JANUARY 1 - DECEMBER 31, 19981
C O N T E N T S I. GENERAL
II. RELATİONS WITH THE EUROPEAN STATES AND THE EUROPEAN UNION
III. RELATİONS WTTH THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
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W. CYPRUS \SS13E
V. RELATİONS WTTH GREECE AND OTHER B ALKAN STATES
VI. RELATİONS WITHISRAEL AND THE ARAB STATES VII. RELATİONS WITH IRAN AND CENTRAL ASIAN
REPUBLICS
I. GENERAL
J a n u a r y 06- Ahmet Necdet Sezer is elected as presiding judge of the Constitutional Court.
January 16- The Constitutional Court outlaws the Welfare Party (RP) and bans its leader, former Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan, along with five other deputies from political activity for five years. "The court decided to close the Welfare Party because of evidence confirming its actions against the principles of the secular republic," Court Chief Justice Ahmet Necdet Sezer discloses. Reacting to the court decision, Erbakan calls on his follovvers to remain calm, and vows to take the case to the European Court of Justice.
February 03- Turkey's annual inflation pasts the 100 percent barrier for the first time in three years. Consumer price inflation rose 101.6 percent in January compared vvith the same month in 1997, the State Institute of Statistics (DİE) discloses.
1 Prepared from Turkish Probe by Atay Akdevelioğlu, Research Assistant,
February 06- Turkey's population has risen to 62.6 million from 56.5 million in 1990, according to the final results of a national census.
April 27- Turkey privatizes mobile phone licenses in a much-awaited deal worth $1 billion, the biggest privatization move undertaken in the country so far.
June 27- A strong earthquake causes extensive damage in the southem city of Adana, the township of Ceyhan and its environs, killing at least 150 and injuring more than a thousand people.
July 15- The High Board of Privatization (ÖYK) approves the sale of 51 percent of the petroleum marketer Petrol Ofisi for $1.16 billion to a consortium of local companies in the largest single sell-off deal in Turkey's privatization history.
July 23- Parliament passes wide-ranging tax reforms sought by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
A u g u s t 13- The İMKB-100 index dives 6.83 percent, in reaction to increased economic turmoil in Russia, a key trading partner of Turkey.
A u g u s t 26- The IMKB-100 index drops 7.8 percent amid increasing concerns över the grovving economic crisis in Russia and över taxes on earnings on securities and interbank transactions.
A u g u s t 28- Prime Minister Mesut Yılmaz announces a package of measures designed to head off the possible adverse effects of the Russian financial crisis on the Turkish market.
A u g u s t 28- General Hüseyin Kıvrıkoğlu takes över command of Turkey's armed forces, vowing to intensify the military's fight against radical islam. "The Turkish Armed Forces should be more povverful and vigilant than ever against problems such as radical islam," he said at the ceremony in vvhich he replaced General ismail Hakkı Karadayı as the Chief of General Staff.
September 16 - Indian President Kocheril Raman Narayanan arrives in Ankara for a three-day state visit aimed at boosting bilateral ties.
October 14- 42 year old Archbishop Mesrob Mutafyan is chosen as the 8 4t h patriarch of the Armenian community in Turkey.
October 22- Ankara says it has asked Moscovv to extradite Abdullah Öcalan, leader of the terrorist Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK), vvho it says has been in Russia for more than one vveek.
October 29- The 7 5t h anniversary of the republic is celebrated.
November 06- Turkey imposes nevv navigation rules for the Turkish Straits.
I I . RELATİONS WITH THE EUROPEAN STATES AND THE EU
J a n u a r y 0 2 - Italy stands firmly by its stated aim of granting political asylum to Kurds from Turkey and Iraq despite mounting fears in Germany that Rome was opening the floodgates to a tide of immigrants into the European Union.
J a n u a r y 04- Germany urges Turkey to find a political solution to its "Kurdish problem" to stem the flow of refugees to Westem Europe.
J a n u a r y 05- Turkey rejects European pressure to find a political solution to its festering Kurdish problem and says hundreds of Kurdish illegal aliens who reached Italy on flimsy boats last week are fleeing economic hardship, not political repression as suggested by Italian leaders.
J a n u a r y 07- Turkey says it has complained to Britain about a remark by Foreign Secretary Robin Cook that Turkey's borders were not clearly defined.
J a n u a r y 13- German Prosecutor-General Kay Nehm says the PKK, which is outlavved both in Turkey and Germany, is no longer regarded as a terrorist group. However, he says, the PKK leadership is stili blacklisted in Germany as a criminal organisation linked to cases involving child abduction, extortion of money, causing bodily harm and arms offences.
J a n u a r y 14- British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook reiterates the European Union's invitation to Turkey to take part in a European Conference scheduled for March 12. "We recognise Turkey's European vocation and the need to draw her into the enlargement process," Cook telis the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
J a n u a r y 20- The European Union expresses its dismay at Turkey's banning of the Welfare Party. "The European Union notes with regret the decision of the Turkish Constitutional Court ... to order the closure of the Welfare Party, to confiscate its property and to ban certain present and former members of that party from being members of the Turkish Parliament or from further political activity for five years," the European Union presidency says in a statement.
F e b r u a r y 19 - President Demirel begins a state visit to France for talks that officials saw as a chance to repair a damaging row betvveen Ankara and the European Union över its bid for membership in the bloc. French President Jacques Chirac urges Turkey not to boycott an upcoming European Union conference. Demirel, responding to Chirac, says the European Union should treat it as equal to other candidates for membership.
M a r c h 04- The European Commission, asked by the European Union at the Luxembourg summit to prepare a European strategy for Turkey, presents its customs union plus proposal for Ankara.
M a r c h 06- Prime Minister Mesut Yılmaz compares the German approach to European Union expansion to Adolf Hitler's "Lebensraum" plans for German settlement of eastern Europe, the Financial Times reports.
M a r c h 11- Prime Minister Yılmaz charges that Germany is using "intolerable delaying tactics" in the European Union vvhich are aimed against T u r k e y . "The federal government [of G e r m a n y ] is the architect of discrimination" against Turkey in the European Union, Yılmaz telis Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) in Ankara.
M a r c h 16- Turkish Cypriot President Denktaş officially rejects an offer by the European Union for Turkish Cypriots to join a team that vvill negotiate the island's entry into the European Union.
M a r c h 29- Leftist arsonists in Athens torch a car belonging to Turkey's military attache Colonel Haluk Arabacı, causing some damage but no injuries.
A p r i l 02- A series of anti-German outbursts by Turkish Prime Minister Yılmaz is souring relations betvveen the two countries, German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel says in Bonn. In his latest remarks, Yılmaz calls German Chancellor Helmut Kohl an "enemy" during a tourism conference in Antalya, Turkey, vvhere he also says he vvouldn't mind if German tourists stayed avvay.
A p r i l 06- On a rare visit to Greece, the head of Turkey's military, General ismail Hakkı Karadayı, meets vvith his Greek counterpart General Athanasios Tzoganis in advance of a gathering of European defense officials in Athens. Later Karadayı calls for dialogue vvith Greece to resolve longstanding disputes in the Aegean.
M a y 08- Şemdin Sakık, a leading PKK member vvho earlier claimed his organization had assassinated Svvedish Prime Minister Olof Palme, later denies responsibility for the killing, rejecting his earlier testimony, according to a Turkish nevvspaper that quoted Prime Minister Mesut Yılmaz.
M a y 13- The European Union issues a statement condemning the shooting of human rights activist Akın Birdal, and condemns the gunmen vvho seriously wounded Birdal.
M a y 18- United States President Bili Clinton says that both Turkey and Greece need to make difficult decisions to help defuse rising tension över divided Cyprus and Turkey's bid to join the European Union.
M a y 21- The Foreign Ministry announces Turkey vvill boycott a key meeting of the Turkish-Eurepean Union Association Council.
M a y 22- Former VVelfare Party officials appeal to the European Commission of Human Rights against the closure of the Party, banned from politics for threatening Turkey's secular constitution.
M a y 25- Turkey confirms it will not attend a key meeting with European Union ministers, as there has been no improvement in the Union's stance över Ankara's exclusion from Eurepean Union expansion plans. Later, Eurepean Union foreign ministers voice their "regret and disappointment" över Ankara's decision to boycott the meeting with the bloc's top officials in Brussels.
M a y 29- The French National Assembly passes a bili recognizing the alleged 1915 killings of Armenians by the Ottoman Turks as genocide. Turkey condemns the bili.
J u n e 03- The Turkish Parliament condemns a French legislative motion recognizing the alleged 1915 mutual killings of Armenians and Muslims in Turkey as genocide.
J u n e 12- France says it is committed to maintaining close ties with Turkey and regrets tensions caused by a French parliamentary motion condemning as genocide the alleged 1915 killings of Armenians by Turks.
J u n e 13- British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who wants the European Union to ease Ankara's anger at being left out of the enlargement process, clashes with his Greek counterpart över Turkey in the last round of meetings aimed at paving the way for a smooth Eurepean Union summit.
J u l y 23- Turkey says it has presented a document to the European Union to help patch up a row över the Eurepean Union's refusal to include Ankara in its eastward expansion plans. "Our proposals contained in the paper cover a multitude of areas ... with a view to developing our relations with the Eurepean Union in the direction of our full membership goal," the Foreign Ministry discloses in a statement.
J u l y 27- Italian Premier Romano Prodi and Turkish Prime Minister Yılmaz hold talks in istanbul on Ankara's difficult relations with the European Union, Greece and Cyprus.
A u g u s t 13- Germany bans two rival left-wing Turkish extremist groups, the Revolutionary Popular Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) and the Turkish Popular Liberation Party/Front (THKP/Ç) as threats to domestic security, citing growing violence and criminal activity mainly targeting Turks living in Germany.
A u g u s t 17- French authorities announce the capture of Alaattin Çakıcı, one of Turkey's leading criminal figures.
A u g u s t 18- Turkey seeks the extradition of Çakıcı, a suspected Turkish mafia boss detained in the south of France.
A u g u s t 19- Chancellor Helmut Kohl's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) criticizes Prime Minister Mesut Yılmaz for reportedly urging Turks in Germany to vote against Kohl in the September 27 eleetions.
September 15 - British Defence Secretary George Robertson visits Ankara and concludes a cooperation agreement. Later, at a press conference, he calls on the government to reconsider a recent Unied States proposal for a moratorium on military flights över Cyprus.
September 28 - Turkey warns Italy över a planned two-day meeting of the so-called Kurdish parliament-in-exile in the Italian Parliament, with the participation of Italian deputies, vvhich it says vvould damage bilateral ties.
September 29 - The United States and the Eurepean Union criticize the jail sentence given to Istanbul's Mayor, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, saying the move heightened doubts about Turkey's democracy.
September 30 - Members of the so-called Kurdish parliament-in-exile are allovved to enter Italy's parliament building and hold a meeting, dravving protests from Turkey.
O c t o b e r 03- Turkey's ambassador to Rome, inal Batu, arrives in Turkey for consultations about a diplomatic crisis vvith Italy över Kurdish dissidents.
October 30- Gerhard Schroeder, Germany's nevv chancellor, says he vvill vvork for closer ties betvveen Turkey and the European Union.
N o v e m b e r 05- Foreign Minister Cem says the European Union's definition of Turkey as a candidate for membership vvill pave the vvay to improved relations betvveen Brussels and Ankara.
November 10- The European Union officially opens membership negotiations vvith Greek Cypriots as 'Cyprus' and Greek Cypriots accuse Turkey of blocking a solution on the divided island.
November 12- In a shift of German policy, Deputy Foreign Minister Guenter Verheugen is quoted as saying that Turkey 'naturally' could join the European Union one day.
November 13- Abdullah Öcalan, the leader of the PKK, is arrested in Rome after fiying to Italy from Russia.
November 20- A Rome court frees Kurdish terrorist leader ö c a l a n from detention but orders him to remain in Rome.
N o v e m b e r 21- Öcalan leaves an Italian military hospital, vvhere he had been in custody since his November 12 arrival in Italy, for a private residence in a plush district of Rome.
D e c e m b e r 03- A French appeals court agrees to extradite Turkish mafia boss Çakıcı to Turkey. But it says it vvill set conditions for the extradition.
D e c e m b e r 07- Confronted by a categoric blockade by Greece, European Union foreign ministers fail to make a new opening to Turkey on the eve of an all-important Vienna summit, which Ankara had hoped vvould establish Turkey as the 121*1 candidate of enlargement.
December 09- Turkey says it vvants the European Union to make it a formal candidate for membership at its summit in Vienna.
December 10- Turkey announces its decision to suspend political dialogue vvith the European Union vvill continue unless the conclusions reached by the Eurepean Union ministers earlier in the vveek are changed at the Vienna summit and Turkey is accepted as a candidate for full membership.
December 16- A Rome court lifts restrictions on Öcalan, leaving him free to leave the country. The ruling follovvs a decision by Germany to vvithdravv the international arrest vvarrant it had issued for öcalan, vvho vvas vvanted on terrorism charges.
I I I . R E L A T İ O N S W I T H T H E U N I T E D S T A T E S O F A M E R I C A AND T H E N A T O
J a n u a r y 16- The United States says banning the Welfare Party damages confidence in the NATO ally's democratic system.
J a n u a r y 20- Turkey must clear legal obstacles to foreign investment and speed up bureaucracy to finalize signed projects to lure more foreign capital, vvhich Turkey needs to meet a grovving povver demand, United States Commerce Secretary William Daley says.
F e b r u a r y 10 - President Demirel says Turkey's support for any US strikes against Iraq is not guaranteed. "Let nobody say that Turkey is in anyone's pocket," Demirel added.
April 17- United States Secretary of Defense William Cohen, visiting Ankara, calls on Turkey and Greece to calm the tensions över Cyprus but said the bitter dispute vvould not interfere vvith possible United States arms sales to both NATO allies.
April 24- The United States says the 10-month jail sentcnce given to Istanbul's Mayor Tayyip Erdoğan for "provoking hatred" in a speech has vveakened confidence in Turkey's democracy.
M a y 02- Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktaş telis United States envoy Richard Holbrooke that Cyprus vvill remain divided if Greek Cypriots do not acknovvledge the existence of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
M a y 04- United States envoy Richard Holbrooke says Turkish Cypriots are blocking the resumption of reunification talks on Cyprus. Speaking at a nevvs conference, he partly blames the European Union's treatment of Turkey for the impasse.
M a y 05- Turkish Cypriot President Denktaş accuses the United States of not doing its homework on the Cyprus problem before sending a top envoy on a peace mission to the divided island. Denktaş says United States mediator Holbrooke failed to bring the two rival communities together in talks on Cyprus last vveekend due to bad timing and a poor understanding of entrenched p o s i t i o n s .
M a y 13- T h e United States g o v e r n m e n t issues a s t a t e m e n t condemning the shooting of human rights activist Birdal.
M a y 18- Unied States President Bili Clinton says that both Turkey and Greece need to make difficult decisions to help defuse rising tension över divided Cyprus and Turkey's bid to join the European Union.
M a y 19- Greece rejects a cali by United States President Bili Clinton for a peace deal wilh Turkey över rights in the Aegean Sea and Cyprus, saying negotiations wilh Ankara vvere out of the question.
J u n e 04- NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana reports that Greece and Turkey have agreed to a series of confidence-building measures in hopes of better sharing the Aegean Sea.
J u n e 17- Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis rebuffs a direct appeal from United States President Bili Clinton for gentler diplomacy towards Turkey.
J u l y 18- United States Deputy Assistant Secretary of State David Welsh and a delegation including Turkish diplomats meet with Jalal Talabani, the leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), in Sulaimaniya in Northern Iraq.
J u l y 23- Greece slams the United States for deseribing the Turkish presence on Cyprus as part of a 'conflict', saying the phrase is weaker than United Nations resolutions denouncing the military aetion.
J u l y 26- Greek-American relations continue to deteriorate when Athens accuses United States President Bili Clinton, for the second time in three days, of lying about his willingness to resolve the Cyprus problem.
August 21- Ankara expresses its support for the United States missile attacks on alleged terrorist camps in Afghanistan and a pharmaceuticals plant Sudan. "Turkey shares the determination of the United States that no country should let terrorists use its soil, that it should not facilitate them in planning and launehing violent attacks and that civilians should not be harmed," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
August 24- Greece claims American weapons are propping up Turkish forces in northern Cyprus and calls on the United States to demand their removal. "There is no Turkish military entity without American weapons," says Greek Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos.
September 15 - British Defence Secretary George Robertson, on a state visit to Ankara, calls on the government to reconsider a recent United States proposal for a moratorium on military flights över Cyprus.
September 22 - Turkey says a recent agreement signed betvveen northern Iraqi Kurdish leaders in Washington to set up a joint administration in the area is not binding.
S e p t e m b e r 29 - The United States and the European Union criticize the jail sentence given to Istanbul's Mayor, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, saying the move heightened doubts about Turkey's democracy.
O c t o b e r 21- The Grand National Assembly of Turkey ratifies the admission of Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic to NATO.
O c t o b e r 29- With the United States backing, Turkey and four former Soviet republics sign a declaration in support of an oil pipeline crossing through Turkey as the main export route from the Caspian's rich oil fields. The declaration is a clear message to oil companies, vvhich vvere expected to announce their preferred route in tvvo vveeks and reportedly favor other alternatives to the $2.5 billion Baku-Ceyhan pipeline project.
I V . C Y P R U S I S S U E
J a n u a r y 10- Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktaş urges Western countries to halt the opening of a Greek Cypriot military air base in the south of the divided island.
J a n u a r y 15- Britain says it is vvithdravving the right of people from northern Cyprus to enter the country vvithout a visa after almost 1,000 unfounded asylum claims över the past tvvo years.
M a r c h 16- Turkish Cypriot President Denktaş officially rejects an offer by the European Union for Turkish Cypriots to join a team that vvill negotiate the island's entry into the European Union.
M a r c h 26- Greece vvill defend the Greek Cypriots if Turkey carries out its threat to take out surface-to-air missiles that the Greek Cypriots plan to deploy later this year, Greek Foreign Minister Theodore Pangalos says just before leaving Washington.
M a r c h 29- Leftist arsonists in Athens torch a car belonging to Turkey's military attache Colonel Haluk Arabacı, causing some damage but no injuries.
M a r c h 30- An unemployed Turkish man vvielding a grenade-shaped cigarette lighter stages an unsuccessful bid to hijack a Turkish Cypriot airliner to Germany.
April 17- United States Secretary of Defense William Cohen, visiting Ankara, calls on Turkey and Greece to calm the tensions över Cyprus but said the bitter dispute would not interfere with possible United States arms sales to both NATO allies.
M a y 02- Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktaş telis United States envoy Richard Holbrooke that Cyprus will remain divided if Greek Cypriots do not acknowledge the existence of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
M a y 04- United States envoy Richard Holbrooke says Turkish Cypriots are blocking the resumption of reunification talks on Cyprus. Speaking at a news conference, he partly blames the European Union's treatment of Turkey for the impasse.
M a y 05- Turkish Cypriot President Denktaş accuses the United States of not doing its homework on the Cyprus problem before sending a top envoy on a peace mission to the divided island. Denktaş says United States mediator Holbrooke failed to bring the two rival communities together in talks on Cyprus last weekend due to bad timing and a poor understanding of entrenched p o s i t i o n s .
M a y 18- United States President Bili Clinton says that both Turkey and Greece need to make difficult decisions to help defuse rising tension över divided Cyprus and Turkey's bid to join the European Union.
M a y 19- Greece rejects a cali by United States President Bili Clinton for a peace deal with Turkey över rights in the Aegean Sea and Cyprus, saying negotiations with Ankara were out of the question.
June 16- Greek fighter jets and a transport plane land at the newly built air base in southern Cyprus controlled by the Greek Cypriots.
June 17- Greek fighter jets and a transport plane leave the military base in southem Cyprus after a controversial visit which Turkey said stoked tension on the divided island.
June 17- Greek Cypriots protest the arrival of five Turkish warships in the ports of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, just one day after Turkey denounced the visit by Greek warplanes to the southern part of the island.
June 18- Six Turkish F-16 war planes swoop into northern Cyprus in the latest exercise in brinkmanship betvveen NATO allies Turkey and Greece.
June 19- Three Turkish F-16 war planes leave the Turkish Republic of Northem Cyprus after a one-day stay.
June 19- Prime Minister Mesut Yılmaz urges Greece to "stop testing our resolve" on Cyprus and says military actfons undertaken on the island by Athens pose a threat to Turkey itself.
June 22- A Turkish frigate, a destroyer and two submarines leave Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus as part of maneuvers which coincide with heightened tension on the island.
July 01- Businessmen and civic leaders from the Greek and Turkish communities of Cyprus agree in Oslo to a five-point joint plan that aims to increase commercial, cultural and educational links between the two communities.
July 06- Former New Zealand minister Dame Ann Hercus takes up her duties as the new United Nations resident envoy in Cyprus, pledging to do her utmost to broker a settlement on the divided island.
July 13- President Boris Yeltsin and visiting Greek Cypriot leader Glafkos Clerides reaffirm a deal that will send Russian S-300 anti-aircraft missiles to Cyprus.
July 18- Six Turkish navy ships and an air force display team arrive in Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus for celebrations to mark the anniversary of the Turkish intervention on July 20, 1974.
July 23- Greece slams the United States for describing the Turkish presence on Cyprus as part of a 'conflict', saying the phrase is weaker than United Nations resolutions denouncing the military action.
July 25- President Demirel pays his first state visit to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, turns on the taps of a water project to relieve drought-stricken northern Cyprus with drinking water hauled from Turkey by seaborne balloons.
July 26- Greek-American relations continue to deteriorate when Athens accuses the United States President Bili Clinton, for the second time in three days, of lying about his vvillingness to resolve the Cyprus problem.
July 27- Italian Premier Romano Prodi and Turkish Prime Minister Yılmaz hold talks in İstanbul on Ankara's difficult relations with the European Union, Greece and Cyprus.
July 29- Turkey says that a European court ruling that it must compensate a Greek Cypriot refugee from the fighting in 1974 is a hindrance to solving the division of Cyprus. A Turkish Foreign Ministry statement says that such individual cases will block a general settlement of thousands of such cases on both sides of the United Nations patrolled "Green Line" that divides the island.
August 24- Greece claims American weapons are propping up Turkish forces in northern Cyprus and calls on the United States to demand their removal. "There is no Turkish military entity without American vveapons," says Greek Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos.
S e p t e m b e r 15 - British Defence Secretary George Robertson, visiting Ankara, calls on the government to reconsider a recent United States proposal for a moratorium on military flights över Cyprus.
October 03- The top United Nations official in Cyprus, Dame Ann Hercus, announces that she vvill embark on a series of separate meetings vvith the leaders of the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities to try to break the deadlock in direct reunification talks.
October 08- Greek Cypriots have informed Austria, the European Union term president, that they postponed the deployment of the controversial Russian-made S-300 missiles until the end of the year, nevvs agencies report.
October 20- Greece and the Greek Cypriots begin a six-day joint vvar exercise in vvhich thousands of Greek Cypriot troops vvill be joined by Greek vvarplanes and ships.
N o v e m b e r 10- The European Union officially opens membership negotiations vvith Greek Cypriots vvhile Greece and Greek Cypriots accuse Turkey of blocking a solution on the divided island.
November 19- Turkey sends six F-16 vvarplanes to Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in response to a similar move by Greece last month.
December 05- Turkish Cypriots go to the polis to elect their new 50-seat Parliament.
December 07- The National Unity Party (UBP), the majör partner of the ruling coalition in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, clinches a victory, vvinning 24 seats in the 50-seat Parliament in the general election in vvhat is seen as a shovv of great support for the government's policies in the longstanding Cyprus dispute.
December 29- Greek Cypriot leader Glafkos Clerides telis the Greek Cypriot National Council, the supreme body of political parties, that Russian-made air defense missiles vvill not be deployed despite a tvvo-year vvait for their arrival. The decision, agreed earlier in the day after a flash visit to the Greek capital Athens where he met Prime Minister Costas Simitis, is an about turn from Clerides' pre-election promises earlier in the year.
V . R E L A T İ O N S W I T H G R E E C E AND O T H E R BALKAN S T A T E S
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A p r i l 06- On a rare visit to Greece, the head of Turkey's military, General ismail Hakkı Karadayı, meets vvith his Greek counterpart General Athanasios Tzoganis in advance of a gathering of European defense officials in Athens. Later Karadayı calls for dialogue vvith Greece to resolve longstanding disputes in the Aegean.
A p r i l 16- Presidents of Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria seal an agreement in Antalya to improve cooperation on erime and security in the Balkans and cali on regional countries to contribute to their efforts.
April 17- United States Secretary of Defense William Cohen, visiting Ankara, calls on Turkey and Greece to calm the tensions över Cyprus but said the bitter dispute would not interfere with possible United States arms sales to both NATO allies.
M a y 08- Turkey urges Greece to condemn Kurdish terrorists and halt their activities in Greece.
M a y 18- The United States President Bili Clinton says that both Turkey and Greece need to make difficult decisions to help defuse rising tension över divided Cyprus and Turkey's bid to join the European Union.
M a y 19- Greece rejects a cali by the United States President Bili Clinton for a peace deal with Turkey över rights in the Aegean Sea and Cyprus, saying negotiations with Ankara were out of the question.
June 04- N A T O Secretary-General Javier Solana reports that Greece and Turkey have agreed to a series of confidence-building measures in hopes of better sharing the Aegean Sea.
June 13- British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who vvants the European Union to ease Ankara's anger at being left out of the enlargement process, elashes with his Greek counterpart över Turkey in the last round of meetings aimed at paving the vvay for a smooth European Union summit.
June 16- Greek fighter jets and a transport plane land at the nevvly built air base in southern Cyprus controlled by the Greek Cypriots.
June 17- Greek fighter jets and a transport plane leave the military base in southem Cyprus after a controversial visit which Turkey said stoked tension on the divided island.
June 17- Greek Cypriots protest the arrival of five Turkish warships in the ports of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, just one day after Turkey dcnounced the visit by Greek warplanes to the southern part of the island.
June 17- Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis rebuffs a direct appeal from United States President Bili Clinton for gentler diplomacy towards Turkey.
June 18- Six Turkish F-16 war planes svvoop into northern Cyprus in the latest exercise in brinkmanship between NATO allies, Turkey and Greece.
June 19- Three Turkish F-16 war planes leave the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, after a one-day stay.
June 19- Prime Minister Mesut Yılmaz urges Greece to "stop testing our resolve" on Cyprus and says military actions undertaken on the island by Athens pose a threat to Turkey itself.
June 22- A Turkish frigate, a destroyer and two submarines leave northern Cyprus as part of maneuvers vvhich coincide with heightened tension on the island.
July 09- Turkey reasserts that Greece's militarization of its East Aegean islands is a flagrant breach of international law and urges Athens again to comply with the international agreements.
J u l y 23- Greece slams the United States for describing the Turkish presence on Cyprus as part of a 'conflict', saying the phrase is weaker than United Nations resolutions denouncing the military action.
July 23- In an unanimous vote, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey authorizes the government to send soldiers to Albania if necessary if the situation heats up with Kosovo.
J u l y 26- Greek-American relations continue to deteriorate vvhen Athens accuses the United States President Bili Clinton, for the second time in three days, of lying about his willingness to resolve the Cyprus problem.
August 19- Engin Çakmak, a Kurdish underworld figüre suspected of several armed robberies in istanbul in 1996, is arrested by Romanian authorities.
August 24- Greece claims American weapons are propping up Turkish forces in northern Cyprus and calls on the United States to demand their removal. "There is no Turkish military entity without American weapons," says Greek Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos.
S e p t e m b e r 24 - In a move, sure to vvorsen already tense relations with Turkey, the Greek Parliament unanimously declares September 14 a day of remembrance for the 'genocide' of the Greek minority by the Turkish state.
October 12- A two-day summit conference of prime ministers and foreign ministers from seven southeastern European countries opens in the Turkish city of Antalya. Greece and Turkey ünite to pressure Yugoslavia into making concessions on Kosovo, but the two neighbors fail to make any progress on disputes that could lead the two NATO allies to war during a summit meeting of their prime ministers, Mesut Yılmaz and Costas Simitis.
October 20- Greece and the Greek Cypriots begin a six-day joint war exercise in vvhich thousands of Greek Cypriot troops will be joined by Greek warplanes and ships.
D e c e m b e r 07- Confronted by a categoric blockade by Greece, European Union foreign ministers fail to make a new opening to Turkey on
the eve of an all-important Vienna summit, which Ankara had hoped would establish Turkey as the 1 2t h candidate of enlargement.
December 29- Greek Cypriot leader Glafkos Clerides telis the Greek Cypriot National Council, the supreme body of political parties, that Russian-made air defense missiles vvill not be deployed, despite a tvvo-year wait for their arrival. The decision, agreed earlier in the day after a flash visit to the Greek capital Athens vvhere he met Prime Minister Costas Simitis, is an about tum from Clerides' pre-election promises earlier in the year.
V I . R E L A T İ O N S W I T H I S R A E L AND T H E ARAB S T A T E S January 07- Israeli, Turkish and American vvarships successfully complete a naval manoeuvre "for search and rescue at sea" in the eastern Mediterranean despite sharp criticism from the Arab vvorld.
January 07- Iraq resumes pumping oil through Turkey for export under the terms of the "oil-for-food" deal agreed vvith the United Nations.
February 03 - Prime Minister Yılmaz says a military strike by the United States on Iraq for its refusal to comply vvith United Nations resolutions vvould be justified.
February 04- Foreign Minister ismail Cem arrives in Baghdad on a diplomatic mission to try to persuade Iraq to end its dispute vvith the United Nations över vveapons inspectors.
F e b r u a r y 05 - Foreign Minister Cem, retuming from talks held vvith Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein earlier in the day in Baghdad, suggests that one vvay to ease tensions in the region vvill be to lift the economic embargo imposed on Iraq. Cem says the current diplomatic crisis is not just about vveapons of mass destruction or the increasing possibility of vvar in the r e g i o n .
February 10 - President Demirel says Turkey's support for any United States strikes against Iraq is not guaranteed. "Let nobody say that Turkey is in anyone's pocket," Demirel added.
February 23 - Prime Minister Yılmaz says the United Nations-Iraq deal över vveapons inspections is a great relief for Turkey. "The danger of vvar has not yet passed ... but the point vve are at is pleasing, and Turkey is at the top of the list of the most pleased countries," Yılmaz telis reporters.
A p r i l 10- Nine Turks are killed and tvvo others are injured in the stampede at the hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.
April 13- Turkish troops seize Kurdish terrorist leader Şemdin Sakık and his brother in a raid in northern Iraq and bring them back to Turkey for questioning.
M a y 21- Three Kurdish terrorists surrender to the Turkish Embassy in Beirut.
June 24- Turkey says it is raısing the duty on diesel brought into the country from northem Iraq in a bid to tighten control on a trade that technically violates United Nations sanctions.
June 27- Iraq allows the PKK to open offices in Baghdad, London-based Al-Hayat reports.
July 18- United States Deputy Assistant Secretary of State David Welsh and a delegation including Turkish diplomats meet with Jalal Talabani, the leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, in Sulaimaniya in northern Iraq.
July 30- Palestinian President Yasser Arafat visits Ankara for talks with Turkish leaders on the Middle East peace process.
August 21- In a move expected to anger Turkey, Libya allows the PKK to celebrate the 1 4t h anniversary of the start of its bloody terrorist
campaign in southeastern Turkey. Libyan officials attend the celebrations. August 24- Turkey rejects an offer by Damascus to reconvene a joint committee of Turkish, Syrian and Iraqi officials to resolve the long-running dispute över the waters of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
September 02 - Mesoud Barzani, leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, arrives in Ankara for talks with senior Turkish government officials.
S e p t e m b e r 04 - Turkey asks Iraqi Kurds not to establish an alternative government to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's regime in Baghdad which would harm Iraq's territorial integrity.
September 07 - Prime Minister Yılmaz arrives in Israel for a two-day visit amid Israeli media reports that the Israel is keen on using its military ties with Ankara as the basis for a regional defense alliance.
September 08 - In an escalating war of words, Prime Minister Yılmaz accuses Syria of hostile inlentions, saying it supports Kurdish terrorists in Turkey.
September 16 - Land Forces Commander General Atilla Ateş visits army units in Hatay province near the Syrian border and says: "Our patience vvith Syria has run out. The Syrians have supported PKK terrorists and their leader Abdullah öcalan, and we have suffered. Turkey has made ali the efforts to establish good ties with Damascus. Hovvever, if we do not see any reciprocal action, we will then have the right to take counter measures."
September 22 - Turkey says a recent agreement signed between northern Iraqi Kurdish leaders in Washington to set up a joint administration in the area is not binding.
S e p t e m b e r 30 - T h e National Security Council (NSC) discusses measures to be taken against Syria, vvhich Ankara believes supports Kurdish terrorists.
O c t o b e r 01- President Süleyman Demirel vvarns Syria över its alleged support to Kurdish terrorists fighting the Ankara government. "I announce to the entire vvorld that we reserve our right to retaliate against Syria, vvhich has not given up its hostile stance despite ali our vvarnings and peaceful initiatives," Demirel says in a speech to Parliament at the opening ceremony of the nevv legislative year.
O c t o b e r 06- Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak pays a one-day vvorking trip to Ankara to defuse the crisis betvveen Turkey and Syria. Mubarak meets vvith President Demirel and Prime Minister Mesut Yılmaz. Ankara decides to give diplomacy a last chance. President Mubarak flies to Damascus.
O c t o b e r 06- Iraq names nevv ambassador to Turkey, Farouk Hijazi, a senior intelligence officer.
O c t o b e r 10- Prime Minister Yılmaz issues another vvarning of serious consequences for Syria if it fails to comprehend Turkey's resolve to combat Kurdish terrorists, vvhom it says Damascus is sheltering. "Unless Syria collects its vvits about it, it vvill be a holy duty for us to bring the vvorld crashing dovvn on its head," Yılmaz telis a rally in Kahramanmaraş.
O c t o b e r 12- Egypt pursues its efforts to cool off a crisis betvveen Syria and Turkey över Kurdish terrorists, as Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa holds talks vvith Turkish officials.
O c t o b e r 17- State Minister Mehmet Batallı meets vvith Iraq's Oil Minister Lt. General Amer Mohammed Rashid at the start of a series of talks aimed at boosting bilateral trade, despite tensions över Kurdish terrorists and the sharing of river vvater.
O c t o b e r 19- Iraq telis Turkey it must distance itself from hard-line United States policies tovvards Baghdad if it vvants to improve economic relations.
O c t o b e r 20- Ending a vveeks-long standoff that some feared could have sparked a regional conflict, Damascus pledges to shut dovvn Kurdish terrorist camps in its territory and the Syrian-controlled Bekaa Valley in Lebanon. Under the agreement signed by Turkish and Syrian officials, Syria also agrees not to allovv Kurdish terrorists to stage cross-border attacks on Turkey, Foreign Minister Cem announces.
O c t o b e r 20- Prime Minister Yılmaz, giving hints that Damascus is already meeting Ankara's demands to elamp dovvn on Kurdish terrorists, says that PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan is no longer in Syria but in Russia.
N o v e m b e r 04- Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani meets Prime Minister Yılmaz and Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit, and assures them that the latest Washington agreement on northern Iraq vvill not open the way for the establishment of a separate Kurdish state in Iraq.
November 08- Iraqi Kurdish leaders hold a long-awaited summit in Ankara discussing Massoud Barzani's meetings with Turkish officials last week and Jalal Talabani's proposed contacts with authorities in Ankara.
November 09- In a meeting with senior Turkish Foreign Ministry officials, PUK leader Talabani gives assurances to Ankara that his organization will fight against the outlawed PKK.
December 17- Fearing an influx of refugees, Turkey closes down its border with Iraq following the air strikes on Baghdad.
V I I . R E L A T İ O N S W I T H I R A N AND C E N T R A L ASIAN R E P U B L I C S
J a n u a r y 10- Ankara appoints Sencer Özsoy to Iran nearly a year after the two neighbours withdrew their top envoys. In a row last February, Iran's ambassador made remarks interpreted by the Turkish media as a cali for the introduction of Islamic Shariah law in secular Turkey.
F e b r u a r y 15 - Follovving a yearlong freeze in diplomatic ties, Turkey and Iran agree to activate mechanisms for cooperation on security.
F e b r u a r y 18 - Anxious not to harm relations vvith Azerbaijan, Turkey retracts accusations in a govemment-commissioned report implicating Azeri President Haydar Aliyev's son in shady dealings.
M a r c h 01- Turkey hosts Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Türkmenistan in a five-nation meeting to hammer out a strategy on carrying Caspian oil to vvorld markets, and pushes its plan to export the oil through its Mediterranean outlet in Ceyhan.
A u g u s t 21- Ankara expresses its support for the United States missile attacks on alleged terrorist camps in Afghanistan and a pharmaceuticals plant in Sudan. "Turkey shares the determination of the United States that no country should let terrorists use its soil, that it should not facilitate them in planning and launching violent attacks and that civilians should not be harmed," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
S e p t e m b e r 13 - Iranian President Mohammad Khatami telis visiting Foreign Minister Cem that Tehran is unhappy vvith Ankara's military cooperation vvith Israel.
