DEMIREL THANKS YELTSIN

President Suleyman Demirel sent a message of thanks to Russian Head of State Boris Yeltsin for his support of Turkey in the aftermath of the earthquake disaster in the Marmara Region. A statement issued by the Russian Head of State's Press Office said that Demirel had expressed the thanks of the Turkish nation to Russia for its emergency relief aid to overcome the damage caused by the earthquake disaster. Demirel stated in his message that Russian material and spiritual assistance following the earthquake and Russian support in the search and rescue efforts would always be appreciated by the Turkish nation, the Anatolia News Agency reports.

SOLANA: "TURKEY IS AN IMPORTANT ALLY FOR EUROPEAN SECURITY"

Javier Solana, who will leave the post of NATO Secretary-General and take up a position within the EU, stated that Turkey was an important ally for European security. Solana made a statement to a French radio station and said that he wanted the EU to develop its relations with Turkey. Solana will be the top-level representative responsible for the EU Common Foreign and Security Policy, the Anatolia News Agency reports.

TURCO-GREEK RELATIONS

Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreu said that the positive atmosphere existing between the Turkish and Greek nations did not change the policies of their respective governments. Papandreu held a joint press conference with French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine as part of a seminar on 'Southeastern Europe: the Democratization and Development Process' held in Thessalonica and remarked that developments experienced in the aftermath of the earthquakes both in Turkey and Greece had given a new momentum to relations between the two countries. Papandreu said that problems between the two countries were not ones that could be solved in the short-term and added that the two countries should be constructive and determined in order to solve the problems in the long-term. Papandreu stated that they wanted Turkey to display the strength of its will in finding solutions to bilateral problems and the Cyprus issue. Vedrine said for his part that he also wanted Turco-Greek relations to improve, the Anatolia News Agency reports.

BULGARIAN FOREIGN MINISTER TO VISIT TURKEY

Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nadejha Mihailova will visit Turkey on October 13-14. Turkish Foreign Ministry Deputy Spokesman Sermet Atacanli held a weekly press conference yesterday and said that during the visit, friendly relations between the two countries would be deliberated. Atacanli stated that work to further develop relations between the two countries would also be discussed and added that views would be exchanged concerning developments at regional and multi-lateral levels, the Anatolia News Agency reports.

U.S. WANTS RUSSIA NOT TO OPPOSE TURKMEN-TURKISH NATURAL GAS PIPELINE

The U.S. wants Russia not to oppose the Turkmen-Turkish natural gas pipeline project, which pipeline will run from Turkmenistan to Turkey via the Caspian Sea. Jan Kalicki, a representative from the U.S. Trade Department responsible for relations with the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), delivered a speech at an international conference in Moscow and said that after the Blue Stream project is completed, 75 % of Turkey's natural gas needs will be met by Russia. Meanwhile, Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Cumhur Ersumer, who is currently paying an official visit to Turkmenistan, was received by Turkmen President Sapar Murad Turkmenbasi yesterday. Turkmenbasi said that 34 % of world natural gas reserves was located in Turkmenistan and added that these resources should be used for the benefit of both countries. /Turkiye/

SARKISYAN: "TURKEY'S PARTICIPATION IS ESSENTIAL FOR REGIONAL COOPERATION"

Armenian Prime Minister Vazgen Sarkisyan said that Armenia had some proposals in mind with reference to regional cooperation, however, added that in order to implement these proposals, Turkey and Russia's participation was essential. Sarkisyan held a series of talks in the U.S. and stated upon his arrival in the country that he had conveyed his views and plans to the U.S. concerning regional cooperation. Sarkisyan said, "This cooperation should not be limited only to the Caucasian region because any initiative aimed at regional ingteration will be ineffective if Turkey and Russia's participation is not achieved", the Anatolia News Agency reports.

OYMEN TO VISIT CHINA

The Chairman of the Republican People's Party (CHP), Altan Oymen, has accepted the invitation of the Chinese Ambassador to Ankara, Yao Kuangyi, to visit China in early 2000. Kuangyi visited Oymen yesterday and said that the Chinese Communist Party wanted to further develop its relations with the CHP, the Anatolia News Agency reports.

IMF SUPPORT FOR TURKEY

The IMF will offer technical and financial support to nine countries, including Turkey, so as to further strengthen their short-term debt-monitoring systems. According to the principle presented to the IMF temporary Committee and later adopted, the short-term debt-monitoring systems in Turkey, Argentina, Brazil, South Korea, Mexico, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Ecuador will be further consolidated. Meanwhile, Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit talked about the strength of the August 17 earthquake and added that the economy would relax following this period of anxiety. Ecevit recalled that more than 80 countries had helped Turkey in the aftermath of the earthquake disaster and remarked that the IMF and the World Bank would donate more than $3 billion to Turkey. /Turkiye/

OTTOMAN ECONOMY TO BE DISCUSSED

The European Association of Banking History (EABH), the Osmanli Bank Historical Research Centre and the Turkish Economic and Social History Foundation will jointly organize a meeting entitled 'At the crossroads of the East and the West: Banking, Trade and Investments' on October 15-16 in Istanbul. During the meeting, the economic structure of the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century will be discussed. /Turkiye/

TURKCELL CREDIT RATING INCREASES

Duff and Phelps (DCR), an international rating institution, has increased the credit rating of Turkcell, active in the mobile telephone sector, from BB(-) to BBB(-). A statement issued by the DCR said that this increase in Turkcell's rating was based on the increase in the number of subscribers and its strong market position. /Turkiye/

DENKTAS: "U.S. WANTS A BASE ON CYPRUS"

President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) Rauf Denktas claimed that the U.S. wanted to establish a base on Cyprus. Denktas stated that the U.S. Administration desires to see a NATO force on the Island instead of UN soldiers. /Milliyet/

ECEVIT: "WE ARE AGAINST TERRORISM"

Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit has sent a letter to the Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and thanked him for his invitation to visit Russia. Ecevit also explained Turkey's stance against terrorism and reiterated that it was out of the question for Turkey to support terrorism. /Milliyet/

'WE APOLOGIZE, TURKEY'

Following the five-day tour of inspection by tour operators from Scandinavian countries, an article appeared in Ving Magazine cited them as saying: "Sorry, Turkey. You deserve the best". The Scandinavian Leisure Group comprised of Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland's biggest tour operators said in the latest issue of its magazine that it had acted with prejudice. /All papers/

COURT TO BEGIN HEARING OCALAN APPEAL TODAY

Today, the Supreme Court of Appeals will commence hearing the appeal of Abdullah Ocalan, the head of the PKK terrorist organization, who was sentenced to death by Ankara's State Security Court (DGM) in June. The court hearing is scheduled for 9:00 a.m. today. Ocalan will not be allowed to attend the court session. /All papers/

ANKARA PLAYS DOWN ITALIAN GRANT OF ASYLUM TO OCALAN

Ankara dubbed yesterday as 'distasteful' a recent ruling of an Italian court granting asylum to the head of the PKK terrorist organization Abdullah Ocalan but signalled that it would not have a negative impact on the warming relations between Turkey and Italy. "Naturally, the ruling of the Italian court is distasteful. But we took notice of the fact that the Italian government had demanded the rejection of the asylum request", Foreign Ministry Deputy Spokesman Sermet Atacanli told a press conference yesterday. /All papers/

TURKEY TO PAY COMPENSATION FOR BOMBING TO IRAN

The Foreign Ministry has said that Ankara will pay compensation to Iran over a longstanding controversy in which Tehran charges that Turkish fighter jets bombed its territories on July 18, killing five people and wounding 10 others. A joint Turco-Iranian investigation of the site found that the Turkish jets had not bombed Iranian territories, but those of Northern Iraq, where Turkish forces carry our frequent operation against the PKK terrorist organization, Foreign Ministry Deputy Spokesman Sermet Atacanli said yesterday. /All papers/

WORLD BANK DELEGATION IN ESKISEHIR

A delegation from the World Bank is currently visiting Eskisehir. The delegation was received by Eskisehir Mayor Yilmaz Buyukersen yesterday and was briefed on industrialization and development in Eskisehir. /Aksam/

ANKARA AWAITS THE SUMMIT

Foreign Ministry Deputy Spokesman Sermet Atacanli said yesterday that an important process had begun prior to the Helsinki Summit in December with reference to Turco-EU relations and added that the enlargement issue would be the main topic of discussion during the Summit. /Aksam/

CAKICI WAITING FOR APPROVAL

A decision concerning the extradition of Alaattin Cakici, a Turkish criminal figure who is currently imprisoned in France, has also been approved by French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin following the approval of French Justice Minister Elisabeth Guigou. If French President Jacques Chirac also approves the decision, then Cakici will be extradited to Turkey. /Milliyet/

AZERBAIJAN IS HOPEFUL FOR BAKU-CEYHAN

The Head of the Baku-Ceyhan Oil Pipeline Project and the Azerbaijani Deputy Oil Minister Valid Eleskerov said that he believed that all agreements relating to the Baku-Ceyhan Project, one of the largest such undertakings in the world, would be signed in the near future. Eleskerov delivered a speech on 'Silk Road Trade' organized as part of the Second Economic Summit of the Turkish-Speaking Republics. /Aksam/

OCALAN'S TRIAL COST: 130 BILLION TL

Rome's Second Court of Appeals, which has discussed the political asylum request by the head of the PKK terrorist organization, Abdullah Ocalan, wants the Italian State to pay the cost of the trial. The Head of the Court, Paolo De Fiore, stated that the asylum hearings which have been in progress for eight months cost 43 million Italian Lira (nearly 138 billion TL) and said that this amount should be met by the Interior Ministry and the Prime Ministry. /Star/

PAPANDREU'S WORDS CAUSE PROBLEMS

Foreign Ministry Deputy Spokesman Sermet Atacanli criticized the words of Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreu, who delivered a speech at the Taksim meetings in Istanbul in which he described the Turkish-Cypriots as a minority on the Island. Atacanli said, "This is a mistake. The Turkish-Cypriot nation has never become a minority. All should be aware of this". /Star/

SYMPOSIUM ON TURCO-ARMENIAN RELATIONS

Turco-Armenian relations were discussed within a Turco-Islamic framework during a symposium held in Igdir. The participants stressed that the historical facts differ from the Armenians' assertions. Contrary to that, between 1915 and 1919 a Turkish holocaust occurred. Armenian academics were not invited to the symposium, since they did not attend the symposium which was held in 1995, again in Igdir, although they had been invited. During the symposium, it was pointed out that Turkey has not been able to describe the 'real face of Armenians' to the world, and foreigners who believe the Armenians' lies disregard both the Ottoman archives and the mass graves. /Cumhuriyet/

GREEK MEDIA: ECEVIT PLEDGED TO CLINTON

According to information obtained from a top-level American offical, the Greek 'Etnos' newspaper had published an article about the Cyprus issue. The article stated that the U.S.A has no plan for a solution to the problem, however, they had formed an idea after the meetings with both sides. The two sides will sit at the negotiating table until Autumn, the to-ing and fro-ing will be as in Dayton and will end with success. Meanwhile, an offical from the Greek lobby replying to questions posed by the Etnos correspondent after their meeting with Clinton, said, " Ecevit opened the door for a solution to the issue." He also asserted that Ecevit pledged to Bill Clinton that he will try to persuade Denktas to sit down for negotiations with Klerides. /Cumhuriyet/

ECEVIT: 'WESTERN EUROPE IS RACIST'

Yesterday, Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit attended a ceremony held at Baskent University for the inauguration of the 1999-2000 academic year together with his wife, Rahsan Ecevit. During his speech, touching on many subjects, Ecevit pointed out the racist attitude of the Western Europe. He stressed that there is no such concept of racial discrimination in Turkey, however, there is in Western Europe. He said, "When we shake someone's hand, we don't think about his identity, whether he is of Kurdish, Bosnian or Albanian origin." /Sabah/

GREEN LIGHT FROM EU

The Commissioner responsible for the enlargement of the European Union's Commission, Gunther Verheugen, during his address at the European Parliament yesterday, asked for candidate status to be given to Turkey at the Helsinki Summit. He noted that the EU Commission will support the candidancy of Turkey in their report which will be issued next week. Emphasing that relations between Turkey and the EU have been getting worse since the Luxemburg Summit, Verheugen said that now there is a chance in front of both Turkey and the EU. During his speech, he also praised the Turkish government's political and economical reforms carried out recently. /Sabah/

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

IMF WANTS MILITARY EXPENSES TO BE REDUCED - BY ERDAL SAGLAM (STAR)

Erdal Saglam is a columnist on the daily `Star' newspaper. This is an article written by him and published in `Star': "The meetings in Washington have come to an end but the discussions concerning the IMF are still on-going. The decision that will be taken by the Government is so hard that it seems there will be more meetings with the IMF. The discussions are expected to last until the end of this year. So will a stand-by agreement be signed with the IMF at the end of these discussions? To give an answer to this question is as hard as to stand-by. The bureaucracy is studying the Budget and the IMF hard; these two issues are correlated in such a way that it is impossible to separate them from each other because the IMF will check throughly to see if a Budget which will reduce inflation to 25% in the year 2000 has been created. The IMF delegation will be in Ankara at least until the beginning of November. Although the date of the IMF's arrival in Turkey has not been determined yet, bureaucrats are doing their homework insofar as the Budget is concerned. As they will present the Budget for the year 2000 to the TGNA on 17th October, they have to determine the Budget figures as soon as possible. The meetings that have been held in Washington play an important role in the work on the Budget. Therefore, economic bureaucrats will meet together often to create the Budget from now on. Thus, the background of the agreement that will be reached with the IMF is being prepared. To be more exact, the article that will be taken as a basis by the IMF to decide whether or not to reach an agreement is being created. The difficulties in the agreement that will be reached with the IMF are: first, the IMF says that if revenues are increased, not much will be achieved as there is no room for revenues to be increased and therefore expenses should be reduced. State Minister Recep Onal also explained this opinion of the IMF. Onal further stated that the IMF had said that there should be some restrictions in the number of staff and agricultural subsidies. The message is clear here. Restricting salaries means an increase of a maximum of 25% in government workers' salaries once a year. Similarly, it means any addition to the cost of subsidies will not surpass this figure".

HOW MUCH WE WANT? - BY YILMAZ OZTUNA (TURKIYE)

Yilmaz Oztuna is a columnist on the daily `Turkiye' newspaper. This is an article written by him and published in `Turkiye': "In order to obtain the standards that the EU wants, we should adopt democracy sincerely. It is an obligation to perceive it as an essential way of life. Our historical record of democracy is not the business of the West of today; they don't care about the times when we were obstructed; they behave in a negative or positive way by looking at our present situation. Those who were under the most totalitarian administration, dare to accept it or not although they can improve themselves. The issue of what is democratic and what is not is out of the question. There is agreement about the universal basic characteristics of democracy and those who want to be a part of this system have no difficulties. However, those who think they are within the system are asked to meet its requirements. Apologies, bluff and eyewash do not work as it is obvious that those who express effusive apologies will be treated as defective. Our desire to become a part of the modern and advanced world, meanwhile a part of Europe, and our will to demonstrate this is the basis. I wonder if not working so hard, waiting for everything to come from the State and worrying about giving up our way of life that has been going on in this manner for ages, will suit our purpose? It is really time to question our sincerity on this issue and control our decisiveness. No-one is better than us as far as indifference and killing time are concerned. The obligation to make our State work through modern reforms has been brought to light. However, none of the reforms can be implemented by wasting time with indiscreet talk. We cannot look at the reform which suits the purpose of a particular politician, party or class. The contribution of reform to the Turkish nation is the basic thing. We are advancing towards the door of the EU once more. How much we desire to enter this Union? I wonder if remaining outside it suits our purpose and we want to camouflage it? The truth should be clear".

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