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Anadolu Agency: News in English, 98-09-03Anadolu Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Anadolu Agency Home Page at <http://www.anadoluajansi.gov.tr/>03 SEPT 1998CONTENTS
[01] ''TALEBAN GUARANTEE'' FROM TURKEY TO CENTRAL ASIAN REPUBLICS - PRESIDENT AKAEV OF KYRGYZSTAN RECEIVES IRTEMCELIKBISHKEK, Sept 3 (A.A) - Turkey gave a message that she will support the Central Asian Republics against the threat of the Taleban forces advancing towards Northern Afghanistan, it was reported on Wednesday.Mehmet Ali Irtemcelik, the Deputy Undersecretary of the Foreign Ministry who has begun a tour in the Central Asian Republics, was received by President Askar Akaev of Kyrgyzstan. Irtemcelik expressed Turkey's support for the Central Asian Republics at the meeting. He conveyed President Suleyman Demirel's message to Akaev inviting him to the celebrations for the 75th anniversary of the Republic of Turkey. Addressing the meeting, President Akaev thanked Demirel for his invitation. Akaev pointed out that Turkey provides economic support to the Central Asian Republics and added that his country needs this support. Meanwhile Askar Akaev has invited President Demirel to the opening ceremony of Kyrgyz-Turk Manas University in October. Mehmet Ali Irtemcelik left after the meeting for Kazakhstan. [02] THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF REPUBLIC OF TURKEY TO BE CELEBRATED IN BELGIUMBRUSSELS, Sept 3 (A.A) - Various activities will be organized in Belgium within the framework of celebrations for the 75th anniversary of the Republic of Turkey, it was reported on Wednesday.Several groups from Turkey will present the joint performance named ''Turquie: La Belle'' (Beautiful Turkey) in the cities of Charleroi and Namur between 17 and 18 September. Meanwhile folk dances, concerts, a fashion show and a song recital will be held in the programme that will be organized in the Valon region of Belgium. [03] TURKEY OFFICIALLY REQUESTS EXTRADITION OF CAKICI FROM FRANCEPARIS, Sept 3 (A.A) - The Foreign Ministry officialy requested the extradition from France of Alaattin Cakici, who was captured in Nice.The file concerning the extradition request was conveyed to the French Foreign Ministry along with a note from the officials at the Turkish Embassy in France. The French Foreign Ministry is expected to convey the mentioned files to the Ministry of Justice. [04] BARZANI, THE KDP LEADER IN ANKARA - THE KDP SPOKESMAN ABDURRAHMAN: - ''WE EXPECT FRIENDSHIP AND MUTUAL GOOD RELATIONS WITH TURKEY''ANKARA, Sept 3 (A.A) - Mesud Barzani, the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) arrived in Ankara on Wednesday in order to hold contacts.Addressing the journalists at the Esenboga Airport, Sami Abdurrahman, the Spokesman of the KDP, said that bilateral relations and other issues will be discussed during Barzani's visit to Turkey. Abdurrahman stressed that they expect friendship and mutual good relations with Turkey. Mentioning the complaints of the Turcomans about the attacks on the offices belonging to the Turcomans last month, Abdurrahman stressed ''the Turcomans are our brothers. We have been living with them in peace for centuries. Fanatic groups are responsible for the latest incidents in the region.'' Responding to a question about whether Barzani will meet with Celal Talabani, the Leader of the Patriotic Union for Kurdistan (PUK) during his visit to the US, Abdurrahman told the reporters, ''Barzani will go to the US first and then Talabani will visit the US after Barzani concludes his contacts. An unofficial meeting is planned between Talabani and Barzani. The meeting will focus on the issues such as establishment of the joint administration in Northern Iraq.'' [05] ECEVIT, DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: - ''CYPRUS QUESTION HAS BEEN SOLVED FOR TURKEY AND THE TRNC LONG AGO''ANKARA, Sept 3 (A.A) - Bulent Ecevit, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State, said on Wednesday, ''the Cyprus question has been solved for Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) long ago, if there is a problem it can be only from the point of view of the Greek Cypriots and Greeks.''Addressing the journalists while he was leaving the Prime Minister's Office, Ecevit reminded that Greece has rejected the confederation proposal of President Rauf Denktas of the TRNC, and said, ''If they would be realistic, they would admit that the current situation on Cyprus is also a realistic solution for them. Clashes had occurred on the island before the Turkish Peace Movement. Cyprus was in a poor condition and there were pressures on the island, but following the Peace Movement there has been a lasting peace, security, democracy and development on Cyprus. I cannot imagine a better solution than this.'' Responding to a question ''a policy towards a two-side federation had been put forward for Cyprus previously. Now, there is a new effort called a confederation. How do you evaluate this?'', Ecevit told the reporters, ''A federation will appear to be established between the European Union and the Greek Cypriot Administration after the EU has opened its doors to the Greek Cypriot side. In the near future, a regulation that is based on the recognition of two equal and independent states on the island can be considered.'' [06] AKTAS, THE MINISTER OF INTERIOR: ''RUSSIA IS A LARGE MARKET, THE GOVERNMENT SEEKS WAYS TO OVERCOME THE CRISIS WITH A MINIMUM LOSS''IZMIR, Sept 3 (A.A) - Kutlu Aktas, the Minister of the Interior said on Wednesday that Russia is a large market and the government took measures in order to prevent the bad effects of the crisis on Turkey.Visiting the Union of Aegean Exporters, Aktas said ''Russia is a large market and it's necessary to overcome the effects of the Russian crisis in Turkey with a minimum loss. If the measures aren't sufficient, then additional measures will be taken.'' [07] ADDITIONAL MEASURES IN ECONOMY - PRIME MINISTER MESUT YILMAZ EXPLAINS ADDITIONAL MEASURES IN ECONOMY: ''THE MEASURES THAT WE HAVE TAKEN WILL PROTECT THE RESISTANCE OF TURKISH ECONOMY AGAINST THE CRISIS SEEN ON INTERNATIONAL MARKETS''ANKARA, Sept 3 (A.A) - Prime Minister Mesut Yılmaz announced on Wednesday the additional economic measures which are taken to ease the financial markets.Prime Minister Yılmaz said during his meeting held with the Executive Board members of the Union of Banks that there is a liquidation problem on the financial markets in spite of the positive developments in the economy, adding that they decided to implement a series of measures in order to prevent the further escalation of this problem and they decided to implement these measures in the coming weeks. Prime Minister Yılmaz announced the additional measures that will be taken as follows: -At first, it was decided that the implementation about the evaluation of public bonds to be issued before 1 January 1999 with their purchase prices. This means the protection of the rights of the buyers. -It was decided to remove the withholding for the public shares by 1 October 1998. -It was adopted to decrease the withholding rate on deposit interests by 1 January 1999 and to equalize it with the withholding rate implemented on repurchasing (repo) interests. -Also, it was decided to give tax privileges to public bonds to encourage long-term public bonds. Prime Minister Yilmaz defined these additional measures as the subjects which were asked by the financial markets to overcome the liquidity squeeze. ''With these measures, we hope the financial markets will protect themselves from the effects of the crisis stemming from the international financial markets. These are the measures which will protect the Turkish economy's power and resistance against the crisis on the international markets. Mesut Yilmaz said that it is impossible to think that Turkey will never be affected from the crisis in the short-term when the dimensions of that international crisis are taken into consideration. Yilmaz stressed ''the success in the economic programme'' and ''Turkey's being exposed to that crisis with a high-level of foreign exchange reserves'' are the two important factors enabling Turkey to overcome the crisis with a minimum loss. ''The financial markets have helped us in this issue up until now. Our government will always abide by the perception of the market economy. To intervene especially on the financial markets is out of the question. This is valid for all markets. We expect them to support the government in the implementation of the Tax Reform which carries vital importance for the success of the economic programme. I hope the measures will help in overcoming the crisis,'' Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz mentioned. Noting that the fluctuations on the international markets continue since the start of the crisis in Russia, Yilmaz said that the programme in the Turkish economy will be pursued without being affected by all of these developments. ''We have been informed on the statistics for August. These statistics show a full-concordance with the targets of the economic programme. We expect to obtain nearly three quadrillion Turkish Liras of revenues excluding interest. Besides, the Gross National Product growth rate, which was announced as 8.1 percent in the first quarter of 1998, decreased to 4 percent in the second quarter and it was 6.3 percent in the first half. This shows that the economy started to freeze. The foreign exchange reserves continue to remain at higher levels despite the negative developments. Also, the statistics, which will be announced on Thursday, will reveal that the decrease in inflation continues,'' Prime Minister Yilmaz stressed. [08] ''GREEN MASSACRE'' ALLEGATIONS IN FIRTINA STREAM - FOREST MINISTRY SENDS A TEAM IN ORDER TO INVESTIGATE THE ALLEGATIONS CONCERNING HYDROELECTRIC POWER STATION IN REGIONANKARA, Sept 3 (A.A) - The Foreign Ministry sent a team to Camlihemsin County of Rize Province in order to investigate the allegations concerning the Dilek-Guroluk Hydroelectric Power Station whose foundation has been laid on the Firtina Straem by Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz, it was reported on Wednesday.The report prepared following the investigations says, ''no trees have been cut so far in the region and the power station doesn't damage wildlife.'' Some sources had put forward allegations such as ''hundreds of trees have been cut for the construction of the power station'', and ''56 thousand trees will be cut and 2,460 species of plants will become extinct.'' [09] ''HEY TURKEY'' EXHIBITION IN EUROPE - EXHIBITION FORMED BY WORKS OF FAMOUS TURKISH CARICATURISTS TO BE OPENED FIRST IN BERLINANKARA, Sept 3 (A.A) - The ''Hey Turkey'' exhibition formed by 30 works of the famous Turkish caricaturists, will be begin a tour in several European countries, it was reported on Thursday.The exhibition organized by the Caricature Foundation and the branches of the Ataturk Association in Germany, will be opened first in Berlin on 7 September. The caricatures of Ali Ulvi Ersoy, Turhan Selcuk, Ferruh Dogan, Tan Oral, Nezih Danyal, Piyale Madra, Kamil Masaraci, Semih Poroy, Izel Rozental, Ercan Akyol, Atila Ozer, Eray Ozbek, Muhammet Sengoz, Ahmet Aykanat and Sami Caner will be displayed at the exhibition. Tan Oral, Piyale Madra and Nezih Danyal will attend the opening ceremony of the exhibition in Germany that will be remain open until 20 September. The exhibition will be opened in Hamburg on 27 September. [10] TANER, THE STATE MINISTER: ''WE'VE TAKEN A SERIES OF MEASURES TO STRENGTHEN THE BANKING SYSTEM IN TURKEY AND WILL CONTINUE TO DO SO''ANKARA, Sept 3 (A.A) - Gunes Taner, the Minister of State, said on Wednesday that the government has taken and continues to take a series of measures to strengthen the banking system in Turkey while implementing the economic programme for the last 14 months.Responding to the questions of journalists together with Prime Minister before the meeting with the Turkish Union of Bankers, Taner said that the banks united and became stronger in the globalizing world, adding ''it will also be possible to see this trend in Turkey in the future.'' Noting that they count on the open market system and the government attributes great importance to fulfilling the competitive conditions of this system, Taner pointed out ''in countries where the inflation rate is high, the banks have to increase their capital as much as the inflation rate every year and in fact, they have to further increase it in order to strengthen the sector.'' Pointing out that when the banking system strengthens its capital, the banks will have the chance to be stronger and get advantages on the market, Taner stressed ''besides that, all the banks including the smallest to the largest ones have the right to engage in business on the market. It's not correct to get things from others by force on this market and this is part of the philosophy of the government's economic programme. But if you ask what will happen in 1999 and in the coming years, then we guess that you'll see all of our banking systems will strengthen their capital and they will make progress to this end, because there are clear indications showing that.'' [11] ORIENT EXPRESS LEAVES ISTANBUL - A FAREWELL CEREMONY HELD AT SIRKECI RAILWAY STATION FOR ORIENT EXPRESSISTANBUL, Sept 3 (A.A) - The ''Orient Express'' that is one of the oldest and the most famous trains in the world, left Istanbul on Wednesday for Venice.A farewell ceremony was held at the Sirkeci Railway Station for the Orient Express that came to Turkey again after years with 126 passengers for the 75th anniversary of the Republic of Turkey. Addressing the ceremony, Cavit Kavak, the Minister of State, said that the journey of the Orient Express to Turkey on the 75th year of the Republic of Turkey is very meaningful. [12] DATA PROCESSING '98 FAIR STARTS - MORE THAN 600 FIRMS PARTICIPATE IN THE FAIRISTANBUL, Sept 3 (A.A) - The Data Processing '98 Fair, which focuses on ''Turkey in the Global Date Processing Society'' started on Wednesday.Addressing the opening speech of the fair, Rusen Yaykın, the General Director of the Interpo computer firm, said that the data processing sector in Turkey will take its place in the world's data processing sector by growing three fold within three years. Yaykın added that this means an annual growth of 45 percent. Noting that data processing is the way to overcome the crisis, Yaykın said that they will launch efforts to spread the use of the internet to houses and small enterprises and they will reconstruct all the sectors with the data processing culture. Behcet Envarlı, the Chairman of the Association of the Turkish Data Processing Industry, said that there will be a big gap in the future among societies that reach the information age and the ones which can't reach it. Noting that the growth potential is very large in the field of data processing, Envarlı said ''there is a nine percent growth rate in the data processing sector in the world in 1998. This is a market worth of 765 billion US dollars. Turkey, which has a share of 0.002 percent of this market, is one of the most lively markets in the world in this sector.'' The Data Processing Technologies Fair and the 15th National Data Processing Congress will be held within the framework of the Data Processing '98 Fair, which is held by Interpo and supported by TUSIAD, the Turkish Association of Industrialists and Businessmen. The products and services of 612 firms will be presented and a total of 273 meetings will be held in the Information and Communication Technologies Fair, which is a part of the Data Processing '98 Fair. The fair, which is expected to have 600,000 visitors, will be open until 6 September. [13] TURKISH PRESS REVIEW (1)These are brief summaries of some of the leading stories in Turkey's press on 3 September 1998. The Anadolu Agency doesn't verify these stories and doesn't vouch for their accuracy.(Derived from the Newsspot of the Turkish General Directorate of Press and Information.) YILMAZ DECLARES EXTRA ANTI-CRISIS MEASURES BARZANI IN ANKARA ANKARA REQUESTS ON GREEK SIDE TO RECONSIDER THE PROPOSAL ECEVIT BACKS SUGGESTION BY DENKTAS NEIGHBOURS 'COOPERATE' WITH PKK ARMED ATTACK ON ESENYURT MAYOR CAKICI FILE IN FRANCE [14] TURKISH PRESS REVIEW (2)These are brief summaries of some of the leading stories in Turkey's press on 3 September 1998. The Anadolu Agency doesn't verify these stories and doesn't vouch for their accuracy.(Derived from the Newsspot of the Turkish General Directorate of Press and Information.) NUCLEAR PHYSICISTS MEET IN ISTANBUL SILK ROAD TOUR BEGINS FRANCE GRANTS RADAR TO GREEK CYPRIOTS RAPID INCREASE IN IMKB THREE TURKISH FIRMS VIE FOR EUROPEAN QUALITY AWARD BMC FOR ENGLISH MARKET STRUGGLE AGAINST DRUGS SETTLEMENT AREA DATING BACK 10,000 YEARS [15] HASHISH OPERATION IN BURSABURSA, Sept 3 (A.A) - Narcotics officials seized on Thursday a total of nine kg of hashish and 15 roots of Indian hemp in an operation they launched at Inegol County of Bursa Province.Acting on a tip-off, the narcotics teams raided the house belonging to Nedim M. in Mezit Village at Inegol. Narcotics officials siezed the drug hidden in secret places in the house. Nedim M. was taken into custody. [16] KORUKCU, CHAIRMAN OF UNION OF BANKS: - ''GOVERNMET HAS BROUGHT MOST OF THE MEASURES AIMED AT REMOVING A PROBABLE PROBLEM''ANKARA, Sept 3 (A.A) - Unal Korukcu, the Chairman of the Turkish Union of Banks, said on Wednesday that the government with its new regulations has brought most of the measures aimed at removing a probable problem.Addressing a press conference he held following the meeting to which Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz, the Gunes Taner, the Minister of State, and Zekeriya Temizel, the Minister of Finance attended, Unal Korukcu said that the economic measures, which have been implemented sinve the beginning of the year, gave better results than expected, and the briefing with statistics reassured them. Stressing that they should also make a sacrifice, Unal Korukcu said that they, as the members of the Union of Banks, were pleased with these measures. Korukcu mentioned that the Asian crisis have been effective in specific regions in the world for nearly one year and it is impossible for Turkey to be outside boundaries of those influences. Unal Korukcu said that it is natural to take measures to prevent Turkey from entering into a probable crisis. Recalling that the tax laws and regulations, which went into effect to remove some mistakes in the Turkish economy, brought further burdens to almost everyone, Korukcu said, ''although, tax collection is necessary and a principle, we have been voicing for a long time the inconveniences of a rapid implementation of this collection with several regulations which will create structural problems. The officials evaluated the issues brought onto agenda by us regarding a more suitable solution which won't increase the problems of the banks and all sectors, and they showed a positive approach.'' When asked whether or not all their expectations were met, Korukcu said, ''no, this isn't possible. We have to make a sacrifice because the anti- inflationist policies were successful and the programmes are pursued successfully. We, as the Union of Banks, were pleased with those regulations.'' [17] TURKEY TO PLAY 23TH MATCH UNDER DIRECTORSHIP OF DENIZLI - NATIONAL TEAM WINS SIX MATCHES AND LOSES ELEVEN OTHERS DURING PERIOD OF COACHING OF DENIZLIISTANBUL, Sept 3 (A.A) - The National Soccer Team will play its 23th match under the coaching of Mustafa Denizli, against Northern Ireland on 5 September, it was reported on Thursday.The National Team won six matches, lost eleven others and tied in five matches during the period of coaching of Denizli. Mustafa Denizli became the coach of the national time for the first time in the 1986-87 season. He has begun his second period in 1996 following his predecessor Fatih Terim. The results of the matches played during Denizli's second period on duty, are as follows: Date Place Opponent Result ---------- -------- ----------- ------ 30 Aug 1996 Brussels Belgium 1 - 2 02 Oct 1996 Paris France 0 - 4 10 Nov 1996 Istanbul San Marino 7 - 0 14 Dec 1996 Cardiff Wales 0 - 0 12 Feb 1997 Denizli Finland 1 - 1 02 Apr 1997 Bursa Netherlands 1 - 0 30 Apr 1997 Istanbul Belgium 1 - 3 12 Jun 1997 Japan Croatia 1 - 1 15 Jun 1997 Japan Japan 0 - 1 20 Aug 1997 Istanbul Wales 6 - 4 10 Sep 1997 San Marino San Marino 5 - 0 11 Oct 1997 Amsterdam Netherlands 0 - 0 21 Jan 1998 Antalya Albania 1 - 4 18 Feb 1998 Tel Aviv Israel 0 - 4 22 Apr 1998 Russia Russia 0 - 1 [18] RUSSIA DECREASES CUSTOMS RATESMOSCOW, Sept 3 (A.A) - Russia decided on Wednesday to lift the protective measures at customs which strike a blow on the ''shuttle trade'' in order to overcome the panic observed in her economy.The Russian Customs Committee prepared 17 draft laws, which foresee a change in the Regulation on Customs and submitted them to the government by taking into consideration the crisis observed in the economy. Valeri Draganov, the Chairman of the Committee said in a press briefing ''our proposals foreseeing change in the customs regulations have been approved by Victor Chernomyrdin, the Russian Prime Minister. Thus we'll decrease the customs rates and we'll launch efforts to make the customs mechanisms work more rapidly and more rationally in line with daily conditions.'' ''There is no need to have high customs rates in today's conditions seen in Russia as there is no hope to revive the internal production in a short period of time,''he said. Measures will be taken by Russia aimed at accelerating the entrance of consumer commodities into the country and increase their quantity. ''The customs laws in Russia today mean a protection policy at the customs, '' said Dranagov, adding that imports have to be eased in order to protect the interests of the domestic consumers. ''The existing customs rates are too high, when we further increase them, importers find other ways to sell their products at our market, consequently the income we are expecting to get from customs duties doesn't increase, but decreases. We have to increase the entrance of commodities into our country and we have to prevent a panic in our market. Our stock of imported goods is decreasing everyday, because people rush to buy them,'' said Draganov, adding that they will also accelerate the customs transactions for importers. The Russian officials told the A.A correspondent that the draft laws foreseeing changes in imports haven't been adopted yet. [19] THREE TURKISH COMPANIES NOMINATED FOR EUROPEAN QUALITY AWARD - ARCELIK, NETAS AND BEKO TRADE QUALIFY FOR 1998 EUROPEAN QUALITY AWARD FINALSISTANBUL, Sept 3 (A.A) - Three Turkish companies, the Arcelik, the Netas and the Beko Trade qualified for the finals of the ''1998 Euopean Quality Award'' organized by the European Foundation of Quality Management (EFQM), it was reported on Wednesday.Hazim Kantarci, a member of the Executive Board of the EFQM, said that all of the Turkish companies, which had made applications since 1995, qualified for the finals. Recalling that the Brisa won the grand prize in 1996 in the category of large-scale enterprises; the Beksa won the same award in 1997 in the category of small and medium-scale enterprises and the Netas received the European Quality Success Award both in 1996 and 1997, Kantarci said that this year, the Arcelik and the Netas will vie for European Quality Award in the finals of the large scale enterprises category while the Beko Trade will compete in the category of small and medium-scale enterprises. This year, a total of nine companies will compete in the category of large- scale enterprises; two companies to compete in the public sector; four companies to compete in the independent small and medium-scale enterprises category, while five companies will compete in the category of dependent small and medium-scale enterprises from ten countries. The names of the companies to win awards will be announced at the European Quality Forum to be held on 22 October at the Congress Hall in Paris. The EFQM Business Perfection Forum'99 will be organized in Brussels between 6-7 October, while Turkiy will host the ''2000 Forum'' in Istanbul. [20] SEMDIN SAKIK, THE SEPARATIST TERRORIST AT COURT - SAKIK SAYS THAT HE DISMISSES THREE OUT OF FOUR LAWYERS: ''MY TWO LAWYERS HAVE BEEN THREATENED, I KILLED PARENTS OF MANY CHILDREN, I DON'T WANT THE CHILDREN OF MY LAWYERS TO BE ORPHANS, TOO''DIYARBAKIR, Sept 3 (A.A) - Semdin Sakık, one of the leading names of the separatist terrorist PKK organization, whose code name is ''Fingerless Zeki'' dismissed on Thursday three out of four of his lawyers and said that he wants to defend himself in writing.The court session started on Thursday morning at the State Security Court in the eastern province of Diyarbakır and Sakık told the court session, ''I had earlier asked for additional time and I had asked three lawyers to represent me at the court. But today, I dismiss Dogan Zengin, the lawyer, who couldn't come to the court session. Meanwhile, Sabahattin Korkmaz and Fatma Incesu came to the prison and told me that they were threatened as they would represent me at court. We discussed the issue and I told them that I killed the parents of many children and I don't want their children to be orphans, too. I dismissed them and now only Sedat Cınar will be my lawyer.'' Sakık said that he was confined in a room for the last two years because he was isolated within the separatist terrorist organization, then he escaped and was taken into custody at the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) headquarters in Northern Iraq for one month. ''I have been in solitary confinement for approximately three months after I was captured. In this respect, I won't be able to keep my attention for a long time and I wish to defend myself in writing.'' [21] NEW VISA APPLICATION OF SYRIA - SYRIAN EMBASSY IN JORDAN STOPS GIVING VISAS TO TURKISH CITIZENS WHO DON'T RESIDE IN JORDANANKARA, Sept 3 (A.A) - The Syrian Embassy in Jordan stopped giving visas to Turkish citizens who don't reside in Jordan, it was reported on Thursday.The Foreign Ministry said that Turkish citizens, who are living on the Arabian Peninsula, particularly those who will return to Turkey via the Jordanian-Syrian route, have to get visas from the Syrian Representations in the countries where they are residing or from the Syrian Embassy in Ankara. [22] EXPORTS FROM AUTOMOTIVE SECTOR - EIGHT-MONTH EXPORTS INCREASE BY 14 PERCENTBURSA, Sept 3 (A.A) - The exports from the Turkish automotive sector in the January-August 1998 period increased 14 percent to 1 billion 126 million US dollars when compared with same period in 1997, it was reported on Thursday.The Secretariat of the Uludag Exporters' Union said that in the first eight months of 1998, the exports, which were realized through the Uludag Motor Vehicles and By-Industry Exporters' Union, went from 986ç9 million US dollars to 1 billion 125 million US dollars, while the majority was composed of by-industry products. It said a total of 692.2 million US dollars in spare parts were exported in the same period in 1998. The names of the products exported and the amounts of exports in thousand US dollars in the January-August 1998 period are as follows: . Export (Thousand Name of Product US Dollars) -------------------------- ------- Bus-Minibus-Midibus 137,253 Automobiles 97,388 Trucks 14,368 Special Purpose Motor Vehicles 1,220 Work machines 5,272 Ships and Floating Vessels 70,239 Bicycles and Motorcycles 14,835 Aircraft and Aeronautical Vehicles 74,219 Agricultural machines 3,192 Tank and armoured vehicles 3,736 Towing vehicles 268 Automotive by-industry 692,171 Total 1,125,753 [23] TURKISH UNION OF TOURIST GUIDES ESTABLISHEDISTANBUL, Sept 3 (A.A) - The tourist guidance organizations in Ankara, Istanbul, Izmir and Antalya which have six thousand guide-members, established the Turkish Union of Tourist Guides (TUREB), it was reported on Thursday.T. Ahmet Sensilay, the Chairman of the TUREB and the Chairman of the Istanbul Chamber of Guides, told the A.A correspondent that they will publicly announce the goals and activities of the union at a press conference on 12 September. Recalling that the newly established National Tourism Council held its first meeting in Ankara and the activities of the council carries great importance for the formation of Turkey's tourism policy, Sensilay said that they set up the TUREB to bring the observations of the tourist guides into the tourism sector. [24] THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS TRAINING CONVENES - TURK, THE STATE MINISTER:''EDUCATION HAS AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN MAKING RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS BE FELT BY EVERYONE''ANKARA, Sept 3 (A.A) - Hikmet Sami Turk, the Minister of State, said on Thursday that education has an important role in making the respect for human rights be felt by everyone.The National Committee for Human Rights Training convened the same day. Addressing the opening speech at the meeting, Hikmet Sami Turk said that the Republic of Turkey was established upon the respect felt for human rights. The committee will prepare in the meeting the national programme proposal which foresees the implementation of the UN Human Rights Education Action Plan in Turkey. The national committee, which will inform the Human Rights Coordinator Supreme Council about its evaluations concerning the programme, will also complete the tasks given to it by the Supreme Board. The National Committee, which will convene every month, is composed of fifteen members including one representative from the Prime Ministry, Justice, Interior, Foreign Ministry, National Education, Health and Culture Ministries, four representatives from the voluntary institutions which work in the field of human rights and four university professors who engage in research on human rights. [25] TURKISH TEKFEN TO SELL SPARE PARTS TO IRAQNEW YORK, Sept 3 (A.A) - The United Nations Sanctions Committee ratified the sale of spare parts to Iraq by the Turkish Tekfen for the repair of the Kirkuk-Yumurtalik pipeline, it was reported on Thursday.The equipment and spare parts, which will be sold by the Tekfen, will cost 8.6 million US dollars. Meanwhile, the UN officials said that there should be sufficient money in the related fund for the active realization of the sale, which was approved. The UN Security Council, in order to provide an opportunity for Iraq to increase its oil production capacity, permitted the repair of the Kirkuk- Yumurtalik and the Kirkuk-Mina al Bekir pipelines and oil production facilities by purchasing 300 million US dollars of spare parts. The cost of the equipment approved by the Sanctions Committee together with the Tekfen's reached 34 million US dollars. Thus, Iraq has to import 266 million US dollars in spare parts to increase the oil production capacity. [26] PRIME MINISTER YILMAZ WILL PAY A VISIT TO MIDDLE EASTERN COUNTRIESANKARA, Sept 3 (A.A) - Prime Minister Mesut Yılmaz will leave Turkey on Sunday to pay a three-day visit to Jordan, Israel and Palestine, it was reported on Thursday.The Foreign Ministry said that regional and international problems, particularly bilateral relations and the Middle Eastern Peace Process will be discussed during Prime Minister Yılmaz's visit to these countries. The Foreign Ministry said that several agreements will also be signed which will constitute the legal framework of the cooperation among Israel, the Palestinian National Administration and Turkey. Prime Minister Yılmaz will meet with Jordanian Crown Prince Hasan Bin Tallal who represents the Jordanian King Huseyin, Fayez Taravneh, the Jordanian Prime Minister and Defense Minister, the Israeli President Ezer Weizmen, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister and Foreign Minister and Yaser Arafat, the Palestinian Head of State. Prime Minister Mesut Yılmaz will be accompanied by ministers, parliamentarians, public institutions, the business world and representatives of the media. Anadolu Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |