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Turkish Press Review, 97-09-17Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs <http://www.mfa.gov.tr>CONTENTS
TURKISH PRESS REVIEWDIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION,OFFICE OF PRIME MINISTER17.09.97Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning[01] TURKEY ASSURES EGYPT OVER EXERCISES WITH ISRAELEgyptian President Hosni Mubarak said that Turkey's president has assured him on Tuesday that planned Turkish-Israeli military exercises were not intended to put pressure on the Arab states. "We don't object to Israeli-Turkish relations and we also have ties with Israel" Mubarak said in a televised joint news conference with Turkish President Suleyman Demirel. Demirel told the news conference Turkey had similar military agreements with 28 countries and that there was no political message intended.Mubarak and Demirel discussed problems between Turkey and Syria, stemming from Syrian support for terrorism. Demirel noted that despite all the warnings of Turkey, Syria insisted on using terrorism as a foreign policy tool. The Turkish president asked his Egyptian counterpart to mediate in settling disputes between Turkey and Syria, and Mubarek in response pledged that he will exert efforts to smooth out disagreements between the two neighbour countries. /All papers/ [02] GOVERNMENT'S INVESTMENT DRIVE IN SOUTHEASTERN TURKEYA Council of Ministers meeting held yesterday in Siirt is covered by all of today's papers. As a result of the meeting, an ambitious reform package to boost development in Southeastern Anatolia was kick-started by the government. At a press conference after the meeting Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz said that reforms in the Southeastern provinces has emerged as a major priority along with the education reform recently launched by the government. Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit vowed that the state of emergency period will end in November to be replaced by a period of investments. Measures included in the package include providing cheaper electricity to production facilities in Southeastern Anatolia, along with tax discounts and tax exemptions for establishments operating there. /All papers/[03] OYMEN SAYS TALKS WITH IRAQ SUCCESSFULA Turkish envoy said yesterday that talks with Iraqi officials on enhancing bilateral ties had been successful and that Ankara would increase its diplomatic presence in Baghdad. Oymen on Monday delivered a message to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein from Turkish President Suleyman Demirel urging enhanced bilateral ties. Oymen met Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tarik Aziz, Iraqi newspapers said yesterday. They said the pair had agreed to hold more talks on all pending issues to improve relations and Arab-Turkish ties.Oymen said that the necessary proceedings to facilitate the return of Turkish prisoners in Iraqi were finalized. He also stated that the number of Turkish diplomats appointed to Iraq would be increased to 17. Oymen left Baghdad in the afternoon to return to Ankara. /Hurriyet/ [04] ANKARA PREFERS CAREFUL EU STEPSForeign Minister Ismail Cem said yesterday, "We are not optimistic nor pessimistic at the way things turned out, but we are determined". Cem was evaluating Monday's meeting of European Union foreign ministers on enlargement that apparently proceeded without any mention of Turkey. "The fact that Turkey is on the list of candidate countries and is also part of the enlargement process was not even acknowledged. We have once more asserted that we would not accept this and that the place Turkey has been assigned to is unacceptable from our standpoint" Cem told reporters prior to an official visit with President Suleyman Demirel to Egypt.At a press conference on Monday in Brussels after the foreign ministers of the Union ended a session to discuss EU expansion, European Union term president Luxembourg's foreign minister, Jacques Poos, stressed that "Turkey remains in the EU's enlargement process". The EU also released a final declaration concerning the Cyprus conflict in a document made public by Poos. The document declared the EU's wish for a solution to the conflict, but also confirmed once more that negotiation talks with Cyprus will start as planned six months after the end of the intergovernmental conference. /All papers/ [05] TURKISH CIVIL ORGANIZATIONS IN STRASBOURGTurkish-European relations gained a new dimension yesterday. Representatives of the Turkish civil society organizations and members of the European Parliament (EP) met in Strasbourg. At the invitation of the EP, chairman of the Turkish Confederation of Employers' Union (TISK); Dervis Gunday, chairman of the Turkish Tradesmen's and Artisans' Union (TESK); Muharrem Kayhan, chairman of the Turkish Industrialists' and Businessmen's Union (TUSIAD); Orhan Morgul, representative of the Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB); Oguz Oyan, representative of the Confederation of Turkish Labor Unions (Turk-Is); and Ahmet Asena representative for the Confederation of Progressive Labor Unions (DISK) attended the meeting during which problems in Turkey, and European Union (EU) relations were discussed. The Turkish side stressed that these problems could be much more easily solved with the cooperation of the EU. They accepted that there were problems in Turkey adding that if Turkey were excluded from the EU these problems would get harder to solve.At the end of the meeting it was decided that such "civil dialogues" should be permanent as civil society organization had an important role in the democratization process. /Milliyet/ [06] DENKTAS AND CLERIDES TO MEETPresident of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) Rauf Denktas confirmed yesterday an upcoming round of UN-sponsored direct talks between him and Greek Cypriot Leader Glafkos Clerides regarding security related issues. Denktas told the Turkish Cypriot TAK news agency that security issues would top the agenda at the talks. The announcement, first mentioned by US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on Monday, said that the two leaders plan to meet soon to discuss security issues linked to the disputes dividing the island.In New York, Richard Holbrooke, the negotiator of the Bosnia peace accord, who was appointed US special presidential envoy to Cyprus earlier this year, said the move was a "big step forward". "This is a substantial step towards lowering tensions", Holbrooke told the Cable News Network (CNN). It was a significant achievement for newly appointed State Department Coordinator Tom Miller, who arrived on the island on Friday and departed on Monday afternoon, after separate talks with Clerides and Denktas. Meanwhile, Washington will also bring together the foreign ministers of Greece, Turkey and the US on 21-26 October. /Hurriyet/ [07] MILITARY TO BRIEF GOVERNMENT ON GROWING MISSILES THREATThe General Staff's briefing to the government, including Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz, on the missile threat in the regions surrounding Turkey, is expected to be held on Thursday. The briefing was actually planned for September 11 but was delayed due to the government's busy programme. The briefing will also include Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit and Defense Minister Ismet Sezgin.In an interesting development, controversial S-300 missiles will be exhibited in Turkey during the International Defense Fair Turkey-97. Russia's state arms export company Rosvoorojiniye, which will participate in the September 23-26 fair, is planning to promote the S-300 missiles and offer them for sale to Ankara. "As long as there are interested buyers we can sell any weapon. And our top aim at IDEF Turkey-97 is to promote our weapons to Turkey's officials and military representatives and therefore offer their sale to Turkey" a top official from Rosvoorojiniye said. /Milliyet-Sabah/ [08] ANKARA-NATOAccording to some diplomatic sources, if Turkey does not receive a satisfactory reply about its full membership in the European Union, (EU), Turkey may obstruct the expansion of NATO. The same sources noted that Turkey's integration with Europe was a matter of unity and that EU membership and NATO expansion should be conducted in parallel.This threat has already created much irritaion among the countries which are candidates for becoming members of NATO; the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary. /Milliyet/ [09] INTERNATIONAL ECONOMY CONGRESS STARTS TOMORROWThe first METU International Economy Congress to review developments in the fields of economy, the sciences and technology both in Turkey and throughout the world will convene on 18-20 September in Ankara. Turkish and foreign scientists from Canada, Denmark, England, Germany, France, India, Iran, Israel, Spain, Turkey and the US will participate in the congress which will have 47 sessions and hold three panel discussions on world economy. /Cumhuriyet/[10] TANER SEES $4.5 BLN SELL-OFF REVENUES BY YEAR'S ENDThe government expects to earn revenues of $4.5 billion from energy privatizations and the sale of mobile phone service licences by the end of 1997, State Minister responsible for the economy, Gunes Taner, said on Monday. "We are in position to find revenues worth $4.5 billion by the end of the year" Taner said at a stock market seminar. Agreements on energy sector sales will be completed in the coming month, Taner said. The Treasury plans to raise $2 billion on international capital markets. Taner said that new incentives would be offered to increase foreign investment inflow. /All papers/[11] INCREASE IN TOURISM REVENUESIt was reported that the target of 10 million tourists and nine million dollars in revenue for the 1997 tourism season would be realised by the end of the year. There has already been an increase of 22 percent in number of the tourists visiting Turkey during the first eight months of this year compared with the same period of last year. Officials said that 90 percent of the hotels in and around Antalya were full.Tourism Minister Ibrahim Gurdal announced that Turkey had already reached its 1997 targets. He added that they would from have important organizations for developing faith tourism in 2000. /Milliyet/ [12] TOUR TO ARARAT MOUNTAINTurkish State Railways will organize rail tours to Mount Ararat and the GAP region between 30 September and 5 October and 24-29 October. Trains will set-off from Istanbul and Ankara. /Sabah/[13] GIANT BRIDGE OVER IZMIT GULFA project for the construction of a giant bridge over the Izmit Gulf connecting Istanbul to Bursa and the Aegean will be materialized by a consortium including the Enka construction company and two foreign partners. The $1.4-billion project is the largest investment involving foreign capital initiated so far in Turkey. The bridge will be constructed according to the build-operate-transfer (BOT) model and will be transferred to the state after 21 years. The Izmit bridge will be three times longer than the Bosphorus bridge and will become one of the top ten bridges in the world. Construction will start this year. /Sabah/[14] ABORTIVE ROCKET ATTACK AGAINST ISTANBUL SECURITY DIRECTORATEA rocket attack was launched yesterday against the Aksaray Directorate of Security in Istanbul. The rocket was launched from the third floor of a nearby building by two DHKP-C terrorists, ages 20-25. The rocket exploded in the air without causing any damage. The target was the fuel oil depot of the Security Directorate. Security officials have begun wide-scale investigations in a move to apprehend the terrorists. /Hurriyet/[15] TURKEY EMERGES AS A RAISING STARThe Silk Road 2000 conference jointly organized by Turktrade and the Confederation of Foreign Trade Associations (CITHA) ended yesterday with bilateral meetings between representatives of various countries attending the conference. At a joint press meeting, CITHA Chairmam Albert Frei and Turktrade President Onol Akalin evaluated the results of the conference. Frei said that during the last 10-15 years Turkey has made huge economic progress and become an example for developing countries situated along the Silk Road. He added that Western entrepreneurs could earn huge profits by investing in Silk Road countries jointly with Turkey. /Hurriyet/[16] TURKISH BALLET CELEBRATES 50TH ANNIVERSARYThe Istanbul State Opera and Ballet has begun a number of events to mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of the first Turkish ballet group. Members of the Istanbul State Opera and Ballet will perform parts of various famous pieces at the Carousel Shopping Centre in Istanbul next week. /Hurriyet/END Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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