Cem: Arafat's Safety Had Been Guaranteed

ANKARA (A.A) - 30.03.2002 - Foreign Minister Ismail Cem said on Saturday that Israel told them that Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's personal safety had been guaranteed, and they should approach cautiously to events in such an atmosphere.
After his arrival from Athens, Greece, Cem answered questions of reporters at Ankara's Esenboga Airport.
Recalling that Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ugur Ziyal had summoned the Israeli Ambassador to Turkey to the ministry the day before and explained Ankara's sensitivities about the latest developments and its expectations, Cem said, ''during that meeting yesterday, we were told that President Arafat's safety had been assured. All of us are doing our best for safety of all people there but we should approach events cautiously and wait for the developments cautiously.''
Noting that he had closely followed developments about the Middle East and he had been in contact with the relevant countries, especially the United States during his stay in Athens, Cem said that he had held a telephone conversation with Israeli Foreign Minister Simon Peres two days ago.
''As Turkey, we made a statement yesterday on the latest sorrowful events in the Middle East, killing of some people in the Israeli side due to terrorism, killing of innocent people in the Palestinian side due to violence, occupation situation, safety of the president and occupation of the Palestinian administration,'' he said.
Stating that they were also closely following the situation of four Turkish correspondents who were currently kept under detention by the Israeli security forces in Ramallah, Cem said that the Consulate General in Jerusalem and Embassy in Tel Aviv were still making initiatives.
Noting that according to the latest information he received that there was not any problem about safety of those journalists, Cem said that they were exerting efforts for taking them out of the area of clash and bringing them to Consul General Huseyin Avni Bicakci.
Cem said that those journalists could be transferred only with an armored vehicle as they were now in the area of clash.
Stressing that they welcomed the latest decision of the U.N. Security Council, Cem said that the decision should be implemented immediately.
''We cannot find a word to define today's situation but we wish that common sense would be victorious in the end,'' he said.
Recalling that the meeting in which he had come together with his Greek, Bulgarian and Romanian counterparts was very beneficial, Cem said, ''NATO membership of these two countries (Bulgaria and Romania) is not an issue which we approach by saying they are our neighbors, but this is an issue which directly concerns Turkey's and Europe's security. With this respect, we want acceptance of these countries' NATO membership as soon as possible and we are working to this end.''