WHAT WILL HAPPEN IN PALESTINE BY YILMAZ OZTUNA (TURKIYE)
At a conference entitled “Turkey’s and the World’s Vision at the Dawn
of 2002” held yesterday, President Ahmet Necdet Sezer offered his views
on recent foreign and domestic affairs. Stressing that Turkey was
determined to fulfill the Copenhagen criteria to join the European Union,
Sezer stated that Turkey would never make concessions from its national
interests for the sake of EU membership. He remarked that EU membership
should not be considered the sole choice for the Turkish nation but
rather one of various alternatives in Turkey’s multidimensional foreign
policy. “Turkey’s bid for EU membership is not standing in the way of
our pursuing sound, rational foreign policy,” said Sezer. “Turkey should
develop policies to improve relations with its neighboring countries.
The EU countries can’t exclude Turkey from discussions concerning its
future.” Continuing with the issue of the PKK terrorist group, Sezer
addressed the PKK’s recent efforts to reform itself into a political
movement by changing its name and stressed that Turkey would never
bargain with the PKK, no matter its name or purported status.
/Cumhuriyet/
Foreign Minister Ismail Cem said yesterday that he would like to
bring together in Turkey representatives from both Israel and the
Palestinians in order to find a solution to the current Mideast conflict.
Cem conveyed his suggestion to US Ambassador to Turkey Robert Pearson in
the hopes that US support might lend his suggestion momentum. Cem also
said that the US had a special responsibility towards the Middle East,
and called on Washington to play a leading and active role in the search
for a peaceful settlement. Cem reminded Pearson of Turkey’s success at
February’s historic Organization for the Islamic Conference-European
Union (OIC-EU) Joint Forum, adding that the same success could be
achieved with this initiative if Turkey gets the US’ backing. If Turkey
manages to bring both sides together, the summit would likely be held at
Ciragan Palace in Istanbul. Pearson reportedly said that the idea of
Turkey hosting such a summit had merit, as Turkey is one of the few
nations which enjoys good relations with both Israel and the
Palestinians. /Hurriyet/
The Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly released a report
yesterday addressing the situation in Turkey’s southeastern region. The
report expressed satisfaction with the progress of the government’s
“Return to Villages” project. Additionally, it described the PKK as a
“terrorist organization” and laid the blame for migration out of the
region on the PKK’s campaign of terrorism and violence. The council
report went on to condemn the PKK’s terrorist activities and called on
it to end the violence.
Turkey has asked Iran to extradite top PKK terrorist commander Cemil
Bayik. Turkey’s Ambassador to Iran Selahattin Alpar said yesterday, “We
have official information indicating that Bayik is in Iran, and we have
accordingly asked Iranian authorities to extradite Bayik to face justice
for the crimes that he committed in Turkey.” /Star/
A visit by Afghan interim government leader Hamid Karzai to Turkey,
which had to be postponed late last month due to an earthquake in
northern Afghanistan, is set to begin today. Karzai, accompanied by the
Afghan ministers of foreign affairs, health, higher education and
information and culture, is expected to arrive in Ankara this afternoon.
During his two-day visit, Karzai is scheduled to be received by
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and to meet with Prime Minister Bulent
Ecevit as well as Foreign Minister Ismail Cem. Major topics on the
agenda for talks include the latest developments regarding command of
the Afghan peacekeeping force, Turkey’s possible contributions to the
restructuring of the Afghan military and economy, humanitarian aid and
regional issues. /Turkiye/
Leaders of two of Turkey’s political party leaders yesterday
evaluated recent developments in the Middle East in the wake of Israeli
troops’ laying siege to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Speaking at
the group meeting of the Motherland Party (ANAP), Deputy Prime Minister
and ANAP Chairman Mesut Yilmaz remarked that the Middle East conflict
posed a major threat not only to the region but also to world peace in
general. “Turkey can’t protect its national interests with a passive
Middle East policy,” said Yilmaz. “That’s why Turkey should pursue an
active policy and do its best to end the escalating violence in the
Mideast. First of all, Israel should be persuaded to end its operations
in the Palestinian territories. In addition, the Palestinians’ suicide
bombings and armed attacks should also be brought to an end.” True Path
Party (DYP) Chairman Tansu Ciller also weighed in on the situation
yesterday, voicing criticism that government policy on the conflict was
“unclear,” especially considering its relations with Israel.
/Cumhuriyet/
Deputy Prime Minister and Nationalist Action Party (MHP) leader
Devlet Bahceli met yesterday with European Parliament Turkey-EU Joint
Parliament Committee Co-Chairman De Heer Joost Ladendijk and the
delegation of parliamentarians accompanying him. The meeting, which was
also attended by EU Commission Representative to Turkey Karen Fogg,
lasted for almost 45 minutes. Reportedly, issues where MHP and EU views
are at odds, such as the death penalty and Kurdish broadcasting and
education, were not discussed. When asked by Ladendijk how the MHP
viewed the EU, Bahceli said, “If MHP was opposed to the EU, would it
have accepted the National Program?” Bahceli told the parliamentarians
that he didn’t want the EU to be a pawn in the terrorist PKK’s
“politicization game.” Furthermore, he requested a timetable with a view
towards Turkey starting full EU membership negotiations by the end of
this year. /Sabah/
Gerrit Jan van Oven, a Dutch parliamentarian currently visiting
Turkey at the head of a delegation, yesterday spoke to reporters about
the failure of the European Union and individual EU member countries to
recognize the PKK as a terrorist group. Characterizing the PKK terrorist
group as an “organization,” van Oven said that it was hard for the
Netherlands to call a group “terrorist” if it had not actually committed
terrorist acts on Dutch soil. Meeting with Turkish State Minister Nejat
Arseven, van Oven addressed the PKK’s absence from the EU’s terrorist
list by saying that a new list was in the works. “The EU hasn’t yet
completed the new list,” he said, “and discussions on the matter are
continuing.” Van Oven is deputy chair of a parliamentary committee on EU
relations in his home country. /Turkiye/
Ahmet Ozal, Malatya deputy and son of late President Turgut Ozal,
yesterday relinquished his independent status in favor of joining the
Motherland Party (ANAP). Counting Ozal, the number of ANAP deputies in
Parliament has now risen to 79, while that of independents has fallen to
13. /Turkiye/
The terrorist organization PKK has reportedly established a new
political party in northern Iraq called the “Kurdistan Democratic
Solution Party.” European representatives of the party held a press
conference yesterday in Brussels to brief reporters on their party’s
program and to argue that the party would advocate for a free and
democratic Iraq. /Cumhuriyet/
Inflation figures for March released yesterday by the State Institute
of Statistics (DIE) were lower than many analysts had expected. Monthly
inflation in March was 1.9% on the wholesale price index (WPI) and 1.2%
on the consumer price index (CPI). The figures for year-on-year WPI and
CPI inflation were 77.5% and 65.1%, respectively. /Turkiye/
Professor Aptullah Erdogan Kuran, the founding rector of Bogazici
University and the first chairman of its History Department, died this
week in Istanbul. Kuran is to be buried in Asiyan Cemetery in Istanbul
today following a ceremony to be held at Bogazici University and funeral
prayers at Bebek Mosque. /Sabah/
The International Istanbul Film Festival will open its curtains to
audiences on April 13-24. The festival’s section called “From Literature
to Film” will present an outstanding selection of movie literary
adaptations from countries as varied as Albania and Cuba. /Milliyet/
Columnist Semih Idiz comments on Turkey’s European Security and
Defense Policy (ESDP). A summary of his columns is as follows:
“While concentrating on the situation in Middle East, Afghanistan and
Cyprus, we seem to have forgotten some other areas of Turkey’s foreign
policy, but developments have continued. The last of them concerns the
ESDP, which seemed to have reached a satisfactory conclusion, but which
in fact still remains unresolved. This extremely complex issue had
appeared to be at an end following long, hard negotiations held in
Ankara and London with US and British officials. In these negotiations,
the US represented NATO, while Britain represented the EU. The talks
ended up agreeing that the proposed EU army under the ESDP could not be
used against a member of NATO and that the EU could only use NATO
supplies and facilities with the full agreement of all NATO members. All
of the EU member countries accepted this arrangement, except Greece,
which is still balking. Athens is arguing that no non-EU country can be
in a position to be able to influence EU military decisions, even if
that country belongs to NATO. In rejecting the “Ankara agreement,”
Greece signaled that it couldn’t tolerate the diplomatic advantage that
Turkey had gained with the support of all the other EU members. As long
as Greece continues to reject the Ankara agreement and exercise its
veto, this issue cannot be considered a done deal for Turkey. Therefore,
Turkey cannot let down its guard. But recent developments point to a way
that Ankara can soon concretely show the EU its determined manner on
this issue. The place to make its stand will be Macedonia, where NATO is
to withdraw its forces and transfer military responsibility to the EU.
According to sources close to European Parliament Turkey-EU Joint
Parliament Committee Co-Chairman De Heer Joost Ladendijk, Foreign
Minister Ismail Cem conveyed Turkey’s determination to the EU side
during a one-and-a-half-hour meeting he held with Ladendijk. So in short
order, unless Greece lifts its veto on the current ESDP agreement,
Ankara is preparing to prevent the command transfer of the international
force in Macedonia from NATO to the EU. In other words, if such a
transfer occurs, it will block the EU taking benefit of its alliance
with the North Atlantic Council, where NATO decisions can be taken only
by full consensus. In fact, at this point Turkey is fully in the right.
Readers may recall how the guarantees which were given to Turkey in
Washington during NATO’s 50th anniversary celebrations then faced
attempts at derailment at the hands of NATO members who also belong to
the EU. When Turkey sharply rejected these attempts, long discussions
resulted in the Ankara consensus. In summary, Turkey wants Greece to
sign the Ankara agreement, which should be a binding agreement for the
EU.”
Columnist Yilmaz Oztuna comments on the Middle East issue. A summary
of his column is as follows:
“The Palestinian issue has entered a new period. In the new
conditions of the second millennium, it is hard to estimate the
situation’s future course. After a full week of Israeli attacks, it is
perhaps more difficult to establish an independent Palestinian state now
than it was before.
During recent meetings of the 20-plus member Arab League and the 60-member
Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), nothing was achieved for
the sake of an independent Palestine. It is obvious that certain Arab
countries are trying to delay the establishment of an independent
Palestinian state. More than 25 years ago, Turkey was one of the first
countries to recognize Palestine and let it open an office, which later
became an embassy, in Ankara.
The Arab Union and countries such as Iran have not really concerned
themselves with the tragedies in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Azerbaijan or
the Cyprus issue, or the struggles for independence of the Turkic-speaking
countries. The same thing can be said for the Palestinian issue.
Ultimately, the issue remains in the hands of the United States. No
one can deny that former US President Bill Clinton, who sat at the top a
country where the Jewish lobby is extremely strong, was sincerely eager
to find a solution to the problem. He really wanted to bring peace to
the Mideast before the end of his two terms. But it was not expected
that his Republican successor would lean on Israel as much as Clinton
did, expectations that have been borne out.
Today it is unclear whether Arafat’s era has ended or not. Reducing
the tension is what is most urgently needed now. Israel must withdraw
from the occupied lands, but we see no intention of that happening.
Israel is pursuing terrorists city by city and house by house in
Palestine. In reality, it wants to scare the Palestinians. However, one
should remember the proverb that an animal is often most dangerous when
it is pushed into a corner.
Since Israel is unable to absorb the Palestinian population, it wants
greatly to move large numbers of them. Already four million Palestinians
are living outside of Israel-Palestine, with two-and-a-half million of
them in Jordan alone.
The United States doesn’t yet feel avenged for Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks. The name of the Osama bin Ladin, allegedly the terrorist who
planned the attacks, has already dropped from the world’s agenda. In my
opinion, Israel is trying to benefit from the world’s wave of revulsion
against terrorism. The Israelis brought a ferocious ruler to power, but
a moderate one will succeed him and create better conditions.”
