Turkey: The Thorny Road Ahead

A large unframed color photograph of Armenian President Levon Ter Petrossian and ousted Azerbaijani leader Abulfaz Elchibey is prominently displayed in the Foreign Ministry office of the top Turkish diplomat most closely involved with the nation's "problematic" neighbors.

Geo-political volatility is Nihat Gokyigit's bread and butter. As head of Tekfen Holding A.S., Turkey's foremost oil and gas pipeline constructors, the silver-haired Mr. Gokyigit often operates in a risky political environment. Rumbling through maps and feasibility studies in his woodpanelled office overlooking the Bosphorus, Mr. Gokyigit exudes an air of confidence as he discusses plans for pipelines that would soon ferry Central Asian and Caucasian oil and gas to western Europe. "Whatever happens, one thing is certain," he says. "Turkey will be at the crossroads of the pipelines."

Human rights violations are on the rise in Turkey despite campaign promises by the nation's ruling coalition and widespread condemnation and criticism at home and abroad. This is the "verdict" of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (HRFT), a non-governmental and independent organization, in a document entitled "500-Day Report" summing up in detail the track record of the country's ruling coalition from November 21, 1991 to April 4, 1993.

Turkish Prime Minister Tansu Ciller rode in May to power on a popular wave bent on political and economic change. Today, that wave seems to have left her high and dry.

Rampant inflation, the burden of faltering state-controlled enterprises, the growth of Muslim fundamentalism and Kurdish separatism, and the quest for a new role after the collapse of the Soviet Union, are only some of the problems facing Turkey in the post-Soviet Union era.

As the government in Ankara grapples with its Kurdish problem, Turks are trying to recuperate from another bloody summer in a war that has already cost more than 6,700 lives as a result of Kurdish terror tactics and the government's vow to fight terrorism.

Dealing with Turkish bureaucracy and laws surrounding ethnic minorities like Armenians is easy compared to the psychological impact of the mercurial hostility of the Turkish press.

Established a year ago in the wake of the demise of the Soviet empire, Sukru Elekdag's brainchild, the 11-nation Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC), constitutes a potentially vast market of 300 million people rich in natural resources which is likely to become a key transit point for tri-continental trade between Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

The phrase "fait accompli" has been wiped out from the dictionary of the Armenian community of Istanbul, and replaced by "improvise and move on." This explains how, despite old wounds, 33 active Armenian churches, 20 schools, a 600-bed hospital and dozens of community-based organizations have survived an uphill battle with flying colors.

On Saturday and Sunday, October 2-3, Russian President Boris Yeltsin watched as large demonstrations erupted throughout Moscow, with thousands of citizens facing off against well equipped riot police and Interior Ministry troops. The largest of these events took place outside Smolenskaya metro station, where the pro-Yeltsin press later grudgingly reported upwards of 10,000 demonstrators.