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

REVUE DE PRESSE-PRESS REVIEW-BERHEVOKA ÇAPÊ-RIVISTA STAMPA-DENTRO DE LA PRENSA-BASIN ÖZETÎ
TurkeY."and noted that "such operati.
ons W]lI continue when necessary."
At least eleven Iraqi Kurdish villa.
gers died in the weekend Turkish mili.
tary operation in Iraqi territory, accor.
ding to Serçhil Kazzaz, the representa.
tive of the Iraqi Kurdish opposition
group.
Afthough the PM's statement said
the peshmerges had been informed of
the operation "in time" aod that all me.
asures for coordination hAd'been taken.
Kazzaz said they were notifieâ by Tur.
kish authorities about the operation
only half an hour before it started. "We
do not oppose the operation but we ask
them (Turkish army) to be extremeI)
careful with the civilians," he added.
The Prime Ministry.'s announcement
said Turkish authorities were investi.
gating reports "that a few nonhern Ira.
qis were wounded and their crops were
damaged during the operation" withoul
mention of a single death.
Fighting between government troop5
and the PKK over the past year ha5
claimed about 2,000 lives from all si.
de~.up till now.
Ocalan last week declared an "all.
out war" on Turkey in a news conference
in Lebanon and said that hi5
fighters would double in number te
30,000 by March.
"The war has reached the point of ne
return," he said.
"There is genocide going on... We
will take harsher measures. In one day
50 people could die."
In a recent statement to the press.
Turkey's Chief of Staff Commandel
Iranians caught buying
uranium in Istanbul
• Turkey suspects
SA VAMA connection
Turkish Daily News
ANKARA. Police in Istanbul seized 2.5
kilograms of enriched uranium just before
it was sold to a group of Iranians believed
to be connected to tfie Iranian intelligence
agency SAVAMA, the semi-official Anato~iane....s
age'lc)' ~~i'~.:d v: T: ~sdav.
The agency said eight people, three of
~em Irani~ns, h~d been placed under arrest
111 connectIon wIth the seizure. Five Turks,
apparently selling the uranium were among
the detained.
~t was' the lirst time in Turkey that the
police had captured enriched uranium while
it was being traded on the open market.
One of the biggest worries following the
Gen. D02an Güre~ pledged to crush
the PKK by spring 1994 the latest and
warned that if this did not happen, the
implementation of maniaI law could
be considered for the region.
collapse of the Soviet Union and the ensuing
ch~os in this ~ountry was that its vast
stockpIle of ural1lum would begin to be
exchanged c1andestin]~ and pass to the
hands of terrorists and 'undesirable" sources.
Police identified the Iranian suspects
as Mohammed Saidi, Davud Ahmed] and
Hüseyin ~ehrabi. They said the Iranians
had agreed to purchase the uranium for 40
thou~"nd dollars per gram. OfficiaIs salo
they suspected the Iranians were connected
to the Iranian intelligence and the investigation
was continuing.
They added that the uranium was held
by the group in a special container but had
been transferred to the Büyükçekmece
Nuclear Research Center for safety reasons.
Ankara reassures
neighbors on water
Turkish Daily News
ANKARA- Turkey wiiI continue to show care and consideration
towards its neighbors in the sharing of wat~r resources,
Turkish State minister Mehmet Gölhan saId on
TuesdaJ. .
Gölhm, who was delivering the opening speech at an 111-
ternatiœal conference entitled, "Water as an element of
coopention and development in t~e Middle East': said !t
was Tllkey's natural right to use Its water potential as It
chose. He added however that Turkey would still give the
utmost care and consideration, "within the limits of fairness
" towards downstream countries in meeting their water
requirements. The three day confe!fnc~ in Ankara i~be~ng
organizedjointly by Hacettepe Umverslty and lI!e Fn~ch
Nauman Foundation. Turkey has a long standmg ,dIspute
w:it}lSyriaand Iraq onthe.q~estion of the use orthe .~aters
.oftfie'Euphrates and the Tlgns. .
Both countriesaccuse Turkey of havmg embarked on
massive dam projects within the context of the Southeast
Anatolia Project (GAP), which they say will eventually deprive
them of water, öne of the scarcest and, to that extent,
most valuable of resources in the generallyarid Middle
East.
President Süleyman Demirel has angered both Damascus
and Baghdad in the past for suggesting !!tat 1urkey ha.d a
right to ItSown naturill resources -- water 111 thiScase -- Just
as countries in the region have rights over their own resources
such as oil.
S¥ria and Iraq are generally highly disturbed by any suggestion
likening water to oil as a resource.
Turkey has, nevertheless, said persistently in the past that
it has no intention of depriving its neighbors of water. Ankara'
has stuck generally to a commitment It entered into
with Damascus 111 1987 for allowing 500 cubic meters per
second of water to flow from the Euphrates across its borders
into Syria.
"The Euphrates and the Tigris are trans-boundary waters
that need to be used fairly and optimally. Otherwise it will
lead to mutual distrust" State Minster Gölhan said in his
speech on Tuesday.
He added that conflict in this area "was of benefit to no
one."
Gölhan also pointed to the need of regional countries to
reevaluate Ankara's "Peace Pipeline Project," which foresees
the transp?nation of water by pipeline from Turkey
throu$h the MIddle East to the PersIan Gulf.
This project was first put forward by the late President
Turgut 0 zal in the late 1980's and was one of his pet
schemes. While some countries, such as Israel, have always
been keen on this proposal, others, such as the United Arab
Emirates, have S3id it is not feasible for them because it is
cheaper to desalinate and purify sea water.
Arab countries in the Middle East have also been reluctant
to endorse the project because of the cooperation it
foresees with Israel.
It is thought that the latest peace accord between Israel
and the Palestinians may go some way in overcoming this
obstacle. "With its 'Peace Pipeline' project, Turkey has also
put forward a concrete example of ItS understanding of
cooperation. The main meaning of this'project is to prove
that water can be a source of cooperatIOn in the region"
Gölhan said.
He pointed to the recent peace accord between Israel and
the Palestinian Liberation Organization and added that in
view of the new political envIronment created by this accord
Turkey saw a great advantage to all the countries in
the region reviewing the Peace Pipeline project once more.
"The project is especially relevant today when Israel and
the State of Palestine have begun to bury their swords."
Gölhan said.
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