TURKISH DAILY NEWS / 8 SEPTEMBER 19

[kurdeng at aps.nl]

Subject: TURKISH DAILY NEWS / 8 SEPTEMBER 1995


Demirel helps pro-Turkish deputies of the European Parliament defend their
position

Turkish Daily News
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ANKARA- 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 a customs union with Turkey.

"We wanted to obtain some new information before the vote on the customs
union," said Jean Gon on behalf of the group. "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 stance."

Despite their evident support for Turkey, the deputies expressed their
concern at the human rights situation in the country, the Anatolia news
agency reported.

They inquired especially about the recent claim on the part of some
newspapers that a political prisoner had been executed. Reportedly, the
president swiftly presented the deputies with news stories on the subject
and pointed out that the person in question was not a political prisoner but
a member of a terrorist organization who had killed six police officers.
This quick response surprised the delegation, according to the Anatolia news
agency.

The deputies also voiced their concern about the imprisonment of members of
the banned pro-Kurdish Democracy Party. 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 has embraced both European values and its own national ones in its
support of globalization in the world," he said. He described Turkey as a
democratic, secular country devoted to the market economy as well as a
stabilizing factor in the region. "Turkey, which is, de facto, a European
country, wishes to become one officially as well," the President concluded.
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German-Turkish ties strained by arson attacks against Turks

Reuter
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BONN- 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 by Tuesday's fatal attack on a house inhabited primarily by Turks
and a telephone call from his concerned Turkish counterpart, Kinkel vowed
that Germany would do its best to safeguard the two-million-strong Turkish
community here.

Dozens of Turkish properties have been torched this year in a rash of
attacks blamed primarily on Kurdish extremists. "Attacks on Turkish
properties have reached such an extent that they are starting to weigh
seriously on German-Turkish relations," 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 via either crime against foreigners or violent acts by militant
Kurds who abuse their right to live here," he added.

Investigators in the northern city of Luebeck have yet to determine the
motive for an arson attack that killed a Turk and a German and injured 20
people. Press reports suggest insurance fraud rather than racism may have
played a role.

Authorities say the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), fighting for
independence or autonomy in southeastern Turkey, has been primarily
responsible for firebomb attacks on Turkish businesses, mosques and cultural
clubs this year.

Most of the attacks have caused only property damage, but the PKK has also
been linked to an arson fire in Stuttgart last month that killed two African
refugees and injured four. The firebombings have deeply unsettled Germany's
Turkish community, the largest in western Europe. Germany hosts around
400,000 Kurds, most of whom are from Turkey.

Turkish officials have repeatedly urged Bonn to take a harder line against
members or sympathizers of the PKK, which Bonn banned in 1993 after a series
of violent protests. Kinkel said Germany must do its utmost to prevent
"cowardly attacks" from damaging bilateral ties and expressed solidarity
with Turks in the country.

"Attacks on Turkish properties are not attacks on strangers in our eyes.
They affect us directly," he said.
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 * Origin: APS Amsterdam (aps.nl), bbs +31-20-6842147 (16:31/2.0)