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

REVUE DE PRESSE~PRESS REVIEW~BERHEVOKA ÇAPÊ~RIVISTA STAMPA~DENTRO DE LA PRENSA~BASIN ÖZETi
Turkish Daily News
WEDNESDAY.MAY 10.1995
Demirel says Turkey faces
'conspiracy' from West
. Plan afoot:' 'Am I supposed to applaud those who
.say, "the state ofhuman rights has reached such a
'level in Turkey that it should not be allowed to
conclude a customs union"? These are just efforts to
prevent Turkey from emtering the customs union.'
Turkish Daily News .
ANKARA- President Sijleyman
Demirel said on Monday evening that
Turkey,is faced with a Western conspiracy
to prevent the country from entenng a
customs union with Europe.
Demirel added that keeping Turkey
away from the European Umon and trying
to suspendjts membership in the Council
o(Europe;as recent developments suggest;
are part of this conspiracy. "I am not
sayingwe should tear Turkey away from
Europe. But Tu~key does not owe its existence
to Europee~ther .... I say this for,a
fact. We are not a hunch on anyone s
back. My coun!ry is not indexed to the
Westeither. ... My citizenshould know
that my s~ate is' staJ:lding}lpright because
of my nation," DeIlllrel said.
President Demirel made these remarks
on Iivé television while being interviewed
, ~12~e Qai~~I~r current~affai~s progra~
DemIrel said that the Turkish state IS
responsible for protecting its flag, its
nation, and that there were efforts underway.to
tear away part of these lands and
to raise a new flag there.' ,
"Some people are lookingupon
Turkey's efforts combatting those people
trying to raise a new flag as if it were a
case of oppression by the Turkish
Republic against' some people and as if
some other people had taken up arms on
behalf of these oppressed people,"
Demirel said.
"Am I supposed to applaud those who
say, 'the state of h~man rights h~s
reached such a level ln Turkey that It
should not'be allowed to conclude a customs
union' These are just efforts to pre- '
vent Turkey from entering the customs
. union," Demirel added. About the socalled
"Sevres debate" started by remarks
, he made in last week's intèrvlews with
the press, Demirel said that there were
"certain signs" emerging today, sugg~sting
that this is what had lead him to bnng
up the wh~le issu~. . .
Sevres IS the dlstnct near Pans where
an agreement was drafted by the allies 'at
the end of World War One which divided
Turkey and rores'aw the establishment of
a Kurdish and an 'Arm~nïan state In
Anatolia. '
The Treaty of Sevres, as i,t,came to be
known, ~ecame a deàd letter, following
the Turkish War of Independence and the
&tatusand borders of moàern Turkey were
determined later under the Lausanne
Treaty. ,.
Referring to the debate over, his com-
, ments, Demirel said, "Rather than use this
, topic, those running t.he country should
recogriize that certain things are happen-
, ing before they' become oyen threats and
, take the necesslllYprecautIOns."
'~Turkey has many enemies but is
standing firm despite these enemies. I am
,not the one creating these enemies,"
, Demirel said. Maintaming that the West
had started identifying Turkey' s fight
against.terrorism with the Klirdlsh issue,
Demirel said that under the Lausanne
Treaty Kurds were considered equal citizens
of Turkey, having, fought side by
side with the Turks.to liDerateAnatolia.
He said that he was telling Turkey's,
critics in the West that tostart givin,gpeople
of another origin the status.of Illlnority
now, '''would i~eearably upset the present
stability and VitalityofTurlœy." ,
"We are telling them (the West) that
, these people (the Kurds) are the owners of
, the whol~ of thi,s co.untry. Why should
they be given mmonty nghts and màde
..' second-class? Anyway, this would lead
matters in another direction, to a federation,to
Turkey's division," Demirel said.
Touching on another debate his
remarks started last week, Demirel repeated
his view that the manner in which the
Turkey-Iraq border wasdrawn up at the
time was wrong. "This borde~ i~ v.;rong. .
Let someone come up and say It ISnght. l',
am saying this border is wrong, correct it.
" But not unilaterally. Not by ùsing force.
Do it with the state concerned. You could
. do it this year, you could do it 10years
, from now. This can be done perfectly
well by peaceful means and in a reason~
able ,manner. Iwill continue telling my
'
peopie what is ri~h,t,"Demirel said.
But, he said, 'this is not a matter for
today, but wàs a matter for yesterday. It is
a political matter.The time will come and
what has to be done can be done through
peaceful means," Demirel added.
Asked whether "the matter had been
settled" with Turkey's cross-border operation
in northern Iraq against separatist
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) mili-
.tants camped in the region, Demirel conceded
that it had not been.
"No, it has not finished, Five hundred
and eighty-eight people (PKK militants)
have been found dead, but 2,000 of them
have gone elsewhere," he said.
. Responding to a question on efforts to
abolish Article 8 of the Law on
Combatting Terrorism, thus broadening
the scope of freedom of expression,
Demire[ said that during an address to
Parliamenton September l, 1994, he said
that "while everything must be said in
Turker, the limits for this must also be
found, ' "I found (the limit). The U.S. has
a Supreme Court. Following certain inci-
. dents, certain people, especially those
engaged in disseminating communist propaganda,
were punished .... This is what
you call freedom of expression: There is
nothing to prevent free thought. The issue
is dissemination. Pr.ovocation, getting
people, masses to fl*ht each other .:...:.
these must not happen, Demirel said.
He added that first terrorism must end,
"And then what had to be done must be
done." ,
'
"I would oppose anything that will
obstruct the fight against terronsm or anyth!ng
tha~,will ~eillœn, those conducting
this fight, he Said, .. ,
. Asked if he could saythat "Turkey was
in agood state today," Demirel said if he
answers in the affirmative the opposition
would oppose him, and if he answered
that the country was in good hands, others
would emerge to criticize him.
"But am I afraid. Am I afraid to say
that it is in good hands? How can you as~
me to comment on 150 percent inflation? .
Minus 6 percent growth...? This is another.
matter. But how can I say that it is in a
good state? In a countrywhere people are
confronted with acost of living ,problem,
when there are people crushed under the
cost of living... is there,anyone who can
say it is good? When I say this I express a
truth. I cannot say, 'if you canno/eat
bread then eat cake, ", Demirel said.
Asked if there was the need for a new
election Demirel preferred to give an indirect
answer.
"I. am not saying 'the country is being
administered badly, I am saying it could
be run better," he said adding that "he was
not stickin~ a pin into anyone."
"Turkey s courts must be run better, its
hospitals must be run better. How can we
say that everything is perfect?"
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