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

and claims to be the thIrd most semor foreign
Minister in NATO, has indisputable advanta~es
compared to the three ministers before .hlm.
Unlike ANAP's Ahmet Kurtcebe Alptemoçm, he
was extremely respectful of the w~ys of the
Turkish Foreign Ministry, which considers Its.elf . . .
different to other ministries. Unlike Alptemoçm, he .shared .his vlctones by
his explicit appreciation of his diplom~ts. Unhke Ah. Boze~ - the
Motherland's second FM - he was attenbve ~ energ~l1c. Unh~e Safa
Giray, he paid attention to detail and made few ffilstalces m conveymg foreign
policy !llessa~e~. . .
Even çetm's ongm - Diyarbakir - was an asset. When forelg~ leaders
talked about "Ku~dish ?ppression," Cetin demon.strate~,. by Ius very
existence, that a Kurdlsh-ongm Turk could ~ ~e foreign mIDIster ..
Çetin is known more as a man of reconciliatIon rather ~ confll~t, but
aides signalthat his seeming flexib~lity and soft-spoke~ attltu~e hides a
will of Iron - which can oiùy be nvaled by the Ii~d-hner. attitude and,
bluntly, obstinacy. Apart from ~ing a well-~o~n mt~rnatlonal scholar
and author on international relations an~ const~tul1~nallssues, Soysal has
been active in international forums. He IS h~ld m high regar~ by Amnesty
International and his appointment may. be mterpreted as a. signal that .the
government is ready for serious reform m terms .of hu~an nghts. .
Mümtaz Soysal, whose name o~ce c.ame up !n relatIon to the presldent:y,
is known for his ~ather ha~kish Ylews .which ~e expresses very eloquently
in his column m mass clrculal1~n daily ~umye~.
As the constitutional adviser of Turkish Cypnot PreSident Rauf Denkta~,
he takes a hard line on Cyprus .and believes in a "co~federation" with a
loose link between two almost mdependent states. This goes beyond the
present idea of federation; . ., _
He advocates a tougher line on Greece and a more mdlVldual, rather
thHlf~g~:~d~r~~~~~'~~arïvOèatiÖji":-:: saying Anlèarä.sliÖ\lid
make sure tha~ it can pick ~p tangi~le advan~ges rather tha.n umlater~l
sacrifices. He IS the mastermmd behind Turkey s threat of votmg down m
Parliament Turkey's accession agreement with th~ Western E.u~op~an
Union (WEU) if Turkish deputies are not given full nghts of partiCipation
in the WEU Parliamentary Assembly.
An advocate of human rights and constitutional reform, Soys~ is more
liable to rely on his judgement than on the files prepared b~ ~s bu~eaucrats
- most of whom were his students in the faculty of politIcal sCience
at Ankara University.
The problem of style . ..
The question asked by Turks and foreigners all~e IS how mu~h Sorsal
will be able to practice what he preaches. Returnmg from Pans, Pnme
turkish daily news
Report on Turkish social I
environment published
This report foUows the publication of ''Highlights
of the Turkish Economic Environment" which
was produced in line with the group's membership
of the ''Yoong Entrepreneurs for Europe
Turkish Daily News
ISTANBUL- The Young Businessmen's ~ssocia~ion
of Turkey (TUGIAD) has issued a report m Enghsh,
"Highlights of the Turkish Social Environment," in
acknowledgement of the close relationship between a
nation's economic structure and development and its sociai
structure and the nature of its social issues.
Minister Çiller signalled that the Foreign Minister had no more right to
pursue an mdividualistic policy than a health minister.
"I do not see why the Foreign Ministry is taken as a separate entity,"
Çiller said. "The foreign policy is also a policy of the government. The
government is headed by the Prime Minister. Names have got nothing to
do with it."
News of bargaining between Soysal and SHP Chairman and Deputy
Prime Minister Murat Karayalçm indicate that Soysal will not be content
with dealing with foreign policy issues alone. He will also aim to see that
the Social Democrat People's Party will maintain its identity rather than
play second fiddle to the senior partner, DYP. Soysal has asked Karayalçm
for assurance whether he would back him up and if necessary "withdraw
from the coalition" if his decisions are challenged.
What Çetin finds most offensive, apparently, is that the negotiations
took place while he was in Paris, reducmg him to "a lame duck" foreign
minister in this important capital. Çetin's resentment (rather than outrage)
hangs in the air like a "talk 6ubble , but he refused to say anything dunng
the flight from Paris. He was already resentful about a front page story in
one ef the dailies which quoted him as saying, half in jest, that while he
was establishing the Social Democrat PopulisfParty, Karayalçm was playing
"a game of sticks" as the chairman of a mass funding project.
Çetin let on that he would not go to Iran will} the President Süeyman
Demirel, but would send his undersecretary Özdem Sanberk instead.
Sanberk's tenn of three-years is also up and if he is given an appointment
abroad this year (along with most high level diplomats, including the third
man in the FM, deputy undersecretary Bilgin Unan) it means a completely
new team heading the Forei~ Ministry.
Some believe that Çiller s reason for favorin~ the removal of Cetin is
due to her desire to bnng Volkan Vural, her adViser and Turkey's longest
serving Moscow ambassador, as the Foreign Ministry undersecretary:
Given the initial reaction of Cetin to Vural, it seems logical that the minister
would need to go before Vural can be installed.
Another scenario current in the corridors of power is that giving Soysal
the Foreign Ministry, which he has clearly been seeking, is a way to contain
both him and his opposition to the government decisions. "We'll just
wait till he leaves on a visit abroad and pass the law on privatization," a
cartoon depicted Karayalçm as whispering to Çiller.
The third question: Having been through so much talk about his future,
can Çetin remain irr his post? Will he not give,the impression of a .lameduck
foreign minister who has survived one attempt but may be subjected
to another~ Will he not be regarded by foreign readers as a "here now,
gone tomorrow" minister? Sources close to the minister say this is exactly
what he is thinking. .
"I have enou~h experience in politics to know you cannot hold a post
forever," çetin IS quoted as saying. "But this way of going about thmgs
has done harm to the post of the foreign minister."
Tuesday, July 26, 1994
This report follows the publication of "Highlights of the
Turkish Economic Environment" which was produced in
line with the group's membership of the "Young
Entrepreneurs for Europe."
The newly issued report, which was prepared for
TUGlAD by RGA Management Consultants Ltd., concentrates
on population issues, the health sector, and educational
and environmental problems.
It examines the present situation both in Turkey and in
other selected countries and makes some suggestions for the
future.
Each topic is discussed in turn and certain solutions and
directions are suggested. TUGIAD presumably adopted this
approach in preference to an overall set of recommendations
which might have catapulted the organization into the
p~litical arena and laid it open to the charge of political
blas.
85