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TRKNWS-L Turkish Press Review (December 4, 1995)From: hristu@arcadia.harvard.edu (Dimitrios Hristu)Turkish Press Review DirectoryCONTENTS[01] HISTORIC DAY IN PARLIAMENT[02] CUSTOMS UNION VOTE DRAWS NEAR[03] BAYKAL: "EFFORTS FOR CU MEET WITH DIFFICULTY AT HOME"[04] US AND EU URGE TURKEY'S INTEGRATION[05] EU-TURKEY AGRICULTURAL NEGOTIATIONS[06] US COMMISSION VISITING CYPRUS[07] GREECE SUPPORTING TURKEY-CU UNION[08] NATO DISPUTE OVER GREEK AIRSPACE[09] US CONGRESS N.IRAQ-REPORT[10] JAN-SEPT INDUSTRIAL OUTPUT GROWS 12 %[11] TURKS ESTABLISH 3,924 NEW FIRMS DURING OCTOBER[12] ANKARA PROPOSAL TO ATHENS[13] CONFERENCE ON ISLAMIC VALUES HELD IN ANKARA[14] COMMEMORATING MEVLANA[15] EXPOLANGUES '96 FAIR TO BE HELD IN PARISTURKISH PRESS REVIEWMONDAY DECEMBER 4, 1995Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning[01] HISTORIC DAY IN PARLIAMENTThe Turkish parliament will meet today in special sessions to debate the question brought up by a number of members about the suitability of the date of the upcoming general elections.Those opposed to the date want to have the election either stopped or at least postponed. Many of the opposing MPs are bitter because they are low in the lists of candidates or are not included at all. Special parliamentary committees will take up the matter today and convey their conclusions to members. Despite the importance and sensitivity of the issue, it is reported that the CHP party will not join in the debate and that other political leaders will also be absent. /Sabah/
[02] CUSTOMS UNION VOTE DRAWS NEARPrime Minister Tansu Ciller continues with her visits to the European capitals on the eve of European Parliament vote for customs union with Turkey. This evening, Prime Minister Ciler will leave for Bonn for a one-day working visit. Tomorrow, Ciller will have a two-hour meeting with German Prime Minister Helmut Kohl, followed by a meeting with German parliamentarians. The focus of discussions will be the EU customs union with Turkey.US President Bill Clinton, who has rounded out his European tour with a visit to Spain, during his talks with Spanish Prime Minister and EU Term Chairman, Felipe Gonzales, also brought the customs union issue to the table. Evaluating Turkey as a country of primary importance for Europe, both leaders agreed that approval of the customs union prior to the December 24 elections in Turkey was a must, and drew attention to the problems that would arise should customs union be refused or delayed. /Milliyet-Hurriyet/
[03] BAYKAL: "EFFORTS FOR CU MEET WITH DIFFICULTY AT HOME"The Turkish government, fervently lobbying abroad for the realization of Customs Union (CU), faced an unexpected difficulty at home when the main opposition party suggested a postponement. Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Deniz Baykal, on his way to London to ask the support of Labour Party Leader Tony Blair for the CU, lashed out at the proposal of the Motherland Party (ANAP). "The attempt to undermine our efforts is very sad and astonishing" Baykal said. "It is impossible to understand such an attitude. We have overcome the difficulties abroad, but now we are faced with opposition at home" Baykal complained. Baykal, who is still trying to get the support of Socialists -the largest group in the European Parliament- before a crucial vote in the Euro-Parliament on December 13, said that it was "almost certain" that the customs deal would be ratified. He also maintained that all institutions and Turks from all walks of life supported the CU. "Nobody has the right to try to sabotage our efforts which have now yielded results" he said.Baykal's last minute efforts for the CU include his participation in a meeting of Socialist International (SI) in Brussels later this week. After the NATO and SI meeting in Brussels, he will go to London once more to attend the London conference on Bosnia. While the CU is being voted on in Strasbourg, Baykal is likely to be in Paris to attend a meeting between Western and Islamic contact groups for Bosnia. On December 14, he is also likely to be in Paris to attend the signing ceremony of the Bosnian peace accord brokered in Dayton, Ohio. /Cumhuriyet-Milliyet-Sabah/
[04] US AND EU URGE TURKEY'S INTEGRATIONSpanish and US foreign ministers, Javier Solana and Warren Christopher, coming together at a landmark summit in Madrid, agreed that Turkish integration with the West was a priority issue. The political declaration, the New Transatlantic Agenda, pinpoints the accord of the EU and the US "on supporting Turkey's efforts to strengthen democracy and advance economic reform to promote its further integration into the transatlantic community". A day before the summit, Spanish Foreign Minister Javier Solana, whose country holds the term-presidency of the EU, said that both Spain and the US firmly supported the achievement of a Turco-EU Customs Union (CU). He added that both countries hoped the CU would be realized as scheduled by January 1, 1996. Solana, whose appointment as NATO Secretary-General was enthusiastically welcomed by Turkey, said: "We also hope that Turkey will continue to play an active role in Europe in the future". /Sabah-Milliyet/
[05] EU-TURKEY AGRICULTURAL NEGOTIATIONSAn agricultural committee meeting between Turkey and the EU will be held on December 5 and 6. The adaptation of Turkey's agricultural policies to EU regulations will be discussed during the meeting. EU officials are expected to ask for further tax reductions from Turkey, in order to protect member countries' vegetable oil and animal food products from third country competition. /All papers/
[06] US COMMISSION VISITING CYPRUSGlowing in the success of Bosnia, now US commissions are looking to achieve the same kind of success in solving the Cyprus problem. Although Ankara has warned the US administration that Cyprus is not Bosnia, the US has gone ahead and sent a team to the Greek side of the island.Special representative Richard Beattie is establishing contacts today in the first moves of a diplomatic assault to finally resolve the conflict between the two communities on the island. After the December 24 general elections in Turkey, peace negotiator Richard Holbrooke will move into action with a high pressure shuttle diplomacy designed to first bring the island's leaders together and then restore relations between the Turkish and Greek Cypriots. /Cumhuriyet-Milliyet/
[07] GREECE SUPPORTING TURKEY-CU UNIONIn an astounding about-face, Greece has announced that it will support Turkey's custom union with the European Union (EU) member countries. Greek Foreign Ministry representative Yorgos Romeos said over the weekend that customs union with Turkey would not be damaging to Greece, and that in view of the European's predominantly positive view of the union, Greece had no choice but to go along with developments.Although Greek officials still say that the customs union with Turkey will be of no advantage to Greece, they add that politically Athens has always supported the move. The statement by Romeos is seen as a step backwards by Greece which has long opposed having Turkey in the EU as a full member. /Milliyet/
[08] NATO DISPUTE OVER GREEK AIRSPACENATO continues to be rent by a number of conflicting views within its ranks. Included among current points of issue is the question of new limits in Greek airspace. Greece wants new limits to be defined and accepted by NATO members, but led by the US, the NATO command and Greece is already facing opposition to new limit proposals.Greece wants an increase from six to ten miles in the Aegean, and although this is against international agreement, Athens is determined to increase both air and coastal limits. /Milliyet/
[09] US CONGRESS N.IRAQ-REPORTThe turmoil in northern Iraq is causing great concern to neighbouring countries, said a report released by the US Congress evaluating recent developments in the troubled area. The US Congress report said that the US should monitor the situation in the region closely in view of mounting Iranian pressure on northern Iraq, a mountainous area with a high Kurdish population bordering on Turkey, Iran and Syria. The report, prepared by the Congress Research Service (CRS) stated that the northern Iraqi people had acted freely since 1991, the date of the establishment of Operation Provide Comfort, the US-led Western operation to deter attacks on the people of northern Iraq. It said that US President Bill Clinton, former President George Bush and members of the US Congress had approached the people of northern Iraq positively and had looked on them as people who were oppressed by the Iraqi government and as potential partners or allies against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's regime.The report said that between 1991-1995, US humanitarian and military aid, most of it from the Pentagon, to northern Iraq mounted to around $1.2 billion. The clashes between the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of Mesut Barzani and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) led by Celal Talabani, in which over 3,000 people have been killed, have caused a power vacuum in the area, the report said. The outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) has settled in the area, a development which has led to operations by Turkish military forces in the area, the report stated. /Cumhuriyet/
[10] JAN-SEPT INDUSTRIAL OUTPUT GROWS 12 %Turkey's industrial production boomed in the first nine months of the current year, after last year's record contraction, official figures revealed on Friday. The State Institute of Statistics (DIE) said that industrial output soared 12 % in real terms in the January-September period, compared with a 6.1 % plunge in the corresponding period of last year. The DIE also said that total industrial production in September rose a startling 5.7 % (in real terms) over the same month last year and the chemical industry grew a sharp 16.3 % in the first nine months of the year. The machinery industry followed with a high of 16.1 %. The earthenware products industry grew 10.1 %, the energy sector 9.8 % and the metal industry 6.8 %. These increases sent the manufacturing industry's average growth rate up by 13 % in January-September. /All papers/
[11] TURKS ESTABLISH 3,924 NEW FIRMS DURING OCTOBERIn line with a clearly visible economic recovery from last year's severe recession, Turks have regained their entrepreneurial courage as they launched thousands of new businesses in October. The State Institute of Statistics (DIE) said in a report that a total of 3,924 new firms were established during October this year. It said the 3,924 new businesses registered total capital stock worth TL 7.499 trillion. The DIE said another 1,179 firms registered capital increases with a total value of TL 18.826 trillion. /All papers/
[12] ANKARA PROPOSAL TO ATHENSTurkey's Ambassador to Athens Umit Pamir said that Turkey would demolish its 4th Army, a defensive force located in the Aegean region, if Greece demilitarized the Aegean islands. Pamir, in an interview to Greek newspaper Elefteros Tipos, said that the Aegean army was founded only after Greece had started the militarization of the Greek islands despite international accords saying that they should remain demilitarized. Speaking on the situation in southeastern Turkey, Pamir said: "Turkey makes no differentiation between its citizens". Maintaining that Turkey was fighting against terrorism, Pamir said that Greece was "sympathetic, to say the least, toward the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party". He cited as an example the meeting between some Greek parliamentarians and terrorist leader Abdullah Ocalan earlier this year. /Hurriyet/
[13] CONFERENCE ON ISLAMIC VALUES HELD IN ANKARAA conference on the "Future of Islamic Values" held in Ankara on Sunday called for the establishment of a "religious affairs coordination committee" between the Islamic organization in Turkey and the Turkish-speaking republics of the former Soviet Union, in a joint communique issued after the conference. "The Western world is misrepresenting the Muslim world and the Muslims through its communications channels. This subject, and the unjust image presented, often affects Muslims' view of Islam" the communique said. The conference participants urged the Muslim world to form their own media in order to reach public opinion. The conference was joinly organized by the Turkish Democracy Foundation, the Turkish Piety Foundation, the Foundation for Research on the Turkish World. /All papers/
[14] COMMEMORATING MEVLANAPreparations for the ceremonies to be held in Konya to mark the 722nd anniversary of the birth of the famous Anatolian thinker and poet Mevlana Celalettin Rumi are completed. Konya Governor Atilla Vural said that ceremonies will be held in Konya's 100th Year Sports Centre on December 10-17. He said that tickets for the last day of the ceremony, known as the Seb-i Arus, would be available to the public as they are every year. Vural said that official guest houses would be put into service if all the hotels were booked, and added that all the needs of foreign tourists would be met. Panels, conferences and meetings, organized by the governor's office will run between December 10-14. /All papers/
[15] EXPOLANGUES '96 FAIR TO BE HELD IN PARISTurkey will be the guest of honour at the 14th Expolangues '96 International Language, World Cultures and Travel Fair, which will be held in Paris from February 15-19. Speaking at the press conference organized for Expolangues '96, Culture Minister Fikri Saglar said that Turkey's being invited to be guest of honour was an important step toward joining the EU and the Customs Union. Saglar said that the fair would give the opportunity to promote the books of the participant countries in their native language and introduce their culture. /All papers/
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