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Turkish Press Review, 97-03-05
From: Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs <http://www.mfa.gov.tr>
CONTENTS
[01] TURKEY INVITES KAZAKHSTAN TO JOIN D-8
[02] RAFSANJANI CONCERNED ABOUT DETERIORATING TURCO-IRANIAN TIES
[03] MARC GROSSMAN VISITS VAN
[04] PRINCE PHILIP IN ISTANBUL
[05] FRANCE TELECOM WILLING TO BUY TELSIM
[06] SPANISH BUSINESS DELEGATION VISITS TURKEY
[07] TURKEY'S DYNAMIC ECONOMY
[08] BOTAS TO BECOME A HOLDING
[09] CASINOS WILL BE CLOSED DOWN
TURKISH PRESS REVIEW
MARCH 5, 1997
Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this
morning.
[01] TURKEY INVITES KAZAKHSTAN TO JOIN D-8
Yesterday morning Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan met his Kazakh
counterpart Akejan Kajigeldin who is paying an official visit to
Turkey. During the meeting Erbakan extended to Kazakhstan an
invitation to join the Developing Eight group of Islamic nations
(D-8). Erbakan also pointed out that Turkey was standing ready to
consider prospects for increasing cooperation in the production and
transportation of Kazakh oil. Erbakan further noted that plans were
afoot for initiating Turco-Kazakh cooperation in the gold market.
/All papers/
[02] RAFSANJANI CONCERNED ABOUT DETERIORATING TURCO-IRANIAN TIES
Iranian President Hashimi Rafsanjani, after accepting Demirel's
special envoy Foreign Ministry Deputy Undersecretary Ali Tuygan, said
that Iran attached great importance to preserving friendly relations
with Turkey and added that both countries had enemies who did not want
to see close ties develop between the two neighbouring Moslem
countries. Rafsanjani stressed that he was pleased with Demirel's
call for stronger relations. /Hurriyet/
[03] MARC GROSSMAN VISITS VAN
US Ambassador to Ankara Marc Grossman yesterday paid a one-day visit
to Van and met Van Governor Abdulkadir Sar� and Van Mayor Resat Polat.
The ambassador visited places of historical and cultural importance in
the city. /Milliyet/
[04] PRINCE PHILIP IN ISTANBUL
Britain's Prince Philip, honorary chairman of the World Wildlife
Foundation (WWF), arrived yesterday in Istanbul to participate in a
dinner at the Ciragan Palace organized to raise money for
environmental projects in Turkey. The dinner was organized by the WWF
Turkey branch. /Milliyet/
[05] FRANCE TELECOM WILLING TO BUY TELSIM
French investors, determined to enter the Turkish cellular phone
market, have initiated talks for the purchase of a Turkish company in
that sector. The daily Yeni Yuzyil noted that France Telecom was
willing to purchase shares in Telsim or Turkcell, the two Turkish
cellular phone giants. Last Friday, a senior France Telecom official
met Telsim owner Hakan Uzan to discuss the terms of a possible
agreement.
[06] SPANISH BUSINESS DELEGATION VISITS TURKEY
A large delegation, including representatives of 16 leading companies
based in the Basque region of Spain, will visit Turkey on March 10.
The delegation will be headed by Basque Commerce, Business and Tourism
Minister Roza Diez. Commenting on the visit, Spanish Ambassador to
Ankara Jesus Atienza noted that Spanish entrepreneurs aimed to agree
on measures for improving the volume of bilateral trade between Turkey
and Spain and to undertake joint investment projects together with
Turkish businessmen. /Hurriyet/
[07] TURKEY'S DYNAMIC ECONOMY
The richest man in the world, Chairman of the US giant Microsoft, Bill
Gates said that Turkey had a dynamic economy, and that Turks had high
entrepreneurial skills. In an interview with Turkish reporters Bill
gates stated his views on the latest developments in information
technology and the new approaches being taken by Microsoft. He added
that they had decided to enlargen their investments in Turkey.
Bill Gates also said that Turkey would take its place in the EU when
the EU decided to expand./Hurriyet/
[08] BOTAS TO BECOME A HOLDING
BOTAS General D�rector Mustafa Murathan declared that BOTAS, presently
functioning as a State Economic Enterprise (SEE), will be transformed
into a group of companies including a natural gas marketing concern,
LNG terminal, pipeline construction company and a unit to carry out
integrated energy operations. In this way BOTAS will be turned into a
holding. This reorganization aimes at better exploiting BOTAS 2,500
personnel. /Hurriyet/
[09] CASINOS WILL BE CLOSED DOWN
A draft law calling for the closure of casinos has been signed by the
Council of Ministers. The draft is now expected to be sent to the
Parliament this week. It calls for closure of all casinos within six
months after the law enters into force. There are 76 casinos in
Turkey now facing the prospects of being shut down. /Y.Yuzyil/
END
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