Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning
CONTENTS
Diplomatic traffic in Turkey is expected to speed up with the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Summit
and the upcoming visit of US President Bill Clinton in November.
The OSCE Summit will be held on November 18-19 in Istanbul. The
functions of the OSCE in the next century will be clarified in
the Istanbul Security Charter, which is expected to be signed by
the Presidents present at the Summit. US President Bill Clinton
will begin his official visit to Turkey on November 15 in Ankara.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit will make his second
visit to Russia on November 4-5. Commercial relations between the
two countries and the proposed 'Blue Stream' Project are expected
to be discussed during his visit. It is also expected that
Russia's military operations against Chechnya will be touched on,
and a common declaration related to the fight against terrorism
issued. /All papers/
The Leader of the Virtue Party (FP), Recai Kutan, has given out
warm signals concerning the West in his visit to the US. Kutan
said that they were expecting Turkey to become a full EU member.
Kutan met members of the Turkish Students Associations' Assembly
yesterday. /Aksam/
Kazakhstan's President, Nursultan Nazarbayev, sent a
congratulatory message to Turkish President Suleyman Demirel,
wishing him and his family peace, happiness and good health, the
Anatolia News Agency reports. "Not only has Demirel strengthened
the situation of the Republic of Turkey but he has also ensured
Turkey's lasting peace and development", Nazarbayev's message
read.
Yahya Gur, the Governor of Ankara and a former Interior Ministry
Undersecretary, will pay a five-day visit to France accompanied
by a 14-member delegation from the Interior Ministry, the
Anatolia News Agency reports. During the visit the delegation
will discuss issues such as local administrations' duties and
responsibilities and the growth and development of local
administrations and non-governmental organizations. The visit
will end on November 6.
The European Socialist Party's EU Enlargement Committee, which
held a meeting on October 28-29, has decided to support Turkey's
EU candidacy. A statement issued by the Turkish Republican
People's Party (CHP) said that the Deputy Chairman of the
European Socialist Party and Swedish Deputy Prime Minister, Hjelm
Wallen, had stated that Turkey should not be excluded from the EU
and should become a candidate country. /Aksam/
Istanbul Police Chief Hasan Ozdemir announced that 14 members of
the Islamic Great East Raiders Front (IBDA-C), an organization
which aims to establish a state based on Islamic law, were
captured in Istanbul yesterday. Ozdemir stated that those
arrested were having meetings in the offices of 'Furkan' magazine
which was closed by the Fatih Second Criminal Court, and were
preparing to organize bomb attacks on November 6 on the
anniversary of the founding of the Supreme Board of Education
(YOK).
Ozdemir also reported that the police had seized various
documents relating to the organization, 13 hunting rifles and
four bombs in the raid. He pointed out that it was as yet unclear
whether or not the group was connected with the murder of Ahmet
Taner Kislali who was murdered on October 21 when a bomb planted
on his car exploded. /All papers/
One of the key names involved in the murder of journalist-writer
Abdi Ipekci, Yalcin Ozbey, has been officially named in an
extradition request filed in Germany by Turkey. An accomplice of
the assassin Mehmet Ali Agca, Yalcin Ozbey was sentenced to death
by the martial court in Turkey under the martial law of that
period. Following his extradition, the file on the Ipekci
assassination will be opened up again. However, Ozbey denying the
news on being arrested, said, "I have a legal free travel
certificate from the U.S and I am dealing with trade out of
Germany." /Hurriyet/
Stating that Turkey doesn't have an expansionist policy against
any other country, including Greece, the National Defence
Minister Sabahattin Cakmakoglu said, "The solution of the issues
existing between the two countries does not depend only on Ankara
but also on Athens. Thanks to that, and respecting international
agreements, Greece should reply to the goodwill of Turkey."
During an interview with a journalist from 'Hurriyet', the
Defence Minister, noting that in the Aegean Sea there are 1,754
islands, rocks and islets, said that there were many geographic
formations whose sovereignty had not been granted to Greece in
international agreements. Cakmakoglu pointed out the
meaninglessness of Greece's behaviour in trying to establish
settlements on these islets and playing with the status quo of
the region. He also emphasized that our cooperation with Israel
in military and defence areas doesn't target any other country
and that Turkey has already invited the Arabian countries to join
this cooperation. /Hurriyet/
'The Times' newspaper in its Millenium Magazine supplement
published the photographs and outlined the characteristics of the
12 most dangerous terrorists in the world. The head of the PKK
terrorist organization, Abdullah Ocalan, ranked third in the
list. /Sabah/
The Justice Ministry has made an official application for the
extradition of Fehriye Erdal, one of the assailants who killed
Turkish businessman Ozdemir Sabanci and who has been captured in
Belgium. If the Belgian Justice Ministry approves the
application, a five-person delegation including the Istanbul
State Security Court (DGM) Chief Prosecutor, Erdal Gokce, will go
to Belgium this month. /Sabah/
Journalist and author Oktay Kurtboke, who played a crucial role
in the development of the Turkish press, died in Istanbul
yesterday. Kurtboke had been under treatment in intensive care.
His funeral will take place in Istanbul on November 3. /All
papers/
The `White Storm-99' Tactical Manoeuvres, which is one of the
manoeuvres envisaged by the Naval Forces' Command and planned by
Naval Command, began yesterday. The manoeuvres, which are being
dispatched and managed by the Battle Fleet Commander, Vice
Admiral Metin Atac and the Assault-craft Fleet Commander, Vice
Admiral Taner Ezgu, began yesterday with the departure of ships
from Golcuk, Umuryeri, Aksaz and Foca. Battleships,
assault-crafts, submarines and helicopters belonging to the Naval
Forces and reconnaissance planes and bombers belonging to the Air
Force will join together in the manoeuvres, whose initial stages
will be observed by the Naval Commander Bulent Alpkaya. /Turkiye/
'The Times' newspaper published in Britain has weighed up
discussions concerning the sale of tanks from Germany to Turkey
and pointed out the misguided stance of the EU countries which
seem to prefer military relations instead of political relations
with Turkey. The article written by Roger Boyes stated that even
though Turkey was a leading country in purchasing weapons from
Germany, Germany had not achieved much in its relations with
Turkey. /Aksam/
The earthquake-hit city of Kocaeli hosted three Presidents
yesterday in what was a significant show of foreign support for
the thousands of quake victims in this city. President Suleyman
Demirel and his Bangladeshi counterpart Shahabuddin Ahmed went to
Kocaeli yesterday a few hours before the plane carrying
Azerbaijani President Haydar Aliyev landed in the city. Demirel
and Ahmed, both of whom have recently witnessed a large-scale
natural disasters in their respective countries -the earthquake
in Turkey and the flood in Bangladesh- attended meetings in
Kocaeli. Aliyev was welcomed by Demirel after the Bangladeshi
President had departed from the city. Demirel stated that by the
end of the month, 34,000 prefabricated houses will be made
available to the quake victims. After attending the ceremony to
mark the opening of Kocaeli University and visiting the quake-hit
areas, Aliyev and Demirel travelled to Ankara together. /All
papers/
Turkish Minister of the Environment, Fevzi Aytekin, went to
Germany yesterday in order to attend the "5th Climate Change
Agreement Conference". Minister Aytekin, during the press
conference that was held in Ataturk Airport, said that during the
meeting in Bonn, the negative effect of some gases on the climate
system, including carbon dioxide, which constitute a danger to
the atmosphere, would be discussed. /Cumhuriyet/
The municipality of Linz am Rhein and the Johanniter Association
for the Prevention of Accidents in the German Federal Republic
have donated the 10 thousand Deutsche Marks collected for the
earthquake victims to the Turkish Search and Rescue Society
(AKUT). The Mayor of Linz am Rhein, Adi Buchwald, delivered a
speech during the ceremony, which was held in the German Embassy
in Istanbul and which was also attended by the Ambassador,
Geissler Kuss. Buchwald said that the aid campaign for the
earthquake victims in Turkey had attracted great attention.
Buchwald said, "We were able to seize the opportunity of meeting
the AKUT team during their search and rescue efforts. Therefore,
we decided to give 10 thousand of the 30 thousand DM collected by
the public to AKUT", giving the cheque to the members of the AKUT
team. In addition, the German delegation will go to Golcuk
tomorrow and hand over a cheque for 34 thousand Deutsche Marks to
the Mayor of Golcuk, Ismail Baris. /Turkiye/
The German Consul-General in Izmir, Manfred Unger, stated that
German investments in Turkey were increasing and said, "Germany
trusts in the Turkish economy". Unger inaugurated the Unal
Chemistry Company Ltd., the Turkish partner of the German Aral
Petroleum and Mineral Oil Firm. /Aksam/
The Turkish Treasury on Friday raised $500 million from the
current year's last foreign borrowing deal, the Treasury
announced yesterday. In a written statement, the Treasury said
that the five-year US-Dollar bonds carry an annual coupon payment
of 11.875 %. Underwriters for the deal were US investment banks
JP Morgan and Merrill Lynch. The Treasury had mandated them for
the bond issue last week. The Treasury has raised $3.4 billion
this year in several bond issues. /All papers/
The Turkish Forestry Ministry has launched international bidding
worth $63 million, in the fight against forest fires, according
to the Official Gazette. The Ministry has invited bids, at
free-on-board (FOB) prices, in order to procure 127 bulldozers,
worth an estimated $18.4 million. It has also invited bids for
$15.1 million worth of radios. In a separate deal, the Ministry
will buy 55 off-road vehicles for an estimated $13.8 milliom, 127
excavators for $13 million and various other items of equipment
for $2.7 million. The bidding will take place on December 21, 22
and 24, according to the Official Gazette. /All papers/
Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit is very likely to sign the
additional protocol concerning the `Blue Stream' natural gas
pipeline during his visit to the Russian Federation between 4th
and 6th November. The U.S.A., Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan have
reacted to the scheme that will provide Turkey with 16 billion
cubic metres of gas before the year 2007. Turkey, who came
between them, is planning to sign a certain agreement concerning
Baku-Ceyhan during the OSCE Summit. Russia wants a new
international document, the additional protocol, to be signed.
This consists of the tax immunity agreement and the authorization
of the Italian ENI Firm as the third party to the agreement, and
will be discussed by the two countries' Parliaments. /Cumhuriyet/
A delegation from the IMF arrived in Ankara yesterday for what
Turkish economic officials see as a final round of talks towards
a stand-by agreement. The IMF delegation, led by Carlo
Cottarelli, the IMF's director for Turkey, will meet Turkey's key
economic bureaucrats as well as the Treasury, Foreign Trade and
Finance Cabinet Ministers. /All papers/
The Council of Ministers yesterday decided to complete GSM
tenders before the New Year. The tenders will be put out for a
third mobile phone network. Turkish and foreign companies will be
able to participate in the bidding. During the meeting, it was
also decided that earthquake taxation and other additional
allocations would be reviewed and transferred to the Turkish
Grand National Assembly (TGNA) for consideration in the near
future. /Milliyet/
The meetings between the World Bank and the IMF Financial Sector
have come to an end. According to the result of these meetings,
if the stand-by agreement is signed between the IMF and Turkey,
then the World Bank will loan Turkey 1 billion dollars to be used
for the structural changes that will be made in the Turkish
financial sector. This loan will be used for the privatization of
the public banks, the solution of the problems in banking and the
removal of the State guarantee on deposits. /Turkiye/
The first concrete step has been taken concerning the scheme for
a tunnel to be constructed in order to find a permanent solution
to the problem of inner city communication in Istanbul, one of
the most important metropolitan areas in Turkey with its
population of more than 10 million. If the bidding is finished in
the timeframe planned, the system will begin to be constucted in
the year 2000. The Ministry of Communications, which received a
loan of 12 billion 464 million Japanese yen from the Japanese
OECF loan institution, has also begun to receive proposals from
firms concerning the engineering and advisory services of the
railway tunnel, which will be called the `Marmaray', and the
Gebze-Haydarpasha-Sirkeci-Halkali Suburban line. The leading
firms in the world have placed their proposals on the table for
the advisory and engineering requirements of the `Marmaray'
scheme, all of whose preparatory work before construction was
finished some time ago by the Turkish Minister of Communications,
Enis Oksuz, during his visit to Japan. /Turkiye/
One of the subsidiaries of the Zorlu Holding Company, Korteks, is
getting ready to construct its second textile factory near
Pretoria, in South Africa. The factory already established there
is basically producing tulle curtains, however, with an
additional investment its jacquard, loom, lace and curtain
production will be increased. The Coordinator of the Zorlu
Textile Group, Vedat Aydin, declared that they were planning to
construct a second factory in the region in a year's time.
/Hurriyet/
The weekly American 'Business Week` magazine issued a 16-page
supplement about Turkey in its last publication. In an article,
it was stated that Turkey was one of the ten fastest-developing
markets in the world and the advantages of investing there were
pointed out. /Hurriyet/
The Federation of Roumelian Turks' 1st Ordinary Council Meeting
was held in the Journalists' Community Congress Hall. Candidate
for Chairman of the Federation, Taner Mustafaoglu, delivered a
speech during the opening ceremony and said, "We want to gather
Roumelian Turks under the same roof. We also want to create
communication links between Greek, Bulgarian, Albanian and
Crimean Turks. In addition, we will try to solve the problems of
the Turks in the region. We will also construct the basis for the
establishment of a Ministry of Foreign Turks." /Turkiye/
Turkish scientist Dr.Ali Erdemir, who is conducting scientific
research at Argon National Laboratory in Chicago in the US, has
received yet another award. Dr.Erdemir who has made the most
significant advances of the 20th century in tribology, received
the American Mechanical Engineers' Union's 'New Invention Award'.
On the website of the Argon National Laboratory, Dr.Erdemir's
invention has been described as 'unbelievable'. /Aksam/
Due to the intervention of the Turkish Ambassador to London,
Ozdem Sanberk, a concert in aid of the earthquake victims in
Turkey will be held on 18th November. During the concert, which
will be staged by London's Ottoman Palace Music Academy and be
conducted by Emre Araci, a program on the theme of European music
in the Ottoman Palace will be presented. Emre Araci is also
conducting the London Academy's Palace Music group, which was
established by him while he was studying at Cambridge
University's Institute of the Ottoman Period, sponsored by the
Turkish Economy Bank. Araci will stage a special concert for the
Turkish Economy Bank in Istanbul's Ciragan Palace during the
spring of the year 2000. /Cumhuriyet/
Columnist Hasan Cemal writes on the interesting development in
the dialogue between President Suleyman Demirel and Prime
Minister Bulent Ecevit. A summary of his column is as follows:
"This dialogue between President Demirel and Prime Minister
Bulent Ecevit follows an interesting line. This is an important
political exchange which is concentrated on stability. That is to
say the dialogue between the two influences the coming political
events. What a striking change! In the past their relationship
was marked by the non-existence of dialogue. They were criticised
for not agreeing on a common platform to save democracy.
However, a change has begun to take place. Due to the coup
d'etats they have seen and political bans they have experienced
they have matured over time. They have agreed on the common
denominator of helping Turkey to stay within the bounds of
democracy. Therefore, their presence in the political arena is a
positive regarding Turkey's stability. They can accelerate the
steps which would open up Turkey's road both within the country
and abroad.
Their interesting dialogue can also be seen in the election of
President. Prime Minister Ecevit believes that if the right to
be elected for a second time can be granted to anyone, President
Suleyman Demirel could be reelected for another seven years. This
requires an amendment to the Constitution, that is the abolition
of a sentence which bans reelection for a second time. The Prime
Minister believes that reelection, and not an extension, is
possible and the Parliament isbecoming aware of the possibility.
One of the greatest responsibilities of the President is to
preserve the balance between the military and civilian policy
institutions. He also has an important function concerning
foreign policy. In short, the reelection of Suleyman Demirel as
President is a strong possibility due to the real policy
assessments of Ecevit."
Former Ambassador Ilter Turkmen writes on Prime Minister Ecevit's
impending visit to Moscow. A summary of his column is as
follows:
"During his impending visit to Moscow, the Prime Minister will
conduct a series of intense negotiations. At present, relations
between Turkey and Moscow are positive but mutual sensitivity and
lack of confidence occasionally undermine them. There are also
some problems which are waiting to be solved. Even though the
extent of it may not be the same, the weakening of the State and
the political instability seen in both countries are factors
which strengthen lasting cooperation between the two.
Even though it may seem controversial, the relations during the
Cold War after the 1960s were much easier. There was a
productive economic cooperation in place and the Turco-Soviet
border was the calmest in the region. Following the end of the
Cold War, no border was left on land between the two countries
and as economic relations developed conflicts of interest and
competition in the economic sphere began to be witnessed.
Russia is engaged in a great fight in the Caucasus. The war with
Chechnya is going on and is considered a threat to Dagestan.
Russia is determined not to lose her control over the oil in the
Caspian. Therefore, she is examining Turkey's policy towards the
Caucasus closely. In fact, stability in the Caucasus is in both
Russia and Turkey's favour. If they can launch a cooperation
initiative which would cover the interests of both States, the
solution of the conflicts in the region would be much easier.
There are many countries who hope to gain by the tension in
Turco-Russian relations. Even some US think-tanks are portraying
certain scenarios which foresee a conflict as inevitable.
However, our aim should be to establish a realistic balance
between Turkey, and both the Caucasus and Central Asia, and lead
them all in a spirit of regional cooperation."
FROM THE COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS...
DIPLOMATIC TRAFFIC IN NOVEMBER
WARM SIGNALS CONCERNING EU FROM KUTAN
KAZAKHSTAN HONOURS DEMIREL'S BIRTHDAY
ANKARA GOVERNOR LEADS DELEGATION IN FRANCE
SOCIALIST SUPPORT IN HELSINKI
POLICE CAPTURE IBDA-C MEMBERS
DEMAND FOR OZBEY
CAKMAKOGLU: TURKEY IS NOT EXPANSIONIST
OCALAN: A DANGEROUS TERRORIST IN THE WORLD
TURKISH DELEGATION TO GO TO BELGIUM
JOURNALIST OKTAY KURTBOKE DIES
`WHITE STORM' IN THE AEGEAN
'DO NOT VIEW TURKEY AS ONLY A WEAPONS MARKET'
EARTHQUAKE-HIT CITY HOSTS THREE PRESIDENTS
TURKISH MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENT IN GERMANY
AID FROM GERMANY FOR AKUT
GERMAN INVESTORS IN TURKEY
TREASURY RAISES $500 MLN IN DOLLAR BOND ISSUE
GOVERNMENT LAUNCHES $63 MILLION WORTH OF TENDERS
`BLUE STREAM' PROJECT
IMF DELEGATION IN TURKEY
GSM TENDERS TO BE COMPLETED SOON
1 BILLION DOLLARS IN LOAN FROM WORLD BANK
RACE FOR TUNNEL
SECOND FACTORY IN SOUTH AFRICA
TURKEY SUPPLEMENT IN 'BUSINESS WEEK`
ROUMELIAN TURKS UNDER THE SAME ROOF
AWARD FOR TURKISH SCIENTIST
LONDON CONCERT IN AID OF EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS
FROM THE COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS...
DEMIREL-ECEVIT DIALOGUE - BY HASAN CEMAL (MILLIYET)
AS ECEVIT GOES TO MOSCOW - BY ILTER TURKMEN (HURRIYET)