SEZER APPOINTS 22 NEW RECTORS

President Ahmet Necdet Sezer appointed 22 new rectors. The president had vetoed Higher Education Board's (YOK) first list of rectors due to public opposition and allegations of anti-democratic practices. Following this development, YOK decided to send the list back without any changes. Finally the President ended the dispute over the list of rectors by naming Professor Emin Alici who had received the majority of the votes in the university's recent rectorial election at Dokuz Eylul University. YOK offered three names for the rectorial position for each university. President Ahmet Necdet Sezer did not comply with YOK's list about the appoinments of the Dokuz Eylul, 19 Mayis and Dicle Universities. Prof. Alici was not in YOK's first list. For 19 Mayis University, President Sezer did not appoint Prof. Osman Cakir who was a close friend of YOK Chairman Kemal Guruz and had received the majority of the votes in the elections. Instead, Prof. Suleyman Celik was named as the rector of the 19 Mayis University. For Dicle University, President Sezer named Fikri Canoruc as the rector who was the second candidate in YOK's list instead of Prof. Prof. Mehmet Ozaydin. /Cumhuriyet/

SEZER REVIEWS THE CIVIL SERVANTS' LAW

President Ahmet Necdet Sezer is reviewing the Decree in the Force of Law (KHK) on dismissing the civil servants who are involved in separatist or reactionary actions. It was revealed that Sezer has been investigating the KHK with the General Secretary of Presidency, Kemal Nehrozoglu and the Chairman of Legal Decisions and Law Affairs, Kemalettin Kasifoglu. Meanwhile, Prime Ministry issued a written statement yesterday and stated that KHK was not against the Constitution. /Milliyet/

DECREE CONCERNING CIVIL SERVANTS

Prime Ministry has announced that the decree in the power of law which provides changes in the disciplinary regulations of public servants paving the way for the dismissal of public servants who were involved in separatist and reactionary activities, is in total conformity with the Constitution. The officials said that Article 91 of the constitution clearly defines the scope of decrees in the power of law and the decree in question is within the framework of empowerment by the constitution. They added that there had been similar implementations before, in years 1984,1989,1991 and 1993, regulating the grounds of dismissal of public servants from civil service and from their jobs. /Sabah/

CEM ON MINORITY RIGHTS IN KOSOVO

Foreign Affairs Minister Ismail Cem warned United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) President Bernard Kouchner about the minority rights of Turks in Kosovo. Cem stated that there should be respect for the minority rights of Turks and the issue should be discussed very carefully. Foreign Affairs Minister Ismail Cem received UNMIK President Bernard Kouchner in Ankara yesterday to discuss the difficulties that Turks have faced in Kosovo since the end of NATO operations last year. Last week Cem met with the representatives of the Turkish community in Kosovo, and Kosovar Turks complained at that meeting about the restrictions imposed on the Turkish language by the Albanian majority in the breakaway Yugoslavian Republic. Delivering a speech before the meeting Cem said that both Turkey and UN desired peace in Kosovo. Cem conveyed Turkey's uneasiness to Bernard Kouchner on the negative developments towards Turks in Kosovo after the establishment of UN administration. Criticising UN's indifference to minority rights of Turks in Kosovo, Cem stated that the present conditions which led to disrespect to the minority rights would affect Kosovo's future adversely. Cem and Kouchner agreed upon the use of Turkish in the regions where Turks constitute the majority of the population. /Cumhuriyet/

SUPREME MILITARY COUNCIL TO CONVENE TODAY

Supreme Military Council will convene today, during which the hierarchy of command in the Turkish Armed Forces will be discussed. During this Council that will last for four days at the Headquarter of the General Staff, Commander of the Land Forces, General Atilla Ates, and the General Commander of the Gendermarine, General Rasim Betir will retire. During Council meeting, the appointments of 10 Lieutenant-Generals, 2 Vice-Admirals, 27 Major Generals, 4 Real Admirals, 64 Brigadier Generals and 13 Commodores will be taken up and the situation of 50 officers, who are accused of being involved in fundementalist activities will be discussed. /Aksam/

US SUPPORTS TURKEY

American Council of Representatives leading 14 members wrote a letter to the American Secretary of State, Madeline Albright and wanted her support for the American Bell Helicopter Textron Company to be allowed to make the sale. In the letter it was pointed out that Turkey was one of the most important members of NATO and that the Turkish Armed Forces has been close ally of the American Army since the Korean War that occurred 50 years ago. /Aksam/

CAKMAKOGLU ON MILITARY EXEMPTION CHARGES

Minister of National Defense Sabahattin Cakmakoglu gave information on the works of National Defense Ministry. Cakmakoglu stated that the total revenue received from the military exemption charges reached DM 1.1 billion. Stating that the works carried out in the military branches continued fast, Cakmakoglu said that 25 of 150 bills enacted in the parliament were on the issues related to Turkish Armed Forces. /Cumhuriyet/

MIRZAOGLU GOES TO JAPAN

Minister of State Ramazan Mirzaoglu went to Japan to discuss the maritime affairs with Japanese authorities and to participate in the launching ceremony of a new ship which will be delivered to Turkish Yasa Maritime Industrial Inc. Prior his departation at the Ataturk Airport, Mirzaoglu said that 44 ships for Turkish maritime fleet will be built at Japanese dockyards until the end of 2001. Total cost of these ships will be around $ 1 billion. /Turkiye/

OKSUZ'S STATEMENT CONCERNING GSM 1800 LICENCE AGREEMENT

Minister of Communication, Enis Oksuz, stated that GSM 1800 licence agreement would be signed in ten days. He said that signing was delayed due to the fact that the speculations concerning the base stations caused the concerned parties hesitate. Oksuz added that the opinions that were put forward regarding the base stations and the academic reports concerning the issue caused concern for consortium representatives. Oksuz said, "We are going to issue a book of instructions concerning the new arrangements about the base stations, which is very important in terms of informing the companies about what to do". /Milliyet/

GOVERNOR ERCEL ON INFLATION

Central Bank Governor Gazi Erçel in a statement to the newspaper of American Business circles, the Wall Street Journal said that that the high rate of inflation in Turkey caused various problems among which terror could be cited as the most important one. Gazi Erçel in a that private statement to the journal, said: "Turkey is a potential peace centre in the region. If Turkey were able to keep the inflation down, there would neither be Southeastern issue nor fundemantalism nor other similar problems"./Turkiye/

TUSIAD WANTS FINE TUNING

Chairman of Association of Turkish Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSIAD), Erkut Yucao?lu said that certain "fine tunings" were needed in the economy to pave the way of a healthy growth without interfering with the main targets of the anti-inflationist program. Yucao?lu explained these fine tunings as : to reconsider the frame of tax without changing the target of taxes, to encourage domestic production instead of imports and finally, to remove the obstacles on way of investments. Yucaoglu added that it must be ensured that banking loans must used by productive sectors and the investment regulations which prevents investors must be reviewed once more. /Hurriyet/

2001 BUDGET IS TL 50 QUADRILLION

Government is preparing for the most difficult test with the IMF after it had kept its performance up on other issues. The test will be for the budget of 2001. Chief of Turkey Desk Carlo Cottarelli will come to Turkey with a delegation on August 30 to observe the preparatory works on the budget. In this framework led by bureaucrats from the Treasury and Ministry of Finance, all state institutions began to work intensely. At this stage, figures for the 2001 budget has begun to shape. As such, the 2001 budget is expected to be 50 quadrillion./Turkiye/

PAMUKBANK'S PROFIT: TL 105 TRILLION

Pamukbank earned a profit amounting to TL 105.6 trillion as a result of Turkcell's public offering. In a written statement issued by Pamukbank, it was stated that Pamukbank had a share of a total of 9.32% before the public offering and that Pamukbank's rate of participation decreased to 8.31% after the public offering. It was further stated that Pamukbank would earn a profit of nearly 105 million dollars as a result of Turkcell's public offering. /Aksam/

AWARD OF TL 26 BILLION FOR THE HAND-WRITTEN BIBLE

The hand-written Bible, which was written in the old Abyssinian language and which was seized by the police at Iskenderun's Directorate of Security in 1999, was delivered to the Hagia Sophia Museum in Istanbul. In a written statement issued by the Ministry of Culture, it was stated that an award of TL 26 billion was given to the police, who found this work of art. Minister of Culture, Istemihan Talay, stated that this amount was a record in terms of the other awards that were given up to now. /Turkiye/

TMMOB'S STATEMENT ON PUBLIC SECTOR'S PRODUCTION

Turkish Union of Engineer and Architect Chambers (TMMOB) claimed that the production in the public sector is coming to stop. Stating that there were no efficient employment policies concerning the public sector, TMMOB Administration critisized the economic packages that the government implemented. Authorities from TMMOB said that because of the salary policies aimed at giving low salaries to the officials in the public sector, the proffessional identity of the architests and engineers working were lost and they were exposed to live at a level of poverty. /Cumhuriyet/

PAYMENT OF DOMESTIC BORROWINGS BY THE TREASURY

The Treasury will pay back TL 5.6 quadrillion domestic debts in August. This will be the last biggest amount of redemption in 2000. The Treasury will pay approximately $8 billion and according to the scheme of borrowing in August, bonds worth $4 billions will be issued. The bids will be made on 22 August. /Sabah/

EXCAVATIONS STARTED IN BAFRA

The archeological excavations in Ikiztepe region of Bafra, Samsun, will start today and continue for one and a half months. These excavations have been started by Prof. Bahadir Alkim on behalf of the Turkish Historical Society in 1974 and has been continuing under the direction of a lecturer at Istanbul University, Prof. Onder Bilgi since 1981 in Ikiztepe, which was discovered by the archaeologists in 1940. /Turkiye/

ANATOLIA JAZZ BY ATILLA ENGIN

Turkish musician Atilla Engin, who is living in New York, gives concerts in America harmonizing Anatolian Folk music rhytms with jazz. His group 'Istanbul Jazz' is widely appreciated. The group includes Stephan Crump, Dan Jordan and Ray Ippolito, who are acclaimed jazz musicians. Istanbul Jazz Orchestra will stage a new performance on 14 August in New York Deannas music club. /Turkiye/

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

TRNC SEEKS A WAY OUT BY SAMI KOHEN (MILLIYET)

Columnist Sami Kohen writes on the recent developments in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). A summary of his column is as follows: "True or not, there is a common belief that Ankara sees TRNC Prime Minister Dervis Eroglu as responsible for the recent financial crisis and social unrest and expects him to resign as soon as possible. This impression is strengthened by the latest statements of TRNC President Rauf Denktas, Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit and the hesitation of Ankara in supplying urgent financial to the Island. Does Turkey really want to force Eroglu to resign? Are the two parties making up the TRNC Coalition Government ready to do so? Prime Minister Ecevit's considering a summit, proposed by Eroglu, as necessary and constructive may be seen as an indication that Ankara does not have any plans to bring down the Eroglu cabinet. Yesterday Eroglu said that his aim in sending a letter to Ecevit was to find a way out to the problem and erase all misunderstandings. Eroglu clearly expressed that he did not think of resigning and stated the drawbacks to his resignation as finding an alternative to this government through democratic ways was hard, resignation when there was a crisis in the country would result in increasing the fury of the people, and create a more dangerous situation. What is more, changing the Government and discussions on the regime as Cyprus proximity talks were going on would damage the national cause. Leader of the social democrat wing of the Coalition, Akinci also shares the same views. He believes now is the time to heal wounds. He is complaining of the fact that the present Government is found responsible for the recent bank scandal although it had not given any permits to open a bank. He believes that Ankara should stand at an equal distance from both Denktas and Eroglu. Akinci states that the present Government does not consider resignation but recalls that a new month will begin soon and as long as Ankara does not give the urgent financial aid, it won't last long. The Opposition leader also shares the same views. Socialist leader M. Ali Talat says that although he is not in favour of Eroglu, he is against forcing him out. He believes Denktas and Ankara are responsible for the latest incident on the Island. He also says that they have to find a way out themselves. They have to establish an order themselves. "We can solve this problem by discussing the issue with Turkey which should not take away its support."

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