From: trh@jack.sns.com (Al Trh)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.turkish
Subject: TRH News--Part 3
Date: 3 Oct 1992 04:41:35 -0500
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
Reply-To: Turkish Cultural Program List <TRKNWS-L%USCVM.BitNet@pucc.PRINCETON.EDU>
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu

TRH News--Part 3

    AT LEAST 160 KILLED IN FIGHTING TUESDAY BETWEEN TURKISH
FORCES, KURDS
    ANKARA (SEPT. 30) - At least 160 people were killed in
fighting Tuesday between Turkish security forces and
guerrilla fighters of the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) in
eastern and southeastern Turkey, Premier Suleyman Demirel
said Wednesday.
    A total of 124 PKK fighters, 28 soldiers, three Kurdish
village guards loyal to Turkey and five civilians had been
killed, Demirel said in Ankara. Earlier reports spoke of
about 100 dead.
    The majority died in rebel attacks on three army posts
which began in the early morning hours Tuesday near
Semdinli, in Hakkari province along the Turkish-Iraqi
border.
    Some 500 rebels armed with rocket launchers, flame
throwers, machine guns and bombs had penetrated into Turkey
from Iraqi territory to attack the army posts.
    Regional Governor Unal Erkan, who heads the eastern and
southeastern Turkish provinces currently under a state of
emergency, said Turkish security authorities had not crossed
the Iraqi border looking for bodies. It was assumed that
more PKK guerrillas had been killed but that their bodies
were across the border.

    NAKHICHEVAN'S LAST MANUFACTURING PLANT SHUTS DOWN DUE TO
RAILWAY BLOCKADE
    NAKHICHEVAN (SEPT. 30) - PRODUCTION CAME TO A STANDSTILL
IN NAKHICHEVAN'S LAST ENTERPRISE, AN ALUMINIUM GOODS PLANT,
DUE TO SHORTAGES OF RAW MATERIALS AS A RESULT OF A FIVE-
MONTH RAILWAY BLOCKADE.
    ACCORDING TO A NAKHICHEVAN AUTONOMOUS REPUBLIC
STATISTICAL COMMITTEE REPORT, THE CLOSURE OF THE 25
REMAINING INDUSTRIAL ENTERPRISES OF THE CITY IS COSTING
AROUND 10 MILLION ROUBLES PER DAY. OVER HALF OF THEM HAVE
STOOD IDLE FOR THE LAST FOUR MONTHS.

    ISTANBUL EXPRESS TO MUNICH COLLIDES WITH FREIGHT TRAIN;
NO REPORT ON INJURIES
    SOFIA/ISTANBUL (OCT. 1) - The Istanbul to Munich express
train was in collision with a freight train overnight in
Bulgaria near the Turkish border, it was reported Thursday.
    Turkey's Anadolou news agency said it was feared that
the drivers of both trains were killed. It was not known how
many of the 37 passengers aboard the express were injured.
    Bulgarian radio said the accident happened between
Lubimez and Harmanli, about 30 kilometres from the border
with Turkey.

    AZERBAIJAN FORCES BEGIN SHELLING LACHIN CORRIDOR LEADING
TO NAGORNO-KARABAKH
    YEREVAN (OCT. 1) - AFTER A FAILED ATTEMPT TO ATTACK THE
LACHIN CORRIDOR LAST NIGHT, AZERI FORCES INITIATED INTENSIVE
SHELLING OF THE HUMANITARIAN ROAD EARLY ON THURSDAY.
ARMENPRESS REPORTS FROM STEPANAKERT THAT "GRAD" ROCKET
LAUNCHERS ARE USED IN THE  SHELLING.
    ARMENIAN UNITS ARE DEFENDING THE CORRIDOR WHICH IS THE
ONLY ROAD LINKING NAGORNO-KARABAKH AND ARMENIA.
    GORI AND KAPAN REGIONS OF ARMENIA ADJOINING THE CORRIDOR
ALSO CAME UNDER FIRE FROM AZERI STRONGHOLDS IN KUBATLI AND
ZANGELAN REGIONS. ONE PERSON WAS KILLED IN THE TOWN OF KAPAN
AND DAMAGE WAS INFLICTED.

    ISRAEL BEGINS ARMING AZERI FORCES
    BAKU (OCT. 1) - Israel has begun supplying Azerbaijan
with military equipment -- badly needed for its four-year-
old war against Armenia over the future of Nagorno-Karabakh,
a predominantly Armenian-populated enclave inside
Azerbaijan.
    IPS has learned that Israeli supplies to Azerbaijan
include U.S.-built shoulder-fired anti-aircraft Stinger
missiles, as well as sophisticated military communications
equipment which allows units at the front to communicate
with one another.
    Disclosure of the Israeli move is likely to provoke an
outcry from Armenia which is desperately seeking ways to
establish close cooperation with the Jewish state. Informed
officials in various countries, including nations not
involved in the conflict, refused to discuss the issue for
attribution.
    "The Armenian government has believed for quite a while
that Israel is providing Azerbaijan with military equipment.
Moreover, Israeli advisors and military trainers are in
Azerbaijan. Azeris are also being trained in Israel," said a
government source reached by telephone in the Armenian
capital of Yerevan in response to the disclosure of the
Israeli move.
    It was also not immediately clear how the United States
would respond to the disclosure of U.S.-built weapons
flowing via Israel to Azerbaijan.
    The United States has steered clear of the Azerbaijani-
Armenian dispute, allowing the Conference on Security and
Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) and the Commonwealth of
Independent States (CIS) to take the lead in attempts to
resolve it.
    Sources in Istanbul and Washington this week said the
Israeli supplies may be connected to a recent visit to
Azerbaijan by retired U.S. Gen. Richard Secord, former
director-general of the Israeli foreign ministry David
Kimche, and Israeli secret service officials.
    Secord and Kimche achieved notorious fame in the 1980s
through their key roles in "Irangate" -- the covert sale of
U.S. arms to Iran -- and in the support Washington gave to
the Nicaraguan contras.
    The sources, some of whom claimed to have seen Secord
and Kimche in Azerbaijan said the purpose of their visit had
been shrouded in secrecy.
    Denying that his country was seeking a military
relationship with Israel, Azerbaijan President Abulfez
Elchibey said in an interview last week that Baku is not
seeking military assistance "from any country."
    "You start accepting military assistance and your
relationship starts changing. If we start taking weapons
from Israel or the United States, Armenia will take weapons
from Britain or France and the war will escalate. I would
like to contain the war."
    Reports of Israeli arms supplies come as Azerbaijan and
Turkey, in a bid to prevent Iran and other Islamic states f
making serious inroads into former Soviet Muslim republics,
are urging Israel to step up its involvement in the Caucasus
and Central Asia.
    The move follows a reported agreement by the United
States to fund Israeli projects in Central Asia involving
agriculture, irrigation, trade and the training of
personnel.
    It also coincides with desperate Armenian efforts to
spark greater interest in the fate of a country Armenians
feel close to because of the shared experience of a
holocaust.
    While Israel has established diplomatic relations with
all nations in the Caucasus and Central Asia with the
exception of Turkmenistan which maintains close ties to
Iran, it has yet to open embassies in a number of those new
states.
    Nevertheless, Muslims in the Caucasus and Central Asia,
including the Shi'ites of Azerbaijan, have high expectations
of their budding relationship with the Jewish state.
    "We would like to encourage relations between Israel and
Azerbaijan to progress along the lines of Israel sending
agricultural and other technical advisors in areas in which
Israel  excels. Israel could sign contracts here," Elchibey
told IPS.
    During a visit to Israel earlier this month as part of a
delegation that included senior officials from Uzbekistan
and Kazakhstan, Vafa Gouluzadeh, a senior foreign policy
advisor to Elchibey, warned Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon
Peres of fundamentalist Islamic efforts to influence
policies of the former Soviet republics.
    "I told him that the fundamentalists are working very
hard to influence the republics. They are spending money,
taking people to their countries, inviting them to Muslim
conferences. Meanwhile, the West is sleeping, it is waiting
to see if fundamentalism will be on the rise," Gouluzadeh
said.
    "I told him you shouldn't just wait, you should be more
active. You should create a fund to introduce western
influence, to create schools and colleges, invite people to
your universities and conferences. Peres liked the idea,"
added Gouluzadeh, an orientalist by training who served as a
Soviet diplomat in Cairo and Algeria.
    A well-placed Turkish diplomat also agreed that Israel
has a "serious and strong role to play." "Israel could
provide assistance, trade, economic relations; Israeli
companies could enter the Azerbaijani market possibly
together with Turkish and U.S. companies."
    Adding that it was crucial for the stability of the
region for Turkey and Israel to have "very good relations,"
he said: "We are encouraging Jews in Turkey to seek contact
with Jews in Azerbaijan."
    He said the Turkish government had gone to great length
to persuade the Turkish Jewish community to finance
participation of Azeri Jews in this year's festivities for
the 500th anniversary of the arrival of Jews from Spain from
where they had been expelled in 1492.
    An estimated 40,000 Jews -- half of which are Persian-
speaking Tats -- still live in Azerbaijan following the
major wave of emigration to Israel.

    PENNZOIL CO. SIGNS AGREEMENT TO DEVELOP OFFSHORE FIELD
IN AZERBAIJAN
    BAKU, AZERBAIJAN (OCT. 1) - Pennzoil Co. said Thursday
it has signed agreement with the Republic of Azerbaijan for
the exclusive right to develop the Guneshli oil field in the
southern portion of the Caspian Sea.
    Houston-based Pennzoil said its subsidiary, Pennzoil
Caspian Corp., has been designated by the republic's
government and its state oil company to serve as operator
for a program to increase production from existing wells and
develop the remainder of the field, located in offshore
Azerbaijan.
    A source familiar with the agreement said the field is
estimated to have 1.4 billion barrels in oil reserves and
that the current capacity of 130,000 barrels a day is
expected to double when the field is fully developed.
    Pennzoil said Ramco Energy Ltd. based in Aberdeen,
Scotland, will be a partner in the field.
    Robert Harper, a spokeman for Pennzoil, said he could
not offer a figure on how much of a stake Ramco will have in
the field, or what the venture will cost Pennzoil, until the
finer points of the agreement could be ironed out. He said
it took many month for Pennzoil and the Azerbaijan
government to reach the agreement announced Thursday.
    The definitive plan for the comprehensive development of
the field will be finalized within the next 90 days, Harper
said.
    ''This is an important step in Pennzoil's strategy to
increase international oil and gas operations,'' said the
oil company's president James Pate. ''Our experience in
offshore production and development fits well with the
objectives of the Guneshli field program.''
    Pate said, ''We have developed a strong relationship
with our Azerbaijani partners and believe these agreements
provide the framework for this important national asset to
realize its full potential.''
    Pennzoil is one of many U.S. oil companies setting their
oil- producing sights on the former Soviet Union, which
houses some of the world's largest oil reserves.
    In May, Chevron Corp, the fourth-largest domestic oil
company, signed a 40-year agreement with the Republic of
Kazakhastan to develop the Tengiz and Korolev oil field on
the northeastern Caspian Sea. The Tengiz field, which
contains 25 billion barrels of oil, is among the largest
discovered in the past decade.
    The world's largest oil company, Exxon Corp., and Mobil
Corp., ranked No. 2, announced last month they were joining
forces to pursue exploration and production opportunites in
a part of Russia's West Siberia basin.
    The Pennzoil agreement will increase production from
existing wells until maintenance is completed at the
Guneshli field, the oil company said. And it will also
implement the development of the remainder of the field
through a multi-year drilling program and the installation
of new platforms.
    Pennzoil said it will begin operations immediately on a
comprehensive gas gathering and compression system that will
increase the amount of natural gas utilization from Guneshli
and an adjacent field.

    ERRANT U.S. MISSILE HITS TURKISH WARSHIP LEAVING FIVE
DEAD, 14 HURT
    NAPLES/WASHINGTON (OCT. 2) - Five Turkish seamen were
killed and 14 hurt, three seriously, when the U.S. aircraft
carrier Saratoga accidently launched a missile at a Turkish
destroyer in the Aegean Sea, a North Atlantic Treaty
Organisation (NATO) spokesman said in Naples Friday.
    Ships rushed to the scene after the incident during a
late exercise Thursday and assisted in fighting the fire on
board the Turkish ship, Muavenet. A search for survivors was
later called off, the NATO spokesman said.
    Two Sea Sparrow missiles were fired from the Saratoga at
the Turkish ship five kilometres away for as yet unexplained
reasons. At least one of the missiles struck the Muavenet,
the Pentagon said in Washington.
    Cable News Network (CNN) quoted officials as saying that
the commando bridge of the Turkish ship was hit. The
accident happened 130 kilometres west of the Turkish port
city of Izmir. Helicopters from the U.S. landing ship Iwo
Jima were assisting in the operations along with the
destroyer Thomas Gates, the report said.
    The Saratoga was taking part in the North Atlantic
Treaty Organisation (NATO) manoeuvre ''Display Determination
92''. Twelve NATO nations including Turkey are taking part
in the exercise lasting from September 25 to October 9.
    The Turkish general staff said in a statement the
accident happened in a phe of the exercise in which guns
were not meant to be fired.
    According to preliminary investigations, one of the U.S.
missiles hit the bridge of the Muavenet killing the captain
Kudret Gungor and four navy personnel.

    TURKEY'S MODEL OF BALANCE BETWEEN ISLAM, GOV'T CAN SERVE
AS EXAMPLE FOR CIS
    MOSCOW (OCT. 2) - TURKEY SHOWS A HAPPY EXAMPLE OF
COMBINING ISLAMIC TRADITIONS AND LIBERAL DEMOCRACY AND THAT
IS WHY THE TURKISH MODEL CAN BE USED BY FORMER SOVIET
REPUBLICS, ACCORDING TO TURKISH PRIME MINISTER SULEYMAN
DEMIREL.
    TURKISH RELATIONS WITH THE STATES OF CENTRAL ASIA AND
THE CAUCASUS SHOULD BE IN NO WAY VIEWED FROM POSITIONS OF
PAN-TURCISM, HE SAID IN AN INTERVIEW WITH THE RUSSIAN "NEW
TIMES" WEEKLY PUBLISHED ON FRIDAY.
    DEMIREL ADDED HE IS VERY PLEASED THAT FORMER SOVIET
CAUCASIAN AND CENTRAL ASIAN COUNTRIES HAVE CHOSEN THE
TURKISH MODEL OF DEVELOPMENT.
    ALTHOUGH PRO-AZERI MOODS ARE VERY STRONG IN TURKEY, THE
POSITION OF ANKARA TOWARDS ARMENIAN-AZERI CONFRONTATION
CANNOT BE CALLED A "PRO-AZERI" ONE, DEMIREL SAID.
    HE REMINDED THAT HIS COUNTRY IMMEDIATELY RECOGNISED
SOVEREIGN ARMENIA. THE TURKISH LEADERSHIP HELD SEVERAL
MEETINGS WITH ARMENIAN COUNTERPARTS. NOW IT IS YEREVAN'S
TURN TO UNDERTAKE STEPS AND IMPROVE RELATIONS BETWEEN OUR
COUNTRIES, THE PRIME MINISTER SAID.
    AMONG THE STEPS DEMIREL LISTED A CEASEFIRE IN NAGORNO-
KARABAKH AND THE WITHDRAWAL OF ARMENIAN EXPEDITIONARY CORPS
FROM THE OCCUPIED TERRITORY OF AZERBAIJAN.
    DEMIREL ADDED THAT ARMENIA SHOULD TAKE A MORE
CONSTRUCTIVE STAND AT INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES ON THE
SETTLEMENT OF THE CONFLICT IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH.

    AZERBAIJAN AND ARMENIA REPORTEDLY RESUME TALKS
    KUBATLY, AZERBAIJAN (OCT. 2) - GOVERNMENTAL DELEGATIONS
OF ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN MET FOR TALKS ON THE BORDER
BETWEEN THE TWO COUNTRIES NEAR THE REGIONAL CENTER OF
KUBATLY ON FRIDAY.
    THE AZERINFORM NEWS AGENCY REPORTED THE TALKS HAD BEEN
TRANSFERRED TO KUBATLY FROM THE TOWN OF ZANGELAN ON THE
BORDER AFTER IT HAD BEEN SHELLED BY ARMENIA.
    THE DELEGATIONS ARE TO DISCUSS ISSUES CONNECTED WITH THE
RESUMPTION OF RAILWAY TRAFFIC BETWEEN THE TWO COUNTRIES, GAS
AND ELECTRICITY SUPPLY TO THE NAKHICHEVAN AUTONOMOUS
REPUBLIC AND RESTORATION OF OTHER COMMUNICATIONS DISMANTLED
DURING THE CONFLICT.
    MAJOR-GENERAL VITALY GLUSCHUK, A LEADER OF A GROUP OF
RUSSIAN OBSERVERS, IS TAKING PART IN THE TALKS. HE SAID HE
DOES NOT RULE OUT THE POSSIBILITY THAT THE DISENGAGEMENT OF
THE WARRING SIDES WILL BEGIN ON SATURDAY.

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