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-Basm Özeti
Politics dictate Turkish attack
hel-ico-pter d-ec-isio-n
• Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit announced yesterday that
German-French consortium Eurocopter and the United States' Boeing
were eliminated as candidates in the multibillion dollar attack helicopter
project on grounds that they did not meet technical qualifications. Ecevit
further stated that US candidate Bell, Italy's Agusta and Russia's Kamov
competing jointly with Israel's lAI have been shortlisted. Boeing voiced
its shock and frustration on this decision
• Meant as a tactic to further stir up the competition amid increased
speculations over a possible postponement of a decision on Turkey's
multi-billion dollar attack helicopter project, Ecevit's statement, under
which no final decision was made, fell short of making a concrete decision
on this highly politicized project
LaIe Sariibrahimoglu
Ankara-Turkish
Daily News
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@ Subjected to pressure from all fronts on its multibillion dollar attack helicopter project, Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit
1: announced yesterday that German-French consortium Eurocopter and the United States' Boeing, competing with their Tiger
.ßo and Apache models respectively, were eliminated as candidates from the proÏt'ct over ~rounds that both companies failed to
~ meet technical specifications. Ecevit said that the United states' Bell, Italy's Agusta and Russia's Kamov competing jointly
8 with Israel's lAI have been shortlisted, and that additional technical specifications from these companies would be required.
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The models of the remaining three companies to compete in the project are as follows; U.S.'s Bell Helicopter-Textron
(AH-IZ King Cobra), Italy's Agusta (A129-I) and Russia's Kamov competingjointly with Israel's lAI
(KA-50/52-Erdogan). Selection of one European and a U.S. company in addition to a Russian one has been seen as a
strong indication of Turkey's attempts to stir up the competition further in order to reduce the cost of the scheme. It has also
viewed as an attempt to force the governments whose countries' companies are involved in the project to bring more high
technology to enable Turkey to establish its own attack helicopter infrastructure .
. Ecevit's short announcement came following a two-and-a-half-hour hour meeting held by the Undersecretariat for the
Defense Industry (SSM) Executive Board which included Chief of General Staff Gen. Huseyin Kivrikoglu, Minister of
National Defense Sabahattin Cakmakoglu and the SSM Undersecretary Professor Dursun Ali Yalcin. Ecevit stated that the
shortlisted three companies' technical documents, which he described as lacking in certain points, will be re-examined, and
he voiced his hope that a final decision will be made soon. He fell short of giving any timetable for a final announcement on
the project while ruling out any suggestion that political considerations were affecting it.
SSM is at the point of re-evaluating the technical specifications, Ecevit said, adding that "we have not came to a point of
making a decision." On speculations concerning the financial sources required to go ahead with the project, Ecevit said,
"SSM will to a great extent be able to finance the project from its own sources. Thus there will not be a big problem on
financing." Under the first phase of the project, 50 helicopters out of a planned 145 will be co-produced. The whole project
is valued at about $4 billion.
The SSM Executive Board's decision to eliminate Eurocopter'i; Tiger from the running stemmed from the fact that it failed
to make a full performance during trials in October in the southern coast town of Antalya. Eurocopter's German partners'
delay in sending Tiger for a demonstration due to Bonn's linkage of the trials with Turkey's bad human rights record is
cited among other reasons for its elimination.
Boeing, competing with its Apache, was found expensive but favored by many land aviation school pilots. Company
officials speaking to the Turkish Daily News voiced their frustration and shock about the decision announced by Ecevit. It
remains to seen whether Boeing williodge a protest with the Turkish government over its elimination from the project.
Again for political reasons, Turkey made a surprise move early last year and shortlisted all five competing companies in the
helicopter project, which was launched in 1997. Yesterday's announcement came as a second short list of three companies,
further delaying the project under which the first delivery of a helicopter was earlier scheduled to be delivered in November
2002.
Both companies were also unable to meet Turkey's urgent requirement for about 10 attack helicopters before the beginning
of the production. Previously, Turkey was expected to announce two or three bidders as preferred customers, starting
negotiations with the first one immediately. But Ecevit's announcement fell short of meeting these expectations: instead,
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