IPS:TURKEY: Summit 'unity' highligh

[PeaceNet Middle East Team]

From: <pnmideast>
Subject: IPS:TURKEY: Summit 'unity' highlights...

/* Written 12:03 am  Nov 27, 1992 by newsdesk at igc.apc.org in igc:ips.englibrary */
/* ---------- "TURKEY: Summit 'unity' highlights d" ---------- */
Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Area: Africa, southern
Title: TURKEY: Summit 'unity' highlights disagreements


an inter press service feature

by nadire mater

ankara, nov 24 (ips) -- turkey must look forward to a western-
sponsored summit on the future of iraq to restore some of the
credibility lost when its own regional summit backfired, political
analysts believe.

for the controversial conference involving turkey, syria and iran
in ankara earlier this month, which rejected the partitioning of
neighbouring iraq, was a ''farce'', said iskender savasir, of
turkey's bilar open university.

''turkish administration's policies are bound to be self-
contradictory,'' said savasir. ''they start an operation in
northern iraq, at the same time as they call for a summit to
preserve the territorial integrity of iraq. looked at from this
perspective, the summit was a farce.''

all three countries have a sizable kurdish population and the
summit followed the kurds' declaration of a federal state in iraq.
saudi arabia bowed to u.s. pressure and turned down an invitation
to join the summit, but is expected to attend a second meeting in
february next year.

meanwhile britain has called for an alternative summit involving
the us, britain, france and turkey. this western  summit is
expected to take place in the near future.

the ankara summit ended with a joint statement from turkish
foreign minister, hikmet cetin, saying;  ''the territorial
integrity of iraq is important for all three countries. any
attempt to divide it will have negative  effects on the peace and
the stability of the region.''

and in a clear rejection of kurdish independence aspirations he
added: ''the prospective political structure of iraq can only be
determined by the whole of the iraqi people, in accordance with
democratic principles, human rights and the unity of the
country.''

yasar kaya, journalist on the daily 'ozgur gundem' told ips:
''turkey was after a regional pact with iran and syria and even
saudi arabia in order to prevent a kurdish uprising.

the turkish venture was born dead because it did not have u.s.
support. and the west as a whole was against what they observed as
an attempt at non-western regional solidarity.'' (more/ips)

turkey: summit 'unity' highlights disagreements(2-e)

turkey: summit (2)

however, gungor mengi, chief columnist of the daily 'sabah'
believes the military operation together with the diplomatic
''success'' of the summit provides an ideal opportunity to
implement positive policies towards the kurdish population.

faik bulut, an analyst on middle eastern affairs argued that
while the summit and its declarations gave the appearance of
unity, the reality was very different.

''although there was an  outer impression of a consensus among
the participants in the summit, the inner contradictions have
grown. a common declaration against an 'independent kurdish state'
is not a diplomatic success for turkey.''

in fact turkey was seen to be hypocritical, he said, and will
would be viewed by the west as unreliable. ministers at the summit
also denounced terrorism and agreed to cooperate against
terrorists, but there were no concrete proposals for either this
initiative or preventing the break-up of iraq.

abdurrahman dilipak, an islamic analyst said: ''the ankara summit
was an attempt by turkey to appease her neighbours after the
operations in northern iraq. however the withdrawal of saudi
arabia from the summit and iran's doubts concerning the turkish
military deployment on the south-eastern border led to a dead end.

''the regional powers believe that turkey is a bogey of the u.s.
the summit has resulted not with a consensus but with growing
scepticism, which is totally against turkey's intentions.''

iraqi kurdish leaders were refused permission to attend the
summit where the foreign ministers agreed that the kurdish
parliament at erbil ''is not  representative enough''.

bulut added: ''a new period of distrust has opened in relations
between ankara, erbil, teheran, damascus and washington. turkey
wished to play the right card but met with an undesirable
result.'' (end/ips/ip/rp/mt/92)