ANKARA SEEKING MORE COOPERATION WIT

[kurdeng at aps.nl]

Subject: ANKARA SEEKING MORE COOPERATION WITH TEHRAN

.20)
           id VT19336; Sat, 23 Sep 1995 21:17:25 -0800



Turkish ambassador to tehran Mithat Balkan hopes that the joint
economic commission will meet very soon as his country is seeking more
cooperation with iran.   Speaking to the english-language daily tehran
times, published monday, he revealed a visit in the near future by the
turkish minister of transport for the purpose of signing a new
transport agreement to update an earlier one made in 1980.

In view of changes in the social democrat leadership, the exact date
of the joint commission meeting has not been set, he announced and
gave assurances that there will be no major changes in turkish policy
towards the islamic republic of iran.  On the natural gas agreement,
he said that two delegations have met and agreed on the technical
aspects and signed the contract, adding that there are no problems as
to implementation.

The ambassador further cited the imbalance in the trade between the two
countries in favour of iran.  ''Turkey's exports to iran are about
dlrs. 250 Million. Its imports from iran are about dlrs. 600
Million. If iran does not buy more from turkey, the trade deficit will
grow,'' the daily quoted him saying.  He cited the gas pipeline
agreement has been concluded and will connect turkmenistan to turkey
via iran, adding that its implementation is just awaiting the
necessary financing.

Commenting on the kurdistan workers' party (pkk) fighting to gain
autonomy from the turkish government, balkan described their condition
in turkey as very bad and said they are not in a position to operate
now.   ''The government is in control of all parts of the country and
for this reason they have transferred (their operations) to northern
iraq,'' he said, adding, the few elements still left in turkey are
about to be wiped out.    referring to relations of pkk with other
kurdish groups such as the democratic party of kurdistan (dpk), the
ambassador noted that barzani has recently been subject of attacks by
the pkk and differences between barzani and the pkk in northern iraq
are still ongoing.

On the recently concluded iran-turkey-syria tripartite meeting, he
said, ''the fact is that the three countries came together and
expressed their determination to keep iraq's territorial integrity in
the face of pressure from the outside world.''  The next high level
experts meeting is scheduled to be held in tehran in december and the
next ministerial meeting in six months' time, with turkey as the
venue, tehran times quoted balkan as saying.     Another meeting may
be called in between the two meetings so as to discuss new
developments as they come, he added.   Rejecting the charges levelled
against turkey that it is interested in northern iraq, balkan
stressed, ''our territory is enough for us and we do not need northern
iraq.''

On the continuing war in bosnia, the turkish ambassador stated that
his country has contributed to the peacekeeping forces there and that
new developments point to the determination of the international
community to put an end to the fighting.

He concluded by announcing a plan by turkish prime minister tansu
ciller to visit iran in the near future.
(from Islamic Republic News Agency)


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