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Turkish Press Review 96-05-28
From: Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs <http://www.mfa.gov.tr>
CONTENTS
[01] GHALI EXPECTED IN ANKARA BY THE WEEKEND
[02] SUNGURLU TO VISIT WASHINGTON
[03] TURKEY TO HOLD MILITARY EXERCISES IN AEGEAN
[04] TRIPARTITE MEETING URGES MORE CONTRIBUTIONS TO BOSNIA
[05] CROATIA WANTS MILITARY COOPERATION AGREEMENT
[06] TUSIAD TO OPEN OFFICE IN BRUSSELS
[07] ATHENS DEBATE ON AEGEAN ISSUE
[08] BAKU-CEYHAN PIPELINE PROJECT STILL ON THE AGENDA
TURKISH PRESS REVIEW
TUESDAY MAY 28, 1996
Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning
[01] GHALI EXPECTED IN ANKARA BY THE WEEKEND
UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali is expected to arrive
in Ankara sometime before the end of the coming weekend. Omer
Akbel, Foreign Ministry Spokesman, said during his weekly press
conference that Boutros-Ghali is expected to visit Ankara before
he goes on to the Habitat II conference in Istanbul. Akbel said
that the secretary- general will visit President Suleyman Demirel
and Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz during his stay. /All papers/
[02] SUNGURLU TO VISIT WASHINGTON
Defence Minister Oltan Sungurlu and Deputy Chief of General Staff
Gen.Cevik Bir will visit Washington this week. They are expected
to discuss modalities of Provide Comfort, the US-led allied
operation based in Turkey for the protection of the northern
Iraqi Kurds. Ankara has for some time been complaining about the
manner in which Provide Comfort has been operating, especially in
terms of the security headaches this has created for Turkey in
southeastern Anatolia. It has been seeking a change in the rules
of engagement of the operation. Turkey's main concern is that
Provide Comfort has been perpetuating an authority vacuum in
northern Iraq which the Kurdish groups in the region, fighting
among themselves, have been unable to fill. This authority
vacuum, Ankara says, has been used by the Kurdistan Workers'
Party (PKK) to stage strikes against Turkey, where it is outlawed
because of the bloody separatist campaign it has been waging for
12 years. /All papers/
[03] TURKEY TO HOLD MILITARY EXERCISES IN AEGEAN
The Efes-96 maneuvers of the Turkish Armed Forces started today
in the Aegean Sea, chief of general staff headquarters said in a
written statement yesterday. The air and sea exercises, which
will continue until June 14, are part of standard annual
operations, the statement said. International observers from
several countries have been invited to watch the exercises, which
will take place in international air space and waters. /All
papers/
[04] TRIPARTITE MEETING URGES MORE CONTRIBUTIONS TO BOSNIA
A meeting of Turkish, Bosnian and Croat foreign ministers urged
larger international contributions for the reconstruction and
rehabilitation of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Foreign Ministers Emre
Gonensay of Turkey, Mate Granic of Croatia and Jadranko Prlic of
Bosnia-Herzegovina came together yesterday to hold regular
tripartite consultations on regional developments. They came
together early in the morning for a meeting among the foreign
ministers, then continued on to talks between the delegations of
the two countries. Later, the three foreign ministers were
received by Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz and President Suleyman
Demirel. The meeting is also a preparatory step for the
presidential meeting between the three countries before the
Bosnian elections.
A joint statement made after their talks said that all
participants agreed that the federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina
"represented the foundation of lasting peace". They also stressed
that Bosnia- Herzegovina should be maintained as a "multicultural
and multiethnic state of its constituent nations and as a
pluralistic democratic society". The statement urged both sides
"to continue vigorously the Federation-building process at all
levels" and urged the settlement of remaining problems before the
next session of the Federal Parliament.
It was also decided at the meeting that presidents of the three
countries would come together before elections in September,
ferry services would be provided between Mersin and Bosnia, there
would be flights between Zagreb-Sarajevo-Istanbul, the Turkish
Cooperation and Development Agency (TIKA) would open a bureau in
Zagreb, a tripartite ambassadors committee would observe local
elections to be held in Mostar in June, and Turkey and Croatia
would be represented in the Federation Implementation Committee
set up in Washington. Gonensay confirmed Turkey's support for
Bosnia and Croatia to be involved in Euro-Atlantic integration
and the Council of Europe, the statement said.
/Hurriyet-Cumhuriyet/
[05] CROATIA WANTS MILITARY COOPERATION AGREEMENT
Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic, who came to Ankara
yesterday for a meeting between Turkish, Bosnian and Croatian
foreign ministers, said that they desired to sign a military
cooperation and training agreement with Turkey in the near
future. Pointing out that his country had signed a similar
agreement with Hungary last week, Granic said that they were
ready to sign such agreements with all friendly countries.
Croatian Foreign Minister Granic said that during the meeting
with his Turkish Counterpart, Emre Gonensay, they had discussed
the signing of military, cultural, scientific, tourism and
technological cooperation agreements, and he added that a planned
official visit to Ankara by Croatian President Franjo Tudjman was
also taken up during the meeting. /Cumhuriyet/
[06] TUSIAD TO OPEN OFFICE IN BRUSSELS
Turkish Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association TUSIAD's
European Union Representative Bureau will be opened in the
Belgian capital of Brussels, which is Europe's capitol in a
sense, on 4 June 1996. Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz and
representatives from the EU as well as from Foreign Ministry and
international missions stationed in Brussels will attend the
opening ceremony. TUSIAD EU Representative Bureau, which will be
active in its own building in the "European District", aims to be
a modern "movement base" for the Turkish business world in the
heart of Europe. The EU Representative Bureau of TUSIAD will not
only be working together with EU organizations but also is
prepared in such a way to be an ersatz "Turkish Economy
Information Centre" for political, economic and academic circles
of Europe and the European press. /All papers/
[07] ATHENS DEBATE ON AEGEAN ISSUE
Representatives from Turkey, the US and Greece yesterday debated
the question of stability in the Aegean Sea during a meeting on
"Foreign Policy and the Media." Although most of the speakers
were positive in their assessments of the situation, former Greek
deputy foreign minister Yanis Kapsis tried to fan the flames of
Greek enmity towards Turkey.
Turkey was represented by Ilter Turkmen, Hikmet Cetin and Nazmi
Akiman. US representative Richard Holbrooke also defended Turkish
policies in the region as they were outlined by Hikmet Cetin as
he reviewed the historical background to the circumstances now
obtaining in the region. /Milliyet/
[08] BAKU-CEYHAN PIPELINE PROJECT STILL ON THE AGENDA
Speaker of the Azeri Parliament Resul Guliyev, has said that the
project for an oil pipeline between Baku and Ceyhan on Turkey's
Mediterranean coast would never drop from the agenda. The
Anatolia news agency, reporting from Baku, quoted Guliyev as
telling reporters in the Azeri capital that it was not possible
to use only Russian territory to transport oil from the outfields
of Guneshli and Chiraq. Responding to a question, Guliyev said a
recent agreement between Russia and Kazakhstan, which forseees
Kazakh oil being transported to the Russian Black Sea port of
Novorossiysk, did not adversely effect the prospects for a
pipeline between Baku and Ceyhan. Arguing to the contrary,
Guliyev said that the Russian-Kazakh accord had made the
Baku-Ceyhan project even more important. /All papers/
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