FM CEM'S PRESS CONFERENCE

Foreign Minister Ismail Cem held a press conference yesterday regarding his meeting with US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Stating that bilateral relations between Turkey and the US were going well, Mr. Cem said, "Turkey and the US have different priorities as two countries having various relations with different countries. Therefore, Turkey and the US do not have to agree upon every issue." Mr. Cem stated that he had conveyed Turkey's concern over Greek-Cypriots' stance towards forcing the Turkish side to accept their views on the Cyprus issue to Ms. Albright and UN special representative to Cyprus Alvaro de Soto. Saying that he had also conveyed Turkey's uneasiness over the so-called Armenian genocide bill to Ms. Albright, Mr. Cem added, "We attach great importance to this issue. However, Turkey will not be affected by such attempts aimed at damaging the country." /Cumhuriyet/

GREEK-CYPRIOTS REACT TO ANNAN'S STATEMENT

The Greek-Cypriots have reacted to the United Nations (UN) Secretary General Kofi Annan's statement expressing that Greek-Cypriots and Turkish-Cypriots are the political equal of the other. Greek-Cypriot leader Glafkos Klerides called on the members of the National Council to convene. After the statement noting that one side could not represent the other on the island, Mr. Klerides cancelled his meeting with UN special representative to Cyprus Alvaro de Soto. It was reported that Mr. Klerides sent a letter to Kofi Annan. Conveying his uneasiness over Annan's statement, Mr. Klerides asked for an explanation of the statement in his letter in which he also claimed that what Annan said was contrary to the resolutions of the UN Security Council. It was reported that the President of Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) would meet Alvaro de Soto. /Cumhuriyet/

ARMENIAN BILL IN THE SUB-COMMITTEE OF US HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

The so-called Armenian genocide bill will be taken up in a sub-committee of the US House of Representatives today. US Defense Department Pentagon launched a campaign in favour of Turkey. It was reported that officials from Pentagon met the US House Speaker Dennis Hastert and heads of committees regarding the issue and stated that approval of the bill would seriously damage bilateral relations between Turkey and the US. They also stated that if the House of Representatives approved the bill, there would be no chance for Turkey and Armenia to reconcile and solve the problems between the two countries. Officials pointed out that the negative consequences of a possible approval would be observed from Cyprus to Northern Iraq. Today, there will be a session regarding the bill in the Sub-committee of International Operations and Human Rights. After this session, the sub-comittee will vote for the bill or send it to a higher level committee, International Relations Committee. /Cumhuriyet/

CONFERENCE ON CAPITAL MARKETS AND INVESTMENTS IN TURKEY

A conference entitled 'Capital Markets and Investments in Turkey' was held in London by the Turco-British Business Council and Board of Foreign Economic Relations (DEIK). IMF Chief of Turkey Desk Carlo Cottarelli delivered a speech at the conference and explained the economic developments in Turkey to the representatives of international financial institutions. Mr. Cottarelli said that the Turkish government has been implementing the economic program with great determination and as a result of this there was a drastic decline in the ratio of budget deficit to the Gross National Product. The member of the Executive Board of Goldman Sachs, one of the leading international investment banks, Peter Sutherland said at the conference that Turkey took an important step on the way to the full EU membership with the implementation of the economic program. Mr. Sutherland said that the most important part of the economic program is privatization in Turkey and the privatization of Telekom will open a new era for the influx of foreign capital to Turkey. /Milliyet/

NATO SUMMIT IN ISTANBUL

The Chiefs of General Staff of 19 NATO countries arrived in Istanbul yesterday to participate in the second part of the 139th NATO Military Committee Meeting and 2000 Military Committee Tour, the first part of which was held last week in Athens, Greece. The meeting will last until Sep. 16. /Turkiye/

WORLD BANK SUPPORTS TURKISH GOVERNMENT'S ENERGY PROGRAM

The team leader of World Bank's Energy Program James Moose stated that World Bank supported Turkish government's energy policy. Mr. Moose said that Turkey might have a surplus in energy after the current projects became operational. "I hope that the bill on restructuring the energy sector will be enacted until the end of the year.", Mr. Moose added. /Aksam/

TANTAN TO VISIT CENTRAL ASIA

Minister of Interior Sadettin Tantan will pay an official visit to Uzbekhstan. Mr. Tantan will attend meetings on the issue of fighting terrorism in Uzbekhstan. Head of the Special Police Teams and Information Office will accompany Mr. Tantan during the visit. /Milliyet/

TURKISH GENERAL IN KFOR

Turkish and Italian generals will head international peace-keeping forces in Kosovo(KFOR), which are responsible for the establishment of peace and order beginning from October. Turkish officials who participated in the NATO Military Committee meetings in Athens with the Chief of General Staff Huseyin Kivrikoglu said that KFOR led by Eurocorps, which is also called 'European Army', will be tranferred in October to the command of NATO South European Allied Command (AFSOUTH). Turkish Military officers comprise sixty percent of total officers who will lead the multinational force between October 2000 and April 2001. /Milliyet/

ULUSOY: "WE HAVE TO COOPERATE WITH GREECE IN TOURISM"

Basaran Ulusoy, Chairman of the Union of the Turkish Travel Agencies, said that Turkey should cooperate with Greece in tourism. Participating in a meeting organized by the Antalya Association of Industrialists and Businessmen, Mr. Ulusoy said: "We do not have any problems with Greece. We will organize many activities in Turkey in 2001 and we have also invited Patriach Bartholomeos and Pope to attend these activities. Turkey is a Abridge between civilizations and religions." He also added that tourism should be a state policy and the state should protect that sector. /Turkiye/

BREAKTHROUGH IN TOURISM

General Advisor to the Oger Tour, Huseyin Baraner, said that Turkish tourism demonstrated a great performance and it would also carry on in this Winter. Mr. Baraner said: "About 100,000 German tourists have made reservations to Oger Tour for October." Stressing that Oger Tour was the only Turkish travel agency among the 10 leading agencies in Europe, he noted that in the first eight months of this year the number of German tourists brought to Turkey by Oger Tour was 482,000, while that number was expected to exceed 800,000 by the end of the year. /Turkiye/

NEW OPTIONS FOR TURK TELECOM

After the foreign investors' dissatisfaction over the Turk Telecom bidding regarding the sale of the 20 percent stake, the preparations for the conditions of a new bidding have begun. At the coalition leaders' summit held on Tuesday, it was decided to speed up the Telecom sell-off. Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said yesterday that there were certain options for the sell-off and added, "The block sale can cover 20 percent or up to 34 percent. We will clarify the details in a few days." It was also reported that IMF Turkey Desk Chief Carlo Cottarelli said, "The government's decision to accelerate the sale is very appropriate." /Cumhuriyet/

BP-AMOCO TO TRANSPORT AZERBAIJAN OIL TO TURKEY

BP-Amoco is willing to transport Azerbaijan's newly explored oil and natural gas reserves to Turkey by 2002-2003. David Fitzsimmons, BP-Amoco vice-president responsible for natural gas and energy, made a speech in Ankara yesterday at the third Turkish Energy Conference. He underlined that the basic engineering work of the Baku-Ceyhan oil pipeline, which would be vital for the next 25 years, was almost completed. Stating that Turkey was one of the most attractive markets for natural gas, Mr. Fitzsimmons said, "We want ot establish an east-west corridor in natural gas and bring natural gas to Turkey in the shortest possible time." /Turkish Daily News/

EFQM MEETING IN ISTANBUL

The `Excellence Forum' of the European Fund of Quality Management (EFQM) is to meet in Istanbul this year between Sept. 27-28. The subject of the forum will be `the management of the diversities'. The member of the EFQM Executive Board and the head of the Forum 2000 Executive Committee Hazim Kantarci said, "This meeting is very important for Turkey. Turkish firms have gradually becoming more successful in quality management. This forum will bring the most prominent businessmen of the world together." /Cumhuriyet/

UNDERSEA EXPLORERS FIND NEW EVIDENCE OF GREAT FLOOD

New artifacts were found at the bottom of the Black Sea which could be evidence of the great flood that humanity faced. Undersea explorer Robert Ballard said, "We have found new remnants of human habitation in over 300 feet of water about 12 miles off the coast of Turkey. No doubt, this is an exciting discovery." Fredrik Hiebert from University of Pennsylvania stated that the artifacts represented the first concrete evidence for the human habitation in this part of the Black Sea prior to its flooding. Explorers reminded the legends of a great flood in Middle Eastern culture including the Bible story of Noah. /Aksam/

WORLD TURKISH YOUTH MEETS

The 10th World Turkish Youth Convention was held in Baku, Azerbaijan. During the seven-day meeting, 150 representatives coming from 25 Turkish-Speaking Countries and communities, discussed the common problems of the Turkish World and looked for the solutions. /Turkiye/

OTTOMAN ARTIFACTS' AUCTION

Sotheby's and Christie's auction halls will organize an "Auction for Islamic Artifacts" on Oct. 10-12 in London. Nearly 300 artifacts belonging to the Ottoman period, will be able to seen before the auction on Oct. 8-11. /Sabah/

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

IMPORTANT STATEMENT BY UN SECRETARY-GENERAL BY SEMIH IDIZ (STAR)

Columnist Semih Idiz comments on the statement issued by the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan concerning the Cyprus 'proximity talks'. A summary of his column is as follows: "The Cyprus talks are advancing better than some are presenting. With the beginning of the fourth round of proximity talks the UN Secretary- General Kofi Annan has made a statement which would enter the Cyprus file as an important document. He stated clearly that each party could represent only their side -and no one else- and that on the table their equal status would be recognized. He distributed this written statement to the press. In fact, the third round had ended on a promising note for the Turkish side. The President of Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus Rauf Denktas had the opportunity to explain at length the confederation arguments to the UN officials within the framework of these talks. The UN officials listened to his views and had to accept that he was right. Following the statement issued by the UN Secretary-General, the Greek-Cypriot side was shocked. Glafcos Clerides began to hold meetings with the members of the National Council who came to New York with him. According to the rumours going around in the UN circles, the Greek-Cypriot side may withdraw from the talks. However, I do not believe that Mr. Clerides can dare to do so. In that case, he would fall into the trap he has set. He was trying to show Mr. Denktas as being intransigent and now he would be described as being so. The Greek-Cypriot side has to see clearly that when the UN Secretary General states the equal status of both sides in the negotiations he is neither acting in favour of the Turkish-Cypriots nor being against the Greek-Cypriots. Although a bit late, he has seen the truth and equalized the situation. I do not comprehend why the Greek-Cypriot side is offended or shocked. It was Clerides himself who had said during the OSCE Istanbul Summit last year that he did not represent the Turkish-Cypriot side. However, he had also added that he neither represented the Turkish-Cypriot or the Greek-Cypriot side but the Cyprus Republic. This addition to the statement had not weakened the Turkish-Cypriot stance. As known, the talks conducted under the sponsorship of the UN are not taking place between the Cyprus Republic and the Turkish community. That is why for years these meetings are described as 'international talks'. President Denktas, notwithstanding his pleasure over the statement is being cautious. He said that Annan's statement was not enough for direct talks. As he has said during the OSCE Summit, Clerides has to state that he does not represent the Turkish side and that he does not sit on the table as the President of the Cyprus Republic which is not recognized by the Turkish side but as the Leader of the Greek-Cypriots. In short, both the UN Secretary-General and the US Adminstration have to direct their suggestions to the Greek-Cypriot side before the Clinton era is closed. Now that the UN Secretary-General has made an important statement, everyone should work hard to make this statement accepted by the Greek-Cypriot side. As the members of the Greek-Cypriot National Council are refraining from making a statement, following the one made by the UN Secretary-General they must be in a difficult situation. They had come to the fourth round of talks rather reluctantly believing that even Athens had begun to be accept the Turkish-Cypriot argument. Now, they see themselves as squeezed into a corner at the talks to which they had come unwillingly. However, they do not want to be the side leaving the negotiation table in spite of their instincts which tell them to do so. They fear that such an action would reflect adversely on the membership negotitations with the EU which they want to be accelerated. They are aware that many of the EU member states tie the membership of Cyprus to the solution of the problem. Now Turkey has to take finely considered steps. The important thing is to reach our aim without losing the advantage point. This requires flexible stances."

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