Anadolu Agency: News in English, 00-03-30

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[01] AA News

30 March 2000 Thursday

[02] TURKEY-PRESS SCAN

HURRIYET (LIBERAL)

PRESIDENT DEMIREL CANCELS HIS VISITS
President Suleyman Demirel canceled most of his scheduled visits after the constitutional amendment which will determine his political future, came to a deadlock.

FIRE BREAKS OUT IN GIMA SUPERMARKET IN MECIDIYEKOY
Fire which broke out in the Gima supermarket chain's Mecidiyekoy branch in Istanbul, caused many people to engulf in panic. Some personnel of the Channel D television channel which was also in the same five-story building and customers shopping at Gima had to leave the building because of extensive smoke. Two people were injured in the fire. 26 people who were affected by the smoke were taken to the nearby hospitals. The fire was taken under control before it spread to upper floors. However, it broke all the windows of Gima and caused its inside to burn completely.

MILLIYET (LIBERAL)

COOPERATION AMONG BALKAN STOCK EXCHANGES
Aril Seren, the Deputy Chairman of the Istanbul Stock Exchange (IMKB), said that progress was recorded in the project which would enable the stock exchanges of seven Balkan countries, including Turkey and Greece, to trade via a central platform. Seren said that the IMKB was coordinating the ''Cooperation Among Capital Markets'' project of the Southeast European Countries Initiative (SECI) which was founded to help settlement of cooperation among southeast European countries. Noting that cooperation among those stock exchanges advanced as a result of two meetings and four working meetings in last 1.5 years, Seren said the market organizers of the concerned countries would convene in April in Istanbul. Seren said in addition to Turkey, Romania, Croatia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania, and Greece were interested in the project.

SABAH (LIBERAL)

TUZMEN: ''TRADE VOLUME BETWEEN TURKEY AND THE U.S.
WILL INCREASE UP TO 10 BILLION U.S. DOLLARS''
The U.S.-Turkey Trade and Investment Council's first term meeting started in Washington, D.C. Kursat Tuzmen, the Undersecretary of Foreign Trade, said that the trade volume between Turkey and the U.S. which was 5.5 billion U.S. dollars in 1999, was expected to increase up to 10 billion U.S. dollars in a short period of time.

CUMHURIYET (LEFT)

SECOND ROUND IN PUBLIC OFFERING IN TUPRAS TENDER TO START
Privatization Administration Board (OIB) will specify the amount of shares, which were reserved for domestic and foreign investors, after the definite amount of demand for the ongoing 15 percent public offer of Turkish Oil Refineries Inc (Tupras). The collection of preliminary demand will end on Wednesday and the final application to buy shares will be made on April 5- 7. The sale price of Tupras shares will depend on the total domestic and external demand after the final application. Investors will deposit in advance the total price of their demand over ceiling price level. The investors who prefer time payment will deposit in advance one-seventh of their demand in the final application.

RADIKAL (LEFT)

YENI BINYIL (LIBERAL)

TREASURY DECIDES TO ISSUE BONDS IN EURO MARKET
Aydin Karaoz, the General Director of Treasury Undersecretariat Foreign Economic Relations, said that they decided to borrow money again from Euro market as its was more advantageous. Karaoz said that they carried out a large-scale research for bond issue and they decided on Euro for this period. Karaoz said, ''within this framework, we authorized Deutsche Bank and Paribas for a five-year Euro bond issue. This bond issue can be made within three or four days.'' He noted that rating organizations would visit Turkey in coming months, adding, ''rating organizations can increase Turkey's rating in May.''

TURKIYE (RIGHT)

''STATESMEN OF THE YEAR'' AWARD TO CEM AND PAPANDREOU
Foreign Minister Ismail Cem and his Greek counterpart George Papandreou will be given ''Statesmen of the Year Award '' due to the contribution they made for the improvement of Turkish-Greek relations, and their efforts to remove tension. An award ceremony will be staged at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York on May 2. The award will be conferred by New York-based ''East- West Institute.'' On the same day, a conference will be staged in the Institute headquarters related with Turkish-Greek relations. The two foreign ministers will make separate speeches in this meeting.

ZAMAN (CONSERVATIVE)

[03] DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS TO ORGANIZE AN INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL ON ''RELIGIOUS LIFE IN TURKEY''

Underlining the importance of the process following the announcement of Turkey's candidacy to the EU, officials at the Directorate General of Religious Affairs told the A.A correspondent on Thursday that the council aimed at making a contribution to this process.

Ambassadors of the EU member countries, a number of recearchers, writers, sociologists, government officials, representatives of political parties and scientists will be invited to the council.

Issues such as ''What should be the Directorate General of Religious Affairs' targets and policies in Turkey's EU process?'', ''Religion's influence on social life'', ''Relations between religion and politics'', ''Islam in Europe'' and ''Cultural and religious differences in the EU countries'' will be discussed at the council.

[04] GREAT MOBILIZATION AGAINST INFLATION

The campaign named ''Turkey Overcomes Inflation'' aims at making the public opinion conscious of inflation.

Fuat Miras, the Chairman of the TOBB, Okan Oguz, the Chairman of TIM, and Prof. Dr. Refik Ersan, the Chairman of Economy and Econometrics Center of University of Bogazici, staged a press conference on Thursday to brief journalists on the campaign.

Within framework of the campaign which will last four months, various visual and organizational works will be carried out.

Spot announcements for radio and television channels have been prepared.

Meanwhile, an inflation web-site will be opened in April.

The TOBB and TIM are working on an agreement text against the inflation. The text will be opened for signature of people throughout Turkey in coming weeks.

Within framework of the campaign, the Turkish Foundation to Combat Erosion for Reforestation and for the Protection of Natural Inhabitats (TEMA) will plant 100 trees for people and institutions who make a contribution to the campaign. At the end of the campaign a Victory Forest will be formed.

[05] THE TURKISH-AMERICAN BUSINESS COUNCIL 19TH MEETING STARTS IN WASHINGTON

Sukru Sina Gurel, State Minister; Koray Aydin, Minister of Public Works and Housing; Gazi Ercel, Governor of the Central Bank of Turkey; Ali Mufit Gurtuna, Head of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipal Board; Dimitris Avramopoulos, Head of Athens Municipal Board; George Munoz, President of the U.S Overseas Private Investement Corporation (OPIC); Mustafa Koc, Chairman of the Turkish-American Business Council, and various guest were present at the inauguration session.

Minister of Public Works and Housing Koray Aydin, who delivered a speech at the inauguration ceremony said that both Turkey and the United States seemed to be rather content with the good and stable relations they have long been entertaining, underlining, however that cooperation in the fields of industry and trade had to be improved to reach a better level. Aydin said that both countries had the political will to achieve this aim.

Aydin said Turkey's motto had shifted from 'aid' to such terms as 'trade, investement, cooperation', and added, ''The best proof of this change is the boost in the U.S Eximbank's business capacity in Turkey, which has topped four billion dollars in one year.''

Aydin called on American business circles to make investments in Turkey and drew attention to the brilliant opportunities that the South East Anatolia Project (GAP) region had to offer.

Governor of the Central Bank of Turkey Gazi Ercel, who also took the floor at the opening session said that Turkey had recently launched a comprehensive 3-year economic program that would help her overcome the problems she has long been suffering from.

He pointed out that expectations and periods of stagnation had a considerable effect on inflationist dynamics, particularly in countries with rooted inflationist pasts, and that this constituted an obstacle before the economic program.

Noting that they have been working on this economic program for the past two years, Ercel qualified the program as ''comprehensive, powerful, brave, creative and attainable''.

Reiterating that the IMF gave full support to the economic program and signed a stand-by agreement with Turkey, Ercel said that the reaction of international markets, too, contributed greatly to the program.

He drew attention to the decision of rating institutions to revise their evaluations about Turkey, and said that he was anticipating a visible change in Turkey's mark in the month of December.

Chairman of the OPIC George Munoz said in his speech, that the corporation had never in its history, given such great a support in one year as it did in the case of Turkey, that the corporation's first foreign bureau had opened in Ankara, and that this had a very positive effect on mutual relations. ''Turkey also has a high-level U.S friend. And that is President Clinton,'' Munoz added.

Chairman of the Turkish-American Business Council Mustafa Koc said in his speech that the stability and productivity that the government displayed was highly encouraging.

[06] TOURISM MINISTRY'S ''TURKEY'' ADVERTISEMENTS

Advertisements of Turkey's natural beauties, and historical riches are colouring the bulletin boards of busses and the printed press in the United States, being introduced to Britons via radio and television broadcasts and the printed press, are seen by Austrian, Polish and Hungarian people on open-air advertisement boards, and heard on the Swiss radio stations.

The Tourism Ministry is planning to extend the promotion campaign to cover also public transportation means, commuter train and bus stations, as well as the teletext and the internet.

The Ministry is in an effort to extend also its public relations and marketing development activities.

The Tourism Ministry has published 9,650 brochures in 8 languages (Turkish, German, English, French, Italian, Arabic, Spanish, and Russian), 6000 posters, and one million publications to be sent to foreign promotion consultancy offices. Promotion means are also soon to involve the CD-rom format.

The Tourism Ministry is estimating the tourism income for this year to top 9 billion dollars with the help of its comprehensive promotion campaign.

[07] HOLY ''SISTER'' CITIES

Mayor of Yalvac Tekin Bayram told the A.A reporter on Thursday that the two cities had been declared ''sister cities'' with a resolution of the Municipal Board.

Bayram reiterated that Yalvac was one of the most important holy sites, and pointed out that the becoming of Betlehem and Yalvac sister cities was a very significant step regarding the region's touristic attraction.

Noting that the resolution of the Municipal Board had been tranhslated into life with the initiatives of Erkan Mumcu, the Minister of Tourism, Bayram said that a Palestinian delegation expected in Ankara in the month of April, would also visit Yalvac after completing contacts in Ankara.

Meanwhile, the representatives of 60 German churches are to visit the antique city of Antiocheia within the framework of ''faith tourism'' activities.

[08] VIRTUE PARTY LEADER RECEIVES TURKEY RAPPORTEUR

The talks between the two, which took place at the party headquarters, lasted for about 30 minutes. In the statement he made at the end of his talks with Kutan, Barsony said that he and Kutan had taken up the policies of the FP and current issues.

Barsony, who pointed out that he had had the opportunity to find out about the views of the FP about Turkey and the country's current matters, said he and Kutan had also taken up the article no. 312 of the Turkish Penal Code(TCK) and the issue of party bannings. ''We will only make a number of suggestions to the Parliament and the government officials. And this is a part of the game of politics. If you are considering an amendment to the constitution, you have to get a certain majority of votes. If you cannot get the votes of the opposition, you might as well lose in this game,'' said Barsony.

Deputy Chairman of the FP Ertan Yulek, who spoke to reporters on his way into the party headquarters, said, referring to the issue of amendment to the constitution, that there was a dominant air of mistrust among the members of the parliament, and claimed that the government would have to resign if the results of the second round of voting for the amendment, were to be negative once again.

[09] INTERIOR MINISTER TANTAN RECEIVES BARSONY, TURKEY RAPPORTEUR OF COEPA

Following the meeting, Barsony told reporters that they discussed the efforts that the Interior Ministry exerts in ensuring the security throughout Turkey.

Barsony noted that they brought into the agenda some torture cases which occured in the past.

Saying that some deficiencies occur while implementing some present laws and regulations, Barsony stated that the persons who are captured, could be considered as innocent until they are tried in a court.

When asked whether or not Tantan shares similar ideas with himself, Barsony said that they share similar ideas on some points but that the meeting was too short to detail some issues.

The delegation headed by Barsony had earlier held contacts at the Virtue Party (FP) headquarters.

Following their meeting with Tantan, the delegation participated in the luncheon given by the Turkish Journalists' Association.

The COEPA delegation is expected to visit Leyla Zana, a former deputy of the Democracy Party (DEP) who is in Ankara Prison.

[10] FOREIGN EXCHANGE RESERVES OF CENTRAL BANK DECREASE TO 23.2 BILLION U.S. DOLLARS

The Central Bank data shows that the foreign exchange reserves, which was 23 billion 835 million U.S. dollars on March 15, decreased to 23 billion 242 million U.S. dollars as of March 24.

Meanwhile, according to the March 10-based statistics, Turkey's total international gross reserves were 38 billion U.S dollars.

The international gross reserves of Turkey were 38 billion 287 million U.S. dollars on March 3.

As of March 10, Turkey's international reserves were composed of 1 billion 11 million U.S. dollars in gold reserves; 23 billion 289 million U.S. dollars in the Central Bank's foreign exchange reserves; and 13 billion 716 million U.S. dollars in the commercial banks' foreign exchange reserves.

[11] ANTAKYA MAYOR SENTURK IN BRITAIN

Senturk will explain his interlocutors the business and investment opportunities in southern Hatay province and will hold contacts for the possible infrastructural projects that can be implemented in Hatay.

To this end, Senturk will participate in a meeting which will be held on Friday.

Senturk will say in the meeting that Hatay is the only entrance door to the Middle East with its position in the region and that there are good investment opportunities in Hatay.

Iris Senturk will visit the potable water and waste product installations.

Senturk will meet with the officials of the Thames Water company which had earlier exerted efforts in the potable water installations of Kocaeli.

Iris Senturk will depart from London on April 6.

[12] PRESIDENT OF HONG KONG'S GOLD AND SILVER MARKET VISITS IAB

Chan and a delegation accompanying him, paid a visit on Thursday to the IAB. Chan said that the aim of his visit was to build a bridge between the gold markets of Hong Kong and Istanbul, and added, ''I hope we will find an opportunity to make an assessment of the possible means of cooperation, and contributing to global gold markets.''

Chan said the two gold markets had many common characteristics, and pointed out that there was some kind of traditional interest in gold in both countries.

President of IAB Serdar Citak said that the recent developments in Turkish stock markets and the dynamism of its structure attracted the attention of international markets, and that this created fresh opportunities of cooperation.

Citak said further that the success of the new economic program implemented recently by the government had already started pulling down the rate of inflation, that this gained markets a fresh vitality, and that parallel with these developments, the transaction volumes were expected to increase.

He concluded his words by saying that the functioning characteristics and the general features of the gold markets of Hong Kong and Istanbul were taken up within the framework of this visit.

[13] FISHERMEN AGAINST WHOM UKRAINIAN COAST GUARD BOATS OPENED FIRE, VISIT PARLIAMENT

A 28-member delegation of the Istanbul and Marmara Fishermen's Cooperatives Istanbul Fishermen's Association requested that two Turkish fishing boats and 100-kilometre net which were seized by Ukraine, should be taken back from this country.

Zeki Cakan, the group acting leader of the Motherland Party (ANAP), said that the sinking of one Turkish boat and the death of one Turkish fisherman as the Ukrainian coast guard boats opened fire, is unacceptable.

Cakan noted that the concerned ministries are holding initiatives regarding the problem and that especially, the concerned ministries are trying to take back the nets and the boats from Ukraine.

Murat Zafer, speaking on behalf of the fishermen, said that the fishermen of the Black Sea region are working shoulder-to-shoulder with the fishermen of other coastal countries for 40 years.

Zafer noted that the fishermen are in favour of continuing the friendship and peace.

The fishermen have been facing problems for six months, Zafer stated.

Zafer added that they request that their boats and nets should be taken back and that the political parties should extend support for the ensurement of fishing in international waters in the Black Sea.

[14] PUBLIC OFFERING IN TUPRAS TENDER - 1.4 QUADRILLION TL DEMAND COMES FOR 392.4 TRILLION TL OFFER

The final application to buy shares will be made on April 5-7.

A total of 15 percent or 11,212,800 lots of Tupras shares will be offered to public but the demand was 40,895,364 or 54.71 percent of Tupras shares.

If the current price (35,000 Turkish Liras) of Tupras share in Istanbul Stock Exchange (IMKB) is taken into consideration, the total demand is equivalent to 1 quadrillion 431 trillion 337.7 billion TL for the 392 trillion 448 billion TL offer.

Sources said the price of shares should be deposited over the ceiling price to intermediary institutions or banks in the final application period.

The quotation of prices will be announced on April 2 in the newspapers.

The firm prices of Tupras shares will be specified after the final aaplication and according to the total domestic and foreign demand.

The firm prices are expected to be announced on April 7 or 8.

Meanwhile, the roadshow promotion activities which started in Athens on March 27 will end on April 7.

Tupras shares will be introduced to nearly 160 foreign funds in Milano, Rotterdam, Frankfurt, Paris, London, New York, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco by April 7.

[15] PROGRAM OF GERMAN PRESIDENT RAU'S VISIT TO TURKEY BECOMES CLEAR - EU ENLARGEMENT PROCESS TO BE ON TOP OF AGENDA

European Union (EU) enlargement process will be on the top of the agenda of Rau's contacts in Turkey.

Rau's Secretary General Rudiger Frohn staged a press conference to brief journalists on the German President's visits to Greece and Turkey.

Frohn said the main issue in Rau's visit would be EU enlargement process.

Noting that President Rau based his foreign policy on former Prime Minister Willy Brandt's statement saying ''Germany will be a good neighboring country'', Frohn said that Turkey and Greece got closer to each other after the earthquakes in Marmara and Athens.

Frohn said President Rau would state that Turkey is committed to Ataturk's principles so he really believes that Turkey will also be faithful to principles of EU.

Stressing that President Rau believed that religions should be tolerant to each other, Frohn said Rau would visit Suleymaniye Mosque and Fener- Orthodox Patriarchate in Istanbul.

Emphasizing that Turkey was a country where several cultures existed together, Frohn said the German President would ask Turkey to abolish capital punishment and investigate torture incidents.

German President Rau and his wife Christina Rau will proceed to Turkey from Greece late on April 5.

Rau will visit Ataturk's Mausoleum early on April 6.

President Suleyman Demirel will welcome his German guests with a military official and host a dinner in honor of them.

The German President will visit the Parliament and meet with Parliament Speaker Yildirim Akbulut on April 6.

Rau will be presented honorary doctorate of Middle East Technical University (ODTU), and later he will meet with Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit.

On April 7, the German President will receive representatives of Human Rights Associations at the German Embassy in Ankara.

Later, Demirel and Rau will plant trees, and visit quake-hit Bolu province.

German President Rau will receive the owners of newspapers issued in Germany early on April 8 in Istanbul.

The German President will visit Fener Patriarchate, Topkapi Palace, Hagiasophia and Suleymaniye Mosques in Istanbul, and attend a luncheon that will be hosted in honor of him by Turkish-German Chamber of Commerce.

German President Johannes Rau will leave Turkey late on April 8.

[16] TURKEY-EU POLITICAL COPERATION MEETING - CONSULTATION PROCESS CONTINUES

Issues like human rights, Cyprus, Balkans, Caucasia and European Security and Defense Initiative (ESDI) were discussed in the meeting in which political directors of EU member countries and a Foreign Ministry delegation headed by Undersecretary Uluc Ozulker participated.

Sources said the meeting was held in a very positive atmosphere, and the participants discused the preparations for Turkey-EU Partnership Council meeting which would take place in Luxembourg on April 11.

Sources said the Turkish delegation responded to questions about Akin Birdal, the Chairman of Human Rights Association (IHD), informed political directors on juridical process, and conveyed Ankara's sensitivities over ESDI issue.

The meeting was defined as a part of the consultation process which started after Helsinki Summit.

[17] TURKISH AND GREEK BUSINESSMEN COME TOGETHER IN WASHINGTON D.C.

Sources said six Turkish and four Greek businessmen attended the dinner hosted by Western Policy Center, a think-tank organization.

Speaking to the A.A correspondent, Erkut Yucaoglu, the Chairman of Association of Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen (TUSIAD), said that they discussed how they could contribute to further improvement of relations between Turkey and Greece.

Sources said businessmen discussed fields of cooperation in the dinner in which also Avramopulos was in attendance.

Sources said businessmen also took up consruction of an energy power plant in a region near Greece's borderwith Turkey.

Yucaoglu said that contributing to improvement of relations was a duty of businessmen, and they would do their best to this end.

A.A

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