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Turkish Press Review, 00-06-30
From: Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs <http://www.mfa.gov.tr>
30.06.00
Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning
CONTENTS
[01] PRESIDENT SEZER: "CONSTITUTION SHOULD BE AMENDED"
[02] ORGANIZATION OF ISLAMIC CONFERENCE
[03] DENKTAS TO GO TO GENEVA
[04] YILMAZ AND CILLER CLEARED
[05] GEN. CELASIN'S MESSAGE
[06] FULL SUPPORT FOR URAS
[07] THE FIRST AGRICULTURAL PLANE OF TAI IS IN THE GAP REGION
[08] THE OBJECTIVE OF KOC IS %10 OF THE ENERGY
[09] AIR TAXIS
[10] VOLKAN'S BODY BROUGHT TO TURKEY
[11] 15,000 FARMERS IN STREETS
[12] EARTHQUAKES IN DENIZLI AND CESME
[13] NO ADVANCE REPAYMENT FOR COMPULSORY SAVINGS
[14] SECOND LETTER OF INTENT TO IMF
[15] ISTANBUL STOCK EXCHANGES CONTRIBUTES TL 100 TRILLION TO EDUCATION
[16] TURKEY RANKS AMONG THE FIRST TEN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
[17] BLACK SEA UNIVERSITIES' NETWORK CONNECTION
[18] FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS
[19] GENERAL ATES' SPEECH BY FIKRET BILA (MILLIYET)
[01] PRESIDENT SEZER: "CONSTITUTION SHOULD BE AMENDED"
Pointing out that "the state is there for the people, not the
people for the state", President Ahmet Necdet Sezer said that
Turkey should adapt its human rights and freedoms to global
standards. During his speech at the opening of the congress
entitled, "Constitutional Reforms-Principles and Results" which
was organized by the Turkish Democracy Foundation and Konrad
Adenauer Foundation, President Sezer stated that Turkey should
start the reforms with the Constitution. The Speaker of the TGNA,
Yildirim Akbulut, Minister of Justice, Hikmet Sami Turk and
Chairman of the TGNA Constitutional Commission, Ertugrul
Yalcinbayir also expressed their desires for a Constitutional
amendment. /Cumhuriyet/
[02] ORGANIZATION OF ISLAMIC CONFERENCE
The election of the Turkish candidate Ambassador Yasar Yakis, as
the new secretary general of the Organization of Islamic
Conference (OIC), has been prevented by the opposition of Arabic
countries. During the OIC Foreign Ministers meeting, despite
Ankara's intensive efforts for its own candidate, another
Moroccan diplomat, Abdulvahid Belkeziz, has become the secretary general
for a four year term. Diplomatic circles stated that
the election of a Moroccan was against tradition, as the current
secretary general, Izeddin Laraki, whose term will end on
December 31st, was also from Morocco and it was the turn of a
candidate from Asia. /Milliyet/
[03] DENKTAS TO GO TO GENEVA
The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) government
announced that President Rauf Denktas will attend the third round
of the Cyprus proximity talks which will begin on July 5th in
Geneva. The Minister of Public Works and Transportation and
Deputy Foreign Minister, Dr. Salih Miroglu, said, "President
Denktas has decided to attend the talks, despite the negative
atmosphere, caused by the United Nation (UN) Security Council's
recent unilateral decision over the extension of the term of the
UN Peace Force in Cyprus. In retaliation, The TRNC government has
taken certain measures to restrict the activities of the Peace
Force. Accordingly, the Peace Force (PF) will use only Ledra
Palace gate for its enter-exit to the TRNC, it will insure all
its vehicles which has used in the TRNC, to the insurance
companies operating in the TRNC and it will pay for water and
electricity, consumed in its camps which are located in the TRNC.
/Milliyet/
[04] YILMAZ AND CILLER CLEARED
Before the summer recess, yesterday, the Turkish Grand National
Assembly (TGNA) has completed discussions over the TGNA
investigation commissions' reports. The leader of the True Path
Party (DYP), Tansu Ciller and the Leader of the Motherland Party
(ANAP), Mesut Yilmaz were exonorated by the votes of the
parliamentarians from the cases of "slush fund" and "Kurtkoy
Airport tender" respectively. The deputies from DYP left the
Plenary Session during the ballotings as they had done before.
/Hurriyet/
[05] GEN. CELASIN'S MESSAGE
After the speech of the Commander of Land Forces Gen. Atilla
Ates, the Commander of Air Force, Gen. Ergin Celasin, also warned
the reactionaries and their supporters abroad. During a ceremony
held at the 11th Air Transport Main Base Command, pilots who were
successful at the annual firing competition, were awarded. At his
speech, Gen. Celasin congratulated the pilots and said, "You are
one of our guarantees against the circles who are trying to
damage our secular and democratic Republic by their speeches or
activities both in the country and abroad." /Turkiye/
[06] FULL SUPPORT FOR URAS
The final stop of Boray Uras, who had a long walk from Istanbul
to Ankara in order to draw public attention to traffic accidents,
after her daughter's death in Istanbul in a car crash, was
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer. After the meeting, Uras said that
he expected a new traffic law, prepared perfectly, would be ready
in October. In the meantime, Uras also visited the leader of the
Motherland Party (ANAP), Mesut Yilmaz and asked for his support
for enacting a new traffic law. /Turkiye/
[07] THE FIRST AGRICULTURAL PLANE OF TAI IS IN THE GAP REGION
TAI (Turkish Aviation Industry), well-known as the producer of
F-16 planes, produced Turkey's first agricultural plane and
completed the test flight successfully. The agricultural plane
will be first used in Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP) in
opening up new lands to agriculture and in increasing the
efficiency of agricultural production. All products used in the
design and the production of the plane were obtained from the
domestic market./Sabah/
[08] THE OBJECTIVE OF KOC IS %10 OF THE ENERGY
KOC Holding is planning to produce and distribute %10 of the
electric capacity of Turkey. The Head of Energy Group of KOC
Holding, Omer Koc said, " We attach great importance to the
energy sector. One of our biggest objectives is to produce and
distribute %10 of the energy generated in Turkey.He stated that
they will begin the management of Kangal and Seyitomer Thermic
Plants before the end of this year./Sabah/
[09] AIR TAXIS
In the airfleets of the Air Taxi managements which began
operating in 1980s and developed rapidly,the number of planes
reached 217 and the seat capacities 1293. While business
opportunities increased abroad, the businessmen began to prefer
planes with 10-15 passenger capacities, which are the products
high technology. The Air Taxi managements increased their number
of planes as well. The prices of the private planes called
`Falcon`, `Gulfstream', `Beechjet', `Challenger' and `Cessna'
vary from $ 7.5 million to $ 20 million./Sabah/
[10] VOLKAN'S BODY BROUGHT TO TURKEY
Volkan Kaya, a 6 year boy, was killed by the attacks of two
pitbull dogs while he was playing in a park of Hamburg in
Germany. His body was brought to his village, Yaylakonak Village,
Hinis in Erzurum and was buried. The foreign press, RTL, SAT, SAT
1, PRO 7, also attended in the funeral. /Hurriyet/
[11] 15,000 FARMERS IN STREETS
15,000 farmers, protesting the purchase price of wheat which the
government declared as 102.000 TL, participated in the
demonstration held by The Union of Turkish Agricultural Chambers.
The farmers chanted slogans against the government. The Head of
The Union of Turkish Agricultural Chambers, Faruk Yucel said, "
If this government does not change, Turkey's agriculture will not
be able to survive." The unions affiliated with TURK-IS and DISK,
chambers of agricultural engineers, Freedom and Solidarity Party,
Workers Party and Labour Party supported the demonstration.
/Cumhuriyet/
[12] EARTHQUAKES IN DENIZLI AND CESME
A series of eathquakes occured in Denizli yesterday in the early
morning measuring between 2.6 and 3.6 on the Richter scale
causing no death or damages. Another one occured in Cesme, a town
near Izmir, scaling 4.4. Scientists emphasized that these
earthquakes can be an early warning for the upcoming serious
earthquakes, and that people should be more cautious and
prepared. /Milliyet/
[13] NO ADVANCE REPAYMENT FOR COMPULSORY SAVINGS
The government did not set a clear time-table for the repayment
of the savings all at once. The represantatives of the Treasury
Undersecretariat claimed that such a repayment would cause a
fluctuation in the cash flow and, hence negatively affect the
disinflation program. The Workers' and Civil Servants' Union, on
the other hand, ask for the repayment of TL 3.9 trillion in cash.
/Cumhuriyet/
[14] SECOND LETTER OF INTENT TO IMF
The second letter of intent, declaring that the delayed legal
arrangements would be made with the decrees in the force of law
has been given to IMF. In the letter it was emphasized that
privatization process will be accelerated in order to decrease
the current account deficit.Rises in the salaries of civil
servants will be kept in line with the 25 percent inflation
target. /Milliyet/
[15] ISTANBUL STOCK EXCHANGES CONTRIBUTES TL 100 TRILLION TO EDUCATION
Ystanbul Stock Exchanges (IMKB) and Ministry of National
Education have signed a protocol yesterday for building of 125
school with the financial contribution of Ystanbul Stock
Exchanges
At the signing ceremony Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said that
thanks to the help of the IMKB, construction of 47 schools have
been completed already and the rest 121 buildings, and 4 training
centres for apprenticeship would be opened using financial
support of TL 100 Trillion by IMKB./Hürriyet/
[16] TURKEY RANKS AMONG THE FIRST TEN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
UN Development Programme has ranked Turkey 10th among the
developing nations in its `UN Human Development Report 2000'. In
the report it is argued that the social indicators pushing Turkey
down to a lower place is balanced with indicators of the economic
development successes of Turkey. According to the Report, per
capita income in Turkey has risen to the standard of $3,167 (in
terms of Gross Domestic Product)in 1998 from the level of $ 959
in 1980. Besides, Turkey has shown great performance in growing
4.2 percent yearly which place it among the first 10 developing
countries, the report says./Hürriyet/
[17] BLACK SEA UNIVERSITIES' NETWORK CONNECTION
`The Congress for The Data Network 2000' of the Black Sea
Universities will be held at the Harbiye Military Museum and
Cultural Centre in Istanbul between 5-8 July. The meeting of this
voluntary group in the Black Sea Economic Cooperation, will
indicate the importance attributed to Turkey regarding computer
sciences in addition to the social, economic and political areas.
The Congress will be assembled under the chairmanship of Prof.
Dr. Ibrahim Yildirim, from the Istanbul University. (Hürriyet)
[18] FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS
[19] GENERAL ATES' SPEECH BY FIKRET BILA (MILLIYET)
Columnist Fikret Bila comments on the speech delivered by the
Commander of the Land Forces, General Atilla Ates. A summary of
his column is as follows:
"Commander of the Armed Forces, General Atilla Ates delivered a
speech on the foundation anhniversary of the Armed Forces. Once
before he had spoken formerly in Southeast Anatolia and warned
Syria. Following his speech, the then President Demirel had drawn
Syria's attention and called on it to withdraw its support from
terrorists. Later troops were deployed on the Syrian border.
Ankara applied pressure on Damascus and demanded that it deliver
Ocalan and expel the PKK from Syria. At the time Foreign Ministry
experts called it 'politics supported by the military'.
In his speech General Ates, without mentioning any names, asked
of our neighbours not to support terrorists. He said, "We fear no
one. We do not covet an inch of anyone's territory. However, we
shall fight to protect the interests of our country if the need
arises." He also added that Turkish people was not naive as not
to understand the secret and vile aims of secessionists and those
who want to lead the people to an Islamic ummat (community). It
is a well-known fact that Commanders rarely address the public
openly. The words of General Ates, has the traces of policy
followed against Syria.
This time Ates has both warned Turkey's neighbours and the stance
of Europe. Turkey has achieved successes in its fight against
terrorism and the process which started with General Ates' speech
was completed with Ocalan's capture.
For Turkey, terrorist activities directed to destroy the Republic
and establish a State based on religious principles instead, the
trend and preparations for uprising with this aim are as
important as the separatist terrorist activities. Both civilians
and the military governing the country should be aware of this
fact."
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