Turkish Daily News, 96-06-21

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

TURKISH DAILY NEWS
21 June 1996

CONTENTS

[01] Ciller hesitates as Ecevit issues Refah warning

[02] Turkey warns Greece in a 'friendly way'

[03] Kurdish infighting can spread in northern Iraq

[04] Turkey's domestic debt stock climbs 53% in January-May

[05] Forex reserves rise to $15.9 billion

[01] Ciller hesitates as Ecevit issues Refah warning

Turkish Daily News

ANKARA- As True Path Party (DYP) leader Tansu Ciller on Thursday made a final review of her options before committing her party to a so-far shunned coalition with the pro-Islamic Welfare Party (RP), she received a stern warning from the left that the projected alliance would raise questions about its motives.

Ciller later indicated that she might put off coalition talks with Erbakan, originally expected for Thursday, until she concludes a new round of talks with other leaders.

"If the ongoing bargain leads to an RP-DYP government, this would amount to a money-laundering operation," the Democratic Left Party (DSP) leader Bulent Ecevit told a news conference. Ecevit has been backing the short-lived conservative coalition between the DYP and the Motherland Party (ANAP) of caretaker Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz.

Recalling that Ciller had until recently been portraying an RP-led government as the gravest danger to the secular Turkish Republic, and herself as a legendary heroine out to prevent that danger, Ecevit said, "Now she is getting ready to drag the country to catastrophe just to save herself." Apparently stung by the remarks, Ciller, who has been urging a four-party coalition as an alternative to the partnership with the Islamists, struck off Ecevit from the list.

Another prominent objector was Foreign Minister Emre Gonensay who publicly announced Thursday that he would cast a no-confidence vote against an RP-DYP government if it materialized, even if this caused his expulsion from the party.

Meanwhile Ciller, emerging from a meeting with the Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal, her leftist government partner until last fall, made a surprise statement that she had never said she would form a coalition with the RP.

Ciller and RP leader Erbakan were widely reported to have agreed in principle on a coalition when they met last Friday, although Ciller reserved her response yesterday to consult with her party's officials.

The DYP leader on Wednesday avoided possible trial over alleged misuse of slush funds before she left office, with the Parliament rejecting a probe against her. The RP, which successfully pushed through similar probes against Ciller in the past months to destabilize her center-right alliance with Yilmaz, spared the DYP leader another humiliation by largely abstaining from the vote. The embarrassing about-turn by the RP leadership, which caused grumbles from the deputies about compromised party principles, was seen as indicating Erbakan's anxiousness not to imperil the coalition he seeks.

Ciller, meanwhile, is hard put to contain a widening revolt within her party against the partnership which they say will be difficult to explain to the voters after Ciller's anti-Islamist militancy before and after the Dec. 24 election. Two deputies have already resigned from the DYP over its flirtation with the RP, and many have threatened to follow suit if she finalizes the deal.

After meeting with Baykal, Ciller said she had proposed a DYP-ANAP- CHP coalition, but the CHP leader had turned it down.

Baykal later told reporters that the three- or four-party models (excluding the RP) that Ciller has been proposing all call for a reconciliation between the DYP and ANAP, of which he said there were no concrete signs. He said he saw Ciller's new round as a ploy to justify her partnership with the Islamists.

Outgoing Prime Minister Yilmaz also made clear that he was not warm to the idea of a renewed partnership with the DYP just to be able to cling to power. "I have said before that I cannot sit on mud," Yilmaz said, explaining why ANAP had refused to veto corruption probes against its coalition partner.

But Vehbi Dincerler, a mainstream ANAP politician and a former minister, advocated an RP-ANAP-DYP coalition with the three party leaders taking turns to head it for six months, saying ANAP would lose by isolating itself. He said Yilmaz should not reject this option "if ANAP itself cannot form a bilateral partnership with the RP."

(TDN, 21.06.1996, page 1)

[02] Turkey warns Greece in a 'friendly way'

Turkish Foreign Minister Emre Gonensay says that Turkey will investigate whether Armenia-Greece defense agreement aims to encircle Turkey

Turkish Daily News

ANKARA- Turkish Parliament has issued a text delivering a friendly warning to Greece. The text was prepared by Bitlis Deputy Kamran Inan and read by the Parliament speaker .

Turkish Foreign Minister Emre Gonensay said, after the Parliament meeting, that Turkey would investigate the Armenia-Greece defense cooperation agreement but for the time being this agreement appeared to be innocent.

In response to a question Gonensay said that any initiative against this agreement was not necessary.

"We do not know the content of the agreement. But according to our knowledge this is a innocent proformal agreement. It is a military training accord. We will of course investigate it is. The statements of the defense minister and the Foreign Ministry of Greece, are not relevant to the content of the agreement but these statements have bad will, [and represent] incitement and threat to Turkey."

Gonensay said that Turkey did not expect that Armenia would be a tool in respect to this agreement.

"As a matter of fact," the foreign minister said. "the President of Armenia Ter-Petrosian, in a statement in Salonica, said that this agreement was not against any third party. He said that it was an innocent agreement. So the atmosphere Greece was trying to create hit the rocks. Armenia did not become a tool for this agreement. Two years ago, Greece declared that they had concluded such an agreement with Syria. Later, from the Syrian officials, we learned that there was no such agreement. Now there is such an agreement [between Greece and Syria] but we will investigate whether it is an attempt to surround Turkey or not. If it is a serious attempt we will show our serious reaction. We have enough preparation for this but, at this moment I considered it nonsense."

He added that this kind of agreement was also against the spirit and agreements of NATO.

A member of the press reminded the minister that on Wednesday the Foreign Ministry spokesman had said that the agreement was an attempt to surround Turkey and that the Turkish reaction was very strong, and asked whether there was a change in the Turkish policy on the agreement. Gonensay replied that he was saying the same the thing as the spokesman.

"The statements of Greece say that this aims to surround Turkey but, according to statements from Armenia, it is not," he said.

On the subject of the Arab League summit, Gonensay said that his letter to Arab countries had been misinterpreted by the papers. "In this letter I explained the Turkish thesis about the water issue. In order to prevent any false understanding, we sent this letter. now we are giving Syria more than six times [the water] it needs," Gonensay said.

Parliament warns Greece in friendly way

The hostile attitudes of Greece towards Turkey were covered by a warning text which was read by the speaker of Parliament. This text, prepared by Bitlis Deputy Kamran Inan, indicated that the warning was made in the interests of Greece. The text pointed out that Turkey was ready to meet but the government would quickly take any decisions necessary for the defense of the country.

Speaking in the debate on the text, Inan said that Greece had tried to increase tension whenever a government crisis emerged in Turkey. He said that the agreements signed with Russia first, and later with Armenia, were a part of the policy of Greece to encircle Turkey. He claimed that after the Kardak crisis, the Gavdos crisis has been raised by Greece. Inan said that Greece was blackmailing Turkey by using the European Union in order to destroy Turkey's relations with Macedonia and Albania.

He criticized the Greek decision to transfer the power to declare war to the defense minister. He said that Greek authorities behaves badly to Turkish parliamentarians in the NATO assembly in Greek. He wanted the text he had read by the speaker of the Parliament and declared to world public opinion.

The text says that Greece is refusing the dialogue calls of Turkey. Turkey considers it a duty to warn Greece in order to maintain of peace and preserve the interests Greece.

(TDN, 21.06.1996, page 3)

[03] Kurdish infighting can spread in northern Iraq

By Ayse Karabat
Turkish Daily News

ANKARA- Since the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) killed a leading political figure from the powerful conservative Kurdish Surchi family, clashes between the KDP and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) may result. This would be very dangerous for Turkey, a well-informed diplomatic source has told the Turkish Daily News.

The KDP, led by Massoud Barzani, and the PUK, headed by Jalal Talabani, have generally honored a cease-fire agreement for the past two years. The KDP had accused the Kurdistan Conservative Party (KCP) of spying for the PUK and encouraging hostilities in the region. In response, the KCP accused the KDP of attacking villages ruled by the Surchi family, which established the KCP and has for many years been a rival of the Barzanis.

Finally, last Sunday morning Hussein Surchi was killed by KDP forces in northern Iraq in clashes in which six others died.

The diplomatic source pointed out that Kurds traditionally react to such incidents with a blood feud. While the Surchis might intend that, he noted, they are not strong enough to carry it off and therefore sought the help of the PUK. Thus, the two rival groups the KDP and the PUK could start fighting again.

"This would be very dangerous for the region -- especially for Turkey. It would create a power vacuum directly affecting Turkey. In that case, Britain and the United States would immediately try to stop the fighting by putting pressure on the Kurdish foes," the source said.

Hussein Surchi was a leading figure in the KCP, and the brother of the party's leader. It was established in Ankara in 1992. The Surchi family, which is believed to be pro-British, was also known as supporters and benefactors of Saddam Hussein, until the anti-Saddam Kurdish uprising after the Gulf War in 1991. It played a prominent role among the Kurds in seeking autonomy from the Baghdad regime.

The KCP's main aim according to its party program is to have "a regionally stabilizing, interim solution in the form of a United Nations protectorate over the Mosul Province (identified on KCP maps as all of northern Iraq), without prejudice to its eventual independence or reattachment to Iraq or Turkey." The KCP argues for a referendum in order to determine whether northern Iraq should be independent or part of Turkey or Iraq.

(TDN, 21.06.1996, page 3)

[04] Turkey's domestic debt stock climbs 53% in January-May

ANKARA- Turkey's uncontrolled domestic debt stock grew 53 percent to TL 2.083 quadrillion in the first five months of the current year, official figures revealed on Thursday.

The Treasury said the debt stock had stood at TL 1.361 quadrillion at end 1995.

It said there was a slight decrease in domestic debts in May from the previous month. The debt stock went down by TL 10 trillion from TL 2.093 quadrillion at end April.

Of the total debt stock at end May, the Treasury said, TL 591.5 billion were in government bonds and TL 1.344 quadrillion in T-bills.

The Treasury, responsible for debt management, said it would make TL 374.4 trillion in domestic debt repayments during July. Of that, it said, TL 248.8 trillion will be principal and TL 125.5 trillion interest payments.

(TDN, 21.06.1996, page 2)

[05] Forex reserves rise to $15.9 billion

ANKARA- The Turkish Central Bank said its foreign currency reserves rose $574 million last week to $15.908 billion on June 14. It said its total reserves slightly fell to $17.291 billion from $17.717 billion while the gold reserves remained unchanged at $1.383 billion.

Gross international reserves, including commercial bank holdings, rose $221 million to $25.77 billion in the week ending May 31, the bank said.

(TDN, 21.06.1996, page 2)

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