TRKNWS Turkish Daily News (March 23, 1996)

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

Turkish News Directory

CONTENTS

TURKISH DAILY NEWS / 23 March 1996

[01] NSC wants Provide Comfort kept

TDN Parliament Bureau

ANKARA- The National Security Council (NSC) on Friday urged the government to extend the mandate of the Operation Provide Comfort. But lacking a parliamentary majority and confronted by heavy terms from its main left-wing ally, Turkey's conservative coalition government tied its hopes to the stance of rival leftists for prolonging the stay of the Western planes protecting Iraq's Kurds.

After a marathon 4.5 hour meeting, the powerful advisory council bringing together top state, government and military officials left it to the government to set the new limit for the stay of the foreign planes.

The mandate of the U.S.-British-French air force, made up of nearly 80 combat and support planes and helicopters and based mainly at Incirlik in southern Turkey since 1991, expires at the end of the month.

Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz's minority coalition, set up between his Motherland Party (ANAP) and Tansu Ciller's True Path Party (DYP), shares the military's views on the need to renew the force's mandate.

The Turkish governments traditionally act in line with the recommendations of the NSC. The ultimate decision, however, lies with Parliament, where the center-right coalition depends on the support of the Democratic Left Party (DSP) for survival.

But DSP leader Bulent Ecevit on Wednesday made his party's indirect support conditional on an explicit government statement that the mandate extension would be the last one, although he said the foreign warplanes could stay for "a reasonable time" instead of the two-month deadline the DSP had demanded earlier.

Ecevit, accusing the United States of aiming to set up an independent Kurdish state in northern Iraq, also tied his support to satisfactory guarantees that the "final extension" would not compromise the territorial integrity of Iraq. Finally, he said the interests of the Turkmen in Iraq would also have to be protected alongside those of the Kurds.

The military, having recently negotiated improved terms for Operation Provide Comfort with U.S. officials, favors continuing deployment of the Western planes in return for Washington's silence over occasional incursions by Turkish troops into northern Iraq to attack the bases of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is fighting a separatist war in southeastern Turkey. The new terms reportedly include enhanced Turkish control of the flights and better defined "rules of engagement" to prevent confrontations with the Iraqi air defenses and reduce the risk of accidental downing of friendly aircraft.

After a briefing by the general staff to key Cabinet ministers earlier in the week, the government decided against making the extension "the last one," wary of irritating Washington. But since Yilmaz has not been able to persuade Ecevit to withdraw his condition for indirect DSP support by abstaining in the vote on extension he is faced with a defeat in Parliament that will spell the end of Operation Provide Comfort.

The two coalition partners command 260 seats in the 550-seat legislature. The Islamist Welfare Party (RP) has 158 seats, while the DSP has 75 and the rival leftist Republican People's Party (CHP) has 49. So if all the opposition parties, including the DSP, cast "no" votes in unison, the government's decision extending the mandate for Western planes will be rejected.

But divisions within the CHP have raised the government's hopes. Even if CHP leader Deniz Baykal who was foreign minister in the former right-left coalition led by Ciller may be planning to extract a binding decision for his deputies to vote against the extension, his chances of success look slim.

The deputies who served as ministers in the former coalition with Ciller say they will vote for the extension for the sake of consistency. Some 10 deputies, including such heavyweights as Hikmet Cetin and Murat Karayalcin, are known to favor an extended mandate.

Meanwhile, Parliament sources do not expect Baykal to press too heavily for a binding group decision, recalling the free hand given to the deputies by party leaders in former votes on Provide Comfort. In the past, CHP deputies were totally split in their preferences, some voting for extensions, some opposing, and some abstaining.

Among the CHP deputies, those from Kurdish-dominated southeastern provinces are inclined to support the mandate extension. Baykal and his loyalists, on the other hand, call for a "no" vote as a tactical move to disrupt the alliance between the rival DSP and the governing coalition.

But Parliament sources expect the most populous group within the CHP to be those who stay away at the voting. If the number of abstainers reaches 20, then the coalition will be able to defeat the opposition bid to block the extension.

But sources also expect that the CHP leadership might eventually decide to abstain from the vote en masse, so as not to deepen the divisions within the party.

[02] COREPER urges meeting between Turkey and EU

ANKARA- The European Union's committee of permanent representatives (COREPER) agreed in principle to hold the Association Council with Turkey on March 26 a day later than originally scheduled.

Within this framework, the COREPER said that the talks with Turkey would be carried out on a "Fourteen Plus One" formula, the Anatolia news agency reported from Brussels where the COREPER meeting was held. The Fourteen Plus One formula is due to the EU's failure to convince Greece to lift its blockade of EU financial assistance to Turkey.

With this formula, Greece will pursue a different policy than that of the other European Union members in the meeting. It will also make it possible for the Association Council to make a common declaration with Turkey, while a declaration of the Fifteen would have been blocked by Greece. Thus, the declaration will be made by the Fourteen.

Turkish officials say that the invitation is not yet made to Turkey. When it is made formally, Ankara will decide whether to accept the meeting under those conditions or not, diplomatic circles said.

The committee, which postponed the Association Council to Tuesday morning, rejected the Greek call to postpone it to April 22.

The Fourteen Plus One formula displays Greek isolation in its attitude toward Turkey. In the Association Council meeting, it will have to negotiate its position vis-a-vis Turkey as "one" and possibly, not enjoy any support by the Fourteen.

However, given its right to veto the aid, it will force the EU on a legal question with Turkey, since the question of financial assistance has been approved by the European Parliament and, thus, has become an EU obligation.

Ankara says that removing the Greek veto is an internal matter of the European Union, which has a contractual obligation toward Turkey.

Greece has indicated that it will lift its veto only if Turkey's new government makes a statement pledging its non-aggression toward Greece and if the European Union makes a common statement urging Turkey to take the Aegean dispute to the International Court of Justice in the Hague.

[03] Turkey accelerates contacts with Baku and Yerevan

By Nazlan Ertan

Turkish Daily News

ANKARA- As Azerbaijan and Armenia debate the terms of a framework agreement regarding a solution to the violent dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh, Ankara accelerated its contacts with both sides to overcome stumbling blocks that still remain.

Ambassador Ayhan Kamel, the Foreign Ministry's Karabakh coordinator, has gone to the region as a presidential emissary.

Kamel has conveyed a message from President Suleyman Demirel to his Azerbaijani counterpart Haidar Aliyev. He will also deliver a message from Demirel to Levon Ter-Petrossian, the Armenian president.

"These are general messages in which Turkey stresses to both sides that it is necessary, after coming so far in their talks, to be conciliatory," a senior diplomat said.

The messages also indicate that the restoration of peace and stability in the region will enable the establishment of normal bilateral relations among the regional countries and contribute to the prosperity of the region, and maintain that "the momentum gained" in solving the problem should not be lost.

The two messages are being sent just before the visit of President Suleyman Demirel to Washington. The agenda of his talks with President Bill Clinton includes the Karabakh question, Turkey's relations with Armenia and Azerbaijan and the oil pipeline that would pass through the region. Turkey's expressed desire to open its border post with Armenia provided there is progress in ongoing Azeri-Armenia talks will also ease pressures on Turkey from some U.S. congressional circles for blocking aid to Armenia.

Ankara fears that any delay, leaving the talks until after the presidential elections in Russia and the United States, would further calcify the chronic Karabakh problem.

According to diplomatic sources, one of the questions which remain unsettled and must be dealt with in the framework agreement is the "definition of 'maximum autonomy' that is to be given to Nagorno-Karabakh." How this concept will be integrated into the statement of principles is still being debated. While maximum autonomy that would not infringe Azeri sovereignty is foreseen, the Armenian side insists on a "clear definition" of the term.

Another stumbling block is the future of the Lachin corridor and the city of Shusha. Azeris maintain that Armenian withdrawal from these areas should be prompt, to enable the speedy return of displaced Azeris to their own territory.

Turks indicate that an Armenian gesture that would enable the conclusion of the statement of principles would be reflected directly in Turkish-Armenian ties.

Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz, who attended the Newroz celebrations in Igdir, took the opportunity to go to Alican border gate on the border with Armenia, which has been kept closed since the eruption of the Karabakh conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

"There are ongoing negotiations within the Minsk group and on a bilateral platform. When these are concluded, it is expected that a declaration of principles will be made," Mesut Yilmaz said, in confirmation of yesterday's TDN report that the two sides were approaching agreement. "After a declaration is made, we will open the gate." Yilmaz also signalled that there were a number of economic projects in the pipeline, which Turkey would be happy to accommodate. "We are ready for economic cooperation of any kind," he said.

He added that Turkey had already made an overture to Armenia with last year's reopening of the airspace passage to Armenia.

"This was not reciprocated," Yilmaz said.

He added that if Armenia adopted a conciliatory attitude, Turkey would reciprocate fully. "But Ankara has to consider the interests of our Azeri brothers in every step it takes," Yilmaz said. "I believe that Armenia will note our goodwill." The Turkish government has been under extensive pressure from the businessmen of Igdir and the surrounding region to open the border with Armenia and let them resume border trade.

"We aim at opening the border, but for this we have to see an improvement in bilateral talks," Yilmaz said.

According to Turkish diplomats, peace between its two feuding neighbors would quickly lead to establishment of diplomatic relations between Turkey and Armenia. The two countries have never established relations although Turkey recognized Armenia along with other former Soviet states. Turkey insisted that the preamble of the agreement should contain wording that both sides respected "the territorial integrity and present borders" of the other a measure to prevent the Armenian claims that a part of Turkish territory belongs to Armenia. But diplomats now say that this problem may be solved through a reference in the agreement to the Paris Charter that urges respect for territorial integrity and the inviolability of borders.

[04] Deputy PM Mentese says he believes Germany will do its share on the PKK

Turkish Daily News

ANKARA- Minister of State and Deputy Prime Minister Nahit Mentese said on Friday that the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) has now created havoc in Germany, just as it has done in Turkey, and indicated his belief that this would prompt the German government to take the necessary precautions against this organization, which is banned in both countries.

Mentese was referring to the weekend riots by PKK supporters in Dortmund in which members of the German police force were brutally beaten by Kurdish demonstrators.

Mentese, who was talking to reporters when receiving German Ambassador Hans-Joachim Vergau, underlined the fact that Turkey and Germany are engaged in a wide network of cooperation in the political, social and economic fields.

He said that the two countries were also increasing cooperation in the area of security to combat terrorism more efficiently, according to the Anatolia news agency.

Mentese recalled that the PKK had been banned in Germany and that the two countries had signed a protocol when he was interior minister under the previous government.

He bemoaned the fact however that this extradition procedure had not been implemented.

Underlining the fact that the PKK is a terrorist organization Mentese maintained that there was no Kurdish problem in Turkey.

"But there are the bloody attacks by the PKK in Turkey that have been going on since 1983. The struggle now is against terrorism. The security forces are showing great sacrifice in the Southeast in order to protect innocent people," Mentese said.

German Ambassador Vergau, who was paying a courtesy call on Mentese to congratulate him on his recent appointment as minister of state and deputy prime minister, said that there were broad relations between Germany and Turkey, which is proceeding on the path of unification with Europe.

Pointing out that Germany today is Turkey's most important economic partner, Vergau added that the two countries also shared cultural ties.

"In other words, terrorism and the PKK do not constitute the central point of out relations," Vergau said.

Indicating that the PKK was banned in his country and that this ban was implemented during the latest incidents surrounding this organization, Ambassador Vergau said German public opinion condemned terrorism unanimously.

But, he said, the basic problem nevertheless was sourced in Turkey and added that there was an expectation that the problem would be solved by the Turkish side.

He pointed out however that Turkey's friends in Europe were ready to help her in solving this problem and underlined that there was no difference of view between the two countries on the key topics in this matter.

Vergau also said that the German government would be happy to cooperate with Turkey in this respect.