TDN 30 OCTOBER 1995

[kurdeng at aps.nl]

  _________________________________________________________________

 EU reported warm to customs union as Association Council holds key meeting

Good news: EU ministers reported set to step up political links while
Spain's Solana expected to back Ciller's efforts and

declare technical harmonization complete.

Turkish Daily News
  _________________________________________________________________



ANKARA- As the Turkey-European Union (EU) Association Council holds a
crucial meeting today in Luxembourg to review the progress in the
implementation of the conditions for the trade pact, general
expectation is that a green light will be lit in tribute to the steps
Ankara has taken so far.

The results of the meeting, the first since the Association Council
ruled March 6 for more homework on Ankara's part, are expected to go
beyond the confirmation, which Turkey seeks, that the required
technical harmonization for the customs integration is completed.

Before leaving Ankara on Friday, Foreign Minister Coskun Kirca said he
was hopeful for a confirmation as Turkey had, by and large, completed
the steps for technical harmonization, and the remaining few would be
completed on schedule.

Noting that by entering the customs union, Turkey will open up its
market to the competition of European producers, Kirca said Turkey
would adapt more easily to the new situation with the "comprehensive
and effective financial support of the EU." Reports from Brussels said
the EU foreign ministers, meeting with Kirca will urge closer
political and economic links between the sides.

The envisaged EU package will reportedly include meetings once a year
between the president and prime minister of Turkey and the presidents
of the EU (ministerial) Council and the EU Commission within the
framework of political consultations. Beside the envisaged
twice-yearly meetings between the foreign ministers, ministerial level
meetings will also be held regularly on judicial matters and domestic
policy issues while ythe top bureaucrats will confer on a broad range
of issues to develop the association, according to the reports.

As a further sign of the importance attached to closer links with
Turkey, the EU Council will reportedly undertake to inform Turkey
regularly of the results of all inter-EU meetings and supply documents
to Turkey regarding security matters and foreign affairs.

Quoting EU sources, Turkey's Anatolia news agency reported that Xavier
Solana, the Spanish foreign minister and the current president of the
Association Council, will announce in his speech at the Association
Council meeting that "no technical obstacle remains for Turkey's
customs union with the EU on Jan. 1, 1996, since Turkey has fulfilled
its technical and legal obligations."

Solana will also pledge support for the coalition Prime Minister Tansu
Ciller will revive with social democrat former partners, and promise
financial assistance.

As indirect backing to the Turkish government whose hardline policy
against the Kurdish separatists has often caused criticism from the
West, Solana will openly condemn the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK),
which is waging the separatist war in southeastern Turkey, but will at
the same time urge a political solution to the conflict.

The EU official, while noting that the European Parliament will have
the final say on the customs union and the release of the suspended
financial aid, said that the Parliament was expected to draw a
favorable picture of the human rights improvements in Turkey.

In this respect, *Solana is expected to highlight the recent amendment
of Turkey's notorious Anti-terrorism Law so as to prevent the abuse of
the loose definition of "separatist propaganda" to punish the
advocates of a political settlement to the Kurdish issue.

The European Parliament, the increasingly assertive legislative body
for the 15-nation trading bloc, looks less impressed with the human
rights improvements so far. But Deniz Baykal, the social democrat
leader and Ciller's would-be coalition partner, lobbied successfully
with the EU Parliament's Greens and Socialists to soften their
objections to Ankara's customs union membership in a trip to Brussels
earlier this month.

  _________________________________________________________________

 Sezgin: Customs Union will strengthen Turkey's role in Eurasia

By Metin Demirsar

Turkish Daily News
  _________________________________________________________________


ISTANBUL- A customs union between Turkey and the European Union (EU)
will strengthen Ankara's role in Eurasia, the vast region stretching
from the Adriatic Coast to the Chinese border, Parliament Speaker
Ismet Sezgin told a weekend gathering.

Opening a conference in Istanbul on Turkey's relations with the EU,
Sezgin on Saturday declared that the development will increase the
country's political and economic presence in the region.

"Turkey's leadership role as a political model of secularism and
stability will continue in Eurasia for many years to come after the
customs union," Sezgin remarked.

Turkey will enter a customs union with the EU on January 1, 1996,
pending approval by the European Parliament in a December meeting.
Under the customs union Turkey will have to dismantle all trade
barriers, including import taxes and duties, against goods from the
EU.

The EU, in return, will lift all quotas against Turkish textiles and
provide aid to its weak industries to make them competitive.

The conference was jointly organized by the Konrad Adenauer
Foundation, the Economic Development Foundation of Istanbul and the
Turkish Democracy Foundation.

Sezgin pledged to harmonize Turkey's laws on human rights and the
economy with the European Union, but said there could be slight
differences on interpretation of legislation. He cited parliament's
softening up the notorious Article 8 of the Anti-terror law as an
example of Turkey's commitment to human rights.

The government has used the article, a catchall rule that bans
advocacy of separatism, to arrest supporters of Kurdish causes.

But he warned that international human rights legislation was also
protecting "terrorism" and threatening political stability of the EU
nations and its partners.

"The atmosphere created by terrorism is becoming legalized," he
declared.

Speaking at the same gathering, Bulent Akarcali, an opposition
Motherland Party (ANAP) deputy and head of the Turkish Democracy
Foundation, accused the EU of failing to meet its commitments to
Turkey as part of agreements between Ankara and Brussels.

He urged the EU to allow Turkish workers to circulate freely in the EU
and approve $2 billion in financial aid to Turkey cancelled following
the September 20, 1980 military takeover. Akarcali charged some
European Parliament deputies of attempting to dominate Turkey.

"There are those who want to form sovereignty over our national
assembly," he said, but didn't elaborate.

Peter Kittelmann, a German conservative CDU party deputy, described
Turkey as a "huge market with 60 million people" that could be used as
a stepping stone to reach consumers in Central Asia.

"The big single market of the European Union has to come together with
the giant market of Turkey," Kittelmann told the same meeting.
  _________________________________________________________________

 Turkey's international reserves hit $28 billion


Turkish Daily News
  _________________________________________________________________

ISTANBUL- Turkey's international reserves, including foreign exchange
and gold reserves of the Central Bank and hard cash deposits of local
banks, have reached a record $28 billion in October, according to a
recent disclosure by the governor of the Turkish Central Bank.

"No country under International Monetary Fund (IMF) supervision has
made such a turnaround in such a short time as Turkey," Central Bank
governor Toruner told a meeting of the Marmara Group, a businessmen's
organization, in Istanbul on Friday.

Toruner said the Central Bank's $16 billion hard cash and gold
reserves were sufficient to meet Turkey's imports for the next seven
months.

Individual banks had additional reserves of $12 billion.

He explained how the Central Bank's tight monetary policies were
improving the Turkish economy by lowering inflation expectations and
increasing savings.

"Bankers and businessmen outside Turkey have more confidence in
Turkey's economy than we Turks do," Toruner declared. An "election
economy", he noted, would not derail the Central Bank's monetary
targets.

"There may be some sacrifices to be made, such as increased wages to
government workers, but the funds for these won't be met by the
Central Bank.

They can be raised in the form of new taxes, or new Treasury
borrowing," he explained.

He also said Turkey had overshot a year end Central Bank target on a
Turkish lira rate, for a currency basket composed of one U.S. dollar
and 1.5 Deutsche marks.

"It is not a fault of Turkey that it has failed to meet the currency
target. But it would have been good to report to the IMF that the
target was met," he added.
  _________________________________________________________________


                  TURKISH DAILY NEWS / 29 OCTOBER 1995


  _________________________________________________________________

 Parliament extends Provide Comfort and emergency rule

TDN Parliament Bureau
  _________________________________________________________________

ANKARA- Acting on government proposals, the Parliament on Saturday
extended the state of emergency in southeastern Turkey for another
four months and gave the Western air force protecting the Iraqi Kurds
a new, but shortened mandate. The government, in turn, acted in line
with an earlier proposal by the National Security Council which brings
together top state, government and military officials.

The legislators voted 215 to 74 to extend -- for the 25th time -- the
emergency rule which gives sweeping powers to local authorities in 10
southeastern and eastern provinces to support the combat against the
outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party which has been waging a separatist
war that claimed nearly 20,000 lives in 11 years.

The Parliament also extended the stay of the U.S.-British-French air
force based in Incirlik, southern Turkey, patrolling a no-fly zone
north of the 36th parallel to protect Iraq's Kurds from attack by
Saddam Hussein's forces. But the Operation Provide Comfort, the
official name for the air protection, was given a three-month
extension instead of the usual six.

The stay of the Western force was prolonged with 168 votes to 111
following electrified debates.

The opponents of the continuing stay of the foreign warplanes see the
operation as harmful to Turkey's interests, saying the military
protection helps the gradual evolution of an independent Kurdish state
in northern Iraq which is certain to fuel separatist tendencies among
Turkey's own Kurdish population.

The shorter mandate came in the wake of an official visit to Ankara by
Iraq's Deputy Foreign Minister Saad Abdel Majid al-Faisal who
reportedly renewed Baghdad's calls to the Turkish government to send
away the Western planes. But Turkish Foreign Ministry Undersecretary
Onur Oymen said on Friday that the government opted for the shorter
extension in order to allow the new government, to take power after
the scheduled Dec. 24 elections, to make its own decision on the
issue.
  _________________________________________________________________

 Washington is pleased with the release of DEP deputies

Turkish Daily News
  _________________________________________________________________

Washington- U.S. State Department commended the decision of the
Turkish Appeals Court to release former DEP deputies Ahmet Turk and
Sedat Yurttas. A department press statement said: "We are pleased that
two of the former (DEP) deputies have been released from prison
pending final resolution of their cases."

The court upheld the sentences of four other DEP deputies -- Hatip
Dicle, Leyla Zana, Orhan Dogan, and Selim Sadak .

"We have followed all these cases closely and have expressed our deep
concern over the serious legal and human rights issues involved," the
State Department statement said.

"The government of Turkey has defended the arrest and trial of these
parliamentarians by the need to fight terrorism. The United States
deplores terrorism and supports measures to combat it. We insist,
however, that the fight against terrorism be conducted in accordance
with human rights standards."

"We await with interest the outcome of any retrials or appeals which
may be made to Turkey's fully independent courts or to the Court of
Human Rights of the Council of Europe. The government of Turkey has
said that it would respect a decision by that Court."

The State Department was also asked if this decision will satisfy the
members of the European Parliament who have demanded the release of
all the imprisoned former deputies as a condition for Turkey's
European Customs Union membership. "We are not in a position to speak
for the European Parliament," the State Department said. However the
statement added that "we believe strongly that Turkish accession to
the Customs Union with Europe would strengthen Turkey's economy and
democracy, and enhance Turkey's links with the West.
  _________________________________________________________________

                  TURKISH DAILY NEWS / 28 OCTOBER 1995


  _________________________________________________________________

 Heated debate reaffirms election decision

TDN Parliament Bureau
  _________________________________________________________________



ANKARA- The Parliament on Friday reaffirmed Dec. 24 as the election
date, thus ensuring the holding of the poll even if the Constitutional
Court annuls the new electoral law which foresees the same date.

The parliamentary decision on the Dec. 24 date, taken immediately
after the passage of a controversial new electoral law, caused heated
debates in the legislature and angry exchanges between party leaders.

Prime Minister Tansu Ciller's True Path Party (DYP), and would-be
coalition partner Republican People's Party (CHP) jointly pushed for
the decision.

It ensures that the poll will be held, although, under the former
electoral law, even if the opponents of the December poll manage to
obstruct the application of the new law.

Although the new electoral law retained the 10-percent national
threshold, the parties need to clear to get into the Parliament, it
radically reduced the constituency-level thresholds, to enable smaller
parties to clear them. The motive was generally seen to be preventing
a victory by the pro-Islamic Welfare Party (RP) which is shown in the
lead by some opinion polls.

Although the new law is in the interest of the smaller parties, many
said they would try to obstruct it -- because they feel unready for a
snap poll. A common objection has been that the new law disregards the
obligation for a thorough update of the voter lists, which requires
the holding of a general population census. It also skirts round the
voting rights recently granted to the (over 2 million) Turks living
abroad.

The sealing of the election date for the second time by the plenary
session has created doubts that the president would delay the
ratification of the law or veto it.

On Friday, the parliamentary groups of the True Path Party (DYP),
Motherland Party (ANAP) and the Welfare Party (RP) held separate
meetings to discuss the election decision adopted by the parliamentary
commission.

While the groups of the Republican People's Party (CHP), ANAP and the
Democratic Left Party (DSP) leader Bulent Ecevit opposed holding
debates over the decision to hold elections on Dec. 24, the DYP and RP
groups wanted the parliamentary debates to be held.

ANAP leader Mesut Yilmaz, who took the parliamentary rostrum, recalled
that Prime Minister Tansu Ciller had accused him of shying away from
government when his party called early elections in 1991. Yilmaz said
he would not make the same accusation against Ciller now that she had
called elections. He said the reason why his party wanted elections
was to rid Turkey of Ciller and her gang.

Yilmaz's words caused harsh reactions from among the DYP deputies.
Ciller, who also took the rostrum on the grounds that she was
insulted, said she and her colleagues were trying to form a government
which would solve Turkey's problems, despite the fact that she was not
backed by ANAP and did not have the prospect of a further 18 months in
power. She said that although Yilmaz had 18 more months to go, he had
stated that he could not make a stable program. She also accused
Yilmaz of hindering her from forming a minority government.

While Ciller was addressing Parliament, steady protests came from the
ANAP seats. Amidst these protests, Ciller claimed that ANAP had set up
plots and tried to court her colleagues. She said she and her
colleagues had made efforts to allow Parliament to form a government.

After Ciller finished her response, former DYP deputy Orhan
Kilercioglu who has joined ANAP, stood at the parliamentary rostrum
and wanted to deliver a speech. Immediately, many DYP deputies stood
up to quarrel with him.

Around 30 or 40 DYP deputies led by Kadir Bozkurt and Necmi Hosver
gathered in front of the ANAP rows. When the ANAP deputies stood up,
they started to clash. Parliamentary group deputy chairmen of the
parties and ystaff responsible for parliamentary affairs prevented
them from hitting each other.

Later Mustafa Kalemli from ANAP who chaired the session asked Ciller
if she was referring to Kilercioglu when she had said "deputy
markets." Ciller said she was not. Also Ciller corrected her previous
statement that she and her colleagues had to save the honor of
Parliament and said that she had not intended to humiliate Parliament.


Why was there a need for a parliamentary decision?

In order for the election law to become effective it should be
approved by President Suleyman Demirel and later published in the
Official Gazette. This leaves limited time for the Supreme Electoral
Law before Dec. 24. The president has 15 days to examine the laws.
Even usage of a very small portion of this period makes impossible the
actual holding of elections. In addition, the president has the right
to veto a law whereas a parliamentary decision is not presented for
the approval of the president and becomes effective directly it is
published in the Official Gazette.
  _________________________________________________________________

 Turkey softens human rights on eve of EU meeting

Turkish Daily News
  _________________________________________________________________



ANKARA- As Foreign Minister Coskun Kirca left to attend a key meeting
of the Turkey-European Union (EU) Association Council, Ankara on
Friday highlighted a radical softening of a controversial penal
article to improve its chances of clinching a customs pact with the
trading bloc.

Detailing the amendments written into the notorious Article 8, Foreign
Ministry Undersecretary Onur Oymen said a rewording of the clause
which stipulates punishment for separatist propaganda eliminated the
-- often abused -- ambiguity as to what constitutes the prescribed
crime.

Until now, the loose definition caused the jailing of scores of
intellectuals calling for a softer approach in the combat with Kurdish
separatists.

The notorious article, while causing frequent criticisms from the
West, also split the Turkish public and threatened government crises
with the strong conservative bloc in the Parliament, which includes
many members of the Prime Minister Tansu Ciller's True Path Party who
say any dilution would serve the cause of the outlawed Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK) fighting a a separatist war in southeastern
Turkey. As the TDN went to press, the Parliament was voting on the
amendments. The legislature was expected to endorse the facelift with
but slight additional changes.

In the news conference, Oymen also said the amendments also reduced
the stipulated jail sentences from 2-5 years to 1-3 years, and
introduced "qualitative changes" as to the nature of the penalties.

The retroactive amendments, will enable the courts to review the cases
of people jailed under the article, to allow their release or a
shortening of their sentences.

Oymen assured that the Parliament's constitutional commission, which
passed the amendments on Wednesday, had acted on the demands of the
Turkish public and was not motivated by considerations to appease the
EU critics threatening to bar Turkey's entry to the customs union.

Foreign Minister Kirca, speaking earlier, said Turkey had largely
fulfilled the technical requirements for the customs agreement, and
those remaining would be carried out shortly. The European Parliament
is expected to decide on Turkey's eligibility for the customs pact in
mid-December.

Kirca said Turkey was open to a dialogue (regarding the improvement in
human rights performance) but would not accept any pressure.

---
 * Origin: APS Amsterdam (aps.nl), bbs +31-20-6842147 (16:31/2.0)