Turkish Press Review

[kurdeng at aps.nl]

From: tabe at newsdesk.aps.nl
Subject: Turkish Press Review
Reply-To: kurdeng at aps.nl


                        MAY 5, 1995

Summary of the political and economic news  in  the  Turkish
press this morning.

ANKARA PROTESTS WESTERN THRACE ATTACK

Ankara has protested in the  strongest  possible  terms  the
attack  against  State  Minister  and  Government  Spokesman
Yildirim Aktuna during his visit to Western Thrace.

Top government officials  have  condemned  the  attack,  and
President  Demirel  has  described  the  Greek  violence  as
"thought  provoking"   in   connection   with   Turkey-Greek
relations which have now plunged to a serious low.

State Minister Aktuna said in a press meeting yesterday that
the  violent  demonstration  against  the  visiting  Turkish
delegation led by Aktuna was carried with  PKK  cooperation.
He  said  too  that  he would be taking legal action against
Greek newspapers that had vilified him and  Turkish  efforts
to restore relations with Greece.

Officials and others confirm that relations with Greece  are
moving  into  crisis.   Reports  say that the attack, during
which Aktuna was pushed and shoved to the ground, came as  a
result  of  the  deep and damaging complexes the Greeks have
about   Turkey.    Describing   the   attack   as   "planned
provocation"   officials  said  yesterday  that  Greece  was
continuing with a strategy designed to  incite  bad  feeling
between  Greece  and  Turkey  and damage what remaining ties
there were.

Aktuna wound up his press conference by saying that what the
demonstrators  had done was "against the principles of human
rights."

Turkey protested to Greece at midnight on Wednesday over the
attacks  on  Government Spokesman Yildirim Aktuna during his
visit to Salonika.  Greek  Ambassador  Dimitrios  Nezeritis,
who  has  just been appointed to Ankara, was summoned to the
Turkish Foreign Ministry in  the  early  hours  of  Thursday
morning.    Foreign  Ministry  Deputy  Undersecretary  Tugay
Ulucevik said he had protested against the attack on Aktuna.
A  similar  protest  was  made  in  Greece,  by  the Turkish
Ambassador in Athens.  "We want the aggressors to  be  found
as   quickly   as  possible.   An  investigation  should  be
conducted and  the  people  responsible  should  be  brought
before  the  courts"  Ulucevik  said.  Following the note of
protest, a Turkish Cabinet statement was made on the  issue,
condemning  the  Greek  attitude.   "This is an ugliness not
even seen between countries  at  war"  said  State  Minister
Abdulbaki  Atac,  who  read the statement instead of Aktuna,
adding:  "It is  impossible  to  understand  how  the  Greek
authorities  could remain passive during the incident.  This
is in no way compatible with hospitality" Atac said.  Deputy
Prime  Minister  Hikmet  Cetin  told reporters he blamed the
local police for negligence during the attack by a crowd  of
about 400 Greeks, Armenians, Kurds and Cypriots.

Aktuna suffered injuries to his legs and arms when the angry
crowd  hurled  rocks, lighters, eggs, lemons and other items
at him and his entourage in Salonika.  /All papers/


PKK BURNS SHOPS:  THREE DEAD

During an illegal demonstration in the  Istanbul  suburb  of
Kucukcekmece,  supporters  of the PKK terrorist organization
fire-bombed a number of shops in the district.  Three people
died in the fires, including one child.

In the general panic following the fire bomb attack, another
twenty  people  were  wounded.   The attackers vanished into
side  streets  in  the  con-  fusion.   Local  people   have
condemned  the  attacks  and  security  forces are trying to
track  down  the  reported  fifteen  or  so  PKK  terrorists
believed to have been behind the attacks.  /All papers/

OSCE DELEGATION MEETS GOVERNOR OF STATE OF EMERGENCY

A 14-person delegation from the Organization of Security and
Cooperation  in  Europe (OSCE) yesterday visited Governor of
State of Emergency Unal Erkan at his office  in  Diyarbakir.
The  delegation,  which  arrived  in  Turkey last Monday, is
paying a one-week visit  on  the  invitation  of  Parliament
Speaker  Husamettin  Cindoruk.   During his meeting with the
OSCE delegation led by Willy Wimmer, the deputy president of
the  OSCE  Parliamentarians' Assembly, Erkan said Turkey was
determined to fight terrorism and that it would continue the
struggle  until  the  problem  was  solved.  Erkan said that
since 1984, a total of 4,025 people, including 452 women and
450  children,  had  been killed in massacres carried out by
the PKK and 4,471 civilians had  been  injured.   There  was
documented  proof  that  these  attacks were the work of the
PKK.  Erkan continued by saying that within the past decade,
a  total  of  8,512 separatist terrorists had been killed in
the clashes between the security forces and the PKK and that
194  terrorists  had  been  injured  and 1,787 arrested.  He
noted that 1,154 terrorists had turned themselves in to  the
security forces.  In reply to a question, Erkan said that no
one in Turkey had ever been put on  trial  just  because  of
their  Kurdish origin.  He stressed that terrorism was being
used as a tool by the PKK to divide Turkey.  He  said  while
the PKK argued that it represented the Kurds, it had in fact
killed 5,000 people of Kurdish origin.  He recalled that the
PKK  had camps in Syria, that it took shelter in Iran and in
northern Iraq, that it had opened bureaus in Greece, that it
had founded a so-called "parliament-in-exile" in Holland and
that it extorted money from people in Germany.   Erkan  said
mere  statements  made  by  the West were not sufficient and
that sanctions should be applied against Syria for  allowing
the PKK to set up camps, and that arms sources should be cut
off.  He added that in order to prevent the PKK from  making
advantage  of the power vacuum in N.Iraq, Iraq's territorial
integrity should be respected.  /All papers/

PKK AND POLICE CLASH IN HAMBOURG

Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) supporters and police  clashed
yesterday  in  Hambourg,  Germany.  During the clashes eight
police officials were wounded and  51  PKK  supporters  were
arrested.

PKK supporters demonstrated in front of the British  Embassy
in  Hambourg  to  protest  a meeting in Britain to discuss a
German  request  for  the  extradition   of   European   PKK
representative,  Kani  Yilmaz,  who is still under arrest in
England.  PKK supporters also demonstrated in Athens for the
release of Kani Yilmaz.  /Hurriyet/


                         MAY 4, 1995


  Summary of the political and economic news in the  Turkish
  press this morning


  GERMAN DELEGATION LOOKING AT ECONOMIC SITUATION

  A German delegation presently in Turkey wants to  look  at
  economic  ties  between the European Union (EU) and Turkey
  -with a view to finding ways to develop  them  within  the
  framework of current EU-Turkey dialogue.

  The delegation, from  the  German  Social  Democrat  Party
  economic   working   committee  in  the  Baden-Wurthemburg
  province, and led by Otto Hauser, wants to  find  ways  of
  ensuring  Turkey's customs union with the EU.  "We support
  this development" said Hauser yesterday.  /Sabah/


  NATO COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF IN ANKARA

  George Joulwan, Commander-in-Chief of  the  NATO  European
  Allied Forces, said in Ankara that Turkey was an important
  member of NATO because  of  its  strategic  location,  and
  thanked  the  Turkish nation for its huge contributions to
  global and regional peace.  Joulwan said that  he  had  to
  come  to  Ankara to exchange views on the situation in the
  region  and  also  about  the   Partnership   for   Peace.

  /Cumhuriyet/


  HOLBROOKE:  "TURKEY MUST BE SUPPORTED"

  In an  exclusive  interview  with  the  Washington  Times,
  Richard  Holbrooke,  US  Assistant  Secretary of State for
  European and Canadian Affairs, has criticized the proposed
  cuts  in  the  foreign aid budget.  On Cyprus, he recalled
  the administration's policy to lobby  "for  Cyprus  to  be
  invited  to  EU  membership".  Since the island could only
  join the EU as a federation of the separated  Turkish  and
  Greek  sides,  membership  would  serve  as a lever toward
  reuniting the Mediterranean island nation, the  Washington
  Times  noted.   Commenting on Turkey's own application for
  EU customs union, Holbrooke said the US  did  not  support
  moves  "to  drive  the  Turks  east to the fundamentalists
  which would be a catastrophe".

  The US, unable to find the support it  expected  from  its
  allies  for  an  international  embargo  against Iran, has
  accelerated backing for Turkey, describing Turkey  as  the
  US  government  "New  European Front".  Holbrooke stressed
  that the  US  supported  Turkey's  military  operation  in
  northern  Iraq  and said:  "Turkey is replacing Germany as
  the cutting-edge of Europe".  Meanwhile, "support  in  the
  struggle against terrorism" call from Prime Minister Tansu
  Ciller to her Western allies received  a  positive  answer
  from  Washington.   The  US administration stated that all
  NATO allies should support Turkey in  its  just  struggle.
  Washington  also  noted  that  Turkey  did not suggest any
  changes to the Turkish-Iraqi border.  US State  Department
  Spokesman  Nicholas  Burns said:  "We very much agree with
  the Turkish government that it is in the interests of  the
  two  main  Kurdish  factions  in  northern Iraq to provide
  security there so that the problem of PKK terrorism, which
  emanates  from inside Turkey, can be eliminated.  And that
  concern about PKK terrorism is  something  that  we  share
  very     deeply     with    the    Turkish    government".
  /Sabah-Hurriyet/

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