THREE FRIENDS BY GUNGOR MENGI (SABAH)
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer issued a message to
mark the Mothers' Day. Stressing to bring up children as civilized
persons to whom the future will be entrusted, is under the
responsibility of mothers, Sezer congratulated all mothers' Mothers'
Day. Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit and the True Path Party (DYP) leader
Tansu Ciller also issued messages on the occasion of the Day.
/Turkiye/
Prison reform bills will top the agenda of
Parliament this week, since the economic emergency laws caused their
postponement for a while. One of the bills allowing prisoners in
high-security F-type prisons to take part in communal activities
inside jail has been approved by Parliament recently. Justice Minister
Hikmet Sami Turk said that two other bills were soon to be brought
onto Parliament's agenda, but a series of emergency bills designed to
overcome the current economic crisis led to the postponement of the
debate on the bills for a few weeks. /Turkish News/
Foreign Minister Ismail Cem will travel to Brussels
today to attend the meeting of the EU member and candidate countries'
foreign ministers. New proposals on the European Security and Defense
Identity will be discussed during the meeting. Cem will meet with EU
Commissioner responsible for Enlargement Gunther Verheugen tomorrow to
discuss the implementation of the National Programme and the
Partnership Council meeting to be held in June between Turkey and the
EU. /Cumhuriyet/
Greek President Kostis Stephanopulos argued that
problems between Turkey and Greece could not be solved through
dialogue. Delivering a speech at the ceremony held to commemorate the
Greeks alleged to be killed by the Ottomans in 1822, Stephanopoulos
claimed the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) convicted Turkey for
the crimes she committed on Cyprus. He added Greece wanted to
establish peaceful relations with Turkey and argued Turkey was in
search for solutions to the problems between the two countries,
through means contrary to the international principles. He said,
"Problems between Turkey and Greece cannot be solved via
dialogue." /Hurriyet/
Visiting Turkey as part of a US tour aimed at
consulting her allies about the proposed missile defense system, the
Assistant Secretary of State Marc Grossman said the United States
would like to see as many countries as possible joining the proposed
system. The US delegation was visiting Turkey in an effort to marshal
support for President George Bush's National Missile Defense plan, a
ballistic missile defense system meant to counter threats coming from
weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) The United States believes the
system is a necessity under the changing security environment as a
deterrence mechanism to be used against "rogue states."
Grossman maintained a better effective deterrence mechanism should be
introduced under current circumstances. "We have been listening
to our allies and they are mainly agreeing with our viewpoint,"
he went on. Asked whether this new system would cover allies outside
NATO, Grossman said the decision in that regard lies with these
allies, emphasizing the United States favors participation of as many
countries as possible. /Turkish News/
State Minister Sukru Sina Gurel will visit the
United States to participate in the "Turkish Day March" in
New York, as well as to conduct some discussions about the Cyprus
question and on the problems of Turkish Americans Community. He will
arrive in Washington first and meet with US State Department Cyprus
Special Coordinator Tom Weston, several congressmen, the Association
of Turkish-American Assemblies (ATAA) and Turkish American Council
members, as well as members of the powerful Jewish lobby. /Turkish
News/
Turkish Civil Code is being rewritten 76 years
after its first declaration. The new bill was approved at the
Parliament except for 80 articles regulating the sharing the assets in
case of a divorce. Minister of Justice Hikmet Sami Turk evaluated the
bill as a modern one based on the principle of equality between the
spouses in all realms. The bill is written in a contemporary language.
It is expected to be debated at the Parliamentary Plenary Session in
June. /Cumhuriyet/
Turkey's Ambassador to France Sonmez Koksal
returned to France on Sunday, ending a four-month old diplomatic row
over a French law recognizing the alleged killing of Armenians during
the Ottoman Empire as genocide. Ambassador Koksal was withdrawn and
Turkey said it was reviewing economic and political ties with France
after French President Jacques Chirac has signed the bill passed by
Parliament on January 18. Turkey also retaliated against several
French companies, cancelling hundreds of million dollars worth of
contracts, including a project to launch country's first spy
satellite. Koksal said at Istanbul's Ataturk airport,
"Turkish-French relations have been hurt by this incident. But, I
believe that both sides will do their utmost to heal this wound."
/Turkish Daily News/
Health Minister, Osman Durmus, went to Switzerland
yesterday to attend the 54th general assembly meeting of the World
Health Organization(WHO). Durmus said various health topics, such as
nourishment of children, control of infectious diseases, controlling
the use of tobacco, the quality of medicine and psychological health
will be discussed at the meeting. /Sabah/
Justice Minister, Hikmet Sami Turk, went to
Bucharest yesterday for an official visit upon the invitation of his
Romanian counterpart Rodica Stanoiu. Before his departure, Turk said
both Turkey and Romania undersigned the European Convention for the
Extradition of Criminals as being two members of the Council of
Europe. /Sabah/
Deputy Prime Minister and the leader of the
Nationalist Action Party(MHP), Devlet Bahceli went to Samsun yesterday
to attend the enlarged regional consultative meeting of his party.
Bahceli said at the meeting that, the government is determined to
continue the fight against corruption and those who are involved in
these ativities will be punished immediately. Bahceli said, in order
to exonerate the politicians, their immunities should be restricted,
so that courts would decide whether there is an element of crime or
not. /Sabah/
The IMF Executive Governors will convene tomorrow
to decide on the $14.3 billion credit to be given to Turkey. Nine out
of 14 laws, which were the pre-conditions for the credit, were
approved by the Turkish Parliament. The law on Turk Telekom and
Banking Law are the most important laws and were passed in Parliament
last week. /Hurriyet/
Following World Bank's support and IMF's expected
support for Turkey's additional letter of intent, world's leading
finance institutions' representatives are coming to Turkey this week
to examine investment opportunities in Turkey after the recent
economic crisis. Finansinvest will host a conference entitled,
"Turkey After the Crisis: Economic and Institutional Situation
and Expectations" in Istanbul on May 17-18. About 100
representatives from 20 countries are expected to attend the
conference. /Turkiye/
Tomorrow, the Treasury will launch a 91-day bond
tender. The Treasury had planned to borrow a minimum amount of TL 754
trillion. The bills are value dated May 16 and the redemption is
scheduled for Aug. 15, 2001. /Turkiye/
A panel discussion on the facts about the Armenian
allegations will be held at the Office of the President of the Gazi
University in Ankara at 2:00 p.m. on May 15. The panel discussion will
be headed by a lecturer from the Gazi University, Prof.Refet Yinanc.
The Head of the Turkish History Institution, Prof.Yusuf Halacoglu, a
lecturer from the Gazi University Prof.Osman Metin Ozturk and
Coordinator of the Republican History at the Bilkent University Assc.
Prof. Esat Aslan will deliver speeches at the panel. /All Papers/
Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges
(TOBB) proposed a GAP (Southeastern Anatolian Project) Credit
Guarantee Fund and a GAP Investment Partnership Company to be
established concerning the Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (KOBIs)
in the GAP region. TOBB prepared a report on the current conditions in
the GAP region to help KOBIs improve and new KOBIs be opened.
/Cumhuriyet/
The Turco-Japanese Association will hold some
activities in Turkey between May 19-27 to develop friendly relations
and promote Japanese culture. Japanese Imperial Prince Mikasa is also
the honorary president of the association. A 20-member committee, with
the participation of Japanese cartoonists, will arrive in Turkey on
May 19. A joint cartoon exhibition of Turkish and Japanese artists
will be held in the Turkish-Japanese Foundation's hall in Ankara on
May 22. /Turkish News/
An American travel writer, Joseph A. Oakes, 67,
swam across the Dardanelles. Oakes is known for his many articles in
US and British magazines. He started his challenge from the
Dardanelles' European shore at the Port of Eceabat and finished on the
Anatolian coast, near Canakkale Marina. He swam the nearly three miles
in two hours and 15 minutes. /Turkish News/
Ilkay Yavrucuk, a student at Georgia Technical
University, has won first prize for his unmanned space craft project
to Mars. Yavrucak developed his project in cooperation with his two
friends at the University and received the first prize of the American
Helicopter Society. He also won the American Helicopter Society's
"Superior Student" award for his study of an early warning
system for attack helicopters which he developed under the sponsorship
of the Boeing Company. /Turkish News/
It was reported Turkey has given $55 million to the
Dogu Akdeniz University (DAU) in the Turkish Republic of Northern
Cyprus (TRNC) since 1979. Stating Dogu Akdeniz University was a state
university, the mission of which is to promote the TRNC, DAU President
Prof. Ozay Oral said, "Our university promotes the TRNC with its
qualified education at the international level." /Cumhuriyet/
A "Friendship and Peace March from the
Mediterranean to Aegean" was held in the Datca Peninsula. The
organizer of the march, Turgay Sonmez, said they were happy since a
great number of people participated in the peace march. /Cumhuriyet/
SunExpress has begun its scheduled flights between
Antalya and Frankfurt. Director General Paul Schwaiger said they made
such a decision since tourism in the Antalya region was significantly
improving. He added at the press conference held in Frankfurt
yesterday that the results of a recent survey proved that Turkish
tourism would further improve. /Cumhuriyet/
NATO Naval Southern Command will hold the
Damsel-Fair 2001, Actual Mine Warfare Manoeuvres, in the Kusadasi-
Doganbey area on May 15-26. The NATO Commander, Italian Adm. Luigi
Lillo, will also observe the manoeuvres. Turkey will participate in
the manoeuvres with a rescue ship, mine sweepers and an underwater
defense team. /Turkish News/
One of the largest auction houses in Turkey,
Eskidji, will organize auctions abroad, such as in Dubai,
Thessaloniki, Brussels and Washington. The owner of Eskidji, Dikran
Masis said, theirs was the first foreign auction house which obtained
permission to hold auctions in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. /Sabah/
The general director of the Telekom Italia, the
Italian partner of the Aria GSM Company, Marco De Benedetti, said they
will make investments worth $1 billion. Benedetti said there are
currently 75,000 customers of Aria. /Hurriyet/
Officials have found a three-meter tall statue of
Hercules dated to 2200 BC. The head, an arm and a leg of the statue
are missing, but museum officials said it is the most precious
artefact found in Izmit to date, of which ancient name was Nicomedia.
/Turkish Daily News/
Efes Pilsen beat CSKA Moscow by 91-85 yesterday in
Paris and became third in the European SuproLeague competition.
/Sabah/
Hamza Yerlikaya, Olympic Champion for two times and
World Champion in wrestling, broke a record receiving his fifth gold
medal in the European Championship. During the European Wrestling
Championship in Istanbul, Turkish National Team came first with five
medals in total while Russia came second and Georgia third. /Turkiye/
Columnist Yilmaz Oztuna writes on the importance of
the two last days before the IMF Executive Board meeting. A summary of
his column is as follows: "If tomorrow everything goes on
smoothly, we shall overcome the economic crisis and a new era of
reparation will begin. The crisis will continue even if there are
small hitches on the way and this in turn may lead to a third crisis.
We may have to accept harsher terms in such a situation. Therefore, we
have to be very careful in what we write and do not digress from
moderation. We are trying not to add fuel to the fire by our
criticisms. When the crisis begins to slow down we can increase the
dose of our criticisms. On the other hand, this does not mean that we
shall praise those who led Turkey into such a situation. Certainly, we
know that the groundwork of the crisis was very deep and first became
apparent in 1994. Therefore, the present Government cannot be held
totally responsible for this situation. However, the present Coalition
came into power knowing what it inherited from the previous
governments with the challenge that it will correct all that was going
wrong. However, it was not able to prevent the crisis. It could not
carry out any reforms. The Government closed its ears to those who
said that the time for small reforms had passed and it was the time
for a State reform. The Coalition reluctantly approached the modern
standards of the EU by shuffling its feet. It could not take radical
measures against wasteful expenditure and robbery as soon as it came
to power. It could not get rid of narrow-minded people unable to free
themselves of their prejudices. The crisis erupted following a dispute
between the President and Prime Minister who were bothsincere in their
beliefs. Turkey became poorer in a day as the citizens did not trust
in the administration and the system."
Columnist Gungor Mengi writes on the effect of
Dervis' appointment as a minister in the Cabinet. A summary of his
column is as follows: "This Coalition has at least saved Turkey
from falling into frequent Government crises. The formation of such a
coalition government showed that such a compromise culture can exist
in our region. Significant compromises were reached on structural
reforms and the fight against corruption. As crises could not topple
this cabinet, there will not be a government crisis. Social desires
which request a total change in politics, both structural and with its
actors have found a new hope in Kemal Dervis. The Government has acted
correctly in bringing Dervis to Turkey but in a way prepared its own
future. At present, Dervis is seen as the defender of desires in the
society and its driving force. Every opposition to Kemal Dervis will
improve Dervis' stature in society, and people will support him more.
Political structure based on sharing the profits of the State cannot
go on. The society in favour of a change has ignored the slanders
directed against Dervis because of the Telekom law. The Government has
seen that their share in the victory achieved together with Dervis
will be far greater than getting rid of him."
