5 April 2001

1. "U.S. considers Anti-Missle Defense to Turkey", the Bush administration is moving to help Turkey defend itself against the ballistic missile threat from its Iranian and Iraqi neighbors.

2. "Turkey bolsters defense ties with East, West", despite a crippling fiscal crisis, Turkey continues to expand defense cooperation with both countries in the West and in the former East Bloc.

3. "'They are sabotaging peace'", FP Deputy Chairman Bekaroglu said that the extra-legal practices against the HADEP district administrators in Cizre had destroyed Turkey's credibility on the subject of joining the EU and evaluated the detentions as an initiative to sabotage the climate of relative peace.

4. "Furious Turks protest government handling of economic crisis", thousands of furious shopkeepers marched in Ankara and truck drivers blocked a road in southern Turkey Wednesday to protest the government's handling of an economic crisis that has sent prices soaring.

5. "Ankara prepares for Turkish-EU Association Council meeting", Turkey should accelerate work to fulfill certain reforms mentioned in both the Accession Partnership Document and the National Program of Action before the Association Council meeting.

6. "Foreign Ministry Spokesman Dirioz: 'The main reason for Turkey´s defense expenditures is not Greece but its regional position'"

1. - Middle East Newsline - "U.S. considers Anti-Missle Defense to Turkey":

WASHINGTON

The Bush administration is moving to help Turkey defend itself against the ballistic missile threat from its Iranian and Iraqi neighbors.

U.S. officials said the initial effort will be through Washington's help to other NATO allies on missile defense. They said the aid would not immediately extend to selling the Arrow anti-missile defense system to Ankara. The Arrow is an Israeli-U.S. project.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz said Ankara and Washington agree on the need for missile defense. "Turks understand all too well that some of the world's most dangerous tyrants and terrorists are determined to acquire ballistic missiles and weapons of mass destruction," Wolfowitz told the Turkish-American Council last week. "Some of them are already within missile range of Turkey, and others are developing missiles that will bring Turkey within range."

2. - Middle East Newsline - "Turkey bolsters defense ties with East, West":

ANKARA

Despite a crippling fiscal crisis, Turkey continues to expand defense cooperation with both countries in the West and in the former East Bloc.

The cooperation includes joint training as well as planning for a European rapid deployment force. It also comes amid Turkish participation in a naval exercise in the Black Sea.

British Defense Minister Geoffrey Hoon held talks in Ankara last week with his Turkish counterpart, Sabahattin Cakmakoglu. Officials said the two men discussed military and defense cooperation. The European Union wants Turkey to supply NATO installations for the European rapid deployment force.

At the same time, Ukranian Defense Minister Alexander Kuzmuk held talks with Turkish defense officials. The Ukraine is pressing Ankara to buy the T-84 tank. Kiev is competing against Germany and U.S. firms for the coproduction of up to 1,000 main battle tanks.

The project has been on hold because of financial woes in Ankara. Officials said the $7 billion tank coproduction program could be the first major casualty of February's crash of the Turkish lira.

3. - Ozgur Politika - "'They are sabotaging peace'":

FP Deputy Chairman Bekaroglu said that the extra-legal practices against the HADEP district administrators in Cizre had destroyed Turkey's credibility on the subject of joining the EU and evaluated the detentions as an initiative to sabotage the climate of relative peace.

ISMET KEM

Answering our question, "What's going on in Sirnak?," Mehmet Bekaroglu, Deputy Chairman of the Virtue Party (FP) said that, over and beyond Sirnak, there was an atmosphere as if someone was trying to sabotage the atmosphere of relative peace and tranquility throughout Turkey.

Bekaroglu, who is also a member of the Parliamentary Human Rights Commission, had previously presented a parliamentary inquiry, asking the Interior Ministry to answer questions concerning HADEP Silopi District Chairman Serdar Tanis and District Secretary Ebubekir Deniz, who disappeared under detention in Silopi and have not been heard from since. We spoke with Bekaroglu on the detentions of all the HADEP Cizre administrative officials, who were taken into custody as the result of a set-up.

Bekaroglu said that there were two powers, or tendencies, which were clashing in Turkey, and explained the character and nature of the conflict with the following words: "I mean, let me not say powers, but there are two tendencies. One of them is the tendency that defends that it is only possible for Turkey to straighten out with a complete and perfect democracy and freedom and which struggles for this. Then there is another circle which is feels uneasy and uncomfortable about this. It's like this on every subject. It is this way on the economic crisis too. Therefore, it seems to me that there are being attempts made to sabotage the environment of peace which has been partially established."

'It's hard to say'

We asked Bekaroglu, "Is the inability to uncover these sabotaging forces you discussed spring from the weakness of the government or from other reasons?" In response, Bekaroglu said that he had only attempted to draw a portrait of the existing conditions, continuing, "Who are these people? What are they? I'm not in a position to speak on that. But it is clear that they are state powers. It's very hard to say."

'Turkey is not believable'

Bekaroglu said that the occurrence of these types of practices in a period in which Turkey was preparing to join the European Union and had drawn up its National Program to this aim had caused Turkey to lose credibility, continuing to say the following: "You see, it is in a difficult economic situation as well. The way out of this is trust. And establishing trust is possible by Turkey democratizing and fulfilling the obligations it has taken on in the world."

Bekaroglu said that he mentioned these matters on every possible platform and that he would follow up on them and pursue them from now on also.

He didn't know (!)

On the other hand, ANAP Deputy Chairman and Sirnak Deputy Salih Yildirim asserted that he had no information concerning the conspiracy against the HADEP administrators in Cizre or that they had been detained. "I will do everything necessary within my responsibilities against every type of illegal development," Yildirim asserted.

4. - AFP - "Furious Turks protest government handling of economic crisis":

ANKARA

Thousands of furious shopkeepers marched in Ankara and truck drivers blocked a road in southern Turkey Wednesday to protest the government's handling of an economic crisis that has sent prices soaring. In a sign of popular frustration over the worsening economic situation, one desperate shopkeeper threw his cash register down in front of Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit as he was leaving his Ankara office.

During the later march by several thousand shopkeepers and workers through Ankara's furniture-making district towards Ecevit's offices, protestors waved their fists and shouted: "The government should resign" and "The shopkeepers are finished."

Riot police, equipped with armored vehicles and machineguns, stopped the crowd before it could reach the downtown area and Ecevit's office.Witnesses said police hit several people with truncheons, while the demonstrators hurled coins and lighters at the officers and the head of the Ankara Trade Chamber, who arrived at the scene in a bid at mediation.

The march ended without further incidents as the protestors agreed to send a delegation to meet with Ecevit. But their fury was far from cooled down."Our businesses are dead. We cannot sustain our families, we cannot pay our taxes," said Mehmet Eser, 34."I ran a workshop for 11 years. Now I am an employee at somebody else's shop," Eser told AFP. Hasan, a jobless father of four, pointed to a large hole in his shoe and said that "both employees and employers are devastated" by the financial crisis which struck the country in February after a public row between Ecevit and President President Ahmet Necdet Sezer over the government's handling of corruption.

"This government, which is concerned only about their pockets and armchairs, should definitely go," Hasan said. His bitterness reflected widespread criticism that insufficient government efforts against corruption, particularly in the fraud-ravaged banking sector, had a major part in the crisis. Ismail Temucin, 27, said he was "virtually starving" on his salary of 97 million Turkish lira (some 95 dollars) a month, but still considered himself lucky to have a job.

Watching the protestors from his cab, taxi driver Oguz Catal complained about a 20 percent hike on gasoline prices the government announced overnight. "Nearly two thirds of the money I earn goes for gasoline. I work 20 hours a day and still this is not enough for the household," he said. In the Mediterranean city of Mersin, several dozen truck drivers blocked a main highway to protest the hike, prompting the deployment of riot police, Anatolia news agency reported. The blockade ended without incident after negotiations with police. A serious financial crisis led the government to float the Turkish lira on February 22, disrupting an IMF-backed disinflation program in place since December 1999.

The currency has so far lost more than a third of its value against the dollar. Ankara is now outlining a revised economic program, while desparately lobbying for foreign aid of 10-12 billion dollars. But the IMF and foreign creditors have made it clear they could help only after Turkey drafts a credible reform plan, which officials say will be ready by mid-April. Last year Ankara dragged its feet on some reforms in the original IMF-backed program, triggering a massive flight of foreign capital in November and an ensuing liquidity crunch, which was alleviated with emergency IMF aid. The government's subsequent failure to launch reforms in earnest and an unprecedented row between Ecevit and Sezer over corruption in February led to a complete breakdown of confidence.

5. - Turkish Daily News - "Ankara prepares for Turkish-EU Association Council meeting":

Turkey should accelerate work to fulfill certain reforms mentioned in both the Accession Partnership Document and the National Program of Action before the Association Council meeting

ANKARA

As the economic crisis continues to overshadow Turkish-EU relations and to slow down reforms needed for EU membership, Ankara is now preparing itself for June 26, on which date the Turkish-EU Association Council meeting will be held.

A high level official close to the government said on Wednesday Turkey should accelerate work to fulfill certain reforms mentioned in both the Accession Partnership Document and the National Program of Action (NPA) before the Association Council meeting.

"There are two important points regarding Turkish-EU relations this year; the Association Council meeting in June and the Progress Report which will be revealed to the European Union in November. If we want to accelerate EU membership process and to start the negotiation process before 2004, we should do something before these two events so that we can tell the EU we have done something," he said.

Drawing attention to the fact that the economic crisis is preventing Turkey concentrating on reforms, the same official said the economic program prepared under the control of State Minister Kemal Dervis should complement the National Program.

"I know that several meetings between Dervis and the Prime Ministry's Secretariat General for EU Affairs were held on this issue. Some of the 15 laws, which have been labelled as urgent, for the stabilization of the economy are also within the framework of the NPA, such as the Central Bank law. If these bills are approved by Parliament, this means important steps for the economic criteria of the National Program will be taken," he said.

Stressing that public support is more important than anything else in the EU membership bid, he said only public pressure can force the government to take significant steps immediately for reforms. He also indicated that the government, at least, should begin to move after the second half of April to prepare draft laws for the needed reforms.

The same official also indicated that Greek Cypriots's EU membership is one of the most important obstacles in front of Turkey's EU membership bid.

Describing the Cyprus dispute as a "live mine" the same official pointed out that if Greek Cypriot becomes an EU member in 2003, it may create chaos in Turkish-EU relations. He also said that the possibility of Greek Cypriot's membership is high since Greece threatens to use its veto power against EU's enlargement unless Greek Cypriots become an EU member.

6. - Anadolu Agency - "Foreign Ministry Spokesman Dirioz: 'The main reason for Turkey´s defense expenditures is not Greece but its regional position'":

ANKARA

Huseyin Dirioz, the spokesman of the Foreign Ministry, said on Wednesday that the main reason for Turkey's defense expenditures is not Greece, but its regional position.

When a reporter reminded him about the statement of Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou about the mutual reduction in purchase of weapons, Dirioz said, ''Papandreou's words were uttered in a good way. These are declarations which reflect the new threat perceptions of Greece which we consider as positive. Turkey's geographical position and that of Greece are not similar. The main reason for Turkey's defense expenditures is not Greece, but its (Turkey's) regional position. Besides, this is an issue which should be evaluated by our military authorities.''

When asked about how they evaluate Papandreou's proposals about the demilitarization of Cyprus, Dirioz said that they consider the security and guarantee system on the island, including the number of soldiers deployed on the island, as one of the elements of a final solution.

Dirioz noted that it is early to talk about this issue in a period when a comprehensive solution on Cyprus is not close.

''We are against the EU membership negotiations of the Greek Cypriot administration from the very beginning,'' Dirioz said.

Reminding reporters that Turkey has announced its attitude in every opportunity since 1990, Dirioz said, ''the application of the Greek Cypriot administration on behalf of whole Cyprus does not have any legal base. Also, a negotiation process which ignores the equal and sovereign TRNC will cause problems. Good relations between Turkey and Greece can have a positive effect on the Cyprus question. But, it should be known that Cyprus question is not an issue which is taken up in the bilateral level between Turkey and Greece.''

Dirioz noted that the negotiations related with the dialogue process will be reviewed during Papandreou's visit to Ankara.

The two ministers will be informed about the results that will be gained in the end of the Turkish-Greek monitoring committee meeting which is being held at the Foreign Ministry today, Dirioz stated.

Dirioz added that the issues that the inter-parliamentary delegations are discussing are the initiatives related with the EU process and the level that the confidence-building measures have reached.