HIrgUr MUstemleke; Sanki Fiyasko Ha

[root at newsdesk.aps.nl]

From: newsdesk at newsdesk.aps.nl (Newsdesk Amsterdam)
Subject: Re: HIrgUr MUstemleke; Sanki Fiyasko Haberler, 16/2/95, 08:00 TSI
Reply-To: root at newsdesk.aps.nl



(1) Turkey ready to talk water and security with Syria

By Ayse Sarioglu

ANKARA, Feb 15 (Reuter) - Turkey is willing to discuss water supplies to
Syria and its own demands for security against rebel Kurds in an overall bid
to improve relations between Ankara and Damascus, a foreign ministry
spokesman said on Wednesday.

"From the very beginning, Turkey has not formed a link between the water issue
and its expectations on fighting terrorism," ministry spokesman Ferhat Ataman
said. "But as we have always said, we see benefits in dealing with all issues,
including water and fighting terrorism in good will and mutual understanding,"
he told a news briefing. Ataman was responding to speculation in the Turkish
press of imminent improvement in relations between the two neighbours.

In an uneasy balance that has prevailed for years, Syria wants Turkey to
increase the amount of water it gets from the Euphrates river, which originates
in Turkey, while Ankara wants to see an end to Syrian sanctuary for the
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebel group.

Turkey lets flow a minimum of 500 cubic meters of water per second from the
Euphrates, vital for Syrian agriculture and power generation. It denies any
intention of using water as a weapon against Syria but refuses to commit itself
to an unlimited supply for Syria as its own regional need grows. Ataman said
about 900 cubic meters had been flowing per second across the border recently.

The two countries have not formally discussed the water issue since an
inconclusive meeting in July, 1990.

Tensions have eased since the onset of the Middle East peace process. In 1992,
Syria closed a major training camp of the PKK in Lebanon's Bekaa valley which
it controls and promised Ankara to curb PKK activity on its soil.

On Tuesday night Turkish troops killed three armed militants as they tried to
enter Turkey from Syria, officials said. Turkish security officials say Syrian
Kurds fight in PKK ranks but they do not imply any government involvement. More
than 14,000 people have died in Turkey since the PKK launched its separatist
war in 1984.

(3) EP hears Council, Commission on EU-Turkey customs union

EU Parliament Session News Press Release

Tuesday, 14 February - Council President-in-Office Alain Lamassoure came
before the House to explain recent developments in negotiations over the
customs cooperation agreement with Turkey.

While Council respected Parliament's vote just before Christmas to freeze
the Parliament's joint committee meetings with Turkish parliamentarians and
had called on Council to suspend further talks over the customs union, Mr
Lamassoure said he detected a change in the climate of opinion in Turkey. It
was, he said, important not to forget that the country had seen the election
of a multi-party Grand Assembly since 1983 and that it maintained close
international relations with the West on several fronts through NATO and
other international organisations.  Furthermore, it represented a beacon of
stability in a volatile region and had supported the west during the Gulf
war.

This being the case, he felt it important to try and move forward, despite the
ten year impasse over Cyprus and human rights questions in the context of the
Union's Mediterranean policy to be developed during the French and Spanish
Presidencies.

Council, he continued, believed that this time there was an opportunity
for progress on all these points and it was up to the Union to see if it was
prepared to respond to the challenge of reaching an agreement so that the new
arrangements for a customs union could come into force on 1 January, 1996.

He then turned to the sensitive issue of linking the agreement to a
specific dateline for starting negotiations on Cyprus' application for full
membership of the EU i.e. six months after the termination of the IGC.  This
was a specific commitment, he emphasised, adding that there was to be a
further linkage with progress on human rights and democratic freedoms. It was
on these issues that he felt there was an opportunity for further reforms now
accepted by Turkey.  Further discussion were scheduled to take place on 6
March next.

For the Commission, Hans van den Broek reminded the House that the Union
had a formal treaty obligation to Turkey dating back to the signing of the
original customs agreement and the protocol in 1973. Furthermore, he pointed
out that the Union had developed since that time to cover related issues such
as competition policy, intellectual property and standardisation. Moreover,
with trade with Turkey worth an annual 12.5bn EU and 5bn EU in the Union's
favour, it was clearly important to secure an agreement. He recognised that
relations with Turkey went beyond the economic domain and that it was
important to include political factors and strengthen democracy. A great
deal still had to be done on the human rights front, he said.

But the reaction of MEPs was cautious. While the Party of the European
Socialists group leader Pauline Green (London North) was adamant that the
situation today in the area of human rights, and in particular the detention
of Kurdish MPs was unsatisfactory and could not enable her to endorse the
agreement, European People's Party leader Wilfried Martens (B) preferred to
adopt a 'wait and see' approach. If Turkey responded and progress was
forthcoming in the months ahead then it could be approved, he said.

Mrs Green, however, wondered where this progress could come from in view of the
continued presence of some 35,000 Turkish troops on Cyprus and the lack of a
clear statement on the Turkish side to improve matters. The question should not
be linked with EU membership for Cyprus, which should be considered in its own
right, she said.

On behalf of the European Liberal Democratic and Reformist Group, Jan
Bertens (Nl) demanded that the customs union be blocked and that negotiations
for the access of Cyprus to the EU be started as soon as possible.  How many
breaches of human rights in Turkey was the EU going to accept, he asked.

Vassilis Ephremidis (Gr, EUL/NGL) asked the Council and the Commission to
explain how it could go for a compromise with Turkey when there was no
solution in Cyprus and no end to the violations of human rights.

Pier Casini (I, FE) thought the question of closer relations with Turkey
and resolution of the human rights problems should go hand in hand, while
another Greek MEP Katerina Daskalaki (EDA) called for the agreement to be
suspended as long as Turkey occupied Cyprus and continued with human rights
violations.

While taking the view that Turkey was part of Europe and should not be
isolated, Claudia Roth (G, Greens) said consent to the proposed agreement
should be dependent on a number of conditions, including the release of
Kurdish MPs and a change to Turkey's constitution to bring it into line with
international legal norms.

Although backing closer ties with Turkey, Catherine Lalumiere (F, ERA)
felt the agreement could only be signed if there were commitments on human
rights and Cyprus. Similar concerns were also expressed by Frank Vanhecke (B,
Ind), who added that a customs union should not be seen as a first step
towards Turkey's accession to the EU.  Turkey, he argued, was not part of
Europe, geographically or culturally.

James Moorhouse (London South and Surrey East, EPP) insisted that Parliament
should not go along with the agreement, important though it was, until Turkey
met international obligations in respect of human rights. He urged the
Commission to report back to MEPs on progress made by Turkey on human rights.

Richard Balfe (London South Inner, PES) said it was clearly in the EU's
interests, particularly in respect of trade and in combating fundamentalism,
to get a customs agreement with Turkey, but it was difficult to endorse it in
view of the imprisonment of the Kurdish MPs and a number of other abuses. He
asked the Commission to seek firm undertakings from Turkey which would allow
Parliament to accept the agreement.

(4) France seeks meeting on Greek veto of Turkey pact

BRUSSELS, Feb 15 (Reuter) - France wants European Union foreign ministers
to hold a special meeting after Greece vetoed a customs union linking the EU
and Turkey, the Belgian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.

"The French presidency (of the EU) would like a foreign affairs council to be
held before March 6," the day of talks between the EU and Turkey, a ministry
spokesman told a briefing.

Greece has rejected an agreement hammered out by EU foreign ministers to go
ahead with the customs union in return for the EU setting a date to start
membership talks with Cyprus. The spokesman said Greek Prime Minister Andreas
Papandreou had sent a letter to the EU outlining the four points that Greece
wanted cleared up.

The points concern "more binding" terms for Cyprus's accession to the EU,
Cyprus's participation in a "structured" dialogue with the EU, financial aid to
Turkey and compensation for Greek textile industries. Athens has said it would
continue to veto the agreement, which must be cleared by all 15 EU member
states, unless the terms were improved.

For years, Athens has blocked any EU-Ankara pact over the issue of Cyprus
-- the Mediterranean island partitioned into Greek and Turkish communities
since a 1974 Turkish invasion.

French European Affairs minister Alain Lamassoure, whose country occupies
the rotating EU presidency, said on Tuesday talks on Cypriot membership would
start six months after the end of a full review of the EU's constitutional
arrangements. The review, the inter-governmental conference (IGC), kicks off in
early 1996, but is open-ended and could go on well into 1997.

        -------------------------------------------------------
                * Activists Press Service (Newsdesk) *
                          newsdesk at aps.nl
                       !Power to the people!
         -------------------------------------------------------