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

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On Saturday night, Erkan met with the news representati.
ves in DiyarbakIr, at the same association where the PKK
fighters had come, and told them the state was in control of
developments
He offered to give the journalists bodyguards and gun Ii.
cences to protect themselves.
in such a region, one cannot
"But we explained
work with guards
to him thai
anyway," a
senior journalist at the meeting said.
He added that Erkan was disappointed he was not infor.
med of the meeting
Interior Minister
beforehand.
Mehmet Gazioglu said, meanwhile, thai
the journalists "had accepted the invitation of a terrorist orgamzation"
and should have told the police instead. Gazioglu
said necessary security measures were to be taken and
promised to protect the journalists who would continue te
work.
Prime Minister Tansu Çiller, in America; repeated thatthe
state was strong and terrorism would be crushed, saying she
was constantly being informed of the developments related
to the PKK threat. "These happen from time to time and it i~
unfortunate ... The state will always be several steps ahead of
terrorism," Çiller said.
The strongest reaction to the PKK came on Sunday from
the Contemporary Journalists Association (CGD) headquarters
in Ankara.
CGD chairman Mustafa Ekmekçi said in a written state.
ment that the freedom of the press could not be prevented
and warned all parties that they could reach no ends by thre.
atening the press. Ekmekçi said the PKK ban had added a
new development to the pressures on the journalists' rightte
collect news, He recalled, however, that a number of journa.
lists had been killed in the region over the past 18 month~
and that five newspaper distributors had also been assassinated.
Noting that the assassins had still not been caught Ekmekçi
said this was opening the way for attacks o~ the
press.
Turkish interior minister is
in Iran for security talks
• Iranian President
Rafsancani asks Turkish
and Iranian interior
ministers to talk on
political matters as well
Turki,h
Daily News
ANKARA- Turkish Interior
Minister Mehmet Gazioglu started
three-Gay official visit to Iran
his
on
Sunday. following an invitation from
his Iranian counterpart Ali
Mohammed Besareti. On the first day
of his visit, Gazioglu was received by
the Iranian President Ali Akbar
Hashemi Rafsancani, who asked the
two ministers not to limit their talks to
"only security matters or bilateral relations",
as reported by Anatolia news
agency. Rafsancani asked Gazioglu
and Besareti
and regional
to talk on international
developments and bilat-
'eral economic and commercial relations
and also asked them to find a
solution to the problem between the
two countries over transit land transportation.
Iran had asked its trade partners not
to use Turkish ports and imposed limitations
on Turkish lorries carrying
goods to other countries in Asia
throu~h Iran.
This was followed by a dispute last
year over a Cypriot ship carrying
undeclared cargo to Iran which was
withheld in Istanbul port for sometime,
before being released by a court
ruling in 1993.
Rafsancani reportedly invited
Turkish
to Iran.
President Süleyman Demirel
Gazioglu told Anatolia that he had
received a very warm welcome from
Rafsancani and this indicated to him
that his visitto Tehran would bring
Interior Minister Mehmet GazioQlu
positive and important results.
Gazioglu added that ~ecurity mailers
would dominate his visit to Tehran.
He said that in the first round of talks
held on Sunday', the two countries reiterated
their Will not to permit subversive
and terrorist activities against
each other from their own territories.
Turkish official sources frequently
complain that secessionist Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK) militants use
their military bases in Iran to carry out
attacks againsttheir targets in Turkey.
Another matter of complaint concerns
the alleged support given by Iranians
to Islamic fundamentalist networks in
Turkey, which have been held responsible
of a number of assassinatIOns
and bombings.
, Iran on the other hand complains
that Turkey permits the members of
People's Mujahedeen - an armed
organization aiming to overthrow the
Islamic Government of Iran- to use
Turkey as a bridge between their networks
in Iran and Europe.
Westerners
become pawns
in Turkey.s
ethnic war
By Ra~it Gürdilek
Açsociated Press Writer
ANKARA- Kurd~sh militants fighting government
forc~s for self-rule In eastern Turkeyare Increasingly
turnIng to a new target: foreigners who travel off the
beaten track. The area bordenng Iran, Iraq and Syria
has a rugged beauty. Some of the mountains hold relics
of ancient civilizations. Mount Ararat on the Iranian
border
Ark.
attracts seekers of the mythical Noah's
But it is also potentially dangerous. Clashes between
the gove~ment and KurdIstan Workers' Party
(PKK) have claimed about 8,000 lives since 1984
and the fighting has recently intensified. The rebels
have warned foreigners to stay away from the region
and have abducted some who have not heeded the
..yamîngs: The latest'captives are a U.S. citizen, Patnck
~Connor, and ~rnice Dougar, a New Zealander,
whom the rebels saId had been picked at a roadblock
on Oct. 9.
Befor~ them, rebels had abducted 13 other Westerners
SInce summer. All were released after several
weeks.
'f!1~demanded ransom is not money, but tacit recogmtlOn
by foreign governments who appeal for the
release of their citizens. The rebels demand that governme~t
representatives come to eastern Turkey to
superylse the releases.
grudgIngly.
Turkey allows
,
such contacts
L~st month, a Turkish governor charged that abductIOns
were staged and hostages
propagandists for the guerrillas.
were couriers or
Th.e abd.uction. ~f the American coincided with
!urkish Pnme MInI~ter Tan~u Çiller's visit to Wash-
Ingto~. She and President Clinton were to discuss the
KurdIsh question.
73