Turkish Daily News, 96-05-16

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From: Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs <http://www.mfa.gov.tr>

TURKISH DAILY NEWS
16 May 1996

CONTENTS

[01] Court ruling causes heated debate among politicians

[02] Turkey resumes trade with Yugoslavia

[03] Iranian buyer soon to complete purchase of Turkish zinc refinery

[04] Banguoglu: Alternative routes needed for Caspian oil

[05] Quarrel between TIHV and Foreign Ministry spreads

[06] Turkey raps Athens on Aegean tour for EU journalists

[07] Turkey welcomes Greece's temporary lift of veto

[01] Court ruling causes heated debate among politicians

TDN Parliament Bureau

ANKARA- The recent ruling by the Constitutional Court has cast doubt on the validity of the vote of confidence in the coalition Motherpath government.

The Constitutional Court on Tuesday upheld an appeal by the pro-Islamic Welfare Party (RP) and ruled that the March confidence vote that sealed the formation of the ruling center-right coalition was unconstitutional. The court, however, refused to declare the government invalid declaring that its ruling was not retroactive.

Opposition parties have been urging the government to resign immediately and so have some ministers from the True Path Party (DYP).

After meeting with Constitutional Court Chairman Yekta Gungor Ozden, Parliament Speaker Mustafa Kalemli said there existed no legal vacuum. Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz said that the government was in power and that resignation was out of the question.

In a statement after his visit to the Constitutional Court, Kalemli said that the rulings of the court were not retroactive and therefore the parliamentary decisions regarding the vote of confidence, the extension of the mandate of Operation Provide Comfort and the extension of Southeast emergency rule for a period of three months, would not be affected by the court's decision.

Kalemli said that the rulings of the Constitutional Court cannot be made subject of controversy. Kalemli also said that the Parliament should make the necessary arrangement in line with the decision of the court. He said Parliament may debate the issue today while discussing the procedures concerning internal regulations.

Constitutional Court Chairman Yekta Gungor Ozden said he and his colleagues had taken a legal decision, not a political one. Ozden said that the court ruling had not created chaos and that it also introduced a solution.

The RP, the biggest party in Parliament, had said the coalition needed an absolute majority of those who attended the assembly, in this case 273 votes. The Motherpath coalition received its vote of confidence by a margin of 257-207 votes with 80 abstentions. The Democratic Left Party (DSP) of Bulent Ecevit secured the confidence vote for the coalition by abstaining.

According to the new ruling of the court, the DSP from now on will not be able to abstain in key votes. DSP deputies will either have to back the government on the floor or stay away from the parliamentary session to help the coalition.

DYP Chairwoman Tansu Ciller speaking at a foundation laying ceremony in the central Anatolian province of Nigde, said that the Constitution Court had held that the vote of confidence in the Motherpath government was a subject of controversy. She stressed that she would not allow Turkey to face instability and that whatever was necessary for the interests of the country would be done.

Speaking later at a DYP parliamentary group meeting, Ciller said her party's officials would make a decision regarding the government's calling for a fresh vote of confidence.

State Minister Ibrahim Yasar Dedelek (DYP) said that the court had cancelled the vote of confidence justifiably. Dedelek said that the ruling would make it harder to break the deadlock in the coalition.

Another DYP state minister, Ayvaz Gokdemir, said that the ruling had created a government vacuum. Even so, he said that the government was legitimate until a new one was formed.

Industry Minister Yalim Erez urged the prime minister to resign immediately. Erez accused ANAP deputies of treachery.

RP leader Necmettin Erbakan claimed that the government should resign immediately. He said that whichever party up a coalition partnership with his party would win. He said that the new government could be formed in a very short time.

DSP leader Bulent Ecevit said there existed no governmental vacuum but that it depended on the discretion of the government to ask for a new vote of confidence or not. However, he recommended that the government should re-hold the three votes in question, otherwise every step to be made by the government from now on would lead to political controversy.

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Chairman Alparslan Turkes said that the court had triggered a serious controversy in Turkey. Turkes said that the debate over the ruling would continue even after the reasons of the court ruling were published.

ANAP deputies' reactions were mainly focused on the DYP ministers. ANAP Deputy Chairman Sadan Tuzcu urged the DYP ministers to resign. Tuzcu said that it was unnecessary for the government to ask for a new vote of confidence.

ANAP Public Works Minister Mehmet Kececiler, said there was no need for a new vote of confidence until the Constitutional Court ruling provided the reasons for the decision.

Yasar Okuyan, who took the rostrum at the ANAP parliamentary group meeting, said that the DYP industry minister, Yalim Erez, should resign immediately.

ANAP Defense Minister Oltan Sungurlu said he and his colleagues had faced a situation where the law and politics had become interwoven. However, Sungurlu said that the situation would become clear after the court's reasons for the decisions were published.

While the politicians entered a heated debate following the court ruling, Yilmaz and Kalemli met with President Suleyman Demirel. The allegations concerning DYP Chairwoman Tansu Ciller's drawing money from the Prime Ministry's slush fund were among the issues discussed during the meeting, as well as the recent political and legal developments.

Law professors assess ruling

Law professors, discussing the ruling of the Constitutional Court, shared similar ideas that the government either has to ask for a new vote of confidence or resign once the reasons behind the ruling are published in the Official Gazette.

However, the professors also pointed to the fact that the decision of the court was not retroactive and thus the government's earlier activities are not invalid.

Professor Orhan Aldikacti, a constitutional expert who contributed to the preparation of the 1982 Constitution, told the Anatolia news agency that the government should resign on ethical grounds but not on legislative ones.

"The ruling will only bind the governments which will be formed in future. So there is no need for the government to resign, when the legislation is taken into consideration."

Asked what should the government's next step should be, he said: "I personally think in societies where democracy is completely settled a government would resign immediately."

Professor Erol Cansel, a former member of the Constitutional Court, stressed that the vote of confidence received by the ruling center- right government was invalid.

"Now, we have gone back to the very beginning. The government should obviously seek a new vote of confidence. However, everything the government does until the ruling and reasons behind it are made public on the official gazette is valid."

Referring that the court also ruled that extensions of emergency rule in the Southeast and the mandate for Operation Provide Comfort were against the Constitution, Cansel said that Parliament had to vote on these issues once again.

Professor Yavuz Sabuncu, a lecturer at Ankara University Political Sciences Department, said the 53th government shouldeither resign or face another vote of confidence.

"Apparently, it all depends on the steps which will be taken by Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz. He will make his choice, either resigning or entering into a period of forming a new government," Sabuncu said.

[02] Turkey resumes trade with Yugoslavia

ANKARA- Turkey resumed from May 15 trading with the new Yugoslavia, according to a government decree.

The decree, issued by the Customs Undersecretariat, and published in Wednesday's Official Gazette, said Turkey would allow export and import transactions with Yugoslavia as part of a U.N. decision to suspend the embargo on the Balkan republic.

It said customs authorities, as dictated by the decree, would remove the ban on all goods which had earlier arrived from or were headed for the former Yugoslav Federal Republic but kept at government warehouses.

Those goods will now be subject to routine customs clearance transactions, it added.

The United Nations suspended all economic sanctions against Yugoslavia on Nov. 22, 1995.

[03] Iranian buyer soon to complete purchase of Turkish zinc refinery

ANKARA- Turkish officials said an Iranian-led consortium is about to complete acquisition procedures for Turkey's largest zinc refinery, Cinkur Cinko Kursun Metal Sanayi A.S., which was privatized last March.

Turgut Gozubuyuk, deputy general-manager at Cinkur, said that KMM Kayseri Maden Metal Ticaret, the buyers consortium, on Tuesday transferred $7 million in cash payments, as required in the sell-off contract. He said the money transfer was late because of bureaucratic obstacles which came from Iran's non-international exchange regime.

Gozubuyuk told the semi-official Anatolia news agency that the sale agreement would be signed within days.

On March 29, the Privatization Administration (OIB) sold off the company's entire 98.8 percent public shares to Kayseri Maden Metal for $14 million.

Both Cinkur and its buyer are located in the central Turkish town of Kayseri.

The buyer, KMM -- a Turkey-registered firm -- is made up of Iranian mining ministry with a 85 percent share, Canada-based Isko Ltd with 10 percent and Turkish mining company Ekin Madencilik with 5 percent.

Cinkur, which meets one-third of Turkey's slab zinc and zinc-alloy needs, produced 18,760 tons of electrolytic zinc, cadmium and related alloys in 1995. Turkey imports more than half of its zinc demand.

A government plan to expand the refinery for about $530 million was put off in 1994 because of its high cost. According to the sale agreement, KMM will pay $7 million of the price tag in cash. The remainder will be paid in two equal instalments within the year from the date of the sale agreement.

The OIB will impose a London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor) plus 2.5 percentage points on the instalments. The OIB said in a statement that KMM would also pay back Cinkur's debts totalling some TL 200 billion on the day agreement was signed.

[04] Banguoglu: Alternative routes needed for Caspian oil

ISTANBUL- The Bosphorus can't be used for the transport of Caspian oil to the West because it would pose too much danger to Istanbul, a senior Turkish official told an international oil and gas conference in Istanbul on Wednesday.

Turkey and Russia are locked in a major struggle over how Azeri and Kazakh oil will reach western markets. Russia wants the oil to be pumped by pipeline to a Russian port and carried by tankers through the Bosphorus. Turkey wants the oil to be transported by pipeline to a terminal at Ceyhan on the Mediterranean.

At Wednesday's gathering, Turkish officials reiterated their concern over safety to the country's largest city if Caspian oil is shipped through the Bosphorus from the Black Sea.

The issue was debated at the Second International Conference on Oil and Gas Pipelines in Central Asia. The two- day conference, organized by the Adam Smith Institute of London, ended Wednesday. Scores international oil industry executives and officials from several countries participated.

"The Turkish straits can't be used as if it were a pipeline for the transportation of Caspian oil to the West," Ahmet Banguoglu, deputy director general of Maritime and Aviation affairs of the Foreign Ministry, declared.

"This option is too risky to be acceptable to Turkish governments and the public," he stated categorically.

Banguoglu said increased oil shipments through the Bosphorus were already threatening Istanbul's 12 million inhabitants, who live along the shores of the waterway, with a potential environmental disaster.

He also warned that the increased passage of ships with dangerous cargo would hamper international navigation on the waterway.

"There are other, less risky and more rational routes for the routing of Caspian oil to world markets. One good option is the Baku- Ceyhan pipeline route," he said.

Banguoglu warned that the Bosphorus will be permanently shut to all local and foreign cargo ships under present national regulations if, as some oil industry officials hope, as much as 109.5 million tons of Caspian oil is shipped through the Bosphorus.

The greater number of large oil tankers coming through the Bosphorus would cause greater delays of passage of ships both ways, he argued.

The Bosphorus is the only outlet for Bulgaria, Romania, the Ukraine and Georgia to warm waters and a major international waterway. The Bosphorus is part of the Turkish Straits, which include the Sea of Marmara and the Dardanelles.

In 1993, 23,414 vessels transited the waterway, two thirds of which were foreign ships.

[05] Quarrel between TIHV and Foreign Ministry spreads

Turkish Daily News

ANKARA- The tension between the Turkish Human Rights Foundation (TIHV) and the Foreign Ministry worsened after the ministry filed suit, claiming that the TIHV's treatment centers for torture victims were illegal. The TIHV issued a harsh response to the statement by Foreign Ministry Deputy Spokesman Nurettin Nurkan which said: "Rehabilitation and treatment centers are illegal as no formal application was made." Yavuz Onen, chairman of TIHV, responded that the foundation was not under the control of the Foreign Ministry but of the General Directorate of Foundations.

At a press conference, Foreign Ministry spokesman Nurkan stated: "As there was no formal application, the rehabilitation and treatment centers are not legal. In civilized countries these centers are under the strict control and management of the government. Officials will do what is necessary."

TIHV Chairman Onen responded to these claims in a written statement yesterday. He indicated that the foundation had been treating torture victims at four centers and had helped more than 2500 torture victims since 1990. "There are three social service specialists, eight doctors, three psychiatrists and two medical secretaries working at the four centers and about 300 volunteer specialists who are contributing. In civilized countries, governments are not authorized to maintain strict controls but they undertake legal functions within the framework of democratic cooperation in social duties," said Onen.

The TIHV chairman added: "It is known that such centers carry on their activities without being pressured. We want to recall once more that TIHV is under the administrative and financial control of the General Directorate of Foundations, not the Foreign Ministry. Our foundation has been controlled regularly since 1995 by this organization. TIHV doesn't have a responsibility to inform the Foreign Ministry of the names of people who apply to our centers. The ministry to whom we have been sending our publications for six years did not make such a request."

Onen claimed that Nurettin Nurkan has been violating the law by making accusations and threatening statements in a field in which he is not authorized. "This is an effort to put pressure on the courts while the case is going on. We want him to explain by which aim and duty he called the information and security units to a meeting whose sole subject was the TIHV, and what kind of measures against us were decided on at the meeting," said Onen. "If he considers himself authorized and responsible, we call on him to reveal what kinds of initiatives he has taken on the issues of torture, death under torture (like Metin Goktepe) and torture crimes."

[06] Turkey raps Athens on Aegean tour for EU journalists

ANKARA- A scheduled information tour for the European Union journalists, arranged by Greece, has created an angry reaction from Ankara on Wednesday.

"Greece plans to take members of the EU countries' journalists on an Aegean tour, which includes the Kardak region, in a battleship between the dates May 18 -19," Foreign Ministry spokesman Nurettin Nurkan said at his weekly press conference.

Nurkan called the tour a "new Greek provocation on the Kardak issue," referring to the conflict on who owns the twin islets in the Aegean that brought the countries to the brink of war last February.

"Turkey will take the necessary precautions for the protection of its legitimate rights and interests in the face of this new provocation," he said. "Our view has been conveyed to the Greek ambassador who has been summoned to the Foreign Ministry."

Greek Ambassador Dimitrios Nezeritis refrained from comment on his meeting at the ministry, but simply said that he had "a chat" with Onur Gokce, the director-general for relations with Greece. However, the TDN has learned that Nezeritis said the tour did not include any visit to the Kardak area, which is five-and-a-half miles from the Turkish shore.

Nezeritis took note of Turkish sensitivity and assured that there was no reason why the route, which did not include Kardak, should change. The meeting reportedly ended on a positive note and both sides agreed to withhold any statement until further information from Athens. The Turkish statement, however, has refueled tensions.

[07] Turkey welcomes Greece's temporary lift of veto

ANKARA- Turkey welcomed on Wednesday Greece's temporary lifting of its veto to the Mediterranean funds -- which Turkey is expected to get a share -- and said it hoped this would be a first step for the realization of European Union's financial obligations toward Turkey.

The financial assistance package is part of the European Union's obligations for the realization of the Turco-EU customs union, but the persistent Greek veto prevented any funds from being channeled to Turkey.

But Greece, under heavy pressure from its European Union partners, did not use its veto to prevent the so-called MEDA regulation, a legal framework for the EU's vast Mediterranean basin funding program, from being sent to its next legislative destination, the European Parliament.

EU foreign ministers said the partial lifting of the veto on the MEDA regulation was a welcome gesture.

"We consider this a positive step in carrying out the European Union financial obligations toward Turkey," Foreign Ministry deputy spokesman Nurettin Nurkan said during his weekly press conference.

He said that MEDA was only one of the funds that constituted the EU financial aid to Turkey.

Asked about the Cyprus-European Union Association Council and the declaration made after it, Nurkan said: "The European Union has declared that it will open membership negotiations with Cyprus within six months after the conclusion of the intergovernmental conference. There is nothing beyond it in the Association Council declarations," Nurkan said.

He added that Cyprus could not become a member of the European Union before Turkey's own membership "reached a certain stage."

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