Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris
Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris
Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris
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REVUE DE PRESSE-PRESS REVIEW-BERHEVOKA ÇAPÊ-RIVISTA STAMPA-DENTRO DE LA PRENSA-BASIN ÖZET;<br />
By IInur Çevik<br />
Turkish Daily News<br />
TEHRAN- Iran's Presi<strong>de</strong>nt Hashemi Rafsanjani<br />
says his country is prepared to go as far as Turkey is<br />
prepared to g~ID security cooperation but stresses "if<br />
there is anything that jeopardizes the security of the<br />
~won the two countries should cooperate to <strong>de</strong>stroy<br />
It. The Iranian lea<strong>de</strong>r, in an exclusive interview with<br />
the Turkish Daily News just before Presi<strong>de</strong>nt<br />
Süleyman Demirel's state visit to the Iranian capital<br />
next week, emphasized tha:t while he was satisfied<br />
with security cooperation with Turkey he felt there<br />
was still room for Ankara to move agamst the Iranian<br />
dissi<strong>de</strong>nts present on Turkish soil.<br />
He said Turkey was doing well in moving against<br />
the dissi<strong>de</strong>nts but ad<strong>de</strong>d "of course it is not at the<br />
optimum level." Recently Turkey <strong>de</strong>tained Iranian<br />
dIssi<strong>de</strong>nts who had entered illegally from Iraq via<br />
Jordan and were reportedlyon their way to'Iran.<br />
Ankara expelled the dissi<strong>de</strong>nts to Iraq.<br />
Rafsanjani said in practical terms a Kurdish state<br />
could not be s<strong>et</strong> up among countries like Turkey, Iran,<br />
Iraq and Syria but ad<strong>de</strong>d that Iraq should also give<br />
privileges to its Kurds and allow them to live in peace<br />
and securil¥ without being discriminated against.<br />
The Iranian lea<strong>de</strong>r said for its part Iran did have a<br />
Kurdish problem but "it is notlling that cannot be<br />
solved." While he admitted that in the past the Iranian<br />
administration had used "force" in 1980 to overcome<br />
the Kurds after the revolution, he stressed Iran was<br />
now using "justice and kindness" and the "Islamic<br />
spirit"<br />
He said a "majority" of the Kurds in Iran were with<br />
the government, hinting that there were also some<br />
who were not with the administration.<br />
Rafsanjani praised his dialogue with Presi<strong>de</strong>nt<br />
Demirel as warm and said when he discussed issues<br />
with the Turkish lea<strong>de</strong>r "we feel we share feelings of<br />
brotherhood and friendship." He said now there was a<br />
feeling of mutual trust in relations b<strong>et</strong>ween Turkey<br />
and Iran, but warned "there are some secr<strong>et</strong> forces<br />
that try to create impediments" when the two si<strong>de</strong>s try<br />
to implement joint <strong>de</strong>cisions.<br />
Asked to comment on the election success of the<br />
pro-Islamic Welfare Party in Turkey, he said he did<br />
not want to comment on the internal affairs of a country.<br />
But when pressed to give his personal view he<br />
said "whenever Muslims are successful we will be<br />
happy." .<br />
The Iranian lea<strong>de</strong>r stressed Turkey and Iran were<br />
comp<strong>et</strong>ing in the ex-Sovi<strong>et</strong> r:epublicsof Central Asia.<br />
but stressed this should be for a positive cause to provi<strong>de</strong><br />
benefits to the people of the region as well as for<br />
Turkey and Iran.<br />
INTERVIEW WITH<br />
PRESIDENT RAFSANJANI<br />
QUESTION. Mr. Presi<strong>de</strong>nt, Turkey and Iran<br />
have had some political problems in the past but<br />
today these problems have been solved and you<br />
are now heading Cor a summit with Turkish<br />
Presi<strong>de</strong>nt Süleyman Demirel next week. What con.<br />
cr<strong>et</strong>e results do you expect Crom this visit? What<br />
should happen so you can regard yourself as suc.<br />
cessful?<br />
Friday, July 22,1994<br />
A,N.SWER. Our discussions will center around<br />
<strong>de</strong>CISIOns ma<strong>de</strong> in t~e pa.st and we are going to<br />
str~ngthen. our relat,lOnshlp once agam. We will<br />
r~vlew .the ISSueswhich we already covered in past<br />
dl~cusslons. I do not have any specific issues in my<br />
mlßd beforehand. We will of course discuss the<br />
Ec?nomic C~operation Org.an.ization (ECO), Iraq,<br />
regIOnal secunty and econOlruc Issues. We have many<br />
topics to discuss.<br />
QUESTION. Mr. Presi<strong>de</strong>nt, what does Turkey<br />
represent Cor you? How do you view Turkey Crom<br />
Tehran? Do you still Ceel the lack of trust which<br />
once existed b<strong>et</strong>ween the two countries? How will<br />
we overcome this?<br />
.ANSWER. We believe that there is no feeling of<br />
ITI1strustb<strong>et</strong>ween Iran and Turkey and that the two<br />
~ountries share a feeling of trust. But what I can say<br />
IS that always after making joint <strong>de</strong>cisions b<strong>et</strong>ween<br />
the two c?untri~s ther~ are some .sec~<strong>et</strong>forces that try<br />
t? create Impediments In the applIcatIOnof these <strong>de</strong>cisIons.<br />
QUESTION. Do you mean to say that the ,Peri.<br />
od of mistrust is over and that we are starting a<br />
newera?<br />
AN~WER- During the fast few years while we<br />
have mcreased our mutua un<strong>de</strong>rstanding we have<br />
m~<strong>de</strong> good progress. When we discuss things with<br />
His Excellency Süleyman Demirel we feel we share<br />
feelings of br~therhood and fri~nd.ship. We feel<br />
w'!JIDlhwhen His Excellency Dernrrells talking to us.<br />
~tISvery easy for Iran and Turkey to distinguish what<br />
ISbest for the good of the two countries. But it seems<br />
there are s?,?e who are worrying about the execution<br />
of the ~ecl~Ions adopted b<strong>et</strong>ween the two countries.<br />
!here IS stI~1some feeling of uneasiness about the<br />
llTIplementatlOnof some of the <strong>de</strong>cisions which have<br />
been adopted.<br />
QUESTION. Which <strong>de</strong>cisions?<br />
. ANSWE~. If you look at <strong>de</strong>cisions we have ma<strong>de</strong><br />
In ~e past In many cases you will see we.have nof<br />
achIeved the objectives while some of them have<br />
been implemented compl<strong>et</strong>ely.<br />
QUESTIQN-. Mr. Presi<strong>de</strong>nt we know that there<br />
is. a Itfgh t level Qr.Jl!pd~rstandinj b<strong>et</strong>ween Turkey<br />
and Iran on security issues. We are also aware<br />
that there have been very positive steps very<br />
recently on both si<strong>de</strong>s. But <strong>de</strong>spite this a few days<br />
~go there were claims that PKK separatist terror.<br />
Ists ~ved from Ira~an te~ritory insi<strong>de</strong> Turkey<br />
and killed some Turkish soldiers. There are claims<br />
that while at the higher level there is a good<br />
un<strong>de</strong>rstanding on security issues, at the lower level<br />
there are stiD some misun<strong>de</strong>rstandings and mis.<br />
trust. Do you agree with this and what can be done<br />
to eliminate it?<br />
ANS~R. I am not aw.are.of the case that you<br />
have mentIOned but these InCi<strong>de</strong>nts can happen on<br />
both si<strong>de</strong>s. In some cases we have been attacked from<br />
the outsi<strong>de</strong>. Other territories have been used to attack<br />
our forces. What I believe we can do is that we<br />
should ask the persons who.are in charge of maintaining<br />
security to observe all the policies and <strong>de</strong>cisions<br />
we have ma<strong>de</strong> with Turkish lea<strong>de</strong>rs and they shOlild<br />
be responsible for the implementation of the policies<br />
wemake.<br />
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