Anadolu Agency: News in English, 98-12-18

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From: The Anadolu Agency Home Page at <http://www.anadoluajansi.gov.tr/>

18 DEC 1998

CONTENTS

[01] DENIZKURDU, JUSTICE MINISTER: ''TURKEY WILL FOLLOW OCALAN WHEREVER HE GOES

[02] NATO MEETINGS - CLEAR EXPRESSIONS IN THE JOINT DECLARATION ON TERRORISM

[03] THE US PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON INFORMS PRESIDENT DEMIREL ABOUT GROUNDS OF THE MILITARY MOVEMENT AGANIST IRAQ IN HIS LETTER

[04] THE EUROPEAN INVESTMENT BANK TO GIVE TURKEY A BANK LOAN OF 32 MILLION ECU

[05] DATA OF FOREIGN TRADE - TURKEY REALIZES 21.4 BILLION US DOLLARS IN EXPORT AND 38.1 BILLION US DOLLARS IN IMPORT WITHIN TEN MONTHS

[06] EXPORTS OF GRAIN-CEREALS FROM GAP REGION

[07] THE RELATIVES OF THE OFFICIALS IN THE TURKISH EMBASSY IN IRAQ RETURNS TO TURKEY

[08] ILHAM ALIYEV, THE DEPUTY CHAIRMAN OF AZERBAIJAN STATE OIL COMPANY: ''IF AIOC DOES NOT APPROVE THE BAKU-CEYHAN ROUTE, AZERBAIJAN AND TURKEY WILL REALIZE THIS PROJECT TOGETHER''

[09] DATA OF FOREIGN TRADE - TURKEY REALIZES 10.6 BILLION US DOLLARS IN EXPORT TO THE EU COUNTRIES AND 19.8 BILLION US DOLLARS IN IMPORT FROM THE EU COUNTRIES

[10] TURKEY-EU RELATIONS - FOREIGN MINISTRY OFFICIAL: ''TURKEY IS NOT THE 12TH CANDIDATE LEGALLY'' - ''IT WAS MADE CLEAR DURING THE VIENNA SUMMIT THAT TURKEY IS NOT A CANDIDATE ON EQUAL TERMS WITH THE OTHER COUNTRIES''

[11] HAMANDI, IRAQI CHARGE D'AFFAIRES TO TURKEY: - ''WE EXPECT ALL FRIENDLY COUNTRIES TO CONDEMN AIR STRIKES LAUNCHED BY THE US AND BRITAIN''

[01] DENIZKURDU, JUSTICE MINISTER: ''TURKEY WILL FOLLOW OCALAN WHEREVER HE GOES

Speaking in the meeting concerning ''the quality of Turkish law and judicial system'' held in Kocaeli province, Denizkurdu said that the judicial system should be ''completely independent'' since some problems are faced in the system.

Responding a question on the extradition of Abdullah Ocalan, the chief of the separatist terrorist organization, Denizkurdu stated that Italy was not extraditing Ocalan due to the death penalty in Turkey despite the provisions foreseen under international conventions and said, ''a legal crime is being committed.''

Noting that Turkey gained a military success by urging Ocalan to leave Syria, Denizkurdu said, ''Turkey will follow Ocalan wherever he goes. The period of the legalization of Ocalan in Europe is a plot and threat against Turkey. Ocalan is being used as a weapon. The foreigners who want to divide Turkey organized similar plans such as leftist-rightist discrimination and secular- antisecular discrimination. We should destroy all these plans.''

[02] NATO MEETINGS - CLEAR EXPRESSIONS IN THE JOINT DECLARATION ON TERRORISM

The Joint Declaration noted that NATO Defense Ministers confirm the importance they attach to the present consultancy regulations in NATO regarding the general threats including the illegal arms smuggling and terrorism.

Stating that terrorism is a serious threat to peace, security and stability, the defense ministers reiterate that they condemn terrorism in the declaration.

Within this context, the defense ministers confirm that their governments are determined to struggle against any kind of terrorism under the international obligations and the national regulations. Thus, the close international cooperation is an obligatory means of preventing and eliminating terrorism, said the Declaration.

[03] THE US PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON INFORMS PRESIDENT DEMIREL ABOUT GROUNDS OF THE MILITARY MOVEMENT AGANIST IRAQ IN HIS LETTER

The Presitential Press Center quoted President Clinton as saying that Iraq promised to fully cooperate with the UNSCOM in accordance with the United Nations Security Council resolutions, in 14 November.

Clinton stressed in his letter that they decided to use military force against Iraq following the report of Richard Butler, the Chief UN Weapons Inspector, charging Iraqi lack of cooperation on inspections.

Summarizing the developments in Iraq since October 1998, Clinton underlined that the United Nations Security Council also condemned Iraq's actions by the resolution numbered 1205.

Stressing that Iraq should fully abide by the UN Security Council resolutions and her obligations, Clinton pointed out that the US cannot allow such a vicious circle to carry on.

President Clinton emphasized that the air strike does not target the Iraqi people, but the Saddam Hussein's armament programme, adding that the Hussein's capacity of weapons of mass destruction threatens the neighbouring countries.

Clinton also stressed that the US attributes great importance to maintain the cooperation aiming at removing such a threat for the regional security.

[04] THE EUROPEAN INVESTMENT BANK TO GIVE TURKEY A BANK LOAN OF 32 MILLION ECU

The European Commission's Office in Ankara issued a written statement saying that the loan will be used for the construction of installations to protect environment in River Tigris and in Diyarbakir Province in the Southeastern Anatolia Region.

The bank loan which will have a fixed term of 20 years, will be allocated to the Water and Sewerage Administration of the Diyarbakir Municipality and will be used for the water purification installation which will be completed in 2003.

[05] DATA OF FOREIGN TRADE - TURKEY REALIZES 21.4 BILLION US DOLLARS IN EXPORT AND 38.1 BILLION US DOLLARS IN IMPORT WITHIN TEN MONTHS

Turkey's export was 21 billion 329 million US dollars and import was 39 billion 264 million US dollars in the same period of last year.

The State Statistics Institute's data shows that while the export increased 0.4 percent, the import reduced 2.9 percent compared with the figures of last year.

The foreign trade deficit decreased 6.7 percent to 16 billion 738 million US Dollars within the first ten months of 1998. The foreign trade deficit was 17 billion 935 million 554 thousand US dollars in the same period of last year.

Meanwhile Turkey's export decreased 4 percent to 2 billion 788 million US dollars and import reduced 16.9 percent to 3 billion 634 million US dollars in October.

Turkey realized 2 billion 389 million US dollars in export and 4 billion 373 million US dollars in import in October 1997.

The foreign trade deficit reduced 32.5 percent to 1 billion 339 million US dollars compared with the same period of last year.

[06] EXPORTS OF GRAIN-CEREALS FROM GAP REGION

In the January-November 1997 period, a total of 254 million 592 thousand US dollars of grain-cereals were exported.

As a result of that decline in the exports, the share of the grain-cereals in the overall exports from the region in first eleven months decreased from 43.2 to 25.9 percent.

Sahin Batalli, the Chairman of the Southeastern Anatolian Live-Stock and Aquacultural Products Exporters' Union told the A.A correspondent that they exported grain-cereals to Iraq, Iran, Azerbaijan, Germany, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan,

Russia, Romania, Syria, Saudi Arabia, France, Austria and Belgium.

[07] THE RELATIVES OF THE OFFICIALS IN THE TURKISH EMBASSY IN IRAQ RETURNS TO TURKEY

Returning Turkey with the relatives of eleven officials, Melih Ulueren, Embassy Undersecretary, said in a statement in Istanbul that their mission in Iraq did not finish and that the discharge of the Turkish Embassy was not a matter of question at the moment.

Ulueren added that the return of the relatives of eleven officials was just a precaution.

[08] ILHAM ALIYEV, THE DEPUTY CHAIRMAN OF AZERBAIJAN STATE OIL COMPANY: ''IF AIOC DOES NOT APPROVE THE BAKU-CEYHAN ROUTE, AZERBAIJAN AND TURKEY WILL REALIZE THIS PROJECT TOGETHER''

Speaking in the press conference, Aliyev said that the AIOC, international consortium operation company, tried to put Baku-Ceyhan project in the second place, but that the Azeri government put this project in the first place.

Aliyev noted that the political and economic interests were taken into consideration in the route of the pipeline that will carry the Caspian oil to the world markets and that Baku-Ceyhan pipeline was also supported by the US.

[09] DATA OF FOREIGN TRADE - TURKEY REALIZES 10.6 BILLION US DOLLARS IN EXPORT TO THE EU COUNTRIES AND 19.8 BILLION US DOLLARS IN IMPORT FROM THE EU COUNTRIES

The State Statistics Institute's data shows that Turkey exported goods worth of 282.5 million US Dollars to the European Free Trade Area (EFTA) countries and of 2 billion 599.1 million US Dollars to the member states to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) within the first ten months of 1998.

Turkey's export to the member countries to the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) decreased 14.6 percent to 2 billion 625 million US dollars. Export to countries of the Commonwealth of Independents States also reduced 22.9 percent to 2 billion 06.4 million US dollars. Turkey's export to the Turkish Republics in Central Asia reduced 9.2 percent to 673.2 million US dollars and to the countries of the Organization of Islamic Conference increased 2.5 percent to 3 billion 439.7 million US dollars.

Meanwhile Turkey realized 19 billion 787.3 million US dollars in import to the OECD countries. Turkey's import to the Commonwealth countries increased 5.8 percent to 3 billion 117.3 million US dollars and to the Turkish Republics in the Central Asia increased 16.7 percent to 401.2 million US dollars.

According to the data of the State Statistics Institute, Turkey's import and export figures in January-October period are as follows:

			1997		1998
			(Thousand	(Thousand     Change
January-October Period	 Dollars)	 Dollars)   (Percent)
-----------------------	-----------	----------- ---------
Export			 21,328,730	 21,403,863	 0.4
Import			 39,264,284	 38,141,912	-2.9
Foreign Trade Deficit	-17,935,554	-16,738,049	-6.7

			1997		1998
			(Thousand	(Thousand     Change
October			 Dollars)	 Dollars)   (Percent)
-----------------------	-----------	----------- ---------
Export			 2,389,807	 2,294,788	 -4.0
Import			 4,373,908	 3,634,114	-16.9
Foreign Trade Deficit	-1,984,101	-1,339,326	-32.5

[10] TURKEY-EU RELATIONS - FOREIGN MINISTRY OFFICIAL: ''TURKEY IS NOT THE 12TH CANDIDATE LEGALLY'' - ''IT WAS MADE CLEAR DURING THE VIENNA SUMMIT THAT TURKEY IS NOT A CANDIDATE ON EQUAL TERMS WITH THE OTHER COUNTRIES''

A high level official told A.A correspondent that ''Turkey-EU relations became a little more clear following the Vienna summit. It was revealed that Turkey is not an equal candidate with the other countries. Turkey is not the 12th candidate legally.''

The official said that the situation which emerged following the Vienna summit is difficult to change, ''we are not hopeful concerning the term presidency of Germany. We do not expect a different picture other than the one which emerged in Vienna during the EU summit which will be held in Cologne six month later.''

Diplomatic sources say that the attitude of Germany who tried to bring the judgement of the chief of the separatist terrorist organization into the international platform created displeasure in Turkey and the expectations for Turkish-EU relations decreased.

Pointing out that Turkey has to be legally accepted by the 15 countries as a candidate in order to be the 12th candidate, the official said, ''Germany also accepted Turkey as a candidate during Vienna summit. But due to the Greek veto, it is not clear what this attitude of Germany means. Greek veto is a factor which prevents Turkey's candidacy legally.''

The official stressed that Greece turned ''preventing Turkey whatever the cost is'' into a national policy, adding that ''Greece use the authority given to her by the law of the EU until the end. And even some EU countries evaluate this situation as a pathological case.''

Emphasizing that Turkey is being discriminated, the official said the countries who prepare for full membership receive financial and moral support from the EU, but Turkey cannot take even her financial aid stemming from the partnership agreement due to Greek veto. Foreign Ministry official said, ''in this case, the strategy document which is prepared for Turkey has no meaning too.''

[11] HAMANDI, IRAQI CHARGE D'AFFAIRES TO TURKEY: - ''WE EXPECT ALL FRIENDLY COUNTRIES TO CONDEMN AIR STRIKES LAUNCHED BY THE US AND BRITAIN''

Responding to questions of the A.A correspondent, Hamandi noted that the embargo imposed on Iraq by the United Nations since 1991, also affects the commercial relations between Turkey and Iraq negatively.

Claiming that the real purpose of the US' strikes and embargo against Iraq is ''genocide'', Hamandi stressed that many Iraqis died due to the lack of basic humanitarian needs resulting from the embargo.

Stressing that Iraq did not disobey the international laws and the United Nations' resolutions, Hamandi pointed out that the US and Britain which intervene internal affairs of Iraq with the aim of changing the political regime, violate the international laws.

Describing the reports of Richard Butler, the the Chief UN Weapons Inspector, as nothing but a lie, Hamandi claimed that the US launched the attacks in order to close the domestic problems. Hamandi said that the air strikes are the parts of the ''hegemony'' policy of the US in the region.

Reminding that many countries condemned the air strikes against Iraq, Hamandi pointed out that Russia sent a clear message to the US by recalling her ambassadors from the US and Britain.

Hamandi stressed that the US tries to keep the region and its assets under control, accusing the US and Britain with using every card to damage the stability in the region.

Responding to a question whether Iraq provided support to the separatist terrorists who were forced to leave Syria or not, Hamandi stressed that the no-flight zone created a lack of authority in the region, therefore they could not keep Northern Iraq under control.

Noting they do not intervene the internal affairs of anybody, Hamandi stressed that they expect other countries to do so.

As the tension escalated with Syria, the news claiming that Iraq shelters the separatist terrorist organization PKK, had created deep concern in Turkey.

Meanwhile it was reported that the new Iraqi Ambassador to Turkey will begin his mission in Ankara soon.

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