU) Athens
should abandon its policy of preventing financial aid to Turkey. Greece
should therefore, consider taking a step back."
On the other hand, Kinkel wants Turkey to attend EU membership
negotiations, and added that the door to Europe was still open to
Turkey. /Sabah/
[05] HOLBROOKE TO CYPRUS
Richard Holbrooke, special representative of the U.S.
administration, will go to Cyprus tomorrow. Diplomatic circles report
that Holbrooke will try to persuade the leaders of the two communities
on the island to start UN brokered negotiations. /Sabah/
[06] KARADAYI TO GREECE
Chief of General Staff Ismail Hakki Karadayi will go to Athens in
order to attend a West European Union (WEU) meeting between 6-7 April.
Ways to improve the operational ability of the WEU will be on the agenda
of the meeting, report officials. After the WEU meeting in Athens, WEU
Defense Ministers will meet in Greek island of Rhodes on 11-12 April.
/Cumhuriyet/
[07] TURKEY CONGRATULATES KOCARIAN
Turkey has congratulated Robert Kocarian who won the recent
elections in Armenia and called on him to leave his hard line attitude
towards the Nagorno-Karabakh problem, and work instead to find a
solution to the issue. Foreign Ministry spokesman Necati Utkan said
that the Nagorno-Karabakh issue demanded an immediate solution and that
Kocarian should take positive steps towards finding a peaceful result.
/Cumhuriyet/
[08] 296 PKK TERRORISTS KILLED OVER THE LAST THREE MONTHS
By the end of military operations in the southeast region of Turkey
in the first three months of 1998, 296 PKK terrorists have been killed.
According to security forces officials, recently there have been serious
divisions in the PKK organization. The cross-border operations have
extensively damaged the logistic support system of the PKK.
/Cumhuriyet/
[09] ELECTRONIC TRADE SEMINAR
A seminar on "Electronic Trade" will be held today within the
framework of the Economic Development Foundation's (IKV)-Information
Network Project Education Activities. Many Turkish and foreign
officials including IKV Brussels representative Haluk Nuray and EU
Commission representative for the Industry General Directorate
Responsible for the Eastern Mediterranean, Karel Uyttendaele, will
deliver speeches during the seminar when the electronic trade concept in
the developing world economy, legal aspects of electronic trade in the
EU and the role of the Chambers of Industry and Commerce in the European
electronic trade will be examined. /Milliyet/
[10] 220 REFUGEES DETAINED IN ITALY
Yesterday, 220 refugees were detained on the southeastern coast of
Italy. According to a statement made by the police, 39 of the refugees
were Turkish. /Milliyet-Cumhuriyet/
[11] EOKA AND PKK HAND-IN-HAND
The 43rd anniversary of the EOKA terrorist organization, which
supports the integration of Cyprus with Greece, was celebrated yesterday
in the Greek Cypriot Community. Greek Cypriot Leader Glafkos Klerides
also attended the celebrations. Meanwhile, it is reported that EOKA
together with the PKK is about to carry out attacks against Turkish
missions abroad. /Milliyet/
[12] THY MONOPOLY OVER TURKEY-DENMARK FLIGHTS
Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) will completely delete daily flights
from Copenhagen to Istanbul as of today. Turkish Airlines (THY) will
now be the only company to fly directly from Copenhagen to Turkey. This
will therefore, increase the THY market share in Denmark. /Milliyet/
[13] GREEK DEFENSE MINISTER IN MOSCOW
Russian Defense Minister, Igor Sergeyev, said yesterday that he was
sure that Russian-made S-300 missiles will win bids for missiles put out
by Greece. Yesterday Sergeyev met with Greek Defense Minister Akis
Cuhacopulos, who is paying an official visit to Moscow. During the
meeting, military and technical cooperation between the two countries
was taken up. Russian Head of State, Boris Yeltsin, has already
declared that S-300 missiles will definitely be sold to the Greek
Cypriots.
Russia is participating in bidding for missile sales to Greece with
S-300 missiles, while the US is pushing for the sale with Patriot
missiles. The result of the bidding will be announced on 15 May.
/Milliyet/
[14] PARLIAMENT APPROVES DEAL WITH RUSSIA ON NATURAL GAS TRANSPORTATION
Parliament has approved a recent natural gas transportation deal
with Russia, which plans to transport Russian natural gas by a pipeline
to be constructed under the Black Sea. In accordance with the agreement
between BOTAS, the official Turkish oil and natural gas transportation
board, and Russian Gazprom, the pipeline's construction will begin in
2000. By means of the pipeline, the purchase of an additional 16
billion cubic metres of natural gas will be assured until 2007.
/Hurriyet/
[15] UN's KINDNESS TO ITS MUSLIM EMPLOYEES
The United Nations General Council has declared that the UN will
recognize two major muslim religious celebrations by closing for the
holiday periods, following a proposal by nearly 100 muslim countries and
despite objections from some non-muslim countries, including US
permanent representative, Bill Richardson, who claimed that this
decision was not in harmony with the secular structure of the UN.
/Hurriyet/
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