HIrgUr MUstemleke; Sanki Fiyasko Ha

[root at newsdesk.aps.nl]

From: newsdesk at newsdesk.aps.nl (Newsdesk Amsterdam)
Subject: Re: HIrgUr MUstemleke; Sanki Fiyasko Haberler, 30/1/95, 08:00 TSI
Reply-To: root at newsdesk.aps.nl

------ Forwarded from : Haldun Haznedar <haldun at avalanche.micro.ti.com> --------

(1) Mitterrand's wife says Turkey massacring Kurds

By Alister Doyle

PARIS, Jan 27 (Reuter) - Danielle Mitterrand, wife of the French president,
accused Turkey of genocide against Kurds on Friday in a human rights report
that also blasted Iran and Iraq for abuses of their Kurdish minorities.

Presenting a report by a coalition of human rights groups including her own
France-Libertes, Mitterrand said Kurds were suffering oppression in all three
countries including indiscriminate killings, torture, and destruction of homes.
She told a news conference that the report, which described the estimated 25
million Kurds as the largest group of stateless people in the world, was
prompted by worsening treatment of Kurds in the region.

"What is happening in Turkey, the destruction of villages, deportations of
populations, the genocide in short of the Kurdish population (has prompted)
many to flee to the protected region of Iraq," Mitterrand said. "For Iran it's
more or less the same thing. Many refugees in Iran are moving to Iraqi
Kurdistan," she said. Kurds have been protected in northern Iraq by Western air
power in "Operation Provide Comfort" mounted after the Gulf War. The report
also savaged Baghdad for its treatment of Kurds.

As a human rights campaigner, the wife of President Francois Mitterrand has
often criticised nations with friendly ties to France. Turkey is a NATO member
and seeking membership of the European Union.

Rival Kurdish groups have uneasily shared power to administer northern Iraq
since 1991, protected against possible air attacks from Baghdad by Western air
power based in southern Turkey. Kurdish factions have often clashed among each
other.

Mitterrand dismissed Ankara's argument that it had to combat attacks by Kurdish
guerrillas on its territory. "One can't say that this is a war between Turks
and Kurds. It's a war to exterminate a people."

She first became involved in supporting the Kurdish cause in 1989. In July 1992
she narrowly escaped a car-bomb attack when on a visit to Iraqi Kurdistan.

The 131-page report also said Iraqi Kurdistan was among the most heavily-mined
lands in the world, after Cambodia and Afghanistan, and that thousands of Kurds
had died or been mutilated by mines.

Patrick Baudoin, head of the International Federation of Human Rights, said
Kurds had faced oppression throughout history, but that it was rare they faced
such hostility on so many fronts at the same time. Kurds, who came close to
winning a state after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire early this century,
also live in parts of Syria, Armenia and Azerbaijan.

William Bourdon, secretary general of the Federation, said it seemed inevitable
the United Nations would lift sanctions on Iraq. As part of any deal, he said
the U.N. had to ensure President Saddam Hussein allowed Kurds in northern Iraq
to consolidate their power.

(2) Turkey asks for release of Moslem jailed by Greece

ANKARA, Jan 28 (Reuter) - Turkey on Saturday asked Athens to release a Moslem
clergyman jailed for 10 months for assuming the title of mufti (religious
leader) of a Moslem minority community in northeast Greece.

"President Suleyman Demirel sent a message today to Greek President Constantine
Karamanlis to express his disappointment that Xanthi's mufti Mehmet Emin Aga
was sentenced to prison for carrying out his religious duties," Demirel's
office said.

"(He has) requested that Karamanlis be instrumental in the release of mufti
Mehmet Emin Aga," it said. Greece does not recognise Aga as the mufti of the
area which has an officially sanctioned religious leader. Aga was convicted
last week for signing as mufti for the district of Xanthi in letters sent in
1993 to the 120,000-strong Moslem minority living mostly in northeastern
Greece. In the letters, Aga accused Greece of mistreating the minority. He was
jailed late on Tuesday after refusing to pay a fine.

Under a 1990 law the Greek state has the right to choose the Moslem minority's
two muftis, after reviewing a list of candidates recommended by a panel of 11
minority leaders.

Demirel expressed regret that, "contrary to international agreements, muftis
chosen by the Turkish community...are thus prevented from officially performing
their religious duties."

Greece rejects the assertion that the people are a Turkish community and refers
to them as Greek Moslems. On the eve of the Moslem holy month of Ramadan, which
begins on February 1 or 2, Demirel also demanded that Moslem clerics be allowed
to travel from Turkey to western Thrace to fulfil the needs of the Moslem
community there. The Moslems are remnants of the Ottoman Empire which ruled the
Thrace region, straddling the present Greek-Turkish border, until 1913.

Historically poor relations between Turkey and Greece have deteriorated even
further in recent months over a range of issues, including rights in the Aegean
Sea, Turkey's bid to forge a customs pact with the European Union, and the
divided island of Cyprus.

(3) Greece risks tension with Turkey over sea limits

By Stephen Weeks

ATHENS, Jan 29 (Reuter) - Greece is risking a surge in tension with its
neighbour and rival Turkey by preparing to ratify a world sea treaty which
allows Athens to extend its territorial waters to 12 miles.

Turkey threatened last year to go to war if Athens extended its waters, saying
this would effectively turn the Aegean which separates the feuding NATO allies
into a Greek lake.

"We let it be known that we didn't want war but would go to war in such a
situation" the Turkish foreign minister at that time, Mumtaz Soysal, said. He
was speaking shortly before an international Law of the Sea Convention came
into force on November 16, recognising the right of states to extend their
territorial waters to 12 miles.

Greece's socialist government sent a draft bill to ratify the Sea Convention to
parliament last week, saying the time was right for such a move. "This is the
appropriate time for the ratification of the Law of the Sea Convention, which
codifies long-standing international standards and practices," government
spokesman Evangelos Venizelos said.

The bill is expected to pass in February, with both major parties backing it.
Once ratified the government could extend the territorial limit from its
present six miles at any time.

More than 60 countries have ratified the convention, which was signed by Greece
in 1982 but has never been ratified by the 300-seat parliament. Turkey has not
signed the convention.

Diplomats said the danger in Greece ratifying the treaty was that from then on,
at a moment's notice, Athens could extend its waters and trigger an unexpected
reaction from Turkey. "Once the treaty is ratified, this or any future
government can extend the country's waters with immediate effect. There is no
longer any waiting period," a diplomat from a European Union country said.

Several diplomats expressed concern the move was coming in a period of intense
manoeuvring ahead of possible early elections in April, if parliament fails to
elect a new Greek president. Socialist Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou may
simply want a strong negotiating card in his hand -- the threat of extending
territorial limits -- in any talks over Cyprus or other issues with Turkey,
some diplomats said.

"But with Papandreou you're never quite sure what he'll do. We still see him as
the master of unpleasant surprises and our worst fear would be seeing the
territorial limit extended to win popular support in a pre-election period,"
said another Western diplomat.

Papandreou, remembered as an unpredictable maverick from his 1981-89
government, said in an interview this month that he was willing to start a
rapprochement with Turkey. But he added: "Turkey violates our airspace,
threatens Greece with war if it extends its territorial waters to 12 miles...
(and) infringes on international flight regulations. This creates tension...and
could lead to an incident."

(4) Istanbul getting a face lift

ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) -- Inside the Malta Palace, the furniture is packed up,
the lights are out and the days of toasting the view of the Bosporus with a
beer are a memory.

The closing of the popular bar in the 19th century Ottoman mansion in Yildiz
Park is just the first step. Istanbul's first Islamic fundamentalist mayor has
big plans to stamp a Muslim way of life on Turkey's biggest city. It won't be
easy. Turkey is predominantly Muslim but officially secular. Many Turks like it
that way.

Mayor Recep Tayyip Erdogan's decision to take management of the Malta Palace
and 11 other bar-coffee houses in city-owned buildings fits into his Islamic
vision for this metropolis of 12 [sic] million people.

Erdogan's Welfare Party won mayorships in many cities, including Istanbul and
the capital, Ankara, in elections last March. But secular parties still control
the national government.

Islam forbids the serving and drinking of alcohol, although alcohol is legal in
Turkey. Many people like to end the day with a glass of raki, the
anisette-flavored national drink. The mayor's decision to ban alcoholic
beverages at the coffee houses didn't affect dozens of private establishments.
But secularists strongly objected.

"These places are so popular among tourists. ... It is hard to understand their
policy against alcoholic beverages," said Celik Gulersoy, head of the Touring
and Automobile Club.

The club had spent $1.5 million to restore the coffee houses and open them to
the public 12 years ago under a lease from the city government. An editorial in
the newspaper Cumhuriyet said people who thought the Welfare Party mayors would
not try to impose a fundamentalist way of life on the cities had been proven
wrong. "Welfare's world view does not fit Turkey's common lifestyle in many
fields," it said.

Welfare Party mayors in several small towns also are trying to stamp out
alcohol. And the mayor of Ankara, Melih Gokcek, removed a number of nude
sculptures from parks in the capital, declaring them obscene.

A Welfare deputy in Parliament, Oguzhan Asilturk, even suggested that the
remnants of ancient Roman fortifications in Istanbul be torn down to open up
space for housing. Asilturk, who is secretary-general of the party, retracted
his statement under intense criticism.

One reason the fundamentalists won the mayoral races was that secular
center-right and socialist parties split the rest of the vote. Welfare won 25
percent of the vote in Istanbul, the biggest single bloc, while three leftist
parties shared 34 percent and two center-right parties split 37 percent.

Fundamentalists also capitalized on voter disgust with political corruption and
the impression that secular parties were not answering people's needs,
especially those of the poor. Secular Turks are conducting a nationwide
petition campaign to support Gulersoy, the head of the touring and auto club
who has led efforts to refurbish parks, palaces and hotels from the Ottoman
era. "I will no longer go and visit these places," Gulersoy said of the
alcohol-free coffee houses.

(5) Turkmenistan to proceed with gas pipeline to Turkey

ANKARA, Turkey, Jan. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- US-CIS Ventures, Inc. and its
subsidiary, US-CIS International, Inc. organized business meetings that were
held in Ankara, Turkey last week to discuss details of the previously agreed
upon development of a natural gas pipeline from Turkmenistan across Iran to
Turkey and Europe.

The first day of Business Council meetings was attended by a group of more than
30 of the largest Western companies and financial institutions, who were
presented with particulars of the pipeline project, including its technical and
financial components.  On the second day, Turkmen President Sapamurat Niyazov
convened the Third Inter-State Council meeting with delegates from
Turkmenistan, Turkey, Iran, Russia and Kazakhstan.

US-CIS has been exclusively authorized, by the government of Turkmenistan, to
organize a team to manage the development of the pipeline. The pipeline, which
is expected to be completed by 1999, will extend nearly 1,260 km and will
eventually deliver up to 28 billion cubic meters of gas to Turkey and Europe
per year.

The Inter-State Council meeting was addressed by President Niyazov of
Turkmenistan and President Demirel of Turkey. By agreement among the members
of the Inter-State Council, a company named Turkmenistan Transcontinental
Pipeline, Ltd. (TTP) was established to develop, own and operate the
pipeline. This company will also serve as the vehicle for offering stock to
governments and major private investors interested in owning equity in the
pipeline. TTP has assigned the responsibility for designing and developing
the project to US-CIS.

Bi-lateral and multi-lateral agreements have already been executed among
the affected countries to address the issues of transit of the gas through
Iran, the purchase of gas by Turkey and the supply of gas by Turkmenistan.
Negotiations for the more detailed documents implementing these governmental
agreements are underway.

Turkmenistan has one of the largest natural gas supplies in the world and is
capable of producing the necessary gas requirements for the pipeline from
existing fields in the western part of the country.

The estimated total hard and soft capital cost of the project is $2.54
billion. The project will be funded with a combination of debt and equity.

(6) Two abducted Iranians found dead in Istanbul

ANKARA, Jan 29 (Reuter) - Two Iranians abducted in Turkey two weeks ago were
found dead on Sunday with signs of torture on their bodies, Anatolian news
agency said.

The two, named as Asker Smitko, 42, and Jciaben Ecmajit, 49, were found in
Istanbul province, 75 km from where they had been forced into a car on January
15, the agency said. They were shot dead after their ear lobes had been cut
off, it said. Anatolia did not give any possible motives for the killings.

(7) Istanbul stocks rise 1.88 pct on selective demand

ISTANBUL, Jan 27 (Reuter) - Shares at Istanbul's stock market posted selective
gains as demand enlivened in the afternoon on optimistic expectations for
Saturday's joint merger congress by two social democrat parties, including the
junior coalition partner Social Democrat Populist Party.

The 100-share composite index closed up 465.02 points, or 1.88 percent at
25,246.08, but fell 1.07 percent over the week. Daily volume dropped to 2.7
trillion lira from Thursday's 3.02 trillion.

"I see today's activity as short-term risk taking. Trade volume did not
improve," said Metin Ayisik, assistant general manger at Ata securities.
Brokers said the market also aimed and succeded in keeping the index
above the psychological barrier at 25,000 points.

----------------------------- End forwarded message --------------------------

        -------------------------------------------------------
                * Activists Press Service (Newsdesk) *
                          newsdesk at aps.nl
                       !Power to the people!
         -------------------------------------------------------