Subject: EUROPE/TURKEY By SONJA PACE/PARIS
From: "Demetrios E. Paneras" <dep@bu.edu>
 
DATE=3/22/95
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
NUMBER=5-19970
TITLE=EUROPE/TURKEY  
BYLINE=SONJA PACE
DATELINE=PARIS
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:  

INTRO:  TURKEY'S LATEST MILITARY INCURSION INTO NEIGHBORING  
NORTHERN IRAQ IS BEING WATCHED CLOSELY IN EUROPE.  FOR THE THIRD  
DAY IN A ROW TURKISH WARPLANES ARE ON THE ATTACK AGAINST WHAT  
ANKARA SAYS ARE SEPARATIST GUERRILLA BASES.  THE OPERATION HAS  
RECEIVED TACIT APPROVAL FROM THE UNITED STATES, BUT IT HAS DRAWN  
CRITICISM FROM EUROPEAN COUNTRIES.  SONJA PACE TAKES A LOOK AT  
THE ISSUE IN THIS REPORT FROM PARIS.
  
TEXT:  U-S SECRETARY OF STATE WARREN CHRISTOPHER WAS APPARENTLY   
NOT  WILLING TO CRITICIZE.  HE INSTEAD REPEATED WASHINGTON'S HOPE
THAT THE TURKISH INCURSION INTO NORTHERN IRAQ WILL BE BRIEF AND  
THAT IT WILL RESPECT HUMAN RIGHTS.  THE ISSUE CAME UP DURING  
TALKS IN PARIS BETWEEN MR. CHRISTOPHER AND FRENCH FOREIGN  
MINISTER ALAIN JUPPE.  
  
THE TURKISH OFFENSIVE MAY HAVE RECEIVED TACIT APPROVAL FROM  
WASHINGTON, BUT  NOT  SO FROM FRANCE OR THE EUROPEAN UNION.   
EUROPE IS WATCHING WITH ANXIETY AS TURKISH TANKS, TROOPS AND  
PLANES PRESS THEIR OFFENSIVE AGAINST SEPARATIST GUERRILLAS OF THE
KURDISTAN WORKERS' PARTY, THE P-K-K.
  
MR. JUPPE HAS ALREADY SAID THE OPERATION IS AGAINST BASIC  
PRINCIPLES OF INTERNATIONAL LAW BECAUSE IT VIOLATES THE  
SOVEREIGNTY AND TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY OF IRAQ.  HE SAID THE  
EUROPEAN UNION HAS REMINDED TURKEY THAT AS AN ASSOCIATE MEMBER OF
THE E-U AND A FULL-FLEDGED MEMBER OF NATO THERE IS AN OBLIGATION  
TO UPHOLD PRINCIPLES OF LEGALITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS.  THIS, MR.  
JUPPE SAID, IS CURRENTLY  NOT  BEING DONE.
  
TURKEY HAS REPEATEDLY BEEN CRITICIZED FOR WIDESPREAD HUMAN RIGHTS
VIOLATIONS IN ITS FIGHT AGAINST KURDISH SEPARATISTS.  MORE  
RECENTLY ANKARA HAS BEEN TAKEN TO TASK FOR THE IMPRISONMENT OF  
KURDISH PARLIAMENTARIANS BECAUSE OF THEIR ALLEGED SYMPATHIES  
TOWARDS THE REBEL P-K-K.   
  
TURKEY HAS PERIODICALLY LAUNCHED MILITARY ATTACKS INTO NORTHERN  
IRAQ AGAINST P-K-K BASES.  THE CURRENT OPERATION IS THE LARGEST  
TO DATE, INVOLVING ABOUT 35-THOUSAND TROOPS, BACKED BY TANKS AND  
WARPLANES.  ANKARA INSISTS THERE HAVE BEEN  NO  CIVILIAN  
CASUALITIES.  HOWEVER, AN IRAQI KURDISH GROUP REPORTED AT LEAST  
ONE CIVILIAN KILLED AND A NUMBER OF OTHERS INJURED IN TURKISH  
BOMBING RAIDS.
  
THE MARXIST P-K-K HAS BEEN FIGHTING FOR THE PAST DECADE FOR A  
SEPARATE KURDISH ENTITY IN SOUTHEASTERN TURKEY.  AT LEAST  
15-THOUSAND PEOPLE ARE ESTIMATED TO HAVE BEEN KILLED IN THIS  
GUERRILLA WAR, WHICH COST THE TURKISH GOVERNMENT SOME EIGHT  
BILLION DOLLARS LAST YEAR ALONE.  DESPITE MASSIVE AND REPEATED  
ATTACKS, GOVERNMENT FORCES HAVE  NOT  BEEN ABLE TO WIPE OUT THE  
INSURGENCY.   

THE WAR HAS ALSO DONE LITTLE TO BOOST TURKEY'S IMAGE IN THE AREAS
OF DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS AND THAT COMES AT A TIME WHEN  
ANKARA IS SEEKING EVER CLOSER TIES TO THE EUROPEAN UNION.   
(SIGNED)

NEB/SP/MH/CF

22-Mar-95 11:20 AM EST (1620 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
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