Anadolu Agency: News in English, 00-12-10

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ANADOLU AGENCY

NEWS

10 DECEMBER 2000 Saturday

CONTENTS

[01] TURKEY-PRESS SCAN

[02] HUMAN RIGHTS DAY AND THE 52ND ANNIVERSARY OF THE ADOPTION OF

[03] ONE PERSON FROZEN TO DEATH IN

[04] CYPRUS WEEK IN U.N.

[05] CULTURE MINISTER TALAY LEAVES FOR FRANCE

[06] CLOSURE CASE AGAINST VIRTUE PARTY

[07] TURKEY TO BE UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF RAINY

[08] TEN MILLION TOURISTS VISIT TURKEY SINCE BEGINNING OF 2000

[09] G-20 MEETING TO TAKE PLACE IN TURKEY IN 2001

[10] GAP REGION EXPORTS 76.8 MILLION U.S. DOLLAR CEREALS

[11] AUTOMOTIVE SALES INCREASE 79.9 PERCENT

[12] EURASIA 2 FERRYBOAT STARTS CRUISES BETWEEN TRABZON TO SOCHI

[13] CPT DELEGATION ARRIVES IN TURKEY

[14] CENTRAL BANK GOVERNOR ERCEL AND OIB CHAIRMAN BAYAR

[15] ANOTHER TURKISH PLANE IN BAGHDAD

[16] F TYPE PRISON PROTESTS IN ISTANBUL

[01] TURKEY-PRESS SCAN

HURRIYET (LIBERAL)

GENDARME FORCES CONFESS: ''WE CANNOT ENTER INTO WARDS FOR FOUR YEARS''
A total of 754 of inmates convicted of political crimes who are the members of the illegal leftist organizations are kept in Bayrampasa Prison while 298 similar inmates are kept in Uskudar Prison. The gendarme forces cannot enter into the wards where the political criminals are kept in these two prisons after the death fast which was staged in 1996 and in which 12 inmates died.

MILLIYET (LIBERAL)

PREMIER ECEVIT: ''FAMILIES UNDERTAKE RESPONSIBILITIES''
Premier Bulent Ecevit called on the inmates, families and intellectuals who started the death fasts and hunger strikes to protest the F type prisons, to end their protests. Ecevit said, ''the structurings and arragnements in the most civilized and democratic countries will also be valid in our country. Despite this, some terrorists in prisons try to prevent the transition into F type prisons by pushing the youngsters who are under their influence, to death fasts.'' Ecevit noted that the transition into F type prisons will not be an immediate transition.

SABAH (LIBERAL)

HOPE OF COMPROMISE IN DEATH FAST
A group of intellectuals had a meeting with the inmates who are on hunger strikes and death fasts in prisons, for eight and a half hours. The death fast is expected to be ended tomorrow. Zulfu Livaneli, Can Dundar, Yasar Kemal, Orhan Pamuk and Oral Calislar had intensive contacts with the inmates in the Bayrampasa Prison. The contacts which seemed to be hopeless at the beginning, turned out to be positive in the evening.

CUMHURIYET (LEFT)

''YOUNGSTERS FROM MANISA'' CASE
The reasoned verdict of the case, which is publicly known as ''Youngsters from Manisa,'' said the convicts were decided to be released as there were no absolute and convincing evidence that they committed the crimes they faced.

The reasoned verdict prepared by the Izmir State Security Court (DGM), said Manisa Heavy Criminal Court confirmed that the testimonies of the youngsters were taken under pressure with imprisonment decision upheld on the policemen who had interrogated the youngsters. It said no other evidences can be obtained proving these testimonies.

RADIKAL (LEFT)

DEMIREL DUE TO MIDDLE EAST
The 9th President Suleyman Demirel will go on a tour to the Middle East on December 11, within the framework of the works of the Fact-Finding Committee formed regarding the clashes between Israelis and Palestinians. Demirel will hold contacts in Israel, Palestine, Egypt and Jordan during his two-day visit. Demirel will meet with the members of the Fact-Finding Committee in Israel, which is the first stop of his visit.

YENİ BİNYIL (LIBERAL)

Prime Minister Ecevit said Parliamentary Human Rights Commission members intervened to prevent this disaster. Pointing out that he met with some parliamentarians who are the members of the commission, and that he wished success in their assignments, Ecevit said, ''we will evaluate the information and proposals which they will bring to us. I would like to recall that F type prisons will not immediately start to function. Preparations of it will continue for some time. Facts will be realized more during this period.''

TURKIYE (RIGHT)

Tuzmen said they were getting prepared for the year 2005, adding that, ''I am very hopeful for the coming years. Because Turkey discovered the markets which it neglected for many years.''

THEY GOT THE FIRST KEY
A total of 1,447 permanent dwellings, out of 1,458, which were constructed by Housing and Public Ministry in Bolu province for the quake victims, were given to their owners. Nearly 3,000 people attended the ceremony.

ZAMAN (CONSERVATIVE)

INITIATIVES OF INTELLECTUALS AND DEPUTIES
The intellectuals delegation comprised of Yasar Kemal, Zulfu Livaneli, Orhan Pamuk, Oral Calislar and Can Dundar, met with the inmates in Bayrampasa prison. Before the group entered into the prison, author Yasar Kemal told reporters that they came to the prison to contribute to the ending of the ongoing protests in prisons.

Kemal said, ''noone has intervened the death fasts until today. It is too late today. This should be ended as soon as possible. We, the intellectuals, do not want to intervene this. But, we find ourselves in this issue. We will listen to the proposals of the inmates and later convey these proposals to the officials.''

[02] HUMAN RIGHTS DAY AND THE 52ND ANNIVERSARY OF THE ADOPTION OF

Ecevit issued a message due to the 52nd anniversary of the adoption of the Human Rights Day and Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Recalling that 52nd anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was marked today, Ecevit said this document formed an important turning point in protection and improvement of human rights. Ecevit said Turkey, which is one of the founder members of the United Nations (U.N.), was among the first 50 countries who adopted the Universal Declaration.

''Extraordinary developments in communication and space technologies and concepts which are symbols of civilization have become the common values of the free and democratic societies. Within this framework, improvement of respect to human rights became one of the primary issues of all the contemporary democratic societies today,''Ecevit said.

Prime Minister Ecevit noted that main aspects of the human rights like supremacy of law and equality in front of laws take place in the basis of the republic. ''Equality of all our citizens without making discrimination of race, language, religion and sex form the basis of our administration system and the life style which our people adopted,'' he noted.

''I congratulate the Human Rights Day of our nation and all the world nations with my sincere feelings,'' Prime Minister Ecevit stressed.

[03] ONE PERSON FROZEN TO DEATH IN

Dead body of Mustafa Canel (31), who was reported to be missing for three days, was found by the villagers near Alanyurt Village.

It was reported that Canel might have lost his way due to heavy fog.

[04] CYPRUS WEEK IN U.N.

Alvaro De Soto, the U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan's Special Envoy to Cyprus who had wrapped up contacts in Ankara, Athens, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), and Greek Cypriot administration, will brief the members of the Security Council about his contacts on Monday.

Following the statement of the TRNC President Rauf Denktas who had said that the Cyprus proximity talks had ended, it is not clear whether or not the sixth round of Cyprus proximity talks which were scheduled to be held in the end of January in Geneva, would be held. De Soto will go to Cyprus in the middle of January to convince Denktas and Glafcos Clerides, the leader of the Greek Cypriot administration, to come to Geneva.

The Security Council will hold a meeting closed to the press following the briefing of De Soto. The latest situation on the island will be reviewed and the final shape of the resolution which foresees the extension of the mission of the U.N. Peace Force on Cyprus will be given.

Annan had recommended in the report he submitted to the Security Council last week that the mission of the Peace Force should be extended until June 15, 2001. The Security Council is expected to keep this recommendation and accept the draft in the meeting that will be held on December 14.

Meanwhile, making an addendum which will enable the mission of U.N. Peace Force on Cyprus to the resolution, is a matter of discussion again. TRNC insists that a separate agreement should be made between the peace force and TRNC authorities to enable mission of the peace force in TRNC. However, the Greek Cypriot administration reject to this by claiming that such an agreement will mean TRNC's recognition by a military force which is on mission on behalf of the U.N.

The provision which was included in the addendum made to Cyprus report of Annan in December 1999, was excluded from the text during the proximity talks in June. To this end, TRNC had imposed a serious of restrictions to the U.N. Peace Force.

[05] CULTURE MINISTER TALAY LEAVES FOR FRANCE

Addressing a news conference in Istanbul's Ataturk Airport, Talay said he will address the UNESCO member countries Round Table of the Ministers of Culture meeting titled ''2000-2010:Obstacles In Front Of the Cultural Diversity.'' The meeting will take place in UNESCO Heaquarters on December 11-12.

Pointing out that an intensity has been observed in relations with UNESCO in the recent days, Talay said, ''we have intensifying relations with UNESCO recently. In the round table meeting which we had attended in 1999, we proposed to hold the third UNESCO Round Table Meeting in Turkey. We are pleased to learn that this proposal has been accepted and that the third Round Table Meeting will take place in Istanbul in 2001. This is very important for the promotion of our country.'

Talay said, ''UNESCO is the highest organ of the U.N. in scientific, cultural and educational issues. ''Istanbul-Goreme Protection of Cultural Heritage Project,'' is an activity which is underway since 1983. This project, which continued for long years, gained a new action plan with the contributions of UNESCO Turkey National Commission's chairmen and members. This action plan will be presented to the public when the third UNESCO Round Table Meeting takes place in Turkey.''

Talay said he would also attend ''Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia Culture Ministers Support Project in Big Europe in Arts and Culture Field (STAGE)''

Stressing that peace and confidence atmosphere in the Caucasus was very important for Turkey, Talay said, ''by taking place in such a meeting, we will be in an effort to provide required contribution for the success of the meeting.''

[06] CLOSURE CASE AGAINST VIRTUE PARTY

The Constitutional Court will first discuss the claim of Vural Savas, the Republican Chief Prosecutor of the High Court of Appeals, that second paragraph of the 103rd article of Political Parties Law contradicted with the Constitution. If the Constitutional Court finds this claim serious, it will make a decision on it. If the decision will be to annul the second paragraph of Article 103, first of all reasoned verdict of the decision will be written and it will be published in the official gazette, and the court will continue to hear the closure case.

If contradiction to the Constitution is not found serious, then the High Court will discuss the closure case without giving intervals.

Constitutional Court will decide if the Virtue Party (FP) would be closed or not, and if it decides for closure it will also decide which Parliamentarians will be stripped of their deputyship.

Top title of the Article 103 of the Political Parties Law, which Savas claimed as contradicting with the Constitution, arranges, ''a political party's being a focus to banned activities.''

In the case about closure of the Welfare Party (RP), the Constitutional Court decided that the second paragraph of Article 103 of the Law on Political Parties, which was not changed at that time, was in contradiction with the Constitutiton as it heard the case like a local court.

The Supreme Court decided that the article in question of the Law on Political Parties was in contradiction with the sixth paragraph of Article 69 of the Constitution.

Article 103 of the Law on Political Parties of that time is as follows:

''If a political party is proved to have been the source where the actions that contradict with the rules of Articles 78, 88 and 97 of this Law are carried out, this political party is closed by the Constitutional Court.

This political party's being the source of these actions is proved when it is proved that these actions are carried out intensely by this political party's members.''

If the Constitutional Court agreees with the Chief Prosecutor's thesis about contradiction with the Constitution and annulsthe second paragraph of Article 103 of the Law on Political Parties, the Constitutional Court will make a decision alone whether or not the FP and People's Democracy Party (HADEP) became the source of these actions without taking into consideration any criteria.

Supreme Court Republican Chief Prosecutor Vural Savas filed a lawsuit against the FP on May 7, 1999 stating that ''FP is the continuation of the closed RP, and it became the source of the actions against secularism'' and requested its closure by the Constitutional Court.

Chief Prosecutor Savas also requested to Court to strip off deputyship of all FP deputies except Aydin Menderes who resigned from FP one day before the closure case.

Later, the FP made its preliminary defense and the Chief Prosecutor made his opinion on the merits of the case.

After the FP submitted its written defense on the merits of the case, the FP officials made their verbal defense and the Cheif Prosecutor made a verbal statement.

[07] TURKEY TO BE UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF RAINY

Officials of the State Meteorology Affairs General Directorate told A.A correspondent that Turkey will be under the influence of rainly weather starting as of Monday. Precipitation is expected in Marmara, Northern parts of the Aegean, Western and Central Black Sea regions, and northern and western parts of Central Anatolia. Eastern parts of the country will be foggy on Monday.

Despite the rainy weather, the temperatures will be around seasonal averages.

[08] TEN MILLION TOURISTS VISIT TURKEY SINCE BEGINNING OF 2000

Number of tourists visiting Turkey increased 35 percent to 589,915 in November 2000 when compared to November 1999.

Officials of the Tourism Ministry told A.A correspondent on Sunday that the number of tourists visiting Turkey increased 40 percent in the first eleven months of this year.

The officials said that 9 million 978 thousand 457 tourists visited Turkey in the first eleven months of 2000.

Germany ranked the first in the list of countries prefering Turkey with 2 million 191 thousand 928. The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries followed Germany with 1 million 305 thousand 391 people and Britain ranked the third with 897,897. The U.S., France, the Netherlands and Iran followed these countries.

[09] G-20 MEETING TO TAKE PLACE IN TURKEY IN 2001

Officials of the Finance Ministry said on Sunday that the meeting aims at getting prepared to the meetings in the level of Ministers and Central Bank Governors.

The first G-20 Ministers and Deputy Governors meeting was held in Vancouver, Canada between November 16 and 17, 1999 while the first Ministers and Governors meeting was held in Berlin, Germany, between December 15 and 16, 1999.

The second Ministers and Governors meeting was held in Hong Kong in March 2000 and the third in Toronto, Canada in August 2000.

Finance Minister Sumer Oral, Treasury Undersecretary Selcuk Demiralp and Central Bank Governor Gazi Ercel represented Turkey in these meetings. Holding the next deputy governors meeting in Turkey was brought to the agenda in that meeting.

Argentine, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, United Kingdom, the U.S., European Union Term President, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Directorate, World Bank Chief, IMF Ad Hoc Committee Chief, and the chiefs of the World Bank Development Committee are the members of the G-20.

[10] GAP REGION EXPORTS 76.8 MILLION U.S. DOLLAR CEREALS

The region's cereal exports decreased 6.9 percent this year. The region had exported 82 million 517 thousand U.S. dollar cereals-grains, leguminosae and oily seeds and products in the same period last year.

The Southeastern Anatolia Exporters Union said that the region exported 4 million 868 thousand U.S. dollars lentil, haricot bean and chikpea, 9 million 929 thousand U.S. dollar flour, 8 million 148 thousand U.S. dollar oil, 44 million 892 thousand U.S: dollar biscuits, cakes, chocolate, sweets, sugar, and 9 million 33 thousand U.S. dollar bulgur, semolina, macaroni and other products.

The products were mainly exported to Iraq, Germany, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Jordan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Romania.

[11] AUTOMOTIVE SALES INCREASE 79.9 PERCENT

According to the figures of the Automotive Industry Association, the automotive sales, which were 241,933 in the same period last year, increased to 435,306 this year.

The number of local cars that are sold increased 46.5 percent to 194,337 while the number of imported cars that are sold increased 120.3 percent to 240,696 in the mentioned period.

The automotive imports from the Eastern Bloc countries increased 139 percent while from the EU countries climbed 132 percent and from the Far Eastern countries rose 5 percent.

[12] EURASIA 2 FERRYBOAT STARTS CRUISES BETWEEN TRABZON TO SOCHI

Davut Aydemir, the Manager of Trabzon United Navigation Company, told A.A correspondent that the ferryboat with 550 ton cargo and 270 passenger capacity, started transportation between Trabzon and Sochi.

Aydemir said, ''our target is supporting the regional exporters who make exportations to Russia. Every kind of product and vegetable can be transported by the ferryboat. This is important for our region. By this transportation, we can overcome our economic policies. To this end, we think the ferryboat will be beneficial to Trabzon's economy.''

The ferryboat will leave Trabzon for Sochi on Tuesdays and Saturdays. It is 85 metres in length and 13 metres in width.

[13] CPT DELEGATION ARRIVES IN TURKEY

The CPT delegation is comprised of Silvia Casala, the Chairperson of the CPT, and Traver Stevens, the Executive Secretary of the Committee.

Casala did not respond to the questions of reporters and she did not give information about their schedule.

Later, Casala and Stevens went to the Divan Hotel, where they will stay.

[14] CENTRAL BANK GOVERNOR ERCEL AND OIB CHAIRMAN BAYAR

Sources said on Sunday that representatives of 15-20 giant banks will attend the meeting which will be held in Frankfurt on Monday.

A similar meeting will be held by the American finance circles in New York on December 13.

Stanley Fischer, the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) First Deputy Managing Director, is expected to attend the meeting. Fischer is expected to call for support to Turkey.

Meanwhile, Ercel left for Frankfurt on Sunday morning.

In the meantime, a meeting will be held under the chairmanship of Fuat Miras, the Chairman of the Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB), and with the participation of the TOBB Executive Board and the Council chairmen on December 12. The problems of the real sector will be discussed in the meeting.

Premier Bulent Ecevit and State Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Husamettin Ozkan are expected to attend the meeting. The views of the business circle regarding the economy will be submitted to the government by a report.

[15] ANOTHER TURKISH PLANE IN BAGHDAD

There are four businessmen, two doctors and two nurses in the plane which landed in Saddam International Airport.

The plane, which was hired by the SDG company, brought medicine and medical equipment to Baghdad within the framework of humanitarian aid.

[16] F TYPE PRISON PROTESTS IN ISTANBUL

The Istanbul Branch of Human Rights Association (IHD) wanted to make a press statement in Sultanahmet district due to the Human Rights Day.

Eren Keskin, the Chairman of the Istanbul Branch of IHD, read the press statement.

Following the statement, the group chanted slogans and started to walk towards Beyazit district.

The group which opened banners and chanted solgans, was stopped by the security forces in Cemberlitas and was not permitted to continue their march.

Meanwhile, a group comprised of almost a thousand people, convened in Beyazit Square.

The group chanted slogans regarding F type prisons and death fasts.

The group, surrounded by the security forces, was called on to disperse by the security forces.

Later, a joint press statement prepared by some politicial parties and non- governmental organizations was read out.

The statement which requested the state to withdraw from the F type prisons, said, ''the deaths should be ended. No reason can indicate that turning a blind eye to the death of people who are on death fast, is rightful.''

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