TRKNWS-L Turkish Daily News (January 31, 1996)

From: TRKNWS-L <trh@aimnet.com>

Turkish News Directory

CONTENTS

TURKISH DAILY NEWS / 31 January 1996

[01] Turkish diplomatic offensive on Kardak

Turkish Daily News

ANKARA- Turkey, seeking to counter the Greek attempt to lobby the European Union states on the disputed twin rocks in the Aegean Sea, briefed Tuesday the European Union and NATO envoys on its own views on the legal standing of Kardak rocks.

Ankara signalled to the Western envoys, who came to the Foreign Ministry for a briefing, that it was ready to take up the matter with Greece at the negotiating table.

"The government of Turkey is ready to enter into negotiations with Greece with a view to determining the possession of small islands, islets and rocks in the Aegean," said Inal Batu, deputy undersecretary of the Foreign Ministry. "After such negotiations, the issue of the delimitation of territorial waters could be discussed and finalized." The Turkish briefing has taken place against the backdrop of conflicting messages from both Ankara and Athens on whether the sides will "contain" the conflict or choose to escalate it.

Officials in both capitals held meeting after meeting on Tuesday, working on scenarios, but, at least in their public statements, carefully refrained from using "armed conflict" as an option.

They have also called on each other to "back off" their military forces from the disputed region.

Asked if there had been any shooting around the Kardak rocks, where both Turkish and Greek forces are stationed, Foreign Ministry spokesman Nurettin Nurkan said, "We certainly do not hope for any such development. We hope that common sense will prevail in Athens, without any escalation of the conflict. We hope that this problem will be solved through dialogue."

Prime Minister Tansu Ciller, who also signalled Turkey's preference for dialogue, maintained nevertheless that Ankara "did not have a single pebble to give away." "I say we must act in a peaceful manner, but it is not possible for us to accept any fait accompli on the island," Ciller said after a security meeting with Foreign Minister Deniz Baykal, top military officials and diplomats. Earlier in the day, she had met with President Suleyman Demirel and made the same remarks at the Presidential Palace.

Ciller demanded, once again, that Greece remove the flag it has hung in the Kardak rocks, and withdraw its forces. "The Turkish state is right and it will do what is necessary," Ciller said.

However, Greece has denied that it has troops on the island, saying that the 12 people called Greek troops by the Turkish Foreign Ministry were in fact "divers" affiliated to the Greek naval forces.

There was confusion on the Turkish side when Baykal, in a parliamentary debate, said that Greece had placed "nine commandoes" on the island.

The atmosphere in Ankara became tense with speculation that a Greek frigate was headed toward the island. "Turkey will not accept this. I hope that Greek will act in a cool-headed manner," Baykal said Tuesday morning at his party group meeting.

However, no further news of a Greek frigate near Kardak came later in the day.

Greek Ambassador to Ankara Dimitrios Nezeritis paid a second visit to the Turkish Foreign Ministry Tuesday morning and met with Undersecretary Onur Oymen. According to a statement by the Turkish Foreign Ministry, Nezeritis asked Turkey to withdraw its battleships from the Kardak rocks, which the ambassador said belonged to Greece.

"If a warning has to be made, it will be made by Turkey," Onur Oymen told journalists as he left the Foreign Ministry to attend a meeting with the prime minister, related ministers, top military officials and diplomats in the Prime Ministry.

The Foreign Ministry statement said that Oymen repeated to Nezeritis that Turkey would not accept any fait accompli on the island and that the rocks belonged to Turkey.

Oymen told Nezeritis -- as Foreign Minister Deniz Baykal had done a day ago -- that Ankara wanted Greece to pull back its forces on the island, as well as remove all signs of sovereignty.

In Athens, Defense Minister Gerassimos Arsenis said Greek forces warned a Turkish frigate on Tuesday to leave Greek territorial waters near the disputed barren island of Imia off the Turkish coast.

"Imia is Greek," Arsenis said. "Our armed forces are responsible for, and are in a position to defend, national sovereignty. Today we had a violation of our national waters by a Turkish ship and of our airspace by a Turkish helicopter." Turkey, meanwhile, denied that there could be any violation, since Kardak and the airspace above it was Turkish.

Arsenis said there were three Turkish ships, a MEKO-class frigate and two patrol boats, in the Imia area, and described Greek forces as being larger. He said no shots were fired during the incident.

But Turkish officials denied that they were in a state of alert.

"We only have the normal amount of ships in the area, a few coastguard boats," a Turkish diplomat said.

But after a high-level meeting in Athens, Greek officials sounded more restrained. "This crisis can be overcome," Arsenis was quoted by the Anatolia news agency as saying, but he repeated that Turkey should withdraw its forces from the island.

"All sides must act responsibly," he said.

Ankara, meanwhile, maintained that it wanted a return to "status quo ante" regarding the rocks, which, Turkish diplomats believe, is Turkish sovereignty on the island.

"I would like to remind you that for years, Turkish fishermen have engaged in fishing activities on and around these rocks without any hindrance, and that Turkish vessels have navigated through the waters surrounding them," Inal Batu told foreign envoys.

[02] Jordanian crown prince arriving

ANKARA- Crown Prince Hassan bin Tallal of Jordan is arriving today for a one-day "working visit," the Foreign Ministry announced.

Prince Tallal will be received by President Suleyman Demirel, the brief statement said.

He will reportedly be accompanied by Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdul Karim Kabariti.

The talks will focus on bilateral relations between the two countries as well as the regional developments and international issues, the Foreign Ministry said.

Relations between the two countries and Baghdad are expected to feature in the talks, along with developments in Kurdish-held northern Iraq.

Turkey, having suffered big losses in lost trade and pipeline royalties by joining in U.N. sanctions against Iraq after its invasion of Kuwait in 1990, seeks to normalize ties with Baghdad and encourages its southern neighbor to reach an oil deal with the United Nations which it hopes will revive the dormant 1,000-kilometer twin pipelines and pave the way for the gradual lifting of the sanctions.

Jordan, however, once maintaining trade links with Iraq despite Western frowns, has recently seen its relations with Baghdad deteriorate. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's two sisters and their husbands, including a senior military official, defected to Amman last August.

[03] Amoco, Turkish partner in $1 billion deal

ANKARA- U.S. Amoco Corp and its Turkish partner Otak Insaat are studying setting up a $1 billion gas-fired power plant and natural gas storage units in western Turkey, general manager of Otak said on Tuesday.

"We are now preparing a feasibility report with Amoco after getting approval from the energy ministry," Otak general manager Mete Gun told Reuters.

Gun said Amoco would be the major shareholder with 90 percent and Otak, a subsidiary of Izmir-based food and chemicals company Yasar Holding, with 10 percent in the join venture project.

The plant and storage units will be built near the Aliaga town on the Aegean coast where a state-run oil refinery and petrochemicals plant were already located. "The project will be carried out on a built-operate-transfer basis and the necessary financing will be supplied by Amoco," Gun said.

He did not say how many storage units would be built but said the established power capacity would be 650 MegaWatts (MW). "But the capacity can be extended up to 1,200 MW later," he said.

The plant will use about one billion cubic metres of natural gas from Amoco's own sources if its location is registered as a free trade zone, he said. Otherwise Turkey's state pipeline company Botas, the only agent to import natural gas for Turkey, might be taken as a partner in the joint venture to supply gas for the plant.