USIA: Pena Urges Baku-Ceyhan Pipeline; Yilmaz on EU Decision, 97-12-18
From: The United States Information Agency (USIA) Home Page at <http://www.usia.gov>
PENA URGES BAKU-CEYHAN PIPELINE; YILMAZ ON EU DECISION
(Energy secretary, Turkish PM at US Chamber of Commerce) (360)
By Rick Marshall
USIA Staff Writer
Washington -- U.S. Energy Secretary Federico Pena and Turkish Prime
Minister Mesut Yilmaz spoke at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce December 18,
with the former stressing the importance of the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline, and
the latter Turkey's "new agenda" of fiscal discipline, privatization, tax
reform and investments in education.
Pena looked back to the trip he had made to Turkey and the Caucasus last
month and noted the critical leadership role the Clinton administration
sees Turkey playing in the development of the region and in helping get oil
from the Caspian Sea to Western markets.
"We want to see the Baku-Ceyhan route become a reality -- soon," he
commented.
The United States would also like to build a strategic energy partnership
with Turkey, Pena said. He added that he is committed to working with the
Turks to see that their natural gas needs are met.
In his prepared remarks, Prime Minister Yilmaz declared that his government
was ready "to make tough decisions. Already we have been correcting the
policies of the past that took human rights too lightly. We are clamping
down on abusive treatment by police."
Asked about the European Union's decision not to include Turkey among the
11 countries with whom it agreed to discuss future membership, Yilmaz noted
his country's exclusion and acknowledged that Turkey had certain shortcomings.
Hence the decision to accelerate its privatization program, reduce the
inflation rate, and make progress in human rights, he said.
"There were elements which prevented us from participating" in the EU
enlargement move, he conceded.
On the other hand, Yilmaz seemed to suggest that serious political
consequences could follow if it was determined that the EU had discriminated
against Turkey.
"They (the EU) are not obliged to accept Turkey ... but they have no right
to discriminate against my country," the prime minister commented.
Yilmaz was scheduled to meet with U.S. Treasury Secretary Rubin later in
the day and meet with President Clinton and Vice President Gore tomorrow.
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