Turkish Daily News, 96-06-11

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

TURKISH DAILY NEWS
11 June 1996

CONTENTS

[01] Turkey says accord with Israel threatens no one

[02] Economist survey pessimistic on Turkey's future

[03] Turkey submits national report to Habitat II

[04] Draft "Istanbul Declaration" recognizes "continuing deterioration" of urban life

[01] Turkey says accord with Israel threatens no one

Turkish Daily News

ANKARA- Turkey has repeated that the accord it concluded with Israel last February for cooperation between the two countries in the area of military training is not against any other country.

Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Omer Akbel said on Monday that the accord, which has caused so much controversy in the Arab world as well as Turkey's Islamist circles, was merely a "routine agreement." Akbel was responding to questions during a regular press briefing on the call by the leaders of Syria, Egypt and Saudi Arabia to review the accord.

The call, codified in a joint communique issued after the meeting of presidents Hafez al-Assad of Syria and Hosni Mubarak of Egypt with the Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah in Damascus on Saturday, has been met privately with anger among Turkish officials.

These officials said, referring to the three Arab countries concerned, that no one was in a position to question legitimate ties Turkey establishes with any country.

They also contrasted the ties which Turkey has with Israel which are completely in keeping with international law with the illegal ties Syria has with an organization such as the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) which aims to divide Turkey.

Contrary to expectations, Akbel adopted a relatively moderate tone toward the Arab declaration.

He said during his briefing for foreign media that the accord with Israel was similar to accords Turkey had concluded with Arab countries such as Egypt.

Akbel recalled that some Arab countries had requested information from Ankara on the details of the accord with Israel and had later expressed their satisfaction when information was supplied.

He said Turkey had nothing to add to the subject and skirted further questions about the Damascus summit between Syria, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

Responding to another a question about Israel-Turkey joint naval maneuvers in the Mediterranean, Akbel said that there were no such maneuvers currently scheduled.

He also confirmed Israeli reports that Turkish Air Force pilots had been receiving training in that country.

Israeli radio said over the weekend that Turkish jet pilots had trained in Israeli Lavi fighters in which advanced radar and other electronic systems were demonstrated.

It said that the avionics in the Lavi were suitable for transfer to Turkish F-4 Phantom fighter jets.

[02] Economist survey pessimistic on Turkey's future

* Turkey is not a "bridge" between East and West

By Ugur Akinci
Turkish Daily News

WASHINGTON -- The Economist magazine, in a special June 8 survey, drew out a dark picture of Turkey, as a dynamic country that is facing chaos unless it solves many economic, social and political problems that it faces, and does so in a hurry.

If, for example, the Turkish army's allegedly "very brutal" battle against the PKK continues, it will help create "the separatist nationalism it wants to destroy," Economist said.

"If [the army] goes on, the country's religious, ethnic and political cracks may widen beyond spanning, and the Turkish state may simply become a brief pause in the long disintegration of the Ottoman world."

Four economic problems

The following are identified as Turkey's top four economic problems: "Subsidies for state enterprises, the cost of war in the south-east, a huge black-market economy, and ineffective tax collection."

Army

The survey focused on Army's role in today's Turkey as well since "politics in Turkey are played out on a field designed by the army."

"The prominent role played by the army is perhaps one reason why Turkey's democracy has never quite grown up," the Economist said. "Politicians can always hide behind the army's back. For example, by defining the civil war in the south-east as "terrorism," they have simply handed the problem to the security forces," the Economist said.

The army "gives no press briefings or interviews and employs no press officials. Its role remains ambivalent: it is both the guardian of the state and the strait-jacket which prevent political development."

"Bridge?"

The survey zoomed in on the way Turkey has frequently been described as the "bridge between the East and the West." That's simply not so, Economist said.

"This is the wrong image. Individual Turks belong to either east or west: these worlds are so different that there is no effective bridge among them."

"Turkey is more like a tree," the survey said, "with roots in many different cultures and ethnicities ... Each branch knows where it is going, but the tree as whole does not."

The survey warned that "it is possible to imagine Turkey descending into chaos" if the government "fails to reform the economy so that living standards fall further, if it allows the war in the east to continue, if there are riots in the streets met by a repressive police force."

Refah

Whether the next government to tackle such problems will be the pro-Islamic Refah depends on whether RP will be able to survive the splits among its own ranks, Economist notes. "Refah's dilemma now is whether to keep playing the fundamentalist card or to moderate its message. It may have reached saturation support among fundamentalists, but if it turns moderate it may split."

As a concrete example to Refah's problems, the survey mentioned the case of the missing female candidate candidates in December 1995 elections. "The purists rejoiced when it decided not to field female candidates ... but it probably lost votes as a result."

Contradictions

Turkey is nevertheless a country with a mighty potential, it is noted. Developing industrial centers like Bursa add great vitality to the nation with its cheap and skilled workforce that can compete in world markets. Bursa earns $1 billion annually from exports, half of which comes from 6,000 small textile companies, Economist notes.

"But while "Turkey's heads an shoulders are thrusting into the brave new world of global markets and universal culture, its legs are firmly stuck in history, geography, war and poverty." And that's the greatest obstacle to realizing dreams of "golden apple" in Turkey, Economist says -- that is, dreams of jobs, homes, and a better life in general, and joining the European Union in particular.

[03] Turkey submits national report to Habitat II

ISTANBUL- On Monday, Turkey's National Committee presented its national report and plan of action to the Second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements Habitat II, the head of Turkey's Housing Administration (TOKI) declared in Istanbul.

Flanked by conference secretary general Wally N'Dow and National Advisory Board president Ilhan Tekeli, TOKI president Yigit Guloksuz declared that the 155-page report aimed at "finding good solutions" to Turkey's settlements issues.

N'Dow described the report as "one of the most thorough" submitted to the conference. Each of the nearly 140 countries participating in the conference will present a national report to Habitat II that will serve as raw material for a global plan of action.

The Turkish report, Guloksuz said, aims to make Turkish settlements livable and sustainable and treat its citizens equitably.

"We will apply the report," Guloksuz stressed.

The recommendations of the National report reflected the expertise of 244 organizations, three-quarters of which were non-governmental bodies or civic societies.

Top officials of national and local governments, senior members of the academic and scientific world, representatives of trade unions, public institutions and professional associations and NGOs comprise the Turkish National Committee.

Turkey's urban housing requirements, the report said, will increase from 414,000 units a year in 1996 to 616,000 units a year by the year 2005, when the nation's population will reach 71.7 million. It currently has an estimated 63 million inhabitants.

The report said 28 priority issues were developed by the committee, including a plan for a peaceful, stable city life, improvement and renewal of gecekondu (squatter housing), and insuring a proper environment for youth.

In its most controversial recommendation, the report said proper shelters must be provided to the citizens who have lost their homes as a result of the 12-year war against separatist Kurds in Southeast Turkey.

Anywhere between 800,000 to 2 million people have been forcibly evicted in the past two years from their homes and villages in the southeast because of the fighting between government forces and the rebel Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

Many of the refugees have temporarily settled in the towns and cities of the region. Others have migrated to the big cities of the west, such as Istanbul.

Nearly 20,000 people have been killed in Turkey since the PKK launched a bloody campaign for an independent Kurdish state in the southeast in 1984.

[04] Draft "Istanbul Declaration" recognizes "continuing deterioration" of urban life

Turkish delegates prepared draft for world leaders meeting later this week to issue as expression of "political will" to solve the urban crisis

By Don Cofman
Turkish Daily News

ISTANBUL- As presently drafted, the "Istanbul Declaration" which world leaders are to issue Friday will recognize the "continuing deterioration of conditions of shelter and human settlements" and declare their resolve, "with a sense of urgency, ... to make them safer, healthier, more equitable, livable and sustainable."

The declaration is to be a statement of the "political will" of the presidents, prime ministers and other high government officials from the nearly 140 countries represented here at the second U.N. Conference on Human Settlements, Habitat II. It is to be accompanied by a much longer document, the "Habitat Agenda," a "global plan of action" listing exactly how the international intention is to be carried out.

The draft declaration was prepared by Amb. Balkan Kizildeli of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a member of the Turkish delegation to the conference, and presented Monday to the "informal, open-ended drafting group" for the declaration which he chairs. Although the media are not permitted into the meetings of working groups and drafting groups, the Turkish Daily News obtained a copy of Kizildeli's draft.

Turkish Foreign Ministry Spokesman Amb. Omer Akbel last week had said he hoped the declaration would be "strong, forceful and memorable," as the Turkish delegation attached "special importance" to it.

In its current form the declaration contains two pages and 14 paragraphs. This is considerably shorter than a draft Kizildeli had offered Saturday, which reportedly ran a half dozen pages.

The draft declaration would have the national leaders -- about 30 heads of state or government are expected, along with a much larger number of cabinet ministers -- "offer a positive vision of sustainable human settlements, a sense of hope for the future and an exhortation to join a truly worthwhile and engaging challenge: that of building together a world where everyone can live in a safe home with a promise of a decent life of comfort, good health, happiness and hope."

They would say that their deliberations during the three-day "high-level segment" of the conference beginning Wednesday had been "aimed at forging new partnerships at the international and national levels to improve our living environments." They would "reaffirm our commitment to better standards of living in larger freedom for all humankind" and pledge themselves to mutual support in implementing the Habitat Agenda.

Noting the need to "arrest the deterioration of conditions in human settlements which has reached crisis proportions," the leaders would "recognize the need to intensify our efforts and cooperation to improve living conditions ... particularly in developing countries, where the situation is particularly grave, and in countries with economies in transition." This would require addressing "imbalances in the global economy" and looking for "fair and durable solutions to such issues as finance, debt, trade and transfer of technology."

A key paragraph in the draft, given earlier controversy over the nature of the right to housing, reads, "We agree to take all steps necessary for the progressive realization of the right to adequate housing. To that end, we shall seek the active participation of our partners in civic society to ensure security of tenure and access to affordable, adequate housing for all."

On another issue which has proven divisive, the leaders would, according to the draft, "commit ourselves to sustainable patterns of production, consumption, transportation and settlement development (and) ... promote healthy living environments." Some representatives of less-developed countries argue that they cannot afford such environmentally sensitive, "sustainable" development until they reach the economic levels of more developed nations.

Perhaps to offset the disappointment those from some poorer nations might feel at this language, the draft would pledge the declaration's signers to "promote the transfer of technologies and facilitate the access to information on available technologies."

To obtain "adequate funding," the declaration points to a requirement to "mobilize financial sources at the national and international levels and seek new and additional resources from all sources -- multilateral and bilateral, public and private."

Controversy also is involved in the draft's call for strengthening the "financial and institutional capacities" of local authorities (municipalities), "while ensuring their responsiveness, transparency and accountability." The latter two terms are taken to be an attack on corruption, allegedly widespread in many cities of the world, and some delegates have opposed any reference to it.

The draft declaration would have the world leaders promise to promote "gender equality" and to "intensify our efforts to eradicate poverty and discrimination." They would also promise to take steps to "improve the living conditions in rural settlements and to reduce rural-to-urban migration."

Finally, the world leaders would pledge "strengthening the role and functions" of the U.N. Center on Human Settlements in Nairobi, Kenya.

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