HIrgUr MUstemleke; Sanki Fiyasko Ha

[newsdesk_aps_nl at apsf.aps.nl]

From: newsdesk_aps_nl at apsf.aps.nl (newsdesk at aps.nl)
Subject: HIrgUr MUstemleke; Sanki Fiyasko Haberler, 10/2/95, 08:00 TSI


(1) Greece Faults EU-Turkey Plan

ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Greece on Thursday said it won't allow the European
Union to speed up a customs union with Turkey unless it receives further
assurances regarding membership talks with Cyprus.

"The position of the Greek government is negative. At the same time the
government detects the possibility to continue talks because we think there is
room for clearing up and improving the (EU) positions," government spokesman
Evangelos Venizelos said after a cabinet meeting.

Foreign ministers from the 15 EU nations on Monday had promised to open
membership talks with Cyprus six months after an institutional overhaul of the
EU is approved sometime in 1997. In return Greece would lift its veto on the
trade accord with Turkey. The EU ministers had hoped to clear up remaining
technical problems in negotiations with Turkey so that talks would end by
March
7, when the EU foreign ministers meet again.

Some of those problems are Turkey's human rights record and limits on the
free movement of Turkish citizens in the EU once the customs union becomes
operational.

In Ankara, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Murat
Karayalcin said he did not want the EU to connect the customs union accord
with Greece or other issues. He added that Turkey was negotiating with the EU
and not Greece. Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ferhat Ataman also said Turkey had
fulfilled its obligations for the accord and expected the EU to do likewise.

Venizelos said Premier Andreas Papandreou would send letters to his EU
counterparts outlining his government's objections to Monday's agreement. If
the objections are not addressed, Greece will not lift its veto. Sources close
to the meeting said Greece wants the EU to set a specific date for membership
talks with Cyprus.

Greece also wants the EU to begin the talks within six months of the EU's
institutional overhaul and provide protection for Greece's textile industry,
which is competitive with Turkey's. According to Venizelos, Greece also
objected to the "negative climate" that prevailed at Monday's foreign
ministers
meeting.

Novice European Affairs Minister Giorgos Alexandros Mangakis, who attended the
meeting, was sharply criticized by members of the ruling Socialist party and
the opposition for failing to secure a specific date for EU membership talks
with Cyprus. Many critics had called for his resignation.

Under the plan reached by the foreign ministers, the EU would also have
started
membership talks with Malta which, like Cyprus, applied in 1990 to join the
union.

The EU executive commission had insisted on an end to the division of Cyprus
before its membership could be contemplated.

(2) Greece rejects EU-Turkey customs union deal

By Dina Kyriakidou

ATHENS, Feb 9 (Reuter) - Greece rejected on Thursday a provisional agreement
on
a European Union customs union with Turkey, saying it wanted improvements in
the lucrative deal to bring its eastern neighbour closer to Europe.

"We studied the issue assiduously and the position of the Greek government is
negative," government spokesman Evangelos Venizelos told reporters after a
cabinet meeting called by Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou to review the
pact.
He said Greece would continue to veto the agreement unless it was improved.
"If Greek objections are not accepted, Greece's opposition will continue," he
said.

EU foreign ministers agreed in principle on Monday to go ahead with a customs
union with Turkey in return for setting a date to start talks with Cyprus on
joining the EU.

The agreement initially seemed to remove years of Greek objections to closer
EU-Turkey ties but Greece expressed reservations on Tuesday, saying it wanted
to study the issue. The deal has to be cleared by all EU member governments.

Venizelos listed several points that he said needed to be improved before
Athens could give its approval. They included more specific dates and
procedures on EU membership for Cyprus, less money offered to Ankara to cope
with the customs union and more aid to Greece's textile industry, expected to
suffer from closer EU-Turkey ties.

Both Ankara and Nicosia had welcomed news of the agreement, which was expected
to give a boost to Turkey's ailing economy and help to speed up a solution to
the Cyprus problem.

German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel told reporters on Monday there was a
good chance that a customs union with Turkey could be agreed by March 6.
"Greece has lifted its block on the customs union and the financial protocol
on
the understanding that, six months after the end of the (1996)
inter-governmental conference (on the Maastricht treaty), the European Union
will open negotiations with Cyprus," Kinkel said.

Closer EU-Turkey links have been blocked for years by the row between Athens
and Ankara over the island of Cyprus, divided since a 1974 Turkish invasion.
The Cyprus government believes both the Greek and the Turkish communities
would benefit from EU membership, but Turkey and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf
Denktash strongly disagree. Denktash, whose self-declared republic in northern
Cyprus is recognised only by Ankara, has threatened closer integration with
Turkey if Cyprus is allowed to submit a formal EU membership application.

(3) Turkey says Greek customs union veto "EU problem"

ANKARA, Feb 9 (Reuter) - Turkey said on Thursday that Greece's rejection of a
provisional EU-Turkey customs union deal was largely a problem for the
European
Union, and that Ankara would not be discussing the subject with Athens.

"We see it as a problem between Greece and the EU," Foreign Minister Murat
Karayalcin told Anatolian news agency after Greece had announced it had
rejected a provisional deal that would open the way for customs union between
Turkey and the EU.

"This is a development that must be seen as the internal affair of the group,"
he said. "Turkey is not in a position to individually evaluate the attitude of
all member countries." Foreign ministry spokesman Ferhat Ataman said in a
statement that the European Union had a responsibility to complete customs
union in accordance with a 1963 agreement.

Greece had initially agreed to the deal in exchange for setting a date for
talks to begin on Cyprus to join the EU but later expressed reservations,
saying it wanted to study the issue more. Venizelos said there was room for
improving the agreement and unless it was enhanced, Greece would continue to
oppose Turkey's customs union with the EU.

(4) Kinkel urges Greece to stop blocking Turkey accord

BONN, Feb 9 (Reuter) - German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel expressed "regret
and incomprehension: at Greece's decision on Thursday to keep blocking an EU
customs union with Turkey, saying EU members had already made big concessions
to Athens.

Greece had already agreed in principle to lift its veto on the deal,
apparently
ending years of objections to closer European Union ties with Turkey, in
return
for an EU commitment on a starting date for membership talks with Cyprus. But
on Thursday Athens backed off and demanded further improvements in the deal.

"Any change of individual elements will endanger the package as a whole,"
Kinkel said in a statement. "The partners in the EU have already gone a long
way to meet Greek interests. Germany played a decisive role in reaching a
compromise by setting aside its own positions... The proposed compromise must
not be endangered now."

Kinkel is one of the strongest advocates of pulling Ankara closer to the EU
with a customs union, arguing this will help stability in the Middle East and
stop secular Turkey drifting into the orbit of Islamic fundamentalism.

In giving Cyprus a commitment on membership talks, EU members have set aside
worries about the implications for the likely flood of applications from
eastern Europe and for the political future of the divided island.

(5) Belgium warns against isolating Turkey

BRUSSELS, Feb 9 (Reuter) - Belgium said on Thursday Turkey should be put under
pressure to respect human rights through political dialogue rather than
isolation by the European Union.

"The aim is not to isolate Turkey but to attain a fundamental improvement of
the human rights situation in that country," Foreign Minister Frank
Vandenbroucke was quoted as telling Belgium's parliament.

In a report in London on Tuesday, the international human rights organisation
Amnesty International accused Turkish government forces of daily abuses,
including torture, "disappearances" and extra-judicial executions.

Vandenbroucke said Belgium did not await the Amnesty International report to
remind Turkey of its duties concerning human rights. He noted that current
political dialogue with Turkey was not noncommittal. "He wants a thorough
assessment of the results (of the dialogue)," a foreign ministry statement
said.