WHY? BY SEDAT SERTOGLU (SABAH)
The Turkish Grand National Assembly (TGNA) will
convene today to debate the proposal for Constitutional amendments on
37 articles. During the Plenary Session, which will be chaired by the
Speaker of the TGNA, Omer Izgi, a new Deputy Speaker of the TGNA, as
well as, new members from Felicity Party (SP) and the Justice and
Progress Party (AKP) for the Constitutional Commission will be
elected. /Hurriyet/
Spain Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar arrived in
Istanbul yesterday to attend the opening ceremony of the Istanbul
Cervantes Institute and to hold meetings with Turkish authorities.
Premier Bulent Ecevit hosted a dinner last night at the Cıragan
Palace in the honour of Spanish Premier. Both Prime Ministers will
open the Institute following a press conference. /Turkiye/
Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit left for Istanbul
yesterday to hold a meeting with Spanish Premier Jose Maria Aznar and
to attend the opening ceremony of the Cervantes Institute. Before
leaving, upon a question posed by journalists at the Esenboga Airport,
regarding the threat of a nuclear war, Ecevit said, " God save
the world from a kind of nuclear war. It will a disaster for the
humanity." /Turkiye/
The US Secretary of State Colin Powell thanked
Turkey for her support against terrorism. Calling Minister of Foreign
Affairs Ismail Cem last night, Powell expressed his pleasure for
Turkey's share in the grief of the US nation for the recent terrorist
attack and support. /Turkiye/
The leader of the Felicity Party (SP) Recai Kutan
said terror and war are different concepts. Addressing a party
meeting, regarding the terrorist attack in the US, Kutan said,
"Terrorism is not related to any religion. Some circles try to
establish a connection between terrorism and Islam. This is completely
wrong. Islam is a religion of peace and friendship." He said
struggle with terrorism is necessary. However, innocent people should
not be harmed." /Turkiye/
Stating that international law recognized
"retaliation" Prof. Rona Aybay at Istanbul Bilgi University
said, "Retaliation is in compliance with international law.
However, the problem is that US retaliation has no specific
target." Aybay said that the recent terrorist attacks on the US
led the world into a new period. Aybay added, "The current data
is not enough for taking a decision to attack a country. However, if
the US carries out an operation, they will have to explain their legal
basis." Meanwhile, Chairwoman of the Sociology Department at
Marmara University Prof. Nilufer Narli warned that if the US
retaliated without any specific targets, this would increase
anti-American and anti-Western views in the Eastern world and more
people in the region would begin to label Americans as
"enemies" which might result in polarization and struggles
between the two cultures. /Cumhuriyet/
The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in
new York City and the Pentagon outside Washington on Sept 11, which
prompted the US to prepare retaliatory action at various points in the
world has also brought to the forefront a debate over an effective
fight against acts of international terrorism and terrorists. For the
first time in its history NATO decided to invoke Article V. Prime
Minister Bulent Ecevit expressed his desire that some of Turkey's
allies change the way they treat terrorists such as the DHKP/C and PKK
militants. The members of the European Union are expected to
definitely change their anti-terrorism policy, which is based, in the
words of a senior EU diplomat on the tolerance of dissidents residing
in many European countries. /Turkish Daily News/
Republican People's Party (CHP) Chairman Deniz
Baykal said it was wrong to define terrorism by religion. Interpreting
the terrorist attacks against the US, Baykal said terrorism can affect
a whole society and it has changed its quality. He said,
"Relating terrorism to a religion is a terrible mistake.
Terrorism has no religion. You can't define any religion as a
supporter of terrorism. Every religion accepts the importance of
justice, respect and care for human life. These events showed how
important a country Turkey is. Turkey, as a Muslim country, has always
fought against terrorism." /Turkish Daily News/
A delegation including Constitutional Court members
traveled to Paris. The delegation will make some official visits in
several cities of Europe as guests of European Court of Human Rights
(ECHR)Chief Luzuis Wildhaber, the European Council and German Foreign
Affairs Minister. /Turkish Daily News/
Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (ISO) Chairman
Husamettin Kavi said that the recent terrorist attacks on the US could
be considered as the consequence of the extreme social inequalities in
the world. Emphasizing that Turkey was one of the countries who were
affected mostly by the attacks, Kavi said, "IMF's and World
Bank's current loans to be delivered to Turkey will not be enough
under these new conditions. We cannot talk about a sustainable
economic program based on tourism and exports revenues any longer. We
need to discuss the new conditions and their effects on Turkey as soon
as possible." /Hurriyet/
Attending a ceremony in Karaburun, Izmir, Minister
of Finance Sumer Oral said Turkey is passing from a hard and difficult
period , however, all difficulties will be surmounted. Oral said,
"Turkey is one of the great countries in the world. She is 17th
with respect to the Gross National Income figure. We have the power
and potential to overcome the difficulties. "Regarding the
terrorist attack in the US, he said, "This incident shows us how
terrorism reached dangerous dimensions." /Turkiye/
At the "Balkan States Agriculture Ministers
Meeting," which is being held in Istanbul, ministers from eight
countries met with Turkish Agriculture Minister Husnu Yusuf Gokalp in
Yalova. Gokalp said that they were working on establishing a
secretariat for the meeting and their aim was to carry out any kind of
collaboration between the states and coordinate the marketing of
agricultural products, and integration of agricultural activities with
the environment. /Turkish Daily News/
The Turkish construction company, Transbalkan, has
built a natural gas compressor station in the Ukraine and has opened
it. The construction of the Ukraine Tarutino compressor station, which
will increase the capacity of the pipeline transporting natural gas
from the Russian Federation to Turkey by 3,9 billion cubic meters,
costs 78 million US dollars. During the opening of the compressor
station, Member of the Executive Board of Transbalkan and the General
Director of Tekfen Construction, Umit Ozdemir, said for the first time
they worked without the partnership of a foreign company. He added,
"We have signed an agreement to implement the second stage of the
project. This is an important advantage for us." /Sabah/
President of the Turkish Grand National Assembly
(TGNA), Rauf Denktas, will go to Gaziantep today to open his personal
photography exhibition called "Through Denktas' Camera" and
to maintain contacts. After the opening of his exhibition in
Gaziantep, Denktas will give a conference titled "Cyprus
Yesterday and Today." /Sabah/
The Turkish Union of Chambers and Commoditites
Exchanges (TOBB) has stated that it supports the changes to the
Constitution. In a written statement it said, "Our union hopes
that the agreement will be protected by the Parliamentary Committee
and that constitutional amendments will be implemented as soon as
possible." The statement said changing the constitution was
necessary to move with the times. The TOBB has dealt with this subject
before, and called in a number of academicians to prepare a
constitutional change in 2000. It was stated that Turkey, whose aim is
to become a member of the European Union in this age of globalization,
accepted the results of the Copenhagen Summit in 1993 and announced
its Internal Program. The TOBB statement continued: "The TOBB
supports the changes to make individuals stronger in the
state-individual relationship, to improve human rights and the powers
that protect human rights, and to better local government
foundations." /Turkish News/
State Minister Kemal Dervis began his visit to
London. After having a breakfast with a correspondent of Financial
Times, Dervis will later have an interview with the Trade Minister
Baroness Symons in the Foreign Ministry. It is also stated that Kemal
Dervis will visit the central office of Standart and Poors, which is
an international rating organization, in London. In the second day of
his visit Dervis will join the Foreign Economic Relations Council. He
will explain the improvements in the Turkish economy to the
international finance circle and bankers. Dervis is also expected to
meet the President of the English Industrialists and Businessman
Confederation Digby Jones. /Milliyet/
In the first eight months of the year the export
made to the European Union Countries increased by 14% and reached 10
billion 722 million U.S. Dollars. According to the data of the Export
Associations, Turkey's export increase to Italy took the lead by 36.1%
increase. $1.5 billion export was made to Italy. The export made to
Germany increased 8.3% and reached $3.6 billion. The export to Central
and Eastern European countries increased by 23.3%. /Milliyet/
Under a military training, technical and scientific
cooperation agreement signed with Azerbaijan, the Turkish Armed Forces
(TSK) has donated 80 military vehicles and four construction machines
to the Nahkchevan's 5th Army Corps Command, Anatolia news agency
reported over the weekend. The ceremony in Nakhchevan started with the
playing of the national anthems of both Turkey and Nakhchevan. The
TSK's representative, 1st Mechanized Infantry Brigade Commander
General Necmettin Baykul, said that the ceremony was one of the most
beautiful tributes to Turkic unity and cooperation. Due to
Nakhchevan's geopolitical location, it needed motorized combat units
more than ever. /Turkish News/
Deniztemiz (TURMEPA) Association has started a
five-day-long clean up campaign for the Bosphorus, Anatolia news
agency reported on Saturday. The campaign aims to collect solid
garbage from the sea surface with the participation of five ships.
Three of them will sail between Beylerbeyi and Kanlica, and two of
them between Ortakoy and Bebek. Deniztemiz Association Chairman Levent
Lacin said that the Bosphorus would be cleared from top to bottom and
added: "We will collect all solid garbage in the Bosphorus for
five days. We have been carrying out such campaigns for the past two
years, and each year we collect some 500 tons of garbage."
/Turkish News/
The photographs of three Turkish photographers, Isa
Celik, Huseyin Ozdemir and Tahsin Aydogmus, are being exhibited in
Cologne, Germany. The main theme of the exhibition is man.
/Cumhuriyet/
Following the terrorist attack in the US, Turkish
Airlines (THY)'s New York flights were restarted. The plane,
"Izmir", landed on Istanbul Ataturk Airport yesterday with
its 231 passengers. /Turkiye/
The Chairman of Antalya Golden Orange Culture and
Art Foundation Bekir Kumbul attended the conference "7th Europe-
Mediterranean Cinema" organized by OCCAM (The Observatory for
Culture, Communications and Audiovisual in the Mediterranean) between
September 6th-8th. OCCAM's Chairman Pierpaolo Saporito said that OCCAM
would give its full support to promote Antalya and Golden Orange Film
Festival to the world. /Cumhuriyet/
The New York Times, one of the influential
newspapers in the US, has showed that it ignores the nationalist
reaction against Muslim countries that has occurred due to the
terrorist attack. In its tourism supplement titled "The
Sophisticated Traveler", which is published four times a year,
Istanbul was covered in seven pages. By writing on a Muslim country,
even in an atmosphere of chaos, the article has informed its readers
that Turkey is an important part of the free world. Thus, the
newspaper gave the American people the message that "Turkey is
not dangerous for the American citizens." /Sabah/
Columnist Sedat Sertoglu writes on the decisions
Turkey must make regarding terrorist actions. A summary of his column
is as follows: "Turkey must make certain hard but necessary
decisions regarding what she should do. Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit
gave certain clues as to what these may be. He did not answer
questions which could have led to speculations. First of all, Turkey
will act together with the US. She will give full support to armed and
unarmed US diplomacy to eradicate international terrorism. Secondly,
she will review her relations with Europe while making these
decisions. There are some problems in these relations... For years
Turkey was troubled by the tolerance shown towards the terrorist
groups working against Turkey.. European Security and Defense Identity
(ESDI) is another problem... However, none of these will hamper
Turkey's fight against terrorism together with the US. Bringing those
issues to the table during or at the end of the war may be a more
rational policy.. As we have seen that timing is of utmost importance
in diplomatic initiatives, and is of great significance in achieving
success, we believe we have to keep calm. Thirdly, Turkey does not
have enough money to spare for a military operation because of the
economic crisis she suffers. Everyone and mainly the US is aware of
the situation. Washington says that Turkey's stance has comforted ant
pleased the US Administration. The dialogue between Washington and
Ankara is going on and the US defines Turkish policy followed as
rational and she is certain that Ankara will do whatever is expected
of her when the time comes . A country like Turkey who suffered the
pains of terrorism for long cannot remain outside this war or passive.
The second important name in the US Department of State, Richard
Armitage may stop by Turkey during his visit to Moscow. Ankara will
receive information concerning the recent events, the US plans and her
expectations from Turkey directly from Mr. Armitage in detail. She
will have the opportunity to ask questions in her mind. We hope Turkey
will be able to benefit from this new situation which brings many
problems and advantages together."
