DIFFICULTIES IN FIGHTING TERRORISM BY MUSTAFA
BALBAY (CUMHURIYET)
After completing his visit to Malatya, President Ahmet Necdet Sezer
travelled to Elazig yesterday morning. Sezer first met with Osman Aydin,
the governor of the province, and Lt. Gen. Engin Alan, the commander of
the eighth army corps stationed there. Proceeding to Firat University
and visiting its rector, Professor Fevzi Bingol, the president then
spoke to its students. In his speech, Sezer said that universities were
universal establishments where science and wisdom reigned and knowledge
was explored in the service of humanity. “Turkey’s success on the path
to modernization depends on our universities and the accomplishments of
their students,” the president said. “Towards this end the quality of
our education should be raised, and the best educational possibilities
should be pursued.” Later Sezer went on an inspection tour of Elazig’s
organized industrial region. Meanwhile, Semra Sezer, the president’s
wife, attended a meeting at the Elazig Teacher’s House and gave
certificates to participants in literacy courses given as part of the
“Support for National Education” campaign. /All Papers/
In the leadup to April 24, the day Armenian lobbies commemorate a so-called
genocide, Ankara has reiterated its call for the establishment of more
dialogue between Turkey and Armenia. Speaking to reporters yesterday,
Foreign Minister Ismail Cem stated that Turkey was ready to host a
meeting in which the disputes over the Caucasus region would be
discussed among Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Furthermore, Turkey has
also recently launched new initiatives to boost its cooperation with
Russia in order to help efforts for establishing permanent peace and
stability in the Caucasus. A decision was made at a recent Eurasian
Joint Cooperation Group meeting in Moscow to establish a special
subcommission to deal with issues concerning the southern Caucasus. The
most important issue the subcommission is expected to address is
Turkey’s relations with Armenia and developing solutions to the region’s
problems. Ankara has demanded that Yerevan withdraw from Azerbaijani
territories and cease pursuing policies against Turkey in the
international arena. /Cumhuriyet/
Chief of General Staff Gen. Huseyin Kivrikoglu yesterday paid an
official visit to Hungary and was received by Hungarian President Ferenc
Madl. Following a private meeting, Madl decorated Gen. Kivrikoglu with
an “order of merit,” Hungary’s highest decoration for a non-citizen. The
Hungarian president said that Turkey and Gen. Kivrikoglu had played a
critical role in Hungary’s integration into NATO. “When he visited
Hungary in 1992, Gen. Kivrikoglu was the first NATO official to do so
following our proclamation of democracy two years earlier,” Madl
recalled. “His visit to the Hungarian Parliament then was welcomed with
great enthusiasm.” Kivrikoglu also remarked that bilateral military
relations between the two countries were at a very good level and
expressed Turkey’s willingness to forge even better ties in the future.
/Turkiye/
Speaking at a conference organized by the Turkish Union of Chambers
and Commodities Exchanges (TOBB) yesterday, IMF Turkey representative
Odd Per Brekk spoke about the IMF Executive Board’s scheduled April 15
meeting, at which the board is to discuss matters relating to Turkey.
Brekk also stated that Turkey had so far done what the IMF had asked of
it. “I don’t see any problem in the release of a first loan tranche to
Turkey totaling $1.1 billion,” Brekk added. /Hurriyet/
Yugoslavian Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic will travel to Turkey
today in order to renew good relations between Turkey and his country,
official sources said yesterday. /Hurriyet/
The Iranian government sent an official message to Turkey yesterday
saying that the issue of Cemil Bayik, the head of the PKK terrorist
organization’s so-called chairmanship council, was being closely
followed but that no definitive results had yet been obtained. The
Iranian Foreign Ministry also requested detailed information on the
issue from the Turkish Foreign Ministry to help the ongoing
investigations and went on to express its dissatisfaction with
accusations in the Turkish press that Iran was “embracing” Bayik.
/Cumhuriyet/
Leaders from the three monotheistic religions in Turkey are to meet
today in Istanbul to voice their call for peace in the Middle East. The
meeting will be chaired by Turkish Religious Affairs Directorate head
Mehmet Nuri Yilmaz. Among the leaders scheduled to attend the meeting
are Fener Patriarch Dimitri Bartolomeos, Chief Rabbi in Turkey David
Aseo and Armenian Patriarch Mesrob Mutafyan. /Cumhuriyet/
The Directorate General of Security celebrated the 157th anniversary
of its establishment yesterday with various ceremonies throughout the
country. President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and Parliament Speaker Omer Izgi
issued messages remarking on the security organization’s importance in
ensuring public order and congratulating the directorate for its
accomplishments. Interior Minister Rustu Kazim Yucelen attended a
ceremony held at Ankara’s Police Academy and addressed the gathering.
Stressing that role of the security forces before crimes are committed
was as important as its role in the wake of such crimes, Yucelen said,
“We are trying to train our policemen to be ready for every possible
challenge in line with the rule of law and respect for humanity.” /Turkiye/
A series of meetings is planned to bring together exporters with
public sector representatives to address the problems of Tureky’s
exporting sectors, the Foreign Trade Undersecretariat announced
yesterday. The first such meeting, scheduled for April 24 in Istanbul,
will focus on the chemical, iron and steel sectors. Further meetings
planned for Ankara, Izmir, Bursa, Antalya and Gaziantep are to be held
throughout the year. /Turkiye/
Turkish Promotion Foundation Chairman Kemal Baytas is set to receive
an honorary doctorate degree from Kutahya’s Dumlupinar University this
summer, the university announced yesterday. This will be Baytas’ second
such degree, having previously been so honored by Gazi University.
Dumlupinar’s Senate decided earlier this year to grant Baytas a degree
from its Social Science Institute’s Management Department in light of
his outstanding contributions to boost Turkish tourism. The degree
ceremony will coincide with June’s 10th anniversary of Dumlupinar.
/Aksam/
Columnist Fikret Bila writes on the joint peace initiative to be
launched by Foreign Ministers Ismail Cem and George Papandreou. A
summary of his column is as follows:
“The ‘quadrilateral’ peace initiative previously heralded by Foreign
Minister Ismail Cem has become a reality. A joint declaration by the
United Nations, the European Union, the United States and Russia was
announced. A statement released by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan also
includes a peace plan. This plan calls for the withdrawal of Israeli
troops, Arafat reining terrorists, the announcement of a cease-fire and
gathering around a table within the framework of the Saudi peace plan.
As Annan was issuing this statement, US Secretary of State Colin Powell
was reiterating that Israeli troops had to withdraw, Palestine and
Israel had to recognize each other, and that two states with clearly
drawn borders could live in peace together. Both statements are
reasonable. However, as time passes many have lost their lives due to
terrorist bombings or the Israeli military operation. The bloodshed is
continuing. This initiative could have been launched when the tension
between Israel and Palestine had just begun to escalate. The latest
incidents have shown that the UN is losing its influence as time goes by.
As long as the US fails to intervene or intervenes only reluctantly, it
is not possible for the UN to be effective. Therefore, in international
events the US’ planning and timing is of utmost importance. The visit by
Cem and Papandreou and their meeting with Sharon’s administration and
Arafat following this quadrilateral initiative will have a strengthening
effect. Cem would like to enlarge the quadrilateral initiative to
include the Organization of the Islamic Conference. A visit made with
this purpose may contribute to the enlargement of the platform.
Furthermore, Cem and Papandreou’s joint initiative has another
significance. The initiative launched by these two foreign ministers
should constitute an example to Israel and Palestine, as our two
countries had problems to solve until recently. The Israel-Palestinian
problem, which was turned into a vicious circle by the Palestinian
terrorist bombings and Israel’s harsh retaliation, can be solved through
the quadrilateral initiative. Peace is not a dream to be established in
an atmosphere where Arafat announces that he is against terrorist
bombings and Israel ends its occupation. It is in the interests of both
parties not to fall into the trap of radical organizations and to free
themselves of the influence of countries in the region which support and
foster terrorism.”
Columnist Mustafa Balbay writes on the difficulties of fighting
terrorism. A summary of his column is as follows:
“The current events in the Middle East demonstrate that it is harder
to fight terrorism than is commonly believed. Israel has launched a
harsh terrorist operation to stop the Palestinian terrorist bombings.
The Jewish lobby, in reply to reactions to the offensive, felt the need
to recall that in actions against the terrorist organization PKK Turkey
has occasionally launched operations which went into northern Iraq. The
two cases are different, but we have to stress that Turkey’s fight
against terrorism in the’ 90s was a very difficult process carrying many
hardships with it. We passed through a period which impacted our
internal peace, regional balances, economy and democratic initiatives.
There are two basic measures needed so that we don’t go through this
again. First, we have eliminate all imbalances which foster terrorism.
Second, we have to cut off the terrorist organizations’ ties in foreign
countries. This task can be expressed by saying that we must keep our
house clean while preventing any negativity coming from our neighbors.
Today, we shall elaborate on the second factor. The uncertainty
regarding the revelation of Cemil Bayik’s ties with Iran, as he is known
to be the ‘second man’ of the terrorist organization, is continuing.
Turkey told Iran that Bayik entered Iranian territory on March 21 and
that it was established on April 7 that he was within the Iranian
borders. The reaction from Iran was rather controversial. They hesitated
about accepting his presence in Iran, and then flatly rejected the claim.
However, the dialogue alone showed that Iran was capable of a
cooperation unthinkable in years past. It is rather hard for Iran to
change its policy all at once, while also having direct contact with
four fundamentalist organizations in northern Iraq. The news coming from
Europe suggests our terrorist-foes are trying to win battles by sitting
at battle at the tables that they lost in the mountains. The PKK
believes that in Europe it is taken seriously and may be seen as a
player in negotiations. The next stage for them is to achieve legal and
political gains. In line with this idea, the organization hopes to
establish relations with all the countries during their EU term
presidencies, and open special offices in these countries. There are
ongoing efforts to have certain groups working in northern Iraq accepted
by the EU. When we look over the last two years, we can see that fully
every month 700 bilateral contacts, meetings or similar activities took
place each and every month. There are preparations continuing for the
start of a new era with the announcement of the so-called eighth
congress decisions which also covered the terrorists’ name change. In
the coming days the contents of news coming from northern Iraq and
Europe will likely change. Clearly, there still is a great distance to
cover with our European friends! As we stressed right from the beginning,
trying to stay within the framework of the law while also fighting
terrorism brings many difficulties and attrition with it. Turkey, which
went through this gauntlet in the’ 90s, has to be vigilant so as not to
be faced with the same situation again. In addition to exposing and
blocking the support given to terrorism, Turkey has to formulate a
‘neighbors policy’ embracing both individual countries and regional
situations. In the’ 90s, 80% of the logistic support for the
organization was provided through Syria. If Iran has taken the place of
Syria, there is no need to explain the necessity for such a policy.”
