Turkish Press Review

[kurdeng at aps.nl]

                     FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 8, 1995
                    --------------------------

Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press
this morning


TEHRAN MEETING ENDS WITH MUTUAL SATISFACTION

Iran and Syria were satisfied with the information given by
Turkey on its Iraqi policy in a tripartite experts meeting held
in Tehran, said a Turkish official who attended the talks.
"We explained the logic of our policy to our Iranian and Syrian
counterparts. They understood that Turkey's policy is not against
their national interests in the region. This meeting of Turkey,
Iran and Syria once more displayed that such consultations among
regional countries have great importance in avoiding
misunderstandings," the Turkish official said.
Foreign Minister Erdal Inonu is due to arrive in Tehran today
to take part in ministerial level tripartite meeting. Inonu said
on Thursday that Turkey gave the utmost importance to tripartite
meeting with his counterparts from Syria and Iran.
"The meeting in Tehran will take up the developments in Iraq in
general and the instability in northern Iraq in particular. We
will take up what we can do, what sort of diplomatic initiative
we can take, as neighbouring countries, within the principle
of maintaining the territorial integrity of Iraq," said
Inonu./All Papers/


GERMAN-TURKISH TIES STRAINED BY ARSON ATTACKS AGAINST TURKS

German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel urged police on Thursday
to step up their protection of Turks from a spate of firebomb
attacks that he said had strained ties between Bonn and Ankara.
Spurred on by Tuesday's fatal attack on a house inhabited primarily
by Turks and a telephone call from his Turkish counterpart,
Kinkel vowed that Germany would do its utmost to safeguard
the two-million-strong Turkish community in Germany.
German-Turkish relations are important," Kinkel said in a
statement, adding that he had asked authorities to beef up
protective measures. "We cannot allow Turkish members of the
community to be treated as free game in Germany because of
crime against foreigners or violent acts by militant Kurds who
abuse their right to live here. Attacks on Turkish properties are
not attacks on strangers in our eyes. They effect us directly,"
he added.


PRESIDENT DEMIREL RECEIVES PRO-TURKISH EP DEPUTIES

A group of European Parliament deputies visited President
Suleyman Demirel on Thursday to obtain information which they
can use to answer other deputies who oppose customs union with
Turkey.

"We wanted to obtain information before the vote on the customs
union. Because those who are against a customs union with Turkey
come to us armed with arguments, we need information as well if
we are to keep up our pro-Turkish stances."

Demirel reminded the deputies that their support would not only
help Turkey's inclusion in the customs union but also the
promotion of European ideas and values.

"Turkey embraced both European values and its own national ones
in its support of globalization in the world. Turkey, which is,
de facto, a European country, wishes to become one officially
as well, the President said. /All Papers/



"TERROR" WARNING TO SYRIA

Confirming that Turkey sought good relations
with Syria, President Suleyman Demirel also
warned yesterday that Syrian support for
terrorism was not received well in Turkey.

Demirel said that Syria was one of the lead-
ing countries that supported international
terror, and that this was totally unacceptable
as far as Turkey was concerned. Noting that no
form of terrorism should be supported, Demirel
added that it should never be forgotten that
thousands of innocent victims had been killed
because of terrorism.

Talking with a director of the Washington
Institute for Near Eastern Studies, Rob
Satloff, Demirel also said that Turkey was
a secular country where religious funda-
mentalism would never take root. /Cumhuriyet/


NEW PKK CENTRE IN NORTHERN IRAQ

Radio broadcasts from northern Iraq have claimed
that the PKK terrorist organization has set up
new centres of operation in the region.

The radio station operated by the Kurdistan
Democratic Party (KDP) said yesterday that the
PKK was setting up a new military base in order
to intensify its activities in the region.

Although the PKK is still attacking targets
throughout the area, KDP representatives said
yesterday that PKK leader "Apo" Ocalan would
be "digging his own grave" if he moved in
against the KDP. /Milliyet/


TURKEY ADVANCING TOWARDS CUSTOMS UNION

During his one day visit to Turkey, British Foreign Minister
Malcolm Rifkind said that developments towards an eventual
acceptance of Turkey as a participant in EU customs union had
been initiated by the UK. "We believe that Turkey has much to
offer. Turkey's acceptance in the customs union will be to the
benefit, not only of Turkish people, but also to the UK and the
whole of Europe," Rifkind noted.

Commenting on the PKK separatist organization and on terrorism,
Rifkind pointed out that in the past Britain also had had to
deal with the problem of terrorism, and for this reason shared
the feelings of the Turkish people who wanted to solve the
problem of terrorism democratically as soon as possible. /Sabah/


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