Anadolu Agency: News in English, 00-12-21

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ANADOLU AGENCY

NEWS

21 DECEMBER 2000

Thursday

CONTENTS

[01] TURKEY-PRESS SCAN

[02] INVESTMENT IN SARIKAMIS FOR WINTER TOURISM

[03] EU TO START PROJECT IN TURKEY TO HELP TURKISH EXPORT BY

[04] IMF EXPECTED TO APPROVE 1 BILLION U.S. DOLLAR LOAN FOR TURKEY

[05] JUSTICE MINISTER TURK SAYS NUMBER OF THOSE WHO

[06] NEGOTIATIONS TO CHOOSE ENGINEERING AND CONSULTANCY

[07] MANY CUTTING TOOLS, KNIVES, GAS MASKS, FLAME THROWERS, ELECTRONIC

[08] JUSTICE MINISTER TURK: ''THIS OPERATION AIMS AT

[09] OPERATION ENDS IN CANAKKALE PRISON

[10] SIX DEAD BODIES FROM BAYRAMPASA AND ONE DEAD BODY

[11] LAW ON CONDITIONAL RELEASE ADOPTED

[12] ANKARA DGM DECIDES FOR THE RELEASE OF FOUR SUSPECTS IN ''UMUT OPERATION'' CASE

[13] DELEGATION FROM REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO WRAPS UP CONTACTS IN ANKARA

[14] INTERIOR MINISTRY: ''OPERATION IN CANAKKALE

[15] A GROUP OF PEOPLE PUT BARRICADE IN BRANCH OF TAYAD IN ISTANBUL

[01] TURKEY-PRESS SCAN

HURRIYET (LIBERAL)

THEY WERE KILLED WHILE TRYING TO SAVE LIVES
Nurettin Kurt, a 21 year old sergeant was trying to save a woman who set herself on fire when her militant friends opened fire at him and killed him. Kurt's father found out about his son's death from the news on tv. The grieving father said he had spoken to him one day before he died.

Mustafa Mutlu, a gendarmerie soldier who was also 21 years old, also died by a bullet fired by the militants. Although he was wearing a bullet proof vest, the bullet managed to find a gap in the vest.

MILLIYET (LIBERAL)

OZEN,GENERAL MANAGER OF GARANTI BANK SAYS THE CREDIT NOTE OF
MOODY'S IS THE INDICATOR OF THEIR STABILITY
Ergun Ozgen, the general manager of Garanti Bankasi said that the credit note of the Moody's was the indicator of their stability. Ozen who made statements on the credit note of Garanti Bankasi given by Moody's, pointed out that Garanti Bankasi was the only Turkish bank which was given a credit note of C.

SABAH (LIBERAL)

AGREEMENT WITH WORLD BANK TO BE SIGNED TODAY
The agreement on loans provided by the World Bank to Turkey will be signed in Washington on Thursday. The agreement covers two loans worth of one billion 28 million U.S. dollars. Releasing a witten statement, the World Bank said the agreement will be signed as the World Bank issued an official approval on the loans.

CUMHURIYET (LEFT)

TELEPHONE BILLS INCREASING SECRETLY
Turk Telekom, as of yesterday, increased its unit price from 24,000 TL to 27,500 TL without notification. People are surprised to get telephone bills with two, sometimes three-fold of the regular amount they pay. It was also claimed that Turk Telekom's prices are varying in different neighbourhoods. If wanted, Turk Telekom includes a list of long distance and international calls in the bill, however it does not give the list of local calls.

RADIKAL (LEFT)

EUROPE CLOSELY MONITORS PRISON OPERATIONS
European press devoted wide coverage to the operations carried out in various Turkish prisons. Especially Greek newspapers harshly criticized the Turkish government. The EU Commission spokesman Jean-Christophe Filori said the ''EU was worried'' and he called on the two sides to stop violence. Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis defined the operations as ''merciless.''

YENİ BİNYIL (LIBERAL)

E-MAIL WORTH OF ONE BILLION DOLLARS
The banks headed by American Citibank and German Deutsche Bank, provided a loan worth of one billion U.S. dollars to Turkey and the agreement on the loan was signed yesterday. The signing of the agreement was made through e- mail as there wasn't sufficient time for a signing ceremony. Gazi Ercel, the governor of the Central Bank, signed the agreement through e-mail on behalf of Turkey.

TURKIYE (RIGHT)

NATIONAL LOTTERY TO GIVE 3 TRILLION TL
Seventy percent of the National Lottery tickets were sold. The National Lottery is giving 3 trillion TL this year. People are forming lines to buy Istanbul's Bahcekapi tickets which were the lucky tickets of last year. It was reported that there are people even coming from abroad to buy lottery tickets in Bahcekapi. National Lottery General Director Ilham Kusmenoglu said they made 30 trillion from the ticket sales so far.

ZAMAN (CONSERVATIVE)

KAVI, CHAIRMAN OF ISTANBUL CHAMBER OF INDUSTRY SAYS ECONOMIC
SITUATION WILL WORSEN IN 2001
Husamettin Kavi, the chairman of the Istanbul Chamber of Industry said that the government failed to set up a capable team for the economy, adding that the economic situation would worsen in the coming year. Kavi pointed out that a new crisis erupted everyday in the country and that the industrialists were continuing their investments under dificult economic circumstances.

-PARLIAMENT GENERAL ASSEMBLY PASSES FIRST ARTICLE OF
BILL ON CONDITIONAL RELEASE WITHOUT CHANGING IT
ANKARA - Parliament General Assembly passed early Thursday the first article of the bill on conditional release and postponement of sentences for crimes which were committed until Apr. 23, 1999. The article was approved without any changes made on it.

According to the bill, the death sentences given for crimes committed until Apr. 23, 1999 will not be executed.

The bill also suggests deducting ten years from prisoners' sentences. In this case, if a prisoner has a sentence less than ten years, he will be released without looking for good conduct. Those who were sentenced to more than ten years will be released after they fill their term.

Responding to deputies' questions, Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Turk said 20 percent of inmates who were released after the amnesty in 1974 returned to prisons after commiting another crime.

Turk asserted that the bill has to be passed since the bill has raised hopes in the public.

Eighteen proposals were given regarding the first article of the bill. Acting Parliament Speaker Murat Sokmenoglu put four of these proposals into process. Proposals of deputies from opposition parties were rejected and the first article was passed without any changes made on it.

-105 TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS OCCUR OVER NIGHT IN ANKARA
ANKARA- A total of 105 traffic accidents took place in Ankara over night because of icy roads after it started snowing last night.

Snow slowed down the traffic mostly in areas with higher altitude such as Siteler, Dogantepe and Huseyingazi districts of the capital.

Ankara municipality authorities reported that the main boulevards in the city were open and municipality's teams are pouring salt on other roads to prevent them from freezing over.

Only one person was injured in the 105 accidents which occured since midnight.

[02] INVESTMENT IN SARIKAMIS FOR WINTER TOURISM

The Massa Tourism Company will make an investment in Sarikamis following the investments of Toprak, Dogus and Dedeman Holding in the region.

Siddik Altan, a manager of Massa Tourism, said they started to construct 51 houses in Sarikamis Saricam Ski Centre, adding that the visitors could stay in these houses both during summer and winter time.

[03] EU TO START PROJECT IN TURKEY TO HELP TURKISH EXPORT BY

In its statement, the EU office in Ankara said maintaining these conditions would help Turkey to remove the technical obstacles it faces during the export of these products.

The project which is financed by MEDA II programme will be run together with Foreign Trade Undersecretariat Standardization General Directorate and Quality Association (KAL-DER). The project is expected to last five years.

[04] IMF EXPECTED TO APPROVE 1 BILLION U.S. DOLLAR LOAN FOR TURKEY

The IMF is also expected to approve 10.4 billion U.S. dollar additional financial support for Turkey in the meeting it will held on Thursday.

After the ratification, 4.8 billion U.S. dollar loan will de facto be extended to Turkey.

Turkey's opening tender for the privatization of Turkish Airlines and Turk Telekom, which was shown as a condition for the loan by the IMF and the World Bank, and passing the draft law on privatization of public banks paid the way for the loans.

A total of 2.8 billion U.S. dollars of the total loan is expected to be released today.

The World Bank is expected to release 1 billion 28 million U.S. dollar loan to Turkey in its Executive Board meeting.

The World Bank Executive Board will discuss the Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) which includes 5 billion U.S. dollar financial source in the three- year term between July 2000 and June 2003.

[05] JUSTICE MINISTER TURK SAYS NUMBER OF THOSE WHO

Turk said 18 of the inmates in Canakkale prison escaped and surrendered to security forces.

Disclosing that the number of inmates who were transferred to F type prisons were 524, Turk said lawyers of the inmates might meet with their clients after Friday.

Turk said families of the inmates could meet with them in F-type prisons before Eid al-fitr holiday.

[06] NEGOTIATIONS TO CHOOSE ENGINEERING AND CONSULTANCY

Officials said that the negotiations to choose engineering and consultancy company of the project started.

The negotiations between the Transportation Ministry and the Turkish- Japanese group which ranked the first in the engineering and consultancy tender that will be implemented in cooperation with the Japanese International Credit Agency (JICA), are expected to be concluded in the first months of 2001.

After the consultancy and engineering works, the project will be put out to an international level.

The project is foreseen to be started in May 2001.

A total of 70 million U.S. dollars will be spent for the engineering and consultancy services, which constitute the first stage of the Istanbul tube tunnel project.

The system, the passenger capacity of which is 70,000, will start to operate in 2005.

Japan will provide the necessary finance for the construction of the tube tunnel and related systems. A part of the credit will be used for engineering and consultancy services while the other part for the construction.

The project foresees the construction of 70.5 kilometre suburban train, including 1.8 kilometre tube tunnel.

[07] MANY CUTTING TOOLS, KNIVES, GAS MASKS, FLAME THROWERS, ELECTRONIC

Aydin Kurudal, the provincial gendarme commander, told reporters that the operation was carried out by trying to protect the lives of the inmates.

Kurudal said that the security forces confiscated many petrol bombs, 30 skewers, 13 cutting tools, two flame throwers made from LPG canisters, 25 hand-made gas masks, 25 iron bars, 20 steel shields, 15 wooden bars, three adapters, electrical water heater, four organizational seals, seven iron doors used for putting barricade, two electrical typewriters, injections, pain-killers, one cell phone, organizational photographs, posters, pancards, books, magazines and newspapers.

The prison is totally taken under control, Kurudal noted.

Kurudal said, ''the medical treatment of death fasting inmates and the inmates who were injured during the operation, continues. After their treatment, the inmates who death fasted, will be transferred to the Kocaeli F type prison while the other inmates will continue to be kept in Gebze prison.''

''A total of 21 inmates were brought to the F type prison yesterday. The transfers continue. Twenty inmates from Bursa prison and one from Bayrampasa prison were brought to the F type prison. As it is known, the Kocaeli F type prison can shelter 368 inmates,'' Kurudal added.

Meanwhile, the security forces took tight security measures around Kocaeli F type Prison.

In the meantime, 20 skewers, 20 knives, three gas masks, 11 iron bars, two typewriters, many illegal and organizational pancards, posters, tape- cassettes, and organizational documents were also confiscated in Aydin prison.

Six death fasting inmates who were brought to Aydin state hospital, still refuse medical treatment.

[08] JUSTICE MINISTER TURK: ''THIS OPERATION AIMS AT

The Justice Minister said resistance of the inmates in Umraniye prison B section continued, adding that the inmates gathered in the conference hall.

Turk pointed out that they continuously made announcements to the inmates to surrender.

Turk said 18 inmates from Canakkale prison escaped and surrendered to security forces, adding that security forces opened holes in the walls to help the inmates who want to escape and surrender.

''However, it is understood that those inside the prison are members of a radical leftist organization who try to prove themselves. To this end, we are concerned that they could do some madness. We think so because they set one of their friends ablazed to death. Those who fled from the prisons said they set that woman on fire to death. This shows that we are confronting with merciless terrorist organizations. Now, the state wants to save those young people. So, the relatives of the inmates and those who think they act in the name of human rights, should support the intervention instead of opposing it.''

''Also, two women inmates in Usak prison set their hair into fire and tried to kill themselves. They were hospitalized for medical treatment, but they are not in critical condition,'' Turk noted.

Justice Minister Turk said a total of 524 inmates were transferred to F type prisons. He said 259 inmates were transferred to Sincan, 246 to Edirne, and 19 to Kocaeli. Turk said the inmates would be able to meet with their lawyers after Friday, adding that the inmates could meet with their relatives after the Eid al-Fitr holiday. ''This operation, as I said before, is an operation to save lives,'' he stressed.

Turk described the point which the organizations pushed their supporters as ''madness,'' and urged everybody to support the intervention.

[09] OPERATION ENDS IN CANAKKALE PRISON

Meanwhile, it was seen that security measures around the prison were tighthened. Police forces were sent to the region as the relatives of the inmates, who were waiting outside the prison from a distance, began to chant slogans.

The inmates who surrendered will be transferred to another prison after their interrogation is completed.

[10] SIX DEAD BODIES FROM BAYRAMPASA AND ONE DEAD BODY

It was reported that six of the 12 dead bodies brought from the prisons were women.

Number of dead bodies in the Forensic Medicine increased to 13 with the dead body brought from Umraniye.

Relatives of the inmates were not allowed to enter the Forensic Medicine.

[11] LAW ON CONDITIONAL RELEASE ADOPTED

A total of 369 deputies joined the voting of the law. A total of 286 deputies voted in favour while 81 deputies voted against the law. Two deputies remained abstained from the voting.

A total of 117 deputies from the DSP voted in favour while two deputies voted against the law. Sixteen deputies from the DSP abstained from the voting.

From the MHP, 101 deputies voted in favour, 18 deputies did not join the voting and eight deputies voted against the law on conditional release.

Parliament Speaker Omer Izgi and Murat Sokmenoglu, the acting parliament speaker who chaired the meeting, did not join the voting under the Parliamentary By-Laws.

From the ANAP, 63 deputies did not join the voting. One deputy from ANAP remained abstained, two deputies voted against while 22 deputies voted in favour of the law.

A total of 42 deputies of the Virtue Party (FP) voted in favour, 21 deputies from the FP voted against the voting. One FP deputy remained abstained while 39 FP deputies did not attend the voting.

From the True Path Party (DYP), 48 deputies voted against and three deputies voted in favour of the law on conditional release. 33 deputies did not join the voting.

Only one independent deputy voted in favour of the law while the five other independent deputies did not vote.

Tansu Ciller, the leader of the DYP, voted against the law on conditional release while Premier Bulent Ecevit, Deputy Prime Minister Devlet Bahceli, Deputy Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz, and FP leader Recai Kutan voted in favour of the law.

[12] ANKARA DGM DECIDES FOR THE RELEASE OF FOUR SUSPECTS IN ''UMUT OPERATION'' CASE

The indictment called for capital punishment against the suspects Ferhan Ozmen, Necdet Yuksel, Rustu Aytufan, Hakki Selcuk Sanli, Yusuf Karakus, Muzaffer Dagdeviren, Abdulhamit Celik, Fatih Aydin, Hasan Kilic and Mehmet Sahin under Article 146/1 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK). It is about trying to split up the constitutional order by force.

The indictment called for up to 22 years six months imprisonment sentence against Mehmet Ali Tekin and Talip Ozcelik under the Anti-Terrorism Law about ''forming armed gangs against the security of the state.''

The indictment called for up to 22 years six months imprisonment terms against the suspects Mehmet Kasap, Mehmet Gurova, Adil Aydin and Murat Nazli under Articles 168/2 of the TCK about ''being a member of the illegal organization.''

The indictment called up to seven years six months imprisonment terms against Arif Tari, Musa Koca, Devris Polat Yuksel Pekdemir and Ismail Kochan under Article 169 of the TCK about, ''aiding and abetting the illegal organization.''

-FOREIGN DEBT PAYMENTS
-770.52 MILLION U.S. DOLLARS PAID BETWEEN DECEMBER 1-20
ANKARA- Turkey repaid a total of 770.52 million U.S. dollars of foreign debt between December 1 and 20.

The Central Bank data show that the Treasury paid 670.70 million U.S. dollars; the Central Bank repaid 24.54 million U.S. dollars; and 66.16 million U.S. dollars was the repayments of the documentation and membership fees of the administrations.

Meanwhile, Turkey has repaid a total of 9 billion 617.63 million U.S. dollars of foreign debt since the beginning of this year.

[13] DELEGATION FROM REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO WRAPS UP CONTACTS IN ANKARA

A statement of the Foreign Ministry said that the delegation including the representatives of the Foreign, Cooperation and Defense ministries of the Republic of the Congo, came to Turkey on Monday.

The statement noted that the delegation visited Turkey within the framework of the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the two countries during the visit of State Minister Hasan Gemici to Republic of the Congo.

During its contacts, the delegation exchanged views regarding the protection and encouragement of investments and the agreements that can be signed between the two countries in defense cooperation.

The businessmen in the delegation held contacts with the Turkish businessmen in textile, food, computer, and construction sectors.

[14] INTERIOR MINISTRY: ''OPERATION IN CANAKKALE

Interior Ministry Press Office made a statement about the recent situation in operation launched to put an end to death fasts and hunger strikes in prisons.

The statement said operation in Canakkale prison was completed successfully, and that control was provided.

The statement said, ''according to the assessments that were made at 14:30 local time, three inmates died, and 16 others were injured. Those injured were taken under medical treatment.''

The statement said ''all blocks in Umraniye prison were taken under control by the security forces. Inmates, who gathered in the conference hall in B block, continue to resist. Necessary care is shown during the operation in Umraniye prison to prevent deaths and injuries.''

The statement said one security official died in Umraniye prison, and another died in Canakkale prison during the operation. It said four security officials were injured during operation in Umraniye prison.

The statement said 19 inmates died during the operation. It said 12 inmates died in Bayrampasa prison, adding that three died in Canakkale, two in Bursa, one in Umraniye, and one in Cankiri prison. The statement said 37 inmates were injured in Bayrampasa, 21 in Cankiri, 16 in Canakkale, 13 in Bartin, four in Gebze, and three others in Bursa prison.

The statement said 187 inmates out of 277 who were on death fast, and 634 inmates out of 802 who were on hunger strike, were saved.

It said 524 inmates in prisons were transferred to Edirne, Kocaeli and Sincan F type prisons.

According to this, 112 inmates from Bayrampasa prison and 134 inmates from Bursa prison were transferred to Edirne F type prison. A total of 19 inmates from Bursa prison were transferred to Kocaeli F type prison, and 63 inmates from Bartin prison, 56 inmates from Cankiri prison, 69 inmates from Aydin prison, 31 inmates from Ceyhan prison, 36 inmates from Malatya prison, and four inmates from Nevsehir prison were transferred to Sincan F type prison.

[15] A GROUP OF PEOPLE PUT BARRICADE IN BRANCH OF TAYAD IN ISTANBUL

The security forces wanted to search the branch of TAYAD in Taksim district of Istanbul around 3.45 p.m.

Almost 15 people who were in the branch locked the door and put barricade behind the door to prevent the security forces from entering into the branch.

The group later started to chant slogans while the security forces were trying to persuade the group and enter into the branch.

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