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Turkish Press Review, 99-03-03Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs <http://www.mfa.gov.tr>03.03.99Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morningCONTENTS
[01] FROM THE COLUMNS....FROM THE COLUMNS....FROM THE COLUMNS....[02] D-8 SUMMIT ENDSThe D-8 Summit which has been held over the past two days in Bangladesh, attended by eight developing Islamic countries, ended yesterday with a resolution to develop mutual relations in particular in the areas of economy and trade. In the Dhaka Declaration, it was decided that cooperation should be facilitated and joint projects in the fields of fishing, agriculture, energy, banking and insurance amongst others should be collaborated on. The declaration pointed out that the private sector carries a great burden of responsibility towards the development process in each of the countries and also made a note of the reforms necessary in the struggle against world-wide crises. The declaration stressed that not only its advantages, but the risks of globalization should be considered. The next Summit will be held in Cairo, Egypt, in 2001. /Turkiye/[03] CETIN TO VISIT IRELANDTurkish Parliament Speaker Hikmet Cetin and an accompanying delegation will go to Ireland today as the official guests of the Head of the Irish House of Representatives, Seamus Pattison. Cetin, who will be received by Irish President Mary Mc Aleese, will also meet Seamus Pattison. Cetin and the Turkish delegation will return to the country on March 7, the Anatolia news agency reports.[04] BAKU-CEYHAN OIL PIPELINE MEETINGSMeetings to implement the Baku-Ceyhan oil pipeline project which will transport Caspian oil to Western markets will continue today, the Anatolia news agency reports. The Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Ministry's Deputy Undersecretary, Metin Eral, will head the Turkish delegation, while the Head of the Foreign Investments Department of the Azerbaijani National Oil Company SOCAR, Valek Aleskerov, will head the Azerbaijani delegation. High-level officials from the AIOC Consortium's Operating Company, will also attend the meetings. Energy and Natural Resources Minister Ziya Aktas, in a a statement to the Anatolia news agency correspondent, said: "We want to accelerate the process and, if possible, we wish to sign an agreement by the end of March".Meanwhile, meetings on a project to transport Turkmen natural gas from the Caspian Sea Basin via Azerbaijan and Georgia to Turkey and Europe are still in progress in Ankara. Aktas said that after the meetings between Turkish and Turkmen delegations were completed, an agreement on natural gas would be signed on March 10 in Ashkabad. [05] PROFIT IN BANKSEleven of the 15 banks which have shares floated on the Istanbul Stock Exchange (IMKB) have announced their yearly balance sheets, remarking that their net profits in 1998 increased by an average of 105.7 %. The rate of increase in the profits of eight of the banks was over 100 %, while the increased profit rate for three of them exceeded 200 %. /Turkiye/[06] TURKEY ON THE UP AND UPA Russian newspaper, Vremya, has evaluated Turkey's role in international politics recently and said that Turkey was experiencing a heyday as far as global policy was concerned, much as it had during the Ottoman Empire. An article entitled "Turkey becomes the key player again in world politics on the threshold of the 21st century" remarked that Turkey is situated at a point where strategic interests come into contact with each other. The article stressed that the current problems between Turkey and Russia were not in Russia's favour and said: "Even though economic relations between Turkey and Russia are in a good situation, there are some political problems. If these problems are not overcome, Russia will face far greater problems in the next 20 years". The article added that Washington sees Ankara as of great significance in the region. /Turkiye/[07] GREECE IS SHAKINGGreece is on the road to political chaos. Theodoros Pangalos, the former Greek Foreign Minister, who resigned following the capture of the PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan by Turkey, made a statement to the Swiss News Agency in which he said: "We tried very hard in order to ensure that Ocalan received political asylum from a European country; however, we could not achieve this goal and we delivered him to Turkey". Thus, it was made clear that Greece, which has been supporting the PKK terrorist organization for many years, pushed Ocalan into the arms of Turkey.Meanwhile, the Greek Prime Minister, Kostas Simitis, attending a meeting of the Socialist Party Groups in Milan, Italy, became concerned at Pangalos' words and so told him on the telephone that he had to withdraw his statement. In another development, the former Greek Foreign Minister during the Papanadreau era, Karolos Papulias, claimed that a conflict could be sparked off between Turkey and Greece at any time. /Turkiye/ [08] SOCIALISTS BECOME ARROGANTA draft decision against Turkey was unanimously approved of at the Socialists' Congress in Milan, with the support of both Italians and Greeks. European Socialists called on Turkey to give the PKK leader, Abdullah Ocalan, a fair and honest trial declaring that Ocalan should be able to meet his lawyers and international observers should be allowed to participate in the trial. The draft decision noted that if Turkey does not abolish the death penalty, Turco-EU relations will be negatively affected. The draft added that peace could only be established by abiding by human rights. /Turkiye/[09] EU RENOUNCESDuring the Delegates Committee of the Council of Europe, the crisis on the Ocalan issue continued unabated yesterday and the draft decision the Council was expected to issue was again postponed. It is reported that the preparation of the draft decision was inspired by a meeting of the EU Council last week in Luxembourg; however it was dramatically altered as a result of Turkish objections. Turkey objected to a demand by the Council of Europe to participate as observers in the hearings of the Ocalan case stating that the draft decision should clearly denounce the PKK as a terrorist organization and Ocalan as a terrorist. /Turkiye/[10] PKK MEMBERS IMPRISONEDMembers of the PKK terrorist organization who were involved in the occupation of and the demonstrations outside the Greek Chief Consulate in Stuttgart, protesting against the capture of the PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan by Turkey, were tried yesterday. A total of 22 suspects were sentenced to imprisonment of between five and eight months. In another case at Dresden Provincial Court, three PKK members charged with extorting money through blackmail were sentenced to imprisonment for one year and nine months. /Turkiye/[11] "EMERGENCY ECONOMIC PACKAGE"After Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit announced a 40 trillion TL economic package to improve Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia, regional businessmen have sent President Suleyman Demirel a report comprising the "An Outline of Regional Problems and Their Solution". The report asked for an "Emergency Economic Situation" to be announced for the region. Regional problems were collated under five sections in the report; agriculture, industry, education and health, transport, energy and irrigation, and finally local administrations. The report also suggests ways of solving these problems. /Milliyet/[12] FARM LANDS IN EASTERN ANATOLIAThe economic package announced by Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit on Monday comprises the free transfer of lands belonging to the Treasury in Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia. The goverment has begun a far-reaching campaign to bring both foreign and domestic investment to the region. It is noted that the investments ought to employ at least 10 people in order to benefit from the promotional incentives package. /Hurriyet/[13] TURKCELL IN KAZAKHSTANTurkish Turkcell aims to be the leader in Central Asia in GMS communications and the company has put its third operator in Kazakhstan, on the Silk Road. Turkcell has established a joint company with Kazakhstan Kazakhtelekom; 51 % of the company belongs to Turkcell and 49 % of it to Kazakhtelekom. The official opening of the Kazakhstan GMS was made by President Nursultan Nazarbayev. He said that they welcomed Turkish firms investing in their country and he invited more Turkish firms to do the same. The company aims to reach 160,000 subscribers in the year 2000. /Hurriyet/[14] ECEVIT: "EUROPE WILL CONDEMN ITSELF"Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit has reacted against the actions of Italian Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema, who organized a Socialist convention in Italy and prepared a file on the PKK for the attention of the US President Bill Clinton in order to provoke the issue of a resolution against Turkey. Ecevit said: "Many realities regarding PKK terrorism have become clear. Some parties in Europe will have to criticize and condemn themselves". /Turkiye/[15] ANNAN IS CONCERNED OVER A LIKELY WARThe UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan held a press conference yesterday and expressed his wish that no war would take place between Turkey and Greece. Annan noted that he had closely followed the repercussions of the capture of the PKK leader, Abdullah Ocalan, on Turco-Greek relations. Regarding this, he said: "I hope that this tense period will end and there will be no war between the two countries". Annan pointed out that they would launch fresh initiatives in the upcoming months on the Cyprus issue and added that the cancellation of the deployment of the S-300 missiles on the island had alleviated the tension. /Turkiye/[16] TERRORIST CAMP IN ARMENIAThe Azerbaijani Chief of General Staff and Defence Minister, Sefer Abiyev, said that a group consisting of 700 terrorists was being trained in Armenia, to be sent to Azerbaijan and Turkey. Abiyev, who held a press conference yesterday, said: "The real aim of Armenia was to damage relations between two friendly countries". /Turkiye/[17] EU DELEGATION ON IMRALIMembers of the European Union's (EU) Human Rights Commission yesterday met the PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, who is imprisoned in Imrali Prison. The members, who arrived on Imrali Island by helicopter yesterday morning, stayed there until the evening. /Turkiye/[18] PKK TERRORISTS THREATEN DSPMembers of the PKK terrorist organization are now threatening candidates of the Democratic Left Party (DSP) in the Southeast. It is reported that phonecalls have been made and letters have been sent to DSP deputy candidates in Diyarbakir, Batman, Sirnak and Siirt saying: "The DSP Chairman Bulent Ecevit captured the PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan; therefore, the DSP is our enemy now. If you become candidates for the DSP, we will kill you". /Sabah/[19] BOMBERS CAPTUREDMembers of the PKK terrorist organization who carried out attacks against various places in Istanbul are being rooted out one by one. During operations carried out by members of Istanbul Security Office's Anti-Terrorism Department, five members including two women from the Islamic wing of the organization, the Kurdistan Islamic Movement (KIH), were captured. Meanwhile, 15 people who allegedly threw bombs and molotov cocktails at various institutions, including the Istanbul Bar, have been taken into custody. /Sabah/[20] STEFANOPULOS GOES ON USING PROVOCATIVE STATEMENTSThe Greek President, Kostis Stefanopulos, continues his statements in favour of terrorism. During his official visit to Uzbekistan yesterday, Stefanopulos said, "Turkey demands that Greece be placed on the list of those countries supporting terrorism. I hope she will receive the answer she deserves from the international community. Greece does not want the question of Ocalan and PKK to be transformed into a crisis between Greece and Turkey." Denying the allegations that Greece has given military and financial support to the terrorist PKK organization, Stefanopulos argued that they had helped Ocalan for humane reasons only. /Aksam/[21] OCALAN: AN HONORARY GREEK CITIZENThe Municipal Assembly of Olimpia in Western Greece has recognized Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the terrorist PKK organization, as an "honorary citizen" of Olimpia. The Athens News Agency (ANA) declared that Ocalan's honorary citizenship charter will be submitted to the UN. Georgios Aidonis, the Mayor of Olipia, said that the decision was taken unanimously. Meanwhile, it has been reported that the Greek cities of Kalavrita and Lefkasiyo are also preparing to grant honorary citizenship to the terrorist leader. These recent developments are interpreted as the latest evidence of the interconnection between Greece and the outrageous terrorism carried out by the PKK in Southeastern Anatolia. /Aksam/[22] THE US' `CASPIAN PLAN'Mark Parris, the US Ambassador to Ankara, expressed the strategic energy policy of the US concerning the Caspian region under four main headings. Accordingly, the US aims to: 1. Support the independence of the new Caspian States. 2. Increase trading opportunities by eliminating regional disputes. 3. Guarantee the energy requirements of the US and her allies. 4. Establish a liberal economic framework and democratic political environment in the region. /Cumhuriyet/[23] ERBAKAN: "POSTPONE THE ELECTIONS!"It is argued that Necmettin Erbakan, the Chairman of the defunct Welfare Party (RP) and the most influential figure in the Islamic movement in Turkey, ordered the Virtue Party (FP) MPs to postpone the April elections through Parliamentary lobbying, due to the rejection of his independent Parliamentary candidacy for Konya by the Supreme Electoral Board (YSK). Accordingly, the FP, the de facto successor of the RP, will support the movement of those `disenchanted' MPs who have been excluded from the parties' candidate lists for the forthcoming elections, in order to convene Parliament and postpone the April Elections at least for six months. /Aksam/[24] ANAP PROMISES ONE-DIGIT INFLATIONMesut Yilmaz, the leader of the Motherland Party (ANAP), will declare his party's two-page election manifesto, entitled "The Contract for Turkey' on March 7 in Ankara. ANAP promises health insurance for every citizen, one-digit inflation, and the restructuring of the administration in order to achieve a "transparent, libertarian and egalitarian State" by the year 2000. It is reported that ANAP will use the rhetoric of the "silent majority" in its election campaign. /Cumhuriyet/[25] FP TARGETS OUTSKIRTSRecai Kutan, the leader of the Virtue Party (FP), will start his party's election campaign on March 6 in Malatya. It is reported that the FP will emphasize the questions of income distribution, unjust taxation, unemployment and irregularities during the campaign, whereas it will also bring heavy criticisms to bear against the 8-year compulsory education system. /Cumhuriyet/[26] IRAQI NATURAL GAS WILL BE RUN BY TURKSTurkey has accelerated its efforts towards the post-embargo period in Iraq, for which numerous Western companies are already competing to play a role in the oil and natural gas sector. In this respect, a number of Turkish officials from TPAO, BOTAS and Tekfen are in frequent contact with Iraqi officials in order to initiate massive natural gas projects immediately following the end of the embargo. It is reported that according to former protocols, Turkish companies have been granted the right to implement activities in five regions, and that a final contract has already been drawn up for a vast region in which 10 billion metres cubed of natural gas will be produced annually. /Aksam/[27] BONDS OFFERED TO THE PUBLIC FROM THE TREASURYThe Turkish Treasury will offer 5-month state bonds to the public on which the interest rate is 42.5%. The redemption date for the bonds, which will be submitted tomorrow, is August 18, 1999. /Aksam/[28] ERDEMIR MAKES LAST SUGGESTION TO THE BULGARIANSThe Eregli Iron-Steel Plants Corp. (ERDEMIR), the largest industrial enterprise in Turkey, will give its final proposal for the privatization of the Bulgarian Kremikovtzi Plants by March 8. The declaration from ERDEMIR reads, "New conditions have been set forth for the project, including those that are unacceptable to our company. Yet ERDEMIR will present its ultimate proposal by March 8." /Aksam/[29] HIZBULLAH OPERATIONThe Gaziantep Police Department announced that, due to the operation carried out against Hizbullah, an illegal Islamic organization, the so-called Gaziantep correspondents, `higher board' members and some militants from the organization had been captured. /Cumhuriyet/[30] POLICE INVESTIGATION AGAINST PKKFour PKK exponents have been seized by the police in Sanliurfa. According to a statement issued by the Sanliurfa Police Department, four persons who are charged with burning several municipal vehicles and buses on account of Ocalan's conveyance to Turkey, have been arrested. /Cumhuriyet/[31] NATO COUNCIL APPROVES NEW MILITARY COMMAND STRUCTUREThe NATO Council approved its new military command structure with effect from March 1, 1999. Turkey, which has been lobbying against the nationalization of the South Regional Command's sub-regional headquarters, has insisted on making the headquarters, to be established in Izmir and Larissa, multilateral. The Chief of Staff at the NATO Headquarters building in Larissa will be a Turkish Major General. Greece approved of the plan to allow nearly 10-15 Turkish officers to work at key command locations in Larissa, while Greeks will also work at the headquarters in Izmir. An infrastructural project, worth $180 million for Turkey, which has been blocked by Greece, has also been released. Athens has removed its reservations concerning the Izmir headquarters' budget. /Sabah/[32] BOMBS STOP OIL BEING PUMPED FROM KIRKUKFollowing an attack by US aircraft on Iraq two days ago, one more communication unit has completely been destroyed. Therefore, the date on which oil is to be pumped along the Kirkuk-Yumurtalik pipeline has been postponed. A Turkish team has left for the communication station in Silopi. It is reported that even though the oil flow has been stopped through the Yumurtalik pipeline, there is no problem concerning oil flow in pipelines to the north of Iraq. /Sabah/[33] ATHENS: CONFIDENCE-BUILDING MEASURES HAVE NOT BEEN FROZENThe Greek Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Theodoros Theodoru, denied allegations that negotiations concerning the Confidence-Building Measures in the Aegean, which have been in progress in Brussels at the NATO centre, have been frozen. Theodoru said that this issue has nothing to do with the Ocalan issue. He added that he did not want the Ocalan issue to cause a crisis between Turkey and Greece. /Sabah/[34] 'OCALAN IS LIKE POL POT'A magazine published in France, Le Nouvel Observateur, said in its recent issue that the PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan could no way be a human rights champion. An article written by the Editor-in-Chief of the magzine, Jean Daniel, noted that Ocalan was neither a Mandela nor a democrat. He said that Ocalan was a person who oppressed Turkey with terror just like Pol Pot. /Sabah/[35] TURKEY'S GREECE POLICYKorkmaz Haktanir, Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Undersecretary, evaluated Turkey's recent policy towards Greece to a group of Milliyet journalists yesterday in Ankara. Haktanir said that Greece ought to cut its support to the PKK otherwise, he added, there would be more serious repercussions between Turkey and Greece. He pointed out that Greece had evaded the principles of international law. He said, "Greece has followed a clear policy of enmity against Turkey; but enough is enough. Greece would be better to change its attitude towards Turkey; if not, the Mediterranean will face a serious crisis. Turkey was successful in starting a dialogue with Syria even during the worst period of the relations between the two countries. However, we have not had any dialogue with Greece for 20 years. Greece is in a worse position than Syria towards Turkey; four Turkish diplomats were killed by ASALA in Greece and the 17 November terrorist organization is a part of the Greek State, which is now supporting PKK."Haktanir noted that Turkey would closely analyze the Baader Meinhof court cases in Germany and the IRA court cases in Britain in order to see what they had done in similar situations to the Abdullah Ocalan court case. Concerning Northern Iraq and the Kurdish leaders, Korkmaz Haktanir said although Mesut Barzani had been under protection and in cooperation with Turkey, Celal Talabani prefered to hide the PKK. Finally, Haktanir announced Turkey's message to Europe saying, "as international society has had support from Turkey in the struggle against terrorism, they ought to condemn the PKK and cut their support to the organization; do not use the Kurdish issue as a condition of Turco-European relations. Finally, Turkey will do what is necessary concerning the Kurdish question, in accordance with her benefits and time table; Europe cannot dictate to Turkey what she ought to do." /Milliyet/ [36] TURKEY TO APPLY BELGIAN NATIONAL TEXTILE PLANTurkey's leading textile institutions have decided to establish a national textile plan with the approval of the government. The Textile Employees' Union, the Turkish Clothing Industrialists' Association, the Istanbul Textile Importers' Union, the Textile Industrialists' Union, the Cotton Textile Industrialists' Union, the Turkish Chamber and Bonds Union, the Istanbul Ready-to-Wear Importers' Union and the Istanbul Industrialists' Chamber will gather in the Foreign Trade Undersecretariat today in Istanbul. The representatives will discuss how to apply the Belgian national textile plan to Turkey in order to establish a "National Textile Plan" for Turkey. It is also reported that they will negotiate the urgent measures which need to be taken in the sector, such as a reduction in tax rates. /Milliyet/[37] TURKISH PLAY IN LONDON'On the way to Baghdad', written by Guneli Gun will be staged between March 9-14, 1999, by the Green Candle Dance Group, a group consisting of Turkish and foreign dancers and players, at Sadler's Wells, one of the oldest threatres in London. /Sabah/[38] EASTERN ANATOLIA TO BE FULL OF TOURISTSThe Tourism Ministry is to promote the winter tourism potential of Eastern Anatolia world-wide. The foundation of the project will be laid by Tourism Minister Ahmet Tan in Sarikamis, Kars, on March 13-15. Tan, who will attend the opening of the Sarikamis Winter Festival, will visit the tourist facilities in the region and draw attention to the tourist potential of the region. /Sabah/[39] TURKEY RANKS 23RD IN AUTOMOBILE PRODUCTION IN THE WORLDTurkey has ranked 23rd in the world in automobile production by producing 240,000 cars in 1998; Hungary, Portugal, Indonesia and Malaysia produced less than Turkey. According to the Financial Times, the total combined production of Japan, the US and Germany, worth $18.9 million, was 48.5 % of world production. /Sabah/[40] TURKISH BUSINESSMAN TO SOLVE THE Y2K PROBLEMTurkish businessman Tanju Karabunar has solved the 'Year 2000' problem which will affect computers world-wide. Karabunar is preparing computers for the year 2000 using a Microtech 2000 programme which has come into being with the cooperation of his Belgian and British soft-ware engineering friends. Karabunar said: "Our programme, on disket, prepares the Bios part of the computer for the year 2000. When this programme is loaded, the computers will be ready for the year 2000 in a moment". /Sabah/[41] BRITISH SUPPORT FOR ILISU DAMThe British Secretary of Trade, Brian Wilson, said that Britain was planning to support the Ilisu Dam project in Turkey. In a statement on the BBC radio, Wilson said: "The Dam is an extremely delicate issue from the political, social and environmental standpoint. Therefore, detailed research should be undertaken before a decision is reached". /Sabah/[42] NEVRUZ CELEBRATIONSThe Ministry of Culture has been in the process of organizing the Nevruz Festival on 21 March. The Ministry has prepared posters conveying messages of "peace, friendship, unity and love". Books and brochures are being prepared to explain Nevruz; in addition, short films and cartoons will be prepared to be broadcast on TV channels. /Milliyet/[43] MOSSAD OFFICES IN TURKEYAllegations concerning Turco-Israeli intelligence cooperation continue to be expressed in the European and Middle Eastern press. According to these claims, the Israeli Intelligence Service (MOSSAD) has established a wide network in Turkey and has permanent agents in Istanbul and Ankara. Moreover, it is put forward that two persons attached to MOSSAD, "Tevel", responsible for cooperation with friendly foreign organizations, and "Tzomet", responsible for hiring Arabic spies, have opened offices in Turkey. These claims were dependent on news in the Israeli "The Jerusalem Post" newspaper and the British "Foreign Report" magazine.Meanwhile, the Turkish Foreign Ministry yesterday rejected the allegations concerning links between Turkey and MOSSAD. /Milliyet/ [44] "COOPERATION DAY" WITH DENMARKThe "Cooperation Day" organized by the Danish Trade and Industry Bureau, the Turkish Foreign Relations Council and the Istanbul Trade Chamber will be held on 16 March in Istanbul. The Danish Ambassador to Ankara, Niels Helskov, said that there had been a serious increase in trade volume between Turkey and his country. Helskov noted that they aimed to benefit from the rapidly increasing Turkish economy. /Hurriyet/[45] TURKISH OLIVE OIL IN JAPANTurkish olive oil is in the process of being promoted in Japan. During the "Turkish Gastronomy Days" in Tokyo, sponsored by the International Olive Oil Council, six different types of Turkish oil olive were promoted to Japanese people. Turkish representatives said that Japan was an important market for Turkish oil. At the end of the promotion Turkish food, prepared using olive oil, was served to the guests. /Hurriyet/[46] DENKTAS' STANCEThe President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), Rauf Denktas, has stated that due to the stance taken by Greece and the Greek Cypriots, the negotiation table no meaning. Denktas noted that Greece and the Greek Cypriots who have clearly shown their support for the PKK terrorist organization and have provoked Turkish hostility, are hampering peace initiatives concerning Cyprus. Denktas pointed out that Turkish President Suleyman Demirel's statement saying that the TRNC should be politically recognized was very realistic. Denktas said that unless the status of both sides is recognized, no breakthrough could be attained. /Turkiye/[47] TSK DELEGATION IN TBILISIA delegation from the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) left yesterday for Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, to hold contacts, the Anatolia news agency reports. The TSK delegation will return to Turkey on March 7, 1999.[48] ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTRY UNDERSECRETARY DUE IN TURKEYAn Israeli delegation, headed by Eitan Ben-Tsur, Israeli Foreign Ministry Undersecretary, will come to Turkey on March 4 to hold official consultations, the Anatolia news agency reports.[49] RISE IN THE NUMBER OF TOURISTSIn the aftermath of last year's crisis in the tourism sector, the number of tourists visiting Turkey rose by 3% in January 1999 compared to the same time last year. According to data provided by the State Institute of Statistics (DIE), 358,000 foreigners, the majority of whom were from Germany, the US and the former USSR Republics, visited Turkey in January 1999. /Cumhuriyet/[50] TURCO-HUNGARIAN STUDENTS' ASSOCIATIONTurkish students who are being educated in Hungary have become organized under the Turco-Hungarian Students' Association in Budapest. Ender Arat, the Turkish Ambassador to Budapest, remarked that they will support all positive activities undertaken by the Association. /Cumhuriyet/[51] JAPANESE CONTRIBUTION TO 8-YEAR EDUCATIONShuku Iwasaki and Ko Iwasaki, a world-renowned Japanese piano-cello duo, will give a concert on March 9 at the Presidential Symphony Orchestra (CSO) Hall in Ankara. The profit from the concert, which is organized by the Japanese Embassy and the Sevda-Cenap And Music Foundation, will be granted to the National Education Foundation (MEV) as a contribution towards 8-year compulsory education. /Cumhuriyet/[52] 700th ANNIVERSARY OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE IN OPERAThe Turkish Ministry of Culture will inaugurate the celebrations of celebrate the 700th anniversary of the establishment of the Ottoman Empire in a concert at the State Opera and Ballet Hall tomorrow. In the concert, which is organized under the sponsorship of President Demirel, a selection from the works of the composer Sultans is to be performed. /Aksam/[53] EFES PILSEN SMASHES CSKA MOSCOWIn the third round match of the European Basketball League, Efes Pilsen, the Turkish Representative, hammered CSKA Moscow, 73-58, gaining a remarkable advantage for the quarter finals. Efes will win the tour if they win tomorrow's match in Moscow. Meanwhile, Fenerbahce lost against Real Madrid, 81-89, in Istanbul. /Aksam/[54] FROM THE COLUMNS....FROM THE COLUMNS....FROM THE COLUMNS....[55] TERRORIST OR NOT? - BY ORHAN BIRGIT (CUMHURIYET)Orhan Birgit, a columnist in the `Cumhuriyet' daily, reflects on the possible measures to be taken by the government in order to eliminate the international community's uncertainty concerning the identity of the terrorist leader, Abdullah Ocalan. Birgit writes:"When President Demirel said, `This is a case of murder, thus it should be seen within the framework of a case of murder', the adoption of a document, holding that both Ocalan and the PKK are terrorists, by the European Council Delegates Committee meeting was being thwarted due to the opposition of the Greek member. The European Council, which has been unable to determine whether Ocalan is a `terrorist' or a `freedom fighter', had also sent a committee to Imrali Island in order to observe the accomodation conditions of Ocalan. We should not get angry with such responses from outside for we have also been unable to express very recently what an outrageous murderer Ocalan is, even to some `ingenious' insiders, although we are aware that he is responsible for murdering our 30,000 citizens. If Ocalan's statements from Imrali are true, and if he repeats them during the trial, the world will be able to realize what a murderous organization the PKK is. However, before the trial, Turkey should begin a rapid and concrete advertisement movement. We know that there is a video tape which provided important evidence to the Dusseldorf Court in its decision to arrest Ocalan on the basis that he is a terrorist and the PKK is a terrorist organization. The tape includes footage of how a high level PKK executive, charged with `treason', is `executed' by the organization. Thus, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should bring the Dusseldorf file before the European Council Committe for Screening Torture. We should distribute this document to all European states and media groups in order to display how an organization, which has branches in most European countries, murdered its own executives. Then we should consider it as part of the evidence for the Imrali trial. Meanwhile, we know that the Ministry of the Interior is to carry out an investigation in Bekaa Valley, which has served as the headquarters of the PKK for more than 15 years. We should ensure that the world media also participates in that investigation. As the President maintains, what is to be tried at Imrali is a separatist murder. Thus we should exhibit all the concrete evidence properly in this case." Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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