Topic: trkn
Subject: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE 95/03/22 DAILY PRESS BRIEFING
From: "Demetrios E. Paneras" <dep@bu.edu>
 
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
95/03/22 DAILY PRESS BRIEFING
OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN



                      U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
                        DAILY PRESS BRIEFING

                            I N D E X

                     Wednesday, March 22, 1995

                                       Briefer: Christine Shelly

[...]

TURKEY
Incursion into Iraq--Situation Update ................2-3
--U.S. View on Operation: HR/Duration & Scope ........2-3
--NATO Member Views on Operation .....................3
--Civilian Casualties ................................3
Report of Turkish Allegations of Greek Support of  
   PKK ...............................................3-4

[...]
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                      U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
                        DAILY PRESS BRIEFING

                                             DPC #38

                 WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 1995, 1:04 P.M.
                (ON THE RECORD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)


     MS. SHELLY:  Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.  Welcome to the  
State Department press briefing.

[...]

     Q     Christine, do you have any late word on the Turkish pursuit  
of the PKK in northern Iraq?

     MS. SHELLY:  We've seen quite a bit in the press already in terms  
of what's happening on the ground.  The Turks claim to have seized an  
area that's roughly l85 miles wide and 20 miles deep and to have met  
only light resistance for the most part.  Turkish officials state that  
eight Turkish soldiers and as many as 200 PKK rebels have lost their  
lives.

     We still do not see any signs yet of Turkish withdrawal.  However,  
as we've said earlier, the Turkish Government has stated that its troops  
will withdraw as soon as they have suppressed PKK targets along the  
border.

     Q     I noticed Secretary Christopher said that he was assured that  
it would be limited in duration and scope.  Were any numbers or any  
periods of time associated with that remark?  Is it going to be weeks,  
months, years -- what?

     MS. SHELLY:  I don't think we have any way of making a prediction.   
I'm not aware, in terms of our conversations with the Turks, that there  
have been any precise assurances about how long that might run.

     Q      There's been increasing concern in Europe about the Turkish  
activities from the French, from the Germans.  Are you still  
understanding of the operation, as the President was said to be earlier  
this week and the Secretary also?

     MS. SHELLY:  The President spoke to this already, and I certainly  
don't have anything that would suggest a change in that.  We expressed  
understanding for their need to take action against the terrorist  
organization, but at the same time we have also stressed, and continue  
to stress over and over again, the importance of human rights and the  
importance that this particular operation be as we have said -- limited  
in duration and scope.  That certainly still is very much our view.

     Q     There are other members of NATO -- and Turkey is a member of  
NATO -- who have come out fairly strongly against this operation.  Is it  
possible that it could cause tensions within NATO if it goes on for  
longer than you hope it will?

     MS. SHELLY:  It's not a NATO issue, certainly, at this point; and I  
don't speak for the other governments of NATO.

     Q     (Inaudible) getting any sort of numbers on those?  Do the  
Turks appear to be doing all they can to limit them?

     MS. SHELLY:  I think that the Turks themselves, in some of the  
statements that they have said, have expressed their own view that they  
are mindful of the need to keep civilian casualties to a minimum.

     I'm not aware of any estimates at this point on numbers.

     Q     Christine, this morning a member of the Turkish Parliament,  
who will in fact be seeing Deputy Secretary Talbott this afternoon, said  
that he has evidence -- and turned it over to the Greek Government --  
that Greek officials have been active in supporting the PKK in the past.   
Does the United States have any such evidence?

     MS. SHELLY:  That issue has come up from time to time in the past,  
and we have not been inclined to get into a public discussion of what we  
know on that score.  Reports have been out there, but other than  
acknowledging the reports, I don't think we'd have a lot to say.

     Q     Well, do you know?  I'm not asking you what the answer is,  
what do you believe, but do you know whether such reports are, in fact,  
authentic?

     MS. SHELLY:  Again, that gets into not only the what we know but  
where we know it from, and I think I'm simply not in a position to give  
you a very full answer to that question.

[...]
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