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Turkish Press Review, 01-10-26
From: Turkish Directorate General of Press and Information <http://www.byegm.gov.tr>
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Press
& Information
Turkish
Press
Foreign
Press in Turkey
Turkish
Press Review >>
Press
Guide
Summary of the political and economic
news in the Turkish press this morning
26.10.2001
CONTENTS
[01] SEZER TRAVELS TO PAKISTAN
[02] LAMASSOURE REPORT APPROVED
[03] CEM: EP'S DECISION IS A POSITIVE DEVELOPMENT
[04] MEETING FOR ESDP IN ANKARA
[05] VERHEUGEN: "TURKEY IS VERY IMPORTANT"
[06] ECEVIT: LET'S NOT WASTE OUR TIME
[07] PRODI: GREEK CYPRIOTS WILL ENTER EU
[08] TURKEY TO BUILD SHELTERS IN AFGHANISTAN
[09] THE TURKISH RED CRESCENT TO RELEASE BROCHURES ON
ANTHRAX
[10] AFGHAN SUMMIT IN ANKARA
[11] MACEDONIAN DELEGATION MAKES ANKARA CONTACTS
[12] TURKISH TEACHING MEETING STARTS
[13] SECURITY MEETING IN KAZAKHSTAN
[14] IRAQ-TURKEY ECONOMIC RELATIONS
[15] CINGILLIOGLU AND HAS' CONTRIBUTION TO ERCIYES
UNIVERSITY
[16] DERVIS IN ITALY
[17] EUROPEAN MINISTERS URGE IMF ON FUNDS FOR TURKEY
[18] ORAL ON LOWERING TAXES
[19] AKBANK'S SUCCESS
[20] COOPERATION IN TRANSPORTATION
[21] DEVELOPMENT IN TURKISH SHARES
[22] WALL STREET JOURNAL PRAISES TURKEY
[23] SET YOUR CLOCKS BACK
[24] FROM THE COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS... FROM THE
COLUMNS...
[25] SHABBY CAR IN A DANGEROUS TURN BY TAHA AKYOL
(MILLIYET)
[01] SEZER TRAVELS TO PAKISTAN
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer left for Islamabad,
the capital of Pakistan, yesterday for a two-day official visit. After
a meeting, President Sezer and Pakistan Head of State Pervez Muserref
organized a joint press conference. Stressing that Turkey favored a
broad-based government which includes all ethnic groups, Sezer said,
"Terrorism has no religion and nationality. Islam cannot be
equated with terrorism. The Sept. 11 attacks targeted the common
values of humanity." Responding to a question on the formation of
an Islamic Peace Force in Afghanistan under the auspies of the UN,
Sezer remarked, " The decision on this matter will be made by the
UN. In light of that decision, we will evaluate the situation and make
our own decision." Muserref stated that they had decided to
cooperate in finding a just and permanent solution to the Afghanistan
issue. Pointing to his desire for a short and limited operation in
Afghanistan, Muserref emphasized his concern that civilian lives not
be jeopardized. Sezer and the accompanying delegation are expected to
return Turkey today following their contacts in Lahor. /Turkiye/
[02] LAMASSOURE REPORT APPROVED
The European Parliament (EP) approved the Turkey
report prepared by French Christian-Democrat parliamentarian Alain
Lamassaure at its Plenary Session. Stating that being a candidate to
the EU was a stimulus for Turkey to pursue reform programs and
activate its political life, the report said that despite certain
opposition, the reform program received wide support and had a strong
political will behind it. Meanwhile, the exclusion of a section
concerning the so-called Armenian genocide was defined as an important
step in Ankara. The report asks Turkey to prepare a concrete timetable
for the Copenhagen Criteria. /Cumhuriyet/
[03] CEM: EP'S DECISION IS A POSITIVE DEVELOPMENT
Foreign Minister Ismail Cem said that the rejection
of a amendment proposal concerning for the so-called Armenian genocide
in Turkey Report, debated in the European Parliament yesterday, was a
positive development. He said that the struggles against Turkey by its
foes would come to naught. On the other hand, the approval of the
Turkey's report in the EP Plenary Session, prepared by French
Christian Democrat Alain Lamassoure, was evaluated as a positive
development in Ankara. However, Turkish authorities stated that they
were not in agreement with the all articles of the report. /Turkiye/
[04] MEETING FOR ESDP IN ANKARA
While there was no final decision put forward at
the 10-hour European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP) meeting in
Ankara, the US reportedly conveyed the message that Turkey should
reach an agreement with the EU on the issue as soon as possible.
Speaking to the press after the meeting, Foreign Ministry
Undersecretary Ugur Ziyal said, "We have accomplished very
comprehensive and serious work. We weren't expecting to reach a final
decision at the meeting. Therefore, we'll keep working." The US
delegation stated that they were well aware of Turkey's concern on
certain security issues and that they were always ready to help
Turkey. Stating that if no agreement was reached between NATO and the
EU on the ESDP, Brussels might prefer to develop a military structure
totally independent from NATO, the US delegation warned the Turkish
side that such a development would be more disadvantageous for Turkey.
/Cumhuriyet/
[05] VERHEUGEN: "TURKEY IS VERY IMPORTANT"
EU Commissioner for Enlargement Gunther Verheugen
remarked that Turkey was a very important country not only for its
geo-strategic conditions but also for its cultural, historical and
political functions. Speaking during the discussion on Turkey at the
European Parliament Plenary Session, Verheugen said that recent
constitutional amendments in Turkey were a significant development
which were supported by most of the Turkish people. Stating that
Turco-EU relations had been developing since the Helsinki Summit,
Verheugen drew attentions to the positive developments in the
relations between Turkey and Greece. He commented that in particular
efforts by Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem and his Greek
counterpart George Papandreou had contributed greatly to the emergence
of a positive atmosphere between the two nations. He said they
expected Turkey to assume a more moderate attitude on the European
Security and Defense Policy (ESDP). /Cumhuriyet/
[06] ECEVIT: LET'S NOT WASTE OUR TIME
Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said that Turkey does
not have the time to waste on a referendum the result of which was
already known. Addressing the Democratic Left Party (DSP)
Parliamentarians in the party's group meeting, Ecevit remarked that
the amendments to 34 articles of the Constitution obtaining a
compromise with all parties were welcomed by the EU and the European
press, and it was accepted as a milestone in Turkish democracy.
Stressing that Turkey did not have four months to waste on such a
referendum, Ecevit said, "We have much more important issues to
deal with." Responding to a statement made by True Path Party
(DYP) leader Tansu Ciller saying, "Ecevit owes to us,"
Ecevit said, "We have no debt to pay to anybody or any party. We
came to power with our own power not, with the support of
others." /Turkiye/
[07] PRODI: GREEK CYPRIOTS WILL ENTER EU
European Union Commission Chairman Romano Prodi
stated that the Greek Cypriot Administration was among the first
candidate countries to become an EU member. Speaking at the Greek
Cypriot Parliament, Prodi said, "The process has begun. Greek
Cypriots will enter the EU." Prodi criticized Turkish Republic of
Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Rauf Denktas for his refusal of UN
Secretary General Kofi Annan's proposal to resume proximity talks.
Meanwhile, the US has launched new initiatives to overcome the
problems concerning the Cyprus issue. The US wants to initiate a new
dialogue period between Denktas and Greek Cypriot leader Glafkos
Clerides. /Cumhuriyet/
[08] TURKEY TO BUILD SHELTERS IN AFGHANISTAN
Turkey will cooperate with the French non
governmental organisation AKTED in to build 10,000 shelters in
Afghanistan, especially in the areas of Tajiks and Uzbeks which are
under the control of the Northern Alliance. /Hurriyet/
[09] THE TURKISH RED CRESCENT TO RELEASE BROCHURES ON
ANTHRAX
The Turkish Red Crescent Nevsehir Kaz�m Kucuk
Medical Center will distribute some 8,000 brochures to improve public
awarness of the anthrax bacteria, it announced today. The center's
Chief Doctor Faramarz Cevatzade said that anthrax did not represent a
major threat to Turkey. The anthrax virus infects humans by way of
animal products, but in Turkey agricultural anthrax is its only
form,he added. He also indicated that citizens should not be afraid
since the risk of infection is very low./Turkish News/
[10] AFGHAN SUMMIT IN ANKARA
Anti-Taleban leaders in Afghanistan are to convene
in Ankara this weekend. Former Afghani Head of State Burhaneddin
Rabbani's Spokesman and Northern Alliance Delegation Chairman Muhammed
Yunus Kanuni and Saudi Arabian lecturer Settar Siret are expected to
attend the meeting. The meeting had been announced to be held in
Istanbul. According to diplomatic sources, the meeting place was
changed due to security concerns. /Cumhuriyet/
[11] MACEDONIAN DELEGATION MAKES ANKARA CONTACTS
The Macedonian Parliament Foreign Policy Commission
has visited the Turkey-Macedonia Friendship Group. Friendship Group
Chairman Kemal Vatan delivered a speech saying that he was very
pleased to see the Macedonian delegation in Turkey. He stated that
Turkey had always respected Macedonia's independence and territorial
integrity. He complained, however, that the Macedonian government was
preventing its Turkish citizens from becoming deputies and also
allowed crosses to be hung on some old Ottoman buildings. Macedonian
Parliament Foreign Policy Commission Chairman Jordan Boskov emphasized
that Turkey was seen as a friendly country by Macedonia, and that its
Turkish citizens were not prevented from becoming deputies. He also
pointed out that hanging crosses on Ottoman clock towers amounted
vandalism and that these crosses would be removed at once./Turkish
News/
[12] TURKISH TEACHING MEETING STARTS
Education Minister Metin Bostanc�oglu has said,
"Supporting the cultural and linguistic diversity of Europe,
respecting the importance of language learning and teaching, and
developing a qualified and effective way of language teaching both in
and out of schools are among our main objectives". In the
symposium "Turkish language teaching in Europe" he said that
the symposium would contribute to development of methods and
techniques for teaching Turkish as a second language in Europe.
According to from UNICEF, Turkish is the world's sixth most widely
spoken language after Chinese, Hindi, English, Spanish and Russian.
More than 200 million people speak Turkish all over the world, Bostanc�oglu
added./Turkish News/
[13] SECURITY MEETING IN KAZAKHSTAN
The Asian countries will discuss the newly emerging
international balances in the wake of September 11 attacks in an
international conference to be held in Kazakhstan. President Ahmet
Necdet Sezer will represent Turkey in the conference entitled
"Cooperation in Asia and Confidence-Increasing Measures" on
November 8-10 in Almati. Sezer is expected to visit Tajikistan prior
to the conference. /Cumhuriyet/
[14] IRAQ-TURKEY ECONOMIC RELATIONS
Iraqi Deputy State Minister Taha Yasin Ramazan said
that Iraq wants to further develop its economic relations with Turkey.
Ramazan yesterday received Turkish businessmen who are visiting Iraq.
Ramazan said they are pleased to see the developing relations between
the two countries and also added that they had requested further
developments in economic relations, especially in the transportation
sector. /Turkish Daily News/
[15] CINGILLIOGLU AND HAS' CONTRIBUTION TO ERCIYES
UNIVERSITY
Two educational facilities built by famous
businessmen brothers Halit and Ali Cingillioglu along with Kadir Has
have been dedicated in a ceremony attended by former Turkish President
Suleyman Demirel. The Nuri Cingillioglu Science Faculty was built
using a 10 million US dollar donation by Halit Cingillioglu, and it
carries his deceased father's name, and the Kadir Has Library was
built using Has' contribution. Demirel cut the ribbon on the
facilities and presented these businessmen with the golden medal of
Erciyes University. /Sabah/
[16] DERVIS IN ITALY
State Minister for the Economy Kemal Dervis who is
in Sorrento, Italy to attend the European Investment Bank's
Mediterreanen Cooperation Meeting, met with various high-level
authorities including the French and Belgian ministers of finance,
Laurrent Fabius and Didier Reynders respectively. Dervis stated that
the meetings were fruitful and that he was hopeful of billions of
dollars in new loan. Meanwhile, Dervis and Central Bank Governor
Sureyya Serdengecti will attend the G-20's annual meetings to be held
on Nov. 15-18 in Ottowa, Canada. During these meetings, Dervis will
continue his contacts with the aim of foreign financial sources.
/Turkiye/
[17] EUROPEAN MINISTERS URGE IMF ON FUNDS FOR TURKEY
Turkey has convinced the European finance ministers
encourage IMF to forward it additional funds. Both the Belgian and
French finance ministers accepted after talks with Turkish State
Minister for Economy Kemal Dervis that the IMF should decide as soon
as possible whether to give money or not to Turkey. Dervis also stated
that following the Sept. 11 attacks, the world's order had changed and
would never return to the 1960's or 70's./Hurriyet/
[18] ORAL ON LOWERING TAXES
Finance Ministry work in response to demands for a
tax decrease has come on to the agenda in order to revive the economy
and to reactivate the manufacturing industry. Finance Minister Sumer
Oral said taxes should be sensitive to the economy and that demands
for a decrease in tax rates could be considered unless such demands
would disturb the budget balances and the program targets. State
Minister for the Economy Kemal Dervis told members of the Turkish
Union of Chambers and Stock Exchanges (TOBB), who favor a decrease in
Value Added Tax rates, that Turkey should predict and evaluate its
results and ask for the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) view on
the issue. /Sabah/
[19] AKBANK'S SUCCESS
Akbank has become the first bank in all the
developing markets to receive a credit rating above the rating of its
country. International rating company Fitch has increased Turkey's
long-term Turkish Lira rating from B(-) to B and converted its
situation to "positive". Before now, Fitch's Turkish Lira
rating given to an institution could not have surpassed the country's
rating. Akbank General Director Zafer Kurtul said that the bank was
proud of this rating and added, "Consequently, the higher our
rating is, the more we can contribute to the Turkish economy."
/Sabah/
[20] COOPERATION IN TRANSPORTATION
During the First International Transportation
Forum, the "International Black Sea Land Transportation
Cooperation Project" (BSEC-URTA), which aims to ensure uniform
transportation in 11 countries, Transportation Minister Oktay Vural
gave a speech during a panel attended by the International Road Union
(IRU) and representatives from Albania, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Armenia,
Georgia, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and Greece. Vural
said that the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (KEI) was a good
opportunity for increasing the neighboring countries' power of
competition. Vural added, "The problems among the Black Sea
countries concerning transportation will be solved thanks to this
union. In addition, the monopoly in the Telecom sector will be
eliminated in 2003." Meanwhile, UND Chairman Cetin Nuhoglu was
elected as BSEC-URTA term chairman. He said that logistic cooperation
had increased on the international platform and that international
land transportation would increase by 38% over the next decade.
/Milliyet/
[21] DEVELOPMENT IN TURKISH SHARES
A new research report released by investment Bank
CA-IB stated that Turkey's weight had been increased from
"neutral" to "overweight" in the model developing
European share portfolio. CA-IB strategist Roger Monson said that
following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Turkish shares had developed
a great deal. Monson said, "We think that a development of 29% in
terms of US dollars is not the end of the story because the
confidence-increasing reforms spear headed by State Minister for the
Economy Kemal Dervis are about to reach a critical level."
/Milliyet/
[22] WALL STREET JOURNAL PRAISES TURKEY
Highly respected US business daily Wall Street
Journal has published an article praising Turkey and encouraging it to
play a greater role in its region. WSJ article by Melik Kaylan
entitled "The Turkish model" points out that Turkey is
ringed by Russia, Iran, Iraq and Syria and that urges it to emerge
from its shell to play a role that will shape the course of history
concerning the Afghanistan issue. The article states: "We should
be grateful to Turkey for the things it has done through many decades
for the benefits of the West and the US. It is also time for Turkey to
displace the Russian influence in the region. Turkey and its Kemalist
system have been an alternative against the Saudi fundamentalism which
depends on a religious educational system, and the West should support
Turkey in making this model widespread in the Islamic world."
/Milliyet/
[23] SET YOUR CLOCKS BACK
Daylight Savings Time ends this Sunday, Oc.28, at:
2.00 a.m. Clocks will be set back an hour earlier.
[24] FROM THE COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS... FROM THE
COLUMNS...
[25] SHABBY CAR IN A DANGEROUS TURN BY TAHA AKYOL
(MILLIYET)
Columnist Taha Akyol writes on the report prepared
by Alain Lamassoure and accepted by the European Parliament on Turkey.
A summary of his column is as follows: "The European Parliament
(EP) accepted two resolutions-one in 1986, the other last year- on the
allegations regarding the so-called Armenian genocide. This year it
has rejected a similar draft. French Democrat Deputy Alain
Lamassoure's report which occasionally used moderate and positive
expressions concerning Turkey was accepted by the EP. It is reported
that the 'Progress Report' which will be released on November 13 will
be penned in a way which will not be unsettling for Turkey. These are
believed to be indications of the care shown in Europe to refrain from
a clash of civilizations while Afghan war and the Sept.11 syndrome are
still very much in effect in addition to the significance of Turkey.
On the other hand, at the EU Summit held in Belgium on Oct. 19,
signals were issued to the effect that Turkey will not be invited to
the 'Convention for European Future'. Deputy Prime Minister Mesut
Yilmaz reacted to this approach by saying, 'Europe who excludes Turkey
will proceed with firm steps towards the Dark Ages as a Christian
Club.' As Yilmaz is criticizing Europe by leading up to a clash among
civilizations, he wants Turkey to use its potential function stemming
from its location, history and living culture in order to establish
harmony among civilizations. This is a correct approach. Foreign
Minister Ismail Cem proposed that a meeting should be held between the
Organization for the Islamic Conference and the European Union in
Istanbul on the theme of 'establishing harmony between civilizations'.
This proposal was accepted. In an age of globalization, cultures are
becoming powers with political functions. However, this is not enough.
Unless Turkey improves its economy and becomes an economic power in
the region and unless it becomes a democratic state ruled by law
envied by others in the region, it cannot enter the EU merely on the
basis of its historic heritage or survive on foreign aid given for its
geo-political importance. The year 2002 is crucial... Turkey did not
begin full membership negotiations with the EU and it is the only
candidate country which has not done so. The Greek Cypriot
Administration has completed 23 of the 29 criteria which are to be
discussed. When the Greek Cypriot Administration becomes a full
member, Turkey will meet with new obstacles on the way to the EU and
it will be harder for the Cyprus problem to be solved as we prefer.
Therefore, there has to be a dynamic and influential government in
charge for the next crucial period of three or four years. This
dangerous turn cannot be taken by old coalition cars." The next
issue of the Turkish Press Review will appear on October 30, 2001 due
to Republican Day.
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