Gurel Has Telephone Talk With Arafat

ANKARA - Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sukru Sina Gurel had a telephone talk on Sunday with Palestinian Head of State Yasser Arafat who is sieged in Ramallah.
Arafat told Gurel that the conditions of the siege were very heavy and that his life was also in danger.
Arafat asked Turkey to talk to the U.S. administration and suggest Israel to end the siege in Ramallah.
Israel says it can only stop the siege if 20 Palestinians who are in the Palestinian headquarters are handed over to Israel and if Arafat leaves West Bank.

GUREL DOES NOT APPROVE UNILATERAL ACTION AGAINST IRAQ
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sukru Sina Gurel said on Sunday that a unilateral action against Iraq is not appropriate.
Responding to questions in a private tv-channel about the decision of the Higher Election Board, Gurel said that ''I wish everybody had acted in a responsible way and we didn't have such a problem today. Our party does not want political freedoms to be restricted, yet political activities should be in line with international criteria. Certainly Turkey is in a transition period today and even if we make amendments in certain laws, we can't ensure harmony in others.''
It is not posible to interfere with the decisions of the independent judiciary, said Gurel and noted that if this is the case, then the EU will tell Turkey ''why do you interfere with the affairs of the judiciary?''
Gurel said that ''everybody has to see that the efforts to abide by the international criteria constitute a dynamic process. Everybody has to refrain from taking certain actions that will take Turkey out from this process. If this artificial agenda was not created in Turkey saying that 'let's hurry, as we are missing the EU train,' Turkey would not have such problems today.''
Upon a question about Iraq, Gurel said that multilateral efforts on this issue continued, adding that ''we also contributed to these efforts in New York. I met with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell in the morning and met with Iraqi Foreign Miniser Naci Sabri after half an hour in the same day and I had the opportunity to convey their views to each other. These efforts also yielded result. Our efforts can't be called as mediation, yet as contribution. The Arab League Chairman and others also exerted the same efforts. Eventually the Iraqi administation accepted to abide unconditionally by U.N. Security Council Resolutions.''
When asked if the recent statement of Iraq which said that it does not accept the resolutions escalated tension, Gurel said that ''in fact this is not the case. In fact what escalates the tension most is the U.S's view which didn't find the Iraqi statements as sufficient. U.S. President George W. Bush didn't only talk about mass destruction weapons while addressing the U.N. General Assembly, he also talked about the nuclear programme, the oppression regime of the Iraqi administration towards its own people and he also talked about the prisoners of war. He both voiced these as if it was a list of responsibility to be fulfilled by the U.N. and he also asked these from the Iraqi administration. Yet the speech of Mr. Bush was also a speech that left the door open to political efforts. It was good in that respect, but the U.S. administration started to launch efforts in U.N. Security Council for a new draft resolution and he still continues to exert these efforts.''
Gurel said that the U.S. stressed that the regime in Iraq has to change and it also put forward the reasons that can be accepted by the international society, adding that yet the U.S. couldn't get the support it wanted from the international society.
Noting that the existing situation is different from the one in 1990, Gurel said that ''because Iraq openly acted in an aggressive manner in 1990, it invaded the territory of another country. Iraq had caused reaction not only outside but also within the Arab world. The U.S. found multilateral support in that period. What we want is that if a thing will be absolutely done, the permanent conditions of peace and international cooperation have to be formed. But while doing that, the principles of both legitimacy and consensus have to be respected.''
When asked if the U.S would hit Iraq unilaterally, Gurel said that ''such a unilateral act can't be appropriate and it can't constitute a strong basis for the coming period. The U.S. has to explain well why it has attempted to do such a thing and it should persuade others. Can the U.S. attempt to launch such an operation at all costs, yes it can, but I doubt if it will be in line with the long-term interests of the U.S.''
Upon a question asking if he expected an operation against Iraq in short time, Gurel said ''I didn't get the impression that the preparations have been completed. In fact we didn't discuss about the timing.''
GUREL: ''IF EU ATTEMPTS TO TAKE GREEK CYPRIOT SIDE TO EU, THIS WILL BE REAL ANNEXATION''
Gurel said on Sunday that the EU's accepting the Greek Cypriot side to membership will mean annexation of a part of Cyprus.
''If EU continues to take wrong steps and if it tries to take the Greek Cypriot side to the EU, this means real annexation, this means EU will annex a part of Cyprus. This will neither be a step that will open the door to a solution process in Cyprus, neither a step that will contribute to Turkey-EU relations. Therefore it will both deepen the division in Cyprus and it will also damage Turkey-EU relations. Therefore we suggest that the EU has to refrain from taking such a wrong step,'' Gurel said.
Gurel noted that the U.S. understands better the attitude of Turkey about the EU then its European counterparts, adding that the U.S. can assess the things done and concrete steps taken by Turkey regarding the EU issue in a more objective manner.
Gurel said that the U.S. continues to suggest the EU to give a negotiation date to Turkey, adding that ''we have not complained much about the attitude of the U.S. regarding the Cyprus issue to date. In fact from time to time the U.S. has taken steps which were regarded as positive by us, because the U.S. can more objectively deal with the Cyprus issue as the issue is not directly related to its interests. Maybe the U.S. is not always at equal distance to both sides on the island, but nevertheless it has such an effort when compared to others. But it is quite difficult to say that Turkey totally persuaded the U.S. about Cyprus issue.''
Gurel said that he had the opportunity to meet with foreign ministers of many EU countries during the U.N. General Assembly meetings, adding that he met with Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou for a few times.
Gurel said that they signed the protocol to form a common emergency assistance unit with Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou within the scope of U.N., adding that he got impression from Papandreou that Greece is positive about EU's starting of negotiations with Turkey.
Gurel said that Greece supports EU's starting of negotiations with Turkey without putting froward conditions or concerns, adding ''I hope this approach to continue. If this is the case, this will be a very important step in formation of a basis for solution of serious problems in Turkish-Greek relations and serious problems can be discussed.'' Gurel said that he couldn't get a clear response to his demands yet at his meetings with the foreign ministers of the other member countries of EU.
He said, ''the issue which we want to make clear is: setting a negotiation date is a beginning not an end. A new process will start when the negotiations begin and many things can be discussed during this process. It should not be considered that setting a date for starting the negotiations is as if taking a final decision about Turkey's full membership to the EU. The second issue is that our implementations are of course very important but no one has the right to question those implementations at this very moment. Because Turkey amended its laws by putting forth its will and decided to carry out the implementations at least in medium and long term period and showed its determination on that issue.''
Gurel replied to the question, ''Iraqi Kurdish leaders were speaking very loud a short time ago. They seem to be silent now. Which factors had an effect on it?'', by saying the following: ''I think that they had taken courage both from the others and the situtation at that time. Maybe they were afraid thinking that if 'we don't speak now, nobody can listen to us in the future.'... Finally I think that everbody understood his mistakes.''
Gurel said that the authority of deciding about Iraq's future belonged to the Iraqi people and stated that regional solutions were out of question in Iraq. Gurel added that the natural resources in Iraq should be used by all of Iraqi people.