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

Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro de la Prensa-Basm Özeti
Industry hosted the Thursday luncheon, which
was attended by prominent businessmen such
as Sak1p.~abancI, Bülent EczaClb~l, Ishak
Alaton, Uzeyir Garih, Feyyaz Berker and
Sarik Tara. During the course of his remarks,
the German foreign minister stressed the need
for Turkey, as a big country, to take the frrst
step in approaching Greece in an effort to
solve the problems between the two countries.
"I know it is complicated and difficult, but
Turkèyshould take the first step," stressed
Kinkel, noting that as a country Turkey was
important and strorig and from ~ strategic
point of view even more important. He said
that he had met Wednesday evening with a
member of the Turkish opposition and bad
broached the.topic. The latter had been in
agreement with him that this was a good way
to open a dialogue and solve their problems.
Warning against tying the Cyprus problem
to the European Union, Kjnkel pointed out
that the subject ofCyprus' membership in the
EU would be discussed at a later date. He
also said "We are 15 countries and we have
-more problems. Turkish- Greek problems
cannot be solved in the EU. The EU would
be placing itself in a difficult position. The
problems cannot be solved there." Enka
Board Chairman Sarik Tara asked whether
Germany could help Turkey solve the Cyprus
problem and Greek-Turkish relations. Kinkel
replied, "Personally l want to dô my best. l
know it is difficult. It might be a good idea if
the Greek and Turkish prime ministers were
to meet each other, .I'm not greatly hopeful
but Greece and Turkey have to have dialogue
between them."
The German foreign minister stressed that
Turkey should consider how impqrtant a year
1997~98will be for Europe and for Germany.
I~the EU countries were unable to set up the
s.mglemonetary systèm and Turkey }Vould
lIke to get close to Europe, then this year was
important for Turkey. Headvjsed Turkey to
take measures to solve the Kurdish and
human rights problems and at the same time,
examine political, cultural and soCial matters ..
Pointing out that he himself had worked in the .
Gc;rman Justice Ministry for 8.5 years, Kinkel
s.aI~that he had the impression that what initIatives
were taken by Turkey were often late..
He suggested that instead of complaining to
other peopl~, the Turk.s_should do something
about therr mternal problems. As for the min- ,.'
ister's meeting with Turkish Prime Minister
Necmettin Erbakan, he noted that the latter
seemed to be a very polite person. One subject
wh!ch was discussed was Turkey's contacts
Wltha number of Islamic countries. '.
Kinkel how~ver sa!d that whenhe compared
the ~onoffilc r~latlons ~etween Turkeyarid
!theelght Islanuc countnes with which the
Erbakan government had established relati;o~s,.he.~aw
that tra.~ebetV/eenarpong them
only amounted to iOpercent of the trade
being conducted between Turkey and .
Germany.
The foreign minister as well reminded the
a~dien.cethat Germany had her own problems:
wlth high unemployment and a large number :
of retirees. These problems had grown after
the two Germanys were reunited. Problems
within Germany with itscoalition government
and in the government itself and a heavy foreign
policy conunitment were facing his
country. He also said that they had some
problems with Turkey as well.' In Germany
people had attacked him over Turkey's poor
human rights record and the' Kurdish problems.
"I know the Turks like us and l know
they may be disappointed. I frrst came here in
1992 and I followed some of the events in the
southeast. I too get ashamed when l consider
the Solingen events (where Turkish property
was frrebombed)."
. The luncheon was opened by Horst Kaiser,
the German- Turkish Chamber board chairman,
who said, "We want Turkey to enter the
EU and we are supporting Turkey."
During his visit to Istanbul, the minister
held meetings with representatives of human
rights organizations in Turkey according to
officials. He held a closed meeting with Eren
Keskin" vice president of the Human Rights
Association (IHD) and with Esber Yagmurdereli,
a lHO lawyer. Talking with reporters
after the meeting, Yagmurdereli said that he
and Keskin gave Kinkel evidence of the use
of police brutality and torture against people
held on political charges.
Before leaving Ankara for Istanbul on
Thursday morning Kinkel met Akm Birdal,
the head of the Turkish Human Rights
Association (IHD) over breakfast.
: Bird~l told reporters after the meeting that
he provlded the German Foreign Minister
with a "photograph of the state of human
rights in Turkey."
. .Birdal said the request for the meeting had
come from the German side. He said that
wi.th.this ~eeting th.eGerman Foreign
Mmlster aimed to highlight the importance
of nongovernmental (NGO) organizations
and human rights groups in a democracy.
"He said he knows that NGOs are in a difficult
situation in Turkey and said he support-
. ed our work,':,Birdal said. Kinkel made no
statement after meeting Birdal. .
Kinkel toured Istanbul's 17t~ centUry
Blue Mo~que and the 6th century Aya Sofia
Museum ID the Sultanahmet district in the
morning and éhatted with German tourists
v.'hom he met. ~u~ to his busy schedule, he
had to cancel a VISltto the German high
school in Istanbul. Kinkel left Istanbul in the
late afternoon.
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