SEZER RECEIVES ZEUGMA INITIATIVE GROUP

President Ahmet Necdet Sezer received "Zeugma Initiative Group" of 15 including Minister of Tourism Erkan Mumcu. President Sezer said that he will support the works which are carried out to rescue the historical findings in Zeugma. The Press Center of Presidential Office announced that President Sezer was pleased to sponsor the rescue operations. After the meeting, Minister of Tourism Mumcu said that "Our policy over Zeugma is to save whatever we can in Zeugma". Spokesman of Zeugma Initiative Group and General Director of Is Bank Ersin Ozince stated that President Sezer regarded the Zeugma initiative as an important issue for democratization as it constitutes an example for the development of the civil initiatives in Turkey. /Cumhuriyet/

NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL'S MEETING

The July meeting of National Security Council was held yesterday. President Ahmet Necdet Sezer presided over the meeting and Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit, the Chief of General Staff General Huseyin Kivrikoglu, State Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Devlet Bahceli, Husamettin Ozkan and Mesut Yilmaz also attended the meeting. In the meeting Turkey's full EU membership, latest developments in Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) and domestic and foreign security issues were discussed. It was stated that Turkey should follow the path towards the full EU membership by taking its long-term interests into consideration at the meeting. In the statement of National Security Council, for the first time, human rights and freedom were emphasized as much as the constitutional regime and the security issues. General Secretariat of National Security Council stated that the foreign and domestic issues related to Turkey's security and the measures that had been taken were discussed at the meeting. /Cumhuriyet/

ECEVIT ISSUES A CIRCULAR ON A POSSIBLE ENERGY SHORTAGE

Office of the Prime Minister is planning to cope with a possible energy shortage which Turkey might face in the following years by taking austerity measures. Over a proposal of Energy and Natural Resources Ministry, Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit issued a circular on the issue. The preparation of the new circular on austerity measures are continuing in the Undersecretariat of Prime Ministry due to the inadequacy in the electicity production and compulsory power cuts. /Cumhuriyet/

GRADUATION ENTHUSIASM

The War Academy graduates of 1999-2000 education year received their diplomas during a ceremony held in Istanbul yesterday. President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, Turkish Grand National Assembly (TGNA) Speaker Yildirim Akbulut, Premier Bulent Ecevit, Chief of General Staff Gen. Huseyin Kivrikoglu, Ministers, Force Commanders and a number of invited guests attended the ceremony. Delivering a speech at the graduation ceremony, War Academy Commander Gen. Nahit Senogul said, "Turkish War Academies is an example to the whole world with its structure, training and education system and infrastructure facilities." Gen. Senogul also emphasized that War Academies were the defenders of parliamentary, democratic and secular Republic of Turkey. /Turkiye/

CYPRUS PROXIMITY TALKS CONTINUE IN GENEVA

The second stage of the third round of Cyprus 'proximity talks' continue in Geneva, Switzerland. Officials from the United Nations (UN) stated that the UN had evaluated the President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) Rauf Denktas' and the Greek-Cypriot leader, Glafkos Klerides' replies to the suggestions UN Secretary General's Cyprus Envoy, Alvaro de Soto, presented to them during the first stage of these talks. It is expected that the evaluation of the UN will be announced to Denktas and Klerides today. Meanwhile, Greek press claimed that the UN is working on a plan comprising a series of opinions for the solution of the Cyprus problem. Newspapers in Athens wrote that this plan would be presented to Denktas and Klerides at the end of the second stage of the third tour. /Aksam/

YOK'S NEW LIST

The Higher Education Board (YOK) presented a new list to President Ahmet Necdet Sezer. Sezer had vetoed the YOK list of rectorial candidates for Dokuz Eylul University (DEU) again after two professors withdrew their candidacies on Tuesday. In the new list, YOK placed Prof. Dr. Faik Sarialioglu who received 142 votes, to the first place while Prof. Dr. Ozcan Gokce and Prof. Emin Alici were placed as the second and third candidates for DEU. /Turkiye/

RECTORS TO CONVENE

Universities' rectors will convene tomorrow. In addition to the state and foundation universities, rectors from the universities in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) will also participate in the Rectors' Committee. It will be a kind of fairwell meeting for the rectors whose terms in office will end on August 6 and according to the law, can not be re-elected. After the meeting of the Committee, Inter-universities Board will convene presided by Prof. Dr. Abdurrahman Kutlu and it is expected to ratify 916 juries formed for 2,133 candidates of associated professors and to take up foreign language topic for the associated professors. /Turkiye/

CAKMAKOGLU DUE IN BRITAIN

Minister of National Defense Sabahattin Cakmakoglu left for Britain to attend Farnborough Aviation Fair. Before his departure, Cakmakoglu said that he was going to participate in the official opening and signature ceremony for the "Big Plane Project of the Future". He emphasized that the planes produced in the project would take the place of C-130 and C-160 planes which are being currently used in the Turkish Armed Forces. /Turkiye/

TURKEY TO BUY HAWK MISSILES

The US Department of Defence (Pentagon) officially summitted to the Congress the sale of seven Hawk middle-range defence missiles and their military equipments. Pentagon stated that Hawk missiles would greatly contribute to Turkey's air defence capabilities. /Turkiye/

OSS RESULTS ANNOUNCED

The results of the Examination for Student Selection (OSS) has been announced. Scoring at least 105 marks, 953,966 out of 1,366,659 students past the exam. Statistical data shows that girls were more successful in the exam than their male counterparts, 74.6% of female and 66.5% of male students were successful. /Hurriyet/

FOURTH EURASIAN ISLAMIC COUNCIL MEETING CONTINUES

Turkey put his mark on the "Fourth Eurasian Islamic Council Meeting", organized in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina. During the Council, it was requested that Turkish should be the 'superior language' among the Muslim people living in Eurasia and the Balkans. Head of the Directorate of Religious Affairs, Mehmet Nuri Yilmaz, answered questions of the journalists before the session on the 'Needs of the People from Different Religions in Eurasia to Live Together in Peace and Stability' and said, "Balkans, Caucasia and the Turkish-speaking Republics have a great importance on the region where they live in and Turkey is the leading country in this region. There is a need for cultural centres that teach Turkish in the Balkans and Eurasia. Thus, a unity will be able to ensured in terms of language". /Aksam/

EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS COMMEMORATED

Two monuments that were built in the memory of 421 people, who died at the Officers' Club and Command of Naval Headquarter during the earthquake that occurred at the Marmara Region on 17 August, were opened with a ceremony yesterday. Chief of General Staff, General Huseyin Kivrikoglu, said, "Today our navy maintains its preparation for a war. In addition, Command of Naval Headquarter will move to Izmir to a modern complex". The second ceremony was held at the place where the Officers' Club was located. Commander of the Naval Forces, Admiral Ilhami Erdil, delivered a speech and recalled that 34 people had died there. After his speech, Kivrikoglu opened the monument. /Sabah/

STATEMENT OF BRITISH MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Britain reacted against the fact that that any development will not be able to be made by the year 2003, which was determined as the beginning date for EU enlargement during the Helsinki Summit. British Minister of Foreign Affairs, Robin Cook, stated, "New concrete targets should be formed in terms of this issue and the European Union (EU) should develop a new procedure and, thus, the uneasiness of the candidate countries should be removed. The unification will be in favour of the candidate countries and for the EU itself. However, a new date should be determined for this. We reached a consensus at Helsinki that the enlargement should be started in 2003 and Britain is for the keeping of this promise". Meanwhile, it was understood that a certain date could not be mentioned in terms of Turkey's membership to the EU. /Milliyet/

PISKINSUT'S STATEMENT

Chairman of the Human Rights Investigation Commission of the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TGNA) and Democratic Left Party (DSP) deputy to Aydin, Sema Piskinsut, stated that they were determined to ensure the freedom of expression. She added that the aim of her visit to twelve provinces the Southern and Eastern Anatolia Regions was to prepare a basis for her survey and comprehensive investigations. Piskinsut said, "We try to evaluate the opinions of the people living in these regions on various issues". /Cumhuriyet/

A DELEGATION OF KOSOVAR TURKS COME TO ANKARA

A delegation of Kosovar Turks will come to Ankara to seek Turkey's support in getting Turkish accepted as an official language in Kosovo. The delegation which is expected to arrive in Ankara on Thursday, will be received by Minister of Foreign Affairs Ismail Cem and other State Ministers. The UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) decided last year to change the official languages spoken in Kosovo, and Turkish was excluded. Up until that time, official documents were being written in three different languages: Turkish, Albanian and Serbo-Croat. /Turkish Daily News/

A SOLID STEP BY THE ISRAELI TO BUY MANAVGAT WATER

Israeli Finance and Infrastructure Ministries invited Israeli companies to give offers through internet for the transportation of water from Manavgat river. In the announcement it was further stressed that the invitation is being made to examine the feasibility of water import and other alternatives. It is not clear whether a bid will be opened or not. /Hurriyet/

PRIVATIZATION OF VAKIFBANK

An amendment was made in the law related to Vakifbank stating that B type shares comprising 55 percent of total shares owned by the Directorate General of Foundations could be sold by way of public offering. The government has adopted a decree in the power of law providing for the initial public offering (IPO) of 20 percent in state owned Vakifbank shares. Vakifbank's privatization comes as part of a broader plan to commercialize and eventually privatize state banks. The government plans to launch the IPO in October and generate $500-800 million in proceeds, Minister of State responsible for privatization Yuksel Yalova has said./Hurriyet/

MINISTRY OF NATIONAL DEFENCE'S STATEMENT ABOUT THE HELICOPTER BIDDING

Ministry of National Defence stated that all issues, covering Turkey's interest such as performance, cost, transfer of technology and the internal contribution requested in the bidding contract, were evaluated in detail. Ministry of National Defence issued a written statement, in which it was stated that it was decided to start to hold meetings with the American Bell Textron Company and, if these meetings do not give any result, then other meetings should be held with the Russian Federation and the Israeli Consortium. /Milliyet/

CANAKKALE CERAMICS CELEBRATE THEIR 43TH ANNIVERSARY

The 43rd anniversary of the establishment of Canakkale Ceramics Factories was celebrated during a ceremony yesterday. Founder of Canakkale Ceramics Factories, Ibrahim Bodur, issued a speech during the ceremony and said, "We exported ceramics to 30 countries in 1999 and, thus, the foreign exchange amounting to 72 million dollars entered into Turkey. Turkey's need of ceramics is 150 million square meters and 35% of this amount is produced in our factories. Turkey, which is the best fifth country in ceramics productions and quality in the world, is the best third country in Europe". /Sabah/

NUCLEAR ENERGY COOPERATION TREATY TO BE SIGNED

The Peaceful Nuclear Energy Cooperation Treaty was signed between Turkey and United States of America yesterday in Ankara. General Director of Turkish Atom Energy Association Cengiz Yalcyn on behalf of Turkey and Ambassador Mark Parris on behalf of the United States signed the treaty in the ceremony held in Turkish Atom Energy Association. The treaty constitutes a legal framewok for the technology and matter transfer, developing common research projects and a scientific cooperation on the nuclear energy. However treaty limits the cooperation between two countries to the civil area. /Cumhuriyet/

TUPRAS IS TURKEY'S BIGGEST INDUSTRIAL INSTITUTION

According to the report of Istanbul Chamber of Industry, 1999 is the worst year of last 32 years for the Turkish industry. 113 of 500 big industrial institutions declared that they suffered losses in 1999. In ISO's list in which the institutions were put in order according to their sales revenues, TUPRAS was the biggest industrial institution in Turkey. TEAS followed TUPRAS and ARCELIK placed third in the list which included 468 private and 32 public institutions. /Cumhuriyet/

LOAN AMOUNTING TO $1.8 BILLION BY EXIMBANK

Turk Eximbank's loan for exports increased by 11% when compared to the same period of the last year and reached $1.8 billion. According to the information obtained from Turk Eximbank, a total of $1.8 billion, comprising the country loans, World Bank loan and the other middle and long-term loans, was ensured. /Sabah/

COST OF STATE BORROWING DECREASES

Although the amount of domestic borrowings increased 36 percent compared to the previous year, the cost of domestic borrowings made by the Treasury in the first seven months of the year decreased 71 points. An amount of TL 13 quadrillion of savings in interests was reached since the average interest rate for domestic borrowings decreased from 110 percent to 39 percent. Also, average maturity date for domestic borrowings became 77 days longer. /Hurriyet/

EU COMMISSION RELEASE EURO 177 MILLION TO TURKEY

EU Commission released EURO 177 million aid to Turkey. In the context of the Helsinki Decisions, EU gave the message that candidacy of Turkey is assessed with the same criteria as other candidates and began to prepare the basic legal structure after the political structure. EU commission recommended that financial cooperation would be established on a much stronger basis with the construction of a legal basis of political decisions which put Turkey into the same frame with other candidates./Turkiye/

TUNCA TOSKAY: NO NEED FOR CONCERN

State Minister Tunca Toskay said that some positive signals began to be seen in the fight against inflation, "it began to follow a stable, downward trend. "For the first time in so many years, inflation rate has dropped under %20, with Wholesale Price Index being %0.3 and Consumer Price Index being % 0.7. An important downward trend began to be seen at the Consumer Price Index which was targeted to be %25 at the end of the year 2,000. Wholesale Price Index also began to follow a sarp downward trend sharply. Toskay evaluated the Current Account Deficit of $3,5 billion for the period of January-April which was resulted in $565 million surplus last year, and said "there is no need for concern on the rise of consumer goods in imports compared to the investment goods". But Toskay added that the developments must be watched carefully. Toskay said that Turkey closed the year 1999 with %6.4 decrease in economic growth but in the first quarter of the year 2000, %4.2 growth was seen. During the same period the rise of Gross National Product was %5.6 Toskay concluded that political stability and wanishing of uncertainties in the expectations of market actors about future was efficient in the positive development./Turkiye/

THEATRE SEMINARS IN YALOVA

Theatre seminars in which foreign specialists also participated are being carried out for the earthquake victims in Yalova by the efforts of Association of Support for Modern Life . When the seminars end, plays will be staged on a truck turned into a stage. Stephan Fischer-Fels from the Berlin Orips Theatre, Kerstin Hess from the Dresden New Generation Theatre and Turkish students, teachers and children participate in the seminars which will continue until August 2. /Cumhuriyet/

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

SEZER SUPPORTS 'CIVILIAN CONSTITUTION' BY KENAN AKIN (TURKIYE)

Columnist Kenan Akin comments on President Sezer`s request for a civilian constitution. A summary of his column is as follows: "During his reception of the Zeugma Initiative Group, President Sezer drew attention by his request for a civilian constitution. Sezer took the first step for filling a vacuum by saying that in this constitution volunteer non-governmental organizations should be given a greater role. Noting that such non-governmental initiatives indicated that democracy had taken root in Turkey and the law concerning the politicial parties should be changed. We realized that President Sezer, despite his 'calm' appearance, acted speedily after meticulously studying the problem. In fact, his giving an appointment to the Zeugma Initiative Group immediately although he had a tight schedule constituted an example to his energetic conduct. Sezer who expressed his support for the Zeugma Initiative Group during the meeting, issued a press release announcing this. In fact in many regions of Anatolia, historical works, ancient cities are waiting for such initiatives to come to light. The only difference is that Belkis/Zeugma needs these efforts urgently and as the Chairman of Gaziantep Indusrty Chamber Board stated there is a lot of work to do. Accepted as one of the most important cultural treasures, Zeugma will also contribute to Turkey's promotion abroad if the ancient city is rescued and turned into an open-air museum. As Egypt received a lion's share from tourism when Abu Sumbul was rescued during the construction of the Aswan Dam, so will Zeugma be a hope for the Gaziantep region and Turkey. In order to achieve this, the importance of the intiative should be comprehended and the rescue projects should be implemented speedily by removing all bureaucratic obstacles. We hope that coming days will be more fortunate for Zeugma."

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