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FBIS3-19445_0 | Language: English Article Type:BFN [Text] New York, Mar. 17 (A.A.) -- Turkish Ambassador to the United Nations Inal Batu said Wednesday [16 March] that Turkey has always worked with discipline and faith in any UN mission it took part in. Batu quelled fears that Turkish involvement in the Balkans, which was Ottoman domain for 500 years, would be a contribution toward peace and not conquest [as received]. A meeting is expected to be held in New York between U.N. Peace Forces Operations (UNPROFOR) Commander Kofi Hannan [name as received] and Batu. Batu is expected to reiterate Turkey's readiness to contribute with a mechanized battalion of 1,000 troops, which could be deployed within a week. Batu also said that Ankara favors a solution which would allow the deployment of Turkish forces in the already secured regions in Bosnia-Herzegovina. | UN Envoy Calms Fear of Military in Balkans |
FBIS3-19448_0 | Language: Turkish Article Type:BFN [Announcer-read report over video] [Excerpts] Prime Minister Tansu Ciller has declared that the next few months will constitute a turning point in the struggle against terrorism and for the unity and integrity of the country. These issues will soon cease to occupy the top of the country's agenda, she said. Ciller noted that this will allow for increased efforts to improve the economy, which has been drained by the struggle against terrorism. In a news conference in Ankara today, Ciller recalled that terrorism was at the top of the country's agenda when the government assumed power seven to eight months ago. Citing examples of newspaper headlines on terrorist incidents published at the time, Ciller explained that the state is now able to significantly counter terrorism. The prime minister said that during this period, the government attacked the terrorist PKK [Workers Party of Kurdistan] organization's financial resources and, to a large extent, put a stop to the organization's narcotics smuggling activities. Some of the specially trained antiterror teams have also been sent to the region, she added. Recalling that the banning of the PKK in many countries also occurred in this period, Ciller announced: The next few months will constitute a turning point in the struggle against the PKK and in protecting the unity and integrity of the country. These issues will drop to the bottom of the agenda, she said. [passage omitted] Commenting on economic issues, the prime minister stated that when the government came to power, the growth rate was zero, the inflation rate was 78 percent, the struggle against terrorism drained 26 trillion Turkish lira, and the policy of subsidies no longer served its original goals. Around the same time, Ciller explained, the state economic enterprises, which employ 700,000 workers, showed a loss of 70-90 trillion Turkish lira; the deficit of SST [Social Security Organization] was 24 trillion Turkish lira and that of Bag-Kurt [Social Security Association for Tradesmen, Artisans, and Independent Workers] was 6 trillion Turkish lira; and the foreign currency rate adjustments were kept below the rate of inflation. Ciller said that this discrepancy in the currency adjustments and the debts accrued in the past caused a public deficit of 217 trillion Turkish lira, which must be paid by the people in the form of taxes. Pointing out that the government assumed its duty with a determination to break this vicious circle | Ciller on Antiterrorism Fight, State of Economy |
FBIS3-19450_0 | Language: Turkish Article Type:BFN [Report by Dogan Duyar] [Text] It has been learned that Jalal Talabani, leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan [PUK], and General Aydin Ilter, commander of the Gendarmerie Forces, have met secretly in Silopi. The meeting drew attention because it came in the wake of "the meeting on election security" held in Batman to discuss local elections in the southeast. The PUK leader had met PKK [Workers Party of Kurdistan] leader Abdullah Ocalan during his recent visit to Damascus. The Talabani-Ilter meeting, which was confirmed by PUK officials in Ankara, took place a week ago. The meeting was preceded by a "summit on election security" held in Batman on 4 March with the participation of Interior Minister Nahit Mentese; Unal Erkan, governor of the state of emergency region; Mehmet Agar, general director of the Security; MIT [National Intelligence Organization] undersecretary Sonmez Koksal,; Aydin Ilter, commander of the Gendarmerie Forces; and many provincial governors and heads of security departments. The summit made a number of decisions in connection with the local elections. PUK leader Talabani held a meeting with PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan during his visit to Damascus last week made to express condolences on the death of President Hafiz al-Asad's son. It is not known what issues were discussed during the meeting in Silopi. One view is that on the eve of the local elections, Turkey conveyed its requests to the northern Iraqi leaders on various issues, primarily regarding border security. Another view is that "Talabani is continuing to act as a mediator between Apo [Abdullah Ocalan] and the Turkish Government. Talabani briefed the soldiers about his impressions of his Damascus visit." There are reports that the PUK leader, who is at present is in northern Iraq, will leave for France in the next few days. Dizai: I Do Not Know What Was Discussed After reminding PUK's Ankara representative Sefin Dizai about the Batman summit on security during the elections, we asked if the Turkish government had made any requests regarding the local elections. Dizai replied: "No. The elections are Turkey's internal problem. I hope that the people in the region will be calm during the elections and that there will be no violence; I advise them to do so." Upon being reminded of the PKK's decision to boycott the elections and the Turkish government's uneasiness over the situation in northern Iraq and the PKK presence | Gendarmerie Commander, PUK's Talabani Meet Secretly |
FBIS3-19496_0 | Language: French Article Type:BFN [Commentary by Michel Rosten: "The Twelve Ignored"] [Text] Andrey Kozyrev met with Warren Christopher at Vladivostok airport. After two hours of discussions, the ministers held a joint press conference to announce, among other things, that they had "reached agreement on the need to end the conflict" in Bosnia. The Russian head of diplomacy even dotted the "i's": "Our two countries want the three (warring) parties to reach a compromise." It could not be clearer that Washington and Moscow have decided to settle the matter together, without the help of the Twelve. The latter, who serve as labor on the ground, are being sent back to their diplomatic sandbox where they will continue to play until they have built a real common foreign policy. Make no mistake: The turn of events clearly shows the failure of the European Union on an issue which George Bush and Bill Clinton, at the beginning of his mandate, scarcely wanted to touch. The French-German disagreements on the issue of diplomatic recognition of Croatia and Slovenia at a time when Belgrade started to lose control of them, and the British rejection of a WEU [Western European Union] operation against the Yugoslav fleet and air force deprived the Twelve of the possibility of exerting the influence and pressure without which restoring peace is an illusion. Of course, one has scruples about criticizing them: They have made praiseworthy efforts to bring the warring sides to reason; but they jeopardized them because some countries tried to assert their interests in a extensive negotiations in which they had no place. For the Europeans, who have just been told to go sit in the corner, the turn of events will continue to be a disaster unless the lesson in humility prompts them, big and small, to make the concessions without which their union will continue to yield mediocre results on the world political stage. | Russia, U.S. Accused of Leaving EU in `Sandbox' |
FBIS3-19499_0 | Language: Dutch Article Type:BFN [Report signed G.V.L.: "Fisheries Agreement Opens EU Port for Norwegians"] [Text] Norway and the other three candidates for EU [European Union] membership will probably have to stay in the waiting room a little longer. The Twelve must first come to a mutual agreement on how decisions are to be made in a Europe with 16 members. After that, their accession must also be approved by the European Parliament [EP], the national parliaments, and the people in the intended new member states. The biggest obstacle is still the veto issue and the intransigent attitude of Spain, and especially Great Britain, on this matter. These two countries are threatening to raise the blocking minority from 23 to 27 votes. Doing so, it would become more difficult for two large countries and one small country to block measures. The Council discussed the veto issue until 0400 [Belgian time] Wednesday [16 March] morning, but the foreign ministers went home empty-handed. A new, extraordinary meeting on general affairs is scheduled for next Tuesday in the Council. Until this meeting is held, the matter of enlargement will remain stuck in an impasse. British Chancellor Kenneth Clark said yesterday on BBC radio that "large countries, such as ourselves, cannot reconcile themselves to a system in which 60 percent of the European population -- represented by a group of small countries -- can vote us down on important issues." Clarke said that he welcomed the accession of Austria, Norway, Sweden, and Finland, but that it "it must be a union in which large countries, such as Great Britain, can block issues which I, as a pro-European conservative, do not want to see happen." The anti-European conservatives -- the so-called Euroskeptics -- in the British Parliament, expressed still stronger views. "I am delighted that Minister Hurd has adopted such a determined position," said Sir Teddy Taylor. "What causes me concern is that the Commission is trying to use the accession of new countries as an excuse to gain more power for itself. It is kind of blackmail." Upon his return from Brussels Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd said only that Great Britain would continue to strive for a "fair and sensible" compromise on the veto question. However, in the meantime, Great Britain has continued to reject all compromises. The proposal to raise the blocking minority to 27 votes -- but to reserve the possibility of 23 | Expansion Disagreements: EP Wants Institutional Changes |
FBIS3-19500_2 | transport between southeast and northwest Europe already represented 40 percent of all goods traffic in his country, which puts a lot of pressure on traffic and on the environment. Transit traffic has been made easier, but nothing has come of the promise to help construct the infrastructure, Strasky complained. He did not spell it out, but if the EC does not pay attention, there will soon be a third candidate after Austria and Switzerland for a transit treaty. Nor is everything going smoothly within the EC. A member state like the United Kingdom has no objection to an excellent road network being built on the continent, but grumbles at the thought of public funding paying for it. That applies to the EC itself and just as much to the rest of Europe. France sees the conference as a good opportunity to call to order East European countries which, in its opinion, have already gone too far down the capitalist road. "No protectionism, but also no uncontrolled freedom of competition," Minister Bosson told his colleagues. Low wages and safety standards in East Europe are causing unwelcome competition in goods transport in particular, and also leading to a shift to road transport (no longer politically correct), the West German Social Democrat Luttge said. He prepared the conference in the name of the European Parliament. Referring to concepts like the "social market economy," "free but fair competition" and "the gradual liberalization of market access in accordance with the harmonization of competitive conditions," the final declaration drawn up by him sailed neatly around all the obstacles. As with the energy sector, it remains necessary to tread lightly in talks with East Europe and there seems to be a strong need for some security in the form of a treaty or charter. There is a reason why today the ministers will commit themselves to drawing up a "system of agreed principles for transport policies" at the next conference. Minister Maij became impatient ("We have studied the problems long enough now, it is time for us to make some definitive agreements," she said). In this context she found it simply part of the bargain that at Sissi EC Commissioner Matutes should openly table plans for nine main traffic arteries through East Europe. For outside financiers, like the World Bank and the East European Bank, these huge projects are given a little more political weight this way. | EC Ministers Discuss Pan-European Tranport Policies |
FBIS3-19507_0 | Language: German Article Type:BFN ["bid"-signed report: "Closer Cooperation in Asian-Pacific Area"] [Text] Bonn, 17 Mar -- Federal Economics Minister Guenter Rexrodt has reiterated his request for more political support and better access to the Asian-Pacific markets for German enterprises. Rexrodt on Thursday [18 March] discussed the issue of closer economic cooperation with the ambassadors of ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] countries Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. In the spheres of infrastructure, energy supply, telecommunications, and environment, in particular, Rexrodt sees opportunities to appear in Third World countries of the Asian-Pacific area hand in hand with the ASEAN countries. These potentials have so far been only insufficiently used, the minister emphasized. He briefed the ambassadors on the provision of FRG Hermes export guarantees and the federal capital investment guarantees for the support of direct investments. Further focal points in the talks were the extension of information and consulting facilities and the participation in foreign trade fairs. In the federal economic minister's view, the ASEAN countries determine to a large degree the economic situation in the Asian-Pacific area. Between 1987 and 1992, German foreign trade with the six countries doubled to 25.7 billion German marks [DM]. According to preliminary figures, exports to the ASEAN countries increased 7-9 percent, which is consistent with the average annual economic growth achieved by these nations. In late April, the minister is scheduled to visit Malaysia, Thailand, and Taiwan. In Bangkok, he will take part in the Asia-Pacific Conference. Rexrodt expects important impulses from this conference for extending economic relations with the Asian-Pacific countries. In Germany, Rexrodt is due to meet the prime minister of Singapore and government members from Brunei and the Philippines. Indonesia will be the partner country at the 1995 Hannover Fair. An Asia-Pacific Forum at the fair is intended to serve as a meeting place for business people from Asia and German business representatives. | Rexrodt Urges Access to Asian-Pacific Markets |
FBIS3-19515_3 | and FDP [Free Democratic Party] parliamentary caucuses. Th new legislation dealing with working hours is designed to replace regulations on working hours established in 1938. Bluem views those regulations as providing for maximum limits on working hours and minimum standards for health and safety. It will be up to business and labor to agree on actual working hours within the limits of the law. Bluem and Guenter Rexrodt (FDP), the economics minister, have long been at odds on what to do about work on Sundays. The draft legislation continues to call for a ban on work on Sundays and holidays but also for a number of exceptions, among other things in the interest of job security. According to Bluem's timetable, final deliberations by the Bundesrat on the new legislation on working hours are to take place on 18 March. Bluem wants the Bundesrat to give its approval to the new omnibus industrial health and safety bill on 20 May. This law is designed to improve health and safety standards at the factory level and to summarize and clarify the numerous existing regulations. For the first time ever, the health and safety bill establishes basic, uniform rules on workplace health and safety standards to be followed by employers and employees in all job groups and activities, including public services. The obsolete trading regulations governing health and safety in the workplace will thus be replaced by a basic health and safety law which conforms to EC standards. Bluem's draft also includes the regulations contained in the existing health and safety law concerning medical advice for employees by factory physicians and experts for workplace safety. The existing health and safety can therefore be revoked. The centerpiece of the agricultural social reform measures which Bluem has prepared in collaboration with Agriculture Minister Jochen Borchert (CDU) is a social welfare program for farmers' wives. They are designated as entrepreneurs in the old-age insurance program for farmers. Farmers' wives active prior to the introduction of the reform measures will be able to vote for or against inclusion in a social welfare program of their own. In the political debate vehement criticism was voiced about the fact that farmers' wives will receive taxpayer-funded pensions of their own without contributing to the retirement scheme themselves. Bluem hopes that the agricultural social reform bill which also calls for new rules on contributions will pass the Bundesrat on 29 April. | New Job Security, Insurance Laws Outlined |
FBIS3-19518_1 | NATO broke the ring of siege around Sarajevo with the threat of bombing [Serbian positions], especially with the help of U.S. fighter bombers. There you see, it was thought, the Europeans had held discussions and mediated for almost two years, but the United States finally really achieved something by threatening to use force. Moscow immediately jumped on the train, and once again it seemed as if the old superpowers alone would do the trick. This impression is correct and wrong at the same time. The way in which the opportunity of putting an end to the two years of war in Bosnia-Herzegovina has developed and is growing confirms the old insight that it is not coalitions that pursue foreign policy but nations. The attempt to end the war between the Serbs, the Croats, and the Muslims by means of multilateral organizations, represented by mediators Vance, Stoltenberg (United Nations), and Owen (European Union), proved to be unsuitable. The warring parties accepted the mediators and repeatedly split them up at the negotiating table. British against French, French against Germans, Germans against Greeks. Nothing could be seen of the nascent common foreign and security policy of the European Union after Maastricht. In the meantime, the warring parties seized their opportunities on the battlefield. The European Union looked just as helpless as the blue helmet soldiers at and between the frontlines. Despite all the economic power and political relations, it proved to be depressing for the Europeans that "the West" is not able to settle crises such as the one in the Balkans without the United States. However, just as the Gaza-Jericho agreement was not possible without the preparations in Norway, the Croatian-Bosnian agreement is not conceivable without long preparations and work. And that was done by the European Union, in particular by the cooperation between Paris and Bonn. Graphically speaking, the Europeans brought in the piano on which the United States can now play its triumphal march as the superpower. Ever since the action plan was recommended by Foreign Ministers Juppe and Kinkel to the European Union last November, a red thread of persistent negotiations and flexible plans has been running through the emerging peace process for Bosnia. Just as the continuing embargo against Serbia, giving up the plan to divide Bosnia into three parts contributed to pulling the United States into the peace process. Bonn's approach to bring Croats and Muslims together | U.S. Involvement in Middle East, Balkans Viewed |
FBIS3-19518_3 | blue helmet soldiers at and between the frontlines. Despite all the economic power and political relations, it proved to be depressing for the Europeans that "the West" is not able to settle crises such as the one in the Balkans without the United States. However, just as the Gaza-Jericho agreement was not possible without the preparations in Norway, the Croatian-Bosnian agreement is not conceivable without long preparations and work. And that was done by the European Union, in particular by the cooperation between Paris and Bonn. Graphically speaking, the Europeans brought in the piano on which the United States can now play its triumphal march as the superpower. Ever since the action plan was recommended by Foreign Ministers Juppe and Kinkel to the European Union last November, a red thread of persistent negotiations and flexible plans has been running through the emerging peace process for Bosnia. Just as the continuing embargo against Serbia, giving up the plan to divide Bosnia into three parts contributed to pulling the United States into the peace process. Bonn's approach to bring Croats and Muslims together led to first negotiations in Vienna and at Petersberg in Bonn at the beginning of January; to negotiations at Frankfurt Airport; to the Bosnian conference in Bonn; and finally to new negotiations in Vienna. Mr. Chrobog, the political director of the Foreign Ministry, went to Moscow and Washington in November to integrate this dimension in the mediating process. If the agreement, in which now the Serbs are also showing interest for the first time, is signed in Washington in a few days, the European Union has very right to be visibly participating. The fact that this will probably be done on the back burner is reason enough for the Europeans to think about how they can -- as soon as possible -- use more than just their economic potential to settle conflicts. "It is too early for us," a high-ranking official of the Foreign Ministry stated, referring to the need of the European Union to be able to use military means to give bite to the Union's diplomacy and foreign policy -- bite that is, as the Bosnian war clearly shows, is necessary to be successful. The United States should also be interested in that, especially since it again and again experiences the magical point in foreign policy, from where on prestige and military potential are the decisive elements. | U.S. Involvement in Middle East, Balkans Viewed |
FBIS3-19520_0 | Language: German Article Type:BFN [Herbert Kremp editorial: "Veto Coalition"] [Text] The Spanish armada can prepare itself for fishing in the Norwegian grounds. The controversy surrounding the cod has been settled, but the dispute over the blocking minority in the Council of Ministers which has been enlarged to 16 members continues within the European Union. The majority believes that it should be 27 votes (of a total of 90 votes distributed among the countries of different sizes). The British and the Spanish want to stick to the current regulation of 23 votes. The causes of the quarrel are questions of power stemming from different motives. Spain is interested in a veto coalition with Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Ireland. The five countries belong to the less prosperous receiver countries. For them "Europe" is a pecuniary source that is supposed to bubble. Europe's enlargement might curtail their influence. Since these countries, which hold a total of 31 votes, are likely not to agree on every issue, the proud Spain would like to be in a position together with Italy and Portugal, or with Italy and Greece to prevent decisions with 23 votes (per combination). The proud Britons aspire to the same position of power -- together with as few states as possible. They are not so much interested in "taking" but in preventing. As defenders of classical self-determination, they would like to prevent being overruled by other states. Theoretically, a decision can also be blocked with 27 votes. It is possible to scrape the required votes together, if need be. It might be a little more difficult for the southern countries than for Britain. Their attitude is ambiguous: If they insist on the smaller blocking minority, they might prevent an expansion of the European Union, to which they attach great significance. Together with sensible Germans, they welcome a shift of the axis of the European Union to the north and east and a loose form of cooperation. In view of these advantages, an increase of the blocking minority from 23 to 27 is the lesser evil. | Spanish, UK Stand on EU Blocking Minority Viewed |
FBIS3-19523_2 | for asylum there, Lubbers wanted to know. After all, international agreements have been made on this subject. In his letter the prime minister looked at the whole "chain" followed by asylum-seekers, namely acceptance, reception and accommodation. He expressed amazement about the fact that the government had made money available for 25,000 temporary homes, but that only four had been built. During consultations between parliament and Foreign Affairs State Secretary Dankert on Wednesday it emerged that the cabinet is considering taking measures to reduce the number of asylum-seekers coming from Germany. At present 60 percent of asylum-seekers are entering the Netherlands from Germany. Now that the so-called Schengen treaty is not taking effect (partly because of opposition from France), Dankert wanted to make a separate treaty with Germany about checks at its external border, for the benefit of the Netherlands. The Schengen treaty included agreements between a number of European countries on tight checks on various matters, including the movement of foreigners at the external borders of the treaty area, in exchange for free movement at the internal borders. The Netherlands has already made a "reciprocal agreement" with Germany. Under this treaty, foreigners who can be demonstrated to have stayed in Germany for a time can be sent back to Germany. They are taken by the military police to the Netherlands-German border. But it is not clear whether this labor intensive method is actually applied in every case. The CDA [Christian Democratic Appeal] wants the cabinet to train additional military police officers and use them to expand checks at and behind the border, it emerged on Wednesday. These checks are also regarded necessary to fight the increasing smuggling of drugs, arms and illegal foreigners. The PvdA [Labor Party] is mainly pushing for a European political settlement in order to distribute the number of asylum-seekers fairly across Europe. At present France accepts just as many asylum-seekers as the Netherlands, although in proportion to the number of its inhabitants it should do far more. Germany's effort is comparable with that of the Netherlands. However, stricter asylum legislation there has led to a reduction, while the number of asylum-seekers in the Netherlands is increasing. The cabinet also wants to free up the reception centers for asylum-seekers by making the application procedure quicker. Both the CDA and PvdA support the cabinet in this. The present procedure is too long and bureaucratic, according to the coalition. | Cabinet To Debate Reducing Number of Asylum Applications |
FBIS3-19532_0 | Language: English Article Type:BFN [Text] Paris, March 17 (AFP) -- Police Thursday [17 March] detained some 200 people involved in sporadic violence during an antigovernment protest, Interior Minister Charles Pasqua said. Pasqua said that in Paris the protest drew up to 35,000 people, two-thirds of them students and the rest union supporters. Union leaders had put the total at 50,000. In other French cities and towns, between 180,000 and 200,000 people took part in protests, Pasqua said. The demonstrations were called to denounce a government plan to fight unemployment by letting businesses pay young people less than the minimum wage. In Paris, demonstrators burned about a dozen cars and threw stones at police and occasionally at union leaders. | 200 Arrested at Paris Protest |
FBIS3-19533_0 | Language: French Article Type:CSO [Article by Valerie Devillechabrolle: "Nearly Half of French Work Force Said To Be in Situation of `Economic and Social Fragility'"] [Text] Nearly half the French work force today is living under the threat of exclusion stemming from a "process of social disqualification." Here are some of the astonishing results, made public on Thursday 24 February, of the investigation conducted by the Center for the Study of Income and Costs (CERC)[.sup]1[/]. For instance, according to the study--which took as its starting point a 1986 INSEE [National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies] investigation of "disadvantaged conditions"--some 11.7 million people, or 46.9 percent of the 25 million people in the work force between the ages of 18 and 64 are currently, to one degree or another, in a situation of "economic and social fragility." Nearly 7 million of them have steady jobs, but as authors of the study point out, "they are vulnerable by reason of their income level or their tenuous integration into society." This marginal population, according to the researchers, is "above all unprepared to cope with job loss." Another 5 million people are already occupationally threatened--some finding it difficult to break into the job market, others simply unemployed. Within the latter category, 1.8 million people are gradually being pushed out of the job market, while 1.3 million others--people who have been out of work for more than 2 years--have dropped out altogether. Within that group is a yet more disadvantaged subset: 850,000 of the long-term unemployed are in danger of being cut off from their last links with society. Finally, according to authors of the report, "there are an estimated 250,000 persons classifiable as `desocialized'"--in other words, 1 percent of the work force, or 16-20 percent of those covered by minimum wage protection. The face of exclusion seems more heterogenous and inconstant than ever before. People are being dragged down into poverty in a web of circumstances which the researchers say "can push marginalized people step by step into the sphere of occupational inactivity and welfare." For persons coming from strata of society untouched by poverty, i.e. people who have regular incomes and a certain amount of social and cultural capital, the study shows that "problems begin either with difficulties getting or keeping a job, or with emotional and relationship problems." Investigators noted among other things that "the more degraded the individual's employment status, the | Study Shows Widespread Work Force Insecurity |
FBIS3-19535_0 | Language: French Article Type:CSO [Article: "Controversial Breeder Reactor Will Be Converted Into Radioactive Waste Incinerator"] [Text] No fewer than three ministers--Gerard Longuet (Industry), Michel Barnier (Environment), and Francois Fillon (Research)--tried yesterday to justify the surprising decision Edouard Balladur made on Tuesday [22 February] regarding the future of Superphoenix (see yesterday's edition). "Superphoenix will no longer be operated as a nuclear power plant but will become a research and demonstration reactor." More precisely, one of the world's most controversial nuclear facilities (after Chernobyl and Kozloduy) will henceforth be used as a "sub-generator" for research on incineration of nuclear waste. All the three of the ministers clamored to emphasize the provisional nature of the decision ("we will have the opportunity to reconsider it later on," they said again and again), a fact that is instructive on two counts. First, by converting Superphoenix into an incinerator, France is abandoning, after five years of wavering, a controversial field of research--electrical generation by breeder reactors, which produce more fuel than they consume--thus leaving Japan virtually the single proponent of the technology. Superphoenix was built to be a breeder reactor, and only that. Second, Edouard Balladur's team believes in the economic recovery it has been heralding. For the first time since the 1970s (the first oil shock), the French Government is committing itself to a major new research project, at the same time admitting it is "not in a position to say how much it will cost." There is talk it will amount to billions of [French] francs, and all for the sake of results which, at least according to independent nuclear experts, will be of little interest around the world. There are no current industrial applications for Superphoenix as a "sub-generator." Assuming it operates at full power (which it has not done since 1988), a Superphoenix reactor can consume only 200 kilograms annually of the plutonium end product (a highly toxic waste) produced by ordinary nuclear reactors. France's 60 reactors create 11 tons a year of it. Thus if one were to use the incineration technique to solve today's nuclear waste problem, one would have to build 60 Superphoenixes. No one wants to do that; indeed, Parliament in 1991 prescribed a quite different nuclear waste disposal policy: burial. Incineration The government believes however that an in-depth study of an alternative to burial would be useful. Michel Barnier explained that the Environment Ministry "was happy to | Superphoenix Plant To Reopen as Incinerator |
FBIS3-19535_4 | deprived in July 1992 of its legal status, which only recently has been restored. Opposition Superphoenix has served above all as a focal point for the never-held debate on the general directions of a French nuclear policy that has diverged from European norms. A debate first of all within France itself and in the countries on its borders; in traditionally antinuclear Italy, of course--although the country's scruples never prevented it from buying French electricity--but also in Switzerland. Geneva state counselor Claude Haegi said yesterday that if "the decision is ultimately made to restart it, Geneva would express its opposition." Most reactions yesterday were predictable. Localities near the power plants (and so dependent on them economically) expressed satisfaction. On the other hand, all the country's environmentalist movements (Greenpeace, the Europeans Against Superphoenix association, etc.) noisily expressed their indignation. The government is gambling that opponents will not be able to forge an effective coalition. And there were two arguments that outweighed other considerations. For the government--obviously sensitive to the vulnerability of a nuclear industry that is as unhappy as its opponents are about Creys-Malville and what it has come to symbolize--it was simply unthinkable for Superphoenix to be shut down. In the final analysis, as the EDF [French Power Company] and CEA have constantly reaffirmed since 1989, the facility was indispensable to France's future--first for research into breeder reactor technology, subsequently for production of electricity, and finally, in 1994, for sub-generation. Secondly, NERSA, which operates Superphoenix, is owned 51 percent by the EDF, 33 percent by Italy's ENEL [National Electric Power Board], and 16 percent by Germany's RWE [Rhine-Westphalian Electric Works]. Shutting down the reactor would require a reimbursement of the foreign partners who supplied some Fr50 billion of the money the reactor has already consumed. No one yesterday was able to provide a precise figure, but the partnership contract reportedly was crafted carefully enough that Fr18 billion of that money probably would have to be paid back. The government calculated that it would be less costly to complete the obligatory replacement of the current (breeder-reactor) core, followed by the second (isogenerating) core in 1998, so the facility in the end can be used for research. Lastly, one thing is sure: Given all the legal and administrative hurdles ahead, the reactor is not likely to be back up to power before the first half of 1995. Very probably after the presidential elections. | Superphoenix Plant To Reopen as Incinerator |
FBIS3-19546_2 | Godal and Solana met late yesterday evening in the Spanish ambassador's private residence in Brussels. Attempts were made to conceal the venue of the meeting from the press. When Godal emerged from the meeting after 75 minutes, he reported that Spain was not advancing fisheries demands in the usual manner but that the Spaniards felt they were being pressured within the EU. Godal emphasized that the meeting had taken place in a comfortable atmosphere. He presented his colleague with a cigar, but not a single fish. Problem Areas In addition to the technical fisheries issue, which it is hoped will be solved at senior official government level this morning, there still remain four additional so-called "problem areas," namely the issues of resources, administration north of the 62nd parallel, market access, and licensing regulations associated with access to territorial waters. Olsen stated that yesterday's meetings did not result in any rapprochement between the parties concerned, other than on the question of market access. "At the outset, Norway had accepted EU demands for a system to monitor imports of Norwegian herring, mackerel, shrimp, salmon, lobster, and scallops," Olsen said yesterday evening. It is still unclear, however, how long such a monitoring system will remain in place. "The important thing is that the Norwegian fishing industry can continue like today, without being subjected to worse conditions," he added. The fisheries minister was extremely sober in describing the chances of resolving the remaining fisheries problems: "My feeling is that we have an arduous road ahead of us," he said. Olsen believed that the day's negotiations will decide whether Norway will arrive at a solution: "The EU wants to have us as a Member State, but it remains to be seen to what extent it will accept that Norway has some distinguishing characteristics which must be taken into account." He did not want to go into details regarding the solutions that Norway can accept on the matter of administering fish north of the 62nd parallel. "However, the decisive thing for me is that we get a regime under which we can feel safe in the knowledge that our system can continue as it is," he said. In addition to fish matters, a formal statement on the whaling issue still has to be made, and the question surrounding a protocol establishing that Norway can continue its policy of openness in administration has yet to be addressed. | Ministers View EU Fisheries Dispute |
FBIS3-19556_0 | Language: Turkish Article Type:BFN ["Text" of message from PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, read to the 12-13 March international conference on North Kurdistan in Brussels by Kani Yilmaz, representative of ERNK, National Liberation Front of Kurdistan in Europe--all quotation marks as published] [Text] "The Kurdish problem, which has gradually become internationalized and attained a level eliciting the world's close concern, and in particular the problem of northern Kurdistan has reached the solution phase owing to the development it has achieved. Before reaching this stage, our people, led by our party, achieved its national awakening and, to attain freedom, it furthered its national liberation war on a fully legal basis at the cost of enormous suffering and sacrifice in northern Kurdistan. The Turkish state's approach has always been one of denial [of Kurdish existence] and justification of this denial by disregarding the historical facts. Any stance against this approach by the Turkish Republic has been rather brutally and cruelly suppressed. Our people's demand for freedom has been choked in blood. Despite the world's close interest in the Kurdish problem, the position of certain European states has made solving it difficult rather than easy. The support given has been such as to encourage the Turkish Republic in its massacres in this unjust war against our people. In addition, these states, motivated by their economic and political interests and an incomprehensible mentality, have branded our party, which has the support of millions and is the real partner in a solution, a "terrorist" movement. Again, the unfounded statements made in a spirit of antagonism against our struggle to the effect that "the PKK [Workers Party of Kurdistan] does not favor a solution," or that "the PKK has no policy other than the establishment of a separate state," are unfounded allegations. During the press conferences held before the eyes of the world especially during the cease-fire period, I tried to explain that we are not averse to a solution and that it is the Turkish Republic that rejects the peace proposals. Such allegations are being constantly and intentionally dwelled upon. In view of this and on the occasion of the conference I find it useful to very clearly reiterate our position: 1. We will remain open to every proposal for a solution, and to the initiatives that might be taken by foreign countries or international organizations on this issue. 2. I want to state with the | PKK Leader Ocalan's Message to Brussels Conference |
FBIS3-19560_0 | Language: Greek Article Type:BFN [Text] The Greek Government will send Greece's reply on The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia [FYROM] to UN special mediator Cyrus Vance in the next few days, Foreign Minister Karolos Papoulias said. He made the remark this morning shortly before leaving for Washington where he will attend the signing at the White House tomorrow of an agreement on the Muslim-Croatian federation in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Papoulias is going to Washington as president of the European Union's [EU] General Affairs Council. Answering correspondents' questions, the foreign minister said that the reply to Vance will be sent through diplomatic channels and described the Vance ideas as a good start. To another question, Papoulias said he would meet in Washington with Hans Van Den Broek, EU commissioner in charge of foreign affairs, who, as the Greek foreign minister noted, submitted a document to the EU to which the Greek side has replied. Asked by correspondents what the Greek position would be if the Turks sent troops to Bosnia, Papoulias stressed that the Greek position was outlined in a communique issued by the President's Office. Asked if Turkey is sending blue helmet troops to Bosnia, the foreign minister said: A decision was made on the party leaders' level. According to the communique from the President's Office, Greece insists on its basic position that no Balkan force should become involved. We persist in attempting to avert such a thing and in persuading those who want to send the Turks that this would complicate the Balkan situation. | Papoulias Comments on Balkan Conflict |
FBIS3-19584_0 | Language: Turkish Article Type:BFN [Text] Brussels -- The two-day International Conference on North Kurdistan [Kurdish regions in Turkey] held in the Belgian capital has ended with a 31-point resolution. The resolution announced at the end of the conference calls for the recognition of the Kurds as a separate people and for the reflection of this fact primarily in the [Turkish] Constitution and in all other legislative acts. The members of parliament taking part in the conference issued a separate eight-point resolution of their own. The conference called for the convocation of an international conference in Diyarbakir to review the developments following the broad dissemination of its resolution and of Ocalan's [leader of the Workers Party of Kurdistan, PKK] proposals. The members of parliament taking part in the conference adopted an eight-point separate resolution of their own. This resolution, adopted by 27 MP's from the Turkish and various other parliaments, says: ``1. The conference strongly protests the lifting of the immunity of the Kurdish members of parliament by the Turkish Grand National Assembly [TGNA], and the detention of some of them. ``2. The immunity of all TGNA members must be restored immediately. The conference calls on all TGNA members to implement the normal laws and forge a parliamentary compromise. ``3. The conference advocates the recognition and legalization of all Kurdish parties. ``4. For this purpose, a dialogue should be initiated in Parliament with the Government. ``5. All arms exports to Turkey outside its NATO commitments should stop. ``6. NATO should revise its arms exports to Turkey. The violation of the Kurds' legitimate rights with the use of NATO arms is unacceptable. ``7. The CSCE countries must immediately put into effect a mechanism to ensure Turkey's compliance with human rights standards in keeping with its international commitments. ``8. All governments will be asked to intensify their formal relations with the DEP [Democracy Party] and to take appropriate measures to help that party.'' The following are some of the points of the general resolution adopted at the end of the conference: [First two points not published] ``3. The roots of the present situation faced by the Kurdish and Turkish peoples lie in the period when the Ottoman Empire was being dissolved and in the aftermath of World War I, in which Europe was also involved. Therefore, this is also a European problem. ``It is now time for Europe to fulfill its responsibilities. It | Kurdish Conference Adopts Resolutions |
FBIS3-19588_0 | Language: German Article Type:BFN [Interview with Foreign Minister Alois Mock by an unidentified KURIER reporter "on the flight to Washington": "Mock: `I See Light at the End of the Tunnel'"] [Text] [KURIER] Does today's signing of the agreement [between Bosnian Muslims and Croats] give you personal satisfaction? [Mock] Absolutely. The agreement is a very positive beginning. It ensures the credibility of international involvement. And if it is now possible to expand the security zones -- which has always been our main concern -- the killing of the civilian population in Bosnia will stop. However, one cannot yet speak of an overall solution. Just the question of cantons in the Muslim- Croatian federation alone is a sensitive issue -- not to speak of a global solution for Yugoslavia's successor states. However, at least it's a start. [KURIER] Is this primarily at the instigation of the United States? [Mock] The United States is so deeply involved that it will no longer be as easy as it was in the past for the warring parties to turn away. The United States has accepted a clear responsibility. And if cooperation with the European Union troika and with France, which is particularly active in Bosnia, is now intensified, I finally see light at the end of a long tunnel. [KURIER] Will the Serbs make compromises? [Mock] If they reject the Muslim-Croat union, this is their business. But one must ask them. [KURIER] Do you see the involvement of Russia and the United States as a staking out of their spheres of influence in the Balkans? [Mock] If the former parade themselves as the protectors of one side and the latter as protectors of the other side, I do not think much of that. This would be like the antiquated great-power policy of the 19th century. But in the case of Sarajevo the Russians have been very constructive. [KURIER] Do you think that economic cooperation of the warring parties in ex-Yugoslavia will be possible at some time in the future? [Mock] The trend toward integration will gain ground in Central Europe and also in the Balkans. But that will take a long time. | Mock Calls Muslim-Croat Agreement `Positive Beginning' |
FBIS3-19591_3 | picks up. After each economic recession, less people are working in the major enterprises. To create more jobs, we need small enterprises. [Banning] The Netherlands has many small enterprises, but relatively few continuously growing companies. Among entrepreneurs there seems to be a spirit of laziness, apathy. [Andriessen] Compared with other countries, we have a good scorecard regarding start-ups, averaging 20,000 to 25,000 a year. However, many entrepreneurs are not adequately prepared, with poorly developed marketing plans and disorganized administrations. In these matters the authorities can be of help. But the biggest problem is growth, i.e., taking the steps that will lead from 10 to 100 employees. In this respect, mentality is important. The Netherlands is reluctant to take risks. We had too easy a life in the past. Entrepreneurs will have to take up the challenge themselves; globalization also creates a lot of opportunities. [Banning] The recurring theme of your economic pamphlet is the reorganization of the welfare state. But is reorganization sufficient to regain competitiveness. [Andriessen] It is only one element. I am not saying that salaries in the Netherlands are too high. We should not compete with countries like Poland in salary matters; this is nonsense. The welfare state has an impact on labor costs. However, I want to avoid having the discussion boil down to a lament about social security. All election platforms dedicate a lot of attention to it. That subject is already under discussion. In order to regain competitiveness the government can make its contribution by creating an appropriate entrepreneurial climate. There is a threat that the Netherlands' infrastructure will deteriorate. This government has given a strong impetus to improving the infrastructure: the Betuwe railway, high-speed train lines, Schiphol airport. Such projects also have a stimulating function: the "let us do it" feeling. [Banning] On 24 March you will attempt to change the Netherlands' national character to accept globalization. However, when you look at the cabinet's painful discussion about ensuring a 1 percent yearly increase in consumer purchasing power, would you not rather have to deal first with your colleagues in the cabinet? [Andriessen] I am playing a role in the ministerial council. The council mainly has a distributive task. We do not manufacture anything. We are no entrepreneurs. However, we do decide on 50 percent of the budget. I regularly emphasize the fact that we first have to earn money before we can distribute | Economics Minister on Reforms, Priorities |
FBIS3-19631_0 | Language: Turkish Article Type:BFN [Text] The Russian Embassy in Ankara is carefully following the developments related to the tragic incident in the Bosphorus. The embassy officials have said that they are not prepared to start a debate on the Montreux Agreement just because of the accident. However, they also said that they are prepared to help Turkey on matters related to the traffic in the straits. Embassy officials have announced that they will not make an official statement on the incident. Nevertheless, it has been ascertained that the Russian diplomats have discussed several points on the Bosphorus in the assessments that have made thus far. They are as follows: 1. The accident is the result of development. Traffic accidents claim the lives of many people every day. However, highways are not being closed down. In view of that, a single incident must not be allowed to create a state of confusion. 2. Russia is prepared to do everything it can to contribute toward the maintenance of safe passage through the straits in Turkey. Reconsidering the Montreux Agreement, which provides for free passage through the straits, just because an accident has occurred in the Bosphorus, is not necessary. Therefore, we are not prepared to reconsider the agreement. 3. A delegation arrived in Turkey in connection with the new rules and regulations on the sea traffic in the straits and the Sea of Marmara at the end of February. We will wait to see the outcome of its work in order to be able to make a careful assessment on the matter. 4. The question of traffic in the straits is not a Turkish domestic affair. It is an international matter. 5. Each and every vessel that traverses the straits contributes toward the safety of the traffic because the ships have to pay a certain fee to cross the straits. The funds that are raised in that way are used for the straits. 6. A debate is being held on how Azerbaijan's and Kazakhstan's oil will be transported to the Western countries. One of the options is to transport their oil to Novorossiysk in Russia. The oil will then be transported in large tankers through the straits in Turkey. However, considering the matter an "imposition by Russia" would be wrong. Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are independent republics. In view of that, they will have to decide. That is not a matter on which | Russian Views on Bosphorus Traffic Reported |
FBIS3-19633_0 | Language: Turkish Article Type:BFN [Announcer-read report over video] [Text] The Social Democratic Populist Party [SDPP] election headquarters in Diyarbakir has been bombed. According to initial estimates 17 persons were injured, one of them seriously. One of the assailants was captured immediately after the incident. According to information obtained by a Turkish Radio and Television correspondent, two unidentified persons threw hand grenades at the SDPP office in Surici quarter around 2100. The explosion injured 17 persons, one of them seriously. The building sustained heavy damage. The security forces captured one of the assailants in an operation launched immediately after the incident. Operations are continuing to capture the second one. The injured are being treated at the Diyarbakir State and Social Security Hospitals. | SDPP Headquarters Bombing; 17 Injured |
FBIS3-19636_3 | month later. We have received very favorable reports from southeastern Turkey. The NAP stands to win the elections in almost all the provinces in the region." [passage omitted] It is true that Turkey is marking the religious festival at the present time. However, is that a sufficient reason for the people in southeastern Turkey to decide to embrace the NAP? Ismet Imset, editor of the TURKISH DAILY NEWS replied to that question as follows: The NAP is supported by only a small group in southeastern Turkey. However, it stands a good chance of winning the elections if the people comply with the PKK's ban and boycott the voting. Stressing that the NAP will take over the mayoralties in at least two provinces, Imset warned that tensions will escalate in that region if the NAP wins in areas in which the Hizbullah groups are strong. Imset also claimed that the NAP is supported by the police organization, the special teams, and several local tribes. The fact that Abdulkerim Tatar, who is the NAP mayoral candidate from Sirnak, is a member of the renowned Tatar Tribe confirms Imset's viewpoint. Tatar has claimed that the NAP is quickly gaining strength in Sirnak and stressed that a move by the PKK to direct pressure against him is out of the question. He also claimed that the PKK threat in Sirnak has nearly disappeared and urged journalists to visit the town to establish the true state of affairs. [passage omitted] The NAP members wholeheartedly trust their party and believe that through its approach the most rational solutions can be found to the problems in southeastern Turkey In fact, they have ignored PKK threats and pressures and seem to have declared a "state of emergency" and "mobilization" for themselves in that region. The NAP mayoral candidate unconditionally support the concept of a "military solution" and maintain the view that the Kurds and the Turks are brothers but terrorists must be given a deserved lesson. Hamza Ugurlu, NAP mayoral candidate in Bitlis, has said that the PKK is an enemy of the Kurds and Turks, who have lived like brothers for many centuries. He described the PKK as a dirty organization that has contaminated the region. [passage omitted] Conditions in the region have made the NAP's grass roots adopt a radical approach. The NAP members have even ignored the murder of the head of the party organization | Election Campaign in Southeast Viewed |
FBIS3-19638_2 | how these convoys were received with joy. I can only say: Now, after the partial solution that has been achieved for Sarajevo -- we do not yet have a definite political solution there -- we must now try to extinguish the other sources of fire, so to speak, one after the other. This includes Maglaj. It also includes other towns that are besieged and difficult areas. In addition to the political process, which now requires in particular the inclusion of the Serbs, we must try to come to grips with these other sources of fire in practice and, above all, gradually bring the humanitarian relief convoys to all those places where there is still terrible suffering. [Timm] What role do the Europeans still play in this peace process? After all, one gets the impression that progress is mainly achieved through the mediation of the United States and Russia. [Kinkel] This is certainly correct. It was very important that the Americans got more closely involved. However, the basis of the agreement achieved last weekend was the preparatory work done by the Europeans and also --something that is easily forgotten -- the preparatory work done by Lord Owen and Thorvald Stoltenberg. This means we are still massively involved in the process. Above all, it will be necessary for the Europeans to be very closely involved in the implementation of a peace treaty. Therefore, on Friday we also talked about the fact that administration by the European Union is envisaged for Mostar, and we, the Germans, want to provide an administrator there. I discussed the matter once again with Mr. Tudjman and Mr. Izetbegovic on Friday. They are both still very much in favor of having the matter done in this way. [Timm] Americans and Russians are also playing a similar role in the peace process in the Middle East. They are also godfathers of that peace process. Israel and the PLO have been talking to each other again since yesterday. The resumption of the official talks seems to be imminent. What are the prospects for peace like there? And here, too, the question: Which role can the Europeans play in this process? [Kinkel] First of all, the Russians are not playing any decisive role in the Middle East process. It is, indeed, the Americans who are doing that. On 18 March the UN Security Council adopted a resolution on the terrible massacre | Kinkel Discusses Bosnia, Middle East Peace |
FBIS3-19645_1 | relations. Germany, together with its Western partners, has always advocated an unconditional withdrawal of former Soviet troops from the Baltic. We have recently reiterated this commitment by participating in the U.S.-Latvian negotiations to achieve a compromise on the Russian radar station at Skrunda. There must be no further doubt about the final withdrawal of Russian troops by 31 August 1994, leaving only the troops required for operating the Skrunda installation. There is no reason for making the withdrawal subject to any conditions, either. Another open question is the status of the Russian-speaking population, especially in Estonia and Latvia. This aspect is of utmost importance for future relations with Russia. The Baltic states deserve credit for their human rights policy, which has been acknowledged by the CSCE and the Council of Europe. On the other hand, the CSCE and the Council of Europe have found open points regarding the future status of the Russian-speaking population, which must be solved by a flexible and pragmatic approach. We are well aware of the historic reasons for the existing problems. Yet: Political reality tells us that there is no alternative to integrating the Russians who want to stay in Estonia and Latvia. This requires, however, that the Russian-speaking population demonstrates its will to be integrated by behaving accordingly. Together with its Western partners, Germany supports all measures contributing to a long-term stabilization of Baltic-Russian relations. With this in mind, I do hope that both sides will make use of the opportunities for consolidation that will arise after the troops have pulled out. This also applies to the restructuring of trade relations. There are good opportunities for the Baltic states to act as a link between the Central and North East European states on the one hand, and Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine on the other. Two: Since they regained independence, it has been a special concern of German foreign policy to get the Baltic states closer to the European Union and the WEU. This policy is based on the insight that the Baltic is part of Central and North Eastern Europe in political, geographical, and cultural terms. On the other hand, by moving the Baltic states closer to the European Union and WEU we want to emphasize that they are irreversibly linked to Europe and we want to open up new markets in the West for them. Urged by Germany, the EU Council gave the | Kinkel Addresses Baltic Foreign Ministers 9 Mar |
FBIS3-19647_0 | Language: German Article Type:BFN [Report by Peter Scherer: "Warning of Islamic Attacks"] [Text] German security services have strengthened their protection of Jewish and Israeli facilities in the Federal Republic. The reason for this is the massacre of more than 30 Arabs by a Jewish settler in Hebron. From the German angle, the massacre is considered "a particularly serious and inhuman occurrence" because the victims were Muslims in the midst of religious festivities. The "Islamic resistance movement" Hamas, one of the leading extremist Palestinian groups, has already announced vengeance for Hebron. The Islamic fundamentalists have said that the Hebron massacre is the "last nail in the coffin of the autonomy agreement." Therefore, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution has produced an analysis warning the federation and the laender of a "medium to long-term increased risk to security in Germany." The analysis says that "because the terror potential is incalculable and arbitrary, attacks by opponents to the PLO-Israeli agreement could spread beyond the region at any time, possibly to Germany as well." Therefore in Western Europe there is a particular danger of "spontaneous actions by fanatical lone-wolves from the Islamic region." This also applies to the Federal Republic where, according to the experts in the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, violent actions by "irrational individuals" are also to be expected in the short term. Jewish and Israeli facilities are considered primary targets for such actions. But, says the analysis, the Islamic organizations active in Germany, the ones most expected to carry out acts of violence, still do not have the necessary infrastructure to carry out a rapid and organized strike. According to the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, there are some 1,640 supporters of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), and Schi'ite extremist Party of God (Hizballah) active in Germany. Just like the dissident organizations that oppose the PLO, these groups want to revert to an armed struggle with Israel. | Services Increase Protection of Jewish Facilities |
FBIS3-19648_0 | Language: German Article Type:BFN ["rv" report: "Political Terrorism: Increasing Number of Attacks"] [Text] Germany -- the country of terrorism: Of 22,870 politically motivated crimes, 1,402 (in 1993) are credited to foreigners. This is revealed by a secret report for the Federal Government. There were 99 attacks on individuals; eight people were killed. Furthermore, there were 86 arson attacks and five bomb attacks. The constitutional protection authorities estimate that 39,800 of about 6.5 million foreigners who live in Germany belong to extremist associations. According to the report, the most dangerous of these organizations is the PKK [Workers Party of Kurdistan], which is banned in Turkey. | Terrorist Attacks by Foreigners in Secret Report |
FBIS3-19652_5 | regard to expenditure. If tax and other deductions account for between 48 and 49 percent of an average worker's wage that also affects the social acceptance of state activity, which is vital for civilized coexistence. It also affects acceptance of the social welfare system. If the signals that employees receive from politics are, for example, that they must pay higher pension benefit contributions -- they will rise by 1.7 percent to 19.2 percent in 1994 -- but their pensions will not be certain, which is what Herr Biedenkopf said recently.... [DIE ZEIT] And so did Mr. Lafontaine. [Scharping] .... that affects the acceptance of common security in a welfare state. Of course, many employees ask themselves why the difference between their gross and net incomes is so high. Here is a second example: The development of eastern Germany is to a large extent being financed from social insurance contributions. Why should employees who pay contributions and plants with high wage costs alone provide finance for the development of eastern Germany through pension funds and unemployment benefit funds? Would it not be more honest if it were to be done with the help of taxes so that everyone, including civil servants and the self-employed, made the same contribution? [DIE ZEIT] It might be more honest, but probably more difficult to implement? [Scharping] It is linked to the example that should be set by those who consider themselves to belong to elites and possess appropriate economic and financial resources. It is a question of justice and economic reason. Pushing up labor costs -- ancillary and supplementary costs -- to such high levels runs counter to economic reason. Plants with large work forces and payrolls bear a disproportionate burden as a result. It affects their competitiveness. [DIE ZEIT] In your government program, do you define what a higher income is? [Scharping] I do not consider that to be necessary. [DIE ZEIT] But it is something that many people would like to know? [Scharping] That may be so. However, the problem that we face is as follows: The Federal Constitutional Court has ruled that as of 1996, the legislature is obliged to ensure that the minimum level of income is exempt from tax. This must be accomplished with the help of a reform of the wage and income taxation scales and improved benefits for families with children. Once those two things have been accomplished, | Scharping Outlines Program |
FBIS3-19653_0 | Language: German Article Type:BFN [Ulrich Rosenbaum report: "SPD: Those Who Earn More -- as of 2,500 Marks"] [Text] Bonn -- Yesterday Social Democratic Party of Germany [SPD] Chairman Rudolf Scharping presented his party's draft for a government program. On Monday [21 March] he will also present it to the SPD Executive Committee. By doing this, he is attempting to anticipate indiscretions and, at the same time, counter reports that the SPD is planning massive tax increases, Scharping said. He made it clear that, if the SPD wins the elections, he does not want to go beyond the tax quota of 1995. However, "redistributions" in the tax system at the cost of those who earn more are intended. The SPD chairman affirmed that his party wants to replace the solidarity surcharge of 7.5 percent for all taxpayers, which has been in effect as of 1 January, with a 10-percent supplementary tax. This is to be levied as of an annual income of 50,000 German marks [DM] for singles and DM100,000 for married couples. According to calculations made by DIE WELT, this corresponds to a monthly net income of about DM2,500 for singles and DM5,000 for married couples (without deduction of health insurance contributions). According to the SPD, the bottom line is to be the same as in the case of the solidarity surcharge: DM27 billion per year. Scharping also recalled the assignment of the Federal Constitutional Court to exempt the subsistence minimum from taxes as of 1996 at the latest. The SPD will tackle this matter immediately. By easing the tax burden on lower and medium incomes, the party expects increased demand and thus a stimulation of the economic development. The SPD wants to find a basically new regulation for the equalization of burdens on families. The tax-free amount for children is to be abolished and replaced with a unified children's allowance of DM250 per child, which is to be deducted directly from the taxes owed. If someone is entitled to more children's allowance than he pays in taxes, he gets the difference directly from the financial authorities. On the other hand, a still unspecified upper limit is to be introduced for spouse's tax splitting. In order to abolish the "fairness gap" in financing German unification, which has developed over the past years, high private incomes and large fortunes are to make a greater contribution. This includes, among other things, a | Supplementary Tax Sought |
FBIS3-19676_1 | cannot say at the federal level that we are not affected by the election result. Still, I do think that Sunday's elections were first and foremost affected by regional affairs. [passage omitted] [PROFIL] Somebody, whom you do not appreciate a lot -- the chairman of the FPOe -- undoubtedly managed to win votes from groups of people who used to be traditional SPOe supporters. One in four FPOe voters is a worker, while this percentage is only insignificantly higher for the SPOe. [Vranitzky] This has not least to do with the fact that the significance of party work at the grassroots level has diminished. It is true that Haider has raised issues that are related to workers. Yet, it is equally true that, in reality, he is making major pronouncements and promises that can easily be weakened or disclosed as half-truths or lies. Yet this disclosing is not taking place to a sufficient degree. [PROFIL] This brings up the question whether disclosing such things is enough to prevent the voters from supporting Haider in the polls. [Vranitzky] It is not the argument alone, it is also the way in which such an argument is presented. It is also a question of rhetorics and clarity. [PROFIL] People have been voting for Haider for almost eight years now. Neither the SPOe nor the Austrian People's Party [OeVP] have been able to think up a convincing strategy. [Vranitzky] This is not a purely Austrian phenomenon. The progress of civilization does not only produce winners. Those who lose or, at least think that they are not among the winners, are particularly responsive to those who criticize our highly-developed, highly liberal system. [PROFIL] Has the FPOe not meanwhile become too big for the others still to maintain that it is nothing but a protest party that represents the losers? [Vranitzky] This is not what I said. This group of voters has been added to the traditional FPOe voters. [PROFIL] [President of Parliament] Heinz Fischer once said that Haider would ultimately win himself to death. Do you see a dying man somewhere on the horizon? [Vranitzky] It has become clear that the SPOe's good results in surveys at a national level are not a warranty. There is no election victory without fighting. Therefore, I do not want to deal with the question whether he has won himself to death or whether he has reached a ceiling. | Vranitzky Analyzes on Election Defeat |
FBIS3-19679_0 | Language: Dutch Article Type:BFN [Unattributed article: "Lubbers Calls For Reintroduction of Border Checks"] [Excerpt] Prime Minister Lubbers wants to reintroduce personal identity checks at the frontiers with Germany and Belgium. He said this was necessary to reduce the increasing numbers of asylum-seekers (who have no prospects for life) entering the Netherlands via these countries. Lubbers spoke of an "administrative emergency situation." In a confidential letter to his fellow ministers on Monday 14 March the prime minister said among other things that "difficulties with expulsion (of rejected asylum-seekers, etc.) make it necessary to stop them from entering the Netherlands." The prime minister's proposal diverges from the intention to achieve open borders within Europe. Lubbers said this measure was necessary because the Schengen Treaty, which would oblige Germany to take back asylum-seekers, was not yet applicable. "What is involved is fixed check points and flying brigades in border areas, which must be reintroduced, at least until Schengen has actually taken effect," Lubbers wrote. [passage omitted] | Lubbers Advocates Reintroduction of Border Checks |
FBIS3-19680_0 | Language: Dutch Article Type:BFN [Unattributed article: "Lubbers Calls For Asylum-Seekers To Be Received in Their Own Region"] [Text] The Hague -- Refugees from the former Yugoslavia could be received best in their own region, Prime Minister Lubbers said. Speaking after Friday's [18 March] cabinet meeting, he said that it was better for the war refugees themselves to be received in Macedonia for example, rather than in the Netherlands. "After all that is ideal," he said. "The same language, the same customs." Lubbers said that the cabinet wanted to make more money available to expand reception capacity in the region. The prime minister referred to the reception of East Africans in the Middle East as a second example of the reception of refugees in their own region. "It is good that the world is accepting Somali, but why does that have to happen on humid Netherlands soil?" he said. "After all, would that not be better in Saudi Arabia or Yemen? For example they have the same religion there." On Friday the cabinet agreed with the Justice Ministry plan to stop and send back asylum-seekers entering the Netherlands overland as quickly as possible after they cross the border. These refugees will usually be told that they must apply for asylum in the so-called first country of reception. This refers to the first of the 22 member states of the Council of Europe which the asylum-seeker entered. The decision copies one of the underlying measures of the Schengen Treaty. Because the Netherlands is "closed off" by the Schengen countries Belgium and Germany, asylum-seekers who come overland are to no longer be granted asylum in the Netherlands. But because this would put an unfair burden on Germany in particular, agreements will have to be made in a European context about a fair distribution, Lubbers said. Lubbers gave a cautious answer to the question of whether he thought it was sensible for Housing State Secretary Heerma to talk in parliament this week about the possibility of perhaps 70,000- 80,000 asylum-seekers coming to the Netherlands this year. "Mentioning these figures could have a dramatic effect," the prime minister said. "But neither could the cabinet walk away from the facts," he said. "And these facts are that partly because of tighter asylum policies in Germany, more asylum-seekers are coming to the Netherlands." | Urges Restrictions on Asylum-Seekers |
FBIS3-19681_0 | Language: Dutch Article Type:BFN [Unattributed article: "Kooijmans Criticizes States for Disregarding Human Rights"] [Text] "States that appeal to exceptions to the rule of universal human rights go against the will of the people. By withholding specific inalienable rights, a country is discredited as being a democracy. The main feature of democracy is that the government always exercises power on behalf of and in the interests of the people." Those statements were made by Foreign Minister Kooijmans in a speech at the University of Lund in Sweden on Thursday [17 March]. As a human rights specialist, Kooijmans took a stance, more clearly than before, against some Asian countries such as Indonesia, where he will be traveling with Prime Minister Lubbers next month. Indonesia is one of those countries that maintains that human rights are not universal. According to them, the rights of the people must be seen against the historical, social, and cultural background of the country or region concerned. According to Kooijmans, this actually means that "human rights are not identical for all." A government could then deny any accusation of torture or ill-treatment of its citizens by saying that people always have been tortured or ill-treated. Also, they could allege that torture is part of the local culture and that it thus should be seen as a national "particularity" which legalizes the "exception" to the rule according to which torture is banned. | Kooijmans Criticizes Asian Countries on Human Rights |
FBIS3-19700_1 | be able to start the much-discussed code-sharing with its partner United Airlines as of 1 May. In addition, the airlines of the two countries, together with other partners, may offer flights going from Germany to the East, and from the United States to Latin America and the Caribbean, under their own flight numbers. Yet, the latest agreement will only remain a temporary arrangement. On 15 May, representatives of the two countries are to meet to discuss the medium-term enforcement of an "open sky" -- the complete liberalization of aviation between the United States and Germany. In four years, at the latest, the agreement being concluded now will be replaced by a more comprehensive "bilateral or multinational settlement." One can expect the Brussels Commission's plans to replace existing bilateral aviation agreements between individual European Union [EU] members by EU agreements negotiated in Brussels to have been effected by then. Now -- for the next four years -- Lufthansa can offer an increasing number of flights to destinations that have so far not been included in its program, with through flight numbers, changing between Lufthansa and United planes. But this code-sharing must remain a makeshift solution. If the problem of neutral presentation, especially in the U.S. travel agency reservation systems, did not exist, the advantages in which this term leads the customer to believe could also have been achieved by a cooperation agreement among individual airlines: Good connections, through check-in, joint programs for frequent travelers, other joint services, such as the use of lounges, are not subject to code-sharing. European and U.S. consumer protection organizations, as well as Brussels, are beginning to realize that a joint flight number, where you have to change planes once or twice and change airlines, makes the traveler believe that he gets to his destination "in one go." Alliances, such as the one Swissair has formed with Delta Airlines going west, and with Singapore Airlines going to Asia, are more honest to the user. Now the German-U.S. aviation problem has -- hopefully -- been settled for the next four years. Lufthansa must use this time to continue getting its own house in order so that it can do without protective fences against non-EU countries, as is already the case with EU airlines. By the end of this decade, aviation must do without any protective fences by the state and must only be subject to GATT competition regulations. | Commentary Views U.S.-German Aviation Agreement |
FBIS3-19703_0 | Language: German Article Type:CSO [Commentary by Wolfram Engels: "Negative Tax"] [Text] A similar development has been apparent in all industrial countries since about 1970: The demand for poorly qualified labor is declining. The elimination of unskilled labor has two causes: rationalization and competition from low-wage countries. The more unskilled the work is, the more easily it can be performed by machines. Automation of factories has eliminated the requirement for a large portion of the unskilled workers who were formerly needed. When it comes to simple and labor-intensive products, industry in the developed world is no longer competitive: They are being imported from low-wage countries. These trends can be easily projected into the future. With the improvement and reduction in cost of data processing technology, rationalization will continue and increasingly take hold in the service sector. The displacement of production to low-wage countries will increase in tempo and threaten even jobs requiring higher qualifications. There are two responses to this challenge. In America, the result was an ever greater wage spread. Since 1970, the real wage for unskilled labor has declined by about a quarter while it has increased for skilled work. The unskilled workers let go by industry have, for the most part, found jobs in the service sector: In America windshields are still cleaned at gas stations and purchases are still bagged in grocery stores. In Germany on the other hand, as in the other countries of Europe as well, an ever growing base of unemployment among the unskilled is being formed--a hard core that continues to grow even in a period of economic recovery. In contrast to America, wage policy sought to reduce wage differences. The lower wage groups were assisted with base wage supplements to a greater extent than were the upper groups. The incentive was thus correspondingly greater in Germany than it was in the United States to replace unskilled labor with machines or to eliminate it entirely. There are hardly any full-service gas stations here. The parties to collective wage bargaining did not choose this path entirely voluntarily. There was ever greater overlap between incomes in the lower brackets and social welfare payments--particularly in the case of families with children. In Germany therefore, wage spread such as in America would only have resulted in more workers going on welfare and achieving a higher income with a little off-the-books work. The results of German policy then | Commentator Calls For Negative Tax |
FBIS3-19708_4 | Marrakesh to sign the agreements on the Uruguay Round. It is known that the aviation issue was not handled in the way the Europeans would have liked, because of opposition from the United States, and it is still pending... [Gallois] The GATT talks have demonstrated one thing, for lack of coming to a close: The Americans want to eliminate the reimbursable advances given to the partners in Airbus Industrie, but refuse to exercise any control over the indirect aid received by their own aircraft manufacturers. We want exactly the opposite. We want to see the reimbursable advances legitimized, as was provided for in an U.S.-European agreement of July 1992 on airplanes with more than 10 seats, and the control of indirect aid. We must set up indicators to assess the financing of upstream research practiced in the United States. This is not always easy, but there are objective data such as the NASA budget. We must also reach an agreement on the basis for making the calculation. NASA, for example, spends large amounts of money on research into the future supersonic aircraft, which has a significant impact on many of the technologies currently used, but the United States refuses to consider this money to be indirect aid as defined in the agreement of July 1992 because there is no formal program for developing a supersonic aircraft. We are proposing, in effect, to take advantage of the Marrakesh meeting to launch the negotiations, which are provided for in the agreements concluded on 15 December in Geneva. It must not be forgotten that Japan and Canada share the European view: To perpetuate and elaborate the 1992 agreement for indirect aid. [LA TRIBUNE DESFOSSES] However, we get the impression that we in Europe are still at the "we have to..." stage with regard to the United States, without actually adopting a firm position. [Gallois] The concept of a united Europe is not so easy to put into practice in our sector: We have to display a lot of pedagogical talent in order to convince certain countries of the importance of the stakes and to really activate European solidarity. The Saudi affair could be an important factor in this. [LA TRIBUNE DESFOSSES] What do you recommend for making the European system of reimbursable advances evolve toward the American system of indirect support? [Gallois] Economically speaking, reimbursable advances are a good solution for providing financing | Aerospatiale Chief on EU-U.S. Trade Conflict |
FBIS3-19709_1 | with a juridical, financial, and technical framework covering everything involved in the building of information highways. The task first of all involves studying, forecasting, and organizing the harmonization of telecommunications and audiovisual media, and conducting experiments on images broadcast on France Telecom's telephone network and distribution of telephone communications on cable networks. The experiments to be conducted will oblige cable operators, at least initially and for as long as the monopoly lasts, to connect up with the France Telecom network. Several Necessities The launching of such a project responds to a variety of necessities: First, international economic necessities. Since Bill Clinton came into office, the United States has embarked on a vast regulatory reform that has stimulated and focused the country's industrial apparatus as a whole. Telephone companies, cable operators, and computer companies are merging and investing massively to prepare for the information superhighways that will pave the way for an interactive, multimedia world. The advance the United States has in this domain compels all developed countries to take action, to avoid being left behind. Second, European necessities. Following up on the report of the Commission of the European Communities, which in 1992 noted the inadequacy of new telephone service offerings and disparities in rates throughout Europe, the Council of Ministers of the European Union decreed a plan to liberalize the telephone sector starting 1 January 1998. As of that date, and despite the presence of monopolies in the telecommunications sector, private operators will be able to lease capacities on publicly owned infrastructure and use them or market them as they best see fit. Liberalization is expected to be complete before the year 2000. In its recent white paper on growth, the Brussels Commission also confirmed the great potential of multimedia markets expected to see strong growth between now and the year 2000--10 percent per year for audiovisual and 8 percent per year for telephone services. At that rate of growth, they would boost Europe's GDP by 10 percent by the end of the century. Third, national necessities. The theme of information highways may even play an important political role. The closer the country gets to the next presidential election, the more useful it will be for the current prime minister to have at his disposal, instead of a respectable but uninspiring record of accomplishment, a far-reaching politico-industrial project capable of reducing unemployment and galvanizing public support. Such an ambitious | `Information Highway' Project Launched |
FBIS3-19717_2 | think all parties to the debate now have made their points, I've certainly made mine, others have done so as well, and now is the time to find solutions, and we should do that on Tuesday. [Humphries] You say find solutions, do you mean by that find a compromise? Are you in the first place prepared to shift on the matter of 23 and 27? [Petersen] I think the only realistic view is to say -- 23 that can never become an agreed position in the council... [Humphries, interrupting] Never under any circumstances? [Peterson] Oh no, I don't think so. That will never be a position that could create a common position. Therefore we will have to be looking for something else. I think Britain should be very clear on this. There will never be an agreement on 23, we will have to look for something else. I think there's a lot of good sense in the proposition that has been put forward saying it's 27, yes, but if the majority of 23 or more are opposed it would take a period of rethinking in good faith trying then to establish a formula that could be a consensus of [words indistinct]. [Humphries] So what are you saying here, I'm not quite sure about what you are saying, whether you're saying we can put off the decision, the entire decision, or whether.... [Petersen, interrupting] No, I was talking about a compromise, saying well it's 27, that's a blocking in minority, but if there is any voting in council, 23 or more but not 27, that would create a special situation up to the moment when we have the government conference in 1996. [Humphries] Right, so you're talking about some sort of cooling-off period. [Petersen] Yes. [Humphries] For how long? [Petersen] Of rethinking? [Humphries] Yes. [Petersen] One month, it could be twice one month, that's not so important, one could look for solutions along these lines. I think that should be acceptable to everyone, and such a cooling-off period -- or think-again period I would prefer to call it -- is absolutely very valuable. It is true that it gives a chance for national parliaments and national public opinion to make itself felt in the debate. [Humphries] There is no way, is there, in which you can separate, decouple these two issues, that's to say the acceptance of the four new members | Foreign Minister Previews EC Session |
FBIS3-19724_2 | of the referendum has not been agreed upon yet, but negotiations are now under way between the government and the opposition. Bildt would prefer to see it take place in June, while the opposition and one of the government coalition parties, the Liberal Party, have indicated that the referendum cannot be held before November, in other words a couple of months after the elections. "As far as I can judge, there is a parliament majority for a referendum in June, with or without the Liberal Party." Must Not Become an Issue of Conflict Bildt does not see any point in turning the referendum question into a political conflict. "Trying to split a nation is a bad way of trying to unite Europe." The parties in Sweden are now evaluating the pros and cons of the alternatives. Bildt does not want to predict how long the discussions will last, but he does not believe it is absolutely essential for the referendum to be out of the way before the 18 September elections. "The important thing for us is to get a good result," he said, adding that a referendum in June does not mean a great personal political victory for him. After the successful outcome of the negotiations, there is only one good result in the Swedish prime minister's eyes: a yes to the EU from the majority of the people. Bildt does not think that a change of power in the middle of the campaign would influence the outcome of the referendum. "It may be significant if the Social Democrats lose the elections, which I think they will, in which case their party will be in fairly bad shape this fall. If the referendum is not held before November, there is a danger or a chance that the conservatives will no longer be in power on the planned date of the country's accession to the EU. Various opinion polls indicate that a change of power can be expected in Sweden this coming September. The Social Democrats have a strong position and in the eyes of many it takes a good deal of self-confidence and optimism today for a Conservative leader in Sweden to believe in victory, no matter how little significance he sees in the opinion polls: This is relatively limited," he said, and added that he is confident about "the evolution of political and economic events." Bildt believes in | Bildt Views EU, WEU, NATO Membership |
FBIS3-19733_0 | Language: Greek Article Type:BFN [Report by Marios Papailia] [Text] The next target of the Turkish Secret Services could be Dhimitrios Matafias, former National Guard Chief, who has been named repeatedly in press reports and special books published by writers cooperating with the Turkish agencies. Correspondent Lazaros Mavros revealed this when he spoke for the Committee for Solidarity with Kurdistan at a news conference yesterday. Mavros added that the Greek security authorities have been notified regarding the issue. Party leaders or representatives attended the news conference organized by the Committee for Solidarity with Kurdistan to denounce Yeoryiadhis' horrible murder and condemn the crime. They also said that a parliamentary delegation would visit the UN secretary general to denounce the continuing genocide of the Kurdish people and Yeoryiadhis' murder. Dhimitrios Sillouris, secretary general of the DISI [Democratic Rally], said that with Yeoryiadhis' murder, the Turks were promoting their beliefs, which do not allow them to pursue the role of a peacekeeper in the former Yugoslavia. He also mentioned that the state must improve its security structure, adding that the murder will constitute the beginning of a more intense struggle by those who deal with human rights. Stathis Kittis, secretary general of the DIKO [Democratic Party], stressed that Theofilos Yeoryiadhis' murder is undoubtedly the work of Turkish agents who showed in this way that the Turkish machine will stop at nothing. He added that this must concern those who deal with our national policy. Kittis said DIKO believes that we must all support everyone who fights for their freedom. In his short address, Andreas Khristou, AKEL [Restorative Party of the Working People] spokesman, described Yeoryiadhis as responsible, a fighter, and an ideologist. He added that Yeoryiadhis gave his life when nationalism is growing and said we must do much, as a people and as a parliament. Vasos Lissaridhis, EDEK [United Democratic Union of Cyprus] chairman, described the murder as a classic example of terrorism and an insult to dignity, freedom, and democracy. He said: Theofilos will go down in history as a man who realized the connection among people who share a common source of danger--the Turkish regime. Yado Roz, European Kurdistan Movement representative, called upon the international common view to resist and condemn the murders of Kurdish figures and the Turkish regime. Theofilos' murder and the murders of other members of Kurdish organizations worldwide clearly show that Turkey insists on taking its | Parties Condemn Murder; Support Kurds |
FBIS3-19735_0 | Language: Turkish Article Type:BFN [Text] Theofilos Yeoryiadhis, the head of the Greek Cypriot Public Information Office [PIO] Turkish Department, was shot and killed outside his house at midnight last night. Yeoryiadhis, 37, was fired on by two people on motorbikes. He was hit five times in various parts of his body, including his head, and he died on the spot. Greek television network ET-1 and Greek Cypriot television networks Logos and Antenna dropped their regular programming to report the incident. They reported at 0130 that Greek Cypriot officials were at the scene investigating the incident. As well as heading the Greek Cypriot PIO Turkish Department, Yeoryiadhis chaired the Greek Cypriot Committee of Solidarity with Kurdistan. He had direct links with the terrorist Kurdish Workers Party [PKK]. He visited the PKK camps in the al-Biqa' valley on various occasions and coordinated the campaigns organized in south Cyprus to support the PKK. Theofilos Yeoryiadhis was known as a fanatical enemy of the Turks. | North Paper on Murder of `Fanatical Enemy' of Turks |
FBIS3-19741_0 | Language: Turkish Article Type:BFN [Text] Nevruz was celebrated without incident in a wedding hall in Ankara. The slogan "Leader Apo [alias for Abdullah Ocalan, leader of the Kurdish Workers Party, PKK]" was shouted at the Nevruz celebration organized by the Democracy Party [DEP]. Party officials tried to suppress certain slogans and behavior. [Begin correspondent Aydogan Kilinc recording] In response to the request by DEP's Ankara provincial organization to celebrate Nevruz, the Ankara governor allocated a wedding hall in Altindag. Strict security measures were taken around the hall and those entering the premises were searched. The slogan "Resistance Means Existence," written in Turkish and Kurdish, drew the most attention. Many people wearing yellow, red, and green bands, the PKK's colors, made victory signs. A young girl wrapped in these colors danced and excited the 300-strong crowd and people started shouting extremist slogans. When Imam Canpolat, leader of DEP's Ankara provincial organization, said that there is no middle path, which means surrender, the shouts of "Leader Apo" in Kurdish rose in the hall. DEP deputy leader Remzi Kartal got angry when he heard this slogan and warned the gathering that Nevruz cannot be marked under such conditions. He called on the crowd to act in accordance with the DEP's program and principles. He reacted strongly when his advice was not heeded. Remzi Kartal said that efforts are under way to push his party, whose ouster from the parliament is being sought, outside the legitimate system. He said that all the laws in the country are being used to close down the DEP. He added that the sole objective of the DEP is to contribute to the democratic and political solution of the Kurdish issue, which has become the country's main problem. The crowd in the hall booed Prime Minister Tansu Ciller's proposal that Nevruz be an official holiday. The crowd then listened to songs in an attempt to calm itself and dispersed without incident. [end recording] | PKK Slogans at DEP Celebration |
FBIS3-19742_0 | Language: English Article Type:BFN [Text] Ankara--Reliable Kurdish sources in the Middle East reported this week that outlawed Workers Party of Kurdistan (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan had moved out of Syria and was currently in Lachin, a part of Azerbaijan which is currently under Armenian control and also inhabited by Kurds. The sources said Ocalan had travelled to Lachin earlier this month from his residence in the town of al-Qardahah in Syria's Latakia province. The PKK leader had been living for nearly a decade in Damascus and Syrian President Hafiz al-Asad's hometown of al-Qardahah. According to information received by the TDN, [TURKISH DAILY NEWS] Ocalan is currently in contact both with Armenian officials and influential Kurdish circles in Lachin. They said that he aims to establish a major training base in the Lachin corridor, which connects Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia, opened by the Armenians in 1992 and since then the main artery supplying the enclave from Armenia. The exact date of Ocalan's travel to Lachin was not made clear, although it has been confirmed that he was outside Syria earlier this month when Iraqi Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani visited that country. Despite Turkish press reports that Talabani had contacted Ocalan and was seeking to press him for a new cease-fire, sources said the PUK [Patriotic Union of Kurdistan] leader--who also travelled to al-Qardahah--did not find him there. Talabani has denied the reports saying he had no contact with Ocalan. In a meeting he held with Turkish gendarmerie commanders last week near the Iraqi border, Talabani informed Turkey of this as well. The sources, who usually know of Ocalan's whereabouts, told the TDN on Thursday [17 March] that there was also speculation that the PKK leader had recently travelled to Russia. Once the camp in Lachin is set up, they said, there could be more terrorist activity in eastern Turkey. The PKK has in the past denied Ocalan's previous trips outside Syria. The PKK's European representative and Ocalan's political advisor, Kani Yilmaz, said in January that he would even meet the press but no journalist has seen Ocalan for the past seven months. | Ocalan Reportedly Leaves Syria for Azerbaijan |
FBIS3-19743_0 | Language: English Article Type:BFN [Text] Ankara -- A ceasefire call over the weekend by Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the outlawed Workers Party of Kurdistan (PKK), has been dismissed by the Government on the grounds that it is no more than a "tactical move" which is "void of real content." The general reaction in Ankara to Ocalan's call has been that he is faced with serious difficulties on the military front and is trying to buy time for his organization before embarking on new attacks. In a message sent on Sunday [13 March] to a two-day Kurdish Conference organized in Brussels, Ocalan, indicated that "they would be open to all recommendations for a settlement whether these came from the state or from international organizations." Ocalan, whose organization has been waging a bloody separatist war in Southeast Anatolia, claimed "they did not have an absolute aim of dividing Turkey." He added that "propaganda" attributing this aim to them "did not reflect their true policy." "I want to indicate that we would be party to any solution which is based on the notion of dialogue with the Turkish State, and which takes into consideration in a democratic manner the legitimate demands of our people, and which aims at attaining results to this effect" Ocalan said. He added that they had from the beginning of this dispute been open to proposals for a settlement, and said "from the beginning we were ready to discuss any alternative including that of federation on this basis." Ocalan went on to declare that "in the event of a mutual ceasefire to be monitored by international observers they would not be the side complicating matters." "I am announcing that in the event that the basis for a political solution and free political activities is prepared, we will open completely the path to ending the armed struggle" Ocalan said in his message read out to the conference by Kani Yilmaz, the representative in Europe of the ERNK, [National Liberation Front of Kurdistan] a PKK affiliated organization. The response to Ocalan's message in Ankara was short and dismissive. Analysts point out that both President Suleyman Demirel's and Prime Minister Tansu Ciller's reply to Ocalan's call was merely a repetition of a position held for years. Namely that "there can be no bargaining with terrorists," that "the roots of this terrorist organization will be wiped out" and that "they are only | Government's Refusal of Ocalan Offer Reviewed |
FBIS3-19759_2 | "cautiously optimistic" after a week in which peace may be coming closer in the Balkans. The Serbs have withdrawn their heavy weapons from Sarajevo; Yeltsin has invited [the parties] to a peace conference; a rather fragile armistice has been established between Croats and Muslims in Bosnia. And finally the 10 Danish Leopard tanks reached Tuzla. [Bistrup] To good to be true? [Haekkerup] Yes, after everything we have seen we are of course somewhat skeptical. But I am still more optimistic today than I have been in the last nine months. This might be a decisive turning point in the war. That depends on our own will to persevere in a positive development. I cannot predict when we will have 100-percent peace in the Balkans. I think that this will remain a corner of unrest in Europe, and that we have to live with conflicts and ethnic tension in this region. Just now the pendulum is swinging the right way. But if events move in another direction, there is the risk that the conflict will spread to Kosovo, Macedonia and possibly Albania. I do not think that possibility can be excluded. * * * Haekkerup also thinks that we must live with the fact that nobody emerges as a winner in the Balkans: [Haekkerup] Several hundred thousand people are dead, and the only thing the UN has been able to do is to try to limit the losses. That is what is so difficult about the UN mission in the former Yugoslavia; the fact that one does not emerge with great and impressive results. I still think that even though it is involved, risky, and complicated, the UN has made a clear difference. But we still have a long way to go. * * * He can also live with the fact that it was the Russians who made it easier for the Serbs to meet the UN's demand to withdraw from Sarajevo before NATO's ultimatum expired: [Haekkerup] Russia is an important participant no matter which conflict we are talking about. The Russian democrats, who are in the minority in the Duma, have a great need to feel and show that they are a part of our world order and that they also will be recognized as such. There is a risk involved if one acts for only one of the parties. But that is not only a Russian problem. The | * Defense Minister Haekkerup on Bosnia Role |
FBIS3-19765_0 | Language: German Article Type:BFN [Text] Duesseldorf (DPA) -- North Rhine-Westphalian Interior Minister Herbert Schnoor has called for an immediate stop of all arms deliveries to Turkey. In an interview with DPA on Saturday [19 March] the Social Democratic Party of Germany [SPD] politician said that, in view of the Ankara regime's escalating military attacks against the Kurdish people, the federal government must impose a complete arms embargo. Otherwise, the minister said, "Germany will be contributing to Turkey's slide into a maelstrom of military violence from which it will not be able to escape." Schnoor stressed: "Anyone who supplies military weapons to a NATO partner without making sure that these weapons are not used against minorities in this partner's country gives people reason to flee instead of eliminating such reasons." The SPD politician emphasized: "A tragedy is taking place in southeast Turkey that will not be without effect on the internal peace of our country." According to him, many more than 70,000 mostly Kurdish refugees have come from Turkey to Germany over the past there years. This corresponds to the number of inhabitants in a city like Castrop-Rauxel in the Ruhr area. At the same time, the recognition quota for asylum applications is higher than for any other primary country of origin. Against the background of escalating conflicts between the Turkish army and the Workers Party of Kurdistan (PKK), which is also becoming increasingly violent in Germany, Schnoor warned the Turkish Government "to give political reason priority over military operations." On the occasion of the forthcoming Kurdish New Year Nevruz, the minister appealed to Kurds in Germany not to let themselves be tempted to commit criminal acts, neither by the PKK nor by other organizations. The celebrations will begin next Monday and will probably be held throughout Germany until mid-week. | Schnoor Calls For Arms Embargo Against Turkey |
FBIS3-19766_0 | Language: German Article Type:BFN [Text] Ankara -- On Monday [21 March] Turkish security forces restricted several groups of Germans, who wanted to observe the Nevruz celebrations and the local elections next Sunday in the Kurdish area, in their freedom of movement. This was learned from reports by the people affected and by the German Embassy in Istanbul on Monday. Turkey had previously declared "observers" from Germany "unwanted." In Cizre, in southeastern Turkey, one of the main sites of the fights between the militant Workers Party of Kurdistan (PKK) and the security forces, about 20 Germans were stuck in their hotel on Monday. According to them, their passports had been confiscated and would be returned only if they agree to leave the region. Angelika Langehl-Weyrer of the North Rhine-Westphalian land association of the Greens said they are permitted to move around freely and have not been arrested, but the streets are "full with military and police" and it has been "recommended" that they stay in the hotel. Another group of 17 Germans, who were taken from Igdir in eastern Turkey to Erzurum on Sunday, were on their way back to Igdir on Monday afternoon, according to information provided by German diplomatic circles. They, too, had had their passports taken away. It was unclear on Monday how many German groups, including politicians of the Social Democratic Party and Greens, trade union representatives, and employees of relief organizations and human rights groups, are in the region. "However, the situation is calm and we do not have any reports that the Germans are in danger," a spokesman of the German Embassy in Ankara said. A group of 52 Germans who had been sent back from Van in eastern Turkey to Istanbul over the weekend did not rule out another attempt to go to the region of unrest. A spokesman for the group said the three Kurdish interpreters, who had accompanied them from Germany and whom the Turkish police wanted to arrest, have "disappeared without trace." "The three have not been arrested; they said good-bye to us voluntarily, after the German Embassy did not guarantee that they could return to Germany with us." [sentence as received] | Observers Reportedly Restricted in Turkey Passports Confiscated |
FBIS3-19767_0 | Language: German Article Type:BFN [Text] Ankara (DPA) -- According to German diplomatic circles, none of the approximately 200 German "observers" of the Nevruz celebrations have been arrested in Turkey. On Tuesday [22 March] Turkish Government officials complained that unsuccessful attempts at provocation by German journalists in the provinces of unrest in the country's east and southeast, which are mainly inhabited by Kurds, have been registered "with great regret." According to their own statements, the Germans want to observe the local elections and the Nevruz celebrations on Sunday. According to diplomatic circles in Ankara, the 17 members of a Hamburg group in Batman, in southeastern Turkey, accompanied their interpreter to the police station out of solidarity, and returned to their hotel on Monday evening. The interpreter is no longer in police custody either. Diplomats in the Turkish Foreign Ministry said the German groups should know that Workers Party of Kurdistan leader Abdullah Ocalan "is no longer taken seriously by his Kurdish fellow-citizens." Furthermore, it was said that the Germans who want to "experience" the local elections on Sunday after the Nevruz celebrations are considered "tourists" rather than "observers." | Observers Reportedly Restricted in Turkey No Germans Arrested |
FBIS3-19768_0 | Language: German Article Type:BFN [Text] Bonn -- According to Interior Minister Manfred Kanther (Christian Democratic Union), the majority of the Kurds who were actively involved in the weekend rioting [19-20 March] may be deported to Turkey. Mere membership in the Kurdish ethnic group does not mean that those affected face human rights violations or the death penalty in their home country, Kanther told journalists in Bonn on Monday. This alone would provide a reason for refraining from a deportation. Possible arrest in Turkey is no such reason. Harald Thiemann, chairman of the German Police Trade Union, demanded negotiations between Germany and Turkey aimed at preventing the death sentence for criminals deported from Germany. German citizens and policemen can no longer accept the fact that "a war is being waged" by extremists "on the backs of German police officers" under the protection of the Human Rights Convention, Thiemann stressed today. Dozens of policemen were injured during the weekend rioting. The authorities have initiated over 500 legal investigations against demonstrators. Kanther once more called emphatically on the courts and foreign authorities to fully apply the penal code to those who committed crimes and to make "massive" use of the existing possibilities for deportation. Only a minority of the Kurds involved in the riots actually faced political persecution in their home country and have been recognized as political refugees. As far as "normal" supporters of the Kurdish Workers Party [PKK] are concerned, it should not be a problem to deport them, Kanther pointed out. The interior minister defended the ban on the PKK in Germany. Nobody assumed that the activities of the party and its subdivisions could be stopped immediately. Yet the measure should make it clear that Germany is no resting place for the PKK. However, more violent incidents cannot be ruled out completely. | Kanther Advocates Deporting Criminal Kurds |
FBIS3-19783_1 | [Text] Brussels, 17 Mar (ATS) -- According to Commissioner Hans van den Broek, the European Union (EU) should propose a "premembership" strategy for the countries of Central and East Europe (CEEC). A multilateral political and economic context, which would be a "real forerunner to membership," should be established with those countries. The accession of CEEC's to the EU will be facilitated by applying the bilateral association agreements that have been signed so far to each of them, Mr. van den Broek said. The commissioner, who addressed the Free University of Brussels, pleaded in favor of a "multilateral relation between the EU and the CEEC's which would eliminate the problems in trade exchanges and create a market big enough to attract investors." A multilateral solution of that kind would be the best means to help CEEC countries meet the membership criteria settled at the European Council of Copenhagen in June 1993, he added. Criteria for Membership The criteria have been extensively defined: a state ruled by law; institutional stability that guarantees democracy, respect for human rights, protection of minorities; ability to cope with the market trends within the Union. But the enlargement to the east will also depend on the Union's ability to include new members, particularly with respect to the working mechanism of the Union. A date for opening negotiations cannot be settled at this point as two many uncertainties still remain on both sides. Mr. van den Broek thinks that 1997 should be an appropriate time to assess how the CEEC's are progressing toward membership and to decide what the next steps should be. Poland, Hungary, Romania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Bulgaria each have signed an association agreement or a European agreement with the Twelve. Negotiations will soon start with Slovenia and later with the Baltic states. Political Dialogue Those agreements allow for the establishment of a political dialogue. The Twelve have suggested that the CEEC's adopt a multilateral approach for enforcing them. However, several CEEC countries want to retain the possibility of a bilateral dialogue with the EU so as to break free from the others. Hungary has announced that it intends to apply for EU membership in April. Other CEEC countries could follow. Mr. van den Broek made a statement aimed at those countries, saying that the order in which the applications would be introduced would not influence the order in which they would be accepted. | Van den Broek on EU Membership for East Europe |
FBIS3-19784_0 | Language: English Article Type:BFN [James Blitz and Ivor Owen report: "Hurd Restresses Stance on EU Votes"] [Text] Mr Douglas Hurd, the foreign secretary, yesterday sought to reassure Conservatives that he would not strike an agreement on a new European Union [EU] voting system that would dilute British interests. Addressing Conservatives in Poole last night, Mr Hurd said there was no guarantee that Britain would reach agreement with its EU partners on a new voting system when foreign ministers resumed talks on the issue next week. "If we are to move forward as a Union of 16, it should be on the basis of as widespread consent as possible," he said. "That is the best way to avoid conflict and bickering on a permanent basis." He said that the British public wanted the government to exercise judgment in the interests both of Britain and Europe. EU member states propose that the threshold for the "blocking minority" should rise from 23 to 27 votes when four new countries enter the Union next year. Britain and Spain are opposing this, although both are being offered a compromise that would allow a minority of states to see a two-month delay in decisions. Meanwhile, pressure intensified on the government yesterday to accept that its citizens should have a continuing right to initiate individual cases in the European Court of Human Rights. Mr Richard Alexander, Conservative MP for Newark, in a Commons debate on the Council of Europe, warned that Britain's reputation would be damaged if the government tried to insist that it should remain a conditional right subject to review at five-yearly intervals. He said that Turkey, whose record on human rights would not commend itself to the British people, was the only country to have adopted a similar attitude. Mr Mark Lennox-Boyd, Foreign Office junior minister, said the UK government was still considering a suggestion that the right should be made mandatory. | Hurd Reassures Conservatives on EU Voting System |
FBIS3-19785_1 | the same time exciting and frightening. It's a very dangerous time in our history." Making peace with one's enemies and opponents was a very difficult business. "We must expect set-backs, disappointments and diversions, but we are determined that when and if these arise we will overcome them." Mr Adams struck a significantly softer tone than in his keynote speech at Sinn Fein's annual conference last month, when he called Northern Ireland's Unionist majority an Irish national minority. Partition had no longer failed, but had retarded, the development of democracy in Ireland. "It is my firm conviction that Unionists can be persuaded to recognise that they share a common peaceful destiny with their fellow countrymen and women in the common territory of Ireland," he said. It was obvious that the Government's role as persuader was key to this. But, "we in Sinn Fein, who profess to be anti-sectarian and secular, have a duty to develop our contacts with the Unionist community. We must reconise, be sympathetic and sensitive to what Unionists are being asked to consider and commit themselves to, if a peace dialogue is to develop. ``I am calling on nationalists and republicans to be aware of what it means to be a Unionist as this century draws to a close.'' There was also a need for Unionists to seek clariflcation of the Government's longterm intentions in Ireland. It was ironic that Unionists and nationalists shared a common distrust of the Government. The remarks may have been directed at U.S. opinion, which appears to be hardening against the IRA as Albert Reynolds, the Irish leader, visits Washington seeking support for the Downing Street Declaration. House of Representatives Speaker Tom Foley, a leading Irish-American politician, conceded that the United States had been wrong to grant Mr Adams a visa this year. In the Commons Sir Patrick Mayhew, the Ulster Secretary said: "The best hope for peace is that Sinn Fein realise that violence is going to get them nowhere." Sir Patrick, during Northern Ireland questions, came under pressure from his own backbenchers for a security crackdown, and from the Ulster Unionist leader James Molyneaux to shelve discussions on possible cross-border institutions during the present round of bilateral talks with the constitutional parties. Mr Molyneaux said the parties should instead concentrate on agreeing a devolved assembly in Northern Ireland. David Trimble, Ulster Unionist MP for Upper Bann, told Sir Patrick to stop | Adams Seeks Policy Change on Northern Ireland |
FBIS3-19786_0 | Language: German Article Type:BFN [Text] Bonn -- The Federal Government demands that Turkey keep its promise to grant freedom of movement to German observers at the municipal elections in the southeastern Turkish areas populated by Kurds. According to reports by the Foreign Ministry in Bonn, Ambassador to Turkey Horst Oesterhelt was instructed on Monday [21 March] to ask the Turkish Interior Ministry to "observe strictly" its promise to grant the group of observers at the municipal elections in southeast Turkey security and freedom of movement. The Foreign Ministry regrets that the Turkish promise to grant security and freedom of movement to German observers in the Kurdish areas has not been kept. The promise had been made last Friday at a meeting in Washington between Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel and his Turkish counterpart Hikmet Cetin. Kinkel sent a reminder telegram to Ankara on Saturday, when the arrest of the observers became known. A delegation from Mainz and Wiesbaden that is to monitor the human rights situation at the Kurdish Nevruz New Year celebrations has arrived in Kurdistan, in contrast to other human rights groups. In a telephone conversation, one of the participants said the delegation is in the Batman region and wants to go on to Kozluk after the elections to prepare a twin city program. The six-member delegation, including Friedel Gruetzmacher, land parliament group chairperson of the Mainz Greens, said they can move about freely, but are being monitored by police. | Observers Reportedly Restricted in Turkey Kinkel Sends Telegram |
FBIS3-19795_0 | Language: English Article Type:BFN [Andrew Grice and Michael Prescott report: "Tories Want Stronger Euro-veto for UK"] [Text] A confidential survey of grassroots Conservative opinion shows overwhelming opposition to any watering down of Britain's powers to veto European Community legislation. Instead, a majority of Tory activists actually wants the government's blocking powers to be increased. The Central Office survey of 3,400 Tory party members across Britain has been leaked to THE SUNDAY TIMES and its findings sent to John Major and Douglas Hurd, the foreign secretary. Further evidence of Tory opposition to any dilution of Britain's remaining sovereignty comes from a poll of 70 backbench Conservative MPs, conducted by THE SUNDAY TIMES over the past three days. This shows a 3-1 majority against any change in the present voting system in the EC Council of Ministers, the [European] Union's key decision-making body. Both surveys will increase party pressure on Hurd not to give ground at a critical meeting of European foreign ministers in Brussels on Tuesday [22 March]. This has been called to find a way out of the voting rights crisis caused by the EC's pending enlargement from 12 to 16 countries following the accession of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Austria scheduled for next January. One leading Euro-sceptic MP said yesterday that Major would be forced to resign as prime minister if Britain climbed down on the issue. Major would be challenged for the party leadership in November, he said. "If this does not come out right, the bulk of the Conservative party might feel that John Major no longer served any useful purpose." Britain has 10 votes out of 76 under the current system of voting and 23 are needed for a blocking minority. When Austria and the Scandinavian countries join, the total number of votes will rise to 90 and the number required for a veto -- if Britain yields -- will rise to 27. Britain and Spain want the blocking minority to remain at 23 but are under intense pressure from the other 10 countries. The cabinet has authorised Hurd to make some concessions because, without unanimous agreement, accession of the four new members will be at risk The confidential Central Office report on 400 group discussions on European policy records "a substantial majority" in favour of larger countries, including Britain, having more voting power at the expense of smaller countries. A small majority favoured giving Britain | Survey Shows Tories Support Veto Power in EC |
FBIS3-19808_0 | Language: German Article Type:BFN [Text] Berlin (DPA) -- Several participants and policemen were injured during a demonstration of about 2,000 Kurds in Berlin on Saturday afternoon [19 March]. At least three demonstrators sustained burns from gasoline canisters, the General Students' Committee of the Technical University, one of the organizers, announced. According to the police, several policemen were injured in riots. Preliminary reports say that four demonstrators were arrested. According to the police registration, the Kurds' protest was aimed against the Turkish state. The participants in the demonstration in the West Belin inner city shouted "stop the genocide" and "German weapons out of Kurdistan." In the evening the protest march was supposed to end with a rally in Breitscheid Square. | Kurds Demonstrate Against Turkish `Genocide' |
FBIS3-19809_0 | Language: German Article Type:BFN [Text] Hamburg (DPA) -- Hundreds of Kurds on Tuesday [22 March] blocked several highways in the FRG and thus caused a traffic jam. In Hesse, Lower Saxony, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Berlin, North Rhine-Westphalia, Schleswig-Holstein, and Bremen, Kurds blocked highways and caused traffic to come to a standstill. Several dozen Kurds blocked the highway near Giessen and Frankfurt around noon. According to the traffic news, a similar action took place on the Frankfurt-Darmstadt highway. On the highway at the former Dreilinden checkpoint near Berlin, approximately 60 demonstrators set fire to car tires. The traffic came to a standstill in both directions. In the area of Cologne, traffic jams of several kilometers formed after blockades. More than 200 Kurds obstructed the traffic on the A 27 highway in Bremen and the A 7 highway near Northeim (Lower Saxony). According to the police in Breman, gasoline was spilled on the road. The most violent clashes with Kurds since the ban of the Workers Party of Kurdistan, PKK, four months ago had taken place only on the weekend. Up to 6,000 Kurds occupied the Munich-Stuttgart highway for nine hours on Saturday. On Monday evening, several thousand Kurds demonstrated in German cities on the occasion of the Kurdish spring festival "Nevruz." | `Hundreds' Block Highways |
FBIS3-19810_0 | Language: German Article Type:BFN [Excerpt] Hamburg -- There was violence and a traffic jam when Kurds blocked several highways in various laenders on Tuesday [22 March]. The traffic was blocked, car tires were set on fire, and stones thrown at police officers. Several Kurds poured gasoline all over themselves and set themselves on fire. Several others threatened to burn themselves. Numerous people were injured and over 100 persons arrested. In Hesse alone, 120 Kurds were arrested. According to police reports, they had come in private cars and a bus. The arrested persons have been charged with breach of the peace, dangerous bodily injury, duress, and dangerous obstruction of road traffic. Interior Minister Kanther wants to comment on the riots at a press conference tonight. [passage omitted] | `Several' Kurds Set Themselves on Fire |
FBIS3-19811_0 | Language: German Article Type:BFN [Text] Berlin -- In view of the Kurdish riots in the past few days, Friedrich Bohl (Christian Democratic Union), chief of the Federal Chancellery, has called for the swift deportation of Kurdish offenders. In an interview with SAT 1 this morning, Bohl stated that the Federal Government has made efforts to intervene in the Turkish-Kurdish conflict within the framework of what is possible. However, Germany cannot accept "violent actions on German soil to settle the inner-Turkish conflict at the expense of German citizens." Bohl stressed: "We must adopt tough measures to prevent that." The deportation of Kurdish offenders is possible because they are not facing persecution "in all parts of Turkey." Bohl expressed the hope that the majority of the Kurds living in Germany ensures that the reputation of the Kurds in Germany is not damaged. | Bohl Calls For Deportations |
FBIS3-19812_0 | Language: German Article Type:BFN [Text] Stuttgart (DPA) -- At a demonstration against the right-wing extremist Republikaner in Stuttgart on Friday [18 March] evening three policemen were injured by thrown stones. Two of the men had to be hospitalized. They sustained head and rib injuries. Another policeman had to receive outpatient treatment for a hand injury, according to the police. In the course of the demonstration, which had not been registered, about 80 participants were temporarily detained. Twenty of them are investigated for offenses against the law relating to civil disorders and rioting, the other 60 were detained so as to prevent further criminal acts. The protest was directed against the party's anniversary ball, celebrating its 10th anniversary in the Liederhalle congress center. Among other things, two windows of the congress center were broken by thrown stones. Furthermore, the windows of several police cars were destroyed and seven buses were damaged. According to the police, about 200 people had gathered in front of the congress center. The mostly young demonstrators, some of whom wore masks and were "ready for violence," toppled garbage cans and built barricades with them. The approximately 200 members of the protection and criminal police who were on-site were able to push the protesters away. There were no physical clashes between the police and the demonstrators. The Socialist Left FORWARD [Sozialistische Linke VORAN] had called for the rally. | Policemen Injured in Anti-Republikaner Demonstration |
FBIS3-19823_0 | Language: Italian Article Type:BFN [Interview with Democracy Party Deputy Nizamettin Toguc by Guido Olimpio in Italy; date not given: "Turkey: Six Kurdish Deputies May Face Capital Punishment" -- first two paragraphs are CORRIERE DELLA SERA introduction] [Text] Turkey is stepping up the pressure on the Kurds. Six DEP [Democratic Party] deputies have been stripped of parliamentary immunity and imprisoned. The Army has unleashed harsh repressive measures in the Kurdistan region in order to block the offensive which the PKK [Workers Party of Kurdistan] -- the anti-Ankara guerrilla movement -- is expected to launch in the spring. Nizamettin Toguc, DEP deputy for the Batman region, stated: "My six colleagues are risking the death sentence, and are being treated like members of a terrorist group. Their sole crime is having stood up for the Kurds." After being seriously wounded in a terrorist attack last September, Toguc is now in Italy to publicize his people's tragedy. [Olimpio] Is the Turkish Government's hard line inspired by the military? [Toguc] That is correct. The generals have never stopped meddling in politics and have brought a lot of pressure to bear on the authorities. It was the Security Council that drove parliament to deprive the deputies of their immunity. [Olimpio] Is Turkish Prime Minister Mrs. Tansu Ciller again playing the Kurdish trump to offset internal problems? [Toguc] The government is grappling with a profound crisis. The state's coffers are empty, particularly because of the war in Kurdistan. The government is in the difficult position of having to demand further sacrifices from the people, and having to meet the military's requests for more funds. [Olimpio] What do you think of the upcoming local elections? [Toguc] If these had been free elections, we would have supported them wholeheartedly. However, in order to prevent us from taking part in the vote, the state has attacked the DEP. Dozens of activists have been arrested, bombs have been planted in the various parties' headquarters, and candidates have been intimidated. This is why the DEP has decided not to take part in the elections, and has requested the people to abstain. [Toguc ends] An even harder line was adopted by the PKK, which warned candidates not to run in the elections: "Those who do not obey this order, will pay a high price," came the message. The resistance's dictate was accompanied by a diplomatic offensive which led PKK leader Abdullah Farhat's brother | PKK Warns Candidates Not To Run in Elections |
FBIS3-19832_0 | Language: Czech Article Type:BFN [Interview with European Commission Deputy Chairman Sir Leon Brittan by Milos Sklenka in Brussels; date not given: "An Application for Admission to the EU Is Only a Partial Step Towards Full Membership" -- first paragraph is editorial introduction] [Text] The admission proceedings aimed at the expansion of the European Union [EU] by Austria, Sweden, Finland, and Norway have not yet been completed, and new candidates -- Poland and Hungary -- are getting ready to knock on the "Brussels gates." A special HOSPODARSKE NOVINY correspondent in Brussels spoke with Sir Leon Brittan, the present deputy chairman of the European Commission and commissioner for trade, about the relations between the Twelve and the states of Central and East Europe and about the prospects for an eastward expansion of the EU. [Sklenka] It has been frequently heard that, while on the one hand the EU officially calls for trade cooperation, on the other hand it closes its markets. Particularly now, at the time of an economic recession, criticism is often heard from the East of the protectionist trade policy not only of the Union but of all the advanced industrial countries in general. How does Brussels intend to help this region without harming the West European economies? [Brittan] The liberation of trade exchange has increased markedly the volume of mutual trade, which undoubtedly can be regarded as favorable. At the same time, however, it burdened the balance of the East with a substantial deficit. From the point of view of stability in this part of Europe, this adverse trend is a very dangerous phenomenon. The EU endeavors to aid the economic and political transformation in Central and East Europe by all available means. Our hope is to reinforce concurrently political and economic relations in harmony with the integrated European policy of the Union that already incorporates the entire Central and East European region. [Sklenka] Nevertheless, it seems as if the EU lacks a sufficiently clear strategy of expanding cooperation with Central and East European countries, a will to open itself more to these countries. [Brittan] The development of any type of closer cooperation in the spheres of the economy, politics, trade, or culture is clearly defined in the association treaties and in the statement of last year's Copenhagen EU summit. To date, the Union has signed six of these treaties, and the Polish and Hungarian ones went into effect | EU Commissioner Brittan Views Eastern Enlargement |
FBIS3-19840_0 | Language: Swedish Article Type:BFN [Katarina Koivisto report: "Bright Future -- But Only Within the EU"] [Text] Joining the European Union [EU] is, from all points of view, more advantageous for Finland than staying outside, if one is to believe the studies presented yesterday. These studies were commissioned by the government from various research institutes, but Foreign Trade Minister Pertti Salolainen (Conservative) was anxious to point out yesterday that the conclusions are those of the institutions, not the government. EU membership will give new thrust to our economy and also boost employment. The study, carried out by the Industrial Research Institute [ETLA] on the economic effects of membership, indicates that, outside the EU, Finland would become a marginal region failing to attract many investors. Agriculture is recognized as a problem sector, but the same would be true if the country were to stay outside the EU. Integration is not a decisive factor in regional policy. The proper efforts of enterprises and the activities of the regions are more important. The Foreign Policy Institute survey states that EU membership will not entail problems if Europe becomes integrated and a new split into two parts can be avoided. But a new two-way split could cause Finland problems if it is in the EU, but militarily uncommitted. Minister Salolainen denies that the government has attempted to keep these studies secret or delay their publication. The idea was only to obtain a sufficient amount of information about the negotiation results to have a basis for the evaluation of the studies. Finnish membership in the EU will give a positive new thrust to the country's economy. There will also be beneficial effects on employment after a transitional period. Outside the EU, Finland would become an economic fringe area in the far north, from which foreign investors will shy away. Those are the views that Industrial Research Institute [ETLA] Director Pentti Vartia outlined to the parliament on Monday [14 March] when he presented his researchers' reports on the subject of Finland and the EU. Vartia points out that there are certain economic differences between EEA [European Economic Area] and EU membership. One of the main differences is that, as an EU member, Finland must adapt to the EMU [European Monetary Union]. The consequences of this are currently being analyzed in detail in a separate study. But the decision to opt for the EU has a direct influence | Survey Views Advantages of EU Membership |
FBIS3-19847_0 | Language: German Article Type:BFN [Studio interview with Interior Minister Manfred Kanther in Bonn by Ulrich Wickert in Hamburg on 22 March -- recorded] [Text] [Wickert] Good evening, Mr. Kanther. [Kanther] Good evening, Mr. Wickert. [Wickert] Mr. Kanther, how was the nationwide action by the Kurds possible without the police knowing about it? [Kanther] We will clear up this matter. I believe that the violent criminals must be arrested immediately. All possible investigations have to be initiated by the police. [Wickert] It would be important to know why that was possible. The Kurds started their actions several days ago. The police should have known that something might happen. [Kanther] We know that, unfortunately, the Kurdish Workers Party [PKK] can rely on good logistic structures -- not only in Germany. It is also clear that we will have to increase our efforts to obtain relevant information. The ban of the PKK was an initial step. However, it is obvious that we must adopt more far-reaching measures. [Wickert] Are the current incidents not proof that the ban of the PKK was not efficient? [Kanther] No, it is the other way around. The question is: Should we have refrained from this step and done nothing? We naturally collected information and data, and we found weapons but not enough. Thus, we must now adopt tough measures against the offenders and use this opportunity to obtain additional information on the PKK. The ban must be further implemented, and the possibilities provided by the aliens' law -- particularly deportation -- must be fully utilized. [Wickert] Do you proceed from the premise that the PKK is behind the actions? [Kanther] I am quite certain. [Wickert] Can you prove it? [Kanther] I am certain that there are no other Kurdish organizations that would have been in a position to organize rallies by hundreds of thousands of people in several large German towns last Sunday [20 March]. I am convinced that today's actions on the motorways were organized by the same group. I will do everything possible to use these data together with the interior ministers of the laender to initiate criminal proceedings and trials on the basis of the aliens' law. [Wickert] You are offering the laender the help of the Federal Border Police. Do you believe the police in the laender are not capable of solving the problem? [Kanther] No, not at all. I am convinced that my | Kanther Offers Border Police Help With Kurds |
FBIS3-19872_0 | Language: English Article Type:BFN [Excerpt] Istanbul, Mar.22 (A.A.) -- Democracy Party (DEP) members Mahmut Kilinc and Zubeyir Aydar flew to the United States today to meet with the UN Human Rights Commission and congressional members. Before their departure, Aydar and Kilinc, both from southeast Turkey, said that their objective was not to complain about Turkey. They said that they were to appear before the commission so that their friends, currently in prison, will receive a just trial. The DEP, which has 13 seats in the 450-seat parliament, has been the focus of angry public reaction in Turkey, especially because its members refused to condemn or criticize the bloody attacks of the separatist terror organization PKK [Workers Party of Kurdistan]. The PKK has been waging a bloody campaign against the Turkish state which has claimed nearly 11,000 lives over the last 10 years. [passage omitted] | DEP Deputies To Meet UN Human Rights Commission |
FBIS3-19876_0 | Language: Turkish Article Type:BFN [Interview with Kemal Burkay, leader of the Kurdistan Socialist Party, PSK, in Iraq, by Mithat Bereket in northern Iraq from the "32d Day" program; date not given -- recorded] [Text] [Burkay] We could have resorted to arms just as the PKK [Workers Party of Kurdistan]. We did not opt for terrorism because we were aware that the price would be too high and we see that now. We supported a peaceful political struggle to develop a solution to the issue until unfortunately we were stopped. Once an organization like ours, which prefers a peaceful political struggle, gets involved in terrorism it is restricted. [Bereket] You had certain opportunities, such as access to the DEP [Democracy Party] representation in the parliament. Do you think that the DEP used this opportunity to its advantage? [Burkay] I do not think that the DEP has made good use of the parliament. In the beginning they undertook demonstrative actions. They could have undertaken wiser actions. However, the DEP was not even given the opportunity for these actions. I do not think that the DEP politicians have much experience. How do you expect them to have experience when the Kurdish movement receives big [word indistinct] every three, five, or 10 years. Under these circumstances, the politically experienced are being pushed out of the political arena therefore leaving the way open for less experienced individuals who were not given an opportunity to express themselves. [Bereket] You are very cautious when assessing the recent suggestions of Apo [PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan] and are refraining from commenting on the proposals submitted by the PKK. Do you believe that the real solution lies in discussion? [Burkay] The important thing is to see that the solution to this issue lies in dialogue, whatever the reasons for the PKK proposals. The issue is political, therefore political channels should be open. As we see it, this can be achieved and the chaos of today -- the dirty war -- stopped. The prospects of the country should not be wasted. The young people of the country should not die in vain. Our country should not be transformed into hell and it is possible to prevent this. The government can prevent this. [Bereket] Would you cease your struggle for independence and coexist in Turkey if the government grants you the right to establish Kurdish schools, television, and radio? [Burkay] Being considered | PSK Leader on Terrorism, Politics |
FBIS3-19881_0 | Language: German Article Type:BFN ["now" report: "EU Council of Ministers Reaches No Result in Dispute Over Blocking Minority"] [Excerpt] Brussels, 22 March -- At the fourth meeting in three weeks of the foreign ministers of the European Union (EU), held on Tuesday [22 March], no result was achieved in the dispute over the future blocking minority in the Council of Ministers. After several hours of talks Foreign Minister Kinkel said in the afternoon: "I do not see any progress here or any chance of a breakthrough today." In the evening the efforts of Greek European Affairs Minister Pangalos, current president of the EU Council, failed to persuade the foreign ministers of Britain and Spain, Hurd and Solana, to accept a compromise with the other 10 EU partners and would-be members Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Austria on the issue of the blocking minority in an enlarged EU. Already the three previous rounds of talks in the Council of Ministers had failed because of London and Madrid's refusal to accept a change in the blocking minority from the current 23 out of 76 votes to a future 27 out of 90 votes. After an agreement had been reached with Norway on the fishery dispute, membership negotiations with the three Scandinavian countries and with Austria were concluded last week, with the exception of the issue of the future rules for voting in the Council of Ministers. After the public controversy about Foreign Minister Kinkel's way of conducting negotiations during the membership talks, on Tuesday the German minister and his French colleague Juppe demonstratively went to the meeting in Brussels with a coordinated position. [passage omitted] | FRG, France Coordinate Position |
FBIS3-19884_0 | Language: German Article Type:BFN [News conference by German Chancellor Helmut Kohl with foreign and domestic correspondents in Bonn on 23 March -- live] [Excerpts] [Kohl] Ladies and Gentlemen, let me start with a comment on the recent violence and the highway blockades by the Kurd extremists. The terrorism by these groups has taken on a new dimension. It is an unacceptable abuse of our hospitality that we, under no circumstances will or can accept. The perpetrators must be aware that they will have to expect tough punishments and also deportation. We will have to see whether the current law on foreigners offers a sufficient basis. If this is not the case, we will have to look at changes to the law as soon as possible. I think the talks that the federal interior minister is having today with his colleagues from the federal states will also bring progress on this. Here in Germany the federal states are primarily responsible for public security and law and order. For this reason I want to appeal to the federal states here to do justice to their responsibility for peace within the country. I also want to offer the closest possible cooperation with the federal government. We will grant the federal states, if they wish it, all the support that is necessary. Approximately 1.8 million Turkish citizens live in Germany, about 450,000 of them being Kurds and, according to our information, about 40,000 of these Kurds are PKK [Kurdistan Workers Party] sympathizers. For decades we have been living in peace with the great majority of our fellow Turkish citizens with good neighborly relations. Things have to stay this way. Precisely for this reason we have to protect ourselves from a violent minority and, if necessary, take severe measures against them. Anyone who plays down and tolerates the terrorism by foreign extremists, supports xenophobia and thus does the peaceful majority of our Turkish fellow citizens no favor. We all want Germany to remain a foreigner-friendly country in the future. Our state based on the rule of law is obliged to protect the lives, the health, and the property of all the people living here. This applies to German citizens and to foreigners. This means our police officers have to provide a particularly difficult and frequently dangerous service. They must be aware that the large majority of the German population and the German Government support them | Kohl News Conference Views Kurds, EU, D-Day |
FBIS3-19885_4 | idly in government stock. [Riva] I understand that, but would a rather more expansive policy not have major repercussions on inflation and public finances, which are already in a precarious state? [Visentini] Assuming that inflation at acceptable levels is always better than recession, I would like to make it clear that the public finance situation would derive substantial advantages from a growth directed toward improving the situation of those earning the lowest wages. Let us consider health, for instance. As long as there are a lot of poor people, public finances will be burdened by expenditure on health care. By the same token, if the proportion of prosperous people is increased, so too will the number of those able to provide for themselves without burdening the state. [Riva] Professor, I feel like I am talking to a combination of Keynes and Robin Hood. [Visentini] This is no joking matter. In fact it is a matter of pursuing social equity as a means of achieving economic recovery and the recovery of the public finance situation. This country's troubles stem from the excessive rigidity of the social scale. The concentration of wealth produces neither growth nor development, and in fact weakens the very cohesion of the system. If we want to avert even worse troubles, we must increase social mobility, that is, make society as a whole more efficient. [Riva] Now perhaps I begin to understand why part of the middle class felt rather afraid when they heard you were standing as a candidate of the Left: You are outlining a political plan that challenges many social privileges and established positions. [Visentini] The nice thing about capitalism, Galbraith once wrote, is that in its evolution something always happens whereby fools and their money are always separated. This is a rather paradoxical joke, but it does make one essential point. In Italy Galbraith's law has prevailed too infrequently. Therefore, we live in a paralyzed society that has absorbed the lack of mobility between classes and placed the burden on the state budget. This is the exact opposite of what is required to ensure the vitality of a capitalist system. Therefore, it is crazy -- as well as anticapitalist -- to believe that it is possible to resolve this impasse by stubbornly defending established positions. This path leads only to economic disaster, uncontrollable social tensions, and a real crisis of the capitalist system. [Riva] | Visentini Outlines Social, Economic Ideas |
FBIS3-19889_4 | somehow come closer to it with the implementation of the Maastricht Treaty, which could potentially speed up our entry? [Kooijmans] I think that cooperation among the Visegrad Four states is very important. It could become an example of how regional cooperation may contribute to entry into the European Union. It is very important to attain the EU standard in policy regarding the environment, ecological norms in production, and so on. Close cooperation in these sectors among the Visegrad Four will enable these states to achieve this standard more quickly. The same applies for the social sphere. This involves, for example, labor safety norms. [Binar] There is a certain cooperative structure among the Benelux states. Are there any parallels between this cooperation and the cooperation among the Visegrad Four countries? [Kooijmans] Yes. In the past, the Benelux states offered the Visegrad Four countries help and advice concerning their closer cooperation. A meeting involving Visegrad Four and Benelux ministers was envisaged. However, to our surprise, the interest shown by the Visegrad Four in our experiences with Benelux was not too great. During my visits to the Visegrad Four countries, I have always said that it is very important not only that they orient themselves toward entry into the European Union, but also, at the same time, that they strengthen their economic and political ties. These countries will probably be the first ones from Central and East Europe to join the European Union. If there were a certain economic cooperative structure here, then this cooperation would make them more ready for membership in the European Union. Nevertheless, the Visegrad Four countries must not seek their future only in the European Union, but mainly in their own region. [Binar] The Czech Republic is a relatively small state. Do you not think that our interest in EU membership entails the desire to have a share of the wealth enjoyed by the other member states? [Kooijmans] It is wrong to view this as bargaining between a dwarf and a giant. It must not be forgotten that the country applying for admission is not the only one that would profit by the agreement. The benefit is mutual. I have been in the European Union for long enough to know that it is not an altruistic society. If the European Union had seen no advantages in its expansion, then it would not have begun any negotiations at all. | Kooijmans on PfP, WEU, EU-Czech Relations |
FBIS3-19895_0 | Language: German Article Type:BFN [Excerpt] Hamburg (DDP/ADN) -- Interior Minister Manfred Kanther has called for the speedy punishment of Kurdish offenders, without lengthy proceedings. "Whoever turns our aliens' legislation -- which is more liberal in Germany than anywhere else -- against us, will get an uncompromising response," he said this evening on the ARD programme "Brennpunkt." Criminal proceedings and aliens' legislation involving deportation and expulsion will have to cover the same ground where possible. The "obstacles to deportation within aliens' legislation" -- which includes "the threat of the death penalty, inhumane treatment or torture" -- must be taken into account. "If there is evidence of this in individual cases, the person cannot be deported," the politician stressed. "Our generous asylum legislation is being turned against us as a host country in an unbearable fashion through violence. Our asylum law must be supplemented by aliens' legislation," he added. Refugees and asylum-seekers could also be deported "provided they have been convicted of a serious offense." Many such offenses have no doubt been committed in the past few days. [passage omitted] | Kanther Urges Speedy Punishment of Kurd Offenders |
FBIS3-19896_0 | Language: German Article Type:BFN [Text] Contrary to initial reports, Kurds did not occupy the office of the Free Democratic Party of Germany [FDP] in Munich and St. Matthew's Church in the center of the town. According to the police, responsible officials let the Kurds in. About 20 demonstrators are in the church, and 13 in the FDP office. It was announced that the security forces are observing the situation. The Kurds stressed that they want to draw attention to the Turkish internecine war against the Kurdish people. In an interview with Deutschlandfunk this morning, the Turkish ambassador to Bonn, Oeymen, advocated the swift deportation of violent Kurdish criminals from Germany. | Police Deny FDP Office Occupied |
FBIS3-19897_1 | in the German Underground"] [Text] Frankfurt/Main -- So far, the ban on the militant Workers Party of Kurdistan (PKK) has not had any effect on the illegal activities of the Kurdish extremist organization in Germany. According to findings by the security authorities, party activities on German territory "have been continued without any restrictions" -- again also with the use of force. Thus, the PKK has, for instance, once again tried to put massive pressure on its compatriots in Germany to extort support money and membership fees from them. In addition, the PKK has meanwhile managed to establish successor organizations at the regional and local level for the 35 "workers and cultural associations," "Kurdistan committees," and "solidarity centers" that were banned by FRG Interior Minister Manfred Kanther (Christian Democratic Union) last November. Yesterday, Kanther announced a tough course against those Kurds who "variously and brutally abused" the German hospitality at the severe riots on the weekend. They must be expelled quickly. Even though in each individual case it must be investigated whether a foreigner is threatened with the death penalty in his homeland, one cannot "say at all that in Turkey all Kurds are persecuted." Yesterday, too, demonstrating Kurds blocked highways near Berlin, Bremen, Cologne, Giessen, and Frankfurt with burning car tires. Two Kurds sustained injuries when they drenched themselves with gasoline and set fire to themselves. According to the security authorities, there are still about 6,000 PKK followers operating in the FRG. Of the Kurds who live in Germany, a total of 40,000 are considered sympathizers of the Marxist-Leninist cadre party. Their goal: "Getting rid of foreign rule and reestablishing an independent Kurdish state" under the leadership of the PKK. The Chief Federal Prosecutor's Office holds the PKK responsible for most serious crimes, including murder, attempted murder, serious bodily injury, and kidnapping. The leading functionaries of the PKK, including the entire Central Committee, the European Central Committee, the Executive Committee, and the "PKK killer commandos," are members of a terrorist association, in the view of the Karlsruhe office. The ideological justification of the many violent crimes committed on German territory is provided by the "People's Liberation Army" (ARGK) of the PKK, which accuses the FRG of being responsible for the persecution of the Kurds because of its arms deliveries to Turkey. The "National Liberation Front of Kurdistan" (ERNK) has declared Germany to be "war enemy number two," just after Turkey. | 6,000 PKK Members in Country |
FBIS3-19903_1 | in the fall. In the 1970's it was over 90 percent. Since 1980 it has been decreasing. In the Allensbach surveys of 1993 only 73 percent on the average still intended to vote for the Union [Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union--CDU/CSU] or the SPD [Social Democratic Party of Germany]. Those who turn away from the people's parties do so mostly to give their vote to a smaller party. Only a few stay away from an election out of protest. Nonvoters are, for example, young people who as yet have little interest in politics and for whom voting is not yet civic duty and habit. Or they are elderly women, who after the death of their husbands no longer go to vote because no one takes them along. Nonvoters mostly have no interest in politics. They frequently come from the lowest social strata. For the heroic, protesting "party of nonvoters" there is very little left. Why does the voter vote the way he votes? A public opinion researcher who inquires directly into the reason for a voting decision could just as well ask: "Why are you Catholic?" or "Why are you Protestant?" Such questions do not lead to anything, for hardly anyone would answer: "Because I was born into a Catholic (or Protestant) family." But in many cases this would be the right answer. How, then, are the reasons for a voting decision to be recognized? "What on the whole was your family's political attitude, how far positioned to the left, in the center, or the right?" it was asked in February and March 1994. And: "How would you describe your own political position?" It became evident that in most cases the political position of the parents continued with the children. If, for example, a family is positioned "strongly to the left," the children in 4 of 10 cases, too, are positioned strongly to the left. Only 11 percent of the children from such families acknowledge themselves as belonging to the center. But in the political center or on the right, too, the generation of the parents in most cases passes on its views. Whether people vote regularly, too, is influenced by whether father and mother regularly went to vote. The much used concept of "political culture" really does apply in voting. Because tradition is so important, it is frequently impossible to uncover rational reasons for voting decisions through direct questions. | Poll on Voter Turnout, Party Support |
FBIS3-19930_0 | Language: Turkish Article Type:BFN [Commentary by Taha Akyol: "To the Polls"] [Text] The PKK [Workers Party of Kurdistan] terrorist organization and the Democracy Party [DEP], which decided to boycott the elections in line with the instructions of the PKK, are trying to prevent people from voting in the upcoming elections. Kemal Burkay, who has never been involved in terrorism, on the other hand, has made a different appeal. Burkay's PSK [Socialist Party of Kurdistan] issued this statement: "During the nationwide local elections to be held on 27 March, support progressive, patriotic, and democratic candidates. If there are no such candidates in your area, then cast an invalid vote." It is clear that these remarks defy the PKK. Kemal Burkay's separatist PSK has long made it clear that it is boycotting the PKK and that it will not attend its meetings. In actual fact, all Kurdish circles, who are not supporters of the PKK, are extremely uneasy about boycotting the elections. The separatist newspaper AZADI carries the following caption next to [DEP leader] Hatip Dicle's picture: "Those who effectively eliminated the People's Toil Party by attaching it to the Social Democratic Populist Party in the past, have now effectively terminated the DEP by withdrawing it from the elections." Groups, which display hardly any differences with regard to ideological fanaticism, but which differ on whether to resort to terrorist or democratic methods, will present an interesting picture at the elections: If the polls yield an exceptional number of invalid votes, over and above the normal levels, this will be an indication of the mass support for Kemal Burkay and anti-PKK separatists. Although the PSK statement appeals for votes to "progressive, patriotic" candidates, if such candidates exist, the uncertainty with regard to these qualities and the differences in the number of invalid votes in the 27 March elections will give us an indication about the power of the appeal. Low participation rates, on the other hand, will allow us to assess the grassroots of the PKK-DEP pair. Of course, the PKK is a terrorist organization. In places where terrorism is effective, it will be necessary to significantly deduct a "terrorist share" from nonvoter numbers. In any case, if the PKK and the DEP had believed that they would receive significant votes, would they have decided to boycott the elections and threatened the candidates "to face the consequences if they participate in the elections?" | Commentary Views Upcoming Elections |
FBIS3-19945_0 | Language: Turkish Article Type:BFN [Unattributed report: "PASOK and PKK Cooperate"] [Text] The Greeks have created opportunities for militants of the Workers Party of Kurdistan [PKK] to carry out their activities in Greece. They have also provided funds for the PKK and supported that organization in the international domain. Many Greeks participated in the rally the PKK militants organized in Germany for "Freedom to Kurdistan" and carried banners of the Greek Panhellenic Socialist Movement [PASOK]. They chanted slogans against Turkey, which they described as the "common enemy." Meanwhile, it is common knowledge that the Greeks facilitate efforts by PKK militants to escape from Turkey through the Greek islands in the Aegean Sea. It will be recalled that several Greek deputies and generals visited PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan in the al-Biqa' Valley some time ago. They informed him that they will give every kind of support to PKK's "justified" struggle against Turkey. Meanwhile, the Greeks are trying to establish a radio for the PKK in Greece. The PKK radio will be in an area close to the Turkish border and will broadcast on the FM band. Furthermore, they have allowed the PKK to open an office in central Athens. It has been reported that relations between the Greek Cypriot side and the PKK go far beyond the visit of Greek Cypriot deputies to PKK camps and the opening of a PKK base in south Cyprus. The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs contacted the Colt [as published] firm some time ago to convey the serial numbers of M-16 rifles the Turkish security forces impounded from PKK militants and ask for information on the country that purchased them from that firm. The officials responded by disclosing that the rifles in question were sold to south Cyprus. | Greek `Support' for PKK Detailed |
FBIS3-19946_1 | said in a written statement that great achievements had been made in the struggle against terrorism and that the PKK [outlawed Workers Party of Kurdistan] had been severely damaged by recent military operations. Mentese said that in last week's operations 78 terrorists had been killed and 82 captured and added: "Thanks to the decisive policies, both at home and abroad, followed by the government since coming to power, great progress has been made in the fight against terrorism." In the provinces of Erzurum, Kars and Ardahan, 53 terrorists were killed and 66 captured, in Agri two were killed and 19 captured, in Tunceli 12 killed, in Mus three killed, in Kahramanmaras eight killed, in Igdir 16 captured and in Icel 36 terrorists were captured, making a total of 160. Five terrorist hideouts were discovered and 103 people were arrested for giving aid to terrorists. Mentese said "By returning the terrorists, the Iranians have once more demonstrated their willingness to cooperate in the struggle against the PKK." Three rocket launchers, 20 rockets, 28 rifles, five pistols, 22 grenades, documents, food, clothing and medical equipment were seized during the operations. Interior Minister Mentese said that with the support of the legislature, the judiciary, the executive, the media and the public, the issue of terrorism would be erased from the agenda and that the peace and trust deserved by the people would be established for good. It was said that security precautions were tightened due to the upcoming elections and the Newroz celebrations. In a statement from the Emergency Rule Region Governor's office the deaths of 18 terrorists in clashes with security forces in the provinces of Hakkari, Sirnak and Tunceli were reported. One of the dead was reported to be a high ranking member of an outlawed leftist organization who had escaped from Nevsehir prison some time ago. Two children named Saddulah Gokyavas and Nihat Aydin were killed in an explosion in a village in Bingol. It was said that the explosion might have been due to a mine or bomb left by soldiers. The mayor of Bingol, Selahattin Kaya confirmed the news. The soldiers had apparently dug a trench while they were in the area and had afterwards left. The explosion took place while the children were playing. The bodies of the children were taken to Bingol but it was reported that there was trouble at the scene of the autopsy. | Interior Minister Reports on PKK Casualties |
FBIS3-19950_1 | with understanding. The prime minister pointed to the detailed statement on sovereign rights over energy resources, new arrangements for northern agriculture, and the fact that Norway's arrangements for the administration of fisheries resources will form the basis for the EU's fisheries policy in northern waters. On the subject of the controversial fisheries agreement, she said that Norway has ensured "its right of ownership over our share of fish resources," that the administration policy in northern waters will be continued after a transitional period, and that there will be duty-free access to the EU market for fish and fish products. The prime minister categorically rejected the notion that Norwegian fishermen will have competition in their fishing waters: No one will be allowed to fish for fish to which Norway has the rights today. As in the past we will own over 98 percent of our share of cod in northern waters, and it is therefore not the case that Spaniards or others can threaten the resource base of Norwegian fishermen, she said. Only on one point did she declare herself "not fully satisfied" -- Ireland's freedom to fish its mackerel quota in the North Sea for part of the year. Around 85 percent of the land under agricultural cultivation in Norway has been classified as production areas with special difficulties. The prime minister also stressed the new system of support for northern agriculture, which embraces the whole of northern Norway and parts of southern Norway. The government is "confident" that it will be possible to carry out the necessary reorganization of Norwegian agriculture in such a way that "new development possibilities" are guaranteed. A basis for Norway's membership application was the Maastricht Treaty's goal of political, economic, and monetary union. Yesterday the prime minister focused on the goals of a reduction in the public budget deficit, low inflation, low interest rate levels, and a stable exchange rate. She called these central elements in an economic policy for full employment. According to the government, a common currency will prevent speculation against individual currencies. Yesterday Gro Harlem Brundtland concentrated on individual elements in the agreement, but she also stressed her fundamental argument for saying yes to the EU -- Norway will have greater influence if it is a member than if it remains outside. "We are not giving away our right of self-determination if we become an EU member -- we strengthen our | Norway's Brundtland Praises EU Membership Deal |
FBIS3-19963_3 | to national finances or economic and commercial interests. CONFIDENTIAL: the compromise of this information or material would be likely: materially to damage diplomatic relations (ie cause formal protest or other sanction); to prejudice individual security or liberty; to cause damage to the operational effectiveness or security of UK or allied forces or the effectiveness of valuable security or intelligence operations; to work substantially against national finances or economic and commercial interests; substantially to undermine the financial viability of major organisations; to impede the investigation or facilitate the commission of serious crime; to impede seriously the development or operation of major government policies; to shut down or otherwise substantially disrupt significant national operations. RESTRICTED: the compromise of this information or material would be likely: to affect diplomatic relations adversely; to cause substantial distress to individuals; to make it more difficult to maintain the operational effectiveness or security of UK or allied forces; to cause financial loss or loss of earning potential to or facilitate improper gain or advantage for individuals or companies; to prejudice the investigation or facilitate the commission of crime; to breach proper undertakings to maintain the confidence of information provided by third parties; to impede the effective development or operation of government policies; to breach statutory restrictions on disclosure of information; to disadvantage government in commercial or policy negotiations with others; to undermine the proper management of the public sector and its operations. Notes to Editors 1. The existing protective marking system comprises a classification system of four levels relating to national security, complemented by a complex range of privacy markings (eg COMMERCIAL IN CONFIDENCE, MANAGEMENT IN CONFIDENCE) relevant to other sensitive information. These markings will be replaced from 4 April 1994 by a single system of protective markings that encompasses the whole range of information and other assets held by government. 2. The definitions on which the current system is based are: --TOP SECRET: "causing exceptionally grave damage to the nation" --SECRET: "causing serious injury to the interests of the nation" --CONFIDENTIAL: "being damaging to the interests of the nation" --RESTRICTED: "being undesirable in the interests of the nation" Privacy markings cover lower levels of damage, or harm to interests narrower than that of the nation as a whole. 3. The new markings retain the same labels as the old classifications, but the definitions have been elaborated so as to encompass the threats to government information both | Government Revises Security Classification System |
FBIS3-19969_0 | Language: German Article Type:BFN [Text] A German television team (Spiegel-TV) was arrested by the Turkish Army in the southeast of Turkey, an area mainly inhabited by Kurds, and released after eight hours. Correspondents Michael Enger, Corinna Gutstatt, and Hans-Peter Weymar said in a telefax sent from Diyarbakir on Thursday [24 March] that they were blindfolded and taken from near Lice to Hazro. Film material and personal notes were forcefully taken from them. Their hands were tied behind their backs during several interrogations. They were taken to Diyarbakir and released that evening. The television crew, which wanted to do a program on the Nevruz spring festival last Monday and the municipal elections in Turkey next Sunday, had already been attacked once while they were filming last Sunday. In their telefax, they also say the Turkish Army is continuing its operations against the Kurdish civilian population with undiminished violence. Villages are systematically destroyed and burned, and people are mistreated, killed, and driven out. With the election approaching, violence against international observers is becoming increasingly widespread, the correspondents say. A Finnish observer delegation was also detained for a day. | Turkish Army Detains German TV Crew |
FBIS3-19970_0 | Language: German Article Type:BFN [Excerpt] Bonn -- The Federal Government wants to conclude an internationally binding agreement with Turkey under which rioters deported from Germany must not be punished by death. Interior Minister Manfred Kanther said on Westdeutscher Rundfunk [radio station] on Thursday [24 March] that he has spoken to Foreign Minister Kinkel about negotiating a "deportation agreement" with Ankara. In this agreement, the Turkish government is to promise that deported Kurds will not face death sentences for previous offenses committed in Turkey. With such an agreement, which he thinks Ankara will keep, the German law on foreigners could be enforced "much more intensively," Kanther said. Yekta Guengoer Oezden, president of the Turkish Constitutional Court, told DPA in Ankara, that Turkish justice guarantees "the right to defense, including the right to look for appeal, no less than German law does." If cases of torture occur "now and again," the "ignorant persons responsible" are tried for undue use of authority and punished, Oezden said. Onur Oeymen, Turkey's ambassador to Bonn, speaking on Deutschlandfunk radio, confirmed his country's willingness to fight terrorists with the means of a constitutional state. In spite of these promises, the church charity Caritas and Alliance 90/Greens warned against tightening deportation practices. Following the decision by the federal and laender governments to use all means of deportation for violent Kurds, Caritas President Hellmut Puschmann called on the state to "be moderate and renounce revenge." Greens politicians Angelika Beer and Claudia Roth demanded that deportations be halted "as long as there is no sign of rule of law and human rights in Turkey." After the promise not to use any arms from Germany against Kurds, everybody knows what Turkish promises are worth. [passage omitted] | Kanther Seeks `Deportation Agreement' With Turkey |
FBIS3-19971_0 | Language: German Article Type:BFN [Text] Bonn -- The state secretaries of the federal and laender Interior Ministries have agreed to use more severe measures against the Workers Party of Kurdistan (PKK), following the recent riots. After a three-hour meeting, Kurt Schelter, state secretary in the Federal Interior Ministry, said on Wednesday [23 March] evening that organizations replacing the banned PKK should be monitored and prevented with all suitable means. Prosecution of the perpetrators is to concentrate on PKK ringleaders; demonstrations and marches are to be documented in detail; and proceedings for determining membership in a terrorist organization are to be instituted. In addition, labor exchange bureaus and trade supervisory authorities should search for people working illegally in order to deprive the PKK of its areas of retreat, Schelter said. All vandals should be deported, if possible. The laender interior minister called on the Federal Government to ask Ankara to make sure that those deported do not face death penalties, torture, or inhuman treatment. The laender governed by the Social Democratic Party spoke out for halting German arms supplies to Turkey. Bavaria demanded a broader definition of breach of the public peace. This offense should also be laid down as a compelling reason for deportation in the law regarding foreigners. | Government, Kurdish Officials Note Anti-PKK Measures Laender Ministers Urge `Severe Measures' |
FBIS3-19972_0 | Language: German Article Type:BFN [Text] Bavaria's Interior Minister Guenter Beckstein (Christian Social Union) has announced amendments to the law regarding foreigners, following the latest riots by Kurds. He agrees with Interior Minister Manfred Kanther (Christian Democratic Union) that breach of the public peace must become an imperative reason for deportations in the future, Beckstein said in Nuremberg on Wednesday [23 March]. If they commit severe crimes, even asylum-seekers who have already been recognized as such must be deported. This is also possible without amending the law, because under the Geneva Convention these recognized asylum-seekers "impair the country's security and have forfeited the right to be admitted." Turkey has promised not to threaten those deported with death sentences, nor with "inappropriate treatment." | Government, Kurdish Officials Note Anti-PKK Measures Bavarian Advocates Deportation |
FBIS3-19973_0 | Language: German Article Type:BFN [Text] The Association of Organizations From Kurdistan (KOMKAR) has disassociated itself from the violence committed by Kurdish demonstrators in Germany. While these acts may achieve welcome effects for the media, they by no means bring about the solidarity the Kurds want, the association said in Bonn on Wednesday [23 March]. KOMKAR is not associated with the Workers Party of Kurdistan (PKK), which has been banned in Germany. However, the association spoke out against deporting the perpetrators to Turkey: They would fall "directly into the hands of the torturers and executioners." | Government, Kurdish Officials Note Anti-PKK Measures Kurdish Organization Criticizes Violence |
FBIS3-19974_0 | Language: German Article Type:BFN [Text] Bonn (DPA) -- Representatives of the banned Workers Party of Kurdistan [PKK] associations have put the blame for the latest riots and street blockades on the government. Bremen lawyer Eberhard Schultz stated to journalists in Bonn on Thursday [24 March] that without German arms deliveries to Turkey, which have been carried out for many years, the ban of the PKK, and the prevention of the Kurdish New Year celebrations, there would have been no violent clashes and nobody would have been killed or injured. "German policemen are always used against the Kurds on behalf of the Turkish military regime," Schultz said. The representatives for the Kurds called on the FRG Government to rescind the PKK ban. Moreover, it is to refrain from deporting Kurdish demonstrators as planned because they are threatened by capital punishment in Turkey. Instead, Bonn is to advocate a peaceful, political solution of the conflict, it was stated. | Government, Kurdish Officials Note Anti-PKK Measures PKK Criticizes Government |
FBIS3-19975_0 | Language: German Article Type:BFN [Text] Augsburg -- According to Peter Frisch, deputy president of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution [BfV], the extremist Kurds of the banned Workers Party of Kurdistan (PKK) receive massive help from the terrorist Red Army Faction (RAF). In an interview with AUGSBURGER ALLGEMEINE, Frisch said that one must assume that "the PKK gets financial, logistical, and personal assistance from RAF sympathizers, maybe also from the commando echelon." There have been several "solidarity actions" for the PKK by the RAF scene, Frisch said. | BfV Official Claims RAF Assists PKK |
FBIS3-19987_7 | political program for the region, but we have not been able to implement it yet. [Maxton] The SHP [Democratic Populist Party], which differs from your party on several points, is pursuing a similar policy of decentralization and democratization. Are you holding talks on this subject? [Gunel] As far as declarations are concerned, even the ANAP [Motherland Party] is proceeding the same way we are. One can even say that ANAP is further ahead in this respect. But I very much doubt if these parties have much respect for the protection of human rights. When someone deprives someone else of his natural right, the right to life, how can he then say "man's water should be pure and his streets clean?" The protection of life comes first. Only then can one do something about living standards. [Maxton] Were there negative reactions to the DEP's decision to withdraw for the elections? Originally there was merely talk of withdrawing from the elections in Kurdistan. [Gunel] On the contrary, the general impression is that the reactions were positive. Even those who at first wanted to vote SHP are now saying that they woid vote for us as a protest against the arrests. I think we are capable of influencing 60 percent of our electorate. The remaining 40 percent will vote differently through fear of punishment. Even in this phase we will have little chance of publicity. But when we do reach our voters, I think they will all either boycott the election or deliberately cast invalid votes. On 9 March, our party congress will decide what to do next, and the party organizations will comply with what has been decided. I think this protest will be effective, and that we will succeed in convincing Turkish and international public opinion that these elections are illegitimate. The illegitimacy of the elections will be a subject of discussion from the very first month onward, and Turkish public opinion will become increasingly convinced that they are not legitimate, not only because of the persecution, but also because the DEP is the only party that can legitimately lend political expression to the situation of the Kurdish people. If the DEP cannot take part in the elections, then they cannot be legitimate elections. [Maxton] A debate has been going on inside the DEP for a long time now on whether or not the party should take part in the elections | Pro-Kurd Turkish Party Chief Interviewed |
FBIS3-19987_11 | state, but you might be able to make an appeal to the PKK through the media or some other channel. [Gunel] No, in fact it is very difficult for us to make contact with the PKK. But in the cities we are organized as a legal party within the framework of the law in force, and theoretically we should have access to the state. In any case that is our duty, and we are doing our best to make the state see our way of thinking. On the other hand, the PKK, with its methods of action, has completely outlawed itself from the system, and makes its own decisions internally, quite independently of the state or other institutions. As part of our peace campaign and in connection with the elections, we have called on both sides to cease fire, telling them that the bloodshed must stop and a peaceful solution must be found. We actually approached both sides with our message, and for this very reason a court action has been undertaken against us, on the grounds that we are equating the state with the PKK. Had we known what would happen, we would have addressed the appeal only to the state! [Maxton] Soon after the DEP began to explain to the public why it felt obliged to withdraw from the elections because of the persecution, the PKK renewed its threats against Turkish parties. Does that have a negative effect on the DEP's attitude? [Gunel] The PKK has its criteria for judging what is to the advantage of the Kurds and what is to their disadvantage, and is of the opinion that the struggle is to their advantage. I am not saying whether or not that is correct, but whenever you have asked us, as DEP members, about the kidnapping of journalists and the PKK resolution about the banning of parties, we have always said that existing problems cannot be resolved by the use of force, but only by political means. [Maxton] But that segment of public opinion that sympathizes with the Kurds has not received any positive influence. [Gunel] The segments of Turkish and international society that sympathize with us have never really tried to understand us. The state and our own problems and deficiencies have prevented us from expressing ourselves properly. But society has also failed to inquire whether we are really the way the state makes us | Pro-Kurd Turkish Party Chief Interviewed |
FBIS3-19987_12 | the state! [Maxton] Soon after the DEP began to explain to the public why it felt obliged to withdraw from the elections because of the persecution, the PKK renewed its threats against Turkish parties. Does that have a negative effect on the DEP's attitude? [Gunel] The PKK has its criteria for judging what is to the advantage of the Kurds and what is to their disadvantage, and is of the opinion that the struggle is to their advantage. I am not saying whether or not that is correct, but whenever you have asked us, as DEP members, about the kidnapping of journalists and the PKK resolution about the banning of parties, we have always said that existing problems cannot be resolved by the use of force, but only by political means. [Maxton] But that segment of public opinion that sympathizes with the Kurds has not received any positive influence. [Gunel] The segments of Turkish and international society that sympathize with us have never really tried to understand us. The state and our own problems and deficiencies have prevented us from expressing ourselves properly. But society has also failed to inquire whether we are really the way the state makes us out to be. We have always been viewed in a biased manner either as a Kurdish party or as a legal branch of the PKK. If society considers our declarations correct, it should cease making its solidarity with us dependent on the PKK's conduct. It should criticize the PKK directly, not us. [Maxton] The state's intimidation of the DEP is well-known and documented. On the one hand, the state is calling upon the Kurds to defend their rights not with force, but through democratic methods; on the other hand, almost every single Kurdish organization and institution has been closed. In the end, on 2 March even the parliamentary immunity of the seven Kurdish deputies was abolished. That shows that the state does not give the Kurds much of an opportunity for political expression. [Gunel] We in the DEP have always believed that despite all intimidation, problems must be resolved by political means and legally. But how much longer will this be possible if sooner or later all the people who share this principle are wiped out or pressured into thinking differently? There will be a demand to lift the parliamentary immunity of remaining deputies. So far, 75 of our party | Pro-Kurd Turkish Party Chief Interviewed |
FBIS3-20000_0 | Language: Turkish Article Type:BFN [Telephone interview with Abdullah Ocalan, leader of the Workers Party of Kurdistan, at unidentified location, by an unidentified correspondent in Cologne; date not specified] [Text] [OZGUR GUNDEM] Your party issued a statement on this year's Nevroz celebrations. You said: "Nevroz will be celebrated in homes." What concrete measures will be taken in this direction. [Ocalan] People probably will be called on to stay at home during the day. They should light fires and gather at night. They could also fire guns if that poses no danger. The guerrillas too might carry out particular operations. This too is a form of celebration. Besides, it is not our position that "there must necessarily be a major explosion" on Nevruz. For us, every day is Nevruz. For us, Nevruz is disciplined, tactical work. We are not trying to turn particular days into days of special demonstrations. There are drawbacks in that. People must show understanding of our position, which aims at preventing massacres. There were a few massacres when an effort was made to mark 1 May [Workers Day] as a tradition in Turkey. Our decision is a precaution. That is how it should be seen. But the activities of the guerrillas will continue. [OZGUR GUNDEM] Tansu Ciller made a statement in connection with Nevruz. She said: "We were late this year but next year Nevruz will be declared a national holiday." The SHP [Social Democrat Populist Party] and MHP [Nationalist Movement Party] supported this proposal. What is the motive behind this proposal? [Ocalan] [Motherland Party leader] Mesut Yilmaz said: "It is an election bribe." Apparently, this assessment is near the truth. I do not think it came from a serious thought or as a sign of a new process. The elections are nearing and she needs votes. It might have been made with this in mind. [OZGUR GUNDEM] There will be local elections a week after Nevruz. The DEP [Democracy Party] announced that it will have no part in these elections. How would you assess those who are trying to get the votes that would have gone to the DEP? [Ocalan] There are interesting developments in this regard. The DEP has vote-winning potential, on the basis of which a game is being played. In particular, [SHP leader and Deputy Prime Minister] Murat Karayalcin is engaged in a ploy. After the DEP was eliminated from the elections, he is | PKK Leader Comments on Nevruz, Elections |
FBIS3-20001_0 | Language: Turkish Article Type:BFN [Text] The PKK [Kurdish Workers Party] is bleeding in east and southeast Anatolia. Largely deprived of logistical support, the PKK is also losing its leading cadres. Muslum Durgun, alias Dr. Baran, who was known to be [PKK leader] Abdullah Ocalan's right-hand man, recently committed suicide when the security forces cornered him during an operation. [Begin unidentified off-screen correspondent recording] The loss of logistical support is cited as the main thing causing the PKK to bleed. The organization has reportedly started sustaining losses, because it is finding difficulty in obtaining shelter, food, and militants. The latest example is the loss of Dr. Baran, who was known to be close to Ocalan. Dr. Baran, the so-called official responsible for Dersim [the Tunceli and Erzincan regions] Province, used a hand grenade to commit suicide when he was cornered in a clash with the security forces. The Interior Ministry announced that the militant using the alias Dr. Baran was found dead on 12 March 1994. According to available information, the PKK, which is gradually losing strength, is preparing for a show of force during the local elections. The PKK asked for a boycott of the elections. If the boycott succeeds, the PKK is expected to become active again to regain strength. But reports from the region show that the PKK's call for a boycott will not succeed. There is reportedly enthusiasm in party headquarters in east and southeast Anatolia three days ahead of the elections. Reports from the region indicate that the security forces have completed their preparations for dealing the final blow to the PKK soon after the local elections. [end recording] | PKK Official Reportedly Commits Suicide |
FBIS3-20015_0 | Language: Italian Article Type:BFN [Commentary by Dino Frescobaldi: "But Europe Remains Divided"] [Text] The positive conclusion of the negotiations for the admission of Austria, Sweden, Finland, and Norway to the European Union is certainly excellent news, especially in view of the present situation. But I wonder, disregarding official reactions, how the event has been received by the public in the countries of the East, which have been knocking on Brussels' door for some time. Will they perceive in it the raising of another barrier and a reaffirmation of the old divisions of the continent? Will they perceive in this enlargement to new members yet another reaffirmation of their status as second-class Europeans? When the struggle between the east and west blocs ended, many predicted that the partitioning of the old Europe into two political areas would end soon, too. Unfortunately, anyone who follows the affairs of these countries, known until recently as the Iron Curtain countries, must now acknowledge that this prediction, if not groundless, was at least premature. In practice the division remains, and is perhaps growing sharper. Just as though, where once there stood the barbed wire and watchtowers of the so-called Iron Curtain, there is still an intangible but real barrier. In so saying, I am referring not only to the economic and commercial factors that are slowing and complicating the negotiations for some of these countries' full European Union membership. Nor do I want for the moment to talk about the prospects facing the major country of the East, that is, Russia, which now seems more uncertain than ever before. Let us keep to the part of central East Europe that is closest to us and that we could therefore have expected to be within closer reach of the membership process. However, some problem signs have been emerging from there recently. They tell us that, despite everything, the two Europes remain distant, in spite of the hopes. They are political events that reveal the difficulty still being encountered by their governments' process of integration into the West European outlook and therefore suggest dangers of their lapse back toward more or less grim solutions. Let us consider, first, the case of Hungary, that is, the country that in many respects seemed one of the most "ready" and best suited to inclusion in the West European circle. Recently several dozen journalists were dismissed by the state radio and | Paper Sees Growing Division Between West, East Europe |
FBIS3-20023_0 | Language: Spanish Article Type:BFN [Excerpt] [Announcer Ana Blanco] A couple of minutes ago, during the joint news conference he held with the president of Kazakhstan, Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez said that the challenge posed by the violent act in Mexico will be dealt with calmly by the Mexican peoplen without having to change the functioning of their democracy. [Begin Gonzalez recording] The institutions in Mexico can take this very strong blow. So despite this terrible act, the process that is under way will continue nonetheless. [end recording] [Correspondent Amalia S. Sampedro] After underlining the political and economic importance of Kazakhstan for the stability of Russia and its surrounding area, Prime Minister Gonzalez outlined his support for the Cuban liberalization process. He said Spain would continue to help. He was hopeful that a free economy would herald a society with more freedom. [Begin Gonzalez recording] I think a free economy leads to a society with more freedom. I have always said that. I do not say that there is a casual effect, because I never have said that the market is a sacred cow. This is a process that has to be treated with enormous respect and with considerable calm. [end recording] [passage omitted] | Gonzalez Comments on Mexico, Kazakhstan |
FBIS3-20035_3 | something similar to the Scandinavian defense union that Sweden tried to implement during 1948-49. And this union, which, in addition to Sweden, consists of Finland, Norway, and Iceland, would serve as a link to NATO. Sundelius believes it is conceivable that the United States as well could see the benefits of such a North European security arrangement. No least owing to fears of an ever more independent EU. Few Alternatives Many Swedes would prefer security policy cooperation with the United States, which has proven to be a tested ally in difficult situations, Sundelius believes. On the other hand, he does not believe that opponents of the EU within the Social Democratic and Left Parties and the environmental movement will like a linkage with the remaining superpower, the United States. But what else is there if going into the year 2000 we are sitting outside the EU and have a Russia that might pose a threat and is revanchist as a neighbor? Ranged against Sundelus in the brochure are all of our most familiar security debaters. And the ingenuity [applied] was great when it came to finding terms of abuse for the old Swedish policy of neutrality. There is talk of a neutrality liturgy, long-term hysteria, and hidebound neutralists. There are jokes about Sweden as a once moral superpower. A title that would have fit the contents might also have been "After Neutrality" had it not been for Par Granstedt (Center Party) and Anders Ferm (Social Democratic Party), who both warn against too rapid a revision of Swedish policy. Ferm's essay accomplishes its purpose very well. In the haze, you decrease your speed and navigate slowly and cautiously. The security policy milieu is hazy and uncertain, and the government is not navigating with sufficient caution, his thesis runs. An Obvious Asset Generally speaking, all of the contributors believe that Swedish EU membership is an obvious asset for Swedish security. But several of them criticize the mumbling of politicians on this point. Where security policy is concerned, there is a democratic deficit. The biggest change in our policy in modern times has been initiated without reports and debate, Wilhelm Agrell, for example, believes. And together with him, many in the brochure call for clear answers in such processes. So the stage is set for continued debate -- unless the politicians persevere in the "conspiracy of silence" of which they have been accused. | Nordic Alliance With U.S. Seen as EU Alternative |
FBIS3-20045_0 | Language: Urdu Article Type:BFN [Text] National Assembly Speaker Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani has said Kashmir is a core issue in South Asia and the right of self-determination of the Kashmiri people has been endorsed by the UN resolutions, and a peaceful settlement of the issue on the basis of these resolutions will pave the way for normalizing relations between Pakistan and India. Addressing the 91st Conference of Interparliamentary Union in Paris, Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani said Pakistan's foreign policy reflects its desire for playing an effective role to promote the process of global peace, justice, and progress. He made it clear that Pakistan adheres to the norms of nuclear nonproliferation and reduction of arms at global level and it will accept any regional measure to prevent the proliferation nuclear weapons in South Asia on an equitable and impartial basis. The speaker said Pakistan wants to have a balance of power in the Indian Ocean so as to ensure peace in the region and utilize resources to eradicate extreme poverty, hunger, diseases, and unemployment. He said Pakistan condemns all sorts of terrorism and smuggling of narcotics and is playing an effective role in the international efforts to control them. | UNESCO IPU Conference Continues in Paris Pakistan Raises Kashmir Issue |
FBIS3-20046_0 | Language: Dutch Article Type:BFN [Article signed WDN: "Paris and Washington Unite Against Low-Wage Countries -- `New Arguments for Age-Old Protectionist Rhetoric'"] [Text] Paris/Brussels -- In the run-up to the crucial date of 15 April -- the day when the GATT agreement will be formally signed in Marrakesh, Morocco -- Paris and Washington are getting more in tune with one another. France and the United States want to act against low-wage countries which distort free trade and competition by their products, which they are able to keep cheap thanks to low wages and poor working conditions. GATT Director Peter Sutherland is warning against "simplistic arguments, which look very much like the old protectionist rhetoric." Everything points to the already very tense North-South trading relations coming under even greater pressure thanks to the new Franco-U.S. initiative. Washington and Paris want drastic action to be taken against countries which ignore international labor law and trade union rights. The arguments between the United States and Beijing about the link between the two countries' trade relations and the respect of human rights by China have not yet subsided before new trouble has broken out, this time with countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. In these low-wage countries there is no such thing as trade union rights; workers there work for starvation wages and children are still massively exploited. After France and the United States made life difficult for one another for years during the GATT's Uruguay Round, it is striking how much they agree today on the low-wage countries. Both countries have a virtually identical position on the matter, and they want action to be taken -- if necessary with economic sanctions -- against countries which do not respect labor legislation recognized under international law. The subject is on the agenda in the European Union (EU) as well. Yesterday European Trade Commissioner Leon Brittan presented a report dealing with the question. Brittan is pushing the EU governments to take a joint position in Marrakesh. The European commissioner believes the EU must demand that the World Trade Organization, which will shortly replace the GATT, should pay considerable attention in the future to violations of trade union rights throughout the world and problems like child labor, mass forced labor by prisoners and other social issues. Nevertheless Brittan does not want go as far as the French and Americans. He wants nothing to do with a crusade to | GATT: France-U.S. Agree on Low-Wage, Union Issues |
FBIS3-20052_0 | Language: German Article Type:BFN [Text] Mannheim (DPA) -- The City of Mannheim has prohibited a nationwide Kurdish demonstration announced for Sunday [27 March]. According to a joint statement by the city and the police headquarters on Friday, Mayor Gerhard Widder imposed the prohibition in the interest of public security on account of the experiences with actions of Kurdish groups. Nevertheless, the city and the police expect Kurdish actions in Mannheim during the weekend. According to the city, a Kurd gave notice of a demonstration and a mourning procession to commemorate the two Turkish women who set themselves on fire last Monday in order to protest against the situation of the Kurds in Turkey and who died of their injuries. The man who filed the notification had expected 10,000 to 20,000 demonstrators. | Mannheim Prohibits Nationwide Kurdish Demonstration |
FBIS3-20053_0 | Language: German Article Type:BFN [Excerpt] Frankfurt/Main/Hamburg (DPA) -- [Passage omitted] The riots feared during Kurdish demonstrations and rallies on Saturday [26 March] have not taken place. However, the police have not yet sounded the all-clear. In the afternoon, the traditional Newroz celebration of the Kurds began -- accompanied by several hundred policemen -- in Frankfurt/Main with much noise but peacefully. "The situation is characterized by unpredictability, fanaticism, and controlled leadership," a police spokesman said. The authorities are also prepared for activities in other places. The Frankfurt Newroz celebrations had been permitted under strict conditions. On Sunday police expect thousands of Kurds to come to Mannheim, to follow a call for a mourning demonstration for two Kurdish women from Turkey. The women had burned themselves in Mannheim in protest against the situation of their people in Anatolia. Police consider it possible that more than 20,000 Kurds will come to the rally, which was banned by the city on Friday. Units of the Federal Border Police (BGS) have been ordered to Mannheim. In Hannover about 200 people, who mainly belonged to the autonomous scene, demonstrated on Saturday against the oppression of Kurds in Turkey. In Cologne the Kurds have obviously respected the ban on demonstrations issued by the Cologne police president. Apart from a small group of Kurds carrying banners, there were no protests. Police and BGS had gathered more than 3,000 of their men in the city as a precaution. [passage omitted] | Kurds Rally; No Violence Reported |
FBIS3-20054_0 | Language: German Article Type:BFN [Text] Aachen/Kleve (DPA) -- About 300 Kurds, who came from the Netherlands and Belgium and were refused entry into the FRG on Sunday [27 March], blocked the highway border checkpoints in the Aachen three-country corner for hours out of protest. With their sitting blockade they unsuccessfully tried until noon to force permission to enter the country. A press spokesman of the Federal Border Police in Kleve stated that the Kurds, who had come from the neighboring countries in busses, do "not have any right" to enter. The Kurds obviously wanted to go to Mannheim to participate in the mourning march for the two young women who had burned themselves last week out of protest against the oppression of their people in Turkey. | Kurds Block FRG-Dutch-Belgium Border |
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