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Turkish Press Review, 98-02-16Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs <http://www.mfa.gov.tr>16.02.98Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morningCONTENTS
[01] YILMAZ: "TURKEY CANNOT BE DRAWN INTO AN ADVENTURE"Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz, commenting on Turkey's Iraq crisis policy that Turkey must not be drawn into an adventure, and that Turkey did not want to make enemies.During an opening ceremony in Kirikkale, Yilmaz said that the Turkish Armed Forces were powerful enough to deal with every threat against Turkey. He added, " Turkey has a very important place in the Balkans, Caucasia and the Middle East. Turkey uses its military, geographic, economic and human resources at international levels. Our government has already taken the necessary measures to avoid being negatively affected by the current Iraq-U.S. crisis". /Hurriyet/ [02] CEM IN CHINAForeign Minister Ismail Cem said yesterday that China was among those countries which had given full support to Turkey's diplomatic efforts to peacefully end the Iraqi crisis. While meeting with Chinese First Deputy Foreign Minister Tian Zengpei, Cem said that along with China, Russia and France had expressed full support for Turkey's efforts to prevent a military strike against Iraq and preserve peace in the Middle East. Cem noted that China is an active member of the UN Security Council. Emphasizing the economic dimensions of the visit, Cem stated that Turkey was looking for ways to increase economic relations with China, adding that this was why a large group of businessmen accompanied him on the visit.Cem said he would convey a goodwill message from President Suleyman Demirel to China's President Jiang Zemin. Cem will return home on February 25, after a visit to Vietnam. /All papers/ [03] HAKTANIR IN TEHRANForeign Ministry Undersecretary Korkmaz Haktanir discussed the Iraqi crisis with Iranian President Mohammad Khatami who shared the neighbourly concerns of Turkey, during Haktanir's high-level contacts in Tehran on Saturday. During the meetings, Haktanir and Iranian officials agreed to stay in close contact over matters related to the standoff. Both sides emphasized the importance of maintaining Iraq's territorial integrity and that a solution be found by peaceful means. Both sides expressed the deep concern they felt about the grave consequences of a possible military strike against the people of Iraq, and how this would affect the surrounding countries, according to a statement from the Foreign Ministry.Haktanir, who also met Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi, stated that the two countries will exchange ambassadors at the beginning of March. The statement said both sides had agreed to revive security cooperation, with Turkey hosting the first meeting of the Joint Security Committee and Supreme Security Commission. The statement said the two sides also agreed to cooperate on transportation, the active functioning of chief consulates in the two countries and economic issues. /Milliyet/ [04] MENZIR IN MONACOMinister of Communications, Necdet Menzir, flew to Monaco over weekend along with five deputies and 30 journalists, to participate in the signing of an accord for the construction of the Turksat-3 satellite by the Eurasiasat company. The order for construction of a fourth satellite will reportedly be given soon. /Cumhuriyet/[05] TAJIK PARLIAMENT SPEAKER IN TURKEYTajikistan's Parliament Speaker, Safarali Recebov, has arrived in Istanbul at the invitation of Turkish Parliament Speaker Hikmet Cetin. Recebov will tour Istanbul and then Ankara, leaving Turkey on February 19. /Hurriyet/[06] OTTOMAN ARCHIVES TO BE MOVED TO NEW SITEThe Archives Directorate has launched a project to save the nation's extensive Ottoman archives, which are currently in danger of mouldering away in seven separate storage facilities which are no longer adequate. The Defense Ministry has supported the project by providing the Gulhane military hospital building in Ankara as a new site. The building will be restored and converted in order to house the millions of Ottoman documents. /Sabah/[07] NEW STUDY ON TURKEY'S FULL EU MEMBERSHIP CANDIDACYTurkey's large population and relative lack of economic development were two of the main factors behind Turkey not being included on the list of full membership candidates at the EU's Luxembourg summit last December, a new study has concluded. Turkey, with its population of some 63 million and the inadequate state of its economy, would have brought to the EU "a burden which would have been hard to bear" claims the study conducted by the Germany-based Centre for Turkey Studies. /Sabah-Milliyet/[08] US FINDS TURKEY'S AEGEAN INITIATIVE 'ENCOURAGING'"We are encouraged by recent expressions of willingness by both Greece and Turkey to move forward energetically to resolve longstanding disputes" said US State Department Spokesman James Rubin said on Friday. "As you know, the US is committed to supporting our Greek and Turkish allies in the effort to achieve genuine security and partnership in the region" Rubin said.[09] ALIYEV IN ISTANBULVisiting Azeri President Haydar Aliyev, arrived in Istanbul on Friday. On a three-day visit to Turkey, Aliyev held meetings with President Suleyman Demirel and received Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz and Parliamentary Speaker Hikmet Cetin separately at his hotel. "We want to settle disputes with Armenia by peaceful means" Aliyev told reporters prior to a meeting with Cetin. "Karabakh should become an autonomous region. Armenia should withdraw from all Azeri territories and allow refugees to return to their homelands" Cetin said. Aliyev on Friday received a "Statesman of the Year" award from NTV, the Turkish television news channel. /Hurriyet/[10] SOUTHEAST FEARS CONSEQUENCES OF DIESEL CUTOFFPeople in the southeastern Anatolian regions are concerned that the looming crisis with Iraq will lead to a shutdown of the trade in diesel with that country. Nearly TL 1 trillions worth of diesel is daily trucked into Turkey from northern Iraq and distributed all over the country. The fuel is brought into Turkey via southeastern Anatolia's Habur border gate and has become a lifeline for the local economy and a source of income for many people in the region. /Hurriyet/[11] TURKEY AND UKRAINE ADVANCING TOWARD AN EXTENSIVE PARTNERSHIPTurkey and Ukraine have decided to further increase their ties and have expressed willingness to raise the current cooperation between the two countries to the level of a multidimensional partnership. Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz, on an official visit to the Ukraine, signed two agreements on Thursday, which stipulate cooperation between the two countries' Black Sea coast guards and state television corporations, the Anatolia news agency reported. Yilmaz and his counterpart Valery Pustovoytenko also signed a political declaration, in which the two sides pledged to increase bilateral ties and raise them to the level of a comprehensive partnership in the framework of a 1992 Agreement of Friendship and Cooperation.The declaration said that Turkey and Ukraine would deepen dialogue on security and military cooperation and collaborate in fighting terrorism and aggressive nationalism. On Friday, Yilmaz was due to fly on to Ukraine's autonomous Republic of Crimea. But due to unfavourable weather conditions the visit was cancelled and Yilmaz flew back to Turkey. [12] KOC HOLDING SPONSORING CHILDREN'S FESTIVALThe Koc Holding group is the official sponsor for the next five years of the 23 April Children's Festival, which is the only international children's festival. Koc Holding, which provided financial support worth TL 83 billion for the festival last year, will be the festival sponsor until the year 2002. An agreement between the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT) and Koc Holding will be signed today. /Sabah/[13] ALBANIAN FINANCE SECTOR ENTRUSTED TO A TURKISH EXPERTIn Albania, where financial bottlenecks following a banking crisis at the end of 1996 and the beginning of 1997 seriously affected the economy, new important developments have been reported in the financial sector stemming from the contributions of a Turkish expert. Dr.Tunc Uyanik has been working as a chairman of a group responsible for the implementation of financial sector programmes in Albania and Azerbaijan in the World Bank department of "Financial and Private Sector Development". Dr.Uyanik said that since the last quarter of 1997 concrete steps have been taken in the structural, institutional and legal fields in Albania. /Sabah/[14] BRUSSELS FIRE KILLS TWOTwo Turkish children have died in a fire, which broke out two days ago in Brussels, Belgium. Following initial investigations into the cause of the fire, officials note that the fire started accidentally. /Sabah/[15] VAN CAT ON INTERNETA web site has been opened on Internet to promote the unusual type of cat, which is found only in Van, a city in eastern Turkey. It is reported that Japanese people are interested in the web site. Those who want to receive details written in English may use this Internet address: "http//www, geocities. com./RainFores/page 1 of 2 canopy/1238" /Sabah_[16] KLERIDES WINS IN GREEK CYPRUSGlafkos Klerides won the second round of voting in the presidential elections in southern Greek Cyprus. Klerides won with 50.8 % of the votes. His rival Yorgos Yakovu was a close runner up with 49.2 % of the votes. /Sabah/[17] EAST EUROPE BUYS BREAD FROM TURKEYIn the Wall Street Journal, the leading American economics and finance newspaper, a Turkish baker, Mustafa Barutcuoglu was stated to be the man who supplies East European countries with bread. Out of his total bakery production of 50 million loaves 20 million are exported. /Milliyet/[18] TURCOMANS FLEEING TO SULEYMANIYE, ERBIL AND DOHUKThe probability that Iraq will be attacked by US military forces has caused Turcomans living in Baghdad, Kirkuk and Musul to flee to the Suleymaniye, Erbil and Dohuk regions due to security reasons. The refugees are mostly staying in their relatives' houses located in these Kurdish regions. Further, the Turkish Army is maintaining its preventive action against PKK terrorist intrusions and a probable mass exodus, Namik Durukan, Milliyet correspondent reports, adding a comment that claims presuming the establishment of an independent Kurdish state in northern Iraq have stopped the conflict between the political Kurdish groups which have lasted for years.[19] KINKEL'S CALL TO TURKEYGerman Foreign Minister in an interview with the daily newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine, said that Turkey's membership in the European Union (EU) was one of Germany's major targets. Asking Turkey to reevaluate its decision not to attend the upcoming EU London Conference Kinkel said, "We do not want Turkey to be drive away from Europe. The EU treated Turkey as a member country in Luxembourg Summit. EU's strategy towards Turkey aims to improve Turco-EU relations. The European Conference will be an important chance for Turkey to discuss common problems."Kinkel added, "Turkey should reevaluate its decisions and EU should make every possible effort to bring Turkey into Europe. The key problem in Turco-EU relations is relations between Turkey and Greece. The two country's governments should try to solve their problems." Milliyet/ Hurriyet/ [20] "WE WANT TO BE FRIENDS WITH TURKEY"Iraqi Deputy Head of State Taha Yasin Ramazan said that Turkey should base its relations with Iraq on the long term view instead of the short term.In his statement Yasin Ramazan noted, "We want to normalize our relations with Turkey. While rebuilding relations with Iraq, Turkey should be looking to the future with long term vision. We want to see a peaceful and stable Turkey. Ramazan added that if Turkey applied and supported U.S. policies, it would be difficult to ensure agreement between Iraq and Turkey. /Hurriyet/ Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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