TRKNWS-L Turkish Daily News (February 7, 1996)

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

Turkish News Directory

CONTENTS

TURKISH DAILY NEWS / 7 February 1996

[01] Yilmaz gets advice but no backing from left

Turkish Daily News

ANKARA- Motherland Party (ANAP) leader Mesut Yilmaz on Tuesday started his search for partners in the government he hopes to set up, but drew advice from the two-left wing parties that he should return to his own side of the spectrum and revive failed efforts for a partnership with caretaker Prime Minister Tansu Ciller's True Path Party (DYP).

The leaders of the Republican People's Party (CHP) and Democratic Left Party (DSP) also distanced themselves from a deal ANAP is contemplating with the Islamist Welfare Party (RP) as a last resort.

CHP leader Deniz Baykal told reporters after meeting with Yilmaz that the ANAP leader had sought his party's support for an ANAP-RP coalition, which, he said he had categorically rejected.

"We are not for any model that includes the RP and it is out of question for us to lend direct or indirect support to such a coalition. I have said this openly to Yilmaz," Baykal said.

Baykal described the hour-long meeting as a "very useful mental exercise," reporting that Yilmaz was weighing up the alternative partnerships with the DYP and the RP but remained committed to neither at this stage.

Dismissing the formulas based on minority governments as carrying the seeds of instability, he said Yilmaz had to make up with Ciller to revive a center-right partnership, which, he said, was the only viable alternative after the inconclusive Dec. 24 election. He exhorted the ANAP and DYP leaders to find a way to overcome the deadlock that barred the way to a deal.

The insistence of both leaders on taking the first turn at the proposed rotational premiership or minority government formulas has prevented the realization of the DYP-ANAP coalition, popularly dubbed "Motherpath" and long sought-after by businessmen and a secularist media uncomfortable with the Islamist outlook of the RP.

DSP leader Bulent Ecevit, whom Yilmaz met after Baykal, also called on the two center-right parties to overcome their differences and set up a partnership "for the good of the country." He also ruled out his party's support for an ANAP-RP partnership, but said he had not found Yilmaz particularly eager for it either, although the ANAP leader seemed to want to preserve it as an option.

Asked if he would agree to leading a DYP-ANAP coalition to solve the dispute, Ecevit said he would take the matter to his party's competent bodies if both sides explicitly requested it.

But a breakthrough is not seen likely although Yilmaz is scheduled to meet with Ciller today. Political analysts, pointing to the strong language the leaders have started to use against each other after a post-election truce, see the ambitions of the two leaders as not easily reconcilable.

After Ciller, the ANAP leader will complete his round of talks with Islamist leader Necmettin Erbakan, who unsuccessfully sought to coax ANAP into partnership when he was assigned to form the government last month after his party emerged as the biggest party from the inconclusive poll.

Erbakan has made clear, however, that his right to lead a coalition with ANAP was non-negotiable, causing second thoughts for Yilmaz about the wisdom of clinching the partnership.

[02] Greek efforts to take revenge will increase tensions

Turkish Daily News

The crisis between Turkey and Greece over two rocks in the Aegean is over but the aftershocks continue to threaten peace between the two countries. The Greeks feel Turkey and the United States ganged up behind their backs and forced them to make a compromise. When this became public in Athens the opposition lambasted the newly installed Greek government as traitors, and thus forced the Simitis administration to make amends by seeking revenge.

Of course the Greek government as usual is making a fatal mistake. Firstly the United States did not gang up with Turkey against Greece. On the contrary the United States tried to dissuade Ankara from sending troops to the rocks but failed.

What the United States managed to do was to twist some arms and convince both sides to withdraw their forces from the rocks...

We agree that once again the media on both sides of the Aegean misrepresented the whole situation. The Greek press turned the issue into a grand defeat and demanded revenge. The Turkish press in turn did not directly claim victory but it quoted foreign newspapers about Turkey's "victory..." What the rock crisis has left behind is more rifts between Ankara and Athens, more mistrust and unfortunately enmity.

When we were in the United States before the rock crisis we had told American officials, who were too busy trying to figure out what to do with Cyprus, that we felt the main issue of concern should be the Turkish-Greek disputes and the fact that Athens is refusing any kind of dialogue to solve these problems...

We were proven right only in a matter of days. However, now the anger in Athens is also directed towards the Americans. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke has been declared unwelcome in Athens and thus cannot come to the area to mediate between the two countries.

The Greeks on the other hand have turned progressively intransigent. Instead of figuring out a way to establish some form of dialogue with Turkey -- to discuss the problems between the two countries and defuse the growing tensions between us -- they have now embarked on a dangerous path to fight against Turkey diplomatically and judicially.

Yet, their case is rather weak. They cannot prove that the hundreds of islets dotted all around the Aegean and situated a few miles off the Turkish mainland belong to them.

They have tried to enlist the backing of the European Union states and that has failed. Italy has rebuffed the Greeks. They have tried to take revenge by trying to block EU funds for Turkey. It seems they are not getting far in this area either.

The Greeks have spread word that they are stepping up their naval deployment in the Aegean and this too has been proven a hoax.

So instead of making these empty gestures it would be advisable for the Greeks to opt for dialogue with Turkey and abandon the fruitless anti-Turkish revenge campaign. Increasing tensions only means playing with fire and the Greeks can hardly afford this. So we feel it is about time the big brothers of Greece in the EU step in and convince the Greeks to start talking to Turkey instead of picking a fight...

[03] Holbrooke cancels Aegean trip after Greek rebuff

Turkish Daily News

WASHINGTON- The U.S. State Department confirmed Monday what so many observers had expected since the Kardak crisis was resolved last week: Richard Holbrooke, assistant secretary of state for European and Canadian affairs, has canceled a trip to Greece, Turkey and Cyprus he had scheduled for later this week.

The announcement, made by State Department Deputy Spokesman Glyn Davies, came in the wake of the Greek government's decision that it could not receive Holbrooke. Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis told reporters Monday that "the program that Holbrooke proposed does not fit in with the government's schedule. So the visit is not possible."

However, many observers believe Athens snubbed Holbrooke because it felt the United States had let Greece down in the Kardak crisis by refusing to affirm Greek sovereignty over the rocky islets 3.8 nautical miles off the Turkish coast.

A Greek source in Washington said anti-American sentiment is rampant these days in Athens: "It's like 1974 all over again." In August 1974 Turkey intervened militarily in Cyprus, following a coup engineered by the Greek government which overthrew the elected government of Cyprus, an apparent preliminary to annexation of the island to mainland Greece.

Asked at the daily press briefing Monday whether the State Department was "concerned about anti-U.S. feelings in the region," Davies replied, "Our concern ... is with the fact that we are now in some fashion being labeled as part of the problem here, rather than part of the solution, since we thought we were part of the solution." He recalled that "the president and the secretary of state and many others in the government -- notably, Assistant Secretary Holbrooke -- pulled out all the stops, diplomatically, to prevent a confrontation over Imia/Kardak. And we believe we were successful, because there wasn't any kind of a confrontation. Tensions did not escalate in the Aegean at that time."

In Davos, Switzerland, where he is attending an annual forum of world business leaders, Holbrooke told reporters simply: "I am not going to Greece. I'm going to Central Europe instead."

Davies confirmed that Holbrooke, who is leaving government service later this month, was opting to go to Central and Western Europe since he "doesn't have a lot of time left (and) ... has a number of appointments in Europe -- Central Europe, Western Europe. He wants to go on to those." Holbrooke is regarded as the "father" of the Dayton Accords, which brought an end to fighting in the former Yugoslavia, and remains deeply involved in their implementation.

'The real answer'

Davies was careful not to say Holbrooke's trip was "canceled," but admitted, "I don't know when he might have a chance to visit Athens. I know that it was his intention to get down to the Aegean and visit a number of capitals, but for several reasons that situation's changed. He won't be going to the Aegean.

"Obviously, in Turkey things have yet to settle out, in terms of the formation of a government," Davies noted. But "the real answer" among "a variety of reasons" for the change in Holbrooke's plans "is that, in terms of scheduling, it could not be worked out with members of the Greek government. I think they have travel planned."

The 'big push'

Reminded that a month ago, Holbrooke had called 1996 "the year of a big push in Cyprus," Davies was asked whether the United States had reassessed "that agenda." "It's the view of the United States," Davies responded, "that we want to do everything we can ... to move the parties toward solving the Cyprus problem. We have a number of other American officials who are engaged in that. I don't think you should read anything into Assistant Secretary Holbrooke's decision not to go to the Aegean in the next couple of days.

It would simply be overdrawn to then conclude that we were, somehow, changing ... in a big way our views toward Cyprus or the role we might play in solving the Cyprus problem."

Whether Holbrooke will be involved in the Cyprus initiative even after he leaves the State Department remains to be seen, Davies added.

Grossman

"We will look for other opportunities to pursue the agenda of the United States in the Aegean, in lowering tensions," the spokesman said, pointing to a visit to Washington by Greek President Stephanopoulos planned for May 9.

As to consultations with Ankara, "we talk with Turkey every day," Davies said. "We have a very fine ambassador, Marc Grossman, in Ankara, and he leads our effort -- on a daily basis -- to deal with the Turkish government on these issues."

No list

As had Spokesman Nicholas Burns last week, Davies faced persistent questioning from a Greek correspondent regarding the U.S. view on who owns Kardak and other Aegean islands. Davies denied the journalist's contention that "according to reliable sources you have been advised today to retract" Burns' statement on Thursday that the United States does recognize either Greek or Turkish sovereignty over Kardak/Imia.

Davies said the State Department did not have a list of the islands in the Aegean "owned" by Greece: "I would not look for a list. I don't think you are going to get a list. It doesn't exist. And I can tell you now, there are no plans to draw up such a list."

He also refused to deal with the Greek journalist's questions regarding "reports that the U.S. government, in the framework of NATO, is trying to create a kind of neutral zone in the Aegean, including some areas of the Anatolian peninsula," whether the Greek-Turkish dispute over Kardak was "political or legal," and whether Holbrooke "was aware of ... Turkish-German communication" during the crisis"

[04] Holbrooke cancellation disappoints Ankara

Turkish Daily News

WASHINGTON/ANKARA- Turkey expressed its disappointment Tuesday over the cancellation of a visit by U.S. special envoy Richard Holbrooke, which would have focused on improving the tense relationship between Turkey and Greece.

"The Turkish side meets the cancellation with sorrow," Foreign Ministry spokesman Nurettin Nurkan said, adding that Turkey had been ready to welcome Holbrooke on the Turkish leg of the visit on Feb. 10, irregardless of whether the visit's "Athens part" took place or not.

Some Turkish officials also appeared uneasy with the statement by State Department deputy spokesman Gwyn Davies that "things have to settle out in Ankara in terms of the formation of the government." "We do not think the situation in Ankara is an obstacle. There is a functioning government -- the same one that was in office when the visit was planned," Nurkan said.

Ankara's displeasure with the reference to the "situation in Turkey" was also reflected in the statements made by the Turkish Embassy in Washington. Turkish officials there said that the visit had been cancelled "due to a number of factors, independent of Turkey." "In fact, the Turkish government has been preparing for the assistant secretary's visit since first notified of it over a week ago," the officials said.

Spokesman Nurkan said that the attitude displayed by Greece had also been "worrisome and disappointing" to Turkey.

The Turkish spokesman was referring to the declaration by Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis who announced yesterday that the Greek government's program did not fit with that of Holbrooke.

"So the visit will not be possible," announced Simitis, whose government has been under heavy fire at home for accepting a U.S.-brokered compromise in a row last week with Turkey on what Ankara calls the Kardak rocks and Greece calls the Imia islet.

"In view of this latest development, Turkey still remains fully committed to its position of entering into result-oriented and constructive dialogue and negotiations with Greece in order to resolve all bilateral issues of mutual concern pertaining to the Aegean in a peaceful and just manner and without further delay," a Turkish official told the TDN in Washington.

Nurkan echoed the same policy, saying Ankara wanted to have "direct talks with Greece in a constructive manner," and had hoped that Holbrooke's initiative would make a positive contribution.

Ankara's offer of negotiations on the legal status of the rocks and islets in the Aegean has not received an official response by Greece, but statements from the Greek government have indicated that there was "nothing to negotiate" since the numerous rocks and islets belonged to Greece.

The Greek Cypriots, meanwhile, have adopted a different attitude than Greece, saying Richard Holbrooke was still welcome to visit the divided island.

"The (Greek Cypriot) government will receive Holbrooke because we aim to establish dialogue and negotiations to reach a settlement of the Cyprus question," Greek Cypriot government spokesman Yiannakis Cassoulides said on Monday, quoted by the official news agency. Cassoulides made it clear he wanted Holbrooke to focus on the question of Cyprus.

"Holbrooke is welcome here to solve the Cyprus problem," he said. The U.S. assistant secretary of state had said earlier that he would make a "big push" this year to solve the festering problem and was expected on the island some time this month. But after last week's standoff between Greek and Turkish forces, the U.S. troubleshooter said he would turn his attention to wider problems between Athens and Ankara.