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Turkish Press Review, 96-11-25Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs <http://www.mfa.gov.tr>CONTENTS
TURKISH PRESS REVIEWMONDAY NOVEMBER 25, 1996Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning[01] KAZAN TO VISIT GERMANYJustice Minister Sevket Kazan will begin a six-day tour today including Germany and France. Kazan will visit a prison near Bonn and listen to the problems of Turkish prisoners there. Kazan will meet Federal Interior Minister Manfred Kanther and Federal Justice Minister Edzard Schmidt Jotzig the same day. /Cumhuriyet/[02] CLINTON TO VISIT TURKEYUS President Bill Clinton is reported to be planning to visit Turkey next year. Turkey, at least, is among the countries listed for a visit by Clinton next year.Initial reports suggest that Clinton will visit both Turkey and Greece during June of next year. Officials add that the visit underscores the importance the US attaches to a solution to problems between Turkey and Greece in connection with Cyprus and the Aegean. /Sabah/ [03] TURKEY ON THE AGENDA OF EU MINISTERS TODAYTurkey is on the agenda of the European Union (EU) foreign ministers who come together today in Brussels for their monthly general affairs meeting. The EU ministers will take up the issue of Turkey, in particular Ankara-Europe relations, with special interest in how and when to invoke the EU-Turkey Association Council, a move which has already been postponed twice- first during the Italian presidency term, and a second time due to obstruction by Greece.The ministers are hopeful that this time the Association Council will come together during the Irish presidency but admit that it may be postponed to the beginning of the Dutch presidency term. They also want Greece to lift the veto on financial matters with Turkey. /All papers/ [04] BELGIUM MINISTER DEFENDS RAID ON MED-TV PREMISESBelgian Justice Minister Stefaan De Cleerk said over the weekend that he does not believe the police operation code-named "Sputnik", launched by his country's security forces against satellite MED-TV, which is widely considered to be the mouthpiece of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), amounted to an infringement of press freedom.Responding to a parliamentary question put by the Flemish Greens Group, De Cleerk, whose remarks were reported on Friday by the Anatolian news agency, said supporting press freedoms did not mean turning a blind eye to crime organizations. Explaining that Operation Sputnik was mounted last September against the PKK and its cover organizations in Belgium in connection with money laundering and related crimes, De Cleerk said Turkish officials took no part in the operation. [05] EURO-MEDITERRANEAN CONFERENCE IN MARSEILLEEuropean Union countries come together today with a group of their Mediterranean neighbours in the Mediterranean port city of Marseille to discuss the problems of water management. Turkey, invited like all the countries that participated in the Barcelona conference, will be represented by Energy Minister Recai Kutan. The conference will be the first ministerial conference organized by France within the framework of the EU-Mediterranean initiative. /All papers/[06] TPAO TO DRILL FIRST EXPLORATORY OIL WELL IN WESTERN BLACK SEAThe Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) has started to see positive signs from its efforts in recent years to find crude oil and natural gas reserves beneath the bed of the western Black Sea. TPAO's Director General, Sitki Sancar, said the corporation will start drilling its first oil exploration well in June 97. The TPAO has already begun the extraction of natural gas in the northern Marmara Sea, reports note. Sancar said the exploration had been carried out jointly with ARCO, a US company. /All papers/[07] BLAST AT TURKISH STORE IN GERMANY INJURES TENAt least 10 people, including three children, were injured when a large explosion wrecked a Turkish-owned grocery store in the north German city of Bremen during the night, police said on Sunday. One of these injured was in a critical condition and the store was completely destroyed, a police spokesman said. Neighbouring buildings and nearby cars were badly damaged. The spokesman said it was too early to say whether the blast was an accident or a deliberate. /Hurriyet/[08] TURKISH BUSINESSMEN IN CRIMEA FORM ASSOCIATIONAn association of businessmen has been formed by Turkish businessmen operating in the Crimean region of Ukraine, a country which is considered to potentially be Turkey's second largest trading partner after Russia among all the republics of the former Soviet Union. Officials from the newly-formed Association of Turkish Businessmen (TIAB) declare that, despite this vast potential with Ukraine, the expected levels of cooperation have not been attained as yet. Officials say that TIAB will help in overcoming all problems which are non-political and relate to commercial activities. /All papers/[09] TURKEY TO JOIN 1997 MILITARY EXERCISE IN KAZAKHSTANTurkey will participate in a joint military exercise which will be held in Kazakhstan in September 1997 with NATO member countries, the Central Asia Peacekeeping Battalion (CENTRAZBAT), and countries in the Partnership for Peace (BIO). Russia is also expected to take part. For the first time, Turkey will send troops to a Turkish-speaking state for military training. The CENTRAZBAT-97 exercise will be directed according to the NATO/BIO exercise concept. /All papers_[10] WEU: ATHENS-ANKARA DISPUTES SHOULD BE SOLVED BY NATOA report called "Security in the Mediterranean" prepared by a member of the Western European Union (WEU) Parliamentary Assembly, Jean De Lipkowski of France, envisions a solution to Turco-Greek relations with the help of a contact group within NATO. Turkey said that it would veto the use of NATO forces by WEU, because Greece wanted to block the participation of associate members, among them Turkey, in the decision-making process of the WEU.According to the report, disputes between Greece and Turkey were the leading cause of instability in the Mediterranean and a contact group, like the Bosnia contact group, could help to solve problems between them. The report suggested the US, Great Britain, Turkey, Greece and some other European countries work as partners of the contact group. The report stated that after the end of the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC), the EU and Cyprus would negotiate about Cyprus' membership and that this could lead to increased tensions between Athens and Ankara. The WEU Parliamentary Assembly will discuss this report on December 2 in Paris. French President Jacques Chirac will also participate in this meeting. /Milliyet/ [11] MOSCOW SETS CONDITIONS ON TURKEY'S NATURAL GAS IMPORTSRussia has set a condition on exporting natural gas from Russia to Turkey, Energy Minister Recai Kutan said. Russia set the condition that a consortium must be established between Russia's national gas company GASPROM, leading Turkish contractor GAMA, and Turkey's national pipeline company BOTAS. Kutan said that Russia would immediately sign the agreement if the condition is met and Turkey could start importing 10 billion cubic metres of natural gas per annum. /Sabah/[12] RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN CYPRUSPrime Minister of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), Dervis Eroglu, who delivered a speech on "Recent Developments in Cyprus" in Samandira over the weekend, said that 1997 would be a "motivated year" for Cyprus, and added that forced solutions from either the US or Britain were unacceptable. /Cumhuriyet/[13] GREECE TO BEEF UP MILITARY PRESENCE ON CYPRUSDuring a visit to the Greek community on Cyprus over the weekend, Greek Defense Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos said that plans were being made to beef up Greek sector defences against the Turkish side.The Defense Minister said that the Greek side would be helped to set up a defense system against Turkish fighters which can reach targets in the Greek community within six minutes of the button being pressed. /Sabah/ [14] CEMENT PRODUCTION UPWhen compared to last year, total cement production this year shows a 4.5 percent increase. During the first ten months of this year 29 million 800 thousand tons of cement have been produced. Sector indications show that total production for the year will reach 34 million tons, which will mean a four and a half percent increase. Fifty-four cement plants are in production in Turkey. /Sabah/[15] ISLAMIC CREDIT FOR TURKEYThe Islam Development Bank (IDB) says that Turkey is one of its best customers. During the period between 1976-1996, the bank extended one billion 693 million 462 thousand dollars in credit to Turkey. During the twenty year period, Turkey used IDB resources mainly for the development of trade and commercial sectors. /Sabah/[16] EXIMBANK REPORTS INCREASE IN CREDIT DEALSEximbank director Can Yesilada said over the weekend that Turkey's Eximbank had extended more credit for more projects this year. He said that Eximbank had extended credits worth 800 million dollars during the last twelve month period. /Sabah/[17] GERMAN AWARD FOR TURKISH STUDENTSIn a competion designed to increase interest in protecting the environment, Turkish students have won the top awards. Students from 35 countries competed in the competion set up by the Bremen city corporation, but Turkish university students in Ankara and Adana university science faculties grabbed the first places with work on "genetic technology." /Hurriyet/END Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |