Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning
CONTENTS
The Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, Ilya
Klebanov, will arrive in Turkey today to convey a message from
Russian Head of State Vladimir Putin to Turkish President Ahmet
Necdet Sezer. The message is supposed to include some views on
the Caucasian Stability Pact. Klebanov will be received by Sezer
on May 26. He will also meet Deputy Prime Minister Devlet
Bahceli, State Minister Husamettin Ozkan and National Defence
Minister Sabahattin Cakmakoglu and discuss issues such as
military and technical cooperation between the two countries.
/Turkiye/
Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit and Chairman of the Democratic Left
Party (DSP) said that Turkey was beginning to emerge from the
shadows of unsolved murders. Speaking at his party's
parliamentary group meeting, Ecevit made a general evaluation
about the unsolved murders, while avoiding giving a detailed
account of the operations launched to solve them. According to
Ecevit, seeing organizations formed to commit murders captured
and subversive or fundamentalist organizations weakened was a
sources of satisfaction. The Prime Minister also said that all
these achievements were the result of an effort made as part of
the rule of law. /All papers/
Diyarbakir State Security Court (DGM) prosecutors Yilmaz Aktas
and Omer Tuncay Ipek have completed their indictment against the
Hizbullah terrorist organization. In addition to detailing 156
separate murders, the indictment calls for the death penalty for
13 of the suspects on trial and for 15-year prison sentences for
the remaining two suspects in accordance with Article 146 of the
Turkish Penal Code (TCK).
The indictment also details the history of the Iranian Islamic
revolution and said how the regime had publicly announced its
intention to export its revolution. Iran's state policy, the
indictment says, as defined by Article 154 of its Constitution
calls for this. Iran has set up liaison and logistic support
centres to aid Hizbullah-style groups in Turkey and the Middle
East, the indictment says, and adds that Iran's revolutionary
messages had served to encourage Hizbullah and other
subversive/reactionary groups in Turkey. /All papers/
While the worries as to whether or not President Sezer will
attend the Economic Cooperation Summit (ECO) Summit in Iran are
continuing, Tehran finally participated in these discussions.
Iran's Ambassador, Lavasani, who came to the Foreign Ministry
yesterday, replied to the question, "Do you think Sezer should
attend the ECO summit," with the response, "Turkey is one of the
founding members of this institution. I think the answer is very
clear." Lavasani added that they had delivered their worries to
the Foreign Ministry concerning the arrest of Iraninan citizens
some time ago. Lavasani said, "The Turkish officials told us that
these people had been arrested not because of the reasons claimed
by the media, but because of illegal passage from the border."
/Hurriyet/
It was decided that the Turkish businessmen's visit to Tehran,
which was postponed due to the tension between Turkey and Iran
and which was expected to be paid on 27 May within the framework
of the new strategy of the Foreign Trade Undersecretariat in
regards with increasing the economic relations between the
neighbouring countries, will go ahead. /Milliyet/
The meeting of the Council of Ministers of NATO, which will last
for two days, started in the city of Florence in Italy yesterday.
During the Summit, the European Security and Defence Identity
(ESDI) and the latest situation in Russia and the Balkans are
being discussed. NATO Secretary-General, George Robertson, stated
that the European Union's (EU) efforts to speed up the formation
of the ESDI should not worry the US. Meanwhile, the Turkish
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ismail Cem, also talked about the
ESDI, stating that the draft article that will be presented by
the EU on 13 June will not satisfy Turkey. /Cumhuriyet/
Turkmenistan's Ambassador to Ankara, Nurmuhabbet Hamanov, issued
a statment concerning Turkmenistan's natural gas, which caused
worries in Ankara after the Russian Head of State, Vladimir
Putin's visit to Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. Hamanov said, "It
is out of the question that Turkmenistan will give up this
project. According to the protocol that was signed, the
agreements between the countries will be completed in the year
2000. Then the consortium's problem of finance will be solved.
Nobody is thinking of canceling the protocol. Turkmenistan's gas
will be brought to the Turkish border in the year 2002."
/Cumhuriyet/
Cuban Agriculture Minister Alfredo Jordan Morales will arrive in
Turkey on Friday upon an official invitation from Turkish
Agriculture and Rural Affairs Minister Husnu Yusuf Gokalp. A
statement from the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Ministry said
that during the visit, a cooperation protocol will be signed
between the two countries' respective agricultural research
institutes. Morales is also expected to meet Turkey-Cuba Joint
Economic Commission (JEC) Co-Chairman Rustu Kazim Yucelen.
Morales will return to Cuba on May 27. /All papers/
The first part of the Yildirim 2000 manoeuvre of the Turkish
Armed Forces (TSK) will be carried out between May 26 and June
13. A statement from the Office of the Chief of General Staff
said that the manoeuvres were aimed at improvement of
mobilization techniques, backup staff training and coordination
methods between the TSK and public institutions in the event of
war. /All papers/
The government budget showed a primary surplus of TL 3.10
quadrillion in the first four months of the year, against a
deficit of TL 195.7 trillion in the same period of last year,
Finance Minister Sumer Oral announced yesterday. The consolidated
budget deficit was seen at TL 6.4 quadrillion in the first four
months. In a written statement, Oral indicated that the primary
fiscal surplus had overshot earlier projections by 76 %.
Following a meeting with IMF Turkey-Desk Chief, Carlo Cottarelli
yesterday, Oral said tax revenues had overperformed in the first
four months. "Event excluding supplementary taxes, tax revenues
have increased by 110 %", he said. /All papers/
Turkey's e-commerce volume may rise to $15-20 million this year
from $1 million last year, researcher and consultant IBS
Executive Director David Tonge was quoted by the Anatolia News
Agency as saying. The Economist Turkey analyst Merli Baroudi said
Turkey ranked 39th among 60 countries in e-commerce. Internet
users increased by 60 % in the first five months of this year to
75,000, Tonge said at an Istanbul conference sponsored by The
Economist Magazine and IBM Turk.
The Turkish manufacturing industry's utilization of its current
available capacity was at 72.8 % in the first quarter of the
year, up 2.5 % from 70.3 % during the same period last year, the
State Institute of Statistics (DIE) revealed yesterday. /All
papers/
The British Thames Water firm, which has undertaken the first
build-operate-transfer water project of Turkey in Izmit, also has
supported the performance of a play 'The Taming of the Shrew' by
the Royal Shakespeare Company in Istanbul as part of the
'Britain-Turkey 2000' celebrations. The 'Izmit Urban and
Industrial Water Assurance Project' implemented by the Thames
Water firm was completed in 1998 and became functional in January
1999. /Turkiye/
STFA Construction Company has ranked first among five firms in
the Turkmenbasi Port Bidding. Five international firms have
participated in the bidding put out for the Turkmenbasi Port
Project by the Turkmen Maritime Lines in Turkmenistan. /Turkiye/
A reception was held by the Azerbaijani Ambassador to Ankara,
Mehmet Nevrezoglu, on the occasion of the Azerbaijani National
Day yesterday. Many high-level officials including Deputy Prime
Minister Devlet Bahceli and Minister of Energy and Natural
Resources Cumhur Ersumer attended the reception. /Turkiye/
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban who has arrived in Turkey
as the official guest of his Turkish counterpart Bulent Ecevit
has given a 'state medal' to Prof.Hasan Eren for his initiatives
on Turcology and his loyalty to Hungarian culture. Prof.Eren has
graduated from a university in Budapest and then made a series of
studies on Turcology. /Turkiye/
A leading jurist and a columnist in the US, Bruce Fein, has sent
a letter to the 'Plain Dealer' newspaper published in Cleveland
and said that the Armenian lobby assumed a stance supporting
terrorism and encouraging acts of violence against Turkey. Fein
has criticized the activities of the Armenian lobby in his
letter. The Armenian lobby in the US is still continuing with its
efforts for the recognition of the so-called Armenian genocide.
/Turkiye/
Forty representatives of the Small- and Medium-Scale Enterprises
(KOBIs) from 29 countries in Europe and Asia arrived in Kayseri
to make a series of observations. The representatives visited the
Kayseri Organized Industrial Region and received information
concerning production from the officials. The representatives
said that Turkey was a great market and Kayseri was a convenient
city to make investments. /Sabah/
The Istanbul Stock Exchange (IMKB) has become a partner in the
Kyrgyz Stock Exchange with a share of 27.4 %. The Head of the
IMKB, Osman Birsen, said that they wanted to be the leading stock
exchange in this region and added that they could also be
partners with the Azerbaijani and Kazakh stock exchanges. /Sabah/
The Capital Market Council (SPK) signed accords with the German
Federal Stock Exchanges Observation Council (BAWE) and the French
Stock Exchanges Transactions Commission (COB) concerning the
share of information during the meeting that was held by the
Organization of International Stock Exchanges Commission in
Sydney. /Cumhuriyet/
The regional market in the stock exchanges will turn out to be
the Small and Medium-Scale Enterprises (KOBI) market. Concerning
this issue, it was planned that the work will come to an end by
September and the meetings with the European Investment Bank
(EIB) will be started. According to the regulations, even the
one-year-old companies will be able to apply for the KOBI market.
/Milliyet/
The Minister of the Environment, Feyzi Aytekin, signed the
'Cartegna Bio-Security Protocol' on behalf of Turkey yesterday.
The document was drawn up to help countries guard against adverse
effects that genetically altered organisms may have on human
life. Speaking at the signing ceremony, Aytekin called for the
protocol to be implemented at once. /Turkish Daily News/
The military apron of Ataturk Airport in Istanbul will host one
of the biggest military fairs in the world starting today and
lasting three days. 'Airex 2000 International Civilian Aviation
and Airport Equipment Fair,' which will be held by the Mint Fair
Company for the third time, will gather the producers and buyers
in the Middle East and the Balkans from the Turkish-Speaking
Republics together. /Hurriyet/
It was reported that Turkey is likely to be included in EUREX,
which is expected to be one of the biggest stock exchanges in the
world in terms of terminal market. The Capital Market Council
(SPK) made an explanation concerning the issue, stating, "The
intermediary institutions, which ensure the conditions that are
demanded by EUREX, will be able to make transaction in this
platform. The agreement that was made with the German capital
markets' arranging authority are of the utmost importance for our
markets. The work to sign agreements with the countries that are
expected to take part in the EUREX platform is continuing."
/Hurriyet/
The World Bank's Director to Turkey, Ajay Chhibber, stated,
"James D. Wolfensohn is the first Head of the World Bank who has
visited Turkey in the last ten years. This shows the importance
given by the international society to Turkey. Turkey is again on
the agenda of the World Bank and recently the Bank has decided to
give Turkey the biggest economic support since the Presidency of
the deceased Turgut Ozal. Turkey is the country that is most
discussed by important institutions such as the World Bank and
the International Monetary Fund (IMF), because Turkey is carrying
out a structural programme that aims at a radical change."
/Hurriyet/
The foundation of the Turco-German Foundation's 7-18 age children
quarter, which will be built by the Prime Ministry, Social
Services and the Society for the Protection of Children,
Turco-German Foundation and the Channel D, was laid in Kocaeli's
district of Golcuk with a ceremony. During the ceremony, the
State Minister Hasan Gemici said, "There are 2,400 orphaned
children in this region. Now they are under the protection of
their relatives. We will also work for these children." Gemici
also thanked the administrators of the Turco-German Foundation
and Channel D for their contribution. The children's quarter's
construction will be completed in eight months and shelter 100
children. /Hurriyet/
It was revealed that Yusuf Turhalli, Ayhan Ciftci and Yildirim
Kaya, who are the members of the so-called Central Committee of
the PKK terrorist organization, and nearly 130 terrorists
accompanying them escaped from the PKK on 19 May 2000. It was
stated that these terrorists have opposed the strategy of the PKK
for some time now. The security forces stated that other members
of the Central Committee of the PKK had escaped as well from this
organization. They added that however, the names of these
terrorists have not yet been determined, but this number reached
800 during the last year. /Hurriyet/
The players of the City Theatres went on a tour to France. The
players, who arrived in Paris, will stage the play 'Bati Rihtimi'
by Bernard-Marie Koltes. This play, which will be performed by
Metin Cekmez, Ahmet Ozarslan, Nergis Corakci, Cebile Toyon, Nur
Sacbuker, Zeki Yildirim, Altay Ozbek and Eftal Gurbulak, will be
staged on 26 and 27 May at La Ferme Du Buisson in the city of
Marne La Vallee in France. /Hurriyet/
The former leader of the Republican People's Party (CHP), Deniz
Baykal, visited the Turkish Research Centre, which is based in
the city of Essen in Germany, and issued a speech concerning the
relations between Turkey and the European Union, stating that
Turkey's candidacy to the European Union (EU) had brought a new
enthusiasm to Turkey. Baykal added, "The positive results of the
candidacy can be seen quite clearly throughout Turkish society.
In addition, a Turkey that is a member of the EU will have a much
more positive stance towad Greece." Baykal also talked about the
relations between Turkey and Germany, saying that now not only
Turkish people immigrate to Germany, but also German people
immigrate to Turkey. Baykal added, "We want to make it easier for
German people to become Turkish citizens. I hope this step will
be achieved and we can set an example for Germany concerning this
issue." /Cumhuriyet/
Columnist Yilmaz Oztuna comments on the relations between Turkey
and Iran. A summary of his column is as follows:
"The Humeini Revolution is one of the most important revolutions
in history. Revolutions are followed by years of excitement and
enthusiasm and then comes calm and peace. During the years of
excitement unthinkable incidents may occur and later, the nation
which has carried out the Revolution is surprised at the
harshness of these more than anyone else. The first years of 1789
French Revolution and 1917 Russian Revolution attest to that.
At the moment Iran is experiencing this period of fever. Second
to Turkey, Iran is the most important State in the Islamic world,
with its deep-rooted past and settled traditions. Its borders
should not be compared to those of other states, the borders of
which have been drawn up by colonialist states. Persian is a
language most suited to poetry. Today more than one-third of the
Iranian population speaks Turkish.
Such a bi-national State with an imperial structure has
minorities speaking Kurdish, Arabic, Lorestani, Ahghani.
Therefore, it has accepted Shiite as the basis of Irani
nationalism and the 'sine qua non' condition of its territorial
integrity.
It is apparent that Iran wishes to export the theocratic state
model. It has shown this interest in Turkistan, Caucasia, Bosnia,
Chechnya and even in Turkey. It has frightened the world with the
violent actions it undertook, and has been placed on the list of
terrorist countries. It has created an atmosphere where radical
Islamist theory threatens democracy.
Turkey has presented another model to the Islamic world. Although
it came into being in 1923, it can be said that this model
already existed in the Ottoman Empire. Therefore, Iran has to
pay attention to Turkey. It is not possible for Iran with
intellectuals educated in Western culture and yet who have not
lost their Eastern roots, to believe that the theocratic state
can exist in the 21st century. Therefore, it is following a
strict and nervous policy.
In the next meeting of the National Security Council Turkey's
relations with Iran will reviewed. More than a hundred Turkish
businessmen are going to Iran. Turkey's mistake has been to let
everyone in. We have accepted hundreds of thousands of Iranians,
Iraqi Kurds, and Turks from Bulgaria. All three groups were
allowed in for different reasons but all three were accepted
through spontaneous decisions and incorrect decisions. Modern
States must act quickly, but they should not act on the spur of
the moment without true consideration.
Columnist Taha Akyol writes on the reccent developments in
Russia. A summary of his column is as follows:
"There is an important article on Putin in the first issue of
'Strategic Analysis' published by the Eurasia Foundation in
Ankara. In the article it is stated that Putin who has worked in
the KGB is an honest, silent, calm, decisive and a harsh person.
In the person of Putin, Russian ideology has found a new source
of inspiration. This ideology aims to restructure Russia on the
bases of market economy, private ownership and democracy. It
also covers factors such as patriotism in addition to a belief in
Russia's greatness, and its being a centre of development.
In the article it is also stated that Putin has increased the
budget for armament by 50%, to return Russia to its past military
might and win the support of the military. Certainly this
decision was not welcomed by the foreign investors in the country
and Russia's neighbours. It is also mentioned that, Putin has
accepted a new military doctrine which allows the use of nuclear
weapons if it is necessary for the security of the country.
That may be why the West has not shown the necessary attention
to dangerous human rights violations in Chechnya. Why is Georgia
sending signals that Azeri oil should be carried through Russia
rather than Baku-Ceyhan?
Yeltsin has prepared the person to be his successor well. He was
not jealous of Putin's power. This is a positive factor he will
be remembered for. In the elections Putin has received 52% of the
votes. That is what lies behind stability. Turkey lacks such a
support of social stability. The stability seen today is based
on the good-will of the leaders of the three parties.
Turkey is seeing that Russia's hand is strengthening in Caucasia,
and Central Asia. Turkey should begin to consider system reforms
which will strengthen itself in a similar manner.
FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...
PUTIN'S MESSAGE TO SEZER
ECEVIT: "TURKEY EMERGES FROM SHADOWS OF UNSOLVED MURDERS"
HIZBULLAH INDICTMENT COMPLETE
TEHRAN IS WAITING FOR SEZER
ECONOMIC RELATIONS BETWEEN IRAN AND TURKEY
NATO GIVES GUARANTEE TO THE US
HAMANOV: "TURMENISTAN'S GAS WILL BE BROUGHT TO TURKEY"
CUBAN AGRICULTURE MINISTER TO VISIT TURKEY
TSK HOLDS YILDIRIM 2000 MANOEUVRE
PRIMARY BUDGET SURPLUS
TURKISH E-COMMERCE MAY REACH $15-20 MILLION THIS YEAR
MANUFACTURING CAPACITY UP
THAMES WATER BRINGS BOTH WATER AND CULTURE
STFA'S INITIATIVE
AZERBAIJANI NATIONAL DAY RECEPTION
HUNGARIAN PRIME MINISTER GIVES AN AWARD TO EREN
FEIN CRITICIZES ACTIVITIES AGAINST TURKEY
EURASIAN KOBIs IN KAYSERI
IMKB BECOMES A PARTNER WITH KYRGYZ STOCK EXCHANGE
COOPERATION IN THE STOCK EXCHANGE WITH EUROPE
ISTANBUL STOCK EXCHANGES TO ESTABLISH KOBI
TURKEY SIGNS BIO-SECURITY PROTOCOL
FAIR TO BE HELD AT ATATURK AIRPORT IN ISTANBUL
TURKEY TO ENTER EUREX
CHHIBBER'S STATEMENT CONCERNING WOLFENSOHN
CHILDREN QUARTER'S FOUNDATION LAID IN GOLCUK
800 MILITANTS ESCAPED FROM THE PKK IN ONE YEAR
CITY THEATRES IN PARIS
BAYKAL IN GERMANY
FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...
IRAN AND TURKEY BY YILMAZ OZTUNA (TURKIYE)
STRENGTHENING RUSSIA BY TAHA AKYOL (MILLIYET)