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Turkish Press Review, 02-01-14
From: Turkish Directorate General of Press and Information <http://www.byegm.gov.tr>
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Press
& Information
Turkish
Press
Turkish
Press Review >>
Foreign
Press Guide
Summary of the political and economic
news in the Turkish press this morning
14.01.2002
CONTENTS
[01] ECEVIT TO TRAVEL TO US TODAY
[02] ECEVIT MEETS WITH BUSINESSMEN
[03] DENKTAS : 'SOLUTION FIRST, EU LATER'
[04] GREEK CYPRIOTS PLAN DEMONSTRATION
[05] EXPERT TURKISH DELEGATION VISITS KABUL
[06] TREASURY TO SELL 112-DAY BILLS
[07] RESTORED TURKISH MEMORIAL UNVEILED IN GEORGIA
[08] BEKO TARGETS LARGER MARKET SHARE
[09] RUSSIAN DAILY: "TURKISH FOREIGN POLICY IS PROGRESSING"
[10] PLANS LAID FOR TURKEY'S FIRST CONFERENCE HOTEL
[11] NUMBER OF TOURISTS VISITING TURKEY STRIKES 11%
[12] BIDDING OPENS FOR ANKARA-ISTANBUL RAPID TRAIN PROJECT
[13] OIL EXECUTIVE: "TURKEY WILL BE A BRIDGE FOR NATURAL GAS TO EUROPE"
[14] ISRAELI COMPANY TOP CONTENDER FOR C-130 MODERNIZATION
[15] FAZIL SAY DEBUTS CONCERTO IN PARIS
[16] FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS
[17] MESSAGE TO US ON IRAQ BY FIKRET BILA (MILLIYET)
[18] ECEVIT'S US VISIT AND EXPECTATIONS BY HURSIT GUNES (MILLIYET)
[01] ECEVIT TO TRAVEL TO US TODAY
Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit will begin his visit to the United States
today. During the Jan. 14-18 visit, the premier will be accompanied by a
delegation of 200, including government ministers, parliamenterians,
bureaucracts and businessmen as well as journalists. Ecevit is scheduled to
meet with US President George W. Bush on Wednesday, Jan. 16 in the White
House. Major topics which are expected to be discussed during the visit are
cooperation in the fight against terrorism, Afghanistan, Iraq, the European
Security and Defense Policy (ESDP), Cyprus, the Baku-Ceyhan oil pipeline
and economic relations, as well as bilateral and regional issues. /All
Papers/
[02] ECEVIT MEETS WITH BUSINESSMEN
Before beginning his US visit, Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit yesterday met
with businessmen to talk about the trip. Stressing the level of strategic
cooperation that Turkey and the US have recently developed, Ecevit said,
"However, our economic relations have not yet reached the desired level.
The opportunities which the US has extended to Israel, Jordan and the EU
have not been extended to Turkey. We will address this situation during the
visit." Ecevit added that he would ask the US administration to erase
Turkey's $5 billion defense industry debt. Pointing to the weakness of the
Turkish lobby in the US, Ecevit said, "We can't be able to get we want from
this visit in the short-term." All Papers_
[03] DENKTAS : 'SOLUTION FIRST, EU LATER'
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Rauf Denktas yesterday
gave a review of his upcoming meeting this week with Greek Cypriot leader
Glafcos Clerides. Appearing on Turkish state channel TRT1, Denktas stated
that both he and Clerides were quite familiar with the island's dilemma,
adding, "The important thing is intentions. The other side has bad
intentions. They think that they will become a member of the EU as the
'government of Cyprus,' and that this way they will be able to make any
agreement they want in an atmosphere that casts Turkish Cypriots as a
'minority.' This is unacceptable." He said that the solution to the Cyprus
problem was the establishment of a new partnership. "This can be also two
partner and separate territories, which have equal rights and equal shares
in the sovereignty," Denktas stated. "In addition, we do not want to meet
with the Greek Cypriot administration through mediators because in such
situations the US, the UN and (UN Cyprus Envoy Alvaro( de Soto only listen
to the Greek Cypriot side. As for the issue of the missing people, the
Greek Cypriots have used this issue as a means of propaganda. However, a
commission has been established under the auspices of the UN. The
Secretariat-General has established criteria on this issue. We have
accepted these criteria, but the Greek Cypriots have not, instead
preferring to use the issue for propaganda purposes." /Cumhuriyet/
[04] GREEK CYPRIOTS PLAN DEMONSTRATION
In the runup to this week's meeting between Turkish Republic of Northern
Cyprus (TRNC) President Rauf Denktas and Greek Cypriot leader Glafcos
Clerides, a demonstration reportedly will be held in Greek Cyprus to
protest the existense of the TRNC and the presence of Turkish Armed Forces
soldiers in the island. Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's
Representative for Cyprus Alvaro De Soto arrived in Cyprus yesterday to
participate in the meeting scheduled for Jan. 16. /Turkiye/
[05] EXPERT TURKISH DELEGATION VISITS KABUL
A delegation of five professors and experts lead by Prof. Ihsan Dogramaci
is continuing its contacts in Afghanistan. The Turkish delegation met
yesterday with high-level Afghan officials in Kabul to exchange views on a
number of topics. /Turkiye/
[06] TREASURY TO SELL 112-DAY BILLS
Tomorrow the Treasury will hold an auction of bills with a redemption
period of 112 days. The bills are value dated Wednesday, Jan. 16, and their
redemption is scheduled for May 8 of this year. /Turkiye/
[07] RESTORED TURKISH MEMORIAL UNVEILED IN GEORGIA
Yesterday the village of Aragvand in Georgia unveiled a newly restored
Turkish memorial in a ceremony. Georgia's restoration of the "Türkmen
Emirleri" monument stands in stark contrast to Saudi Arabia's recent
destruction of a historic Ottoman castle. /Star/
[08] BEKO TARGETS LARGER MARKET SHARE
Turkish applience maker BEKO electronics is laying plans to take the number
three market share in Europe with its television sales. BEKO General
Director Aydin Cubukcu said yesterday that the company has the same
technology and capacity as other European producers and had sold more then
3.5 million television sets this year. This shows, he predicted, that BEKO
can take an important place in the European market. /Hürriyet/
[09] RUSSIAN DAILY: "TURKISH FOREIGN POLICY IS PROGRESSING"
Russian newspaper Moskovski Komsomolets reported yesterday that Turkish
foreign policy was evolving and progressing in the wake of last September's
terrorist attacks. Ankara's renewed activity to process the extradition of
Chechen terrorist Mavladi Udugov is proof of this evolution, the capital
city daily said. /Hürriyet/
[10] PLANS LAID FOR TURKEY'S FIRST CONFERENCE HOTEL
Yesterday plans were unveiled for the construction of Turkey's first
hotel_conference center, a facility in Istanbul that will have the capacity
to host 10,000 convention-goers. An official from Grand Cevahir Hotel and
Conference Center, Serpil Keskin, touted the project, saying, "One of the
biggest problems of big conventions in recent years has been people being
scattered around various hotels during the meetings. This has been due to a
lack of space and insufficient meeting and conference halls at the
available hotels. "The center, which is planned for the Mecidiyekoy
district, will include 15 meeting halls and 150 telephone lines for the
press. /Cumhuriyet/
[11] NUMBER OF TOURISTS VISITING TURKEY STRIKES 11%
The Turkish Tourism Ministry released a statement this weekend reporting
that the number of tourists visiting Turkey last year increased 11% when
compared to 2000 to reach a total of 11.57 million as compared to 10.4
million in 2000. Germany sent more tourists to Turkey than any other
country last year, namely 2.9 million. /Aksam/
[12] BIDDING OPENS FOR ANKARA-ISTANBUL RAPID TRAIN PROJECT
The bidding process for a project to modernize the current Ankara-Istanbul
railway was officially initiated yesterday by the Directorate General of
Railway, Harbor and Airport Management (DLH). Reportedly, many European
companies, including ones from Belgium, as well as at least one Chinese
company are vying to win the project to decrease travel time between
Turkey's two largest cities to four-and-a-half hours. Many foreign
companies made pre-bidding applications to the DLH last week, and those
companies deemed eligible to present full proposals will be announced
later. /Aksam/
[13] OIL EXECUTIVE: "TURKEY WILL BE A BRIDGE FOR NATURAL GAS TO EUROPE"
Paul Skinner, an executive at the Shell Oil Company, predicted yesterday
that the next 50 years would see natural gas assume a more important role
in world energy supplies and that furthermore Turkey would become a
"bridge" to transport the Caspian natural gas to Europe. Skinner said he
believed that natural gas would become the world's most important source of
energy, emphasizing that Shell stood ready to invest in the local natural
gas and petroleum market if Turkey's energy sector is privatized. He added,
"Shell Gas & Power Turkey, which was established for this purpose, plans to
make more investments in Turkey if legal reforms are made in the energy
sector. Shell is the biggest foreign investor in Turkey through InterGen in
terms of energy. We support the Turkmen natural gas project. We and our
partner Enka are also overseeing the electric power-station project in
Adapazari, Gebze and Izmir, which works with natural gas and will begin to
produce energy in the middle of this year." /Sabah/
[14] ISRAELI COMPANY TOP CONTENDER FOR C-130 MODERNIZATION
Israeli defense industry company IMI, which recently entered a bid to
modernize 1,170 Turkish M-5 tanks, is now reportedly the top contender in a
bid to modernize seven C-130 transport planes' aviation systems. The
Defense Industry Undersecretariat recently decided to begin meetings with
IMI to discuss their bid. In the undersecretariat's evaluation of 14
companies applying for the contract, another Israeli company, Elbit Systems
Ltd., reportedly came in second. /Aksam/
[15] FAZIL SAY DEBUTS CONCERTO IN PARIS
World-famous Turkish pianist Fazil Say debuted his latest composition, his
"Piano Concerto No. 4," this weekend at the Champs Elysées Theatre in
Paris. The French National Orchestra led by world-renowned conductor Kurt
Masur accompanied Say. At the end of the four-part concerto, Say played an
encore of the second part in response to enthusiastic demands from the
French audience. /Cumhuriyet/
[16] FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS
[17] MESSAGE TO US ON IRAQ BY FIKRET BILA (MILLIYET)
Columnist Fikret Bila writes on Prime Minister Ecevit's visit to Washington
and the issues to be discussed during the visit. A summary of his column is
as follows:
"During Prime Minister Ecevit's visit to the US, the Middle East and Iraq
will be two of the main issues to be discussed. Prime Minister Ecevit and
Foreign Minister Cem
expect that US President Bush will bring up the subject. It is a well-known
fact that Washington has not wavered from the idea of a military
intervention in Iraq. Washington also knows that Ankara and Prime Minister
Ecevit believe that such a policy has certain drawbacks. Ankara has
conveyed to Washington the stance it will take in such an event. When a
delegation of 10 US senators visited Ankara recently, the problem was
discussed at length. Turkey's approach to the issue was explained to the
delegation led by Senator Joseph Lieberman, both by military and government
officials. Ankara is inclined to take part in the probable events rather
standing by. The reason for such a policy is that, the consequences of a
probable intervention will lead to crucial developments in Turkey. The
stance conveyed to the US senators visiting Ankara may be summarized as,
first, Turkey cannot accept the division of Iraq and the establishment of a
Kurdish state in the north. Second, Turkey is closely concerned with the
consequences of the intervention rather than its reasons as these will
greatly affect Turkey politically, economically, and militarily. Third, the
consequences of an intervention can be accepted by Ankara if the formation
of a Kurdish state is not allowed, and only an autonomous Kurdish zone is
left as in the past, and a Turkmen autonomous region is formed in addition
to a Shiite autonomus region in the south. Fourth, Turkey prefers to face
the probable events actively to protect its border security, territorial
integrity and its own interests rather than facing them at its borders.
Ecevit's visit is taking place after this sounding off by the US senators.
Ankara said to the senators that the situation in northern Iraq came into
being after the Gulf War and posed a danger for Turkish security. The PKK
was strengthened in the power vacuum and it increased its attacks on
Turkey. Ankara is not interested in Saddam. However, even if Saddam stays
in power or is overthrown, Ankara is concerned that Iraq may be divided, a
Kurdish state may be proclaimed and the Turkmen may be oppressed...The US
has to take Ankara's concerns into consideration."
[18] ECEVIT'S US VISIT AND EXPECTATIONS BY HURSIT GUNES (MILLIYET)
Columnist Hursit Gunes writes on Prime Minister Ecevit's visit to the US
and Turkish expectations. A summary of his column is as follows:
"The prime minister is going to Washington accompanied by a large
delegation. The presence of a large number of businessmen in the delegation
gives the impression that economic and trade issues will be discussed
during this visit. However, there are two main issues on the agenda. One
is the interests of the US in the region and the other is Turkey's support
for these interests. At the moment, the interest of Washington is political
while Ankara is focused on economic issues. It seems that Turkey will
search for a middle way in between two differing opinions. In fact, the
speeches delivered by the prime minister show that there are two questions
he would like to discuss with the US Administration. The first is to ask
for the cancellation of a certain amount of military debt and a loosening
of foreign trade quotas. The stronger Turkey is, the stronger is the
US'ally in the region. Turkey's economic crisis has to be surmounted and
stability ensured for the required support to be extended. Furthermore, a
steady domestic growth rate must be achieved and our standard of living
elevated. Even though the US is lending a generous amount of money through
the IMF, our economic situation is far fom bright. In addition, we have
some political instability caused by economic problems. The US must be
aware that the economic progress made upto until now has been carried
against a fragile political background. Washington may express its concerns
regarding the issue and how to best ensure a pro-Western, democratic
stability in Turkish politics. Prime Minister Ecevit must be ready to face
such questions. It is clear that Turkey is getting nowhere by defending the
territorial integrity of Iraq. It should propose a solution which would not
damage its own territorial integrity. Instead of reacting to the US
proposals as unacceptable, it should be pro-active. Thus, Turkey's strength
in the region will increase. What's more, this solution may not
necessarily include a military intervention. It would be wrong to restrict
the US' negotiations with Iraq. The prime minister is going to Washington
with his hand strengthened. Great distance has been covered in the economic
program. The West has recognized Turkey's importance anew. However,
Turkey's requests are limited. This visit must demonstrate that Turkey is
actually part of the West rather than a strong ally of the West in the
region."
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