Mainstream news

[kurdeng at aps.nl]

From: tabe at newsdesk.aps.nl
Subject: Mainstream news
Reply-To: kurdeng at aps.nl


      ANKARA, June 19 (Reuter) - These are the leading stories in the Turkish
press on Monday. Reuters has not verified these reports and in no way vouches
for their accuracy.

    SABAH

    -- President Suleyman Demirel visits army post on Iranian border where 15
soldiers were killed by raiding Kurdish rebels. Foreign ministry sources say
this is strong message to Iran to deal with rebels on its territory or Turkey
will.

    MILLIYET

    -- Decision to strike three zeros from the Turkish lira to be taken
today. A new name is also to be selected for the national currency from among
three alternatives.

    -- Former president Kenan Evren, leader of a 1980 coup and three years of
military rule, says no concessions should be given to the RP by scrapping
constitution article 24 stressing the secular nature of the state.

    -- Women's associations launch campaign to force resignation or dismissal
of Ayvaz Gokdemir, the cabinet minister who refered to three women Euro-MPs
as prostitites.

    HURRIYET

    -- Tens of thousands of civil servants from across the country end a
48-hour sit-in in central Ankara to back demands for right to strike.
Government workers will go on a wildcat strike from Tuesday.


    CUMHURIYET

    -- Civil servants are determined to strike from Wednesday after four days
of protest action fails to produce government concessions on their demands
for the right to stirke.

    -- Separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) owns U.S.-made land-to-air
and heat-sensitive Stinger missiles.

    YENI YUZYIL

    -- The referendum duel. The issue of constitutional amendments moves
towards a nationwide political quarrel.

    -- Coalition partner Republican People's Party MPs to decide whether to
back government decree to extend mandate for Western force based in the south
to protect Iraqi Kurds from Baghdad.

    YENI POLITIKA

    -- Western European Union meets to discuss autonomy for Kurds. Ciller is
to have a hard time at the WEU meeting where she will make an address.

    ZAMAN

    -- Politicans warn against Moslem Alevi community falling into the
terrorism trap after incidents in which Alevi-origin militants figured.


Civil Servants Conduct Illegal Strike
      By Sibel Akbay

    ANKARA, June 19 (Reuter) - Turkey's biggest civil servants' union has
called a nationwide work stoppage for Tuesday to protest against the
government's refusal to grant them the right to strike and collective
bargaining.

    ``We call on all civil servants, not only the unionised ones, to take
part in our action. We have to come together on the labour front to get what
we want,'' Yildirim Kaya, chairman of the Civil Servants' Union (KCSKK), told
Reuters on Monday.

    Turkey has about 1,900,000 public employees.

    The call followed a four-day sit-down protest by civil servants in
Ankara's Kizilay business district. Union chiefs and employees gathered in
Kizilay on Thursday to urge the government to give them the right to strike
and bargain collectively.

    Musical bands and theatre troupes joined the estimated 120,000-150,000
demonstrators in support of their cause.

    The Turkish constitution currently bans civil servants from holding
strikes or seeking wage increases through collective bargaining. The KCSKK
says the ban is a direct violation of the International Labour Organisation
conventions that Turkey has signed and ratified.

    An amendment now before parliament enables civil servants to participate
in budget planning and wage negotiations.

    Turkish civil servants are badly paid, with chunks of their pay packets
consumed by 82.4 percent annual inflation.

    The average monthly salary runs at seven million Turkish lira ($160),
compared to more than 10 million lira (about $232) for a unionised state
worker with the right to strike.

    Union chiefs held talks with Prime Minister Hikmet Cetin on Sunday but
could reach no accord and now they were talking to no one.

    ``We cannot find anyone to negotiate with. They do not want to hear our
voice,'' he said.

French Groups Urge Pressure on Ciller Over Kurds
      PARIS (Reuter) - On the eve of a Paris visit by Turkish Prime Minister
Tansu Ciller, nine union and human rights groups asked the French government
Monday to press her to achieve a peaceful settlement with militant Kurds.

    They said Turkish forces and Kurdish separatists were locked in one of
the world's bloodiest conflicts, killing 30 people daily, and asked France to
suspend arms sales to Ankara.

    The groups, including the Human Rights League and the France-Libertes
group headed by France's former first lady Danielle Mitterrand, protested
against French plans to sell 20 Cougar helicopters to Turkey.

    They asked Paris to make Turkish progress toward democracy, a release of
political prisoners and dialogue on a peaceful Kurd settlement conditions of
any financial aid or political support to Ankara.

    Ciller is due to have talks Tuesday with President Jacques Chirac and
Prime Minister Alain Juppe and address the parliamentary assembly of the
Western European Union defense group of which Turkey is an associate member.


---
 * Origin: APS Amsterdam (aps.nl), bbs +31-20-6842147 (16:31/2.0)