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Turkish Press Review, 00-06-13Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs <http://www.mfa.gov.tr>13.06.00Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morningCONTENTS
[01] FROM THE COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS...[02] SEZER'S GESTURE TO DAMASCUSTurkey decided to make a gesture to its neighbour, Syria. President Ahmet Necdet Sezer will attend Syrian President Hafiz Esad's funeral which will be held today. President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, who did not go to Tehran for the meeting of the Economical Cooperation Organization (ECO), will carry out his first official visit to a foreign country, Damascus. Culture Minister Istemihan Talay will accompany Sezer. /Hurriyet/[03] SEZER'S MESSAGE TO RUSSIAPrime Minister Ahmet Necdet Sezer sent a message to the Russian Federation's Head of State, Vladimir Putin, and celebrated the National Day of Russia. In his message, Sezer stated that the mutual will for the improvement of friendship and cooperation between the two countries was proportional with the potential of relations in every field and that it was the guarantee of improving the relations to a more advanced level of cooperation. /Cumhuriyet/[04] CEM MEETS NAZARBAYEV AND TOKAYEVMinister of Foreign Affairs, Ismail Cem, stated that the importance of Baku-Ceyhan pipeline project for Turkey derived from the fact that this project is of strategic importance for the Caucasus and for the Middle East. Cem was received by Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev and the Prime Minister Kasimjomart Tokayev as part of his contacts in Kazakhstan yesterday. Cem also met the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Erlan Idirisov. The main subject of the meetings was energy. Tokayev issued a statement after his meeting with Cem and said that their aim was to drill more petroleum as soon as possible and that they did not have any problems with Turkey concerning the economic relations. Meanwhile, Cem said, "We should improve the relations with the Caucasus as much as we can." /Cumhuriyet/[05] COMMISSION'S VERDICT: SUPREME COURTAfter the SEKA Commission, the commission investigating GSM tender decided to send the Motherland Party (ANAP)'s Leader Mesut Yilmaz to "Supreme Court" with seven to six votes. Three members from the Nationalist Action Party (MHP) acted together with the opposition parties' members, while one member from MHP voted against. /Hurriyet/[06] TANRIKULU'S STATEMENTMinister of Industry and Trade, Ahmet Kenan Tanrikulu, stated that the Turkish economy was aiming to be among the best 10 countries in 2003, which is the 100th anniversary of the declaration of Republic, within the framework of the 8th Five-Years Development Plan. Tanrikulu added, "We also aim to save the population who live below the line of poverty from their present state by the year 2010. Our other plan is to decrease the inflation rate to single digit figures with the contribution of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)." Tanrikulu issued a speech concerning the 8th Five-Year Development Plan at the Plan and Budget Commission of the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TGNA), in which he said, "A growth rate of 7% will be ensured during the period between 2001 and 2003 in the long-term development strategy." /Aksam/[07] SEAWOLF 2000One of the Naval Forces Command's planned exercises, "Seawolf 2000"'s second stage is continuing successfully in international waters in the Aegean and Mediterranean under the command of Fleet Commander, Admiral Bulent Alpkaya. Today at 17:00, the third stage of the exercises will begin. /Turkiye/[08] SILK ROAD 2000 SEMINAR"Silk Road 2000 General-Admiral Seminar" began at the Partnership for the Peace Education Center of Turkish Armed Forces (BIOEM). During the opening of the seminar which will last until June 15, the Deputy Chief of the General Staff, Gen. Edip Baser stated that Turkey's importance and responsibility had increased after the end of the Cold War. /Turkiye/[09] SPACE CAMP IN IZMIRThe seventh Space Camp in the world opened in Izmir in the scope of the Aegean Free Zone. During the opening ceremony, Foreign Trade Undersecretary Kursat Tuzmen stated that the Space Camp would contribute to the education of the Turkish youth. An American astronaut, Scott Carpanter also attended the openning. /Turkiye/[10] US WANTS TO ESTABLISH LIASION OFFICE IN DIYARBAKIRAfter the US wanted to open a liasion office in Diyarbakir under the roof of Southeastern Association of Industrialists and Businessmen (GUNSIAD), Turkey suggested the US that they open this bureau within another institution, which is closer to the government, such as the Turkish Association of Chambers and Stock Exchanges (TOBB). If this suggestion, which was presented to the US Ambassador to Turkey by Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit and which is still being evaluated, is accepted, the legal problems will be solved. However, it was stated that it is hard for the office to be opened by 15 June. /Cumhuriyet/[11] TABA DELEGATION IN USThe Turco-American Businnesmen Association (TABA) delegation, chaired by Dr. Zeynel Abidin Erdem, went to the US to attend the meeting of the European-American Association of Commercial Chambers (ECACC). In a statement issued by the TABA, it was stated that the meeting would end on 14 June and that the Turkish delegation, which will attend this meeting with the most crowded delegation, will make discussions to improve commercial and investment relations between the US and Turkey. On the agenda of the ECACC, there are the protection of government, international mobilization of the workers, international problems of legislation, the targets to be reached in the 21st century, the World Trade Organization and the cultural conflicts between Europe and America. /Milliyet/[12] ONAL'S STATEMENT ABOUT TELECOM BIDDINGState Minister Recep Onal, while answering the questions of the journalists, said that the bidding for the block sale of Telecom's 20% share will be announced today. Onal did not give a detailed information on the issue but said that the procedure concerning the incident started today. According to the information that was obtained, the consortiums who want to enter into this bidding will pay 15,000 dollars on 19 June and receive a detailed information about Telecom. /Aksam/[13] DIRECT INCOME SUPPORT FOR THE FARMERSThe Direct Income Support (DGD) project, whose pilot practice will be made within the framework of the agricultural reform, is being followed by the Agricultural Reform of the World Bank. As part of the DGD projects, the payments will be paid in cash or in two instalments and the financing of these payments will be provided by the Budget of the Treasury Undersecretariat and by the World Bank. Within the framework of the DGD Project, a total of 1.6 million dollars will be supplied by the World Bank. The first payment will be made this month and the second payment in October. /Aksam/[14] FOUR-YEAR TERM BOND BIDDING BY THE TREASURYTreasury Undersecretary, Selcuk Demiralp, went to Japan yesterday to sign the agreements of the biddings in terms of yens, which were exported by Turkey to the the Japanese market, and to make various economic contacts. Treasury exported four-year term bonds amounting to 50 billion yens to the Japanese Samurai market. Demiralp is expected to sign the agreement concerning the bond export on Friday with the Japanese Company, Nomura. Demiralp will stay in Japan for five days, during which he will hold some meetings similar to Road-Show and give information to the Japanese investors on the measures taken in the Turkish economy. /Aksam/[15] CNBCE TO BEGIN BROADCASTING IN TURKEYAmerican television channel, CNBC Europe and Channel E stated that they would broadcast daily news concerning the economy in Turkey and in the world under the name of CNBCE. It is expected that this broadcast, which will be made from the frequency of Channel E, will be watched by an audience of 21 million in Turkey. It was stated that the CNBCE will begin its broadcast in September. /Cumhuriyet/[16] POSSIBLE MERGER IN CEMENT SECTORDeputy Chairman of the Executive Board of Cimentas, Ilhan Gurel, stated that there are a lot of merges in the world in the cement sector and added, "Turkish cement sector will also receive its share from it. The number of cement companies is very high in Turkey. The world's cement production and the domination of the market were in the hands of five European companies. The cement sector in Turkey will be in the hands of three or five companies in five or ten years. Therefore, we are likely to be either included in these groups, or establish a new formation. Salomon Smith Barney examined the cement sector both in Europe and Turkey. Then it will draw up a project." /Sabah/[17] TELSIM'S AGREEMENTLeader in GSM operating in Turkey, Telsim, signed a giant agreement with the world's second largest mobile phone company, Finnish Nokia. Accordingly, Telsim gave an order to Nokia to develop the GSM network in Turkey in worth of 900 million dollars. /Star/[18] GOLD PERIOD IN AUTO MARKETTurkish automotive sector is living its most brilliant period in the last seven years. Auto sales have increased 75% according to the same period of last year. 157,000 autos were sold in five months. 82,000 of them were cars produced in Turkey. /Star/[19] KORFEZBANK'S RATING INCREASESKorfezbank's rating was increased from IC-B to IC A_B by Thomson Bank Watch. It was stated that the fact that Korfezbank created capital through the institutional deposit and foreign borrowing and became a specialist in institutional banking with a few number of branches was taken into consideration while giving this rating. In addition, the fact the bank did not have any dead loan also was one of the important reaasons of this rating. /Sabah/[20] THUBRON'S POSITIVE OPINION ON BOSPHORUSEnglish writer Colin Thubron, who writes in 'The Sunday Telegraph' daily, toured the whole world and finally wrote that the most beatiful place to have dinner was Istanbul. While on the Bosphorus, Thubron wrote in his article, "Now I am at one of the most beautiful restaurants. I am eating fish while watching the brilliant lights of the city and the cargo boats that travel between the Black Sea and Marmara Sea. Besides the dishes, there are different kinds of delicious snacks." Thubron added that he liked Turkish raki very much and also wrote a lot about Aya Sofia Museum. /Sabah/[21] NUMBER OF TOURISTS INCREASEThe revival experienced in tourism in April continued also in May. The number of tourists visited to Turkey increased more than 40% in May compared to last year. The number of tourists coming to Turkey in the first five months of this year reached 2,827 million, with an increase of 25.2%. /Hurriyet/[22] FROM THE COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS...[23] SEZER IN DAMASCUS BY DOGAN HEPER (MILLIYET)Columnist Dogan Heper comments on the death of Syrian leader Hafez El Esad and its possible reflections in the international arena. A summary of his column is as follows:"The death of Hafez Esad caused reactions in the international arena. In a way, his death concerns Turkey most of all as the policy he followed during his lifetime. For 30 years, he succeeded in showing Syria as a powerful State which was not a strong country. He was able to rule as a Nusayri in a country where Sunnis were in majority. Adding his own understanding to Baas principles, he established the Syrian regime. In a bi-polarized world he stood by Moscow and was the bulwark of the Eastern camp in the Middle East. In the struggle against Israel he vied the leadership of the Arab world. Damascus was among the leaders of the countries supporting terrorism throughout the world. Syria was Turkey's neighbour but acted with open or covert animosity at all times. He had his eye on the Hatay province. For years he showed Hatay within Syria's borders. On the water issue Esad saw Turkey as an enemy as his mind was on the waters of Euphrates. His actions which did not conform with good-neighbourly relations reached their peak when he sheltered the PKK terrorist organisation and Ocalan. What Esad has done for his country concerns Syria. His actions and policies against Turkey were not acceptable. However, it is also an established fact that there are no continual hostilities among countries. The important point is to be able to form friendly ties, as the nature of relations between countries are determined by common interests. Turkey and Syria have a common interest in becoming friends. Just as the rapprochement seen between Ankara and Athens, a softening of relations between Ankara and Damascus is inevitable. The two neighbours, Turkey and Syria have to be good friends as they have long-term interests in such a fraternity. Therefore, President Sezer's attendance at the funeral is a sound decision. It has been correct for Ankara not to act shyly on the matter. Turkey is a great and leader country in the region. Leadership necessitates getting tough when need arises as well as making necessary gestures. Especially when such a gesture will concern the new Administration in Syria and will have a certain impact on it. Turkey could not be left behind France, Egypt and Iran. All these States are attending the funeral ceremony at a Presidential level. This does not concern us. However, we have to accept that we have a different position than other countries. " [24] FROM ECEVIT TO HADEP BY FIKRET BILA (MILLIYET)Columnist Fikret Bila writes on the speech delivered by Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit in Diyarbakir. A summary of his column is as follows:"One of Prime Minister Ecevit's messages in the speeches he delivered in Diyarbakir concerned the drawbacks of establishing parties based on 'race'. The Prime Minister underlined the fact that parties based on races would lead to separating the people and said,'Turk is not the name of a race in Turkey, it is the name of a people coming from different races, but living together on these lands. Turks and Kurds are inseparable.' Even though Ecevit did not openly say so, he implied that HADEP was a party based on race. This description, when taken together with the statement that political aspect of separatism has gained importance showed his views on HADEP more clearly. On questions that HADEP was strong in the region and did not this show the political preference of the public in the region, Ecevit answered that other parties seemed to have left the ground for HADEP but the Democratic Left Party was going to work to gain the favour of the people in the region. The Prime Minister also said that there were many requests from him to include Article 169 of the Turkish Penal Code concerning aiding and abetting within the framework of the Amnesty Bill. He said these requests would be taken into consideration." Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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