Anadolu Agency: News in English, 00-06-09

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NEWS

09 June 2000 Friday

CONTENTS

[01] TURKEY-PRESS SCAN

[02] 619 REFUGEES CAPTURED

[03] ACTING PARLIAMENT SPEAKER SOKMENOGLU IN KAZAKHSTAN

[04] 40 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS CAPTURED IN IZMIR

[05] FOREIGN MINISTER CEM IN ESTONIA

[06] FOREIGN MINISTER CEM DUE TO KAZAKHSTAN AND KYRGYZISTAN

[07] NUMBER OF FOREIGN TOURISTS VISITING MUGLA INCREASES BY 31 PERCENT

[08] ERSUMER, MINISTER OF ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES, IN JAPAN

[09] EXCAVATIONS IN ANCIENT ZEUGMA SITE ACCELERATED

[10] 90 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS CAPTURED IN EDIRNE

[11] COUNCIL OF MINISTERS CONVENES

[12] THIRD INTERNATIONAL BOGAZICI FESTIVAL TO START ON JUNE 15

[13] INTERIOR MINISTER TANTAN:

[14] YILMAZ, LEADER OF ANAP:

[15] MANY WEAPONS AND DRUGS BELONGING TO PKK CONFISCATED

[01] TURKEY-PRESS SCAN

HURRIYET (LIBERAL)

THERE WAS CONFLICT
Kemal Iskender, the Chief of Ankara Police Organization, said that Yusuf Karakus and Abdulhamit Celik, members of illegal Tevhid organization, were not involved in the Ugur Mumcu assassination. Iskender said, ''there are conflicts in the testimonies of the defendants. Karakus told us lies.''

MILLIYET (LIBERAL)

BOOM IN AUTOMOTIVE SALES
The sale of export automobiles increased 112 percent and the sale of Turkish automobiles climbed 49 percent in the first five months of 2000. The automotive factories started to produce at the weekends. The automotive factory Tofas started to employ 1,000 workers in two months. A total of 156,000 automobiles were sold in the mentioned period with an increase of 76.29 percent.

SABAH (LIBERAL)

SHE WITHDRAWS FROM CONTEST
Disturbance occurred in Greece and Greek Cypriot side as Miss Greece Katerina Delli's photograph, who was taking part in Miss Globe Contest, was taken in front of the Flag of Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) and when this photograph was published by the news organs. Delli withdrew from the contest and returned to her country.

MESSAGE IS TAKEN
The crisis which occurred between the Motherland Party (ANAP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), was overcome by an envoy that Devlet Bahceli, the MHP leader, sent to Mesut Yilmaz, the ANAP leader, following the message given by Premier Bulent Ecevit in which he said, ''do not cause crisis.'' Nazif Okumus from the MHP submitted the ''confidence message'' of Bahceli to Yilmaz. In his meeting with Yilmaz, Okumus said, ''enter into the government now. We have confidence in you.'' Yilmaz said, ''we also have confidence in you.''

CUMHURIYET (LEFT)

ROUTE OF BOLU MOUNTAIN PASSAGE TO BE CHANGED
Although there were statements that ''there is not any damage'' in Bolu Mountain Tunnel following massive Duzce quake, a halt in the construction of the tunnel came to the agenda after six months. A total of 433 million U.S. dollars has so far been spent on the tunnel. Dincer Yigit, Director General of Highways, said they wanted to form a new tunnel entrance, and noted that this new project will cost 107 million U.S. dollars.

RADIKAL (LEFT)

825 MILLION EURO FROM THE EU
European Union (EU) began to release the loans which it promised to give Turkey stemming from the Customs Union. The EU gave visa for 450 million Euro part of the 750 million Euro credit, which has not been paid since the acceptance of Customs Union in 1995. The EU would donate 375 million Euro to Turkey to be used in the field of education. The credit and the donation are approximately 500 trillion lira.

Guenter Verheugen, official of the EU responsible for Enlargement will visit Ankara.

YENI BINYIL (LIBERAL)

The draft law foresees the encouragement of two countries to make investments in the other country and to permit the investments which are in consonant with the concerned laws and regulations.

In accordance with the draft law, the companies can choose their high-ranking administrators and technicians without taking into consideration their nationalities.

SEZER EXAMINES HUMAN RIGHTS REPORTS
Parliamentary Human Rights Commission submitted reports to President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, which includes the studies of the commission made so far. Seven separate reports have been turned into books and sent to President Sezer. The reports related with Erzurum, Sanliurfa, Tunceli, and Istanbul, convey the investigations in prisons and police stations. The reports will also be sent to Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit and other government officials.

TURKIYE (RIGHT)

REQUEST OF FEHRIYE ERDAL FOR RELEASE REJECTED
The Bruges Court of Belgium on Thursday found Fehriye Erdal, one of the suspects of assasination of businessman Ozdemir Sabanci, unjust in the lawsuit she had filed against the Belgian Interior Ministry for her release from prison.

Lawyers of Erdal said they would appeal to the Gent Court of Appeals.

CRIMINAL COURT DECIDES TO ARREST CAKICI IN ABSENTIA
Istanbul Criminal Court No. 6 who re-hears the case on the attack of journalist-writer Hincal Uluc, decided on Thursday to arrest Alaattin Cakici, a notorious mafia boss in absentia.

The court started to hear the case again after its decision was repealed by the Supreme Court of Appeals.

ZAMAN (CONSERVATIVE)

[02] 619 REFUGEES CAPTURED

[03] ACTING PARLIAMENT SPEAKER SOKMENOGLU IN KAZAKHSTAN

Hikmet Cetin, the former Parliament Speaker, and Mehmet Mogoltay, a former minister, are also in the Turkish delegation.

The Turkish delegation will visit Almaty today and will proceed to Astana this evening to join the inaugration of the university.

The building was restored by Turkish construction company Ceylan Insaat.

Nursultan Nazarbayev, the Kazakh President, will open the Eurasia University on Saturday.

[04] 40 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS CAPTURED IN IZMIR

Officials told A.A correspondent that the security forces stopped a lorry in the toll collection gates of Izmir-Cesme motorway.

The officials said that the security forces found 40 illegal immigrants hidden in the lorry.

The illegal immigrants, including 11 Nigerians, 5 Sierra Leoneans, 24 Pakistani, were going to Greece, the official noted.

The officials stated that there were no identification cards or passports on the illegal immigrants.

The officials added that the investigation is underway.

[05] FOREIGN MINISTER CEM IN ESTONIA

Foreign Minister Cem will be received by Estonian President Lennard Meri and Prime Minister Mart Laar.

Cem and Toomas Hendrik Ilves, Estonian Foreign Minister, will stage a joint news conference following their meeting.

[06] FOREIGN MINISTER CEM DUE TO KAZAKHSTAN AND KYRGYZISTAN

Cem will go to Astana, Kazakhstan, on June 11 within the framework of his visit to Central Asia.

Ismail Cem will meet with his Kazakh counterpart Erlan Idirisov on June 12.

Kazakh Energy, Industry and Trade Minister Vladimir Skolnik is expected to join the meeting between Cem and Idirisov.

Following his meeting with Idirisov, Cem will be received by Kazakh Prime Minister Kasimjomart Tokayev.

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev will later receive Cem.

Following his contacts, Cem will stage a press conference on his visit and contacts.

After participating in the luncheon hosted by the Foreign Economic Relations Board, Cem will proceed to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

Cem will be received by Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev the same day.

Kyrgyz Prime Minister Amangeldi Muraliyev will receive Cem in the second day of his visit to Bishkek.

Cem will later join the inter-delegationary meetings in which the bilateral and regional issues will be discussed.

Following the inter-delegationary meetings, Cem will partake in the luncheon hosted by Kyrgyz side.

Cem will later depart from Kyrgyzstan to return to Turkey.

[07] NUMBER OF FOREIGN TOURISTS VISITING MUGLA INCREASES BY 31 PERCENT

Mugla Governor's office told a statement that 250,000 foreign tourists visited Mugla and its environs in the recent five months. A total of 190,000 foreign tourists had visited the region in the same period last year.

Meanwhile, it was reported that number of British tourists who visited the region was 95,521, number of German tourists was 46,279, and the number of Dutch tourists was 21,710.

[08] ERSUMER, MINISTER OF ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES, IN JAPAN

Ersumer addressed a conference titled, ''Turkey's energy policy-national, regional, and international developments,'' which was jointly stated by UNIDO, Japanese Trade Organization (JETRO), Japanese Foreign Investment Institution (JOI), Japanese International Cooperation Bank (JBIC), and Turkish-Japanese Friendship Association.

Pointing out that Japan knew Turkey very well, Ersumer said Turkey became a powerful country in its region due to its growing population, willingness to become an industrialized country, important steps taken on the way of modernization, and its desire to have an economy that can compete with the world markets.

Ersumer said Turkey was the ''poor neighbor of rich neighbors,'' due to energy resources, adding that it was impossible for Turkey to produce electricity with its local resources.

''Turkey imports natural gas and oil, and mobilizes all its local resources to serve its nation. It should create a resource worth of 100 billion U.S. dollars to make these investments,'' Ersumer said, adding that, ''Turkey made amendments to its constitution and provided the facility of international arbitration, and with the laws which it issued in parallel to these amendments, it lifted the monopoly on production of electricity, its distribution, and tranfer.''

Ersumer said Turkey has signed agreements of 23 build-operate-transfer (BOT) projects in this respect, and noted that, ''also we have 135 BOT projects, which we did not sign the agreements of. Talks are under way. Total investment cost of these are around 15.3 billion U.S. dollars. We don't ignore clean energy sources. We have a wind capacity that we can produce 20 billion kwh electricity. We have wind power plants in the style of both in Build-Operate-Transfer model, and in auto-producer. Our ministry has opened tenders in 16 separate places for 370 megawatt power. Also, 17 companies have applied to build up wind power plants in the style of BOT.''

Mentioning the geothermal energy, Ersumer said there was an operating geothermal power plant in Turkey, and noted that construction of a geothermal power plant, again with BOT model, has come to the last stage. Ersumer said, ''yet when you consider the needs of Turkey and its rate of increase, it is out of question for the country to meet energy shortage with wind power plants and geothermal power plants. Turkey is willing to meet with nuclear technique and use nuclear energy.''

Ersumer said, ''another method which Turkey started to speed up energy investments and to use world financial resources was build and transfer method. We provide the realization of the projects, which we determined with intergovernmental agreements, with the country which will provide the financing and the Turkish companies.''

He said Turkey is currently carrying out 28 hydraulic dam projects, and noted that total established power of the hydraulic dams was 7,500 megawatt.

Ersumer said Turkey used all budget facilities and the world finance facilities to meet its growing energy needs. He also briefed about the legal and constitutional arrangements which were made for the investments.

Stressing that Turkey's demand for natural gas increased quickly and noting that it has 30 billion U.S. dollars natural gas market, Ersumer mentioned the relations established with Turkish republics to this end.

Ersumer said Turkey has partnerships for the extraction of the oil in the countries of the region and for the production of the gas, and stated that efforts to make Turkey play the role of a bridge in transfering these sources to the west, continued.

The Minister briefed about Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Crude Oil Pipeline Project.

Stressing that Turkey was willing to integrate with the world markets, Ersumer said, ''we are trying to take giant steps to be a society of information. We want to make cooperation with the world to materialize our targets. We are aware that first of all our energy projects should be materialized to achieve our targets.''

[09] EXCAVATIONS IN ANCIENT ZEUGMA SITE ACCELERATED

Mehmet Onal, the archeologist responsible for the excavations, told A.A correspondent on Friday that it is a good development that President Ahmet Necdet Sezer extended the date when the water would be released from the Birecik Dam, but that they have not received any information about this issue yet.

Onal said that the extension of the release of water by ten days is not enough, adding that the unique mosaics and frescos unearthed from the ancient site have been transferred to the Gaziantep Archeology Museum.

They do not recess the excavations in the part of the ancient site which will remain under waters, Onal noted.

Onal continued, ''despite all our efforts, a part of the history will remain in darkness by being covered with the waters of the dam because we do not have sufficient time. We have found a great deal of two of the Roman villas.''

''Zeugma was a summer place of the wealthy Roman people living on the bank of Euprates River. Euphrates was bringing wealth and prosperity to the region in those days as it does today. The wealthy people brought the best artists of the time to lay the mosaics and paint the frescos. Thus, the Zeugma site occured. The artist made the mosaics from glass since he could not find stones or marbles coloured in dark green and light blue. The mosaic made of glass made the designs more lively and attractive,'' Onal said.

Onal also said, ''Zeugma, which is only five meters under the soil, is the way to reach the people who lived 2000 years ago, to recognize them, to see their artifacts.''

''I think that we can find more artifacts and heritage in third and fourth terraces where we will launch excavations after the water is released from the dam. We will need more support in the excavations we will carry out in the third and fourth terraces,'' Onal added.

[10] 90 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS CAPTURED IN EDIRNE

Officials said that the genderma forces, captured 90 illegal immigrants, including Palestinians, Iranians, Iraqis, Moroccans, Syrians, Afghans, and Bangladeshis, in Uzunkopru, Meric and Ipsala townships of Edirne.

The officials noted that some of the illegal immigrants did not have passports on them and that they confessed that they were trying to illegally go to Greece.

The illegal immigrants were handed over to Edirne Police Organization to be deported, the officials added.

[11] COUNCIL OF MINISTERS CONVENES

Agriculture and Rural Affairs Minister Husnu Yusuf Gokalp will inform the Council of Ministers about the 2000-2001 term grain products encouragment purchase-sale prices.

Finance Minister Sumer Oral will give information about the budget performances and the tax arrangement regarding the LPG used in automobiles in the meeting.

State Minister Edip Safter Gaydali will inform the ministers about the problems of the mining sector while Tourism Minister Erkan Mumcu will talk about the air transportation.

State Minister Yuksel Yalova will talk about the Turkey-European Union (EU) Joint Parliamentary Meeting while Environment Minister will give information about the negotiations with the EU regarding environment.

[12] THIRD INTERNATIONAL BOGAZICI FESTIVAL TO START ON JUNE 15

The festival will cover several types of music, including flamenco, Balkan countries' music, jazz, and blues.

Gloria Gaynor, a pop singer who is famous for her song ''I will survive'', famous band Man At Work, and many other singers and bands will give concerts and perform dances in the festival.

World-famous soprano Kiri Te Kanawa will take the stage today and on June 13, famous U.S. ballet team Pacific Northwest Ballet will take the stage on June 11.

Sirin Pancaroglu will give a joint concert with violinist Ignace Jang on June 14.

Tegemeo band, including African, Turkish, British and U.S. musicians, will give a concert on June 15.

[13] INTERIOR MINISTER TANTAN:

Responding to the questions of the journalists, Tantan, who is paying an official visit to Baku, Azerbaijan, requested the journalists to wait for the indictment of the prosecutor's office.

Tantan said, ''it is not right to talk before the public lawsuit is opened. I have not made any comments on this issue since the very first moment of the operations.''

[14] YILMAZ, LEADER OF ANAP:

Responding to the question of a journalist which said, ''has Bahceli, leader of MHP, sent you a message to put an end to the ongoing tension,'' Yilmaz said, ''the details are not important. Ice has melted. The important thing is not to cause such developments again.''

[15] MANY WEAPONS AND DRUGS BELONGING TO PKK CONFISCATED

Officials told A.A correspondent on Friday that the security forces continue their operations against the terrorist organizations in the Southeastern Anatolia Region.

The officials said that the security forces confiscated 38 kalashnikovs, 14 long-range weapons, 103 cartridges, nine bazookas, 4,075 bullets, 14 hand grenades, and one gun.

A total of 94.6 kilograms of hashish belonging to the terrorist organization PKK, was also confiscated during the operations, the officials noted.

The officials said, ''as the hashish is captured, it is once more confirmed that the terrorist organization gain income by drug trafficking.''

The officials added that the operations are underway in the region.

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