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DEMIREL URGES 'RELEARNING' EURASIA

VIEWPOINT: PRESIDENT DEMIREL FEELS TURKEY AND THE WORLD SHOULD CAREFULLY WATCH THE CONCEPT OF "NEW EURASIA,"WHOSE BORDERS ALSO INCLUDE AFGHANISTAN, MONGOLIA AND TAJIKISTAN. BY NAZLAN ERTAN

TURKISH DAILY NEWS

ULAN BATOR / ANKARA- WRAPPING UP A THREE-DAY TOUR TO MONGOLIA AND TAJIKISTAN, TWO PLACES WHICH HAVE NOT BEEN VISITED BY A TURKISH PRESIDENT BEFORE, PRESIDENT SULEYMAN DEMIREL SAID THAT TURKEY NEEDED TO "RELEARN" EURASIA. "WE DO NOT KNOW ASIA WELL," THE PRESIDENT REMARKED AS HE STROLLED UP AND DOWN THE AISLES OF HIS CHARTER PLANE HEADING FOR TAJIKISTAN, THE POOREST OF THE CENTRAL ASIAN REPUBLICS. THREE DAYS AND ENDLESS MEETINGS LATER, DURING HIS RETURN FLIGHT TO TURKEY, HE REPEATED HIS IDEA OF "RELEARNING."

"EURASIA IS NOT WHAT WE LEARNED IN SCHOOLS AS YOUNG CHILDREN ... TODAY, THE WHOLE WORLD IS AWARE OF THE CONCEPT OF EURASIA AND WE ALSO NEED NEW DATA ON THAT," DEMIREL SAID. THE PRESIDENT MAINTAINED THAT MONGOLIA, TAJIKISTAN AND AFGHANISTAN ARE IMPORTANT PLAYERS IN HIS UNDERSTANDING OF EURASIA. "ALL COUNTRIES ARE LOOKING FOR NEW PARTNERS, NEW ALLIANCES," HE SAID. "TURKEY WANTS TO EMBRACE THOSE STATES, CALLED 'OPPRESSED NATIONS' BY ATATURK IN THE 1930S." "TURKEY IS AN IMPORTANT REGIONAL POWER AND COOPERATION WITH TURKEY IS IN THE INTERESTS OF EVERYBODY," HE ADDED. DEMIREL TOOK PAINS TO STRESS THAT TURKEY WANTS TO ESTABLISH "BALANCED" TIES WITH THOSE REPUBLICS: "WE DO NOT INTEND TO SET A BLOCK AGAINST ANYBODY. WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR IS A POTENTIAL FOR FUTURE COOPERATION IN A MULTITUDE OF AREAS." ASKED DURING HIS TRIP WHETHER HE THOUGHT TURKISH "INTEREST" IN THE REGION MIGHT CAUSE SOME EYEBROWS TO RISE IN CONCERN ABOUT "PAN-TURKISM," DEMIREL REPLIED: "WHY SHOULD THE VISIT OF THE TURKISH PRESIDENT STEP ON ANY TOES, WHEN VISITS FROM THE UNITED STATES, GERMANY AND JAPAN DO NOT?" IN A THINLY-VEILED REFERENCE TO RUSSIA, DEMIREL CONTINUED: "IF OUR VISITS HERE STEP ON THE TOES OF SOME, IF SOME PEOPLE CLAIM THIS, WELL, LET THEM JUST WITHDRAW THEIR FOOT FROM HERE."

PROGRESS IN THE REGION THE TURKISH PRESIDENT, WHO HAD PREVIOUSLY VISITED ALL THE TURKIC REPUBLICS EXCEPT TAJIKISTAN, WAS BRIEFED AT LENGTH BY HIS MONGOLIAN AND TAJIK COUNTERPARTS. DEMIREL, WHOSE STATEMENTS HINT AT A FEAR OF ISLAMIC INFLUENCE IN THE REGION, PRAISED TAJIKISTAN FOR OPTING FOR A DEMOCRATIC AND SECULAR STATE. "THIS COUNTRY IS SURROUNDED BY DIFFERENT ROLE MODELS, SUCH AS AFGHANISTAN, IRAN AND RUSSIA," HE SAID. "BUT IT HAS CHOSEN A SECULAR AND DEMOCRATIC SYSTEM. THIS IS IMPORTANT." THE PRESIDENT ALSO PRAISED THE ECONOMIC REFORMS THAT MONGOLIA IS PRESENTLY GOING THROUGH. "IT IS MY HOPE THAT THESE REFORMS WILL BE SUCCESSFUL," HE SAID. TURKEY AND MONGOLIA WERE DEBATING THE TERMS FOR A CREDIT ARRANGEMENT AND HAD JUST SIGNED AN AGREEMENT TO PREVENT DOUBLE TAXATION DURING THE PRESIDENT'S VISIT. DEMIREL MENTIONED THAT THERE IS ALREADY AN INTERNATIONAL GROUP CALLED FRIENDS OF MONGOLIA, WHICH REALIZES THAT THIS COUNTRY NEEDS HELP DURING ITS DIFFICULT TIMES. THREE DAYS BEFORE DEMIREL'S VISIT, THE UNITED STATES ANNOUNCED THAT IT WILL PROVIDE $4.5 MILLION IN AID TO MONGOLIA. THE U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT WILL PROVIDE $3.5 MILLION FOR MONGOLIA'S ENERGY SECTOR AND $1 MILLION THROUGH UNICEF FOR A PROGRAM TO IMMUNIZE MONGOLIAN CHILDREN AND TO FIGHT PNEUMONIA AND DIARRHEA. THE AFGHAN FACTOR THE AFGHANISTAN SITUATION WAS STRESSED CONSTANTLY DURING DEMIREL'S VISIT, BECAUSE THE TURKISH PRESIDENT WAS URGED BY HIS TAJIK COUNTERPART TO "TAKE AN ACTIVE TURKISH ROLE" IN ENDING THE AFGHAN CRISIS. DEMIREL, WHO NAMES AFGHANISTAN AS AN IMPORTANT PLAYER IN HIS CONCEPT OF EURASIA, SAID, "WE WANT PEACE AND STABILITY IN THE REGION. WE WANT THE REGION TO BE AT PEACE WITHIN ITSELF." DEMIREL'S ACUTE INTEREST SEEMS BORN OUT OF THE KNOWLEDGE THAT THE INSTABILITY IN AFGHANISTAN, IN THE CENTER OF ASIA, THREATENS THE STABILITY OF ITS NEIGHBORS.

TAJIKISTAN PRESIDENT IMAMALI RAKHMANOV, FOR EXAMPLE, COMPLAINED BITTERLY ABOUT THE INFLUENCE OF THE AFGHANISTAN INSTABILITY ON ITS OWN BORDER SECURITY AND THE INFILTRATION OF TAJIK REBELS. THE INSTABILITY IN AFGHANISTAN IS ALSO PREVENTING THE BEGINNING OF A EURASIAN HIGHWAY PROJECT WHICH WOULD LINK THE COUNTRIES BY MOTORWAY, ACCORDING TO SOURCES CLOSE TO EUROPE. DEMIREL ALSO MENTIONED THE TRANS-EURASIAN HIGHWAY, SAYING ITS CONSTRUCTION WAS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PROJECTS IN THE REGION.

ANKARA- TURKEY HAS WARNED THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE RIVAL NORTHERN IRAQI KURDISH GROUPS AT THE DUBLIN MEETING NOT TO ALLOW KURDISTAN WORKERS' PARTY (PKK) ACTIVITIES IN THE REGION, THE ANATOLIA NEWS AGENCY REPORTED ON THURSDAY. THE SECOND ROUND OF THE U.S.-SPONSORED TALKS, WHICH BEGAN ON TUESDAY, BETWEEN THE RIVAL NORTHERN IRAQI KURDISH GROUPS, THE KURDISTAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY (KDP) AND PATRIOTIC UNION OF KURDISTAN (PUK), IS AIMED AT ESTABLISHING PEACE IN THE REGION. TURKISH OFFICIALS TOLD KURDISH REPRESENTATIVES THAT THE POWER VACUUM IN NORTHERN IRAQ WAS HARMING TURKEY'S SECURITY. "TURKEY CAN NOT AFFORD TO REMAIN INDIFFERENT TOWARDS THIS SITUATION ANYMORE," OFFICIALS SAID. MEANWHILE, PKK MILITANTS HAVE TAKEN EIGHT U.N. AND OTHER HUMANITARIAN WORKERS HOSTAGE AT A REFUGEE CAMP IN NORTHERN IRAQ, A U.N. OFFICIAL SAID IN BAGHDAD ON THURSDAY. U.N. RELIEF COORDINATOR VICTOR WALEROZE TOLD AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE THAT THE EIGHT WERE APPARENTLY ABDUCTED FOR "POLITICAL REASONS," WHILE OTHER SOURCES IN THE REGION SAID THEY WERE BEING HELD AS SHIELDS AGAINST POSSIBLE ATTACK FROM AN IRAQI KURDISH FACTION. NEGOTIATIONS WITH REPRESENTATIVES AT THE ATRUSH CAMP, NEAR DAHUK, ARE TAKING PLACE TO WIN THEIR RELEASE, WALEROZE DDED. THREE U.N. OFFICIALS AND 10 OTHER WORKERS FROM NON-GOVERNMENTAL RELIEF GROUPS WERE PREVENTED FROM LEAVING THE CAMP ON TUESDAY BY UP TO 1,000 REFUGEES WHO SWARMED AROUND THEIR CARS. FIVE NON-GOVERNMENTAL WORKERS WERE FREED ON EDNESDAY FOLLOWING A ROUND OF NEGOTIATIONS, WHILE THE OTHER EIGHT HOSTAGES REPORTEDLY "WERE TREATED WELL AND IN GOOD HEALTH," WALEROZE SAID. THE UNITED NATIONS HAS DEMANDED "THE UNCONDITIONAL RELEASE" OF THE EIGHT OTHERS. A SOURCE FOLLOWING EVENTS IN NORTHERN IRAQ SAID ATRUSH RESIDENTS WERE HOLDING THE EIGHT TO PREVENT A POSSIBLE ATTACK FROM THE KDP, WHICH HAS CONTROLLED THE AREA WITH OTHER GROUPS SINCE AFTER THE 1991 GULF WAR. IRAQI KURDS HAD ENTERED THE SECOND DAY OF PEACE TALKS ON WEDNESDAY AS NEWS BROKE THAT RIVAL TURKISH KURDS IN NORTHERN IRAQ HAD TAKEN U.N. REFUGEES HOSTAGE. A TURKISH OBSERVER AT THE DUBLIN NEGOTIATIONS BETWEEN TWO FEUDING IRAQI KURDISH MILITIAS SAID HE WAS AWARE OF AND CONCERNED BY THE REPORT, BUT DECLINED FURTHER COMMENT. THE PKK HAS MADE ITS INTENTION VERY CLEAR -THAT IT WANTS TO SABOTAGE THE PEACE TALKS ... SO WE ARE DEFENDING THE PEACE PROCESS, KDP REPRESENTATIVE HISHYAR AL ZEBARI SAID. THE FIRST DUBLIN MEETING WAS ATTENDED BY THE RIVAL KURDISH GROUPS, THE IRAQI NATIONAL CONGRESS (INC), TURKEY AS AN OBSERVER AND THE UNITED STATES AS SPONSOR.

 

 

 

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Akh, inch lav gelni vor me or het etan Mongolia! Go ahead Demirel, make more deals with your Mongolian kin.

[Guest]

LOL Farsi jan, I have copied this from Tajikistan online.

 

Demirel really needs education he goes to Mongolia, to find a solution to fight PKK in East Anatolia.

 

Hmm. or he hasn't have proper Geographic education, or we should watch out for another Chingiz Khan's hordes attacking Middle East!

 

P.S. I wonder if your e-mail works now?

 

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