ISTANBUL - Environment and Forestry Minister Osman Pepe said on Saturday that terrorism did not have any nationality or religion but nobody could have the power to shake tranquility, balance and confidence in Turkey.
Pepe, who returned from Italy, told reporters that he heard about the explosions in Sisli and Beyoglu districts of Istanbul when he was in Italy.
Giving information about meetings he attended in Italy, Pepe said that the ''13th Conference of the Parties to the Barcelona Convention for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea and of its Coastal region'' and the ministerial meeting on ''the specificity of Mountain Areas in the European Union (EU)'' were very fruitful.
Pepe noted that ''Catania Declaration'' issued at the end of the ministerial meeting on ''the specificity of Mountain Areas in EU'' aimed to make EU funds to better economic situation of people living in mountain areas more active.
He expressed Turkey's views on protection of Turkish territorial waters from hazardous wastes in the meetings and discussed the draft Environment Law, Pepe stated.
Pepe added, ''we said that Turkish straits should not be turned into an oil pipeline and Turkish territorial waters should not be turned into a depot of waste.''
(BRC-AY) 15.11.2003