TDN
  Saturday, Nov 3 2007 10:53 am GMT+2 Sign Up | Login | TDN Your Homepage | Add to Favorites | Home Delivery | RSS
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
MEMBER CENTER
 
 
 
UserName Pass
ARCHIVE    (older than 2004-09-26) click for a new search
Google
Search Older Articles
Search phrase:

Turkish Daily News Electronic Edition, Foreign Affairs Section, March 27 1997

27 March, 1997, Copyright © Turkish Daily News


Foreign News Page Contents
  • French foreign minister to visit Ankara
  • PNG prime minister bows to military pressure, quits
  • 'Gunless' coup: Without one shot fired, the small Papua New Guinea army forces Chan out of office
  • Two Suspected IRA bombs hit rail links in England
  • Reaction: Major says blasts a 'two-fingered insult' to democracy
  • Turkish-German ties come to the boil
  • Bonn angry: German FM Kinkel says he represents the EU and has no intention of bowing his head as PM Erbakan suggested he should do
  • Three die in Nigerian riot, 88 Shell staff held
  • UK Tories see Labour's strike threat
  • Speculation: Trade and industry secretary raises the prospect of British union members being called out on strike to support colleagues in Germany or France
  • Zaire antagonists under pressure at Africa summit
  • Rebel motive: 'We are fighting for democracy, we are fighting for freedom, we are fighting for human rights respect,' foreign policy strategist Karaha says
  • US committee to advise about police system
  • Demirel's visit promotes closer ties with Bangladesh
  • More signs of a thaw in Turkish-Greek ties
  • Diplomats say that the seemingly intractable problems between Turkey and Greece still stand. But they add that the positive atmosphere that has started developing between the two countries in recent weeks should not be underestimated
  • First food ship under oil deal arrives in Iraq
  • American Jewish organization sees emergence of 'holocaust denial' in Turkey

    French foreign minister to visit Ankara


    Turkish Daily News

    ANKARA- French Foreign Minister Herve de Charette is expected to visit Turkey and the Caucasus in the beginning of April, the Turkish Daily News has learned.

    The French minister's visit is to take up all issues of interest between the two countries -- from the Middle East to the Caucasus -- but the agenda will no doubt be topped by Turkey's relations with the European Union.

    De Charette, who has planned to visit Turkey since last autumn, is to be in Ankara April 2-3.

    France, which has distanced itself from the remarks made by the Christian Democrats that Turkey was not a European Union candidate, said in the last EU minister's informal meeting in Apeldoorn that the EU's commitments to Ankara should be kept.

    Herve de Charette said in that meeting Turkey's candidacy should be judged in a "non-discriminatory fashion" and "in the same way" as the other European Union candidates.

    France, along with the Dutch presidency, has also been given the task of working on the modalities and goals -- as well as the guest list -- of a conference that will bring the fifteen member countries together with aspiring members. French Foreign Ministry spokesman Jacques Rummelhardt has said that Turkey should participate in the conference, which the French hope will become a permanent institution.


    PNG prime minister bows to military pressure, quits

  • 'Gunless' coup: Without one shot fired, the small Papua New Guinea army forces Chan out of office

    Reuters

    Port Moresby- Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Sir Julius Chan bowed to military and popular pressure on Wednesday and stepped down to end 10 days of turmoil in the South Pacific nation.

    Chan's announcement to Parliament prompted jubilation among thousands of protesters, including soldiers loyal to sacked army chief Jerry Singirok, who had blockaded the building.

    The 57-year-old Chan, who was serving his second term as prime minister, had tried to tough out a crisis over his decision to hire foreign mercenaries to crush an ethnic uprising on the island of Bougainville.

    Singirok demanded Chan resign over the $36 million mercenary contract but Chan in turn sacked the quietly-spoken "soldier's soldier", sparking widespread protests and some violence and looting by Papua New Guinea's criminal gangs.

    "I am not a hero. I think everyone is a hero," Singirok told reporters as his supporters celebrated their victory.

    "We fought for something for everyone and everyone that fought with us is a hero."

    On Wednesday Chan bowed to the inevitable, telling Parliament he, deputy prime minister Chris Haiveta and defence minister Mathias Ijape would step aside during an inquiry into the mercenary contract and ahead of elections due in June.

    "Mr. Speaker, in the interest and for the good (of the nation) and in order to defuse something that I consider a little bit explosive outside, I will direct the deputy prime minister and the minister for defence to step aside," Chan said.

    "I myself will step aside and I will have the Cabinet to consider to appoint the acting prime minister," he added.

    Chan could have resigned outright but under the constitution he could not have been forced out of power from the floor of Parliament in the 12 months ahead of national elections.

    The worst crisis in Papua New Guinea's 22 years of independence started on March 17 when Singirok turned on Chan, demanding he quit and expel some 70 African mercenaries flown in by British company Sandline International.

    The mercenaries had been hired in a secret deal to crush the nine-year secessionist war on Bougainville and recapture a vast copper mine forced to close by the fighting in 1989.

    Singirok was promptly sacked but Chan was unable to control a groundswell of popular and military opposition.

    Street protests saw dozens of people injured and although the army exercised restraint, Singirok and other senior officers kept up the pressure on Chan and his allies.

    News of Chan's departure was greeted with a huge roar of approval by thousands of protesters besieging the Parliament building. As Chan spoke, an army helicopter could be heard buzzing the building.

    Protesters cheered madly and lifted soldiers into the air.

    Dropping their chants of "Chan resign!", they began to sing the national anthem in the local pidgin language. Across town, soldiers at the Murray Barracks shot M-16 rifles into the air and climbed into trucks for an impromptu victory parade. Peanut and fruit vendors set up stalls as the city took on a carnival atmosphere.

    Chan, an urbane politician first elected to Parliament in 1968, defended his decision not to step aside earlier.

    Smiling broadly, Chan told a news conference that he had to accept responsibility for the crisis. He had not quit earlier because he wanted to safeguard the constitution and did not want to appear to give in to pressure from the military.

    "Today it is Julius Chan who must take account of some of the pains and trouble ... that has taken place in the past week and that responsibility is mine and mine alone," he said.

    "Now I feel very relaxed and very comfortable. It's not my responsibility any more. I have no more power as of now."

    Chan once again defended the mercenary contract. "It may have looked very cold-blooded at times but a developing country has to take very tough decisions at times."

    Chan's departure lifted the threat of more unrest on the streets of Port Moresby, a violent town at the best of times.

    But a senior army officer told Reuters it would take some time to calm down troops and reimpose discipline.

    The officer said Jack Tuat, the acting commander of the PNG Defence Force, had called an emergency meeting of senior officers at his Murray Barracks headquarters.

    "Whilst we just heard the news and we accept that, we have a bigger job ahead of reconciliation and down-psyching the troops," said the officer.

    "They have all been worked up in the last week or so and our job is to quickly get them back to normality," he said.

    "It's going to take a couple of weeks. We have to get all the troops back in again and inform them of the next course of action from here."

    It was not immediately clear who would replace Chan as caretaker prime minister, although political analysts tipped the little-known foreign minister, Kilroy Genia.

    Chan said the Cabinet would meet in the next 24 hours to choose an interim prime minister ahead of the June elections.


    Two Suspected IRA bombs hit rail links in England

  • Reaction: Major says blasts a 'two-fingered insult' to democracy

    Reuters

    Wilmslow, England- Two suspected IRA bombs damaged railway tracks and signalling equipment in the northwestern town of Wilmslow on Wednesday in an apparent bid to cause disruption ahead of the May 1 British election.

    Prime Minister John Major said the blasts looked very much like the work of the banned Irish Republican Army and called them a "two-fingered insult to democracy" in the run-up to the poll. There were no casualties and little damage.

    "I hope very much that IRA/Sinn Fein are not going to conduct their campaigns at the ballot box in Northern Ireland and with bombs on the mainland of Britain," Major said before leaving London's Heathrow Airport for a campaign trip.

    Sinn Fein is the political wing of the IRA, which is fighting to end British rule in Northern Ireland. The IRA has set off several bombs on the English mainland since ending a 17-month cease-fire in February 1996.

    Martin McGuinness, a leading member of Sinn Fein, attacked Major for excluding the party from peace talks. Sinn Fein have been barred from the talks until the IRA restores the cease-fire.

    "The responsibility for these bombs rests with those who planted them," he said in a statement.

    "The failure to resolve the conflict is the responsibility of those, including John Major, who undermined the potential created by the Irish peace process."

    The blasts did not delay trains on the main west coast line from London to Scotland. But a bomb scare at Doncaster, on the main east coast line from London to Scotland, halted all through trains from 5.30 a.m. (0530) and caused widespread chaos.

    Police sealed off Doncaster station after a warning call but it was not clear whether the two incidents were linked.

    Wilmslow police said they had received coded warnings before the first blast hit a signalling box outside the station at 6.30 a.m. (0630 GMT). The second blast damaged tracks at 7.05 a.m. "These devices would appear to have been placed to cause disruption rather than physical injury," fire brigade spokesman Evan Morris told BBC radio. Local police said they could not confirm media reports that the warnings had come from the IRA.

    Irish Prime Minister John Bruton condemned the attack.

    "This cowardly strategy of sneaky violence by the IRA has completely failed. It has done nothing but divide the Irish people more deeply than they were divided when the campaign started," he said in Dublin.

    Wilmslow is a prosperous commuter town to the south of Manchester, where the IRA detonated a massive device in a city centre shopping precinct last June.

    That blast, which injured 220 people, was the last known IRA attack on the mainland. The IRA have killed two soldiers in Northern Ireland since calling off their truce.

    Eyewitnesses in Wilmslow spoke of two loud explosions early in the morning. "We were woken up by an enormous bang at 6.30 a.m.," Bridget Hunt told the BBC. "At 7 a.m. there was another even bigger explosion which rocked the ground...it was a terrific bang which shook the house."

    The bombs exploded ahead of the Easter weekend, which is one of the most sacred dates for the IRA, since it marks the anniversary of a major republican uprising in Dublin in 1916.


    Turkish-German ties come to the boil

  • Bonn angry: German FM Kinkel says he represents the EU and has no intention of bowing his head as PM Erbakan suggested he should do

    Turkish Daily News

    ANKARA- Tensions between Ankara and Bonn that have been silently simmering in recent weeks came to the boil on Wednesday during the visit of German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel to Turkey.

    "I came to Turkey as the German Foreign Minister. At the same time, I represent the EU. I have no intention of apologizing or bowing my head," Kinkel said after meeting members of the Foreign Affairs Commission in Parliament in the morning.

    These harsh words from the visiting Foreign Minister were in response to remarks by Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan on Wednesday.

    Speaking to his Parliamentary group, Erbakan had called for "respect towards Turkey" and suggested that Kinkel would have to "bow his head in shame" during his visit to Ankara.

    Receiving Kinkel in the afternoon, Prime Minister Erbakan was asked by a reporter before the talks what he had meant by his remarks the day before.

    Resorting to his traditional "getaway tactic" when confronted by such difficult questions Erbakan merely said, "Don't believe everything you read in the press."

    He did, however, have indirect words of caution for the German Foreign Minister when he said that Turkey's friends in Europe "should not arrive at decisions that are detrimental for themselves."

    Both Erbakan and Kinkel were visibly uncomfortable during the meeting. At one stage the German Foreign Minister asked if "they were going to conduct their talks in front of the press."

    Kinkel came close to calling off his visit to Turkey after Erbakan's remarks of the day before were reported by the German press agency, DPA.

    Following a flurry of diplomatic activity the Turkish Foreign Ministry had to satisfy the German demand that Ankara deny that Erbakan had made these remarks in order for Kinkel to continue with his trip.

    But the German Foreign Minister was visibly ruffled by these remarks which he knew had been made and told reporters in the Turkish Parliament that he would take up the matter of this "megaphone diplomacy" when he met with Prime Minister Erbakan later in the day.

    "I don't feel that to be a friendly welcome. I will say that calmly and clearly," he said.

    Kinkel said that he had arrived in Turkey to try and sort out the problems that exist between the two countries .

    "There is a need for honest dialogue between friends. But this must be conducted within the framework of a certain tone."

    Referring to the remarks attributed by DPA to Erbakan, Kinkel put the matter in plain terms.

    "If these remarks had not been denied then I was going to return to Germany from Rome where I was attending a meeting of EU foreign Ministers ... Among ourselves we can say what we want, but we have to weigh our words when we are talking in public," Kinkel said in what was a blunt chastisement of the Turkish prime minister.

    Pointing out that there were serious problems in Turkish-EU ties, Kinkel said these ties nevertheless had to be maintained in "calm waters."

    Turkish-German relations have been on the decline since Bonn reacted to Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Tansu Ciller's threat that Ankara would veto NATO expansion if the EU took in former Warsaw Pact members before Turkey.

    While the German side interpreted this as "attempted blackmail," Europe's Christian Democrat led by German Chancellor Helmut Kohl had subsequently sent an equally blunt message to Ankara saying it could not join the EU for "civilizational" and "cultural" reasons.

    This blunt message was said by diplomats to have been spurred by Ciller's remarks about NATO expansion.

    Addressing a joint press conference with Ciller after their talks in the afternoon Kinkel referred to the question of NATO expansion and said every country had to act responsibly with regard to this issue.

    "No one should demand of others what they can not do," Kinkel said.

    He repeated that he had arrived in Turkey with his head held high and that no German official would arrive here with feelings of shame.

    Referring to the fact that Greece was blocking EU funds allocated to Turkey under the customs union, Kinkel said he too was not satisfied with this situation.

    Kinkel recalled that he had personally been making great efforts to have this obstacle removed.

    The German Foreign Minister also declared that while it was not in the cards that Turkey should join the EU in the near future, Ankara was nevertheless on the track to eventual membership.

    He dispelled any notions that Turkey would be pushed aside from this track.

    Kinkel also called on Turkey and Greece to improve their relations.

    "I don't want to interfere in theof Greece and Turkey but the two countries have to come closer on a solution to the Cyprus problem."

    Kinkel that the human rights issues and the "Kurdish problem" in Turkey were also among the issues that were obstructing Ankara's path to the EU.

    Foreign Minister Ciller for her part, said that there was discrimination against Turkey in Europe, adding that this should not be the case.

    "Our expectation is that we are treated justly," Ciller said reminding listeners that Turkey was a longstanding member of NATO.

    She also denied that there was a "Kurdish problem" in Turkey. Ciller said that every person in this country was a "first class citizen."

    During his talks with Ciller, Kinkel is said to have proposed a "new plan of action" for enhancing Turkish-EU ties. The principal components of this plan are said to incorporate further development of the customs union, creating new financial resources in this context, cooperating against organized crime, particularly against drug smuggling, and increasing political and cultural contacts.


    Three die in Nigerian riot, 88 Shell staff held


    Reuters

    LAGOS- Three people were on Wednesday reported killed in Nigerian protest riots in which some 100 Royal Dutch/Shell oil workers have been held hostage.

    The tribal protests in the midwestern Nigerian oil town of Warri are over the relocation of a local government headquarters.

    In Lagos, a spokesman for Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell said 88 company staff were still being detained by tribesmen who have occupied its flow stations since Saturday in protest at the action of the government in moving the council headquarters.

    Local newspapers said three members of the Ijaw tribe were killed in protests on Tuesday in which the home of former information minister minister Edwin Clark was burnt down.

    "Apart from those we told you about earlier it has come to our knowledge that nine of the people detained left on Saturday and Monday by their own methods so 88 are now being held," the Shell spokesman told Reuters.

    All the staff involved are Nigerians.

    The three-million strong Ijaws, who straddle Nigeria's riverine oil-producing states, are unhappy over the relocation of the headquarters of the newly created Warri South-West local government area to the rival Ogidigben town from Ogbe-Ijoh.

    The government has not commented on the issue. Similar relocations in other parts of the vast West African nation have also caused isolated protests.

    The current crisis does not directly involve Shell but the multinational is caught up in it because of its high profile in Nigeria and huge operations in the Warri area.

    The Shell spokesman said community leaders had met state officials and the company was hopeful this could lead to the release of its staff.

    "At least dialogue has been established," he said. After

    lengthy negotiations, 30 of the staff were freed on Tuesday, six of them injured although not seriously. But Shell

    said it was concerned about one seriously injured person who was not allowed to leave when its boat went to the sites seized by the villagers and evacuated 12 persons.

    After the attack Shell shut down operations in the six stations and cut back production by 100,000 barrels per day of crude, about five percent of Nigeria's total output of almost two million bpd.

    World oil prices have, however, not been affected and Shell says Nigerian export volumes remain the same.

    Nigeria is Africa's largest producer of crude oil, and with daily output of about 2.15 million barrels, ranks fifth in the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

    Shell, which pumps about half the country's total output, has often been the target of environmental protests and sabotage such as forced its withdrawal from the volatile Ogoniland in 1993.

    Shell's Nigerian operations came into worldwide focus in 1995 after Nigeria executed nine Ogoni tribe minority rights activists including author Ken Saro-Wiwa.

    Saro-Wiwa was leader of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni Peoples (MOSOP), which had been campaigning against the company's environmental policies there.

    Oil companies, Shell included, frequently suffer from disruption to their Nigerian operations from communal disturbances linked to the demand for modern amenities to be provided for them by the oil firms.

    Agitation in the oil-producing areas is rife because they remain impoverished despite being the source of the crude oil that earns Nigeria more than 90 percent of its foreign exchange income annually.


    UK Tories see Labour's strike threat

  • Speculation: Trade and industry secretary raises the prospect of British union members being called out on strike to support colleagues in Germany or France

    Reuter

    London- Britain's ruling Conservatives on Wednesday renewed attempts to label Labour, favorites to win a May 1 election, as the party of industrial unrest.

    At a news conference, Trade and Industry Secretary Ian Lang painted a lurid picture of life under Labour in which British workers would become embroiled in labour disputes on the European continent.

    Lang was referring to a report in the Sun newspaper that Labour's deputy leader John Prescott had agreed with the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) to work "to build an employment union" in the European Union.

    Lang said this raised the prospect of British union members being called out on strike to support colleagues in Germany or France who were in dispute with employers.

    He said this would shatter an era of industrial peace in Britain ushered in by Conservative laws which have greatly reduced union powers and made strikes more difficult to call.

    "With a rising tide of protests against government reforms on the Continent, Britain could become part of a European-wide winter of discontent," Lang told a news conference.

    He was referring to the winter of 1978-9, when the last Labour government suffered massive protests against attempts to control wage increases, with public sector strikes that left garbage lying in the streets and even the dead remaining unburied.

    The Conservatives, some 25 points behind Labour in the opinion polls, see reviving public memories of this period as one of their best hopes of closing the poll gap.

    They have already attacked Labour plans to force companies to recognize trade unions where at least half the workforce votes in favor of this, saying this will provoke a spate of inter-union battles and legal tussles.

    "One Labour government could destroy our ability to attract massive investment from all over the world and put thousands of jobs at risk: 18 years of progress surrendered in 18 months of Labour in power," Prime Minister John Major wrote in The Birmingham Post on Wednesday.

    "Make no mistake. If Labour and the unions win, Britain loses."

    But Labour leader Tony Blair accused the Conservatives of attacking mild proposals to give workers the right to be represented by a union "in the most hysterical terms."

    "Even after the changes the Labour Party is proposing in this area, Britain will remain with the most restrictive trade union laws anywhere in the Western world," Blair wrote in an article in the Daily Mail.

    "The principle that people at work should have the right to be represented is straightforward and supported overwhelmingly by the British people."


    Zaire antagonists under pressure at Africa summit

  • Rebel motive: 'We are fighting for democracy, we are fighting for freedom, we are fighting for human rights respect,' foreign policy strategist Karaha says

    Reuters

    Lome- African presidents and U.N. chief Kofi Annan were in Togo on Wednesday for a special summit on the Zaire crisis, hoping to push President Mobutu Sese Seko's regime and advancing rebels into direct talks.

    The one-day summit on the Zaire crisis, called by the Organization of African Unity (OAU), opened on Wednesday.

    Thirteen African presidents, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and senior delegations from Zaire's embattled regime and advancing rebels were present when the summit opened at noon (1200 GMT), two hours behind schedule.

    Both Mobutu and rebel leader Laurent Kabila sent senior delegations to Lome and foreign mediators hoped to arrange a first meeting between the parties if not formal talks.

    Kabila's disciplined fighters, who are backed by Ugandan and Rwandan troops according to Zaire, have shattered Mobutu's ragged army and control a quarter of the vast country.

    Speculation that Kabila might be persuaded to attend the Lome summit mounted on Wednesday when he left his new base at Kisangani and flew to rebel headquarters at Goma. The town has a secure airport and a fast plane could reach Lome in three hours.

    A senior rebel official told Reuters Kabila would proceed from Goma to another unspecified location for a meeting.

    Diplomats in Togo were unaware that Kabila had changed his plans not to attend the summit on security grounds.

    The rebels moved quickly on Wednesday to reject an offer by Mobutu's party to share power before elections.

    "There cannot be power-sharing between us and Mobutu's people. It is impossible," their information commissioner, Raphael Nghenda, said in Kisangani.

    "We shall never, never enter into any power-sharing with the government in Kinshasa. One thing for sure, we are not fighting for power-sharing," Kabila's representative in Lome, Bizima Karaha, told the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

    Mobutu's Popular Revolutionary Movement (MPR) made the offer in Kinshasa on Tuesday night, reinforcing the impression that the 32-year-old regime is on the ropes against Kabila.

    The rebels are advancing on Lubumbashi, capital of the mineral-rich Shaba province which has bank-rolled the Mobutu era since he seized power with Western help in 1965.

    "The issue is not power-sharing because you can have power-sharing today and the following day Zaire will still collapse. The problem is democracy, freedom, human rights respect. That's all that we want," Karaha said.

    He ruled out negotiations in Lome but did not squash hopes of some sort of an encounter with Mobutu's delegates.

    "So we think that very soon we will start negotiations," Karaha added.

    Annan's surprise presence in Lome underscored the will in some Western and African capitals to quickly obtain a cease-fire and an agreement to negotiate.

    Zaire is Africa's third-largest country with nine neighbors and the entire continent would be shaken if it disintegrates.

    Kabila, a veteran enemy of the ailing 66-year-old Mobutu, says he wants to preserve Zaire's unity.

    Congolese President Pascal Lissouba said in an interview published on Wednesday that an African peace force should be sent to Zaire.

    "An African force must intervene in Zaire where Africa must play the main role (in bringing peace), even if the logistical support comes from outside the continent," he told the French daily newspaper Le Parisien.

    More than 1,000 U.S., French and Belgian troops are massed in Congo, ready to evacuate Westerners from Zaire if necessary.


    US committee to advise about police system


    Turkish Daily News

    Ankara- A U.S. committee will travel to Turkey for a week's visit at Turkey's request to work on the Turkish police system, the Anatolia news agency reported.

    The committee, including an FBI specialist, will begin their review next week, working alongside high-ranking officials from the Security Directorate, and will examine issues including the modernization of the police system, missing persons cases and the prevention of torture, among other topics.

    During their time at the Ankara and Istanbul Security Directorates, the group will also look at narcotics issues and smuggling.


    Demirel's visit promotes closer ties with Bangladesh


    By Sirma Evcan / Turkish Daily News

    Bangladesh -People from the region that forms today's Bangladesh comprised the majority of the contributors of about 120 thousand British pounds to help Turks in their war of liberation earlier this century. One third of this money went towards the construction of the Parliament in Ankara, another third towards establishing the Republic's first bank (Is-Bank), and the rest to the army.

    Excellent political cooperation has continued between Turkey and Bangladesh since its foundation and there is almost a commonality of position between the two countries on international issues. "Our two nations share a common faith and culture. Our relations have been characterized by mutual respect and trust, deep friendship and fraternity. Turkey and Bangladesh have always supported each other and stood together at times of trial," President Suleyman Demirel stated on the occasion of Bangladesh's 26th Independence Day celebrations.

    Given this solid relationship between the two countries, Bangladesh is now waiting for the materialization of cooperative projects. Ambassador Davaz thinks Bangladesh is a white paper "just like Foreign Minister Tansu Ciller says." He said Turkey can fill this paper with infrastructure, energy, telecommunications. He also underlined the necessity of exchanging information. "Also, we have to be familiar with the Bengali language spoken by at least 60 million people in India in addition to the over 120 million in Bangladesh," he said pointing out that Rabin D. Tagor's language is worth the effort when Turkish is being taught as a foreign language in Bangladesh schools. The ambassador also said Bangladesh is one of the countries which practices a very liberal economy, calling Turkish businessmen to invest here. He rejected arguments that cash was not available in Bangladesh. "What we see is the tip of the iceberg, there is a lot more underneath. Could it have been possible otherwise for a Bengali businessmen to sell 300 auto-rickshaws (the small three-wheeled streetcars used extensively in the streets of Dhaka) he brought by plane from Kayseri in Turkey?" he said.

    Indeed the tip of the iceberg is very poor. Despite the presence of international hotels, a booming garment industry, achievements in the micro-credit system which has been introduced by Professor Mohamed Yunus for small entrepreneurship (largely used by women) and the ongoing construction at all levels, the situation of the poor majority gives a rather gloomy picture in this very beautiful country.

    Alternating policies put to practice by civilian and military administrations in the past 21 years after independence from Pakistan have not been able to bring political stability to Bangladesh. The killings of many accomplished people, from professors to politicians, during the war of independence "crippled the country from the start," a Western diplomat told the Turkish Daily News.

    Sheikh Hasina Wajed, one of the two daughters of Bangladesh's founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman who escaped death when the whole family was murdered in 1975, is presently in office. She is striving to overcome the traditionally intransigent opposition to proceed with policies that could bring improvements in the country and in people's living standards. However Sheikh Hasina herself had carried on a "noncooperation movement" when her Awami League (AL -- meaning the people's party) was in the opposition against Begum Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) in office then.

    The people of Bangladesh have lost confidence in their leaders, a Bengali journalist said. She added their only hope is that Bangladesh remain a secular country (although we learned that Islamic Shariah law is applied in family life) and continues towards democracy "no matter what the costs are."

    Begum Khaleda Zia is presently calling for "unity of nationalist forces" against the AL rule. However H.M. Ershad, leader of an opposition party, who was released after a five-year term in prison, is giving full support to Wajed's government for the moment. But the journalist told us that Ershad's support was just a show designed to get himself released. Ershad presently has a number of deputies in Parliament and is the leader of the third-largest party. The fourth party in Parliament is the Jammat-i Islami Party (JIP) which has only three deputies. Contrary to arguments that this Islamist party would be strengthened, in the June 12, 1996 elections it was significantly weakened.

    Bangladesh President Shahabuddin Ahmed called on political parties to show respect for each other. "We have to go a long way for development and the continuation of the democratic process is an imperative in this respect," the president said on the occasion of the independence day celebrations.

    Prime MInister Sheikh Hasina's message was for an end to corruption and exploitation in society and for the achievement of economic emancipation to make the hard-earned independence meaningful.

    Prime Minister Wajed's and opposition leader Begum Khaleda's struggle against each other is defined as a blood-feud between the two women. Khaleda Zia is the wife of former President General Zia who was also killed in 1981. "Mujibur Rahman's daughter and General Zia's wife are fighting each other, each claiming to be the sole owner of this country. One says it was her father who founded the nation (as is widely accepted) while the other argues it was her husband who made Bangladesh," an observer said.

    This ongoing fight between the two women leaders is sad for the country which is also trying to improve the status of women. A positive sign is that there is an effort to bring more women deputies into the Parliament.

    Bangladesh meanwhile hopes to overcome political instability with achievements in the economic field. They therefore expect foreign investments, and Turkey is a country which can aid them in this respect. Within this framework President Demirel's visit is widely believed to be a new push. Already two important accords were signed in Dhaka during the visit, one being the Air Transport Agreement and the second a Cultural, Educational and Scientific Agreement. Both agreements aim to bring the two countries closer together.


    More signs of a thaw in Turkish-Greek ties

  • Diplomats say that the seemingly intractable problems between Turkey and Greece still stand. But they add that the positive atmosphere that has started developing between the two countries in recent weeks should not be underestimated

    Turkish Daily News

    Ankara-The attendance by Turkish Chief of General Staff Ismail Hakki Karadayi at Greece's National Day on Tuesday has been welcomed enthusiastically by Athens, leading to the prospect for a further thaw in cross-Aegean ties.

    "It's a very positive step. We have not had the chief of staff at our reception for many years," a Greek Embassy source in Ankara said on Wednesday.

    The news of Karadayi's attending the Greek National Day, when that country's liberation from Ottoman Turks is celebrated, was also said to have received extensive coverage in the Greek media as well.

    Reporting from Athens, the Anatolian news agency said on Wednesday that Greek television networks cut into their programs on Tuesday night to break the news that the Turkish chief of general staff had attended their national day reception.

    The high circulation Eleftherotipia referred to this development in its Wednesday edition as "a great gesture from Turkey."

    The same sentiments were reflected in other Greek media organs, Anatolia said.

    Karadayi, at the Greek reception, told reporters he had come to open friendship's door. He said that, in the past, the founder of the Turkish Republic, Ataturk, and his counterpart Venizelos, the leaders of the two countries at the time, had solved problems between the two countries in difficult times.

    Karadayi said that there were enough qualified leaders at the present time to also find similar solutions to the problems that exist today.

    He indicated that, as an alternative to violence, resolutions could come through friendship and said he was sure millions of Greeks and Turks would be agree.

    Karadayi called the transfer of problems of the present to future generations "unjust" and invited his Greek counterpart to visit Turkey for discussions.

    The thaw in Turkish-Greek relations began with Greek Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangolos' affirmation in recent weeks that if Turkey was not part of Europe then neither could Greece be considered part of European history.

    Following these statements, Turkish Foreign Minister Tansu Ciller had thanked her Greek counterpart and repeated Turkey's call for dialogue.

    Many problems exist between Turkey and Greece, including sovereignty in the Aegean sea, the Turkish minority in Greece and the Cyprus issue.

    Turkey says these issues are connected and that the two countries must meet at the negotiating table to solve them all as part of a "package arrangement."

    But Greece opposes this idea, saying individual problems like specific points of dispute in the Aegean, should be taken to the International Court of Justice at the Hague for arbitration.

    Greece and Turkey came to the brink of war in early 1996 over the sovereignty question involving the inhabited Aegean islet known as Kardak to Turks and Imia to Greeks.

    A senior Turkish official from the Foreign Ministry said they had taken a step toward dialogue and were waiting for a demonstration of goodwill on Greece's part.

    He said the unlocking of EU funds to Turkey would be a good start in this respect.

    The Greek side, however, maintains it is the Turkish side that should take the first step in terms of gestures and show its good will in the Aegean or Cyprus.

    Diplomats say that the seemingly intractable problems between Turkey and Greece still stand. But they add that the positive atmosphere that has started developing between the two countries in recent weeks should not be underestimated.


    First food ship under oil deal arrives in Iraq


    Reuters

    Baghdad- The first ship carrying food under Iraq's oil deal with the United Nations arrived on Wednesday at Umm Qasr port at the head of the Gulf, a U.N. source in Baghdad said.

    He said the ship, carrying 13,000 tons of Thai rice, was the first substantial cargo of food supplies in Iraq under the oil deal, worth $2 billion of oil exports in six months.

    The deal, which went into effect in December, is to alleviate the impact of trade sanctions imposed on Iraq for its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

    Other food supplies have reached Iraq from both Turkey and Jordan and the U.N. source said first rations from the oil deal would be handed out by the end of April.

    The influx of food has forced prices down in Baghdad and sent the local dinar currency soaring against the dollar.

    The United Nations has deployed more than 100 observers to ensure the supplies are fairly distributed.


    American Jewish organization sees emergence of 'holocaust denial' in Turkey


    By Laurie Udesky / Turkish Daily News

    Ankara-In its first visit to Turkey as a formal delegation, the U.S.-based Anti-Defamation League (ADL), met with government officials on Tuesday to discuss their concern that Turkey remain a country that is "pluralistic."

    Representatives from the ADL, an organization which began in 1913 to fight anti-semitism and bigotry, said that Turkey has been a refuge for Jews for centuries; many who were expelled from Spain and Portugal 500 years ago settled here and have enjoyed equal treatment to other citizens.

    "It's also opened its doors again to Jews during the Holocaust," said ADL National Director Abraham Foxman.

    But, says Foxman, the group is worried that an atmosphere ripe for anti-semitism and intolerance is growing. "There have been disturbing signs of anti-semitic comments, greater tolerance for them, and the emergence of 'holocaust denial,'" said Foxman, whose group also met with members of the Jewish community in Istanbul.

    "We urged the government to be sensitive and denounce this. We were assured that this is not part of the tradition of this country."

    As one example, ADL points to the publication last year of a book in Turkey which denied that the holocaust happened. When well-known artist Bedri Baykam wrote an article criticizing the book, says Foxman, "He was sued for defamation."

    The book, bearing a title which translates to "The Lie of the Jewish Genocide," was written by a Harun Yahya, which, according to Bedri Baykam, is a pseudonym used by Islamist extremists.

    "I wrote a very harsh article denouncing this book. Six million people lost their lives. You shouldn't invent theories about this disaster. It was shameful to do so," Baykam told the Turkish Daily News.

    Coincidentally, Baykam said, the case brought against him, which was initiated a year ago, was withdrawn on Tuesday. But he agrees with the ADL that there should be cause for concern.

    "In a perfect democracy, you shouldn't have holocaust denial," added Baykam, who said that what he calls "pro-Iranian" publications, such as Akit and Cuma, "frequently publish anti-Jewish articles."

    ADL Director Foxman said that his group's focus was not solely on issues pertaining to Jews, but speaking out against bigotry affecting all people. The ADL had recently written a letter of protest to the European Union (EU) condemning the Christian Democrats' disparaging comments about Turkey, explained Foxman. In it, the ADL wrote that, in considering its EU membership, "Turkey's religious orientation should in no way negatively impact this process."


    Back to first page of this issueBack to Submenu for more choices
    Feedback

    NEXT ARTICLES FROM ARCHIVES »
  • Google
     
    Web www.turkishdailynews.com.tr