U.S. Department of State 96/1/16 Daily Press Briefing

From: hristu@arcadia.harvard.edu (Dimitrios Hristu)

U.S. State Department Directory

Subject: U.S. Department of State 96/1/16 Daily Press Briefing

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TURKEY

U.S. Military Assistance to Turkey ......................20-21

Progress on Human Rights Abuses .........................21

GREECE

Resignation of PM Papandreou ............................21-22

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FORMER YUGOSLAVIA

Exchange of Prisoners ...................................25-26

Pardew Trip--Equip and Train ............................25

Departure of Foreign Forces .............................26-28

Investigation of Alleged Mass Graves ....................28-29

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Q Last Sunday, the CBS Television Network aired "Sixty Minutes," which accused the Turkish Government of using U.S. military equipment against Kurdish civilians. If I am correct, last year you published a report on this subject -- using American military equipment against civilians -- but you didn't get the same results.

Unfortunately, on this program, Assistant Secretary of State Shattuck agreed with the programmer, and Deputy Assistant Secretary Kornblum drew some similarities between Saddam Hussein Government's behavior against the Kurds and the Ankara's attitude toward Kurdish civilians.

Since that, did you change your will against the Turkish Government attitude towards Kurdish civilians?

MR. BURNS: Thank you for asking this question, because I think it gives us an opportunity to review very quickly the basis of American support -- support -- for Turkey. I would just note at the beginning, I wouldn't say that Assistant Secretary Shattuck or Deputy Assistant Secretary Kornblum agreed with the basic line taken by "Sixty Minutes." "Sixty Minutes" chose to take the position it did. It carried very short excerpts of very long interviews with both men, and I didn't see the "Sixty Minutes" report. So I can't speak of personal knowledge about what exactly "Sixty Minutes" said, but it's been described to me.

But I can speak about U.S. policy towards Turkey. The United States will continue to have a very close supportive alliance relationship with Turkey for the foreseeable future. Turkey is a valued NATO friend and ally, and our military assistance to Turkey makes sense. It makes sense for the United States, and it makes sense for Turkey.

It helps Turkey fulfill its role in NATO. It helps the United States and other NATO countries defend our interest in southeast Europe. There are no apologies to be made for American military assistance to Turkey as a valued NATO ally.

In addition to that, the United States fully supports the Turkish Government in its fight against the PKK which, we have noted many times over, is a vicious terrorist organization, and no one can assert that it's anything but that.

It targets the civilian Kurdish population of both northern Iraq and southeastern Turkey. It targets -- the PKK -- innocent Turkish civilians and the Turkish Government has a responsibility to fight that kind of terrorism.

As you know -- I know you've read our annual Human Rights Report -- we do have concerns about the manner in which the Turkish Government has acted in some instances. We are troubled by continuing reports of torture, of restrictions on freedom of the press and on some extrajudicial killings, troubled by reports of the burning of villages and the forced evacuation of villages.

I would say, to be fair to the Turkish Government, the Turkish Government has taken significant steps just in the last twelve months to enhance human rights guarantees for all the citizens of its country, including changes to the Turkish Constitution and modification of the Article 8 Anti-Terrorism Law. We hope that this kind of progress by the Turkish Government to identify human rights abuses where they occur and to try to change the method of operation -- we hope that these kinds of changes will continue.

Q Do you have a reaction on the resignation of Prime Minister Papandreou of Greece?

MR. BURNS: Yes. I do have a reaction to that. I think all of us who are friends of Greece are saddened by the resignation for health reasons of Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou.

We understand that he may retain his position as the PASOK party leader.

Andreas Papandreou has been a significant figure in Greek political life for decades. He made an enduring contribution to the consolidation of Greek democracy and to Greece's integration into Europe. These achievements are a concrete testament to Prime Minister Papandreou's leadership in Greece.

Many Americans know him because he spent a lot of time in the United States as a Greek leader. We knew him as a student and as an educator. We know that all Americans will join us today in wishing Prime Minister Papandreou a full and speedy recovery.

Q (Inaudible) the United States for --

MR. BURNS: I don't believe there's any specific request by his family to have him transported to the United States. Of course, were such a request to be made, we would take that request very seriously, indeed.

Any further on Greece here?

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Q Bosnia. Has the U.S. been intervening in any way to try to get the Bosnian Muslims to agree to the exchange of prisoners? Do you have anything on Mr. Pardew's trip?

MR. BURNS: On Mr. Pardew's trip?

Q Mr. Pardew's trip on training and equipping the Bosnian Army?

MR. BURNS: Mr. Jim Pardew is back from his trip, I believe. I will get you tomorrow a description of what he discussed on equip and train and what conclusions he came to. If there's real interest, we can get all of you a session with Mr. Pardew. I'll be glad to make that possible.

On the first question, we, of course, expect that all the parties, including the Bosnian Government, the Bosnian Serbs, are going to adhere to the deadlines and the major parameters of the Dayton Accord. A prisoner exchange is called for by the 19th of this month -- by Friday. We would fully expect that that prisoner swap would take place.

I think it also stands to common sense and reason, however, that the Bosnian Serbs would take a long, hard look at what the Bosnian Government and Minister Sacribey specifically said this morning. That is, in the spirit of Dayton, in the spirit of a peace process that has got to be consolidated, it makes sense for the Bosnian Serbs to give the Bosnian Government as much information as it has and as it can produce and should produce on the fate of the several thousands of people who are missing from the massacres at Srebrenica and Zepa and from the other massacres that have taken place throughout the Bosnian war.

It's not an unreasonable request for the Bosnian Government to make. But certainly having said that, we hope that all sides will keep to the timetable. Because if timetables are not kept, then the fabric of this agreement is going to wither and we don't want that to happen.

Q Has the U.S. been talking to the Muslims privately? Do we have any assurances that they will comply?

MR. BURNS: We've had a number of conversations with the Bosnian Government -- the Muslim government -- about this particular issue. I think we've had conversations with the Bosnian Serbs as well.

Q I believe that Friday is also the deadline for the foreign fighters -- the mujahidin -- to be out of Bosnia. What's your assessment of how that's going? How many are still left, and will they be gone?

MR. BURNS: Our position is -- just to remind you of our position - - that all foreign forces, as the Dayton Accord stipulates, must be out of Bosnia-Herzegovina by the 19th of this month.

Our assessment is that a great number of them have left. We know that through a variety of sources, other information. We hope that all of them will be gone, all of them who cannot prove some kind of Bosnian citizenship should be gone by the 19th of this month.

What I don't have, Carol, is a numerical assessment of how many we thought were there in the beginning; how many we think have left, but I'm seeking that from the people who follow these matters closely.

Q Are you having any trouble achieving this goal? Are you confident?

MR. BURNS: Our sense is that the Bosnian Government has taken this request from us and this part of the Dayton Agreement very seriously; that the Bosnian Government is acting upon this; that the Bosnian Government has asked the mujahidin to leave.

What I cannot do is tell you that all of them have left because I don't know that. We are seeking a more specific assessment of how many may be left at this point.

Q What I'm trying to get from you is any sense of whether you feel there is some significant resistance to this request?

MR. BURNS: By the government or by the mujahidin?

Q By the mujahidin.

MR. BURNS: I can't say that I know there's been significant resistance because we do know that a great number of them have left. We don't have the kind of detailed knowledge, I think, though, you're asking for in this particular case.

Charlie.

Q On this point, surely, after the Dayton Accord, it was reported that a number of the mujahidin had obtained Bosnian citizenship or papers.

You, at the time, when asked about it, I think declared -- and I don't have the quote, obviously, in front of me -- but I think you declared that all of them had to go. Now you've just made reference to all those without proper citizenship, or all those who were not Bosnian citizens will have to go.

Is it possible that some who came have obtained citizenship and will remain?

MR. BURNS: The great majority of these people, as we understand, are clearly not Bosnian citizens or people who have any connection to Bosnian citizenship. They're Iranian guerrillas, or they're guerrillas from South Asia and they ought to go, and they ought to return to the countries from which they came.

We understand -- and I think you understand as well -- that there are a very small number of these people who may, in fact, have a link to Bosnian citizenship because of family ties. So we'll just have to see how that breaks down.

But, clearly, the great majority of the people about whom we are concerned, the Iranian guerrillas have got to leave. We would expect that all foreign forces, people who cannot prove Bosnian citizenship, should leave. We've been fairly even and consistent, Charlie, in putting that out.

Q Just to follow up. Is it possible that some of the Iranian guerrillas whom you would like to see go have obtained Bosnian citizenship and therefore would be permitted to stay?

MR. BURNS: I'm not aware that any of the Iranian guerrillas have obtained Bosnian citizenship. I'm not aware of that. It's not consistent with the reports that we have about the withdrawals of these people. We think we know why the Iranians were there, what they hope to do, and we think they should leave.

We think the Iranian presence has been very detrimental to the situation.

Laura.

Q Nick, I'm sure that you aware of the stories surrounding the Ljubija Mine in northeastern Bosnia, and the allegations of a mass gravesite.

As the stories increase, the finger pointing within the region amongst the international organizations there also seems to increase to which one of them is responsible for investigating these allegations, or at least attempting to get to some of these sites. Whose responsibility is it?

MR. BURNS: It's our understanding that the United Nations War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague has said that it wants to visit this site in order to investigate for itself the reports that there may be bodies there; that there may have been a cover-up of the massacres and of the disposition of the remains of the victims of the massacres.

As you know, the President and Secretary Perry both spoke to this issue over the weekend of the fact that IFOR, while this is not a central mission of IFOR -- while we have to avoid mission creep, that IFOR would attempt, once fully mobilized, to provide for the security of movement of the War Crimes Tribunal personnel.

So I think the answer to your question is, the U.N. War Crimes Tribunal.

Q Some of these soldiers and commanders in the region -- I'm referring specifically to some comments attributed to British troops -- have said that if there is a specific request from the War Crimes Tribunal, that they would secure an area.

It would seem that there is an awful lot of evidence out there. What is holding up a specific request by the War Crimes Tribunal if that's all that it takes?

MR. BURNS: I believe that the U.N. War Crimes people have told us that they understand that IFOR needs to deploy to a greater extent that it has now. And once that is the case, they will make a request to IFOR to facilitate a visit to this particular site. That would specifically involve trying to help secure the movement of people as they go into this site and come back from it.

If that request is made -- and I don't know if there is a specific request into IFOR yet -- but if it's made in the future, I think both the President and Secretary Perry have already spoken to the reaction that they would have, that IFOR would have to that.

Q Isn't there some concern, though -- and perhaps this would have to be answered by the investigators -- that in the interim, while IFOR is getting in place and everything is getting organized, that the Bosnian Serbs are getting rid of the evidence or moving the evidence or that it will be even more difficult for the investigators?

MR. BURNS: Those who are responsible for the crimes that took place in Srebrenica and Zepa and elsewhere know who they are. They know that the international community is watching. The 54 people who have been indicted for war crimes, in general, over the past four years of war know that they can't hide; that ultimately they're going to be brought to justice. Ultimately, the people who are responsible for the atrocities at Srebrenica and Zepa will be brought to justice.

Any attempt to cover up the crimes committed there will not work. There were witnesses to the executions. The witnesses have already spoken to the United Nations long ago, months ago.

There is already evidence being compiled to indict people. Justice Goldstone has spoken to that. He spoke to that when he was here in the Department of State. He said that they were vigorously investigating the massacres at Srebrenica and Zepa; that there would be indictments against those responsible. He did not name those responsible. It wouldn't be responsible of me to speculate. There's a mass of evidence that I think would make any attempt to cover these crimes up useless.

Thank you.

(Press briefing concluded at 2:23 p.m.)

END