Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning
CONTENTS
At the end of a tough bargaining marathon at the NATO summit in
Washington, the Turkish delegation managed to secure an amendment
to the final declaration so as the European Union will not be
able to use NATO for military operations if they are not approved
of by the NATO Council. Fearing Turkey's exclusion from any
decision-making regarding European defence and security, the
Turkish delegation strongly resisted any provision that would
enable NATO to automatically implement military decisions taken
by the EU, of which Turkey is not a member. "It was a very tough
negotiation. If we had backed off, if we had not maintained our
determination until the very end, we would have failed", Foreign
Minister Ismail Cem told a press conference.
A statement released by the Turkish Embassy in Washington said
that following the amendment in the summit documents, the
development of the European Security and Defence Identity (ESDI)
initiative had been associated with NATO and the participation of
NATO's non-EU members in this initiative had been accepted.
Also on Saturday, Demirel held a meeting with Spanish Prime
Minister Jose Maria Aznar, at which he expressed Turkey's
gratitude for the efforts of the Spanish government to cancel the
gathering of the co-called Kurdish Parliament-in-exile in the
Basque Parliament building. Cem, for his part, met over breakfast
with his German counterpart Joscka Fischer to discuss bilateral
issues, as well as such international matters as Cyprus and
Kosovo. Fischer reportedly expressed his desire to visit Ankara
as soon as the new Turkish government is formed. Later in the
day, Cem had a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart. /All
papers/
President Suleyman Demirel and German Prime Minister Gerhard
Schroeder held a meeting during the NATO summit yesterday.
Demirel was critical of the support of some groups in Germany for
terrorism and said that the activities of these terrorist groups
should also be prevented in Germany. Demirel noted that those who
tolerate terrorism would ultimately be harmed by this stance and
pointed out the PKK and fundamentalist terrorist organizations
which are still active in Germany. Demirel also said that a
mistake concerning Turco-European relations had been made during
the Luxembourg Summit and added that this mistake should be
corrected. /Cumhuriyet/
The President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC),
Rauf Denktas, and Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit were
holding intense talks yesterday on the course to be followed in
the Cyprus peace talks that are anticipated to resume this
summer. Ecevit, on a `private' visit to the TRNC, is being
accompanied by his wife Rahsan Ecevit, State Minister Sukru Sina
Gurel and his wife. /All papers/
The Chief Prosecutor of the State Security Court (DGM), Cevdet
Volkan, stated that the trial of the PKK Chief, Abdullah Ocalan,
would continue without interruption and said that the indictment
would be presented to the court within the week. Volkan added
that after the trial is begun, brief statements concerning the
indictment will be made to the press. He noted that Ocalan's
trial was no different from others which are in progress at the
DGM. /Cumhuriyet/
President Suleyman Demirel, who delivered a speech during the
`Silk Road' countries' meeting organized with the participation
of a number of Central Asian and Caucasian countries as part of
the NATO Summit in the US, remarked that the Silk Road is still
of remarkable geopolitical significance and that Turkey fuctions
as a bridge between the East and the West. Demirel also noted
that there are ongoing efforts to facilitate the Baku-Ceyhan
Pipeline and Transcaucasian energy corridor, which will
supplement peace and stability in the region. /Milliyet/
Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs George Papandreu said that the
Ankara and Athens governments have been brought closer as part of
the cooperation with his Turkish counterpart Ismail Cem. He said,
"The Kosovo issue has initiated a sense of cooperation and
solidarity between the countries in the region. Within this
framework Turkey and Greece have begun a good cooperation
process. Both countries have shown great solidarity in their
humanitarian aid for the Kosovars. These developments do not mean
that Turco-Greek problems have been solved but the broken
contacts are re-established. We are in close contact with my
Turkish counterpart Ismail Cem and I hope that this positive
atmosphere will following after the establishment of the new
government in Turkey." /Sabah/
"The Economist" magazine claimed in its last issue that Greece
spared more financial sources for armament than Turkey. According
to 1998 dates Turkey was 11th among NATO countries concerning her
military expenditur whereas Greece increased its military
spending in 1998, the magazine reported. It was also noted that
Turkey was the only country among the NATO countries which had
tried to limit her military out-goings. /Aksam/
Turkey is disturbed by news of a conference to be held by the
`Committee of Armenians in Belgium' in the European Parliament on
April 29-30, of which the alleged `Armenian Genocide' will
constitute a major topic. The Conference is being interpreted as
the first step of a more effective defence of the so-called
`Armenian Question' in the next century; Turkey considers the
EP's hosting of the Conference a `disturbing development'. It is
reported that Turkey has initiated measures against the
Conference, implying "The EU is already far from being an
institution contributing to the improvement of the relations
between Europe and Turkey. Such developments may result in
further tension." A Turkish diplomatic source said, "What
perturbs Turkey is the fact that the Conference will be held
under the roof of the EP." /Milliyet/
General Director of Political Affairs for the European Council
Hans Peter Furrer said in his special statement to the "Turkiye"
newspaper that the possibility of the Nationalist Action Party's
(MHP) inclusion in the new coalition goverment, yet to be
established, should cause no uneasiness in the European Council.
He added that not only the Ocalan issue and Kurdish terrorism but
also the EU's unjust attitude towards Turkey have played a
leading role in the increase in the number of nationalist votes
in Turkey. Stressing that Turco-EU relations have rapidly
improved since 1985, Furrer said that Turkey was very close to
European standards of democracy. /Turkiye/
Mayoral elections in the Cat district of the province of Erzurum
and the Ulubey district of the province of Ordu have been made
null and void by the Election Boards of these districts. The
cancellation decision in Cat has been taken due to the former
misconduct of the True Path Party (DYP) candidate Mirza Kurt, who
was announced to have won the Mayoral election in the April 18
local elections. Meanwhile, in Ulubey, the election has been
cancelled with regard to the objection of the Nationalist Action
Party (MHP) candidate Yasar Pamuk, who argued that certain
irregularities had taken place during the elections in that
district. It was announced that the DYP candidate, Mehmet Yilmaz,
had won the Mayoral election in Ulubey. In both districts, local
elections will take place again in June. /Milliyet/
Deputy Prime Minister and State Minister Responsible for Economy,
Hikmet Ulugbay said that Turkey's priorities would not change in
a coalition government established with the Democratic Left Party
(DSP). Ulugbay, who is still in Washington attending meetings
with the IMF, said, "The new government in Turkey will not start
its relations with the IMF from scratch. The important thing is
that politicians should establish and protect stability in
Turkey." He added that they would continue their economic
programme in conjuction with the IMF. /Sabah/
Turkey exported the greater part of her goods and services to
Germany in 1998, followed by the US, Britain and Italy. According
to the Foreign Trade Bulletin published by the Foreign Trade
Undersecretariat's Economic Research and Assessment General
Directorate, Turkey's imports from Italy remained the same while
her exports increased. /All papers/
One of Germany's largest tour operators, Oger Tour, has organized
a promotional campaign called 'Come And See Turkey for Yourself'.
Within the advertising guidelines of this new pitch, members of
Germany's media arrived in Kemer, Antalya, on Saturday and will
stay there for four days, the Anatolia News Agency reported over
the weekend. Oger Tour's Turkey representative, Huseyin Baraner,
said that 45 of Germany's top tourism journalists have come to
Turkey with the aim of giving the Mediterranean coast a thorough
inspection. Baraner said that among their goals is to prove to
people just how safe Turkey is.
Turkish Air Forces Commander-in-Chief General Ilhan Kilic will
host his counterparts from 17 countries, 12 of which are NATO
member countries, today in Ankara. During the meeting, which will
end on 29 April, joint military exercises, military training and
changing experiences in every field will be discussed. Military
sources announced that EURAC meetings have an unofficial forum
structure. German, Austrian, Belgian, Danish, Finnish, French,
Dutch, British, Irish, Spanish, Swiss, Swedish, Italian,
Norwegian, Portuguese and Greek generals are attending the
meeting. /Turkiye/
High-ranking officials of the Infrastructural Group for
Agriculture, Education, Health and the Urban Scene, part of the
State Planning Organization (DPT), will go to Sanliurfa on a tour
of observation of the Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP). The
Director of the GAP Regional Development Administration, Erkan
Alemdaroglu, said that the 20-person delegation will arrive in
Sanliurfa on April 28, be given information on the GAP and visit
Sanliurfa Governor Sehabettin Harput. /Hurriyet/
Investments in tourist facilities, which have not been completed
or are being partially used in the 26 cities in the Southeast
region previously setlled on by the Council of Ministers, have
been included under the heading of incentives. According to a
decision published in the Official Gazette yesterday and
considered to be valid as of March 5, 1999, in addition to
investments in the manufacturing and agricultural industries, and
in health and education, tourist facilities will also be
supported through investments. /Cumhuriyet/
In Sirnak and Erzurum, 49 members of the PKK terrorist
organization have been captured. Meanwhile, six members of the
illegal TKP/ML TIKKO organization who have been involved in
bombings against police stations in the Tarabya, Balat and
Karagumruk districts of Istanbul have been sentenced by the
Istanbul State Security Court (DGM) and sent to prison.
/Cumhuriyet/
The General Director of the Machinery Chemicals Industry (MKEK),
Recai Onder, said that at the end of the modernization and
restructurization of the institution, they aimed to boost exports
in 2000. Noting that there were 13 new projects under way at a
total cost of $ 500 million, Onder said that they would increase
the variety of their products. He stressed that they wanted to
increase Turkey's exports in the arms industry. /Aksam/
Turkish entrepreneurs engaged in business in Russia and the
Turkish Speaking Republics are turning towards the Advertisment
and Public Relations sector in order to promote their activities.
The first Turco-Russian Advertisment and Public Relations Agency
opened last week in Moscow. The Turkish Omnia Advertisement
Agency has entered into a partnership with the Russian group,
Media Moment; the aim of the Media Moment-Omnia Partnership is to
promote Turkish firms in business in Russia. /Aksam/
The Middle East Energy Bridge project comprmising Turkey, Egypt,
Jordan and Syria will be accelerated. Syrian officials announced
to the Turkish Ministry of Energy that they had already handed
over the construction of the 60-kilomeyre long electric cables.
It was noted that the construction would be achieved by a
Turco-German consortium and will be completed in 2001. Turkish
officials pointed out that the 43-kilometre long cables between
Egypt and Jordan would be completed soon. They added that if the
construction programme is applied, the transfer of energy between
Turkey and Syria will begin in 2001. /Sabah/
On the 84th anniversary of the Gallipoli Campaign people from the
Antipodes commemorated their forebears. A religious ceremony was
held to remember the soldiers who died during the war. Austrian
General Mayor William Deane, New Zealand's International Trade
Minister Lockwood Smith and five thousand visitors from New
Zealand and Austria attended the ceremonies, during which Turkey
was represented by State Minister Aydin Tumen. /Aksam/Turkiye/
A gas explosion occurred in a coal mine operating illegally near
Zonguldak late on Saturday night in which two miners were
rescued, one lost his life and another is missing, the Anatolia
News Agency reported over the weekend. The Turkish Coal Mines
Board (TTK) rescue team is working at the site in an attempt to
rescue the miner who is still missing.
During a handing-over ceremony to be conducted today in the
Federal Prosecutor's Office in New York, historic artifacts
stolen from Turkey will return to the country stage by stage.
With another ceremony to be held in London in two weeks' time,
the process will be completed. Turkish Culture Minister Istemihan
Talay, Head of Religious Affairs Mehmet Nuri Yilmaz and one of
the lawyers representing the Turkish government Larry Kaye will
attend the ceremony in New York. The Turkish Ambassador to
London, Ozdem Sanberk, will participate in the ceremony in
London. /Cumhuriyet/
A Turkish delegation consisting of eight students from various
high schools and universities will represent Turkey during a
Youth Forum to be held by the Parliamentary Assembly of the
Council of Europe (PACE) on April 26-30 in Strasbourg on the
occasion of the 50th anniversary of its establishment. The Forum
will be attended by 275 young people from 41 member countries.
/Cumhuriyet/
The High School Students' Mathematics Contest within the European
International Union has ended. At the end of the competition
attended by 71 students from 14 schools in seven countries, a
Turkish student from the Izmir American Collegiate Institute,
Caglar Unlu, came first. In the team category, Ankara TED
College, Izmir American Collegiate Institute, MEF Schools in
Turkey, International College Spain and the Austrian Danube
International School teams came first. /Cumhuriyet/
The 11th International Ankara Film Festival will begin today.
Short films and documentary films will begin to be shown from
today until April 30. The second part of the Festival will begin
on April 30 and last until May 9 during which a national
long-film competition will take place and movies around the world
will be shown. /Hurriyet/
Sukru Elekdag, a columnist for the `Milliyet' daily, reflects on
the recent diversification of the interests of the US, EU and
Turkey in the expansion process of NATO. Elekdag writes:
"The representatives of 18 out of the 19 members of NATO left
Washington with an impression that important and positive
decisions on the part of their countries had been taken during
the 50th Anniversary celebrations of the Organization. However,
the same can hardly be said for Turkey. This is mainly due to the
propositions put forward by the UK and France that totally
exclude Turkey, already excluded from the political integration
in Europe, from the defence organization which is planned to be
established within the framework of the EU as well.
Above all, the regulations to be implemented during the
transformation process of the `European Security and Defence
Identity' into the `European Defence Agency' might lead to a
weakening of Turkey's influence within NATO. Furthermore, the
same regulations might also impel Turkey to accept those
decisions taken by certain organs in which it is not represented.
However, this negative development has been prevented through the
intense diplomatic struggle on the part of the Turkish
delegation. In point of fact, the problem has by no means been
resolved. It has simply been postponed.
During the Cold War, NATO was defined as follows: "NATO aims to
include the US, exclude the Soviets, and control the Germans." As
far as Washington is concerned, the most significant function of
NATO is still that it has remained as a forum which makes
possible, and founds a legal basis for, the US military and
political presence in Europe. Many expressions included in the
accepted documents following the Summit, such as `the
indivisibility of the fates of Europe and North America', attest
to the fact that, despite those expected revolutionary changes
within the framework of the EU, America has already guaranteed
its military and political presence in Europe for the conceivable
future. As well as that, regarding the balance of forces in
Eurasia, it has also established the McKinder security belt
(`cordon sanitaire') in Europe through the NATO expansion
process. McKinder's a century-old argument is still in effect
today: `The maintenance of peace in Europe and in the World
relies upon the separation of the Germans and the Slavs by
constituting a "cordon sanitaire" composed of Poland, Hungary and
Czechoslovakia. In this way, any conflict or alliance between the
Germans and the Russians would be prevented.'
On the other hand, the Kosovo Crisis has revealed the urgent
necessity of taking new institutional measures in the field of
defence for the EU. Formerly, it was provisioned that the Western
European Union would be the European-leg of NATO and the defence
organ of the EU. In addition, during NATO's Berlin summit in
1996, it was confirmed that the `European Security and Defence
Identity' would be improved on as part of NATO, whereas it would
be the Western European Union to which forces would be allocated
in any military operation attempted by the EU. That was not seen
as a perturbing development for Turkey because it would have an
impact on the decision-making, planning and execution processes
of any military operation due to its achievements within the
Western European Union as a member country.
However, the proposition put forward by the UK and France during
the Washington Summit entailed the constitution of a `European
Security and Defence Identity' which would replace the `Western
European Union' as a defence organization. It would be
established as part of the EU independent of NATO, and would,
above all, utilize NATO forces at any time on request. This
mechanism, backed by the US also, isolates Turkey from any right
to intervene in the process while forcing her, adversely, to
share in the responsibilities.
It can hardly be imagined that Europe, which will inevitably be
organized along defence lines as well, may turn down the idea of
utilizing NATO forces while taking steps to this end. In this
respect, one should expect us to be faced with the same question
in the near future."
Columnist Yakup Kepenek from the daily "Cumhuriyet" writes on the
national economy and free market economy systems. A summary of
his column is as follows:
"The Election has resulted in the victory of the nationalist left
and the nationalist right. The roots of nationalist ideas are
based on economic development. In fact, political nationalism and
economic nationalism complement each other like two halves of an
apple... The Nationalist economic system is based on the
protection of a country's production output in the face of
foreign competition, the expansion of the domestic market and
industrialization within the framework of national solidarity in
both labour and capital. The state structure with all its
institutions and national education system, cultural and social
activities should be used for this purpose. The State
industrialization programme achieved by Turkey in the 1930s
reflect this view.
Industrialized states like to implement the free market economy
model in the area of foreign trade as their economies do not
require protection. `Free market' means greater market
opportunities for developed economies. The best example of this
is the US. Following a strict protection period, and over a
hundred years of industrialization the US has become the champion
of the free market . Globalization is a movement which the
industrialized states led by the US want to be accepted by the
whole world.
For ten years the nationalist economy model has been abandoned in
Turkey and the views of the industrialized states have begun to
be accepted by the public. According to this view, the State
should not have anything to do with the economy and should
facilitate the working-out of markets without hindrance. There is
no place for protection. Protection is limited to the fields of
literary property and licences, regional development and
restructuring. As developing nations cannot produce new
technology can they benefit from this protection? Can Turkey
follow a nationalist policy in her economics?
Turkey's foreign debt burden and foreign trade relations do not
allow for a closed and 'protectionist' economy. Although they are
few, there are ways out . Investments in research and
development, regional improvement and agricultural subvention are
three of these. However to follow a nationalistic economic model
in Turkey there has to be an infrastructure. This infrastructure
should be based on the economy, bureaucracy and politics. First
of all, it should rid itelf of high interest and high inflation
rates. Secondly, the bureaucrats should be helping the
politicians and in addition the parties forming the government
should aid the protection of stability. The success achieved will
first of all help the parties themselves."
FROM THE COLUMNS ... FROM THE COLUMNS ... FROM THE COLUMNS
TURKEY SECURES LAST-DITCH CHANGE IN NATO DOCUMENT
DEMIREL WARNS AGAINST TERRORISM
ECEVIT-DENKTAS MEETING
VOLKAN: "OCALAN'S TRIAL WILL CONTINUE WITHOUT INTERRUPTION"
DEMIREL: "TURKEY IS THE BRIDGE BETWEEN THE SILK ROAD AND THE
WEST"
"KOSOVO ISSUE BRINGS TURKEY AND GREECE CLOSER"
THE ECONOMIST, "GREECE SPENDS MORE ON WEAPONS THAN TURKEY"
ARMENIAN CONFERENCE IN EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
FURRER, "THERE IS NO UNEASINESS CONCERNING THE RESULT OF
ELECTIONS"
LOCAL ELECTION VOID IN TWO DISTRICTS
ULUGBAY: "TURKEY'S PRIORITES WILL NOT CHANGE"
GERMANY WAS TURKEY'S MAJOR TRADING PARTNER IN 1998
GERMANY'S OGER TOUR OPENS TURKEY'S DOORS
EURAC MEETING TO BE IN ANKARA
DPT BREAKTHROUGH IN GAP
SUPPORT FOR TOURISM IN SOUTHEAST
49 PKK TERRORISTS CAPTURED
EXPORTS TO BE BOOSTED IN 2000
TURCO-RUSSIAN COOPERATION IN ADVERTISEMENT
THE MIDDLE EAST ENERGY BRIDGE
HISTORIC MEETING AT THE ANZAC BAY
COAL MINE EXPLOSION IN ZONGULDAK
STOLEN HISTORIC ARTIFACTS TO RETURN TO TURKEY
TURKISH STUDENTS AT PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY OF COUNCIL OF EUROPE
MATHEMATICS CONTEST
INTERNATIONAL ANKARA FILM FESTIVAL
FROM THE COLUMNS ... FROM THE COLUMNS ... FROM THE COLUMNS
NATO, THE US, THE EU, AND TURKEY - BY SUKRU ELEKDAG (MILLIYET)
NATIONALISM IN ECONOMY - BY YAKUP KEPENEK (CUMHURIYET)