Turkish Press Review

[kurdeng at aps.nl]

                   TUESDAY AUGUST 15, 1995
                   -----------------------

Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press
this morning


PKK MILITANTS KIDNAP TWO SHEPHERDS IN HATAY


Two shepherds were kidnapped by militants of the PKK terrorist
organization yesterday in Hatay's Hassa district. The two
brothers were kidnapped yesterday morning. Military operations
are continuing to find the kidnappers and their captives.

NEW GENDARMERIE COMMANDER STARTS WORK

A ceremony was held in the commander's office of the gendarmerie
security forces to appoint the new commanders in Diyarbakir
yesterday. Gen.Altay Tokat is the new commander of gendarmerie
security forces in Diyarbakir. Gen.Hasan Kundakci, the former
commander in Diyarbakir, has been appointed commander of Peace
Forces in Cyprus. Speaking at the ceremony, Unal Erkan, governor
of the emergency rule region, said that the PKK was weakened
by factionalism and that it would soon be defeated. Gen.Kundakci
said that he had been working in Diyarbakir for two years and
a great part of the PKK had been rendered ineffective in that
time. Gen.Tokat said that the PKK had no chance against the
Turkish government. /Sabah/


PKK RAKES IN MILLIONS IN GERMANY SAYS DER SPIEGEL


Turkey's separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rakes in
30 million marks (21 million dollars) a year in Germany,
according to a security service report cited by the latest
edition of Der Spiegel out on Monday. The PKK cash floods in
from the sale of publications and donations -voluntary or
forced- from Kurds living in Germany, said a report by the
Office for the Protection of the Constitution, cited by the
weekly magazine. As well as Iran, Iraq and Syria, the office
suspects Greece and the countries of the former Soviet Union of
helping "financially or at least logistically" the PKK, which is
banned as a terrorist organization in Germany. Moreover, the
German security service suspect PKK sympathizers of passing on
identity papers reported as lost so injured fighters or other
PKK contacts can use them. Of the 50 or so leaders of the
PKK in Germany, 26 have still not been identified by the German
authorities, the report said. The German authorities estimate
the PKK has 7,500 members and more than 50,000 sympathizers in
Germany, which itself is home to 1.85 million Turks, 400,000 of
whom are Kurds. /Hurriyet-Cumhuriyet/


MENTESE BLAMES GREECE ON TERRORISM

Interior Minister Nahit Mentese said that members of the PKK
terrorist organization, who want to carry out terrorist
activities in holiday resorts, were trained in Greece and then
entered Turkey from the Aegean islands. Mentese stated that
Germany desired to extradite some two thousand Turkish citizens
for whom the PKK had obtained refugee status in return of money.
Replying to questions of the journalists at Ankara-Esenboga
Airport yesterday, Mentese noted that the PKK received DM 6,000
from Turkish citizens who wanted to take refuge in European
countries especially in Germany. Mentese said: "We have begun
many initiatives to prevent this. Many European countries know
this trick of the PKK. We are continuing to work on this issue".
Mentese indicated that the connection between the PKK and
Greece became certain with the confessions of members of the
terrorist organization. /Cumhuriyet/

SOUTHERN CYPRUS COOPERATING WITH THE PKK

The Kurdistan National Liberation Front, the military wing of
the PKK terrorist organization, said it was fighting for the
liberation of both Kurdistan and Cyprus. A group of Kurdish
terrorists, coming to Southern Cyprus, visited the grave of
Theofilos Georgiades, Chairman of the Committee for Solidarity
with Kurdistan, killed last year. Wreaths were also placed at
the graves of members of the Greek EOKA terrorist organization
and those of Greek soldiers.  In a speech at the grave of
Geogiades, Kurdistan Representative in Cyprus, Roshaz Laser,
said that Kurdistan and Cyprus had very much in common in their
struggles for liberation. A bulletin published by the Committee
for Solidarity with Kurdistan noted that the liberation of
Cyprus led through the mountains of Kurdistan. /Hurriyet/


SADDAM RESPONSIBLE FOR UNREST IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Republican People's Party (CHP) Chairman and Deputy Prime
Minister Hikmet Cetin said that the Iraqi government carried the
primary responsibility for spreading domestic unrest in Iraq
throughout the region. He stressed that because of the embargo
imposed against Iraq by the UN after the Gulf War, the country
was estranged from the world, which opened the way to a
gradually increasing domestic unrest. One way of overcoming the
problems was strict obedience to UN decisions -this would open
the way for Iraqi integration with the world, Cetin noted.
/Cumhuriyet/

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 * Origin: APS Amsterdam (aps.nl), bbs +31-20-6842147 (16:31/2.0)