FM CEM MEETS TRNC PRESIDENT DENKTAS

Foreign Minister Ismail Cem, who is currently in New York for the UN's 55th term meetings, met Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus Republic (TRNC) President Rauf Denktas two days ago to discuss the latest developments. Mr. Cem's and Mr. Denktas' advisors were also present at the meeting. Mr. Cem also held talks with the foreign ministers of Cuba, Mexico, Slovenia, Jordan, Macedonia and France within the framework of his bilateral contacts. Meanwhile, Greek-Cypriot leader Glafcos Clerides met Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou. /Cumhuriyet/

CLERIDES POSTPONES HIS MEETING WITH DE SOTO

Greek-Cypriot leader Glafcos Clerides postponed his meeting with the UN special representative to Cyprus Alvaro de Soto again. Meanwhile, US President Bill Clinton's special representative to Cyprus Albert Moses met Mr. Clerides to overcome the crisis. After his meeting with Mr. Clerides, Mr. Moses stated that UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's statement emphasizing that the Turkish-Cypriots and Greek-Cypriots were the political equal of the other did not mean that the UN recognized the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). He also said, Annan's statement should not be interpreted as the abolition of the sovereignty of the Cyprus Republic and the statement did not imply a change in the UN's policy over Cyprus. Moses said, "We do no support the recognition of the TRNC as an independent state." Meanwhile, the Greek press is continuing its reactions to Annan's statement. The Greek papers regarded the statement as a `dramatic' development. /Cumhuriyet/

ARMENIAN LOBBIES CONTINUE THEIR EFFORTS

The so-called Armenian genocide bill was taken up in the sub-committee of the US House of Representatives yesterday. A session was held in the International Operations and Human Rights Committee to discuss the bill. It was reported that the chairman of the session New Jersey deputy, Christopher Smith, would send the bill to the International Relations Committe without holding a vote on the bill. During the session, sub-committe member Dan Burton opposed the bill and said, "The allegations of genocide have certain contradictions. Three million Turks died there. Turkey is one of the most reliable allies of our country. The approval of the bill will seriously damage bilateral relations between the two countries." American historian Prof. Justin McCarthy and Retired Ambassador Gunduz Aktan defended Turkey's theses on the so-called genocide at the session. The Armenian lobbies demand the bill be voted as soon as possible in the General Council of the House of Representatives as they believe that most of the members of the Council are in favour of the bill. Meanwhile, US President Bill Clinton is trying to prevent the bill from being passed with the support of the US Defense Department Pentagon and other lobbies supporting Turkey. /Milliyet-Cumhuriyet/

NATO MILITARY COMMITTEE'S MEETING CONTINUES

The second part of the NATO Military Committee's meeting and Military Committee's Tour is continuing in Istanbul. Yesterday, the Turkish Armed Forces were appreciated for their naval-air joint demonstrations by the 19 NATO countries' Chiefs of General Staff. The Minister of Defence Sabahattin Cakmakoglu gave a banquet last night in honour of the Chiefs of General Staff at Ciragan Palace. Meanwhile, President Ahmet Necdet Sezer arrived in Istanbul yesterday and he will also host a dinner for them. /Hurriyet/

TURKEY'S INTEREST IN CENTRAL ASIA

Turkey is planning to attend the ceremonies for the 1500th anniversary of Turkistan's foundation on Oct. 19. with the participation of high-level officials. President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, former President Suleyman Demirel and Deputy Prime Minister Devlet Bahceli will participate in the ceremonies. After President Sezer's meeting with Uzbekistan President Islam Kerimov in New York during which they decided to cooperate against fundamentalist terrorism, Interior Minister Sadettin Tantan will travel to Uzbekistan at the weekend to take up the opportunities for cooperation between the two countries. In addition, Foreign Minister Ismail Cem will also travel to Tashkent to strenghten the bilateral relations. /Cumhuriyet/

FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTRY UNDERSECRETARY TO VISIT TURKEY

French Foreign Ministry Undersecretary, Lois Hennekine will pay an official visit to Turkey on Sept. 17-18. France currently holds the term presidency of the European Union. Mr. Hennekine will meet his counterpart Faruk Logoglu and is expected to raise many issues regarding Turkey's full EU membership. The visit will take place within the framework of an agreement between Turkey and France for regular meetings between their foreign ministries and will focus on political, economic and cultural topics along with the regional issues. Mr. Hennekine is expected to discuss the Accession Partnership Document, which will be announced on November 8. As Turkey does not want the Cyprus dispute and Turkish-Greek problems to be referred to in the document, Greece has been lobbying to have the document mention its problems with Turkey. Also, the Turkish side is expected to raise the issue of efforts in France to pass a law in the French Parliament recognizing the so-called Armenian genocide. /Turkish Daily News/

DECREE FOR THE PRIVATIZATION OF THREE STATE OWNED BANKS

The government has finished the schedule for the decree with the power of law on the privatization of state owned banks. The decree foresees the privatization of Ziraat Bank, Halkbank and Emlakbank within three years. If it could not be finished in three years, the government will use a 1.5 year additional period. The privatization process will be determined and procedures will be carried out by a Restructuring Committee formed separately for each bank. During the restructuring process, the principles about rights of priority, the method of selling the shares, determination of the values of the shares and the formation of the bidding will be carried out in line with the laws on privatization. The Council of Ministers will make the final decision. /Star/

ENERGY DEFICIT

Turkey is faced with a serious energy deficit. The water level in dams has decreased its lowest in the last 30 years. The deficit in energy also adversely affects the initiatives for growth. A 10%-economic growth rate requires an additional 7-billion kilowatt/hr energy of consumption. Undersecretary of the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, Yurdakul Yigitguden, said that in the scope of the economic reform programme they could not allow new investments. He also stressed that legal amendments which envisage the liberalization of power, petroleum and natural gas markets should be approved by the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TGNA) by the end of this year, and the transition period should be completed until 2003. /Turkiye/

RUSSIA CLOSES PKK CAMP

A court in Russia decided to transfer the PKK terrorist camp to the State Ownership Department. It was stated that the decision on the Solnich camp in the Yaroslav region near Moscow caused the deterioration of Russia's relations with the PKK terrorist organization. /Milliyet/

ISTANBUL SUBWAY TO BE OPERATIONAL TOMORROW

Taksim- 4th Levent route of Istanbul Subway will be operational tomorrow. The completed part of subway costs TL 420 trillion. President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, former mayors of Istanbul, Nurettin Sozen, who started the construction of subway and Tayyip Erdogan will attend the opening ceremony. It was stated that the subway was constructed according to the international standards and could resist a possible quake measuring nine on the Richter scale. /Milliyet/

GLOBAL GLANCE TO NEW ECONOMY CONFERENCE IN ISTANBUL

The `Global Glance to New Economy' Conference was held in Istanbul with the cooperation of Istanbul Chamber of Industry (ISO), Turkish Scientific and Technological Research Council (TUBITAK) and Globus Magazine. Speaking at the conference, Chairman of ISO Husamettin Kavi, said, "Turkey has to draw the advantages of the state-of-the-art technology and use information technologies to accelerate its development." Stating that he was pleased with the government's decision to speed up the Telecom sell-off, Mr. Kavi said, "There is no need for a revision in the stability program which the government is pursuing in cooperation with the IMF. The government has shown great determination and vowed not to back down on the program. A 20 percent inflation target could be reached in the first quarter of the first year. But measures are essential as regards imports and exports." /Cumhuriyet-Turkish Daily News/

TELECOM'S SALE IN 2001

Undersecretary of the Treasury Selcuk Demiralp announced that the sale of the TELECOM could be realized in 2001. He said: "We work on alternative options for sale of the TELECOM. At the first stage, its 34%-block sale may be realized and then, it may be offered to the public. I hope its new sale method will be declared next week. Everyone should know that TELECOM, will be privatized in the best way." /Turkiye/

WORLD'S SECOND LARGEST NATURE PARK TO BE ESTABLISHED IN MUGLA

Fossils beds found in Mugla's Ozluce village in 1993 will be incorporated into a nature park and open-air museum under the auspices of the Culture Ministry and the Office of the Mugla Governor. The park, to be called the Turolian Nature Park 2000, will be the second largest outdoor nature museum in the world, with the first being in the US state of Colorado. Mugla Museum Advisor Professor Berna Alpagut said, "The fossils are being collected and sold by the locals. We intend to introduce and promote the region's natural and cultural wealth to the world by means of the Turolian Nature Park 2000 project." /Turkish Daily News/

ISTANBUL FASHION FAIR

World's famous textile firms have met at the Istanbul Fashion Fair, organized for the first time. Undersecretary of the Foreign Trade, Kursad Tuzmen, said: "Textile is the driving force of the Turkish economy and exports. The textile exports consist of the one third of the Turkish exports. Our target sector should be textile in growing. We aim to make Istanbul a fashion centre like Paris. To achieve this we are ready to support the young designers." At the fair, the creations of the young designers are being exhibited. /Turkiye/

SYDNEY OLIMPICS BEGINS

The 27th Summer Olympics is beginning today in Sydney, Australia. 10,438 sportsmen coming from all around the world will race against each other dyring the 15-day competition. Turkey's hope for gold medals in weight-lifting Halil Mutlu will compete in the 56 kilo category tomorrow, while Naim Suleymanoglu in the 62 kilo category on Sunday. /Hurriyet/

NOAH'S RESTAURANT AT MOUNT ARARAT

The Governor of Igdir Mustafa Tamer said they would build a recreational complex at the Mt. Ararat. The complex will be constructed on the side of the mount facing Igdir at 2,500 meter high from the sea level. Mr. Tamer said, "There will be a hotel, a restaurant and a museum in the complex. We will call it 'Noah's Ark'." /Milliyet/

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

'EQUALITY' IN UN DOCUMENTS BY SAMI KOHEN (MILLIYET)

Columnist Sami Kohen writes on the Cyprus dispute and the equality of the parties as recognized by the UN. A summary of his column is as follows: "The Turkish-Cypriot argument has achieved the strongest support in recent years. In a written statement issued by the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the occasion of the beginning of the proximity talks in New York, the equality of both parties is clearly stressed and therefore forms a turning-point in the Cyprus problem. This principle defended by the Turkish-side for many years is taking place in a UN document for the first time. The Secretary-General is displaying a different stance than before and gives a new direction to the negotiation process. In order to understand the importance of this development it would suffice to take a look at the statements made when it was decided to hold talks on Cyprus. At the time the aim of the 'unconditional negotiations' was to ensure a a solution based on a bi-zonal federation'. TRNC President Denktas not only has insisted on 'proximity talks' instead of 'unconditional talks' and got what he wanted, he requested the recognition of the equality of both parties. He has achieved his aim in a written statement by the Secretary-General. This long road has been surmounted with the energetic and intense efforts by Denktas and the active support of Ankara. The President of Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) has shown his determination on every occasion. He explained his views to the representatives of the UN, US and other concerned countries indefatigably. Occasionally he reacted harshly to certain circumstances, just as he had done in the case of the UN Security Council Resolution on the Cyprus Peace Force denying the existence of the TRNC. The fact that there were two entities on the island has begun to be accepted by the world recently and understood that there will not be any improvement on the negotiations without recognizing before the two parties were accepted as equals. The facts accepted in private talks are officialized with the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's written statement and in a way forms the new stance of the UN. However, this does not mean that the solution, Turkish-Cypriots are after, has been guaranteed. The UN Secretary-General not only stresses the equality of the parties but also talks of the negotiations with no preconditions leading to a comprehensive settlement. That is to say traces of the framework drawn up by the Security Council can still be detected in the statement. The important thing is the recognition of equality by the Greek-Cypriots. This expression which shocked Clerides has led to sharp reactions of the Greek-Cypriot leaders and the press. It has reached such a point that, the withdrawal of the Greek-Cypriot leader from the talks is being talked about. Now there are two possibilities in front him. Clerides either leaves New York and shows his reaction to the statement as a result of internal pressure or continues taking part in the talks being satisfied with the explanation and guarantees the UN Secretary-General will give. As his being regarded as the party escaping from the negotiations would damage the full EU membership of the Greek-Cypriot Administration, this possibility is weak. Furthermore, the concerned countries countries led by the US and Greece would not allow it. What kind of a guarantee can the UN Secretary-General give to satisfy Clerides? Kofi Annan cannot renege on his words in the statement concerning 'equality' but may say things which may balance it or give guarantees to provide the continuity of the talks. This may be considered a play on words but is used frequently in diplomacy and that is why there is always some hope in diplomacy."

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