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Turkish Press Review, 97-04-15Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs <http://www.mfa.gov.tr>CONTENTS
TURKISH PRESS REVIEWAPRIL 15, 1997Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning[01] EUROPEAN UNION, MEDITERRANEAN FOREIGN MINISTERS' MEETING STARTSThe second European Union and Mediterranean countries' Foreign Ministers meeting begins on Tuesday in Malta, at which Turkey is expected to discuss cooperation against terrorism while Israel and the Palestinians prepare for a showdown.Turkey, suffering from attacks on Turkish workers abroad, will also place the issue on the agenda. It is also expected to make a complaint about the Mediterranean Development Fund (MEDA), from which Turkey expects 700 million ECU in aid - which remains blocked by Greece. Turkey will be represented at the meeting by State Minister Ufuk Soylemez and Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Onur Oymen. [02] FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN CALLS FOR COOPERATIONTurkish Foreign Ministry Spokeman Omer Akbel said on Monday that the German and Turkish press should play more important role in the integration of Turkish people living in Germany into that society. Referring to an article entitled "Dangerous aliens" published in the German magazine "Der Spiegel", Akbel said: "A Turkish community has been living in Germany for quite a long time. They have adapted themselves to Germany and have started to see the country as their second land. They want to stop being treated as strangers and enemies. To ease the integration process, the Turkish and German press have an important role to play."[03] ANKARA IS DELIBERATETurkish Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ambassador Omer Akbel said that before they demonstrate official reaction to the "Mykonos case" which caused a crisis in EU-Iranian relations, they wanted to examine in detail the decision of the German court. Noting that Turkey suffered a lot from terrorism, Akbel said: "Within this framework, it is very natural for us to follow the case with great attention". Pointing out that Turkey's relations with Iran had many parameters, Akbel added: "Turkey and Iran are neighbours. The parameters of Turco-Iranian relations are closer and different from the relations of Germany or other EU countries with Iran". Akbel stated that the natural gas pipeline project between Turkey and Iran was underway. /Sabah/[04] TURKEY TO HOST TWO MILITARY EXERCISESTurkey is preparing to host NATO member countries for two joint military exercises within the framework of Alliance scheduled exercises. Ardent Ground'97 is to be carried out in Turkey's European territory of Thrace with the participation of the US, Canada, Italy, Norway, Holland, Germany, Belgium, Spain and Great Britain on April 28 - May 18. The maneuvres, which will be backed by air support, aim to improve the artillery capability of NATO's light mobile land forces.Distant Thunder, a second Turkey-based exercise, will be held by land and sea forces in western Anatolia and the eastern Mediterranean in May with the participation of Italy, Great Britain and the US. The exercise aims at training land and air forces to use air defence in all kind of air operations. [05] GREEK CYPRIOTS UNWILLING TO NEGOTIATEWhile Turkish Cypriots have accepted the UN "set of ideas" promoting a bi-communal, bi-zonal federation on the island, Greek Cypriot Parliamentary Speaker Sprios Kiprianu has announced that the Greek Cypriot side had rejected the proposals. At a meeting in Geneva on April 4, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan told Turkish Cypriot leader, Rauf Denktas, that all negotiations for a solution to the Cyprus question would be based on the plan proposed by former UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali.Accordingly, Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration have announced that they will held joint military maneuvres in the Mediterranean on May 8-9. The maneuvres will be aimed at improving not defence, but attack capabilities, and Greek fighter jets will arrive on the island within the framework of the exercises. In response, Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus will organize joint military maneuvres in the afthermath of the Greek-Greek Cypriot exercises. /Milliyet/ [06] TURKEY HAS NO CONNECTION WITH ALLEGED BOSNIA PLOT TO KILL PONTIFFForeign Ministry Spokeman Omer Akbel announced yesterday that Turkey had no official information about claims that four Turkish nationals were involved in an aborted assassination attempt against Pope Jean Paul II in Sarajevo over the weekend. The Italian News Agency (ANSA) had earlier reported that four "ultra-religious" Turks were behind the plot. Akbel pointed out that according to other press reports the ANSA repoer had turned out to be groundless, adding that Turkey was following developments.Some papers reported yesterday that this was a plot to denigrate Turkey, since the mines found under the bridge over which the Pontiff's motorcade was to pass had no detonators. /Cumhuriyet/ [07] GOOD NEWS FROM WTOAccording to a World Trade Organization (WTO) report, Turkey's foreign trade growth for the period 1990-96 outstripped the world average by 4 percent. In an indepth look at a recently-released WTO study, the Anatolia news agency reported that while the world average for foreign trade growth was 7 percent for the 1990-96 period, Turkey racked up the impressive figure of 11 percent, leaving many developed countries behind. The WTO report shows that Turkey is one of the 21 countries with the highest increase in foreign trade volume during the 1990-96 period.[08] ONE BILLION DOLLARS INVESTED ABROADDuring the January-March period of this year, Turkish banks and companies opening up to world trade transferred just over one billion dollars to foreign countries. Turkey's Is Bank headed the list with transfers of 88.1 million dollars mainly to Britain, Germany and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). /Sabah/[09] BOEING WANTS TO COOPERATE WITH TURKEYOn Monday, Prime Minister Erbakan received a high-level group from American aircraft giant Boeing to hear the delegation's proposals for cooperation in the aviation sector, especially in the production of Boeing 737s in Turkey. The Boeing delegation was headed by Philip Condit, executive board chairman of the company. Erbakan noted that the government would continue to assess proposals from other companies, and would decide soon which company was to be selected for the joint projects. Turkey is preparing to produce a passenger plane together with a foreign manufacturer. /Cumhuriyet/[10] IMF STARTS WINDING UP MEETINGSState Minister Abdullah Gul on Monday received a visiting IMF delegation led by Martin Hardy. Having collected data about Turkey's macroeconomic performance in 1996 and the predictions about the 1997 performance, the IMF team on Monday started a final round of assessments with government officials, and the meeting with Minister Gul is seen as the start of this round. Observers note that Hardy and the IMF delegation were in general pleased with the current economic situation in Turkey. /All papers/[11] CILLER: WE HAVE TAKEN IMPORTANT STEPSForeign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Tansu Ciller said that Turkey had taken important steps towards full European Union membership, and added that they expected that the the Partnership Council meeting to be held at the end of April would have positive results for Turkey./Cumhuriyet/[12] PKK AMBUSH: KILLS FOUR, INJURES SEVENAt the end of near clashes between Turkish security forces and separatist terrorists near Siirt, four soldiers were martyried and seven were wounded./Milliyet/[13] PRESS WIELDING MORE POWERAccording to Chief of Staff General Karadayi, the press is a leading power in Turkey. Speaking with his Romanian counterpart, Constantin Degeratu, General Karadayi said that in Turkey the press was the "first power" -but Degeratu said that in his own country the press was somewhere in fourth position. /Milliyet/[14] REMEMBERING TURGUT OZALTomorrow will mark four years since the death of Turkey's eigth president, Turgut Ozal. Special ceremonies have been prepared and a number of the country's leading political, social and private sector figures will attend. /Hurriyet/[15] ALBANIAN DEFENCE MINISTER IN ANKARAAlbanian Defence Minister Shakir Vukaj arrived in Ankara yesterday. Vukaj, who has come to Ankara as the official guest of Turkish Defence Minister Turhan Tayan, will hold contacts for two days. It is reported that Vukaj will request that 800 Turkish soldiers should go to Albania as soon as possible in order to participate in the 6,000-strong international peace force. /Milliyet/[16] TURKISH DELEGATION IN ALBANIAIn addition to a five-person parliamentarian delegation, representing the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Turkish Parliament, a 15-person advance guard, representing 500 Turkish troops yet to be sent, has arrived in Tirana. Today, 100 Turkish soldiers will also go to Albania. The rest of the Turkish force will reach Dures port by sea on 19 April. Commission members will meet with high-level diplomats during their three-day visit to Albania. /Milliyet/[17] SOUTH AFRICA LIFTS ARMS EMBARGOSouth Africa has lifted its arms embargo against Turkey, the Turkish Foreign Ministry announced on Monday. The embargo was imposed on May 4, 1995. The Pretoria government has told the Turkish Embassy in South Africa that it would now include Turkey among the countries it is willing to sell arms to. The Foreign Ministry said Turkey was pleased with the decision. /Milliyet/[18] TURKISH BOAT SINKS IN AGEANGreek officials reported that a Turkish fishing boat had sunk near Meis island on Saturday and that two Turks were missing. The same sources noted that four Turkish crew members had been taken aboard by a Ukranian boat./Cumhuriyet/[19] LOWER VISA COSTS FOR BULGARIAN TURKSTurkey has reduced visa costs for Bulgarian citizens by approximately 60 percent. Ahmet Dogan, an ethnic Turk living in Bulgaria and deputy of the Rights and Freedoms Movement Party, welcomed the decision as a positive step towards solving the problems of Bulgarians of Turkish origin. The reduced payment implementation will begin on May 1, the Foreign Ministry announced. /Sabah/[20] FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN AEGEAN WOMAN ORGANIZATIONSAt the "Women's Summit" on the Greek Island of Sisam Turkish and Greek women declared they were "hand in hand for peace". At the end of the summit, Greek and Turkish women decided to struggle on until they had made their governments sit at the peace table./Hurriyet/END Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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