ECEVIT:" THE CRISIS IS OVER"

Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit was optimistic about ballotting on the investigation cases to be sent to Supreme Court. He said "The crisis in the coalition is over. I hope that this optimistic observation is true." He added that the TGNA has worked hard and therefore the deputies deserved a holiday. He said that nowhere in the world such a hard_working national assembly could be seen. He added that with this performance, TGNA and Turkish politics have gained prestige. /Turkiye/

ISMAIL CEM`S CALL ON ISLAMIC COUNTRIES

At the meeting of CIO (Conference of Islamic Organization), the Foreign Affairs Minister Ismail Cem said that the problem regions of the world such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Palestine, Cyprus, Western Thrace, Iraq and Azerbaijan, should not be left alone. In the 27th meeting of CIO, Cem emphasized that Turkey attaches great importance to its relations with the members of the CIO. He said "Turkey thinks it has an important responsibility to work with the member countries of CIO in order to improve the economy of the region and to strenghten the security of the region." He added that in the problem regions of the world the Muslim side of the struggle lost because of the lack of necessary cooperation among the CIO members. He said, "We have to establish a more efficient organization and General Secretariat." /Turkiye/

CEM DOES NOT ATTEND ESDI MEETING

Turkey, excluded from the European Security and Defense Identitiy (ESDI)'s decision mechanisms, declared to attend the meeting of six NATO member countries at low level. The Spokesman of the Foreign Ministry, Huseyin Dirioz, said, "Turkey will participate in the meeting which will be held in Brussels, however, it will not be at a ministry level". Dirioz stated that Turkey will be represented by a delegation headed by Kurtulus Taskent, Deputy Undersecretary and Nihat Akyol, Turkish Ambassador to Brussels. /Cumhuriyet/

WARNING FROM ATES

The commander of Armed Forces, General Atilla Ates warned against reactionary movements and those that cause division in the society.In his speech he delivered on the 2209th anniversary of the Armed Forces, General Atilla Ates stated that the terrorist organizations try to enter the political arena by changing their strategies. He said " Nobody can hold this nation from reaching the level of civilization which Ataturk set as an aim." He noted that in a world which is unstable and full of risks there is a need for more powerful and modern armed forces. /Turkiye/

WARM MESSAGES FROM THE EU

Gunther Verheugen, EU official Responsible for EU Enlargement, has given messages relieving Ankara. Meeting with the ambassadors and private sector representatives of candidate countries Verheugen said, "Turkey is the most important strategic country among the candidates. Many sectors in Europe have to learn to take a look at the map to understand this fact. The EU needs Turkey as much as it needs the EU." Noting that Turkey had characteristics peculiar to itself Verheugen said that it was out of the question to grant a special status to Turkey. He added, that was the reason why they insisted on the implementation of reforms necessary for full-membership. "The interests of the EU require a stable and democratic Turkey. The process of candidacy is contributing to this aim", he said. Issuing the message that no hitches were expected on the harmonization of laws, Verheugen stated that the basic problem was political. He said, "During the last 10 years, Turkey has been left behind the developments throughout the world. However, certain positive developments have been observed during these last two years." Football Verheugen pointed out that viewing Turkey as a European country by the public was an important fact which would be influential in the continuation of relations and their speed of improvement. He also noted that Turkish football team was his favourite in the Euro 2000 but he was mistaken. Verheugen stated that even though he was mistaken in his bets at the Commission that Turkey would play versus Holland, he believed that it has been a positive message for Turkey to have competed in the quarter-finals in a sport like football which has great communication power. /Milliyet/

INVESTIGATION REPORTS TO BE VOTED

Today, Turkish Grand National Assembly (TGNA) will discuss eight investigation reports, prepared by the TGNA investigation commissions, including the leader of the Motherland Party (ANAP), Mesut Yilmaz's "Turkcell-Telsim" case and the leader of the True Path Party (DYP) Tansu Ciller's "slush fund" case. With reciprocal compromises, the leaders are expected to be cleared and the path to be opened for Mesut Yilmaz to participate in the government. /Cumhuriyet/

EXTENSION FOR OPERATION NORTHERN WATCH AND EMERGENCY RULE

During the Plenary Session of the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TGNA), the term of Operation Northern Watch (ONW) has been extended six more months as of June 30. In the meantime, the Emergency Rule (OHAL) has been extended for four months in four southeastern cities, Diyarbakir, Hakkari, Sirnak and Tunceli, while abolishing the OHAL in the city of Van as of July 30. /Cumhuriyet/

MARK PARRIS BELIEVES IN THE SUCCESS OF ECONOMIC PROGRAM

The Ambassador of United States, Mark Parris said that the economic stability program was being implemented with great success and he believed that it would accomplish its targets. At the meeting of the Council of Turkish-American Business Council operating within the structure of the Board of External Economic Relations (DEIK) in Istanbul, Parris enumerated the reasons for his belief in the success of the programme. "Turkey has been experiencing very important economic and social changes for the last 15 years. Turkey will be succesful because of the reforms carried out by the government. American investors are closely observing the privatization projects and the legal arrangements on banking, social security, energy and Communication sectors. The two most important reforms that will lead to a flow of foreign investment from America are the arbitration law and the changes in the accounting of finances of the state made by the government. The third reason is that the programme for the decrease of the inflation carried out with IMF is prepared by Turkey itself, and this programme is in force to prevent a possible crisis in the balance of payments and to realise a stable economic growth.", said Parris. /Hurriyet/

BORAY URAS IN ANKARA

Boray Uras, who lost his daughter Selin Uras and her fiance Erdem Celasun in a traffic accident in Istanbul, arrived in Ankara yesterday. Having a 20-day long walk from Istanbul to Ankara, to ensure enacting of a new traffic law, Uras has managed to draw the attention of the public and the Parliament to the traffic problem which causes the death of thousands of people every year. After laying a wreath on Ataturk's moseuleum, Uras was received by the Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TGNA), Yildirim Akbulut. Today, Uras is expected to be received by President Ahmet Necdet Sezer. /Cumhuriyet/

ISRAEL WATER DELEGATION TO COME

The second stage of meetings, concerning Turkey's sell of water to Israel, are going to begin on Friday June 30. After the meetings, an agreement is expected to be reached on Israel's purchase of water from Turkey for 50 billion cubicmetres annually, for five years. /Cumhuriyet/

RESTRICTION FOR PEACE FORCE IN CYPRUS

The Council of Ministers of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) decided to restrict the activities of the United Nations (UN) Peace Force in the Northern Cyprus. The Council of Ministers, presided by Prime Minister Dervis Eroglu, discussed Security Council's recent unilateral decisions. Asserting that the Security Council has taken decisions without taking into consideration the reality that there were two separate states and nations in Cyprus, the TRNC government decided to restrict the activities of the Peace Force in retaliation. For this reason, the number of border gates will be reduced, however, the activities of the Peace Force will not be restricted completely. /Cumhuriyet/

PEACE SUMMIT

A meeting, which concerns maintaining peace in Caucasia, was held in Kars. In addition to nineth President Suleyman Demirel, Minister of Interior, Saadettin Tantan, Minister of State Rustu Kazim Yucelen, representatives from Nakhcivan, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Russia also attended the meeting. /Hurriyet/

WORKERS' PROTESTS

Public workers, civil servants and farmers are staging demonstrations to protest low salary increases and delays concerning the rights to form and become members of unions. "The government had earlier pledged to increse the salaries and pensions of public workers and retired labourers at the rate of inflation but then, didn't keep its promise," Turkish Public Workers' Labor Union (Kamu-Sen) said. Kamu-Sen has been staging a number of protests since June 14, and they will continue throughout July as well. In addition to Kamu-Sen, farmers also decided to held demonstrations to protest low prices for subsidized grain purchases set by the government this year as part of an anti-inflation program backed by the IMF. /Turkish Daily News/

SEA WOLF_2000 MANEUVRES

The Turkish soldier achieved great success in the Sea wolf_2000 maneuvres, one of the planned maneuvres of the Naval Forces. The maneuvres directed by Admiral Bulent Alpkaya took place both in the international waters of Marmara, Aegean and the Mediterranean sea and in the air space. /Turkiye/

TURKISH MOSQUE IN TOKYO

The Turkish mosque which was built in Tokyo by the Religious Affairs Directorate, will be opened by State minister Fikret Unlu and Head of Religious Affairs Directorate, Mehmet Nuri Yilmaz with a ceremony tomorrow. It is stated that the mosque is not only a place of worship for Muslims but also a place to promote Turkish_Islamic art in Japan. /Turkiye/

AGREEMENT ON GSM 1800

The Chairman of the Turk Is Bank Admistrative Board, Burhan Karagoz, the Chairman of Telekom Italia, Marco De Benedetti and the Minister of Transportation and Communications, Enis Oksuz met to discuss the signing of the franchising agreement concerning the tender of GSM 1800. After the meeting, Karagoz stated that they reached an agreement on signing the document. Within the framework of the agreement, the text of the franchising agreement is going to be translated into various languages, then be initialled by the related boards of the companies and sent to the Board of Competition and the Council of State. "After their approval, we will immediately start our investments",said Karagoz. /Turkiye/

IMPROVEMENT OF TURKISH ECONOMY

At the Istanbul International Automotive Congress, the representative of Standard and Poors in Britain, Tim Armstrong , delivered a speech entitled "Turkey and its Neighbours- Expectations on Competition and Demand". Armstrong stressed that they viewed the economic development of Turkey positively when looked at the rating of Turkish companies."Although the earthquakes of 17 August and 12 November had severe impact on the economy causing a 6.9 percent decrease, in the year 2000, we expect a boom in consumption" said Armstrong. /Turkiye/

SABANCI AUTOMOTIVE OPENING UP TO THE WORLD

Sabanci Holding Automotive opens to the world market with the global sales principle by forming new companies with Toyota amd Mitsui. The Head of Sabanci Holding Automotive Company, Hazim Kantarci stated that they would prefer a new structure based on %50 Turk and %50 Japan equal partnership.Each partner will have the opprtunity to concentrate on the area it has experience. Kantarci noted that this new kind of structure will serve to increase Toyota's share in the world market. /Cumhuriyet/

ISTANBUL CHAMBER OF INDUSTRIALISTS (ISO): FINE TUNING IS NECESSARY

At a session of the Istanbul Chamber of Industrialists yesterday, Turkish businessmen agreed on the point that from now on, the success of the economic program would necessarily depend on taking some additional measures and fine tunings. Husamettin Kavi, Chairman of the ISO said at the meeeting that Turkiye can not carry on an economic activity which depends on imports resulting with unfavourable balance of trade. As such fine tunings will be necessary at the second half of the year./Sabah/

SOFT LOAN TO REFORM FINANCIAL SECTOR

State Minister Recep Onal said that they would gain the ability to make arrangements in parallel with the economic program, if the new draft law is enacted by TGNA, which gives the authority to the government to issue decrees in the force of law. As such, he added, "during the summer recess of the TGNA, we can issue decrees which would make arrangements, specifically concerning structural reforms". In respect to the targets, Onal emphasized that government economic program do not need to be revised. Onal added that the World Bank would release the soft loan to be used in reforming the financial sector towards the end the year at the latest /Sabah/

THE SECOND MED TV: MESOPOTAMIA

The terrorist PKK organization has opened a new MED TV station which was shut up by the host countries after Turkey's protests. Mesopotamia TV, now based in Copenhagen, has a licence to broadcast from Denmark. During their application process to get a licence Turkey intervened and supplied files which revealed relations between the terrorist PKK organization and founders of the TV Station. But Denmark did not take heed the complaints Turkey has put forth. A cocktail party was given on Saturday in Copenhagen on the occasion to mark start of the broadcast. Former prime minister of Denmark Anker Jorgensen, member of House of Lords from England, Lord Dholakia and his wife, and Mehdi Zana who is the husband Leyla Zana, former MP from DEP). During the cocktail party, Jorgensen has been declared as the honourary chairman of the Mesopotomia TV. /Star/

FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS

ABOLISHING DEATH PENALTY BY FIKRET BILA (MILLIYET)

Columnist Fikret Bila comments on the abolishing of capital punishment. A summary of his column is as follows: "The abolishing of death penalty is discussed at the highest level of the State. President Ahmet Necdet Sezer is in favour of abolishing capital punishment. Sezer also believes that it would be wrong to wait for the verdict of the European Court of Human Rights on the issue. He pointed out that Turkey should take out this article from its laws before the European Court of Human Rights' gives its verdict. He has conveyed his thoughts to Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit as well as to the public. Prime Minister Ecevit is also in favour of abolishing the capital punishment. He is waiting for an appropriate climate to bring the issue to the Turkish Grand National Assembly. Ecevit wants death sentence to be abolished as he is against capital punishment personally and as it has become one of the pre-conditions for admittance to the EU. That was why Ecevit attached great importance to Chief of Staff General Kivrikoglu's statement that they were not against the lifting of the death sentence. He believes that this stance of the General Staff will create an appropriate atmosphere for the abolishing of the death penalty. In Turkey death sentence is not being carried out for 15 years. In spite of this fact, there is one great difficulty standing in the way of lifting the capital punishment and that is Ocalan who has been sentenced to death. Turkish public is sensitive on the issue and this sensitivity is reflected to the Government. The Coalition Government agrees on the point that capital punishment should be abolished. However, particularly the Nationalist Action Party (MHP) is against a legal arrangement which would change the death sentence on Ocalan. Therefore, the leader of MHP, Devlet Bahceli claims that Article 125 of the Turkish Penal Code should be preserved, while death sentence for other crimes can be lifted. If the other two partners of the Coalition want to lift the capital punishment altogether, they have to carry this out without the support of the Nationalist Action Party and this is rather hard without getting the support of opposition parties."

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