SEZER IN THE US

President Ahmet Necdet Sezer left for the US yesterday to participate in the "UN Millennium Summit" which will be held in New York on Sep. 6-9. Before his departure, President Sezer told that he would deliver a speech at the Summit on Sep. 7 and he would hold bilateral meetings with the leaders of various countries. Mr. Sezer is also expected to meet the Turkish community's representatives living in the US. Meanwhile, during President Sezer's official visit to the US, Deputy Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TGNA), Ali Iliksoy is the acting-president. /All papers/

PM ECEVIT SUPPORTS MINISTER TURK'S STATEMENTS

Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit supported Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Turk's statements over the decree with the power of law (KHK) concerning the dismissal of the civil servants who are allegedly involved in reactionary and separatist actions. Mr. Turk has said on the KHK, "We cannot view all the civil servants as reactionaries. This would harm the state itself." Mr. Ecevit said in the press conference yesterday, "Hikmet Sami Turk, as an expert jurist, made a very constructive evaluation on the KHK issue." /Hurriyet/

ECEVIT IS HOPEFUL ABOUT INFLATION TARGETS

Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said that he expected the inflation target would be nearly reached by the end of the year. He said: "This result has been achieved despite the extraordinary increase in the petroleum prices in the world." Mr. Ecevit made a statement on the inflation figures for August at the Office of the Prime Minister. Recalling that the wholesale price index declined from 1% to 0.9%, and consumer price remained same as 2.2% when compared to July, the Prime Minister pointed out that those figures were the lowest percentages obtained in last ten years. Mr. Ecevit said: "This reality is a concrete proof for our government's determination over the stabilization programme." /Turkiye/

CEM'S HEAVY SCHEDULE

Foreign Minister Ismail Cem, who will accompany President Ahmet Necdet Sezer during the UN Millennium Summit, left for New York. Minister Cem has a very busy schedule in the US. Particularly, the evaluation after the meeting that he is going to hold with TRNC President Rauf Denktas on the Cyprus issue before the proximity talks start and the speech he is supposed to deliver at the meeting of the Association of Foreign Politics will be the two important points on his programme. Mr. Cem is also expected to meet the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special representative for Cyprus, Alvaro de Soto, and to explain the Turkish view over the Cyprus issue. /Turkiye/

YILMAZ ON TOUR FOR EU

Deputy Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz decided to meet non-governmental organizations and associations to hold consultations on the European Union. Mr. Yilmaz first visited Economic Development Foundation (IKV) yesterday. Mr. Yilmaz and Chairman of IKV Meral Gezgin Eris held a press conference after the meeting. Mr. Eris said, "During the meeting, we evaluated the Turco-EU relations and discussed the efforts that Turkey should exert in the future. It was a beneficial meeting where we examined all the issues in detail. These initiatives are so important since they are aimed to improve Turkey's economic and social conditions." Mr. Yilmaz stated that he will meet Association of Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen (TUSIAD) today and hold a meeting with academic, business and press circles. /Hurriyet/

TURKEY TO SIGN UN ACCORDS

Turkey, which has taken important steps on its path towards the full European Union (EU) membership by signing the United Nations (UN) Accords known as "twin accords", is planning to sign three more UN accords on women and children rights. It was reported that Foreign Minister Ismail Cem will sign the accords on Sept. 7 in New York during the UN Millennium Meeting. These accords are, an additional protocol to the "Accord for Preventing All Kinds of Discrimination Against Women", and additional protocols to "Children Rights Accord" against resorting to the use of children in armed struggles and child abuse. /Cumhuriyet/

ISTANBUL TO HOST UN CONFERENCE

Turkey has a new opportunity to promote itself as one of the strongest candidates to host the United Nations (UN) HABITAT 2 Conference to be held in 2001. The name of the conference will be Istanbul+5 as it will be held as a five-year follow-up to the HABITAT 2 gathering. The United Nations will decide on the host country in October. The Head of Mass Housing Administration Kamil Ugurlu said, "Turkey will acquire great international prestige if the meeting is held in Istanbul." Sweden, Germany and the United States are the other candidate countries. If the meeting takes place in Istanbul, minimum six thousand officials will visit the city. /Aksam/

PARTNERSHIP FOR PEACE COMMITTEE MEETS IN TURKEY

The Partnership for Peace (PfP) Naval Communications and Information Systems Requirements Sub-Working Committee meeting started in Ankara yesterday. The Turkish Naval Forces Command hosts the meeting which aims at promoting a more effective cooperation between NATO and PfP-member countries by achieving a harmonization between their communication systems. Some 40 officials are participating in the meeting which is closed to the press. The meeting is due to end on Friday. /Turkish Daily News/

MINISTER AYTEKIN AT UN ASIA-PACIFIC MINISTERS' CONFERENCE

Environment Minister Fevzi Aytekin is participating in the UN [Social and Economic Council's "Ministers Conference on Environment and Development" for the Asia-Pacific region. The conference, which is being held in Japan, mainly focuses on environment and development projects over the next five years. Addressing the conference, Mr. Aytekin has given an account of Turkey's environment and development policies. Aytekin said that the policies to be adopted by the attending countries over the next five years should concentrate on measures in the fields of energy, agriculture and tourism. /Turkish Daily News/

COTTARELLI MEETS MINISTER OF FINANCE

IMF Chief of Turkey Desk Carlo Cottarelli yesterday held a meeting with Minister of Finance Sumer Oral. After the meeting, Mr. Cottarelli said all expenditure items in 2001 budget should not be increased in real terms except interests. Mr. Cottarelli requested also the rate of Resource Usage Support Fund (KKDF) to be increased in order to decrease the consumption, Vehicle Purchase Taxes to be increased for imported automobiles, fees for transactions to be increased and supplemantary taxes to be collected just as the last year. Mr. Cottarelli said that the economic stabilization program is on its way, but the increase in imports and domestic demand should be taken into account more carefully. Mr. Cottarelli said, "These developments have positive effects for the economic growth, but consumer prices increased a bit rapidly, in this sense a fine tuning is required for the economy. However, with Mr. Oral we did not specify a measure." /Milliyet/

LETTER FROM TUSIAD TO THE FEDERATION OF BELGIAN COMPANIES

The Association of Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen (TUSIAD) has written a letter to the Federation of Belgian Companies (FEB) on the recent development concerning Fehriye Erdal who was involved in the murder of the prominent businessman Ozdemir Sabanci. The Chairman of TUSIAD Erkut Yucaoglu condemned the Belgium's stance over Erdal's case. In the letter, it was emphasized that Belgium's supportive stance for Erdal created a negative public opinion against Belgium. Mr. Yucaoglu called Belgian private sector to cooperate with Turkey on the issue and transfer this message to Belgian politicians. /Milliyet/

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

THE SUMMIT BY ESEN UNUR (STAR)

Columnist Esen Unur writes on the UN Millennium Summit to be held in New York. A summary of his column is as follows: "As the United Nations is organizing the greatest summit in its history, New York is hosting the heads of state and government, diplomats and journalists coming from all over the world. I have followed many other summits held in New York before. During these summits, the heads of state try to create opportunities to meet with each other to discuss the problems they are facing in their regions. Everyone has a lot to say to each other, but they do not have enough time to discuss them all. President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and the US President Bill Clinton has a wide range of issues to talk about but it is not clear how much they can tackle within 15-20 minutes. It is believed that during the Clinton-Sezer meeting to be held on September 7, the most important question to be discussed is the Cyprus issue. From the very first day he was elected, the US President Clinton attached great importance to the solution of the Cyprus problem. However, no result has been attained as yet. It is stated that Mr. Clinton is not happy because he could not bring any solution to an issue he has attached great importance. Certainly, it is not possible to solve the problem in the brief meeting he will hold with Sezer, but it is believed that he will have certain suggestions for the bilateral talks to begin in New York this month. Naturally, President Sezer has issues on his agenda in accordance with the real aim of the Summit. The most important of them can be cited as, providing opportunities for the poorest billion people on earth with nutrition, shelter, cleaning facilities until 2015; ending the AIDS epidemic by 2010; stopping military clashes going on in various corners of the world; spreading the measures for preventing pollution of the environment. President Ahmet Necdet Sezer will have the opportunity to meet with the world leaders during his visit to the US. Turkey will be represented at the Summit by Foreign Minister Ismail Cem, and Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Faruk Logoglu who are accompanied by a large delegation. A great number of bilateral and multilateral meetings will be held starting today."

NO HURRY BY SAMI KOHEN (MILLIYET)

Columnist Sami Kohen comments on Turco-Greek relations and the Cyprus issue. A summary of his column is as follows: "The statement made by Greek Prime Minister Kostas Simitis in Salonica is significant. It is said that Turkey has not made any gestures. This cannot happen in a day. Turkey needs time and we have to be patient." It is clear that Simitis means concessions by Turkey concerning the Aegean and Cyprus issues.For that reason Athens is trying to use the EU as a means to get what it wants. Just as Foreign Minister George Papandreou, Simitis does not hide this. However, it is an important development for a Greek leader to say that Turkey needs time in order to pacify those criticising the Government. This does not mean that Athens will refrain from using the EU to push Turkey into a corner while showing patience. In fact, at the EU Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Evian, Mr.Papandreou exerted every effort in this line. The Greek diplomacy, is using the EU 'Accession Partnership" document with Turkey to increase its efforts concerning the issue. Studies on the document will begin this month and be completed in October. The Greek aim is to include the Aegean and problems into the 'route map' the EU will draw up for Turkey. Thus they will force Turkey to make concessions. According to Papandreou, decisions taken at the Helsinki Summit where Turkey's candidacy was accepted allowed for such expectations concerning the Aegean and the Cyprus problems. Turkish point of view is directly opposed to this opinion. In fact, Foreign Minister Ismail Cem who sent letters to the 15 members of the EU countries stated that these issues could not be mentioned in this document as the Helsinki Final Act did not envisage such an enforcement. Dispute on the subject stems from the different interpretation of the Helsinki decisions by Ankara and Athens. If this discussion is left aside, two points can be viewed. The first one is the interest of the EU with Turco-Greek relations and even indirectly with Cyprus. However much Ankara says that Helsinki decisions do not foresee such a relation, it is clear that the EU has undertaken a responsibility on the issue. The second point is that the EU does not want to be left facing the problems concerning the Aegean and Cyprus. Mr. Papandreou is forcing the EU to include these issues into the accession partnership document. However, the EU does not want to interfere in these problems. In the words of a diplomat, 'The Helsinki decisions may be recalled in the document and the interpretation is left to concerned parties. That may be why Greek Prime Minister is urging his people to be patient."

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