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

REVUE DE PRESSE-PRESS REVIEW-BERHEVOKA ÇAPÊ-RIVISTA STAMPA-DENTRO DE LA PRENSA-BASIN ÖZET;
By IInur Çevik
Turkish Daily News
TEHRAN- Iran's President Hashemi Rafsanjani
says his country is prepared to go as far as Turkey is
prepared to g~ID security cooperation but stresses "if
there is anything that jeopardizes the security of the
~won the two countries should cooperate to destroy
It. The Iranian leader, in an exclusive interview with
the Turkish Daily News just before President
Süleyman Demirel's state visit to the Iranian capital
next week, emphasized tha:t while he was satisfied
with security cooperation with Turkey he felt there
was still room for Ankara to move agamst the Iranian
dissidents present on Turkish soil.
He said Turkey was doing well in moving against
the dissidents but added "of course it is not at the
optimum level." Recently Turkey detained Iranian
dIssidents who had entered illegally from Iraq via
Jordan and were reportedlyon their way to'Iran.
Ankara expelled the dissidents to Iraq.
Rafsanjani said in practical terms a Kurdish state
could not be set up among countries like Turkey, Iran,
Iraq and Syria but added that Iraq should also give
privileges to its Kurds and allow them to live in peace
and securil¥ without being discriminated against.
The Iranian leader said for its part Iran did have a
Kurdish problem but "it is notlling that cannot be
solved." While he admitted that in the past the Iranian
administration had used "force" in 1980 to overcome
the Kurds after the revolution, he stressed Iran was
now using "justice and kindness" and the "Islamic
spirit"
He said a "majority" of the Kurds in Iran were with
the government, hinting that there were also some
who were not with the administration.
Rafsanjani praised his dialogue with President
Demirel as warm and said when he discussed issues
with the Turkish leader "we feel we share feelings of
brotherhood and friendship." He said now there was a
feeling of mutual trust in relations between Turkey
and Iran, but warned "there are some secret forces
that try to create impediments" when the two sides try
to implement joint decisions.
Asked to comment on the election success of the
pro-Islamic Welfare Party in Turkey, he said he did
not want to comment on the internal affairs of a country.
But when pressed to give his personal view he
said "whenever Muslims are successful we will be
happy." .
The Iranian leader stressed Turkey and Iran were
competing in the ex-Soviet r:epublicsof Central Asia.
but stressed this should be for a positive cause to provide
benefits to the people of the region as well as for
Turkey and Iran.
INTERVIEW WITH
PRESIDENT RAFSANJANI
QUESTION. Mr. President, Turkey and Iran
have had some political problems in the past but
today these problems have been solved and you
are now heading Cor a summit with Turkish
President Süleyman Demirel next week. What con.
crete results do you expect Crom this visit? What
should happen so you can regard yourself as suc.
cessful?
Friday, July 22,1994
A,N.SWER. Our discussions will center around
deCISIOns made in t~e pa.st and we are going to
str~ngthen. our relat,lOnshlp once agam. We will
r~vlew .the ISSueswhich we already covered in past
dl~cusslons. I do not have any specific issues in my
mlßd beforehand. We will of course discuss the
Ec?nomic C~operation Org.an.ization (ECO), Iraq,
regIOnal secunty and econOlruc Issues. We have many
topics to discuss.
QUESTION. Mr. President, what does Turkey
represent Cor you? How do you view Turkey Crom
Tehran? Do you still Ceel the lack of trust which
once existed between the two countries? How will
we overcome this?
.ANSWER. We believe that there is no feeling of
ITI1strustbetween Iran and Turkey and that the two
~ountries share a feeling of trust. But what I can say
IS that always after making joint decisions between
the two c?untri~s ther~ are some .sec~etforces that try
t? create Impediments In the applIcatIOnof these decisIons.
QUESTION. Do you mean to say that the ,Peri.
od of mistrust is over and that we are starting a
newera?
AN~WER- During the fast few years while we
have mcreased our mutua understanding we have
m~de good progress. When we discuss things with
His Excellency Süleyman Demirel we feel we share
feelings of br~therhood and fri~nd.ship. We feel
w'!JIDlhwhen His Excellency Dernrrells talking to us.
~tISvery easy for Iran and Turkey to distinguish what
ISbest for the good of the two countries. But it seems
there are s?,?e who are worrying about the execution
of the ~ecl~Ions adopted between the two countries.
!here IS stI~1some feeling of uneasiness about the
llTIplementatlOnof some of the decisions which have
been adopted.
QUESTION. Which decisions?
. ANSWE~. If you look at decisions we have made
In ~e past In many cases you will see we.have nof
achIeved the objectives while some of them have
been implemented completely.
QUESTIQN-. Mr. President we know that there
is. a Itfgh t level Qr.Jl!pd~rstandinj between Turkey
and Iran on security issues. We are also aware
that there have been very positive steps very
recently on both sides. But despite this a few days
~go there were claims that PKK separatist terror.
Ists ~ved from Ira~an te~ritory inside Turkey
and killed some Turkish soldiers. There are claims
that while at the higher level there is a good
understanding on security issues, at the lower level
there are stiD some misunderstandings and mis.
trust. Do you agree with this and what can be done
to eliminate it?
ANS~R. I am not aw.are.of the case that you
have mentIOned but these InCidents can happen on
both sides. In some cases we have been attacked from
the outside. Other territories have been used to attack
our forces. What I believe we can do is that we
should ask the persons who.are in charge of maintaining
security to observe all the policies and decisions
we have made with Turkish leaders and they shOlild
be responsible for the implementation of the policies
wemake.
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