Anadolu Agency: News in English, 01-08-07

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ANADOLU AGENCY

NEWS

07 AUGUST 2001 Tuesday

CONTENTS

[01] TURKEY-PRESS SCAN

[02] NUMBER OF FOREIGN TOURISTS COMING TO ANTALYA INCREASES TO 2.4 MILLION

[03] FIRES CLAIM 1.5 MILLION HECTARES OF FORESTED AREA

[04] DERVIS SAYS THEY WANT TO HAVE MORE FORMAL INFLATION TARGETING MODEL IN AUTUMN

[05] ORAL AND DERVIS DISCUSSED 2002 BUDGET PREPARATIONS

[06] TURKEY PAYS 221.8 MILLION U.S. DOLLARS OF OFFICIAL AID

[07] WORLD BANK REAL SECTOR DELEGATION STARTS ITS WORKS IN ANKARA

[08] ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER SHARON TO VISIT TURKEY ON WEDNESDAY

[09] DEMIRBANK ROMANIA ATTRACTS INTEREST OF FOREIGN BANKS

[10] CHINESE OFFICIALS INVITE TURKISH CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENTS SECTOR FOR OLYMPIC GAMES

[11] TREASURY SELLS 1.663 QUADRILLION LIRA -COMPOSITE INDEX IS 89.83 PERCENT IN THE BOND AUCTION OF 154 DAYS

[12] AYCELL TO START GIVING SERVICE ON AUGUST 22

[13] ONE PERSON DRIVES A TANKER TO PRIME MINISTRY TO PROTEST GOVERNMENT

[14] ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER SHARON TO VISIT TURKEY ON WEDNESDAY (2)

[15] FOUR PERSONS CAPTURED RED-HANDED WHILE TRYING TO SELL HEROIN TO POLICE

[16] NARCOTICS TAMS CONFISCATE 46.590 KG HASHISH

[17] TREASURY SAYS BANKS IN SDIF DON'T BUY BONDS FOR THEIR OWN PORTFOLIOS IN TODAY'S BOND AUCTION

[18] IMF LOAN'S TRANCHE OF 1,5 BILLION DOLLARS TO BE IN TREASURY'S ACCOUNT ON WEDNESDAY

[01] TURKEY-PRESS SCAN

HURRIYET (LIBERAL)

REFORMISTS TO FORM THEIR NEW POLITICAL PARTY NEXT WEEK
Abdullatif Sener, an independent deputy from Sivas province, said that reformist wing of the outlawed Virtue Party (FP) said that they would apply to the Interior Ministry next week to form their new political party. The reformists convened under the chairmanship of Recep Tayyip Erdogan to take up regulations and program of the new political party. Speaking on behalf of the reformists, Sener said that the regulations were nearly completed.

TIME MAGAZINE GIVES BROAD PLACE TO ERTEGUN
Worldwide prominent Time magazine gave four pages to Ahmet Ertegun, who is the co-president of the Atlantic Records record company. The article said that the song ''Stand by Me'' became famous after it was recorded by Atlantic Records. The song has become a symbol for solidarity and fraternity between different races. Ertegun set up Atlantic Records company with Jerry Wexler in 1947. The magazine wrote that Ray Charles and Nat King Cole also became famous after working with Atlantic Records. Ertegun compiled his memoirs in a book titled ''What'd I say'' in 1959. The book's title was later made into a song by Ray Charles and became a big success.

MILLIYET (LIBERAL)

''STAR WARS'' PROTEST OUTSIDE INCIRLIK
Eleven members of Greenpeace chained themselves to the entrance gate of the Incirlik Air Base in Adana as a protest on the anniversary of atomic bomb thrown at Hiroshima. This was the first Greenpeace protest in front of a military base in Turkey. Activists also unfurled a 5-meter banner which said, ''Stop Star Wars''. Protestors who were detained following their 20- minute protest were later released by Prosecutor's Office.

SHARON MAY BE ACCUSED ALSO IN TURKEY
Prior to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's visit to Ankara, Prof. Bakir Caglar from the Istanbul University Faculty of Law said that Sharon against whom a suit had been brought on charges of ''being war criminal'' might be accused also in Turkey on charges of being the responsible for the massacres in Sabra-Shatila in 1982.

HE WILL GET HIS PARTY READY ON FRIDAY
Recep Tayyip Erdogan accelerated his works on foundation of his party. Erdogan who met with parliamentarians yesterday in Ankara is planning to found his party on Friday if he finishes the party program and if he can't finish it, he is planning to found the party early next week.

SABAH (LIBERAL)

UFOS RETURN TO USAK
Residents in western province of Usak claimed that they had seen two UFOs giving off red and yellow lights. They noted that UFOs remained in the sky over Usak for half an hour.

CUMHURIYET (LEFT)

TENSION BEFORE FENERBAHCE GAME
Killing of Firsat Yildiz, a Turkish refugee, in a racist attack in Scotland escalated tension in Glasgow prior to Wednesday's Rangers-Fenerbahce Champions League third qualifying round first leg. Scotland Yard announced that measures in and around the Ibrox Stadium would be increased although the incident did not have any connection with the game. Besides, Fenerbahce supporters will be guarded by special security teams. State Minister Fikret Unlu for Sports and Youth said that he did not think the incident linked with sports and they believed the game would end in a way appropriate to sports ethics.

STATE TO SELL DIRT-CHEAP JAGUAR AND PORSCHE
According to sales notice of the TASIS published in the Official Gazette, 79 cars belonged to the state will be sold with auction. The minimum bid for those cars including Jaguar and Porsche is between 85 million 875 thousand Turkish lira and 13 billion 211 million Turkish lira.

RADIKAL (LEFT)

THEY HAVE TO PAY
Procedures started when GSM companies postponed paying 15 percent ''Treasury Share'' worth of trillions Turkish lira (TL) which they must pay over their gross revenues. Turkcell paid half of its total 164 trillion TL of debt between April 1998 and November 2000. However, it has not made any payment since March 2001. In the same period, Telsim must pay 59 trillion TL but it is not known how much Telsim has paid. Treasury will first of all make out the accounts for its receivables from these two GSM companies. Later, it will request sanction to these companies. Cancellation of licence is among the possible sanctions.

TURKIYE (RIGHT)

SCOTISH BRUTALITY
After 22-year-old Firat Yildiz was stabbed to death in Scotland, tension escalated in Glasgow prior to European Champions League third qualifying round first leg between Fenerbahce of Turkey and Glasgow Rangers on Wednesday. Scotish officials claimed that the homicide was not linked with the match, but tight security measures have been taken in Glasgow for the match.

FIRMS PUT FOR SALE DUE TO ECONOMIC CRISIS
Many industrialists who go through difficult days due to economic crisis, put their firms for sale as they have no other choice. Yucel Atis, the Director General of Prometheus Turkey, a consultant firm on company mergers, said that his company looks for clients both in the country and abroad for firms which are in difficult situation due to economic crisis. ''There are many industrialists which sell installations at the price which is just one third of their real price,'' Atis said.

ZAMAN (CONSERVATIVE)

IT BEWILDERS
Italian ship ''Saipem 7000'' which is the biggest construction ship in the world passed through the Istanbul Straits to construct pipes under Black Sea within framework of the Blue Stream Project. The Straits was closed to vessel traffic during this passage. Giant vessel was pulled by 2 Italian and 2 Turkish tugboats.

WE LOSE OUR RESISTANCE
Speaking to the newspaper prior to the government-real sector summit meeting, Union of Turkish Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB) Chairman Rifat Hisarciklioglu said that companies which resisted despite everything came to the point of pulling the shutters down.

ONE OF EVERY 3 CHILDREN WORKING
According to a survey carried out by the Hacettepe University, one of every three children between 6-14 years of age in Turkey is working. It was revealed thet families forced their children to work due to unemployment and poverty.

[02] NUMBER OF FOREIGN TOURISTS COMING TO ANTALYA INCREASES TO 2.4 MILLION

Sources said on Tuesday that 2 million 412 thousand 333 tourists came to Antalya sy planes while 57 thousand 943 tourists preferred ships.

German tourists are on the top of foreign tourists list who prefer Turkey to spend their holiday.

Russian, Dutch, Austrian, Polish, Belgian and Italian tourists followed the Germans.

[03] FIRES CLAIM 1.5 MILLION HECTARES OF FORESTED AREA

Responding to questions of the A.A correspondent, Bilgili said that social, cultural, economic and psychological dimensions of forest fires should be taken into consideration.

''If global warming continues and drought periods enlarge, we can experience serious fires in our forest. Risk of forest fire is lesser in Eastern Black Sea region than other regions. Turkey should prepare itself to struggle against forest fires,'' he added.

[04] DERVIS SAYS THEY WANT TO HAVE MORE FORMAL INFLATION TARGETING MODEL IN AUTUMN

Dervis and Finance Minister Sumer Oral held a meeting at the Central Bank's Social Facilities in Ankara early the same day.

Speaking to reporters following the meeting which lasted for almost 1.5 hours, Dervis said that they were making preparations for the transition into inflation targeting and that they wanted to have a more formal inflation targeting model.

''We are making the preparations step by step. I suppose that Central Bank's works on this issue are continuing,'' he said.

Dervis stated that a meeting at which international experience about this issue would be reviewed would be held in Istanbul on Friday.

''We want to move to a formal inflation targeting model in autumn. However, the Finance Minister and I have discussed formation of inflationist expectations together with the public and real sector and its reflections in the society. As you know that we want to move to inflation targeting model. The Finance Minister and I are carrying out works on this issue. The inflation has entered a decreasing trend. However, we have to work hard on social expectations,'' he added.

[05] ORAL AND DERVIS DISCUSSED 2002 BUDGET PREPARATIONS

Oral and Dervis held a meeting at the Central Bank's Social Facilities in Ankara early the same day.

Speaking to reporters following the meeting in which also Treasury and Finance Ministry bureaucrats participated, Oral said that they had assessed the tasks of Finance Ministry and Treasury Undersecretariat.

Noting that they would carry out works on the budget next week together with State Planning Organization (DPT) and other units, Oral said, ''coordination has been given a lot of attention at the leaders' meeting. We are fulfilling it.''

When asked whether or not they had discussed problems of the real sector, Oral said, ''no, we have discussed the issues regarding the Finance Ministry and Treasury. The real sector was not neglected. Real sector is the basic goal of the economy but today, we have discussed the issues concerning Treasury and Finance Ministry.''

[06] TURKEY PAYS 221.8 MILLION U.S. DOLLARS OF OFFICIAL AID

The State Institute of Statistics (DIE) announced on Tuesday that Turkey which had made 446 million 501 thousand 386 U.S. dollars of official aid in 1999, paid 221 million 851 thousand 830 U.S. dollars of official aid in 2000.

According to the DIE, Turkey spent 42 million 777 thousand 977 U.S. dollars in official donations, 83 million 493 thousand 469 U.S. dollars to international institutions, and 320 million 229 thousand 940 U.S. dollars in other official payments in 1999.

In 2000, Turkey spent 45 million 827 thousand 920 U.S. dollars in official aids to several countries, 56 million 107 thousand 539 U.S. dollars to international organizations, and 119 million 916 thousand 371 U.S. dollars in other official payments.

Turkey sent official aid worth of 26 million 145 thousand 521 U.S. dollars to the developing countries, 3 million 821 thousand 385 U.S. dollars to countries which have been in transition period to market economy, and 15 million 861 thousand 14 U.S. dollars to other countries.

[07] WORLD BANK REAL SECTOR DELEGATION STARTS ITS WORKS IN ANKARA

The delegation headed by World Bank real sector evaluation expert Ira Lieberman would carry out works at institutions like Treasury Undersecretariat, Foreign Trade Undersecretariat, State Planning Organization and Finance Ministry, sources said.

The delegation which would stay in Turkey for a week would prepare a report on the real sector's situation and amount of necessary source for restructuring and submit to World Bank management, sources said.

Treasury Undersecretary Faik Oztrak earlier said that they were continuing to monitor the situation of the real sector but they were not ready to make an effective intervention.

World Bank Turkey Representative Ajay Chhibber had said that assistance was important to enable the productive, effective and successful companies to get rid of negative effects of the crisis.

[08] ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER SHARON TO VISIT TURKEY ON WEDNESDAY

Turkey will give the message to Sharon that ''there is no other choice than peace'' in a period in which the tension in the Middle East escalates and the sides lost confidence for each other.

Both sides namely Palestine and Israel want Turkey to impose pressure on each other. Turkey is expected to explain its views to Sharon saying that the violence in the region should stop and peace has to be installed.

The Palestinian side wants Turkey to convey its message to Sharon which is ''to end the crimes of war on Palestinian people, to start political negotiations and to give permission to international observers.'' Sharon, on the other had said that ''I will ask Turkey to put pressure on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to stop terrorism, which is our biggest problem.''

After the visit of Sharon, if Turkey finds it necessary, it can contact with the Palestinian leader Arafat.

Foreign Minister Ismail Cem couldn't meet with Arafat who would come to Egpyt to see Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak when Cem was in Egypt last week as the meeting between Arafat and Mubarak was cancelled.

Turkey had earlier hosted one side or contacted with other and later met with the other side in the past. Sharon, who won the elections in Israel in February, sent his special representative Meir Rosenne to Ankara. Just after the visit of Rosenne to Ankara who brought a message from Sharon to Turkey, Arafat took a surprising decision and visited Turkey.

The Israeli press noted that Israel and Turkey were on the way to strategic partnership just before the visit, while Sharon said that the bilateral relations were ''alliance of two democracies.''

Yediot Ahronot newspaper of Israel defended the view that it was time for the two countries to further improve the bilateral relations. The newspaper also suggested that this alliance should be called as ''alliance of democracies'' in order to prevent Arab countries to feel hostile towards them.

Sharon told A.A that Israel always wants to make cooperation with democratic countries, noting that it was natural for Israel to make cooperation with Turkey, which is the only democracy in the region.

Yet Turkish diplomatic sources said that the claims of strategic partnership does not reflect the truth, and stressed that the relations between Turkey and Israel are not against third countries.

Sharon who will come to Ankara in the morning hours tomorrow, will firstly meet with Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit.

The two prime ministers are expected to stage a news conference after the meetings in which Foreign Minister Ismail Cem will also participate.

Following the lunch to be hosted by Premier Ecevit, Sharon will be received by President Ahmet Necdet Sezer.

Israeli Prime Minister will later come together with State Minister Kemal Dervis and convey his suggestions about savings his country from high inflation.

Sharon is expected to leave Turkey in the evening.

Tight security measures are expected to be taken during the visit of Sharon to Turkey.

[09] DEMIRBANK ROMANIA ATTRACTS INTEREST OF FOREIGN BANKS

Ziarul Financiar Newspaper, issued a news report basing on the banking circle resources, and said Italian finance group UniCrdito and HypoVerinsban, the owner of Bank Austria Creditanstalt Romania, wants to purchase Demirbank Romania.

Demirbank Romania, the Romania branch of Demirbank, which had been transferred to the Savings Deposit and Insurance Fund (SDIF), was put to sale last week.

An offer will be taken to sell capital shares of Demir-Halk Bank (Nederland) N.V, Demirbank (Bulgaria) A.D Demirbank (Romania) S.A and Demir Romlease S.A (Romania) Demir Kazakhstan Bank (Kazakhstan) and Demir-Kyrgyz International Bank (Kyrgzstan) totally or one by one.

The sale authority will belong to SDIF and will be resulted on September 3.

[10] CHINESE OFFICIALS INVITE TURKISH CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENTS SECTOR FOR OLYMPIC GAMES

Foreign Trade Deputy Undersecretary E. Haluk Ayhan met with Chinese Deputy Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Minister Mign An the same day.

Ayhan asked the Chinese officials to take measures to overcome the big imbalance between Turkey and China which is against Turkey.

Ayhan who also headed the Hazelnut Promotion Group delegation, said that Turkey has to benefit from sectors such as hazelnut sector to overcome the imbalance in the trade. Ayhan noted that programmes such as exchange of products and services have to be undertaken between the two countries to this end.

Mign An said in his part that they support import from Turkey, adding that 2008 Olympic Games will bring competition chance for Turkish enterpreneurs particularly in the construction equipment sector.

Mign An added that the contractorship services will be opened to foreign investors after China joins the World Trade Organization.

Chinese officials said in the meeting that China's importation from Turkey increased by 100 percent this year compared to last year, adding there is a small decrease in exports.

[11] TREASURY SELLS 1.663 QUADRILLION LIRA -COMPOSITE INDEX IS 89.83 PERCENT IN THE BOND AUCTION OF 154 DAYS

The annual simple interst rate became 73.63 percent, and composite interest rate became 98.83 percent.

A total of 177.5 trillion lira sale was made to state institutions in the auction.

Repayment of the bonds will take place on January 9, 2002.

The previous auction held by the Treasury was 91-day bond auction. In this auction, the total bid had became 908.598.7 billion lira. The annual simple interest rate had been 70.78 percent while the annual composite interest rate had been 91.88 percent.

[12] AYCELL TO START GIVING SERVICE ON AUGUST 22

Sources said that Aycell which would be in service in Ankara, Istanbul, Izmir, Adana, Bursa, Antalya and Mugla with 1.000 base stations at first stage targeted to spread its network throughout Turkey within 5 months.

Fixed charges will not be collected from the subscribers.

Meanwhile, sources added that talks between Aycell and other operators Turkcell, Telsim and Aria on roaming agreements which foresaw use of infrastructure of these operators by Aycell were under way.

[13] ONE PERSON DRIVES A TANKER TO PRIME MINISTRY TO PROTEST GOVERNMENT

Police took out Kazým Gemalmaz (35) from his tanker who shouted ''I brought a gift to prime minister.'' He was rendered ineffective by security forces and handcuffed.

Gemalmaz who said ''I am hungry, and I can't bring food to my house,'' was later taken to police station to be questioned.

Gemalmaz later told the police that he wanted to protest the governemnt because of his debts.

Gemalmaz who bought the tanker by getting a bank credit carried wheat and fodder for a private firm. He couldn't pay his debt to the bank which was 7 billion liras and a decision to sequestrate his tanker was taken.

The tanker of Gemalmaz was taken to the parking lot of Ankara Security directorate in Ostim district.

[14] ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER SHARON TO VISIT TURKEY ON WEDNESDAY (2)

Sharon, who is expected to meet Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit, President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, and State Minister Kemal Dervis, will meet with representatives of Turkish-Jewish Community.

Dalia Itzik, the Israeli Minister of Industry and Trade, will accompany Sharon during the visit.

Every issue between the two countries would be brought onto the agenda during the visit.

Sharon is expected to focus on briefing Ankara regarding the recent situation in the region.

Sharon, who spoke to A.A correspondent earlier, pointed out that he would call for help from Ankara to convince Palestinian Leader Yasser Arafat to provide tranquility.

It was reported that Sharon will particularly focus on improvement of technical and trade cooperation between the two countries. Within this framework, Israel is expected to bring onto the agenda the proposal for the establishment of a high technology park.

Israeli Radio said further improvement of cooperation among Turkey-Israel and Azerbaijan would also be discussed.

Sharon is expected to call for the support of Ankara to be included in the project which planned to transport Egypt's natural gas to Turkey. Egypt has a tendency for the passage of the pipeline via Syria. However, Israel proposes the pipeline to pass under the sea and reach Turkey after Israel gets the gas.

Final approval to the Israeli companies, which are willing to realize six irrigation projects in Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP), will be brought onto the agenda.

Dalia Itzik, the Israeli Minister of Industry and Trade, is expected to hold contacts in Ankara in this respect, and to meet Treasury officials sand State Minister Kemal Dervis.

The weapon and defense systems which Israel proposed to sell to Turkey which had come to agenda during the visits of Israeli Defense Minister Ben Eliezer Binyamin and Chief of General Staff Shaul Mofaz, to Turkey, are also be expected to be taken up. The modernization of M-60 tanks by Israel, Gil anti-tank missiles, unmanned planes, spy satellite and sale of Popeye-2 missiles are among these systems.

Israel's and Turkey's possible joint production of Arrow missile defense systems and getting approval from the U.S. about the deployment of these systems in Turkey are also expected to be discussed during Sharon's visit to Turkey.

The water of Manavgat brook can also be taken up in Sharon's contacts. Israel will probably wait for the result of the tender it opened for transportation of Israeli water in September this year. This tender will make clear the cubicmeter cost of the water. The proposal of Turkey which is supported particularly by Israeli Minister of Infrastructure Avigdor Lieberman, to transport the water is expected to speed up the bargaining. Yet certain people don't welcome this proposal.

Meanwhile, the speculations that the visit of Sharon aimed to create an alliance between the two countries against the Arab world have been rejected.

Sharon told A.A that his visit didn't have a secret agenda, adding that they don't have the intention to play a game against any country. Thus, he stressed that his visit is not directed against any third party and added that his aim is to further improve the Turkish-Israeli relations in all fields.

[15] FOUR PERSONS CAPTURED RED-HANDED WHILE TRYING TO SELL HEROIN TO POLICE

Hatay governor said in a written statement that narcotic teams contacted with four persons as buyers as the former were believed to sell heroin to the market.

Cemal Kusur, Bunyamin Bolat, Okkes Boz and Cuma Boz were captured together with 9,9 kg of heroin in an operation launched with police.

The persons were later put in prison after being questioned by Hatay police.

[16] NARCOTICS TAMS CONFISCATE 46.590 KG HASHISH

Narcotics teams, acting on a tip off, launched an operation in a rocky region near Izci Village, and confiscated the hashish hidden in two sacks.

Security forces said investigation is underway to determine to whom the hashish belonged.

[17] TREASURY SAYS BANKS IN SDIF DON'T BUY BONDS FOR THEIR OWN PORTFOLIOS IN TODAY'S BOND AUCTION

Treasury said that the offers and the sales were mainly composed of the proposals of private banks and individual investors.

The banks in SDIF made offers just to meet the demands of clients, but not to buy bonds for their own portfolios, Treasury said and added that in case of such a sale, it will be made public.

[18] IMF LOAN'S TRANCHE OF 1,5 BILLION DOLLARS TO BE IN TREASURY'S ACCOUNT ON WEDNESDAY

Part of the tranche will be used in financing reserves and THE remaining part for financing the budget.

IMF Executive Board discussed Turkey's supplementary letter of intent on August 3 and approved the ninth review of the economic programme.

IMF will release the other tranches worth of 3 billion dollars after September 20 and November 15.

IMF administration had noted after approving the first tranche worth of 3,8 billion dollars that its releasing the other four tranches depended on the results of the reviews of Turkey's economic programme.

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