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Turkish Press Review, 02-01-28
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
28.01.2002
CONTENTS
[01] MGK TO CONVENE TOMORROW
[02] DENKTAS, CLERIDES TO CONTINUE TALKS
[03] LEADERS' SUMMIT TO WRANGLE OVER ARTICLES 312 AND 159
[04] BUSY AGENDA FOR PARLIAMENT THIS WEEK
[05] DERVIS, CEM AND AKP'S ERDOGAN TO ATTEND WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
[06] ERDOGAN TO MEET TURKISH-AMERICAN GROUPS DURING US VISIT
[07] CEM, AKARCALI AND GULEK TO REPRESENT TURKEY AT EUROPEAN CONVENTION
[08] DERVIS: "WE SHOULD PERSEVERE UNTIL THE END"
[09] GREEK FIRMS TO INVEST IN TURKEY
[10] TURKISH, GREEK INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES TO COOPERATE
[11] EARTHQUAKE CENTER SENDS OUT DISASTER PREPAREDNESS CD-ROM
[12] WRITER'S HISTORIC HOME TO BECOME A MUSEUM
[13] HONOR MEDALS AWARDED TO KOREAN WAR VETERANS
[14] WORLD CUP TOUR HITS ISTANBUL
[15] FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS
[16] THE EU AND THE PKK BY FIKRET BILA (MILLIYET)
[17] LEGALIZATION EFFORTS BY MUSTAFA BALBAY (CUMHURIYET)
[01] MGK TO CONVENE TOMORROW
The National Security Board (MGK) chaired by President Ahmet Necdet Sezer
will meet tomorrow morning at the Presidential Palace. During its first
meeting of the year, domestic and foreign issues will be discussed. /All
Papers/
[02] DENKTAS, CLERIDES TO CONTINUE TALKS
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Rauf Denktas and
Greek Cypriot leader Glafcos Clerides will meet for the fifth time today as
part of the new direct talks process to reach a settlement to the Cyprus
issue. Their meeting will be held at the Lefkosha Conference Center at 5:00
p.m. Delegations from both sides will accompany the two leaders and UN
Special Cyprus Envoy Alvaro de Soto will attend the meeting as an observer.
Constitutional issues and the powers of proposed central government
expected are to be discussed at the meeting. /Turkiye/
[03] LEADERS' SUMMIT TO WRANGLE OVER ARTICLES 312 AND 159
Leaders of the coalition government are set to meet today in order to
discuss controversial Penal Code Articles 312 and 159 and proposed
amendments to them. Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit and Deputy Prime Minister
Mesut Yilmaz will work to convince Deputy Prime Minister and Nationalist
Action Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli to support the proposed changes
and also to find a way out of the crisis created President Ahmet Necdet
Sezer's veto on Friday, a veto that could block a $12 billion International
Monetary Fund loan. Bahceli said that his party was opposed to either
completely lifting the article or making radical amendments to it. Ecevit
and Yilmaz will reportedly stress to Bahceli the importance for Turkey's
European Union accession of these amendments. State Minister for the
Economy Kemal Dervis and Deputy Prime Minister Husamettin Ozkan are also
expected to attend the summit. /Aksam/
[04] BUSY AGENDA FOR PARLIAMENT THIS WEEK
The Turkish Parliament is heading for a busy schedule this week. Four
important bills will be taken up, including one which would mandate jail
time for those who support prison death fast protests. It is scheduled to
debate proposals concerning the Turkish mining sector, and boron and gold
mines in particular, on Tuesday. On Wednesday Parliament is set to debate a
bill on the organization of the Maritime Undersecretariat. Bills on
education centers for prison personnel and the administraion of prisons are
also on the agenda. Meanwhile, if agreement between the coalition partners
can be reached on amendments to the Turkish Penal Code (TCK), Anti-terror
Law, State Security Courts Law and Law on Trial Procedurements as part of
the mini constitutional reform package, Parliament is also expected to take
up this package. /Turkiye/
[05] DERVIS, CEM AND AKP'S ERDOGAN TO ATTEND WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
State Minister for the Economy Kemal Dervis, Foreign Minister Ismail Cem,
Justice and Development Party (AKP) leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and
Central Bank Governor Sureyya Serdengecti are set to attend the World
Economic Forum beginning in New York between later this week. The World
Economic Forum normally convenes annually at the Swiss winter resort of
Davos, but will be held in New York this year on Jan. 31-Feb. 4 as a sign
of solidarity in the wake of last September's terrorist attacks on that
city. Heads of state and government, ministers, high-level bureaucrats,
representatives of nongovernmental organizations and high-level
representatives of a number of companies will attend the meeting. /Turkish
Daily News/
[06] ERDOGAN TO MEET TURKISH-AMERICAN GROUPS DURING US VISIT
Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chairman Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who
recently traveled to the US to attend the World Economic Forum beginning
later this week, is also expected to meet with the representatives of
Turkish-American Associations in New York during his visit. The Assembly of
Turkish-American Associations announced yesterday that it had scheduled a
meeting with Erdogan on Feb. 2. Erdogan is also expected to hold press
conferences and to attend a number of panels and seminars in Washington and
New York, where the forum is being held. The US press is closely following
Erdogan's visit. /Turkiye/
[07] CEM, AKARCALI AND GULEK TO REPRESENT TURKEY AT EUROPEAN CONVENTION
Foreign Minister Ismail Cem, Motherland Party (ANAP) deputy leader Bulent
Akarcali and Democratic Left Party's (DSP) Adana Deputy Tayyibe Gulek will
reportedly represent Ankara during an upcoming European Convention
designated to shape the future of the continent. The government will be
represented by Cem and the Turkish Parliament by Akarcali and Gulek.
Preparatory meetings for the convention will be held in February and its
first official meeting will be in March, during which Cem will leave the
authority of representing the government to Turkey's Permanent EU
Ambassador Nihat Akyol or to another diplomat. The convention's first term
has been set at three months. During the meetings, the EU's enlargement
process will be the main item on the agenda, and the issue of a common
constitution will be discussed as well. /Hurriyet/
[08] DERVIS: "WE SHOULD PERSEVERE UNTIL THE END"
State Minister for the Economy Kemal Dervis said yesterday that Turkey
should stick to following its economic program in order to regain its
strength. Banking and the private sector are the most important levers of
the Turkish economy, he said, and they must work together in order to find
a solution for the present crisis. He added that the current period was
very important for Turkey's economic program to gain steam towads its
success. "We should persevere until the end in order to solve our problems,
" he stated. /Aksam/
[09] GREEK FIRMS TO INVEST IN TURKEY
Izmir Chamber of Commerce Chairman Ekrem Demirtas announced yesterday that
60 Greek firms were planning to make new investments in Turkey. Noting that
Greece's National Bank had allocated $500 million for the investments,
Demirtas said, "The Turkish-Greek Friendship Association and Greek National
Bank encourage such initiatives in the interest of boosting Turkish-Greek
relations. We expect annual trade volume between Greece and Turkey to reach
$1 billion." /Sabah/
[10] TURKISH, GREEK INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES TO COOPERATE
Greek Intelligence Agency (EYIP) head Pavlos Apostolidis stated yesterday
that under a bilateral agreement to work to combat organized crime and
terrorism, EYIP and the Turkish Intelligence Agency (MIT) would work to
cooperate in future operations. Speaking to Greek daily To Vima,
Apostolidis said, "Under this agreement, we will work in cooperation with
the MIT. Naturally, this will not be easy. As is well-known, there have
been a number of problems between Turkey and Greece, with our intelligence
services even gathering information about each other. In this respect, the
cooperating will be hard but not impossible. We are working on it."
Recounting that he met several times each year with MIT Undersecretary
Senkal Atasagun as part of security meetings with other NATO countries,
Apostolidis added that EYIP had played a role in bringing terrorist leader
Abdullah Ocalan to Greece. /Hurriyet/
[11] EARTHQUAKE CENTER SENDS OUT DISASTER PREPAREDNESS CD-ROM
An earthquake expert announced yesterday that a new CD-ROM called "Five
Minutes for Life" on disaster preparedness was being sent to governorships
and education departments throughout the country. Professor Ahmet Isikara,
director of Bogazici University's Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake
Research Institute, told a press conference at the observatory that the new
multimedia presentation was designed to help Turkey's people to be more
aware and ready for natural disasters. Isikara added that they had also
prepared a comic strip to help children learn what places are dangerous
during earthquakes so that they will know what to do to stay safe.
/Cumhuriyet/
[12] WRITER'S HISTORIC HOME TO BECOME A MUSEUM
It was announced yesterday that the house in which Turkish author Rifat
Ilgaz was born in Kastamanu's district of Cide would be turned into a
museum. Hayriye Ozturkoglu, the chairwoman of Kemalist Ideology
Association's (ADD) Cide branch, said that the home had been designated a
national historic resource. He added that the ADD was still awaiting
official approval for a restoration project, but that the citizens of Cide
supported such a venture. /Cumhuriyet/
[13] HONOR MEDALS AWARDED TO KOREAN WAR VETERANS
Turkish war veterans who fought in the Korean War of 1950-1953 received
honor medals yesterday in Ankara. South Korean Ambassador Yung Cu presented
the medals to the veterans in a ceremony. The medals were sent to Ankara by
the Federation of Korean War Veterans as tokens of South Korea's
appreciation and respect. /Sabah/
[14] WORLD CUP TOUR HITS ISTANBUL
As party of a promotional tour sponsored by the Coca-Cola Company for this
year's World Cup final in Japan and South Korea, the World Cup trophy will
be paraded through the streets of Istanbul today. /All Papers/
[15] FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS
[16] THE EU AND THE PKK BY FIKRET BILA (MILLIYET)
Columnist Fikret Bila comments on the recent moves launched by the PKK to
gain at the table what it lost at the front. A summary of his column is as
follows:
"It is now clear that the PKK terrorist organization is trying to make up
for its losses in the armed struggle at the front with gains at the
negotiating table. Certainly, Turkey will not be party to any such meeting.
However, it is also true that the PKK is trying to arrange an indirect
meeting over Europe and the European Union. Turkey's accession process to
the EU should not be necessarily hampered, postponed or abandoned for
concerns over the PKK. However, Turkey has to clearly explain to the EU
the conditions and the reality of this terrorist group. Attention should
be particularly drawn to the implementation of double standards by the EU.
The reasons for the EU not including the PKK among its list of terrorist
organizations should be questioned and the real idea behind such a policy
must be exposed. The assessments made by Deputy Prime Minister Devlet
Bahceli must be carefully evaluated. One of these statements point to the
fact that Turkey's accession process and efforts to politicize the PKK are
coming at the same time. Clearly, Europe is not at all interested at the
moment in separating these two processes from each other. It will be no
surprise if they work to mingle these two processes together. It is also
true that today the PKK is attaching more importance to benefiting from
democratic means, but while doing so, it is not neglecting its threatening
armed presence at the border. Despite these activities, it is also known
that the PKK intends to change its name and carve out a legal status in
both the domestic and international arenas. Under these circumstances,
Turkey must carefully handle those proposals coming from both within the
country and abroad. Ankara suffered 15 years of terrible terrorist attacks
and then succeeded in thwarting these forces, but now it must act carefully
with an eye on the future, despite the moves launched to damage or weaken
its national unity. The fundamental principles of the Turkish Republic are
under attack. This threat directed at our nation-state cannot be ignored."
[17] LEGALIZATION EFFORTS BY MUSTAFA BALBAY (CUMHURIYET)
Columnist Mustafa Balbay writes on the laws waiting to be enacted by the
Parliament. A summary of his column is as follows:
"There are a number of laws waiting to be enacted by the Parliament, such
as the mini-democracy package, banking law and property taxes. If there is
no last-minute change, the main topic to be discussed at the leaders'
summit will be the mini-democracy package. The backbone of the discussion
will be the definition of the crime. Everyone views the issue from his own
perspective. Whatever the definition may be, experience has shown that the
important issue is its implementation. We have witnessed six different
verdicts to the same crime while applying the Anti-Terror law. As the
discussions between the coalition leaders were heating up, EU ambassadors
were also included in the arguments. As we got used to everything, EU and
US ambassadors became a part of our system. The initiative by the EU
ambassadors stating that such an amendment could not be accepted and that
this intervention was not rebuffed by the prime minister while discussions
on the issue were still ongoing made us wonder if in the near future they
would also attend the leaders' summit. The bills creating a dispute are
called 'harmonization laws'! On property taxes, everyone accepts the fact
that the scale has been tipped too far in favor of the state. However, they
will be reworked. Regarding the banking law, State Minister Responsible for
Economy Dervis is expected to make a statement at the Treasury to address
the concerns of President Ahmet Necdet Sezer. Later he will attend the
leaders' summit and explain what must be done."
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