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Turkish Press Review, 96-09-23Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs <http://www.mfa.gov.tr>CONTENTS
TURKISH PRESS REVIEWMONDAY SEPTEMBER 23, 1996Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning[01] CILLER IN NEW YORKForeign Minister Tansu Ciller is to meet with fellow ministers, among them the Iranian and Iraqi foreign ministers, during this week's sessions of the UN General Assembly in New York. Ciller will meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati and Iraqi Foreign Minister Muhammad Said el-Sahaf on Wednesday. She will also have talks with the foreign ministers of Britain, Germany, Spain and Israel.Tansu Ciller will address the General Assembly on September 30 and will meet UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali on the same day. The Cyprus question is expected to come up during their meeting. With the European Union ministers, Ciller will be making efforts to surmount the decision of the European Parliament to freeze financial aid to Turkey. Ciller's talks with the US Secretary of State, Warren Christopher, are expected to center around policy towards Iraq, implementation of the UN's food-for-oil resolution and Turkey's fight against PKK terrorism. /All papers/ [02] EU FUND FREEZE: US IS IN TURKEY'S CORNERThe State Department came out strongly in support of Turkey on Friday regarding the European Union (EU) resolution which froze all financial aid to Turkey. "The US hopes that this resolution of the European Parliament does not interfere with and signal a change in the relationship between Turkey and EU" department spokesman Nicholas Burns said. Thus the Clinton administration once again made it clear that even if the whole of Europe thinks otherwise, for Washington, Turkey continues to be a reliable and important ally with crucial security needs. Recently, Washington again supported Turkey's decision to build a "security zone" inside northern Iraq, although most European and Arab countries roundly criticized Turkey for the idea."We think that Turkey needs to have institutional links in Europe" Burns concluded. "Turkey is a very important country for all of us and we are strongly encouraging the EU to have positive relations with Turkey, and to make those relations stable". Concerning human rights accusations the EU has directed at Turkey, Burns noted: "We understand that Turkey has security concerns on its borders, for instance, and I think some of the problems may emanate from those activities". /All papers/ [03] SECURITY FORCES KILL 37 PKK TERRORISTSSecurity forces killed 37 separatists of the PKK terrorist organization during several operations this past weekend in the Southeast. Three state-employed village guards died in the clashes. According to the office of the emergency rule region, in the last two days' operations to sweep PKK militants from the region, 20 terrorists were killed near Sirnak's Beytussebap district, eight in rural areas of Hakkari, five near Van, two near Elazig and two in the rural areas of Tunceli. Five terrorists were also captured in operations, with two surrendering to security forces.Meanwhile, late Saturday night, PKK terrorists attacked an Etibank Ferro-Chrome plant, which is a privately-owned firm near Elazig's Alacakaya district in eastern Turkey, killing five people, including four special security guards, and injuring five including four soldiers who rushed to the area to help the security forces shortly after the clashes broke out. The injured were taken to a hospital in Elazig. Security forces have launched a wide-scale operation to capture the terrorists involved. /Cumhuriyet/ [04] TURCO-KAZAKH CULTURE PROTOCOLA cultural cooperation protocol between Turkey and Kazakhstan has been signed by Turkish Culture Minister Ismail Kahraman and Kazakh Culture Minister Talgat Mamasev. Delivering a speech at the signing ceremony in the Topkapi Palace, Kahraman said that they had signed the cultural cooperation protocol for 1996-1998 as the culture ministers of two countries coming from the same origins, and added that ties between the two countries would be further developed. Mamasev, for his part, said that Kazakhstan had established its first diplomatic relations with Turkey after gaining its independence. Mamasev, accompanied by noted Kazakh artists and scientists, invited the Turkish public to share in the activities of "Kazakhstan Cultural Days" in Istanbul. /Cumhuriyet/[05] CHINA: NEW TARGET IN MARKET RESEARCHAccompanied by a Turkish delegation, State Minister Ayfer Yilmaz has begun contacts in Beijing. Yilmaz, who will make bilateral contacts with the Chinese Trade Ministry and other government officials, will hold meetings designed to develop Turco-Chinese commercial relations. /Milliyet/[06] NEW CYPRUS INITIATIVESBritain, Germany and France are taking up the initiative in Cyprus in a new move to resolve the problems there. The Greek side has applied for membership in the European Union, but the three top EU member countries want to make sure that northern Cyprus also has a voice in the negotiations.President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), Rauf Denktas, however has so far shown no support for the three country move to develop the situation in Cyprus. Denktas does not agree with the way that the Greek community on the island has gone ahead with an application to the EU without prior consultation with the TRNC, and demands that the TRNC has an equal share in talks involving the future of the two communities on the island. /All papers/ [07] SIMITIS WANTS TO AVOID TENSION WITH TURKEYGreek Prime Minister Kostas Simitis declared over the weekend that he wanted to avoid creating further tensions with Turkey. Simitis has come out against hard-line nationalists trying to foment trouble with Turkey.During his election talks, Simitis said that he had, and would continue to exert every effort to avoid a serious clash with Turkey. Said Simitis "We do not want bad feeling with Turkey. We will solve our problems according to the legal rules." /Sabah/ [08] A NEW START TO TURKEY-GREECE RELATIONSThe French Le Monde newspaper, suggests in an assessment of the results of the weekend Greek elections, that relations between Turkey and Greece will now improve.Le Monde notes that election winner Kostas Simitis will steer clear of the extremist nationalism that has marred Greek attitudes towards Turkey. The paper says that if Turkey accepts the present limits and does nothing to upset the balance in the region, then Simitis will likely toe the line and use the opportunity to apply policies to improve relations. /Sabah/ [09] ROBOT PLANES TO HUNT DOWN PKKTurkish military forces have started to deploy pilotless planes to pinpoint PKK terrorist strongpoints in the southeastern regions of the country. Now that a six-month training period has been completed, six of the planes are now being used to maintain a non-stop watch over PKK movements.The planes, used especially for surveillance, fly from Batman airport and stay in the air continuously for forty hours, operating at a height of 25 thousand feet. The pilotless planes target PKK camps and then help Turkish security to home in on them. Officials stress the point that lives are not put at risk by using this system. /Sabah/ [10] IRAN PROMISES ANTI-PKK SUPPORTIranian security officials have promised that they will cooperate with Turkey to eradicate PKK terrorism in the region. In a report in the Tehran Ittilaat newspaper, Iranian security chief Huseyin Mutehher said that in response to requests from Turkey, Iranian forces had been involved in twenty operations against the PKK during the last eleven months. He noted that this confirmed Iran's promise to support Turkey's efforts to end PKK violence. /Sabah/[11] OVER 32,000 VEHICLES REGISTERED IN JULYState Institute of Statistics (DIE) figures which were released on Friday show that a total of 32,065 motor vehicles were registered in July, while 731 were removed from the list. Cars were the most common type of vehicle registered, comprising 61.8 percent of the total. Vans followed at 13.3 %, then motorbikes at 12.1 %, heavy equipment and construction machinery at 8.3 % and finally, lorries at 4.5 %.179,400 vehicles have been registered during the 1996 January-july period while 4,675 have been removed from the registration list. During the same period in 1995, these totals were 153,720 and 5,206, respectively. /All papers/ [12] NEW BANK IN TURKEYThe Turkish government has approved the establishment of a new Saudi American Bank T.A.S. to operate in Turkey. The bank, with a capital of TL 2 trillion, will deal with banking activities, according to the authorization given by the Council of Ministers. The decision was published in today's Official Gazette. After the officially required establishment procedures are completed, the balance sheet of the already existing Istanbul branch of the Saudi American Bank, based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, will be transferred to the newly established bank. /All papers/[13] ITALIAN PARLIAMENT DISCUSSES TURKEYItalian deputy foreign minister and senator of the coalition partner Democratic Left Party, Piero Fassino, said that Italy aimed at following a productive policy with Turkey to promote Turkey's economic development. Fassino commented on a proposition about Turkey submitted to the Italian Parliament by two members from the North Union, one from the Greens Party and one from the Communist Party. "Italy chooses to establish dialogue with Ankara instead of following an isolationist policy" he said. /All papers/END Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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