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