31 October 2001

1. “Turkey awaits IMF funds”, Turkish economy minister Kemal Dervis said a team from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will visit Turkey soon to close a deal on more foreign aid.

2. “Turkey awaits IMF funds”, Turkish economy minister Kemal Dervis said a team from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will visit Turkey soon to close a deal on more foreign aid.

3. “Turkey: Security Council recommends extending state of emergency in south”, text of statement issued at the end of Turkey's National Security Council meeting on 30 October, broadcast by Turkish TRT 2 television the same day.

4. “Conspiracy should be eliminated”, Duran Kalkan, member of PKK Council of Leaders, made a statement on Olof Palme killing, asking for the suffering inflicted on Kurds to be compensated.

5. “Gen. Kivrikoglu chides businessmen over economic crisis “, Turkey's powerful military chief was quoted on Tuesday as criticising businessmen who carp over the country's economic woes, declaring "they had no complaints when they were making money".

6. “Kivrikoglu rules out making concessions on ESDP”, despite expectations that Turkey may pursue a more flexible policy on the new European security architecture, Turkey's Chief of Staff.

1. – BBC – “Turkey awaits IMF funds”:

Turkish economy minister Kemal Dervis said a team from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will visit Turkey soon to close a deal on more foreign aid.

Istanbul's stock market, which had waited all day for news on the third rescue package this year, saw its benchmark index rise to close the session almost unchanged.

Turkey's government wants an extra $13bn from the International Monetary Fund to bridge a financing gap in 2002.

As the only Muslim nation in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), Turkey's support in the war in Afghanistan has been important to the United States.

US decision

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), whose most powerful shareholder is the US Treasury, is expected to lend the country more money in what would amount to the third rescue package this year.

In his statement, Mr Dervis said efforts to solve Turkey's funding gap "will be discussed and finalised with international financial institutions in the coming days".

The IMF team will arrive "in the near future", the economy minister said.

IMF praise

Trade unionists and employers, under the banner of the "Civilian Initiative" have warned Ankara that the IMF-sponsored economic programme is "failing".

IMF managing director Horst Koehler on Monday praised Turkey's efforts to tackle its difficulties.

"Turkey's economic program has been on track," Mr Koehler said in a statement.

"(But) the tragic events of 11 September hit Turkey particularly hard because of the country's location, its reliance on tourism and its heavy indebtedness," he said.

Any decision to provide more loans rests with the US Treasury, which had hoped not to lend Turkey any more after the last loan in May.

Earlier this month a US official said Turkey's economy was "under extensive study" to assess the impact of 11 September and noted the Bush administration views it as "a good friend and ally".

The IMF has twice bailed out Turkey in the past year, increasing total lending by $15.7bn with loans in December and May.

Backlash

Turkish unionists and employers on Monday criticized the IMF-backed programme and urged Ankara to do more to end the economic crisis.

"The current economic programme is moving towards failure," said the country's biggest labour unions with two influential business groups in a joint statement.

"Measures encouraging investment, production and exports must be introduced," the statement said.

It also called for incentives to increase jobs and improve social welfare for the estimated 700,000 people who have been made unemployed since February.

Economic woes

The Turkish economy was plunged into crisis in February when foreign investors pulled out of the country after a political spat between the president and prime minister.

The government was forced to abandon the lira's peg against the US dollar, cutting its value by 50%.

Turkey has been struggling to implement the IMF-backed economic programme because of the high interest on its domestic debt.

Official government figures predict the economy may contract by 8.5% in 2001, the worst recession since 1945.

After the economy minister's statement, the Istanbul National-100 index closed the day 0.04% higher at 9,919.8.

2. – TRT 2 – “Turkey: Security Council recommends extending state of emergency in south”:

Text of statement issued at the end of Turkey's National Security Council meeting on 30 October, broadcast by Turkish TRT 2 television the same day

The National Security Council [MGK] reviewed the public order and security situation in the country, the internal and external developments that affect this situation, and the state of emergency in effect in the provinces of Diyarbakir, Hakkari, Sirnak, and Tunceli. At the end of an assessment, the MGK decided to recommend to the Council of Ministers to extend the state of emergency in the said provinces by another four months as of 30 November 2001.

The MGK discussed a report on the measures that need to be taken - within the scope of the international struggle against terrorism - to prevent foreign support to possible terrorist acts in the country. The MGK discussed the effective measures to be taken in this field.

The MGK also assessed the important foreign policy developments of the recent period and the possible effect these developments might have on our country's security.

3. – Anadolu News Agency – “Turkey: Opposition party head urges referendum, early elections“:

ANKARA

Recai Kutan, the leader of the Felicity Party (SP), said on Monday [29 October] that they wanted Article 69 of the Constitution, related with political bans, to be changed, and Article 90 pertaining to international agreements, to be discussed again.

Speaking at his party group meeting, Kutan claimed that 57th government devastated democracy and terminated politics and political parties. Alleging that 57th government put the last blow on politics now, Kutan said they brought salaries of parliamentarians onto the agenda aiming "bribery to parliamentarians".

"They should not make us get involved in it. They caused this problem to appear, and now they should clean it. Of course they are afraid of people and election. However, they have no remedy, they will be obliged to go to elections. We will not share the sins of this government," Kutan said.

Kutan said, "we negotiate and look for compromise only for the people. We will help the government if it corrects its mistakes."

SP leader said, "we want political bans to be lifted. We want Article 90 of the Constitution to be discussed again. At least we should turn international agreements pertaining to European Court of Human Rights and universal human rights into internal laws. Otherwise, there should be referendum. Referendum will bring early elections."

4. – Kurdish Observer – “Conspiracy should be eliminated”:

Duran Kalkan, member of PKK Council of Leaders, made a statement on Olof Palme killing, asking for the suffering inflicted on Kurds to be compensated.

Upon claims on late Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme's killing to be enlightened, Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) asked for the conspiracies against Kurds began with the assassination to be brought out into the open. Palme was shot to dead at the center of Stockholm on February 28, 1986. Making a statement to Ozgur Politika, Duran Kalkan from PKK Council of Leaders, said "One should conceive the real aim of such confessions." Kalkan pointed out that the fact the claim that the incident became clear coincided with such a complicated period is striking, and continued to say the following: "USA has declared war against southwest Asia and the Middle East. The political struggle is intense, the political cards are being re-distributed. Conflicts show that a different structure will be witnessed. And that statements on Palme killing were made at such a period is interesting as well as meaningful and instructive."

Emphasizing that various incidents should be approached as they are interconnected, Kalkan added, "It is meaningful that there are statements on Palme killing as there are armed conflicts in the Middle East, in Afghanistan. In fact the assassination was executed at a period more or less similar to this. As in Kurdistan an armed struggle was developing within the framework of Agustos 15 Drive, as actions were witnessed, as Turkey was in desperate straits before the guerrilla movement, this murder was committed. The past period is very meaningful and instructive for us."

Kalkan emphasized that the period under Palme rule was very interested with Kurds, pointing out that the climate created by September 12 coup d'etat in Turkey played an important role on Palme assassination and their relations with Kurds. The Kurdish leader continued to say the following: "There were news in the Turkish newspaper asking 'Is the killer Apoist?'. From where did you overhear, how did you concluded, why should the killer be Apoist than any other person. It was as if they concealed something. We can draw conclusions from all this. We cannot know whether it had a relation with the special war approach of Turkey but in fact what should be investigated was that. The Kurdish community in Sweden and PKK and therefore Kurdish national democratic movement were oppressed. I can speak about it individually, because I have made a legal war in Europe for six years. PKK was banned in Germany, England and USA include it to their lists of terrorist organizations. This all began with the Palme killing."

The most important provocation

Saying "The most important provocation was Palme assassination", Kalkan had to say the following: "Naturally enough it created a sentimental atmosphere. There was an intensive campaign against PKK and Kurds, trying to turn the European public against the Kurds. Therefore a political and military support was supplied from here to the active special war launched by Turkey."

Kalkan attracted attention to the following: "This conspiracy made the search for a solution in Europe to be turned out nothing. With an international conspiracy they delivered our President to Turkey."

Duran Kalkan gave the following message "If terror is to be eliminated, first of all conspiracy, its most basic area, should be eliminated. We hope that investigation on the assassination will yield such a development."

5. – Turkish Daily News – “Gen. Kivrikoglu chides businessmen over economic crisis “:

Turkey's powerful military chief was quoted on Tuesday as criticising businessmen who carp over the country's economic woes, declaring "they had no complaints when they were making money".

Turkish industry has been unflattering over government handling of two financial crises in less than a year, that have slashed the lira currency by a half and left industry struggling with high interest rates. Officials say the economy may contract by 8.5 percent in 2001, the worst recession since 1945.

Chief of General Staff Huseyin Kivrikoglu was quoted by Milliyet newspaper as saying, in response to journalists questions at a national day reception on Monday night, that the business world had demonstrated faults of its own in a crisis that had matured over years.

"The greatest fight is conducted in the economy, but this will not go on forever. It will be overcome. The government should overcome this," he commented at the reception attended by business, military and political leaders, including, just across the hall, Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit.

"They (businessmen) had no complaints when they were making money," Sabah newspaper quoted Kivrikoglu as saying.

His comments reflect perhaps a mood in Turkey that a small group made too much money too quickly during the high inflation years of the 1990s, while social disparities increased.

Turkey is now struggling to implement a multi-billion IMF-backed economic programme. Its harsh domestic debt burden is further increased by high interest rates resulting from a lack of market confidence in the government and general global uncertainty following September attacks on the United States.

Ankara is seeking extra funds from the IMF, some $13 billion, to help bridge a financing gap in 2002.

The armed forces chief, who welds considerable political influence behind the scenes and whose public comments are noted carefully by politicians, was due to attend a regular meeting of the National Security Council on Tuesday.

6. – Turkish Daily News – “Kivrikoglu rules out making concessions on ESDP”:

Despite expectations that Turkey may pursue a more flexible policy on the new European security architecture, Turkey's Chief of Staff Kivrikoglu reiterated the Turkish position regarded by the EU as uncompromising. He blamed Europe for establishing its own security identity regardless of Turkey. Though Britain has been negotiating with Turkey for a compromise on ESDP, the fact that it does not have any mandate from the EU for this mission has been raising question marks over the weight of any deal to be felt over EU as a whole.

Despite expectations that Ankara may pursue a more flexible policy on the nature of its participation to the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) mechanisms, Turkey's military has signalled no compromise with the European Union (EU) on Turkish demands that it describes as vital national security interests. The message came from Turkey's Chief of Staff General Huseyin Kivrikoglu during a reception given by President Ahmet Necdet Sezer on October 29, to celebrate the 78th anniversary of the establishment of the Turkish Republic.

Taking questions from journalists, Kivrikoglu said, "Europe wants to establish its own security identity without taking Turkey into consideration. On this issue (ESDP) Turkey can not make any concessions on its position."

Reiterating once more Turkey's determination to achieve the same right within the ESDP that it has achieved within the now-disbanded Western European Union (WEU), Kivrikoglu, however, affirmed that talks will continue on the issue. He said, "We (Turkey) put on the table proposals on main issues but talks have not been concluded yet."

A 10-hour long meeting held in Ankara on October 25, bringing together senior representatives from Turkey, Britain and the United States has appeared not to have yielded much result over a compromise on the level of Turkish participation in the decision making mechanisms of the ESDP.

The parties, however, agreed to meet in London, possibly on November 8, to continue negotiations.

Turkey, a NATO member but not a member of the EU, has been refusing to lift its veto on granting assured access of NATO assets and capabilities including Turkish bases, to ESDP planned to be backed by 60,000-member rapid reaction force.

In order to lift its veto Turkey seeks to take part actively in the decision making mechanisms of the ESDP which has been seen by the EU as an infringement of its decision making autonomy.

Language amended

Meanwhile, a senior Turkish official speaking to Turkish Daily News said that the Turkish side has made some changes in the language of the Turkish proposals while keeping the basic Turkish position in place.

"If one side (The EU) keeps its position expecting flexibility from the other side there can not be any compromise," stressed the same senior general.

He reiterated that in the case of autonomous EU operations that do not require NATO assets, once Turkey states that the operation lies within geographic proximity to its territory or affects its vital security interests, the EU must assure Ankara of participation in the decision-making process and the operation.

Turkey also seeks firm commitment from the EU that it should refrain from crisis management in matters where any of the NATO allies is involved. One of Turkey's deep concerns on ESDP is the possibility that the EU, at times when it does not seek NATO assets and capabilities in any possible military intervention, would meddle in bilateral Turkish-Greek disputes as well as on divided Cyprus.

The core of the failure of a compromise so far among the parties stem from the deep mistrust existing between the EU and Ankara, recalls a Western diplomat, who is also blaming the union for taking Turkey for granted.

Britain has no mandate

Turkey has also been left alone by its main ally the U.S. on the grounds that Ankara has been pursuing an uncompromising position, encouraging the EU to go independent to establish its own operational cell and duplicating NATO capabilities.

The senior general, however, says "We (Turkey) have always been left alone since the beginning of the ESDP process. In the meantime, Britain has not been given a mandate by the EU for talks with Ankara."

One Western diplomat recalled that Britain has had a mandate from the EU for conducting talks on ESDP with Ankara during Istanbul talks. It is understood that when the Turkish military refused the Istanbul paper agreed mostly by Turkish bureaucracy, the EU decided to lift its mandate given to the U.K.

The EU all together should accept any compromise with Ankara. In the absence of an EU mandate given to Britain, any decisions to be made with Ankara will not have validity in the union.

Being one of the architects of the new European security architecture British Prime Minister Tony Blair attaches utmost importance for the EU to launch the institutional mechanisms of the ESDP during the Laeken summit in December. Thus Blair wants to remove rifts between Turkey and the EU before December.