Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris

REVUE DE PRESSE-PRESS REVIEW-BERHEVOKA ÇAPÊ-RNISTA STAMPA-DENTRO DE LA PRENSA-BASIN ÖZETi
Financial Times: Çiller' s record
leaves little room for optimism
'A surfeit of inadequate leaders is perhaps Turkey's greatest handicap'
Turlcish Daily News
WASHINGTON-
In an eight-page special survey of
Turkey, the Financial Times (FT) concluded that the
oountry was faced with a choice between "a high road of
growth and stability" and "a lowroad it has chosen to
follow in recent years of instability and hardship." Th~
lead essay penned by John Barham concludes that "Mrs.
Çiller's record as prime minister.leaves little room for
optimism."
"A surfeit of inadequate leaders hie is perhaps
Turkey's greatest handicap," Barham said. 'Critics claIm
that Mrs. Çiller is an .insecure and indecisive politician
who lacks the vi~joll ànd determination of the late
President Turgut Ozal \vIIO, for aU his faults, rapidly
modernized Turkey in the' .
1980s." The FT described
main oJlposition leader
Mesut Ydinaz' performance
as "leaden."
The survey', which studies
in detaIl the current
political and economic
panorama of Turkey" presented
Kurds and Shiites as
"minorities." Gillian TeU,
writing about "confusion of
issues" in Turkey, came
across as rather confused
herself when she referred to
"religious minorities, such
as the Shia Muslims," since
in accordance with the
Lausanne Treaty of 1923,
only three non-Muslim
groups are recognized as
minorities in Turkey, i.e.
the Jews, Armenians and
the Greeks. Tett also
seemed to be much more
unforgiving of the human
rights abuses committed by
the Turkish state compared
to the similar ones committed
by the outlawed
Kurdistan Workers' Party
(PKK.) While referring to the violations of the former as
"brutal suppression of the PKK," TeU described the
PKK offenses as "human ri~ts abuses." The survey also
minimized the aspirations 01the PKK for an independent
state, or at least political autonomy, and presented the
conflict as one over 4'cultural rights." "Many Turkish
politicians fear that recognizing Kurdish cultural rights
would threaten the state," a (>icture caption read.
"However, an overwhelming majority, of .Turks believe
thatgranting Kurdish autonomYtwouldlmean,C3Y.Ïng, into
terrorism. Moreoverl.autonomy ,is,equated with!separatism
and treason," Barham noted.
FundanientaIism is winning over those "crammed into
~lums, lacking basic amenities," the survey said and
mtroduced the Refah Party as "the militant Islamic
party." "...the specter of Islamic fundamentalism is perhaps
the most warming development .... Nightmare scenarios
of :another.Algeria' or "another ~' proliferate,"
the ~ SaId. Presld~nt ~Uleyman DemIrel also received
c~nslde~ble ~Uention 1~ the surver,. His recent broad-
'sIdes agaInst Western mterference' and his claim that
the, West is trying to revive the Sevres Treaty of 1930
"have left many Western diplomats b4fflea." the FT
said. Demirel is quoted as saying "if the West does not
understand Turkey then Turkey will break off from the
West anyway."
Although "Mr: ~l' s coID!ßents may endear him
to many Turks, It ,does little to Improve understanding
between Turkey and Europe," the FT said. Demirel's
anti-W~tern co~ments "may simply ,-eprcsent the views
of an agmg patriarch, but they may also reflect a canny
perception of a new p'0litical wmd blowing through
Turkey," Teu said. 'For, as the last 30 years have
shown, the one quality that Mr. Demirel undoubtedly has
is that of a political survivor."
The economic panorama
Among many succinct observations the authors made,
the FT sl!l"'ey stressed the following points concerning
the. Turkish economy,: l) PrivatizatIon is 8.0ing at a
snaIl s.p~ce. Out of this y~'s target of $5 bIllion, only
$70 nnllion has been realIzed from "a few small-ticket
, . operations."
2) Political ineptitude,
corruption and 'favoritism
handicaps economic recovery
as weIL
3) "Recklessly mismanaged
state banks" do not
serve the best interests of
Turkey. The banking business
is not healthy. Medium
'and small private Turkish
banks are 6ad news. Most
are technically bankrupt,
according to one London
banker.
4) Turkey will be hit by
energy blackouts next year.
The mfrastructure is not adequate
despite the fact that
demand for energy grows
steadily. There are many
projects started and left
Incomplete. "A diplomat
says there are 4,000 unfinished
infrastructure projects
in Turkey... The government
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