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Turkish Press Review, 00-06-07Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs <http://www.mfa.gov.tr>07.06.00Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morningCONTENTS
[01] 'A SAFE EURASIA IN THE 21ST CENTURY' CONFERENCE TO BE HELD IN ISTANBUL[02] TURKISH ASSOCIATION OF CHAMBERS AND STOCK EXCHANGES TO ESTABLISH MONITORING COMMITTEE[03] PALESTINE AIRLINES STARTS SCHEDULED FLIGHTS BETWEEN GAZA AND ISTANBUL[04] FROM THE COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS...[05] QUAKE HITS CANKIRIThe Anatolia news agency reported widespread panic and damage resulting from yesterday morning's earthquake in the Cerkes district of Cankiri some 100 kilometers north of Ankara. The quake, measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale, occurred at 05.41 a.m. yesterday and was felt in Ankara, Samsun and many other towns and villages along the Black Sea cost and throughout central Anatolia. The death toll is three, with dozens of injured and hospitalized, both as a direct result of the quake, its aftershocks and associated subsidence, or from indirect effects such as gas mains and gas bottles exploding. /All papers/[06] SEZER WILL NOT BE ATTENDING THE MEETING IN TEHRANIt was learned that Ahmet Necdet Sezer will not be attending the summit meeting of the Sixth Economic Cooperation Organization to be held in Tehran on 10 June. Sezer expressed his best wishes to Iranian Head of Stated Muhammed Hatemi at the ECO Summit. State Minister Mehmet Kececiler will represent Turkey at the Summit. The technical meetings at the experts level began in Tehran yesterday. The tension in Turco-Iranian relations has affected the ECO meeting adversely. /Cumhuriyet/[07] ECEVIT: NO MORE COUPSPrime Minister Bulent Ecevit stated that there was no possibility of military interventions anymore in Turkey. Ecevit who delivered a speech at the Nobel Peace Institute in Norway where he is on an official visit, recalled that Turkey had served as a staunch NATO member for the security of Europe during the last fifty years. Ecevit said, "Turkey cannot accept the secondary role EU has seen fit for it in the ESDI(European Security and Defence and Identity)." Ecevit who also noted that both Norway and Turkey were facing similar problems as members of NATO but not that of the EU. He expressed his belief that the National Security Council was an important institution and there was no possibility of new coups taking place in Turkey. /Turkiye/[08] DEMIREL BECOMES THE HONORARY GUEST OF THE EU AMBASSADORS9th Turkish President Suleyman Demirel, while evaluating the problem of 'Supreme Court' within the government, said that the most important element for Turkey was stability at the moment. Demirel, who attended the Ambassadors of the EU member countries' 'lunch conversations' as the honorary guest, was welcomed by the Austrian Ambassador, Ralph Schiede in front of the Austrian Embassy. Demirel delivered a speech during the lunch and requested the EU to give more support to Turkey. /Hurriyet/[09] HADEP CHAIRMAN: WE ARE READY TO SUPPORT THE GOVERNMENTPeople's Democratic Party (HADEP) Chairman Ahmet Turan Demir stated that a comprehensive economic development project should be started to improve the standard of life in Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia and added that they were ready to support Prime Minister Ecevit's efforts and the steps the Goverment will take. Demir also said that there was great interest in Southeastern and Eastern Anatolia both in Turkey and abroad. HADEP Chairman, noted that Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit would go to Diyarbakir on 11 June to explain the planned works to the public. /Milliyet/[10] ONLY SUPREME COURT CAN EXONERATEThe Nationalist Action Party (MHP)Chairman Devlet Bahceli stated that the stance MHP deputies took at the investigation commission was not political but rather reflected their own opinions. Bahceli added that the policy of other deputies in the voting at the investigation commissions did not concern them. Bahceli also mentioned that if the investigation commissions did not give a decision opening the path to the Supreme Court, it did not mean the exoneration of those concerned just as the proof of the crime of others who are sent to the Supreme Court. He said,"The final judiciary authority is the Supreme Court." /Milliyet/[11] MESUT YILMAZ WAITING FOR THE COMMISSIONSThe decision of the investigation commission on 'the announcement of new tourism centres in Istanbul' about the former Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz is expected to be revealed next week. The decision concerning the roles of the former Prime Minister and the former Communications Minister Necdet Menzir on the GSM tenders are expected to be announced on 12 June. /Turkiye/[12] 'A SAFE EURASIA IN THE 21ST CENTURY' CONFERENCE TO BE HELD IN ISTANBULA conference entitled 'A Safe Eurasia in the 21st Century' organized by the East-West Institute, the Ari Group and the German Friedrich Neumann Foundation will be held in Istanbul on June 8-9. At a press conference to introduce the event, Ari Movement General Director Kemal Koprulu said the East-West Institute has a worldwide reputation and is the group that presented Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem and Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou with the 'Statesman of the Year' award this year. East-West Institute President John Edwin Mroz, Friedrich Neumann Foundation President Wilhelm Hummen and Advisor to the (US) President and Secretary of State for Caspian Basin Energy Diplomacy John Wolf will be present at the conference. /Turkish Daily News/[13] HIZBULLAH OPERATIONS DETAIN 17 PEOPLE IN MALATYA17 people, including two school inspectors, two teachers, and eight university students, have been detained in anti-Hizbullah police operations in Malatya. These people had all forwarded their CVs to Hizbullah members in order to join the 'Knowledge Wing' of this terrorist organization and had carried out work for the organization in mosques on the Inonu University campus. /All papers/[14] INQUIRY OF THE FOUNDATION OF FINANCIAL IMPROVEMENTFoundation of Economic Development (IKV) made an inquiry among the European Union members countries, which showed that the rate of those who consider Turkey's membership to the EU as positive was 44.1%. In the inquiry, the Europeans considered the biggest obstacle in front of Turkey's membership to the EU as the standards of human rights in Turkey. 29.6% of the Europeans who answered the questions of this inquiry were against Turkey's membership whereas 26.2% of them did not reveal their opinion. /Star/[15] MINISTRY OF JUSTICE PREPARES BRIBE DRAFT LAWMinistry of Justice prepared a draft law in order to prevent the foreign public officials, who have duties in the commercial operations, from accepting bribes. The reason for the draft law, was stated as, "The bribe causes mutual distrust and creates obstacles before the economic improvement and efforts for development. Developed markets cannot be established due to the fact that as a result of bribes there will be no competition left." As part of the draft law, those who are captured while giving bribes abroad will be tried again in Turkey. /Aksam/[16] OYMEN TO VISIT CHINARepublican People's Party (CHP) leader Altan Oymen will go to the capital city of China, Beijing, today as the guest of the Chinese Communist Party. Oymen will meet the Chinese Communist Party's Central Committee leaders during his visit that will continue until 16 June. /Cumhuriyet/[17] TANRIKULU'S STATEMENTMinister of Commerce and Trade, Ahmet Kenan Tanrikulu, stated that the main and subordinate industrial relations should be settled on a basis so that main business branches can be specialized on Turkey's path to become a member of the European Union. Tanrikulu issued a statement at Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (ITO) and said that Turkey had to improve its subordinate industries. Tanrikulu added that they had prepared the draft law in regard with supporting and improving the subordinate industries. Tanrikulu further stated that they had received both negative and positive reactions from various circles. /Star/[18] COTARELLI: "THERE IS NO NEED TO WORRY"International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Chief of the Turkish Desk, Carlo Cottarelli, issued a statement concerning the increase in wholesale prices by 1.7% and the increase in consumer prices by 2.2% and said that there was no need to worry concerning this issue. Cotarelli said, "The inflation trend should be examined not monthly, but in terms of seasons. If the economic programme is continued to be implemented, it will be possible that an inflation rate, which is very close the target, will be able to be achieve at the end of this year." /Cumhuriyet/[19] 'MINI MARSHALL PLAN' TO BE IMPLEMENTEDThe European Investment Bank (EIB), which is the European Union's (EU) credit institution, will increase its credits so that 13 EU candidate countries, including Turkey, can be brought to the level of 15 EU member countries. Chairman of the EIB, Philippe Maystadt, held a press conference after meeting with the EU member countries' Ministers of Finance, during which he said, "The EIB will give a loan of 17 billion euros (15.9 billion dollars) in seven years for the financing of the EU candidate countries' development projects." Maystadt said that some Ministers of the EU member countries were calling this the 'Mini Marshall Plan' for the EU candidate countries. /Cumhuriyet/[20] FRANCE 2000 TECHNOLOGY AND INDUSTRY FAIR OPENEDFrance 2000 Technology and Industry Fair was opened by the French State Minister, responsible for Foreign Trade, Francois Huwart. 170 companies attended this fair, opened at CNR Fair Centre in Istanbul. France 2000 Technology and Industry Fair, which shows as the importance given by France to Turkey, will be open until 10 June. France 2000 Fair is organized by the contibution of the French Ministry of Economy, CFME-ACTIM, which is the Promotion and Fair Organization Commission and the French commercial counsellors in Turkey. Huwart, pointed out that Turkey was an important market for France and said, "Our presence in Turkey will be stronger. Turkey is an attractive market for our investors." Huwart added that they would make new investments in Turkey. /Star, Cumhuriyet/[21] EXPORT INCREASES IN BASIC SECTORSThe increase in the exports in the main sectors except for the textile sector in the first three months of this year is very promising. According to the data of the State Institute of Statistics (DIE), the amount of the iron-steel sector exports increased by 27.7% and reached 422.9 million US dollars. Export of electrical equipment and tools increased by 93.5% and reached 429.5 million US dollars and the export of machines and mechanical tools increased by 3.2% and reached 289 million US dollars. Meanwhile, the most rapid increase was seen in the export of land vehicles, which reached 418.1 million US dollars with an increase by 46.5%. /Cumhuriyet/[22] TURKISH ASSOCIATION OF CHAMBERS AND STOCK EXCHANGES TO ESTABLISH MONITORING COMMITTEEMonitoring committees will be established in order to control inflation. Specialists, people, workers and the employer institutions and the representatives of all the non-governmental organizations will participate in the monitoring committees, which will be established within the framework of the 'Turkey Defeats Inflation' campaign, led by the Turkish Association of Chambers and Stock Exchanges and the Assembly of Turkish Exporters. /Sabah/[23] TREASURY'S NEW INITIATIVETreasury authorized the Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan for the ten-year term bond export. Treasury's General Director of Foreign Economic Relations, Aydin Karaoz, stated that the export would be in terms of US dollars. Turkey, which exported the bond amounting to 500 million US dollars last week, was targeting at its export to amount to 1.5 billion US dollars in the second quarter of this year. /Aksam/[24] GOOD TREND IN TURKISH TOURISMThe tourism promotion for Turkey abroad has started to yield good results. Turkish tourism, which was in a crisis the last two years, looks likely to enjoy a very productive 2000 season. The directors of the five-star hotels in Antalya said that the touristic resorts and hotels had had a 50 to 60 percent accommodation take-up rate. They also said that there would be no empty rooms at hotels and pensions in July and August. Meanwhile some hotel owners are afraid of a situation where more tourists come than there are reservations for. /Turkish Daily News/[25] PALESTINE AIRLINES STARTS SCHEDULED FLIGHTS BETWEEN GAZA AND ISTANBULPalestine Airlines started scheduled flights between Gaza and Istanbul. 150 passengers arrived in Turkey from Gaza yesterday on a Boeing 727 type plane called 'Jerusalem'. Chairman of the Executive Board of the Palestine Civil Aviation Organization and the General Director of Palestine Airlines, Fayezz Zeydan, who arrived in Turkey on this first flight, was welcomed by the Deputy Governor of Istanbul, Saim Eskioglu and by the other officials at the VIP hall of Ataturk Airport. /Hurriyet/[26] TURKISH PORCELAIN ARTISTS RECEIVE AWARD FROM ITALYGul Arik won the first prize of the Italian Porcelain Artists Foundation's 6th Art of Porcelain Painting Convention, which was held at Como, Italia. 'Convenzione Azzurra', which is one of the biggest competition in this field is held between 26 and 29 May once in two years. Gul Arik's plate won the first prize among 1140 other pieces. In addition, Ilknur Ozeren won the honorary mansion, Elma Art Workshop, which belongs to Ugur Olgac and Gul Arik, won the award of the successful team and Ruth Benice, who participated in this competition from Ankara, won the 'Imponte' prize. /Cumhuriyet/[27] FAUSTO MELOTTI EXHIBITION IN TURKEY'A 20th Century Geniune, Fausto Melotti' exhibition, which came from Pavia Sartinara Art Foundation, will be displayed at the Turkish and Islamic Works Museum until 16 July. This exhibition is organized by the cooperation between the Ministry of Culture's Directorate General of Monuments, Turkish and Islamic Works Museum and the Italian Cultural Centre in Istanbul. This exhibition, at which a total of 58 works of art will be exhibitied, will be able to be visited between 09:00 and 16:30. /Cumhuriyet/[28] FROM THE COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS...[29] GUIDING EU SURVEY BY SAMI KOHEN (MILLIYET)Columnist Sami Kohen comments on a survey on the EU membership of Turkey. A summary of his column is as follows:"A comprehensive survey on Turkey's membership to the EU has shown that 88% of the Turkish population is in favour of country's participation in the Union and only 6.8% oppose this policy. The 80 page-report on the issues was announced at a press conference also attended by the Economic Development Foundation(IKV) Chairman Meral Gezgin Eris. As Eris has stated, politicians have many lessons to learn from this survey. The efforts Ankara has spent to become a member of the EU is in fact, in parallel with the common desire of the Turkish society. The survey confirms this fact. But what do the Europeans think? According to the survey, 44% of the EU member nations want to see Turkey in the EU if conditions are improved. A majority of them believe that this will benefit both Europe and Turkey. This also is an important statement. However, there is a difference between wanting and realizing this wish. Only 24.6% of the Europeans believe that Turkey will be admitted into the EU. The rate of those who believe that Turkey will not be accepted into the Union is 34.7%. We should note that this survey was made before the decision accepting Turkey as a candidate was announced at the Helsinki Summit. However, the most significant chapter of the survey concerns the reasons why Turkey should be admitted into or excluded from the Union. The arguments in favour of Turkey's acceptance center on two points. The first one being the geographic location of Turkey, and its functioning as a bridge between Europe and Asia. Second factor is economic. They believe that Turkey has a great economic and commercial potential. The reasons in Turkey are the same but here economic reasons come before that of the geographic location. The reasons why Europeans do not want to admit Turkey into the Union are the low standards of human rights, and the developing state of the economy. Turks see economic situation as the main obstacle before their admittance into the EU. However, in Turkey the second most important obstacle seen in the path to the EU is seen as religion. However, this is not considered as important in Europe. As the Chairman of IKV has stated, there is a misunderstanding in Turkey. This report coincides at time when Turco-EU relations are moving from candidacy to membership. The results of the survey will lead the way for those preparing this process. One of these results is that, not only the Europeans but also Turks themselves have to believe in the necessity to elevate the human rights and democratic standards. Another result is the common view in carrying out the reforms required for the improvement in economy. Certainly, there are misimpressions, and even prejudices in both sides. Turkey not only has to promote itself to the Europeans but also correct the images already formed. Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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