Turkish Press Review

[kurdeng at aps.nl]

                    TURKISH  PRESS  REVIEW
                       OCTOBER 13, 1995


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

ANKARA POLICE THWART PKK BOMBING CAMPAIGN

Two members of the PKK terrorist organization -believed to  be
a  bomb  squad-  were  caught  by Ankara police anti-terrorism
teams.  Police officials said that they  have  been  following
the  bomb  squad  for four months and that they caught the two
members, Zana Mazak and Hasan Ozgenc,  in  possession  of  306
grams  of  the  RDX type of explosive in the militants' house.
Officials added that the two were preparing  to  carry  out  a
bombing  campaign  in Ankara.  It was stated that Mazak joined
the PKK in 1992 when he was a student  at  Diyarbakir's  Dicle
University  in the Southeast and he has so far participated in
eight clashes with security forces.  Mazak said  that  he  had
been  trained at the Lavrion camp in Greece.  Ozgenc said that
he had been active in the PKK in the Netherlands and  received
a political education in Amsterdam and Denhag.  /Sabah/


TURKEY SLAMS SYRIA OVER PKK ESCALATION

Concerned  with  escalating  terrorist  acitivities   in   its
southern border areas, Turkey has once again warned Syria, and
asked Syrian authorities to take the necessary  measures,  the
Foreign  Ministry  stated  yesterday.  The statement said that
the Syrian Ambassador to Ankara was summoned  to  the  Foreign
Ministry on Wednesday and the issues of terrorist infiltration
and border incidents were brought  to  the  attention  of  the
Damascus  government.   "The  PKK terror organization's Syria-
sourced activities are carefully monitored by  Turkish  public
opinion   and  our  government.   The  strong  evidence  which
indicates that the leaders of  the  terror  organization  find
shelter  in  Syria  and  the territories under its control was
several times  brought  to  the  attention  of  Damascus"  the
statement  noted.   It added that the incidents such as border
violations, also were brought to Syria's attention.  "But,  it
is  observed that there has been a certain escalation of these
incidents this year.  Despite our initiatives these  incidents
have  not  decreased"  the  statement declared.  Meanwhile, US
State Department Spokesman Nicholas Burns said that Syria  had
been  warned  over  the  PKK  issue  and  pointed out that the
Damascus government's support for the  PKK  was  unacceptable.
Burns noted that US Secretary of State Warren Christopher, who
met with Syrian Foreign Minister Faruk El Sara last  week  had
especially   taken   up   the   PKK   issue  at  the  meeting.
/Hurriyet-Sabah/

TURKISH-IRANIAN SECURITY MEETINGS END

The  12th  ordinary  meeting  of  the  Turkish-Iranian   Joint
Security  Committee  held between 7-12 October ended in Tehran
yesterday.  Turkey and Iran agreed to conduct joint operations
"against   terrorists"   along  the  border  between  the  two
countries.  Turkish officials, who  attended  border  security
talks  with  the  Iranian  side  in  Tehran, said that the two
countries had signed an accord to jointly fight  terrorism  in
coordinated operations along the border.  /Cumhuriyet/


PKK MILITANTS KILLED ON MOUNT ARARAT

Six militants of the PKK terrorist  organization  were  killed
during  military  operations on Mount Ararat in Igdir and Agri
provinces in eastern Turkey.   Three  bazookas,  six  rockets,
three   automatic  rifles  and  many  illegal  documents  were
confiscated.


NO POSTPONEMENT SAYS EU

Reports from Strasbourg yesterday suggest that European  Union
(EU) leaders see no reason to delay Turkey's membership in the
customs union because of current domestic issues.  In reply to
a  Greek  proposal  that Turkey's membership should be shelved
for the time being, Spanish term president  Carlos  Westendorp
sharply  replied  that  Turkey  was  a  politically  important
country for the EU.  He then added that there was no reason to
delay  the  procedure  for  admitting  Turkey into the customs
union.  /Cumhuriyet-Sabah/


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