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Turkish Press Review, 98-04-13
From: Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs <http://www.mfa.gov.tr>
13.04.98
Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning
CONTENTS
[01] YILMAZ IN UZBEKISTAN
[02] INTENSIVE TURKISH DIPLOMATIC TRAFFIC
[03] WATER FROM TURKEY FOR TRNC
[04] NEW DRAFT LAWS TO BE DISCUSSED DURING PLENARY SESSIONS
[05] ROMANIAN NAVAL FORCES COMMANDER TO VISIT TURKEY
[06] STRANGE ALLIANCE IN BRUSSELS
[07] TURKISH-CHINESE JEC MEETINGS
[08] CLASHES BETWEEN PKK AND SECURITY FORCES
[09] 2.4 MILLION CARS PRODUCED IN 15 YEARS
[10] 10TH ANKARA FILM FESTIVAL TO BE STAGED
[11] TURKEY TO ADVANCE IN TOURISM
[12] 'TURKEY IS A HEAVEN'
[13] REPORT ON A BLACK SEA RAILWAY SYSTEM
[14] US CYPRUS COORDINATOR TRIES TO EASE CYPRUS TENSIONS
[01] YILMAZ IN UZBEKISTAN
Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz embarked upon a four-day trip to
Central Asia including Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan yesterday. Five
ministers, six deputies, 58 businessmen and many bureaucrats are
accompanying Yilmaz. Yilmaz will meet Uzbek President Islam Kerimov
this morning and participate in the signing ceremonies of some
agreements including cooperation in the areas of culture and customs.
Yilmaz will proceed on to Kyrgyzstan tomorrow. /Hurriyet-Sabah/
[02] INTENSIVE TURKISH DIPLOMATIC TRAFFIC
Foreign Minister Ismail Cem will go to Bosnia-Herzegovina on 14
April to discuss the Kosovo issue with President Alia Izzetbegovic and
other recent developments in the region. During his three day visit,
Cem will also visit the Turkish military unit station in
Bosnia-Herzegovina.
On 16 April, the Bulgarian and Romanian Presidents will come to
Antalya as the guests of their Turkish counterpart. It is expected that
the Kosovo issue will be the top topic on the agenda of the "summit".
Meanwhile, William Cohen, U.S. Secretary of Defense will come to
Ankara on 17 April. Cohen will meet with his Turkish counterpart Ismet
Sezgin and Foreign Minister Ismail Cem. Cohen will negotiate with
Turkish officials on Turkish-American military cooperation, the Cyprus
issue and developments in the Middle East.
It has also been announced that Foreign Minister Ismail Cem will go
to Paris on 27-28 April to attend up-coming OECD meetings there.
/Milliyet/
[03] WATER FROM TURKEY FOR TRNC
Turkish President Suleyman Demirel and President of the Turkish
Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) Rauf Denktas will attend a ceremony
on 23 April marking the first water supplies from Turkey to the TRNC.
During the first year of the project, three million tons of water are
planned to be transported to the TRNC. Turkish State Minister Sukru
Sina Gurel has noted that the project will cost nearly $300 million.
Meanwhile, according to The Guradian newspaper, Turkey has the most
important water resources in the region and due to the increasing water
shortage in the East Mediterranean, Turkey plans to sell water to Italy,
Greece, Jordan, Israel, Libya and Malta. /Sabah/
[04] NEW DRAFT LAWS TO BE DISCUSSED DURING PLENARY SESSIONS
This week will be a busy one for parliamentary deputies after a
nine-day holiday. During plenary sessions, proposals for the removal of
the parliamentary immunity of six deputies, tax reforms and a "package
for the struggle against fundamentalism" will be taken up. Meanwhile,
Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz and Chairman of the Republican People's
Party (CHP) Deniz Baykal will meet and discuss the Assembly agenda on
Thursday. Within the framework of a consensus to be reached between
Yilmaz and Baykal, the package for the struggle against fundamentalism
will be initially discussed by the Turkish Parliament's General Council.
/Milliyet-Sabah/
[05] ROMANIAN NAVAL FORCES COMMANDER TO VISIT TURKEY
Admiral Traian Atanasiu, Romanian Naval Forces Commander, will
visit Turkey on Monday as an official guest of Admiral Salim Dervisoglu,
Turkish Naval Forces Commander, the Anatolia news agency reported
yesterday. Admiral Atanasiu will leave Turkey on 17 April.
[06] STRANGE ALLIANCE IN BRUSSELS
The third anniversary of the so-called Kurdish Parliament-in-exile
was celebrated in Brussels with the participation of PKK members,
members of the out-lawed Democratic Party (DEP), and Belgian, Russian
and Greek parliamentarians. Panayotis Sgouridis, first Deputy Speaker
of the Greek Parliament, also gave a speech at the meeting calling on
world public opinion to pay the same attention to the Kurdish issue in
Turkey such as it does to the Kosovo issue. /Milliyet/
[07] TURKISH-CHINESE JEC MEETINGS
The 12th term meeting of the Turkish-Chinese Joint Economic
Commission (JEC) will be held in Beijing between April 21-23, 1998,
reports the Anatolian news agency. The Turkish side will be headed by
State Minister Isin Celebi during the JEC meetings which will take up
reciprocal development opportunities in the areas of commerce and
investment.
[08] CLASHES BETWEEN PKK AND SECURITY FORCES
Security forces have initiated operations in Antalya to find and
arrest a team of PKK terrorists planning attacks in southern tourism
centers. Seven terrorists were killed in clashes with the security
forces on Friday. The operations are being backed with Sikorsky
helicopters. /Hurriyet/
[09] 2.4 MILLION CARS PRODUCED IN 15 YEARS
During the last 15 years the Turkish automotive sector has produced
more than 2.4 million cars. According to State Planning Organization
figures, the number of cars produced domestically increased from one in
1960 to 242 thousand in 1997. This year the target is to manufacture
250 thousand cars in Turkey. /Hurriyet/
[10] 10TH ANKARA FILM FESTIVAL TO BE STAGED
International Ankara Film Festival traditionally staged every year,
will take place between May 1 and 10 this year, the Anatolia news agency
reported. The 10th Ankara International Film Festival brings Turkish
and foreign films to Ankara. Meanwhile, the fourth International Ankara
Caricature Festival, staged by Caricature Foundation, will be realized
between May 8 and 12.
[11] TURKEY TO ADVANCE IN TOURISM
The tourism sector, among the leading industries bringing in huge
foreign exchange revenues, is expected to grow even more with "faith
tourism" in the 2000s. Recalling the recent statement made by Pope
John, "I would like 10 million Christians to go on pilgrimage to Turkey
every year", tourism Minister Ibrahim Gurdal said that they attached
great importance to the Faith Congress scheduled to take place in
Kusadasi on 4-7 May. /Cumhuriyet/
[12] 'TURKEY IS A HEAVEN'
One of the leading US news channels, ABC, praised Turkey in one of
its recent travel programme. A summary of the programme is on the ABC
Internet site. The Internet address is: www.abcnews.com. /Sabah/
[13] REPORT ON A BLACK SEA RAILWAY SYSTEM
The Black Sea Transport and Environment Volunteers Group published
a report recently stating that if expressways were built taking the
simultaneous construction of railways into mind, the overall cost would
drop incredibly low. And with this addition, Turkey could be connected
to all the new Central Asian markets. /Cumhuriyet/
[14] US CYPRUS COORDINATOR TRIES TO EASE CYPRUS TENSIONS
In a statement to Greek weekly magazine "To Vima", US special
Cyprus coordinator Thomas Miller suggested that Turkey had no intention
of attacking the Southern Cyprus administration should Russian made
S-300 missiles be deployed there, and added that Turkey had changed last
year's hard-line policy. He also noted US concerns over the Greek
Cypriot arms build-up in Cyprus. /Cumhuriyet/
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