DYP Defectors Cause Instability in

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Subject: DYP Defectors Cause Instability in Ciller Government


DYP Defectors Cause Instability in Ciller Government
        By Suna Erdem

    ANKARA, Oct 12 (Reuter) - Four members of parliament quit Turkish Prime
Minister Tansu Ciller's party on Thursday, dealing a blow to her minority
government ahead of a confidence vote.

    In separate developments Ciller was reported to have rejected a lower pay
demand proposed by leaders of 335,000 striking public sector workers, and a
key political figure warned he might not support her in Sunday's key vote.

    Parliament sources said four members of Ciller's True Path Party (DYP)
resigned to follow a colleague who defected last week into the ranks of the
independents.

    This leaves Ciller's conservative party with 177 MPs in the 428-seat
parliament. A separate group of anti-Ciller DYP deputies have also threatened
to oppose her on Sunday when she needs a simple majority of those voting to
survive.

    The Turkish lira dived against the dollar on the resignations while
Istanbul stocks shot down by 5.7 percent.

    Democratic Left Party (DSP) leader Bulent Ecevit, who has offered Ciller
support of his 10 deputies in the vote on the condition she first resolve the
public sector strike, gave her what he called a ``final'' warning.

    ``Until this problem is solved, direct or indirect support by the DSP is
impossible,'' Ecevit said in a statement.

    ``This is my final call to the government and to (labour confederation)
Turk-Is.''

    A nationalist party with 17 MPs has also pledged its support for Ciller
linked to resolution of the strike, while some independents may vote with
her.

    The Turk-Is union is lobbying MPs to oppose the government.

    ``If Ciller believes she can get a vote of confidence, then she won't
budge, but if she thinks the vote could be in the balance, then she will
approach us -- and the chances for her winning the vote do not look too
good,'' confederation official Yildirim Koc told Reuters.

    The strike by public sector workers, which began on September 20 over an
initial government pay rise offer of 5.4 percent for the year, has idled
ports, sugar mills, paper mills, slowed railways and threatens wheat and
sugar production.

    The strike, Turkey's biggest for decades, is losing the country over $10
million a day of exports, trade officials say.

    Anatolian news agency reported that Turk-Is had lowered its demands from
24 percent to a 20 percent rise for the 650,000 workers in the coming six
months plus 19 percent for the next six, bringing the cost of the rise to
69.8 trillion lira ($1.4 billion).

    But it quoted Turk-Is leader Bayram Meral as saying he had been told
Ciller had refused the offer, saying she could not afford to give more than a
total 50 trillion lira ($1 billion) -- which is slightly higher than her last
proposal. Turk-Is officials were not immediately available for comment.

    Inflation is expected at 70 percent for 1995.

    Ciller's crisis began when her right-left coalition fell apart last month
and is the worst she has faced since coming to office in June 1993 as
Turkey's first woman prime minister.

    Her government also suffered a deep economic crisis in early 1994, which
prompted an International Monetary Fund-backed austerity plan that the
workers blame for the current dispute.

    Diplomats and analysts say if a government is not in place and passing
laws soon -- particularly long-promised changes to Turkey's anti-terror law
-- it could jeopardise Turkey's planned customs union pact with the European
Union.

    Ecevit warned of ``unforseeable'' consequences for the country if Ciller
failed to solve the strike and win Sunday's vote. He did not elaborate.


Turkish Strike Still Not Settled
    By Suna Erdem     ANKARA, Oct 11 (Reuter) - Turkish Prime Minister Tansu
Ciller discussed a major public workers' strike with a top economic body on
Wednesday but left the meeting saying there was no money to meet strikers'
pay demands.

    Ciller called a meeting of the Economic and Social Council to discuss the
three-week strike by 335,000 public workers, which two key parties want
solved before they give her minority government support in a scheduled vote
of confidence on Sunday.

    "We have a responsibility towards everyone," Ciller was quoted on
Anatolian news agency as saying as she left the meeting. "The resources we
have do not belong to the state, they belong to everyone...They must be
fairly distributed."

    Ciller said public sector workers earned up to three times the monthly
wage of civil servants. A high pay rise for the workers would mean pledging
money that did not exist and could entail higher taxes, she said.

    "Ciller seems determined not to give us a higher pay rise offer, so the
chances of a resolution by Sunday look slim,"

Yildirim Koc, a senior official at the labour confederation Turk-Is, told
Reuters.

    Turk-Is boycotted Wednesday's meeting of the Economic and Social Council,
an advisory body made up of leading economic officials, private sector
representatives and trade unionists.

    Turk-Is leader Bayram Meral told Anatolian the labour unrest could only
end with better cooperation from Ciller, and vowed to do everything possible
to stop her winning the confidence vote.

    Ciller formed a minority government on Thursday with the support of a
nationalist far-right party and a left-wing nationalist party. It replaces
Ciller's right-left coalition, which collapsed on September 20 -- the day the
strike began.

    The confederation is already lobbying MPs to vote against Ciller in the
tight vote of confidence this weekend in anticipation of failed negotiations,
and has called a rally in the capital on Sunday for workers and their
families.

    But Koc did not totally rule out an agreement: "Ciller does not appear to
be opening the door to a solution, on the contrary, she is increasing the
tension...But the unexpected could still happen. We are open to offers, but
better offers."

    He said the government had offered workers an 11.6 percent pay increase
for the next six months, and 8.5 percent for the following six-month tranche.
Turk-Is was "ready to discuss" two six-monthly rises of around 24 percent and
19 percent, he said.

    Inflation is expected to be around 70 percent for 1995.

    Koc said he expected Turkish civil servants, who plan a one-day work
stoppage next week, to announce their solidarity with the workers on
Thursday.

    Anatolian quoted civil servants' union spokesman Alper Ozturk as saying
they would "take to the streets to paralyse Turkey on October 17" for the
right to strike and bargain collectively.

    Turkish civil servants, unlike other workers in the public sector, are
forbidden from striking but often stage so-called "work stoppages" to press
their demands.

    Turk-Is blame the strike unrest on Ciller's 1994 economic austerity
programme, brought in to quell a financial crisis and backed by the
International Monetary Fund.

    The confederation said up to 18,000 more workers were expected to join
the strike soon if no solution was reached.


Ciller Given Ultimatum on Strike Settlement
      By Suna Erdem

    ANKARA, Oct 12 (Reuter) - A key Turkish leader on Thursday gave a
``final'' warning to Prime Minister Tansu Ciller to solve a big public
workers' strike as four MPs quit her party, stepping up pressure on her
minority rule ahead of a confidence vote.

    ``Until this problem is solved, direct or indirect support (in the vote
of confidence) by the DSP (Democratic Left Party) is impossible,'' DSP leader
Bulent Ecevit said in a statement.

    ``This is my final call to the government and to Turk-Is.''

    The DSP is one of two key parties who want the strike by 335,000 public
workers resolved before they give Prime Minister Tansu Ciller's minority
government support in a tight vote of confidence on Sunday.

    The support of the DSP's 10 MPs could prove crucial. The vote is further
complicated with a group of anti-Ciller deputies within her own conservative
True Path Party (DYP) threatening to join the other main parties in opposing
the government.

    Parliament sources said four DYP MPs from the anti-Ciller camp resigned
from the party on Thursday to follow a colleague who quit last week into the
ranks of the independents.

    This leaves Ciller's conservative party with 177 MPs. The new DYP
minority government needs a simple majority of those voting out of
parliament's 428 deputies. A nationalist party with 17 MPs also pledged its
support linked to the strike.

    The labour confederation Turk-Is is lobbying MPs to oppose the
government. But a top Turk-Is official told Reuters earlier that a solution
to the strike looked stronger as the chances of Ciller winning the confidence
vote diminished.

    ``If Ciller believes she can get a vote of confidence, then she won't
budge, but if she thinks the vote could be in the balance, then she will
approach us -- and the chances for her winning the vote do not look too
good,'' said Yildirim Koc.

    Anatolian news agency said DYP deputy Sadik Avundukluoglu had met with
Turk-Is officials, saying Ciller had asked for his help. Avundukluoglu, who
said he did not bring another pay offer for the unions, told Anatolian he
would report back to her.

    Ecevit warned of ``unforseeable'' consequences for the country if Ciller
failed to solve the strike and win Sunday's vote.

    He said he had told Ciller from the start, after she ended her right-left
coalition by resigning on September 20, that she had to settle the workers'
pay dispute before she solved the problem of a new government.

    ``Instead, Ciller said she would follow the opposite approach. She said:
'first the government must be formed and get a vote of confidence, then the
collective bargaining will have its turn'. The result is for all to see,'' he
said.

    The strike by public sector workers, which began on September 20 over an
initial government pay rise offer of 5.4 percent for the year, has idled
ports, sugar mills, paper mills, slowed railways and threatens the production
of basic goods, including wheat and sugar production.

    The strike, Turkey's biggest for decades, is losing Turkey over $10
million a day of exports, trade officials say.

    Ciller said on Wednesday there was no money to meet the strikers'
demands. A high pay rise would mean pledging money that did not exist and
could entail higher taxes, she said.

    She fears rises tied to inflation will ruin her 1994 economic austerity
programme, backed by the International Monetary Fund, which she is already
struggling to fulfil.

    Koc said the government had raised its offer slightly late on Wednesday
to a 13 percent rise for the next six months, and 12 percent for the six
months after that. Turk-Is wants rises of 24 percent and 19 percent rises for
the two six-month tranches.

    Inflation is expected to be around 70 percent for 1995.


Press Group Condemns Turkish Trial of US Reporter
      NEW YORK, Oct. 12 (Reuter) - A U.S.-based press freedom group on
Thursday denounced a decision by a Turkish court to pursue criminal charges
against a Reuter correspondent.

    Earlier on Thursday, a Turkish security court rejected a call to drop the
case, which stemmed from a November 25, 1994, story. The story referred to
forcible evacuation of Kurdish villages as part of a military strategy
against separatist Kurdish guerrillas in southeast Turkey.

    Correspondent Aliza Marcus, a U.S. citizen whose byline was on the story,
faces up to three years in jail for ``provoking enmity and hatred by
displaying racism or regionalism.''

    ``Ms. Marcus is the first American casualty of the Turkish government's
deplorable campaign of censorship and intimidation against journalists
covering the Kurdish separatist movement,'' Walter Cronkite, honorary
chairman of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said in a statement.

    The group said Cronkite, the former CBS News television anchorman, met
with Turkish Prime Minister Tansu Ciller in Ankara in late September to
protest the charges. The organisation said it would continue its protests.

    The Turkish court rejected the defence claims that the charge against
Marcus was invalid under a six-month statute of limitations. Formal charges
were filed this July.

    Marcus' trial in the Istanbul state security court was adjourned until
Nov. 9.


Turkey Warns Syria on PKK Cross Border Attacks
      ANKARA, Oct 12 (Reuter) - Ankara on Thursday warned neighbour Syria to
curb cross-border attacks into Turkey and activities on Syrian soil by the
rebel Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

    The foreign ministry said it had summoned Syria's ambassador to Ankara on
Wednesday to deliver a warning about increasing instances of border attacks
and infiltration into Turkey from Syria of PKK guerrillas.

    ``We asked, once again, for the necessary precautions to be taken
immediately,'' the ministry said in a statement.

    It said 10 PKK attacks ``of a serious nature'' had taken place on
Turkey's border with Syria since February and each time the attackers had
escaped to Syrian soil.

    Despite Turkey's contacts with Syrian authorities after each incident,
the attacks had continued unabated, it said.

    ``The damage that such incidents do to Turkish-Syrian relations, which
should rest on the principle of friendship and good neighbourliness, is
obvious,'' it said.

    The ministry said it had also given Damascus proof many times of the
presence of leading PKK members on Syrian soil.

    PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan is believed to be based in Syria or the
Syrian-controlled Bekaa Valley in Lebanon.

    The PKK has only recently begun to be active in Hatay province on the
border with Syria. Hatay, whose population is predominantly of Arab origin,
borders the Turkish industrial and agricultural Adana province, which has a
large and restive Kurdish immigrant population.

    More than 18,000 people have been killed in the rebels' campaign for
independence or autonomy in southeast Turkey.


Turkish Court Rejects Call to Drop Reuters Case
      ISTANBUL, Turkey (Reuter) - A Turkish security court  Thursday rejected
a call to drop a case on procedural grounds against a Reuters correspondent
charged under Turkey's laws on freedom of expression.

    The defense argued that the charge, relating to a Reuters story issued
last Nov. 25, was invalid under a six-month statute of limitations. Formal
charges were filed this July.

    Reuters correspondent Aliza Marcus, whose byline was on the story, faces
up to three years in jail for ``provoking enmity and hatred by displaying
racism or regionalism.''

    ``We have prepared our response to the charges which we have said are
without merit. We await our next opportunity to clear Marcus' name,'' said a
spokesman for Reuters in London.

    The story referred to forcible evacuation of Kurdish villages as part of
a military strategy against separatist Kurdish guerrillas in southeast
Turkey.

    Marcus, 33, is a U.S. citizen. Her trial in the Istanbul state security
court was adjourned until Nov. 9. Under Turkish procedure, no plea is
submitted.

    In a related case, a state prosecutor last week asked the court to drop
charges against a Turkish newspaper for publishing the Reuters story.


Ciller Pledges To Reform Anti-terror Law
      By Hidir Goktas

    ANKARA, Oct 10 (Reuter) - Turkish Prime Minister Tansu Ciller on Tuesday
pledged that her precarious new minority government would change an
anti-terror law that has plagued the country's relations with Europe.

    ``There are...issues of priority for our government,'' Ciller told
parliament. ``(Among them) the removal of article 8 from being a barrier to
the freedom of thought and expression in a way that will not harm the
indivisible unity of the country.''

    Ciller was reading out the programme of her new government, which faces a
tight vote of confidence on Sunday.

    Article 8 of Turkey's tough anti-terror law, which bans ``separatist
propaganda'' in any form, has been used to jail scores of people for writings
and speeches linked to an 11-year Kurdish insurgency in the southeast.

    The European Parliament, which must ratify a planned customs union
between Turkey and the European Union, has demanded the removal of article 8
in exchange for its approval of the pact, due to go into force next year.

    Analysts say Ciller may try to change the article in line with a clause
in the German constitution and better define ``terror'' and ``separatism.''
The change might reduce or scrap jail sentences and impose instead temporary
bans on political and social activities, they say.

    But some analysts say Ciller may have trouble getting such changes
through, given the makeup of her right-wing cabinet that could prove tough to
manage and possible objections from a far-right party that is key to the
survival of her government.

    Ciller said her government would press on with democratic reforms,
initiated but not yet implemented with much success by the right-left
coalition she broke up with her resignation on September 20.

    ``This government will be the one to take historic steps towards greater
democracy,'' she said.

    But it would also continue working to end the Kurdish insurgency in the
southeast, which has killed more than 18,000 people since 1984, and would
boost investment in the impoverished region, she said.

    Turkey's purely military approach to the insurgency has angered its
Western allies, as has its apparent failure to make any democratic reforms of
note. But a reform of article 8 is likely to gain some lost ground.

    Ciller said her government would stick to the crucial goals of customs
union and press on with a 1994 economic austerity programme brought in to
curb a financial crisis.


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