Word: ozal
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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British Prime Minister John Major elaborated an idea first advanced by Turkish President Turgut Ozal for a stopgap solution: U.N.-sanctioned "enclaves" (later changed to "safe havens") inside Iraq where the refugees would be protected from attack by Saddam's forces. The idea, as such, proved difficult for some members of the U.N. Security Council. Such powers as the Soviet Union, China and India feared setting a precedent of intervention in what have always been considered internal affairs that could someday be applied to their treatment of the Baltic republics, Tibet or Kashmir. Washington saw little chance of getting...
...that Saddam is using the refugees to take revenge on Turkey for standing with the coalition. "If Saddam wanted to annihilate these people, he could have done it easily," a Turkish officer allegedly said. "He has not done it. He is pushing them toward us." Though he remained unspecific, Ozal has said he would not object to allied action. Said he: "The most important thing is to stop the aggression by Saddam Hussein. If pressure is put on him and the necessary measures are taken, then I think this can be solved like Kuwait...
...Russian system of empire collapses and new structures take its place," says Ozal, "we can serve as a counter to the influences of religious extremism coming up from here" -- he points to Iran -- "and from here" -- he indicates the Arabian Peninsula. He believes he has persuaded the Kremlin, through its former Foreign Minister, Eduard Shevardnadze, that "Turkey can play a stabilizing role inside the U.S.S.R...
Then he gestures from Pakistan to Algeria: "In all these countries, too many people have too little hope." Hence their susceptibility to Islamic fundamentalism as well as the kind of anti-Western militancy Saddam Hussein personifies but by no means monopolizes. Both those threats, Ozal warns, will survive the present conflict, and they will grow worse if the poor and the helpless feel that the rich and the powerful have prevailed again...
...Ozal was one of the founders of the coalition against Iraq. Last week his government agreed to let the U.S. conduct bombing strikes as well as search- % and-rescue missions from Turkish bases. For its staunchness in this crisis, Turkey will not only want new respect and lasting acceptance -- it will deserve them...