Ecevit: We Cannot Accept Education In Kurdish Language

ANKARA, Jan 25 (A.A) - Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit has said that his government cannot accept education in Kurdish language. ''This is impossible. This is a plan of certain circles, some of them which have its origins in Europe, to split up Turkey by using children and young people,'' Ecevit said when he answered questions of Taha Akyon on CNN Turk on Friday night.
Commenting on a possible tv channel in Kurdish language, Ecevit said ''I'm the prime minister of a coalition formed by three parties. I have to watch my words when I make a comment on a sensitive subject for one of the three coalition members. Many advancements happened in technology and television is watched everywhere in the world. Even the people with very low income in South and South East Turkey can watch television. All problems cannot be solved so quickly but we have to bring a solution to this problem.''
About Baku-Ceyhan oil pipeline, Ecevit said ''The United States is very determined about Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan project. The U.S. administration cannot have a contribution to the project but it support financial institutions and encourages them. It looks like there won't be any problems.''
About the lifting of textile quotas, Ecevit said ''We had no dream about that. Businessmen wanted the quotas to be lifted but they had no high expectations. But in two years time, this problems will be solved all around the world. We complained about this during our visit and told them that it was wrong to exclude Turkey from the opportunities they extend to European countries.''
''Will Turkey be able to buy high technology like Israel from the United States due to free regions?'' Akyol asked Ecevit. The prime minister said ''The United States built qualified industrial regions in Israel and Jordan. We also want to build similar ones. This will allow us to export technology and electronic industry to the United States. We want to sell our own technological products to the United States and there won't be any problems between us in this matter.''
When asked when people would start feeling a relief in their own pockets, Ecevit said it would be end of this year and next year. ''All the indications are pointing to that. We're trying to maintain a balance between incomes. It's very important to create employment.''
About the property tax, Ecevit said he asked the finance minister to discuss the matter at the Ministers Council on sunday. ''We'll try to lighten the load on people,'' he said.
Answering a question on Iraq, Ecevit said ''President Bush clearly stated that a possible operation against Iraq would not cause a split up in Turkey. Bush doesn't want Saddam Hussein, he clearly said that. IF Iraq obeys the UN's conditions, this would prevent a military operation but this is not enough. Bush says they have to get rid of Saddam. The U.S. Administration has not yet reached a decision. The United States is a pluralist country. There are many differing views in the U.S. administration on this matter. Bush says he hasn't decided yet. Hussein has a great opportunity and if he misses this opportunity, this would hurt them too. It would hurt the world and Turkey. I'll send a letter to Saddam Hussein one of these days.''
Ecevit criticized the EU for not including PKK and DHKP-C in its list of terrorist countries. He said that during today's meeting the French defense minister said ''there were people in the EU who don't think it's right to include them in the list.'' Ecevit said he believed this mistake would be corrected in the term presidency of Spain.
''You've always oppossed to the shutting down of political parties. Do you have the same attitude towards the People's Democratic Party (HADEP)?'' Ecevit was asked.
''I always said that party closures should not be so eassy. Because one party is shut down and another is opened. This is deceiving ourselves,'' he commented.
About the Cyprus issue, Ecevit said Europe should not interfere with the Cyprus conflict.
Ecevit said that his visit to the United States wasvery successful and he observed that U.S. President George W. Bush and his colleagues valued Turkey greatly.
Ecevit indicated that he had the chance to speak with Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, Secretary of Treasury, Secretary of Commerce, Trade Representative and Acting Secretary of State during his stay in the United States.
When asked to compare his visit to the visit of Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis, Ecevit said ''That wouldn't be right. Turkey has a special situation. Especially after Sept.11 attacks, Turkey's importance was realized as a country that would prevent a war between religions. Turkey is very important for the region's security. We have more relations with the world than Greece does. Greece has maritime and commercial relations but Turkey has a very special place regarding security and strategical fields for the United States.'' He indicated that Bush used the term ''strategical partnership'' to define the relations between his country and Turkey.
''The weakest link of this partnership was economy,'' he continued. ''The United States was offering opportunities to European countries and Turkey couldn't benefit from them. We are a EU candidate and we're also a member to the Customs Union. Business circles offered their great support in this field. Some 130 businessmen accompanied me and this pleased me. The U.S. administration issued a declaration on the day that I met Mr. Bush and with this declaration our economic partnership reached to the level of our strategical partnership.''
Ecevit said that a council was formed and Alan Larson, Deputy Secretary in charge of Economic Affairs was appointed as the head of the council. ''We appreciate Larson's activities in Turkey but they have to speed up a little. Some new problems might emerge if we don't increase speed in economy.''
''There is no government in the world which works as fast as we do and they told us that we have to continue like that. Especially Mr. Bush said he appreciated our activities. However, they told us that U.S. businessmen who want to make investments in Turkey face a number of bureaucratic obstacles.''
Ecevit assured that foreign investors won't have to ''knock on 40 doors'' before they start an investment in Turkey and that they would get a response within a maximum of three months.
Pointing to Turkey's heavy economic burdens in the last two years, Ecevit said ''I was encouraged as I saw that we're overcoming them. I had a very busy program in the United States but I didn't get tired a bit. On the contrary, I worked with great enthusiasm.''
The prime minister underlined that all the indications were pointing to a recovering economy. ''Last year we gained 31 billion U.S. dollars from export. Our tourism is develooping. These two sectors are supporting domestic production and consumption.''