GUL: RUSSIAN SIDE HAS GIVEN US LIST OF CERTAIN PERSONS CLAIMED TO HAVE BEEN INVOLVED IN ACTS OF TERRORISM

MOSCOW - Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said on Thursday that the Russian side gave them the list of certain Turkish citizens who were claimed to be involved in acts of terrorism, adding that they would investigate that.
Gul held a press conference for Russian and Turkish journalists on the last day of his three-day visit to Russia.
When a reporter asked if the activities of the terrorist organization PKK in Russia and Turkish citizen Mehmet Yesilyurt who was accused of being a secret agent working in Russia, came to agenda during his meetings, Gul said that ''I've mentioned the new names which terrorist organization PKK have taken and I've asked Russian side to take those new names of PKK into the list of terrorist organizations. The Russian side will work in a clear way about this issue. Some names who were involved in acts of terrorism in Russia have been given to us. We will investigate these persons. We will search if the name you mentioned exists or not. His name was not mentioned in our meetings.''
Upon a question about the letter sent by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell who voiced some shortcomings in implementation of human rights reforms in Turkey and his words saying that the case of Birtan Altunbas, claimed to be killed by torture, could become invalid due to lapse of time, Gul said that ''it is true. I received such a letter recently and there was such a word about that issue. The letter was a good letter regarding the positive and successful results of our visit to the United States. The mentioned issue continues in the form of retrial and the court will give its decision. We had earlier stressed that no tolerance would be shown towards human rights violations and torture. We had declared it as 'zero tolerance' to torture.''
When asked how he evaluated the comments saying that Greek Cypriots blocked the negotiation process in Cyprus, Gul said that the process continued and it was not an easy process.
Gul stated that he told from the beginning that the process would be a tough one, adding that ''it is a difficult process, but we must continue in a resolved way. Turkey will continue to launch efforts with the same determination for reaching a resolution before May 1.''
GUL: WE ARE TAKING MEASURES TO PREVENT ANY HAZARD IN THE STRAITS
Gul said, ''the issue of passage from the Straits was frankly taken up during the meetings in detail. The Russian side said that it had experienced some problems recently. We informed them. As Turkey and Russia are both determined to further improve their friendly relations, the issue was taken up frankly.''
Noting that Turkey did not have any intention of preventing passages from the Straits, Gul said, ''if we think realistically, we have to pay careful attention to traffic in the Straits. While physical position and wideness of the Straits remained the same, economic and technological developments have been changing unbelievably.''
''Nearly four thousand tankers passed through the Straits in 1996. The number of tankers exceeded eight thousand in 2003. Their load, which was 60 million tons in 1996, increased up to 150 million tons in 2003. 15 million people live in both sides of Istanbul. Therefore, we have to take measures to prevent any hazards in traffic in the Straits,'' he said.
Stressing that these measures aimed to provide continuity of passages and security in the Straits, Gul said, ''you should come to Istanbul and be our guest for two days to understand it. Then, you will see by only watching the traffic in the Straits that we are rightful to take measures in the Straits. Our country experienced extremely bad weather conditions this year. It caused more problems in the traffic in the Straits. We had to close even airports in Istanbul due to bad weather conditions. Our maritime experts will hold meetings to discuss the issue frankly.''
When asked whether diplomatic relations would be set between Turkey and Armenia and whether the border would be opened between the two countries, Gul reminded that Upper Karabakh had still been under occupation of Armenia, saying, ''further steps to be taken to resolve the Upper Karabakh dispute and a solution will lead Turkey to review its relations with Armenia. The most important thing to which we attributed great importance is that countries should mutually respect their territorial integrity.''
Replying to a question on a water park in Moscow whose roof collapsed which was constructed by a Turkish company, Gul said that they felt very sad about the incident and stressed that investigation on the issue did not finish yet.
Stating that the investigation continued, Gul said, ''there has not been a certain evidence that shows the company which constructed the water park is responsible for the incident, but investigation is still under way. There are Turkish companies which make very successful business in Russia and everyone appreciates them. But if there is a fault of a company, people should not accuse Turkey. Investigation about the incident is completely a technical issue, it is not an issue which concerns the two countries. We believe that Russian side will carry out a scientific and objective investigation. I think that there will be results by the end of March.''
Replying to another question on his view about some Turkish citizens' being killed in clashes in Chechnya, Gul said that they always condemned violence against innocent people.
Gul said that Turkish passport could be sometimes found on some terrorists who were killed in clashes and added that those who staged terrorist attacks in Istanbul were also Turkish citizens.
Concerning some allegations which said that some volunteer organizations in Turkey collected aid for militants in Chechnya, Gul said that only Red Crescent collected humanitarian aid in Turkey and underlined that Red Crescent was an organization which had similar functions with Red Cross in Russia.
Gul said that terrorist incidents could occur again no matter how strong the measures taken were and noted that those who staged attacks in Istanbul were also Turkish citizens. He added that the important thing was that Turkey was doing its utmost to prevent those things.
Stating that visa problems and problems which Turkish citizens faced at airports were also brought onto the agenda during meetings, Gul said that delegations of the two countries would meet and discuss the issue.
Gul noted that Iraq issue was also discussed in meetings and stressed that the two countries had similar views on U.N.'s having much influential role in reconstruction of Iraq and protection of political and territorial integrity of Iraq.

(UK-EÖ-AÖ) 26.02.2004