From: trh@jack.sns.com (Al Trh)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.turkish
Subject: Turkish Press "SOMALIA AND BOSNIA" (Milliyet 7 Dec 92 T. AKYOL) (fwd)
Date: 6 Jan 93 05:43:49 GMT
Reply-To: Turkish Cultural Program List <TRKNWS-L%USCVM.BitNet@pucc.PRINCETON.EDU>
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu


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 S O M A L I A    A N D    B O S N I A

 Milliyet                7 December 1992                Taha AKYOL

 When the  Security Council  decided for military  intervention in
 Somalia  for the  purpose of  protecting humanitarian  aid, Prime
 Minister  Demirel  and  Foreign  Minister Hikmet  Cetin  were  in
 Kiyoto, Japan.  The Foreign Ministry immediately  contacted Cetin
 and gave detailed information.

 Cetin  related the  situation to  Demirel and  they evaluated  it
 together.

 The  Turkish   People  cannot   distance  themselves   from  this
 humanitarian move,  and Turkish soldiers  should by all  means be
 sent to Somalia.

 As Turkey defends military  intervention against Serbian violence
 in  Bosnia-Herzegovina,  military  intervention in  Somalia  will
 strengthen Turkey's thesis.

 Apart  from  this, we  have  historical  and cultural  ties  with
 Somalia.  It is  a  Moslem  country, and  in  the  16th and  17th
 centuries the  Ottomans went  to the  assistance of  the Somalis.
 Hikmet  Cetin said:  "That Turkish  soldiers will  go to  Somalia
 wearing United Nations berets, and displaying a Turkish flag will
 be  an important  step for  Republican Turkey  in the  process of
 opening to the outside world."

 Demirel said:  "Turkey is a big  state, and plays big  roles. The
 international roles are increasing. Participation in the UN force
 sent  to Somalia  will be  further proof  of the  historical role
 Turkey has played in resolving humanitarian issues."

 Demirel  called Acting  Prime  Minister Inonu  and explained  the
 situation  to him  and asked  him to  convey the  opinion of  the
 government to the Chief of  General Staff. Inonu spoke to General
 Gures  and asked  for preparations  to  be made.  The Council  of
 Ministers approved the decision, and  it is certain that the TGNA
 will authorise the government to "send troops".

 The  situation  in Somalia  and  that  in Bosnia-Herzegovina  are
 similar. In  Somalia 300,000  people have  died from  hunger, and
 more  than  one million  people  are  facing death  from  hunger.
 Distribution  of international  humanitarian aid  is still  being
 prevented by  terrorist organizations  fighting for  ideology and
 power. The essence of the Security Council's decision, taken with
 the initiative of the U.S.A.  is to support humanitarian aid with
 military force and establish the necessary security atmosphere.

 We wholeheartedly approve.

 The situation  in Bosnia-Herzegovina  is maybe more  serious from
 the moral  viewpoint, because  150,000 Bosnian Moslems  have been
 killed in  Serbian attacks, not  from hunger! Two  million people
 have  become  refugees  under  very  hard  circumstances.  It  is
 reported that  if Serbian attacks  cannot be stopped, and  if the
 necessary  humanitarian  aid  is  not  provided,  500,000  people
 -primarily babies and  children- will die of cold  or hunger even
 if they survive the massacres.

 Despite  this picture  of violence,  the UN  Secretary-General is
 silent,  and  the  hypocritical  West does  not  favour  military
 intervention!

 Facist Serbian leaders openly make statements like:

 "We are completing  the Crusades by erasing the  last remnants of
 the Ottoman and Islamic heritage in central Europe."

 The  West, which  takes  decisions for  military intervention  in
 Somalia  where there  are no  such dirty  political calculations,
 will be  in a shameful  moral situation if  it does not  take the
 same decision for Bosnia-Herzegovina.

 In view of this situation, Ozal made a telephone call to Bush and
 reminded him that military intervention in Bosnia-Herzegovina was
 necessary.  He  said too,  that  the  government should  ask  for
 authority  from  the TGNA  to  send  troops  abroad, and  it  was
 appropriate to add the Bosnia-Herzegovina issue.

 Let us see if the western  world, which is preparing for New Year
 celebrations, will be ashamed of  its hypocrisy and finally admit
 that  sending soldiers  to  Bosnia is  a  humanitarian and  moral
 necessity.

 When I think of what the Pax Ottomana did centuries ago to rescue
 people  who  faced  massacre,  and  compare  it  to  today's  Pax
 Americana-remaining silent to the tragedy in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

 I cannot help saying "humanity should be ashamed."
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