Turkish Daily News, 96-05-21

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

TURKISH DAILY NEWS
21 May 1996

CONTENTS

[01] Parliament speaker reacts against DYP-RP cooperation

[02] Turkey sees no enthusiasm in Switzerland over ties

[03] Turkey speeds up preparations for Habitat II summit

[01] Parliament speaker reacts against DYP-RP cooperation

By Kemal Balci

TDN Parliamentary Office

ANKARA- The agreement between the ruling True Path Party (DYP) and the opposition Welfare Party (RP), who were recently engaged in a duel of motions, to suspend debate on the motions until after the June 2 local elections, has caused a legal debate.

According to the constitution, the eight motions which the two parties introduced against their respective party chairmen should be debated in Parliament within a month.

Constitutional experts indicate that Parliament will have to vote on an RP motion by May 26 to decide whether a new inquiry will be carried out into DYP Chairwoman Tansu Ciller.

The timetable set by the DYP and RP, which came as a result of a cease-fire between the two parties, calls for this motion to be dealt with after June 2. However, this exceeds the one-month time limit set by the constitution.

Parliament Speaker Mustafa Kalemli told the TDN that motions belonged to the Parliament once they were submitted. "The necessary procedures will definitely be carried out," Kalemli argued.

Kalemli, following his meetings with the parliamentary group chairmen of the parties, had previously announced that they had decided to debate the motions against Ciller and RP Chairman Necmettin Erbakan on May 21 and 23.

Kalemli had also said that he would leave it to the DYP and the RP to decide on which leader they wanted dealt with first.

However, in a recent development, RP parliamentary group chairman Sevket Kazan and DYP parliamentary group chairman Saffet Arikan Beduk decided that the issue should be postponed until after the June 2 local elections.

Kalemli told the TDN that it was still not clear when this one-month deadline would expire and thus he would consult with the Parliament's legal experts.

"The motion against Ciller was submitted on April 26. However, Parliament was informed of it later. So it is not certain which of the dates should be accepted as the start of the one-month period," Kalemli indicated.

Noting that he would take the issue to the Consultation Council and also discuss it with party rulers, Kalemli said that he would give an exact date later on.

Parliament Speaker Kalemli also is keeping close watch on the political developments which emerged following the recent Constitutional Court ruling which said that the vote of confidence received by the government was invalid.

A day after the ruling, after visiting Chairman of the Constitutional Court Yekta Gungor Ozden, Kalemli said that he considered it unnecessary to hold a new vote of confidence or votes on the extension of emergency rule in the Southeast and the mandate of the Provide Comfort force.

Kalemli is known to have discussed the issue with President Suleyman Demirel.

Talking to TDN, Kalemli stressed that he was the kind of person who would not make any comment before talking with all the relevant people and institutions.

"This was also the case with my remarks over the constitutional court's ruling. I consulted with the professors of law before expressing my ideas. However, after I expressed my ideas some professors opposed them and some shared my ideas. They are not in consensus. So I still believe in what I said. In my opinion there is no need for the government to seek a new vote of confidence. There is also no need to vote again on the extension of emergency rule and the Provide Comfort force. The debate over the issue will be over once the reasons behind the ruling are made public in the Official Gazette anyway," Kalemli said.

In a separate development, the DYP's coalition partner Motherland Party (ANAP) also voiced its opposition to the alliance between the RP and DYP and urged that the motions be debated before the June 2 local elections.

ANAP parliamentary group chairman Murat Baseskioglu said onMonday that the motion regarding a probe into Ciller's personal assets should be discussed at Parliament by May 26 because it was submitted on April 26.

Referring to the changes made to the parliamentary regulations last week, Baseskioglu said that the new article was clear and that it called for the debates over the motions to be finalized in Parliament within a month.

However, the DYP's acting group chairman, Ali Riza Gonul, opposed Baseskioglu, saying that the general assembly was informed of the motion on May 7 and thus this should be the date to start the countdown.

(TDN, 21.05.1996, page 1)

[02] Turkey sees no enthusiasm in Switzerland over ties

By Semih D. Idiz

Turkish Daily News

ANKARA- Turkey sees a discernible lack of political will on Switzerland's part for improved relations, even though a rapprochement is meant to be in force following an incident in 1994 involving Kurdish demonstrators which resulted in the withdrawal of ambassadors by the two sides.

Reliable sources indicate that as in 1994 part of the problem today stems from what officials in Ankara see as a "blatant double standard" employed by Swiss authorities in their approach to Kurds and Turks living in Switzerland.

Continuing pointed remarks by Swiss Foreign Minister Flavio Cotti, interpreted as "attempts at vilifying Turkey," are, however, being taken as the prime indicator of Berne's lack of enthusiasm in its ties with Ankara.

Diplomatic soundings by the Turkish side, both in Ankara and in Berne, to gauge the depth of the political will for improved relations with Turkey are also said to have produced "cool responses."

Ties with Switzerland, already strained over the Kurdish and human rights issues, hit rock-bottom in June 1993 when a Kurdish demonstrator was killed by a shot fired from within the Turkish Embassy compound in Berne which supporters of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) were trying to storm.

The Turkish ambassador to Berne, Kaya Toperi, said later that embassy staff had fired into the air to prevent the protesters. He accused the Swiss police of taking too long to react. The Turkish side maintained the protestor killed had died from a ricocheting bullet.

Toperi subsequently refused Swiss demands to search the embassy and to allow staff members to be questioned. Things came to a head when Berne demanded Toperi's immunity be lifted for questioning. Categorically refusing this, Ankara recalled Toperi for "consultations" and also pulled back two staff members.

Turkey then served notice to the Swiss ambassador in Ankara, Paul Andre Ramseyer, along with two attaches, to leave the country in one week.

Attempts at normalizing ties began to yield fruit only 18 months after these incidents when the two countries agreed to exchange ambassadors again. But sources indicate that ties have not in fact been put on a proper footing as of yet, despite occasional words form the two sides to the effect that all is on track in Turkish-Swiss relations.

One point Ankara has been noting as debilitating to full normalization is "the clear double standard" employed by Swiss authorities when it comes to the activities of Turkish and Kurdish groups in that country.

"Turkish groups who merely want to celebrate `Turkish evenings' are not given permission by the authorities on the grounds that there is a security risk," one source told the Turkish Daily News.

"In stark contrast to this though, Kurdish groups, many of them known by the Swiss themselves to be front organizations for the PKK, are given permission for all their meetings," the source added.

The PKK is outlawed in Turkey -- where it is waging a bloody separatist campaign. It is also outlawed in number of Western countries, including Germany and the United States, who consider the PKK to be a dangerous terrorist organization.

Pointing out that almost all of these Kurdish meetings in Switzerland "have one theme, and that is to attack Turkey," this source said, "Switzerland in recent times has more or less become the headquarters for all of the PKK's front organizations."

"There is a belief in Ankara that the bad atmosphere in relations following the Toperi affair should long since have been overcome, and that Turkey should be well on the way to having good and stable relations with Switzerland," the source added.

"But there is a discernible lack of political will for this on the other side and this appears to be demonstrated mostly in the what amounts to an ingrained prejudice by (Swiss foreign minister) Cotti towards Turkey."

The first sign of a lack of enthusiasm on the Swiss part for significantly improved ties, as far as Ankara is concerned, came early in 1995, shortly after the two countries exchanged ambassadors, when Foreign Minister Cotti, using highly undiplomatic language, called for a commission to be established by European countries to investigate allegations of human rights abuses in Turkey.

When Russia's membership of the Council of Europe was being debated in the Swiss Parliament later in the year, Cotti was in favor, arguing that if a country like Turkey, that systematically abuses human rights, is a council member, then there was no reason for not allowing Russia in.

What is reportedly angering Ankara in all this is not that Cotti may be strong on human rights, but that he has no consistent record on this, as exemplified in his self-avowed enthusiasm for developing ties with China.

"What Ankara sees when it looks at the whole picture is nothing short of personal prejudice," the source informing the TDN said.

Judging by these remarks, officials in Ankara merely want to verify if this is the case or not. If so they clearly do not want bother to waste much time and effort with trying to improve ties with Switzerland, which, at any rate, is considered a "marginal country" by diplomatic analysts as far as Turkish political interests are concerned.

Asked, on the other hand, if there are no "economic or commercial liabilities" attached to less than perfect political ties with Switzerland, sources in Ankara reflected a lack of concern on the grounds that "economics and commerce have their own logic anyway."

"No Swiss company is going to shoot itself in the foot and pull out of the Turkish market because the Swiss government has bad political ties with Ankara or because the Swiss foreign minister does not like Turkey," one source said.

Turkish analysts indicated that the only liability was in the defense industry sector where for a long time Switzerland used the Kurdish issue to put an embargo on Turkey and lift it as it liked. "Turning the tap on and off at will," in the words of one official.

Ankara finally blacklisted Switzerland in this respect and has no more dealings with the country in the defense industry sector. The feeling in Ankara today appears to be that this has not represented any "loss to Turkey" and that "if anything it has brought stability to military procurement programs given the countless reliable alternatives available in this regard."

(TDN, 21.05.1996, page 1)

[03] Turkey speeds up preparations for Habitat II summit

ISTANBUL- Preparations for the United Nations Habitat II City Summit are near completion, and the so- called Conference Valley, including the Lutfi Kirdar Congress Center, will be turned over to the UN on Friday, Turkish officials said yesterday.

Some 11,000 conference delegates from 155 countries have made reservations in 112 Istanbul hotels, coming to participate in Habitat II, the last major world summit of this century, Yigit Guloksuz, chairman of the Public Housing Administration (TOKI), told the news conference. TOKI is organizing the Turkish side of the UN meeting.

Guloksuz said the United Nations expects 20,000 to 25,000 foreigners to partcipate in the 3- 14 June summit, with last minute registrations expected to swell the number of participants.

The Congress Valley includes the 4,900 seat Lutfi Kirdar Congress Center, the chief venue for the UN summit, the Cemal Resit Rey Concert Salon, the Ataturk Cultural Center, the Habiye Cultural Center, the Hilton Convention Center, the Taskisla Campus of Istanbul Technical University, and the hotels in the area.

The area will be closed to traffic during the duration of the conference for security reasons. Only participants will be able to enter the Conference Valley during the summit meetings, officials said.

Transportation and telelecommunications

Flanked by coordinating officials from the Foreign Ministry, the Istanbul Muncipality and the Istanbul Province, Guloksuz said that experts were fine tuning the Lutfi Kirdar Congress Center, which has been converted from a sports arena.

A fleet of 250 buses and vans would be used to transport delegates from the Ataturk International Airport to Conference Valley. An additional 175 vehicles have been rented to meet the official UN delegations, he noted.

Guloksuz also said thousands of meters of underground fiber optic cables had been installed for telecommunications from the conference. Some 140 televsion cameras, 450 computers, more than 1,000 phones and 280 walkie talkies would be available, he added.

Simulataneous translation would be available in seven languages during the summit.

At the news conference, the Istanbul Municipality came under severe criticism for beginning construction of new pavements and sidewalks in vaccinity of the confernce center only one month ahead of the summit.

Reporters said the municipality would not be able finish the building of the new streets and pavments by 3 June.

Pavements and sidewalks have been torn up all over the Beyoglu district near the Conference Valley where new roads and sidewalks are being built.

"The construction won't be finished in time," a journalist said.

(TDN, 21.05.1996, page 3)

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