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TRKNWS-L Turkish Press Review (April 17, 1996)From: TRKNWS-L <trh@aimnet.com>Turkish Press Review DirectoryCONTENTS[01] TURKEY'S DIPLOMATIC TRAFFIC INTENSIFIES[02] YILMAZ SENDS A MESSAGE TO RUSSIA[03] INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION AGAINST TERRORISM[04] YILMAZ CALLS FOR STRENGTHENING WOMEN'S RIGHTS[05] ANKARA REVIEWS ITS POLICY ON POSTWAR BALKAN REGION[06] STATE MINISTER AYKUT RECEIVES CHILEAN HONOR[07] DEMIREL POSSIBLE MEDIATOR IN THE CHECHEN CONFLICT[08] LEBANESE AMBASSADOR ASKS TURKEY FOR HELP[09] IMF, TURKISH GOVERNMENT TO DISCUSS NEW STANDBY ACCORD[10] CHINA MISSION PROPOSES RICHER TRADE WITH TURKEYTURKISH PRESS REVIEWWEDNESDAY APRIL 17, 1996Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning[01] TURKEY'S DIPLOMATIC TRAFFIC INTENSIFIESTurkish diplomacy has entered a period of hectic activity on a variety of issues from terrorism to Balkan stability. On Thursday, as President Suleyman Demirel makes a one-day working visit to Romania, Robert Deutch, US State Department director for Gulf Affairs, will pay a visit to Ankara. After consultations with the Turkish Foreign Ministry, Deutch, accompanied by a Turkish official, will go to northern Iraq to talk to Kurdish leaders to broker a peace accord between them. On April 22, Foreign Minister Emre Gonensay will go to Luxembourg to attend the follow-up meeting of the anti-terrorism summit that took place in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. Gonensay will meet there with his Egyptian counterpart Amr Moussa, whose visit to Turkey this week was postponed. On April 27, Gonensay will travel to Bucharest to attend a meeting of Black Sea Economic Cooperation ministers, where he will hold an "open agenda" meeting with his Greek counterpart Theodoros Pangalos.Ankara will host two important guests in the second half of April. Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayeti will come to Ankara on 19 April to discuss bilateral relations which have been strained as both sides accused each other's diplomats of spying. During his one-day visit, Velayeti will meet with President Suleyman Demirel, Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz and Foreign Minister Emre Gonensay. The second visitor will be John Kornblum, US Assistant Secretary of State for relations with Canada and Europe. The visit, which is expected to take place on April 24, aims to concentrate mainly on Turco-Greek relations and the Cyprus question. /Milliyet/
[02] YILMAZ SENDS A MESSAGE TO RUSSIADuring the current meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Istanbul, Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz has sent a "warm" message to the Russians. Yilmaz has used the opportunity to note that Turkey and Russia and Azerbaijan share many points of agreement, and has relayed a message to the Russian administration to that effect through the President of the Council of the Russian Federation, Yegos Stroyev.Yilmaz also touched upon issues like the struggle in Chechnya, and the overland petrol and natural gas pipeline projects that involve Turkey, Russia, Azerbaijan and other regional countries. Yilmaz noted that now was the time for strengthening ties in many vital areas. /Milliyet/
[03] INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION AGAINST TERRORISMAs international cooperation in the fight against organized terror grows, new fronts are being set up to block the growth of terrorism. One of these measures is the new international anti-terror centre in Tel-Aviv, Israel.Officials in Turkey's own security forces say that Turkey has had a large share in setting the new centre up. Turkey will also benefit from the services that the centre will have available for use in the fight against terrorism. /Cumhuriyet/
[04] YILMAZ CALLS FOR STRENGTHENING WOMEN'S RIGHTSSpeaking at the Inter-Parliamentary Union conference in Istanbul, Prime Minister said that without full recognition of the rights of women, the whole structure of human rights was just an empty shell.During his speech, Yilmaz stressed the importance of women's rights noting that God created men and women equal, and added that he could say with pride that women in Turkey had enjoyed their rights to the full from the time of Ataturk-the founder of the Republic. /Sabah/
[05] ANKARA REVIEWS ITS POLICY ON POSTWAR BALKAN REGIONTurkey's ambassadors from nine Balkan capitals started their policy review meeting yesterday to determine Turkey's role in postwar peace- building in the region. The meeting, which was chaired by Foreign Ministry Deputy Undersecretary Ali Tuygan, aims to take up Turkey's bilateral relations with regional countries as well as Turkey's role in the multilateral "reconstruction period" in the region. The participants include Turkey's ambassadors to Greece, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Bosnia, Romania, Albania, Macedonia, Croatia and its Charge d'Affairs in Yugoslavia. Turkey's permanent representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Hikmet Alp, also attended the meeting. Turkey is also expected to participate in a meeting of Balkan foreign ministers in Sofia. /All papers/
[06] STATE MINISTER AYKUT RECEIVES CHILEAN HONORState Minister Imren Aykut yesterday received the "Grand Cruz Medallion" Chile's highest honor. Aykut received the medallion from Senator Sergio Paez Verdugo, who came to Istanbul with a Chilean delegation to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (PAB) assembly. In return for this gesture Aykut gave a golden medallion symbolizing the 76th anniversary of the foundation of the Turkish Parliament to Verdugo on behalf of the Parliament speaker and deputies. "Aykut has started a series of initiatives so that women get what they deserve on national and international platforms. These initiatives offer participation of women in every sector of the economy and equal rights in politics. She is aware that members of Parliament should be conscious of national and international realities to improve democracy and political freedom" Verdugo said. /All papers/
[07] DEMIREL POSSIBLE MEDIATOR IN THE CHECHEN CONFLICTFollowing Russian President Boris Yeltsin's offer, made on March 31, of peace talks with Chechnya through an intermediary, Chechen leader Dzhokhar Dudayev said that he favoured Turkish President Suleyman Demirel, the Interfax news agency reported on Monday. "Under our constitution any moves with respect to foreign policy should be approved by the President. We will get into contact with the Turkish president right away, if Yeltsin says 'yes', Russian Foreign Ministry officials said in reference to Dudayev's suggestion.Dudayev repeated he was in favour of an offer by Yeltsin for indirect talks and that he intended to suggest representatives of "a third country, for example Turkish President Suleyman Demirel". "Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Mintimer Shaimiev, leader of Russia's ethnic republic of Tatarstan, could also take part in the process, but I prefer a country which is not a former Soviet republic" Dudayev said. Since the beginning of the Chechen crisis in late 1994, Ankara has voiced its readiness to provide assistance, if demanded, so that a peaceful solution is ensured. Dudayev also repeated that he was ready to negotiate with the Russian authorities only if they withdrew their troops from the region. /All papers/
[08] LEBANESE AMBASSADOR ASKS TURKEY FOR HELPLebanon has asked Ankara to use its influence with Tel Aviv to end the Israeli raids in south Lebanon. "We ask Turkey to launch an initiative, first of all to stop this aggression, asking Israel to withdraw its forces" Lebanese Ambassador Jafer Muhammed Muawi told journalists after early-morning meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Emre Gonensay. "We are seriously concerned that the Israeli military action has gone beyond a comprehensive operation and that it could deliver a blow to the peace process in the Middle East" a Foreign Ministry statement said yesterday afternoon. The statement also said that it was important to make sure that the fight against terrorism should be conducted within a legal framework and that civilians should not be harmed."We will make an assessment to see if we can do anything to urge Israel to abide by UN Security Council resolution 425" Gonensay said. The resolution, passed in 1978, calls on Israel to withdraw "immediately and unconditionally" from its occupation zone in southern Lebanon. Gonensay said that the Lebanese ambassador had assured Turkey that Lebanon would maintain security in the region if Israel withdrew from the area. /Sabah-Hurriyet/
[09] IMF, TURKISH GOVERNMENT TO DISCUSS NEW STANDBY ACCORDThe International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Turkish government will discuss whether to sign a fresh standby arrangement, State Minister (for the Treasury) Ufuk Soylemez said yesterday. Soylemez noted that a mission, led by the minister himself, would fly to Washington on April 19 for spring meetings of the Bretton Woods twins the IMF and the World Bank. "The meetings, between April 19 and 23, are routine discussions. It would therefore be misleading to say Turkey and the Fund will sign a new standby accord. We shall only seek ways to secure loans. We shall try to see if the circumstances for a standby agreement are covenient" Soylemez said. He added that if the possibility of an accord comes out at the Washington talks, a mission from the IMF would later arrive in Ankara for further discussions on the subject. /All papers/
[10] CHINA MISSION PROPOSES RICHER TRADE WITH TURKEYA Chinese trade mission to the Turkish capital, has proposed alternative methods to improve business links based on larger volume and more diversified trade with Turkey. An Changxin, head of China's International Trade Council, said trade with Turkey, worth some $570 million last year, accounted for only an insignificant part of China's overall foreign trade volume of $280 billion. Changxin suggested that Chinese and Turkish businessmen could well undertake joint ventures in third countries, particularly in Central Asia. He pointed out that China would also propose technical aid to Turkey in building ydro, thermic and nuclear energy plants. The Chinese trade mission consists of 33 representatives of Chinese firms operating in various fields. /All papers/
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