PRESS RELEASE M-NACC-1(94)48               19 JUNE 1994

STATEMENT ISSUED AT THE MEETING OF THE
NORTH ATLANTIC COOPERATION COUNCIL
IN ISTANBUL, TURKEY
10 JUNE 1994

1. We, the Foreign Ministers and Representatives of the
member countries of the North Atlantic Cooperation
Council (NACC), have met today in Istanbul for our
seventh meeting since the inauguration of our Council on
20 December 1991. We continued our consultations on 
regional conflicts and tensions affecting security in
our areas. We received the implementation of the
Partnership for Peace initiatives, launched by NATO
Heads of State and Government at their meeting in
Brussels on 10 January of this year, and our broadening
cooperation. Through increasingly close cooperation and
joint efforts we will be able to strengthen security and
stability throughout our area.

2. Finland, Slovenia, and Sweden, having joined the
Partnership for Peace, participated in the deliberations
on PfP issues and attended the rest of the meeting as
observers.

3. We are pleased by the progress made in the
implementation of our NACC Work Plan for Dialogue,
Partnership and Cooperation for 1994, which we agreed at
our meeting last December. Our cooperation in many areas
is already firmly established and has developed its own
momentum. We will continue with the broad agenda of our
NACC activities. Cooperation on political and security
related issues will remain a key activity. We shall
intensify our regular political consultations and
continue our practical cooperation activities, using the
mechanisms established in the framework of the NACC.

4. We welcome the establishment of the Partnership for
Peace and fully support the principles on which it is
founded. This important and far-reaching partnership
initiatives signifies the extension of our cooperation
in this Council, taking into account the interests and
capacities of the individual partner countries.Twenty
countries have already joined the Partnership for Peace.
We look forward to others joining, including other CSCE
states which are not members of the NACC and which are
able and willing to contribute to this programme.

5. The objective of the Partnership is to enhance
security and stability in the whole of Europe. The
Partnership will transform the relations between NATO
and participating states and adapt them further to the
new conditions in Europe. Cooperation will include the
necessary transparency and not be directed against any
other country. Partnership for Peace is based on the
commitment to democratic principles and human rights, to
the preservation of democratic societies, their freedom
from coercion and intimidation and the maintenance of
the principles of international law. Central obligations
of the Partnership for Peace already undertaken in the
UN Charter, including respect for sovereignty and
existing borders, settlement of disputes by peaceful
means and refraining from the threat or use of force
against the territorial integrity or political
independence of any state.

6. Important practical steps for the implementation of
Partnership for Peace have already been taken: a
Political-Military Steering Committee has been set up
and a separate Partnership Coordination Cell at Mons,
Belgium, has been established. Partner representatives
now have offices at NATO Headquarters in Brussels to
facilitate liaison and closer cooperation. The first
Individual Partnership Programmes should be agreed
shortly.

7. We seek a robust programme of exercises, beginning
this year. In this connection, we welcome the holding of
the first joint peacekeeping field exercises this autumn
in The Netherlands and in Poland. We also welcome a
number of nationally-sponsored peacekeeping exercises
planned for 1994, which we believe will contribute to
our joint effort to foster practical cooperation in the
field of peacekeeping within the NACC/PfP framework.
Since joint practical planning, training and exercises
in the field of peacekeeping operations will form an
important part of Partnership for Peace activities, we
decided on the merger of the NACC Ad Hoc Group with
provision to maintain participation by all who have
taken part in the work of the Ad Hoc Group.

8. We welcome the progress achieved in the NACC Ad Hoc
Group on Cooperation in Peacekeeping towards improving
the ability of participating states to cooperate
effectively in support of peacekeeping operations,
including their humanitarian aspects, under the
authority of the UN Security Council or the
responsibility of the CSCE. We have published today the
third progress report submitted to us by the Group.
Participation by representatives of the UN and CSCE has
facilitated liaison and transparency with both.

9. The Partnership for Peace programme builds on the
valuable cooperation underway in the NACC framework in
the fields of peacekeeping and defence-related
cooperation and military contacts. Partnership for Peace
activities will have greater depth and be tailored to
the needs of individual Partners, in particular on the
basis of individual Partnership Programmes.

10. We take note of the adoption of a status of
Association with WEU for the countries of Central Europe
which have been partners in the Forum of Consultation.
This initiative, for those who participate, is designed
to contribute to security and stability in the whole of
Europe, and as such is fully complementary to the
cooperation within the framework of the Alliance,
particularly the Partnership for Peace.

11. The CSCE remains essential in promoting security and
human rights in our area. We consider important the role
of the CSCE in support of new democracies. We support
the full range of its activities. We welcome the
decisions of the CSCE Council in Rome to make the role
of the CSCE in conflict prevention and crisis management
more operational. We reaffirm our commitment to further
strengthening the role of the CSCE and its  contribution
to European security, including its early warning
capabilities. We endorse the work in the CSCE Forum for
Security Cooperation and are committed to seek rapid
further progress, particularly with regard to the code
of conduct, harmonisation, regional arms control,
including in the Balkans, non-proliferation and the
global exchange of military information. We will work
for concrete results in all these areas by the time of
the Budapest CSCE Review Conference and the CSCE Summit
in December.

12. We welcome the progress made in the preparation of
the Pact on Stability in Europe, and more particularly
the success of the inaugural conference held in Paris on
26-27 May. We will continue to support this initiative,
which aims to promote good neighbourly relations in
Central and Eastern Europe, including questions related
to frontiers and minorities, as well as regional
cooperation and the strengthening of democratic
institutions.

13. As at our previous meetings, we discussed the
regional conflicts and regional security issues which
undermine stability and security in our area and
endanger the process of democratic transition in Europe.
Our consultations contribute to fostering a better
common understanding and reaffirming our commitment to
reduce tensions and search for solutions. We are united
in the conviction that only negotiated, peaceful
settlements acceptable to the parties involved will
produce lasting solutions to such conflicts.

14. While international efforts have helped to reduce
the violence in some areas of the Republic of Bosnia and
Herzegovina fighting still continues. We urge the
parties concerned to conclude and implement a
comprehensive cessation of hostilities and to negotiate
an early and durable settlement of the conflict, based
on the framework agreed in previous negotiations and
recently reaffirmed by the Geneva Ministerial meeting on
13 May. Only a peaceful settlement will command the
support of the international community and offer the
peoples of Bosnia-Herzegovina the prospect of a secure
future. We welcome all latest efforts by the
international community, including those of the Contact
Group, to bring about such settlement. We welcome
progress in establishing a federation between the
Bosniacs and the Bosnian Croats in the Republic of
Bosnia and Herzegovina as a step towards a global
settlement. We call on the parties and all other
concerned to comply fully with all relevant UNSC
resolutions. We recognise the economic burdens being
borne by states, particularly those in the region, in
implementing those resolutions. We call on all parties
to the conflict to respect safe areas established in
accordance with Security Council Resolutions 824 and
836, and to refrain from interference with humanitarian
relief operations or actions against UNPROFOR or other
forces engaged in implementing UNSC resolutions. We note
NATO's decisions in response to requests from UN
Secretary General, to provide its air power in support
of the relevant UN Security Council resolutions.

We affirm our support of the International Conference on
Former Yugoslavia-sponsored mediation with respect to
the Krajina. We remain deeply concerned about tensions
and potential for conflict in Vojvodina, Sandjak,
Kosovo, as well as in parts of the Republic of Croatia,
and other areas. We call for full respect for human and
democratic rights. We support UN efforts in this regard
and call for the return of CSCE long-term missions.

15. We remain convinced that the plan for a CSCE
Conference on Nagorno-Karabakh in Minsk offers the
appropriate means to find a just and lasting solution to
that conflict, the continuation of which remains a
source of deep concern. We reaffirm that the conflict
cannot be resolved by military means but only through a
negotiated settlement, based on respect for CSCE
principles and the UN Charter, and the establishment of
a good neighbourly relations between Armenia and
Azerbaijan and all countries in the region. We strongly
support the work of the CSCE Minsk Group. We welcome all
mediation efforts undertaken in cooperation with the
CSCE to help achieve these ends. We agree that
implementation of an effective ceasefire and
constructive negotiations in a spirit of compromise are
essential to create the conditions necessary for a step
by step peace process leading to a permanent solution,
including the de-escalation of the conflict and the
withdrawal of forces from areas occupied by force and
the return of displaced persons to their homes in
accordance with the relevant UN Security Council
resolutions. We support the deployment of CSCE monitors
to facilitate a permanent settlement of this enduring
conflict.

16. We welcome the progress towards a lasting solution
to the conflict in Abkhazia, Georgia, that has been
achieved in negotiations between the parties concerned.
We support the efforts of the UN and the CSCE to bring
about a permanent settlement. We take note of the
measures, undertaken in the CIS framework in order to
assist in maintaining an effective ceasefire, creating
conditions for full scale and secure return of refugees
and displaced civilians to their homes. We reiterate our
support for territorial integrity and sovereignty of the
Republic of Georgia.

17. We also call upon the conflicting parties to work
towards a peaceful solution of the problems in
Tajikistan and to abandon armed confrontation at the
Tajik-Afghan border. We welcome the process of inter-
Tajik negotiations and support the efforts of the UN and
CSCE in furthering the dialogue towards reaching a
lasting political settlement of the conflict, which will
restore peace in Tajikistan and make it possible for
displaced persons to return to places of their
residence, thereby making it possible for the country to
focus upon her democratic development and economic
progress in the interests of all her citizens. We
welcome the first round of UN-sponsored peace talks that
took place in Moscow in April, and we urge further
progress in the next round scheduled for June.

18. We welcome the recent agreement to complete the
withdrawal of foreign troops from Latvia by 31 August
1994. We expect the early conclusion of the on-going
bilateral negotiations to achieve  an agreement on the
withdrawal of the foreign troops remaining in Estonia.
The orderly and expeditions completion of the withdrawal
from Latvia and Estonia will be positive contribution to
regional and European security. It will help lay a basis
for constructive neighbourly relations in the region,
which are in the interest not only of the countries in
the Baltic Region but of us all. We urge the parties to
resolve the remaining issues.   

19. We are pleased that progress has been made towards
a permanent peaceful solution of the dispute regarding
the Transdniestria area of Moldova. We welcome the
recent signature of a declaration on the principles of
a settlement by the parties concerned, which should
serve as an important step towards national
reconciliation within the context of respect for the
territorial integrity of Moldova. We support the
expeditious conclusion of negotiation between the
parties concerned to lead to an early, complete and
orderly withdrawal of the 14th Russian Army from Moldova
without linkage to other issues. We support the efforts
of the CSCE Mission in Moldova and the facilitation of
its work.

20. We express great concern at the recent developments
around the Autonomous Republic of Crimea within Ukraine,
which may lead to further escalation of tension in the
region, and reiterate that the solution of this problem
should be found by all parties concerned, fully
respecting the Constitution and the territorial
integrity of Ukraine, and by peaceful means only, in
accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and
the [principles of the CSCE Final Act.

21. We reaffirm the importance of full implementation of
and compliance with all existing arms control and
disarmament agreements. This means:

- continuing support for the CFE Treaty as a cornerstone
of European security and stability;

the indefinite and unconditional extension of the Treaty
on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), and
work towards and enhanced verification regime;

- the early entry into force of the Convention on
Chemical Weapons, and its early ratification by those
states that have not yet done so;

the full implementation of the Biological and Toxin
Weapons Convention and new measures to strengthen it;

the early entry into force of the Treaty on Open Skies;

- increased transparency on conventional arms transfers 
and the full provision of relevant data by all states to
the UN Register of Conventional Arms;

the early discussion of a universal and effectively
verifiable Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

22. In the nuclear field, we welcome the Trilateral
Statement signed by President Clinton, Kravchuk and
Yeltsin in Moscow on 14 January, on the transfer of all
nuclear warheads in Ukraine to Russia for dismantlement
and Russian compensation to Ukraine for the value of
highly-enriched uranium in those weapons. We welcome
Ukraine's initiation in March of the transfer to Russia
of nuclear warheads from strategic systems as a
significant step towards fulfilment of Ukraine's
commitments under the Lisbon Protocol and the Trilateral
Statement.

23. We look forward to Ukraine's accession to the NPT as
a non-nuclear weapon state at the earliest opportunity
and welcome the readiness of the three co-depositary
states of the NPT to provide the security assurance to
Ukraine specified in the Trilateral Statement once
Ukraine becomes a non-nuclear weapon state party to the
NPT.

24. We further welcome the Memorandum of Understanding
signed on 13 May 1994 between the United States and
Ukraine on missile non-proliferation in accordance with
the Missile Technology Control Regime guidelines on
export controls.

25. We welcome the Republic of Kazakhstan's accession to
the NPT as a non-nuclear weapon state and highly
appreciate the positive role of Kazakhstan in the
process of dismantling the nuclear weapons of the former
Soviet Union in accordance with the terms of the Lisbon
Protocol.

26. We strongly urge the Government of the Democratic
People's Republic of Korea to affirm unequivocally its
commitment to the NPT and to comply with its
International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards Agreement.

                    
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27. We look forward to the next meeting of the North
Atlantic Cooperation Council in Brussels in December
1994.

28. We extend our deep appreciation for the gracious
hospitality to us by the Government of Turkey.