TRKNWS-L Turkish Daily News (January 17, 1996)

From: TRKNWS-L <trh@aimnet.com>

Turkish News Directory

CONTENTS

TURKISH DAILY NEWS

17 January 1996

[01] Ankara asks US to 'clarify' its position on Kurdish issue

Turkish Daily News

ANKARA- Ankara, angered by the criticism of two senior American diplomats which appeared on a U.S. television program, urged Washington on Tuesday to clarify its position regarding terrorism and the Kurdish question.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry summoned the U.S. Embassy's deputy chief of mission, Frank Riccardone, on Tuesday morning, in order to ask for information on the remarks by the assistant secretary of state for human rights, John Shattuck, and the deputy assistant secretary of state, John Kornblum, during the prime-time news-magazine program "60 Minutes," on the CBS television network.

Shattuck, who visited Turkey last year, said that the people in southeast Anatolia were caught in the middle of fighting between the Turkish army and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Asked separately if the PKK and the Turkish government killed civilians, Shattuck twice replied affirmatively.

[02] EU envoy says customs union is essential to strengthen alliance

ANKARA- The customs union agreement between Ankara and Brussels, which took effect Jan. 1, was essential to form a stronger political and economic alliance, said Ambassador Michael Lake, European Union (EU) representative.

Speaking during a conference at the Ankara Chamber of Industry (ASO), Lake said that he was rather disappointed about the criticism put forward at the same gathering by ASO Chairman Zafer Caglayan, who voiced the complaint that the EU's financial assistance to Turkey would fall short of the actual need.

Ambassador Lake said that Turkey had made substantial progress in complying with EU regulations, and had fulfilled all the technical requirements by the end of Nov. 1995.

Lake said that foreign investment in Turkey had doubled in 1995, reaching $3 billion, compared with $1.5 billion in 1994. Of this total, $1 billion was invested in Dec. 1995 alone.

The EU representative went on to say that the customs union would help to strengthen the alliance between the EU and Turkey in many areas including industrial cooperation, the formation of joint ventures, the energy industry, transportation, telecommunications, scientific research, justice, and statistics. He pointed out that small and medium size Turkish companies would particularly benefit from the customs union.

Lake said that the customs union would be an evolving process that would affect all levels of Turkish society positively. He said that the only problem was the lack of familiarity between Turkey and the EU, which would be solved in the near future.

Zafer Caglayan, speaking before Michael Lake, said that Turkey was one of the few countries which had accepted customs union before full membership. He added that the other countries first became full members, and had then made use of the EU's aid before entering the customs union.

He criticized the EU for forcing Turkey to pay the cost of customs union alone. He noted that Greece had received a total of $50 billion aid in direct grants and credit, while Ireland had received $40 billion and Portugal $30 billion. Turkey has received ECU 827 million so far, of which ECU 125 million was direct grants and ECU 702 was credit, and will receive about ECU 1.525 billion in the next five years.

[03] Pauline Green: Turkey has not pledged concessions on Cyprus

ANKARA- Pauline Green, the chairperson of the Socialist Group of the European Parliament clarified Tuesday that Turkey did not pledge concessions on Cyprus before last month's crucial customs union vote in the European legislature.

Responding to Turkey's semi-official Anatolia news agency's questions in Strasbourg, Green confirmed that in pre-customs union contacts with the Turkish government the Cyprus problem was raised by the European parliamentarians but the Turkish position explained in such talks could not be defined as Turkey providing guarantees to the European Parliament on the Cyprus issue.

She said Turkey had underlined at the contacts that it wanted a settlement in Cyprus and would contribute to efforts aimed at resolving the problem on the eastern Mediterranean island.

Stating that the Socialist Group was against making any linkage between Turkey's customs union with the European Union and the Cyprus problem, Green charged that it was the European Union Ministerial Council which had tried to interrelate the Cyprus problem and the customs union during talks with Turkey to establish a customs union. "Right from the beginning, we considered such a linkage inappropriate," she said.

The European Union Ministerial Council, in a bid to overcome the Greek veto, decided, during a debate on the establishment of customs union with Turkey, to open full membership talks with the Greek Cypriot administration six months after the intergovernmental conference scheduled to be held this summer.

[04] Oymen: No concession

[05] Foreign Ministry consular procedures on Internet