Turkish Daily News, 96-06-12

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

TURKISH DAILY NEWS
12 June 1996

CONTENTS

[01] Ciller ready for coalition with RP

[02] Syrian Turkmens targeted as scapegoats

[03] Greece accuses Turkey over fresh incident in Aegean

[01] Ciller ready for coalition with RP

Solid:: Believing that DYP opposition to coalition with RP would be 'limited,' DYP leader reportedly expects no more than five or six desertions

By Kemal Balci
TDN Parliament Bureau

ANKARA- True Path Party (DYP) leader Tansu Ciller is now reportedly ready to form a "long-term" coalition government with the Islamist Welfare Party (RP) of Necmettin Erbakan, something she has publicly rejected in the past, saying that a DYP-RP coalition could only be formed for the specific aim of steering the country to an early general election.

A leading DYP figure and former minister said Ciller would propose a coalition based on a (9-8-1) formula. In a potential DYP-RP coalition, Ciller would demand for her party nine out of a total 17 "ministerial positions with portfolio" as well as eight of the 15 state ministries and the Prime Ministry.

Ciller has been meeting with DYP deputies to obtain their views on the possibility of a DYP-RP government. She has determined that the majority of these deputies want the DYP to remain in power, and that no more than five or, at worst, six deputies who resent the RP's Islamist platform would resign from the party in reaction to a DYP-RP coalition.

During the meetings Ciller reportedly told her deputies that the government would not be an "election government." On the contrary, it would be a "long-term government of action."

Ciller's willingness to form a coalition with the RP is believed to stem, to some extent, from the hope that the combined votes of the DYP and the RP in Parliament would stop the parliamentary probes initiated into alleged irregularities by Ciller being a problem. Members of the two parties will have the majority in the probe committees.

To deflect the negative reactions of anti-RP non-parliamentary power groups, Ciller is expected to argue that the secular DYP will have a majority in the 32-member Cabinet and will not permit any extreme behaviour on the part of the RP."

The DYP maintains that Erbakan's party would soften its views, for example the "No to Operation Provide Comfort" slogan to which the RP has adhered stubbornly in the past. They point to the fact that Erbakan has said he would reach a final decision on the force after "consulting with the military."

Sources close to Ciller claim that when it finds itself in government, the RP will drop its opposition to Provide Comfort and the customs union and adopt a conciliatory attitude. They argue that there would be no extreme reactions to a DYP-RP coalition except certain provocative moves aimed at inciting the army against the coalition.

Formal talks between Prime Minister-designate Erbakan and DYP leader Ciller are scheduled to start on Friday but DYP sources say that since things are proceeding swiftly the two leaders may decide to meet one day earlier.

The biggest obstacle for a DYP-RP coalition seems to be Ciller's insistence on being prime minister. The DYP says that in his eagerness to come to power, Erbakan may even make that concession, agreeing to let Ciller have priority. If Erbakan agrees to let Ciller be prime minister, this may draw flak from the RP rank and file but the DYP says that this would be of limited scope.

Currently the DYP has 135 seats the Parliament while the RP has 158. Between them the two parties would command 293 votes, more than the simple majority of 276 needed to win the vote of confidence although a few DYP and RP deputies may choose to vote against the government.

(TDN, 12.06.1996, page 1)

[02] Syrian Turkmens targeted as scapegoats

Bayirbucak Solidarity Association based in Hatay, whose members mostly have relatives in Syria, will meet President Demirel in order to demand help on behalf of the Syrian Turkmens

By Ayse Karabat
Turkish Daily News

ANKARA- Syria has increased its pressure on Turkmens and still continues to detain Turkmens, whose relatives mostly live in Turkey, the Turkish Daily News has learned.

Syria has even arrested Turkmens who are members of the ruling Baath party. Sources said that the arrested Turkmens are mostly engineers, doctors and also relatives of university students in Turkey who have scholarships from different private firms and the Turkish state.

A member of the Bayirbucak (the Turkish name for the Syrian city Latakia) Solidarity Association said these arrests had started in April. "We don't know what did happen to these 20 people who were arrested before the Feast of Sacrifice.These 20 people have good relations with us. We don't want to give our names, because it will be dangerous for these 20 people," he said. "Without the knowledge of (Syrian President) Hafez al-Assad nothing can happen in Syria. There are some bombing attacks but Turkmens cannot do that. Also it is true that the arrests of Turkmens emerged after these attacks." The number of Turkmens arrested has reportedly now reached over 600, with many of them released only to be arrested again later.

The Bayirbucak Solidarity Association will meet President Suleyman Demirel at the end of this month. The association will demand help from Demirel on behalf of the Syrian Turkmens. The Bayirbucak Solidarity Association is based in Hatay, over which Syria still claims sovereignty, and many of its members have relatives in Syria.

At the weekend Presidents Hafez al-Assad of Syria and Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, and Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, met in Damascus and called for a review of the Israeli-Turkish military agreement, which caused much reaction in the Arab world.

Syria is especially unhappy about this accord and claims that it is aimed against Syria. An Arab diplomat living in Ankara said that a few days ago a chemical gas factory was discovered under a mountain in Syria near the Turkish border, and Arabs believe that Israeli planes, which were flying over Turkey according to the military training agreement, discovered this factory.

According to the press, Syria has also increased its military facilities along the Turkish border. Some Syrian paramilitary troops have been shifted from Lebanon to the Turkish border, the Turkish Daily News learned.

Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan is known to be living in Syria. Turkey says Damascus harbors the PKK in order to counterbalance what it feels is Turkey's "water weapon" against it.

The Southeast Anatolian Project, involving a network of dams on the Euphrates, has led to deep concerns in Damascus where the fear is that Turkey is preparing to cut of the vitally important waters of the river.

There are also claims that Syria is following an assimilation program aimed at Arabizing the Turkmens by changing the names of the Turkmen villages. Under its earlier program of land reform, Syria deported Turkmens from Latakia and replaced them with Arabs. The number of Turkmens in Syria is estimated at about 800,000 to 1 million, mostly living in Aleppo, the district of Kunterya near the border with Israel, Telkele (between Hama and the Lebanon border), and Azaz (south of Gaziantep).

(TDN, 12.06.1996, page 1)

[03] Greece accuses Turkey over fresh incident in Aegean

Turkish Daily News

ATHENS- Greece on Tuesday accused a Turkish warship of violating its territorial waters and sailing close to a Greek hydrofoil before heading back to the Turkish coast in the southern Aegean.

"The two vessels came as close as 70 metres from each other, sailing on a parallel course for a few minutes inside Greek waters. The Turkish warship then headed back to the Turkish coast," government spokesman Dimitris Reppas was quoted saying by Reuters reporting from Athens.

He told journalists the incident took place between the Greek holiday islands of Kos and Rhodes and Athens would make an official protest to Ankara.

"Today's incident justifies our view that Turkish provocations will continue," Reppas said.

Reppas said on Monday the Athens would "soon decide on a huge order of weapons to face the Turkish threats."

He did not say what kind of weapons Greece would buy but government sources said they would include F-16 fighter.

Relations between the two NATO allies have worsened since January when they both sent naval forces to claim an uninhabited island in the eastern Aegean.

A clash was averted with U.S. mediation but Athens has since accused Ankara of having territorial claims on several Greek islands.

Turkey refutes this by saying it is committed to the Lausanne Treaty which sets the legal status of the Aegean Islands. But Ankara argues there are "gray areas" concerning the ownership of certain rocks and islets which are not listed on any map or chart.

"Greece is the only European country facing an open threat against its territory not only in the Aegean but its entire borderline (with Turkey)," Prime Minister Costas Simitis claimed in a speech to his socialist party parliamentary group.

Athens accused Turkey last week of adding an inhabited Greek island in the Mediterranean to its list of territorial disputes with Greece.

Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos has said Turkish naval officer Hussein Ciftci, Ankara's representative at NATO's naval command in Naples, had raised the question of the sovereignty of Gavdos, an inhabited island south of Crete.

"The outrageous example of Gavdos ... is part of a Turkish strategy which not only violates international law but is also against common logic," Simitis said. "Greece will defend its territory with all means."

"It should be investigated whether this Gavdos island is also among the islets whose status needs to be determined," Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Omer Akbel said last week.

Foreign Minister Emre Gonensay told reporters on Tuesday before travelling to Luxembourg that Turkey's position on Gavdos was "purely technical in nature" and not "political."

(TDN, 12.06.1996, page 4)

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