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Turkish Press Review, 97-10-10Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs <http://www.mfa.gov.tr>CONTENTS
TURKISH PRESS REVIEWDIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION,OFFICE OF PRIME MINISTER10.10.97Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning[01] YILMAZ IN STRASBOURGPrime Minister Mesut Yilmaz left for Strasbourg yesterday to attend the European Council summit on Friday. Leaders from the 40 member states will meet in Strasbourg on Friday and Saturday. Human rights violations, torture and capital punishment will be dominating the agenda of the summit. /All papers/[02] TURKISH DEPUTIES FLY TO ROMANIAA group of Turkish parliamentarian flew to Bucharest yesterday to attend the General Assembly of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) which will be held between October 10 and 13. Before departure, the Democratic Left Party (DSP) deputy Tahir Kose, who is a member of the Turkish delegation, said that during the meetings five committees will discuss several issues.Meanwhile, Deputy Chief of General Staff Gen.Cevik Bir travelled to London to participate in a seminar entitled "The security issues of the present and the coming century". The three-day seminar in which the NATO secretary-general, Javier Solana, is participating is being organized by the British Royal Strategic Research Institute. Gen.Bir is expected to give a speech on Friday entitled "Operations and Interventions". [03] TURKISH PLANES DESTROY PKK CAMPSTurkey continued its operation in northern Iraq by attacking and destroying PKK terrorist organization positions in the area with jet fighters. Military officials said that jets from the Diyarbakir air base in southeast Turkey hit a PKK camp at Khwakurk, a mountainous district near Iraq's border with Iran. Ankara says it has killed 600 PKK fighters since some 15,000 troops backed by armoured units and air power crossed into northern Iraq three weeks ago. The militant separatists use bases in northern Iraq to strike across the border and to stage illegal terrorist activities. /Hurriyet/[04] KALEMLI ANNOUNCES HIS CANDIDACYThe number of Mortherland Party (ANAP) deputies who have become candidates for the post of Parliament speaker has increased to four. Mustafa Kalemli, whose term in office as Parliament speaker ended the beginning of this month, notified the Office of Parliament Speaker that he will stand for reelection as Parliament speaker. With the nomination of Ayvaz Gokdemir, a deputy from the opposition True Path Party (DYP), there are now five candidates who will run for the post. Hayrettin Uzun, Ekrem Pakdemirli and Kamran Inan earlier put forward their nominations for candidacy. /Sabah/[05] EU FINANCIAL AID SUSPENDEDDuring a session of the Budgetary Commission of the European Parliament yesterday when 1998 budget plans of the European Union (EU) were discussed, ECU 53 million (nearly $60 million) in financial aid to be extended to Turkey within the framework of the Customs Union (CU) was suspended. During the session, which was closed to the press, decisions dated 15 July 1996 and 19 September 1996 of the European Parliament were shown as the reason for the suspension. These decisions of the Parliament included conditions for Turkey such as taking concrete steps for the solution of the Cyprus problem and further respecting democratic principles. During the meeting it was adopted that projects to be undertaken with Turkish officials regarding the MEDA fund foreseeing cooperation among Mediterranean countries, would also be suspended. /Sabah/[06] RUSSIAN BORDER TROOPS SAY TURKEY FIRED ON CHOPPERRussia's border guards service said yesterday that one of its helicopters had come under fire from Turkey while on a routine mission in ex-Soviet Georgia and it had set up a commission to investigate. A spokesman for the service told Itar-Tass news agency the Mi-8 helicopter sustained eight bullet holes and was forced to land near the town of Gorgozeti, 200 kilometers (125 miles) southwest of the Georgian capital Tbilisi, on Wednesday afternoon. It said the chopper was on its way to pick up a sick border guard when it was attacked from a Turkish frontier town of Dzhamili. The crew and a doctor on board were not injured.Turkish Ambassador in Moscow, Bilgin Unan, was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry and was handed a note yesterday. On the other hand, the Turkish Office of General Staff denied the Russian claims. Artvin Governor, Omer Buyukkent, also pointed out that the claims were unfounded. /Cumhuriyet-Sabah/ [07] SOUTH AFRICA WANTS GOOD RELATIONS WITH TURKEYSouth Africa's Foreign Ministry Deputy Undersecretary Tebogo Mafole has visited Turkey for the purpose of improving relations between the two countries, the Anatolia news agency reported. He met with his Turkish counterpart Ali Tuygan on Wednesday and talked particularly about the increase in trade volume between the two countries. He will also meet with businessmen in Istanbul.[08] TURKEY SENDS LETTER TO NATO SECRETARY-GENERALTurkey's permanent office to NATO sent a letter to the secretary general of the organization, Javier Solana, about Greece's support for terrorism yesterday, the Anatolia news agency reported. The letter emphasized the fact every country of the alliance had a commitment to protect the territorial integrity and stability of the other members, and that this was the essence of NATO. But Greece's support for the PKK terrorist organization, which was targeting the stability and territorial integrity of Turkey, was counter to this.[09] FOREIGN PRESS PRAISES TURKISH ECONOMYThe "Wall Street Journal", American daily newspaper, reported that Turkish economy is improving. Quoting the chairman of the IMF delegation Martin Hardy, who is still in Ankara, the newspaper said that Turkish coalition government's economic targets are very encouraging. The Wall Street Journal also reported a statement of the General Director of Alliance Capital Fund, David Edgerly, who said: "The Turkish economy is improving. Businessmen from Mediterranean, Arab countries and Europe are closely interested in Turkey for the last three months." /Hurriyet/Milliyet/Cumhuriyet/[10] FOREIGN EXCHANGE RESERVES UPThe Central Bank foreign exchange reserves reached $20.5 billion by increasing half billion dollars between 26 September and 3 October.Meanwhile, according to the Central Bank data on 19 September, total reserves of commercial banks reached $8.3 billion and the Central Bank reserves were $19.7 billion. /Milliyet/Cumhuriyet/Sabah/ [11] GERMAN AWARD TO TURKISH OGER TOURISM AGENCYTurkish tourism agency, Oger Tours which is one of the leading tour operators in Germany, ranked first in three branches according to a survey conducted by "Stiftung Warentest" magazine, a publication of the Foundation to Protect the Rights of German Consumers. At the final issue of the magazine 16 tour operator agencies' services in line with their prices were examined and it was decided that the Turkish Oger Tours gives the best service with the most reasonable prices. /Hurriyet/[12] ADDITIONAL INVESTMENT FROM GERMAN BOSCH IN TURKEYGermany's industrial giant, Bosch Company decided to increase its investments in Turkey. A representative of the company said that they would produce refrigerators in Turkey and sell their products in Europe. General Director of Bosch Company, Dieter Jochen Barmann, said that that they would construct the biggest refrigerator factory in Cerkezkoy, Istanbul which would become a Bosch refrigerator base. He added that they would make DM 50 million additional investment in Cerkezkoy.Barmann noted that Turkey was the only country in the region to invest because of her close location between Europe, the Caucasia and the European Union. /Hurriyet/ [13] JAPAN FIRM TO INVEST IN THRACE FREE TRADE ZONEHead of the Executive Board of the Juki Corporation, one of the leading sewing machine producers in Japan, Takeo Yamaoka said they would activate in the Thrace Free Trade Zone. Following a delegation of the Juki Corporation visited the region, Yamaoka said: "After the disintegration of the former Soviet Socialist Republics, Turkey has an important role in Europe and the Central Asia. That is to say Turkey becomes a trade center in the region." /Hurriyet/[14] A GOOD YEAR FOR TOURISMThe number of foreign tourists entering the country is up on 1996 with Germans, English and Russians making up the largest groups of visitors. According to figures released by the State Institute of Statistics yesterday, for the January to August period 15 percent more foreign tourists entered the country than for the same period last year. A total of 6.5 million foreigners have now graced Turkish shores since the beginning of the year. For the month of August, a total of 1.42 million foreign holiday makers entered the country, 23.5 percent more than in August last year. A total of 74 percent of foreign tourists came to Turkey by plane, 15.3 percent by car, 9.3 percent by boat and just 1.4 percent by train. /All papers/END Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |