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Turkish Press Review, 98-06-10Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs <http://www.mfa.gov.tr>10.06.98Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morningCONTENTS
[01] DEMIREL VISITS KAZAKHSTANPresident Suleyman Demirel, who is attending the 5th Summit of Leaders of the Turkish Speaking Countries in Kazakhstan, said in his speech at the summit that the economic potentials of the Turkish speaking countries had been developing considerably and that regional energy resources enabled them to look to the future with confidence. Before the summit Demirel meet with Azerbaijan President Haydar Aliyev in Astana, and after the summit he attended a ceromony to make Astana the new capital of Kazakhstan. /Cumhuriyet/[02] BASESGIOGLU IN NEW YORKInterior Minister Murat Basesgioglu, who is attending a New York summit on fighting drug smuggling, met yesterday with German Interior Ministry Undersecretary Kurt Schelter. Schelter assured Basesgioglu that restrictions against the PKK terrorist organization in Germany continued. Basesgioglu asked Schelter to re-evaluate a recent decision on political asylum applications. /Cumhuriyet/[03] LE FIGARO WARNS FRENCH SENATECommenting on how a draft resolution about an alleged Armenian massacre by Turks at the turn of the century will affect Turco-French relations, the noted French daily Le Figaro states that approval of the draft could cause France to lose an important economic partner. The paper recalls that French-Turco relations were frozen in the 1970s because of the construction of an Armenian memorial monument in France and adds that the Senate must be aware that annual trade volume between France and Turkey is over 21 billion French francs.Another comment came from Laurent Fabius, the speaker of the French Parliament, who expressed yesterday his concern over the impact of the draft resolution on Turco-French relations. "I hope nothing will change in our friendly relations. This draft reflects only the French Parliament's outlook on historical events and has nothing to do with modern Turkey", said Fabius in a press conference yesterday during a visit he is making to Russia. /Hurriyet/ [04] NINE PKK TERRORISTS KILLEDDuring operations carried out in rural areas near Siirt and Erzincan in southeast Anatolia, nine PKK terrorists were killed yesterday by Turkish military forces. /Hurriyet/[05] ITALIAN RETURNING FOR COURT HEARINGAn Italian citizen, deported from Turkey because of his attempts to provoke Kurdish people against the security forces in Diyarbakir in March, is returning to Turkey in order to appear in the Diyarbakir State Security Court where his case will tried on June 16. /Hurriyet/[06] CARGO VESSEL BLAZEThe Greek cargo vessel "Marianna" burst into flame yesterday off the coastal town of Ahirkapi while it was making a transit passage through the Bosphorus to Marmara. Fourteen crew members were rescued by Coast Guard Security Teams, who extinguished the fire. /Sabah/[07] AGREEMENT WITH IMF IN JULYFollowing IMF First Deputy President Stanley Fischer's contacts in Istanbul, Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz said in a speech at his Mortherland Party (ANAP) Group meeting yesterday that an agreement would be signed with the IMF in July. He added: "This will not be a financial agreement or a stand-by. We told them to recall what they earlier said about us to the whole world. That is the kind of support we want to receive. And I think we will receive it in July".Yilmaz stressed that positive economic developments in Turkey would continue and that important structural arrangements would be put into implementation as soon as possible. He stated that the Turkish Parliament had assumed all responsibility for the promulgation of social security and tax reforms. Chief of the IMF-Turkey Desk Martin Hardy and his team is expected to visit Turkey within this month. The IMF and Turkey are working on a "new agreement text". Following the visit of the IMF delegation, an agreement is expected to be signed with Turkey. /Sabah/ [08] COOPERATION BETWEEN GERMANY AND TURKEYNew infantry guns for troops on the ground will be produced jointly by the Turkish Machinery and Chemicals Industry Board (MKEK) and the German Heckler Koch company. An initial agreement has been reached between the German firm and the Turkish Armed Forces. The $18 million-agreement, which foresees the production of 200,000 guns over 10 years by the Heckler Koch firm is expected to be signed in the near future. /Sabah/[09] TENSION IN AEGEAN SEAThe Sea Wolf '98 exercise, one of the most important exercises carried out by the Turkish Naval Command, is continuing. The first stage of the exercise was completed yesterday, but tensions built when a Greek assault-vessel tried to speed through the Turkish fleet. The assault-vessel only just managed to save itself from being crushed by Turkish cruisers in the fleet.The exercise, which will last 27 days, is being shared in by 53 vessels, seven helicopters and 7,000 soldiers. The second stage of the exercise will begin on June 12 and Turkish naval vessels will sail towards the coast of Cyprus. President Suleyman Demirel and Chief of the General Staff Gen.Ismail Hakki Karadayi will observe the second stage of the exercise which will be also supported by Turkish Air Force jets. /Sabah/ [10] HOLBROOKE WARNS ABOUT CYPRUSUS Special Cyprus Envoy Richard Holbrooke has warned that the most dangerous regional issue is Cyprus and the Turco-Greek problem. During an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Holbrooke noted that the EU, which did not include Turkey among its candidates for full membership, humiliated Turkey. Therefore Turkey blocks every development in Cyprus, while Greece prevents the extention of financial aid to Turkey within the framework of the customs union". Holbrooke drew similarities between the Turco-Greek problem and Indian-Pakistani relations. /Sabah/[11] OECD EVALUATES TURKISH ECONOMYAccording to a report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the current downward trend in inflation in Turkey will continue into 1999 because of Turkey's monetary policy aiming to reduce borrowing. As long as Turkey maintains its anti-inflationary policies the report also estimates that the inflation rate in Turkey in 2003 will be down to 35.7 %.Although the Turkish economy has maintained an upward trend for the last three years, budget deficits and high inflation have still been the stumbling blocks states the report, which gives wide coverage to issues affecting the Turkish economy including social security, taxation reforms, privatization, the possible effects of an expected early election and the impact of the Asian crisis on the Turkish economy. [12] SYRIAN MINISTER TO VISIT TURKEYSyrian Deputy Foreign Minister Adnan Omran will pay an official visit to Ankara on July 1. Omran will be received by Foreign Minister Ismail Cem and State Minister Isin Celebi. /Sabah/[13] TURK DIES AFTER GERMAN TRAIN ACCIDENTIt is reported that following the recent high-speed train accident which happened in the village of Eschede near Hannover in Germany, a Turk (Nihat Gul, aged 31) died from injuries sustained in the crash. The body of Gul will be brought to Turkey today. /Sabah/[14] TURKS ARRIVE SAFELY IN ETHIOPIAN CAPITALTurks fleeing the fighting between Ethiopian and Eritrean gorups arrived at the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa safely and will depart the city for Turkey later this week. The group of 164 Turks, employed by Turk ENKA Holding, are in good health, Turkey's Ambassador to Ethiopia Murat Ilhan told the Anatolia news agency over the phone.Ilhan reported that there are "a few more" Turks working at the Turk ENKA Holding construction site in the Ethiopian town of Mekele, deliberately obscuring the exact number for security purposes. He said they were checking on people staying at the site via telephone calls. Ilhan said that there had been no raids and that the current fighting did not have a big impact. [15] ISTANBUL DECLARATION SIGNEDThe Southeastern European Countries Foreign Ministers Meeting ended yesterday in Istanbul after an "Istanbul Declaration" was issued. At the end of the meeting two official reports were also issued. The first report on the Istanbul Declaration said that lifting military, ideologic and economic borders in Europe would be a way to improve cooperation, adding that Europe could not be accepted as a whole without the Southeastern European countries. The second official report, initiated by six Balkan countries foreign ministers, excluding the Yugoslavian Foreign Minister, condemned the recent violent attacks in Kosovo and asked representatives of the Belgrade and Kosovo regions to continue dialogue to reach an enduring peace and full agreement.At the end of the meeting, Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem and his Greek counterpart Theodoros Pangalos held a joint press conference. At the conference Cem said that Turkish-Greek relations would be better in the near future. Pangalos said for his part that there had always been contact between the two countries and that these relations would continue in the future. /Cumhuriyet/ [16] TURKISH DELEGATION MEETS VEDRINEA Turkish Parliamentary delegation yesterday met with French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine in Paris. The Turkish delegation stressed that approving a draft bill about the Armenian massacre by Turks would seriously damage Turkish-French economic relations. They claimed that the bill was against the French constitution and that the draft bill should be examined by the French Parliamentry Constitutional Commission. Vedrine said that the bill was not being presented by the government but through the initiatives of French parliamentarians. /Cumhuriyet/[17] CEMIL CICEK JOINS FPAnkara deputy Cemil Cicek has joined the Virtue Party (FP). The number of FP seats in parliament now number to 144. The FP is the biggest parliamentary party. /Cumhuriyet/[18] CAGAN IN ILO GENERAL COUNCILMinister of Social Security Nami Cagan said in a speech yesterday at the 86th Working Conference of the General Council of the International Labour Organization (ILO), that technical cooperation between Turkey and the ILO should be improved. He added that recent effective and sustainable efforts of the organization would contribute to meeting the expectations of international opinion. /Cumhuriyet/[19] "TURKEY SHOULD BE INCLUDED IN EU"The European Unions Confederation will hold a meeting today in Istanbul to discuss the "European Parliament and Expansion". Peter Seideneck, consultant to the General Secretary of the Council, said: "The foundation of Turkey's European Union (EU) membership was laid with the Ankara agreement and the agreement still has validity. We believe that Turkey should be included in the expansion process and treated equally with other candidates." /Cumhuriyet/[20] ARSLAN: "TERROR COSTS VERY HIGH"Emergency Rule Governor, Aydin Arslan said yesterday that Turkey had lost $ 84 billion during 14 years in the fight against terrorism. He added: "Besides the loss of life, terrorism has caused great economic damage in the southeast regions. It has blocked economic development and investment. According to 1997 surveys there has been a 70 % decrease in terrorist activities in the region, which means that terror is now under control." Hurriyet_[21] SUCCESS OF TURKISH PROFESSORTurkish Prof. M. Celal Kocakullah has been elected as "Professor of the Year" by Indiana University from among 400 other candidates. Economy Prof. Kocakullah has also been honoured with a City Bank special award. Kocakullah still continues his studies in America. /Hurriyet/[22] "THE BEST DOCTOR"In an article in the daily Milliyet newspaper, former minister Talat Halman reports that a Turkish woman doctor, Dr. Pinar Atakent has been elected "best doctor" in her medical branch. He adds that in its latest issue, the New York Magazine highly commends the success of Dr. Atakent. /Milliyet/Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |