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Anadolu Agency: News in English, 01-12-26Anadolu Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Anadolu Agency Home Page at <http://www.anadoluajansi.com.tr/>Anadolu AgencyANADOLU AGENCY NEWS 26 December 2001 Wednesday CONTENTS
[01] TURKEY-PRESS SCANThese are some of the major headlines and their brief stories in Turkey's press on December 26, 2001. The Anadolu Agency does not verify these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.HURRIYET (LIBERAL)NINETY EIGHT GREEK POLITICIANS SPEAK AGAINST TURKEYGeneral Staff and Foreign Ministry prepared a common report and assessed the attitude of the press and politicians both in Turkey and Greece towards each other between May 1-October 31. Soldiers and diplomats examined the Turkish and Greek media and politics. The result of the report shows the fact that there is no Greek hostility in Turkey. Yet 94 percent of the news published and broadcast in Greece are against Turkey. In addition to that, the number of Greek politicians who spoke against Turkey is 98 in six months. In Greece, a total of 2,500 news were published against Turkey, while the number of news published in Turkey against Greece were only 987 in the same period. U.S. OPERATION CAN DIVIDE IRAQ MILLIYET (LIBERAL)FLOOD WATERS INUNDATE HUNDREDS OF HOMES, AND BUSINESSESFlash floods caused by torrential rains inundated roads, overturned some vehicles and collapsed bridges in Turkey. Fire fighters help residents to pump out water from hundreds of homes and businesses inundated by flood waters. Heavy rain particularly caused flooding in western Turkey. More than 200 buildings were inundated. Military boats carried food stuff for those who got stuck. Meanwhile, three of the four persons in a minibus which was drifted by the gushing waters were rescued in Hadımkoy district of Istanbul; however, one person is missing. Efforts are under way to find him. ECEVIT'S DOLLAR TRIP TO U.S. SABAH (LIBERAL)BUDAK TO BE DISMISSED FROM DSPWhen Democratic Left Party (DSP) deputy Rıdvan Budak called the government to resign in order to prevent the changing of the economic condition in Turkey to the one in Argentina, his words caused chaos in the party. Budak was transferred to the DSP disciplinary board to be dismissed from the party upon the wish of DSP leader and Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit. Budak said that he was not informed about the development. RENTS OF DEPUTIES' HOUSES TO INCREASE CUMHURIYET (LEFT)GULEN LEGITIMIZES JIHADFethullah Gulen, a sect leader who is accused of founding a terrorist organization to bring sharia order to the country, sent his written defense to Turkey from the U.S. where he stays. Gulen said in his defense that jihad is an issue which is frequently mentioned in Koran, and other religious books. ''No suit was filed to date against those who wrote books on Koran and religious books which talk about jihad and its virtues,'' claimed Gulen and asserted that he represented modern Islam. BUSY DAYS WAIT PARLIAMENT RADIKAL (LEFT)THREE CRITICAL MONTHS FOR TURKEY'S EU MEMBERSHIPTurkey wants the EU to fix a certain date of starting full membership negotiations, at the end of this year. The government decided to fulfil the short term measures including the right to broadcast in mother tongue covered by the national programme for adoption of acquis (NPAA) till March 19. The coalition leaders decided to form three commissions namely ''Fiscal Cooperation Commission, National Agency Commission, and Human Rights Commission'' to this end. After March 19, the new NPAA will be adopted. The government thinks that Turkey has to benefit well from 2002 as Greece will be the Term President in 2003. TURKIYE (RIGHT)VAT TO END IN 2003The government decided to take a series of measures in taxation as a result of the meetings held with IMF. The Value Added Tax is planned to be lifted in 2003. The government also plans to regulate the tax system in line with inflation, to simplify the indirect taxes, to re-arrange the tax collection system and to re-organize the income administration. ZAMAN (CONSERVATIVE)U.S. TO BRING TOGETHER TURKISH AND ARMENIAN CLERGYThe U.S. insists on bringing together Armenian clergymen and Turkish imams. Recently a meeting was held in the U.S. where retired foreign ministers and ambassadors of the two countries convened, yet no result was taken from that meeting and the contact between Turkey and Armenia broke off. The U.S. which is uneasy by this development, plans to invite Turkish, Armenian and Jewish clergymen and imams to a meeting. The Turkish side received the invitation during the meeting on ''Holy Peace On Earth'' held in Brussels last week. -GEN. KIVRIKOGLU SAYS AN OPERATION IN IRAQ CAN CAUSE SERIOUS PROBLEMS FOR ANKARA - Chief of General Staff Gen. Huseyin Kıvrıkoglu said on Tuesday night about the possibility of an operation in Iraq that such an operation can cause serious problems for Turkey. Gen. Kıvrıkoglu responded to questions of reporters before the official dinner hosted by President Ahmet Necdet Sezer in the honour of Amir Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani of Qatar. Upon questions about Afghanistan, Gen. Kıvrıkoglu said that ''we want the formation of a peace force there. I don't know what mission will be given to us in battalions.'' When asked if Turkey officially demands to send soldiers to Afghanistan, Kıvrıkoglu said ''it is not an issue of officially demanding that. We desire to be charged in Afghanistan.'' Answering a question about the command of that peace force, he said that ''is there any country which would not accept Turkey's being at the command? I ask this question to you. More than peace force, the reconstruction and foundation of an army is important in Afghanistan. We favour a peace force, yet the operation ended early and no planning was made.'' Upon a question about the possibility of an operation in Iraq, Kıvrıkoglu said that ''I don't know that; however, Turkey's views are known on the isuse. There is no new situation. If there is an operation, Turkey will have serious troubles and this will not be limited to trade and pipeline as it happened in 1990. The formation of an independent Kurdish state could come on the agenda. All Arab countries are against such an operation. Not only Arab countries, but also Russia does not want Iraq to be divided. They can't digest the foundation of an ethnic state in a certain place. They could not digest even the territories occupied by Israel.'' When a reporter reminded Kıvrıkoglu about the news telling that there are chemical weapons in Iraq, Kıvrıkoglu said that ''there is no new situation, these are problems belonging to ten years ago. It is also alleged that Pakistan, North Korea, Syria, Iran and even Armenia have such weapons. If this is the reason (for an operation), it is not sufficient. Then, it will be the continuation of ten years before.'' -FOREIGN TRADE INDICES Exports in the period rose 13.1 percent, while imports contracted 24.5 percent when compared to the period in January-October last year. The exports in the same period 2000 was worth of 22,7 billion dollars and imports worth of 44,7 billion dollars. The foreign trade deficit which was 21,9 billion dollars in the same period last year decreased by 63,6 percent to 7,9 billion dollars. The rate of export's meeting imports increased to 76,3 percent in the first ten months of 2001, the same rate last year was 51 percent. Meanwhile exports in October 2001 was worth of 2,7 billion dollars, and imports costed 3,29 billion dollars. Here are the foreign trade indices in Jan-October in the last two years: . 2000 2001 Imports " 44,702.8 33,743.4 -24.5 Foreign Trade Deficit - 21,916.3 - 7,982.9 -63.6 Rate of Exports Meeting Imports 51.0 76.3 -PRESIDENT SEZER: ''TURKEY ATRIBUTES UTMOST IMPORTANCE TO PROTECTION OF Sezer held a joint press conference with Amir Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani of Qatar, who is paying an official visit to Turkey. Presient Sezer said that they debated the situation of Iraq during the contacts of Al-Thani. Sezer noted, ''Turkey attribues utmost importance to protection of Iraq's territorial integrity. We have stated that cooperation of Iraqi administration with the United Nations (U.N.) and international community is necessary to end to the problems of the Iraqi people.'' (To be continued) -DERVIS SAYS TURKEY IS OBLIGED TO CONTINUE STRICT FINANCE POLICY IN 2002 ''Unfortunately, Turkey is obliged to continue the strict finance policy also next year,'' he said. The Parliamentary Planning and Budget Commission started talks on the bill on removal of discounted tariffs for services offered by public organizations and on creation of some new income sources. Speaking at the meeting, Dervis gave information on the bill and said that the basic aim of the bill was to achieve budget targets in 2002 and settle the budget on a sound basis. Noting that Turkey had been successful in finance policies despite all difficulties and economic problems in 2001, Dervis said, ''achievement of targets became one of the cause of revival in the economy in recent weeks. We are following and watching the situation of countries which failed to reach finance policy targets from newspares and on televisions. Achievement of finance policy targets in the countries which face borrowing and financing problems is one of the important factors of success. With the support of parliament and society, Turkey has achieved an important and serious success despite really difficult conditions in 2001. Such a success should continue also in 2002. A state does not have any policy alternative except the strict finance policy when it has increased the debt-income avegare over to a specific level. Unfortunately, Turkey is obliged to continue the strict finance policy also next year.'' ''This success is the consequence of the re-settlement of confidence, receiving external source, macro economic stability, stable currency and decrease in interest rates. So these measures are very important for continuation of this success,'' he said. Giving information on some articles of the bill, Dervis said discounts which did not have any social purpose would be removed. Giving the discounted flight tickets of parliamentarians as an example, Dervis said, ''continuation of such discounts is impossible while Turkey is obliged to implement strict finance policy.'' Dervis said that there was serious amount of illegal electricity consumption in Turkey, and they bruoghtforth arrangements to prevent such use of energy and that they foresaw that health services would be offered in return for the paid premiums. Stressing that Turkey failed to collect real estate tax, Dervis said that the bill aimed to obtain a serious amount of income from real estate tax. Recalling that natural gas and naphta had been included in scope of Fuel Oil Consumption Tax, Dervis said, ''enlargement of scope of tax at reasonable rates without putting more burden will contribute to more effective and fair functioning of taxation.'' Later, the commission started talks on the bill. -NEW GROSS MINIMUM WAGE SET AS 222,000,750 TURKISH LIRAS At its meeting at the Labor and Social Security Ministry, the commission decided that the new gross minimum wage of workers above 16 years of age would be 222 million 750 TL and net minimum wage would be 163 million 563 thousand 537 TL as of January 1, 2002. -PRESIDENT SEZER: ''WE HAVE SEEN THAT WE HAVE COMMON CONCERNS THAT Sezer held a joint press conference with Amir Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani of Qatar, who is paying an official visit to Turkey. President Sezer said that they detailed the bilateral relations during their contacts and that they had saw that historical friendly relations between the two countries created a suitable atmosphere which would help concrete cooperation. Noting that they evaluated new cooperation opportunities, Sezer said that they agreed to further improve mutual cooperation in defense industry, fight against terrorism and drug trafficking, press and publication, health, tourism, science and technology, to develop cultural relations, and to make cooperation in archives of two countries. Sezer stated that the Qatari Amir called on the Turkish contracting companies to have efficient participation in infrastructral projects in Qatar. Sezer said that he believed that bilateral relations would be promoted as those companies shared their experiences with Qatar. President Sezer stated that they believed that six agreements signed between two countries on Tuesday would accelerate bilateral relations. Stating that they also discussed regional and international issues concerning the two countries during their meeting, Sezer pointed out that they evaluated the steps taken in Afghanistan in the path of peace. Sezer said, ''we have stated that start of the mission of Afghanistan's interim government was a historic step in ensuring the democratic atmosphere which the Afghan people has longed for a long time.'' They also discussed recent developments in the Middle East, Sezer pointed out. He said that they reached a concensus that the sides should resume talks by refraining from violence as soon as possible and find a solution to Israeli-Palestinian dispute based on the principle of soil in return for peace under the United Nations (U.N) Security Council's resolutions no 242 and 338. Sezer said, ''we have observed that we have common concerns that the continuation of violence in the region can cause dangerous results for the whole region'' and added that Turkey and Qatar believed that all possibilities which would help establish peace in the region should be evaluated. (To be continued) -SUPREME COURT OF APPEALS REVERSES DEATH SENTENCE ON IBDA-C'S HEAD ERDIS The Penal Department said that it decided to reverse the death sentence as the identity information of Erdis had not been written in the brief verdict paragraph of the reasoned verdict. The Istanbul State Security Court (DGM) no:6 had punished the arrested suspect Salih Izzet Erdis with death sentence on charges of ''attempting to change the constitutional order by use of force and weapons'' under Article 146-1 of the Turkish Penal Code. -QATARI AMIR SAYS IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO PERMIT ONE OF THE SIDES IN CYPRUS TO Al-Thani, who is paying an official visit to Turkey, held a joint press conference with President Ahmet Necdet Sezer. Qatari Amir said that he totally joined the statements of Sezer and that they attributed utmost importance to improvement of bilateral relations. Responding to a question about the demand of Greek Cypriot administration to open an embassy in Qatar, Al-Thani said that Qatar was closely interested in that issue and wanted the two sides to find a suitable solution under a single umbrella. Al-Thani noted that they supported all initiatives in that direction and expected the sides to reach a common solution through dialogue. Besides the Greek Cypriots, Turkish people were living in Qatar, Al-Thani said. Al-Thani stated that it was impossible to permit one of the sides to open an embassy in Qatar and not to allow the other. What they expected was to give a permit to a single embassy in the future, Al-Thani said and added that this could only be possible after a solution. (End) -PARLIAMENTARY FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMISSION TO DEBATE BILL ON APPROVAL OF Commission Chairman Kamran Inan called on the members to an ''urgent'' meeting on Thursday. The Commission will discuss two draft laws on approval of the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and Elimination of Terrorist Bombings. The Convention applies to the offence of direct involvement or complicity in the intentional and unlawful provision or collection of funds, whether attempted or actual, with the intention or knowledge that any part of the funds may be used to carry out any of the offences described in the Conventions listed in the Annex, or an act intended to cause death or serious bodily injury to any person not actively involved in armed conflict in order to intimidate a population, or to compel a government or an international organization to do or abstain from doing any act. The provision or collection of funds in this manner is an offence whether or not the funds are actually used to carry out the proscribed acts. The Convention does not apply where an act of this nature does not involve any international elements as defined by the Convention. The Convention requires each State Party to take appropriate measures, in accordance with its domestic legal principles, for the detection and freezing, seizure or forfeiture of any funds used or allocated for the purposes of committing the offences described. The offences referred to in the Convention are deemed to be extraditable offences and States Parties have obligations to establish their jurisdiction over the offences described, make the offences punishable by appropriate penalties, take alleged offenders into custody, prosecute or extradite alleged offenders, cooperate in preventive measures and countermeasures, and exchange information and evidence needed in related criminal proceedings. The offences referred to in the Convention are deemed to be extraditable offences between States Parties under existing extradition treaties, and under the Convention itself. The bill says that Turkey did not accept bringing of disputes to stem from implementation or interpretation of the Convention to arbitration and International Court of Justice without having recourse to its will. It says, ''Turkey which is one of the countries suffered much from terrorism believes that states should take necessary measures to prevent and eliminate terrorism and cooperate in fight against terrorism at national, regional and international level, and expends intense efforts with this objective.'' The United Nations Security Council opened the Convention for signature on January 10, 2001, and Turkey signed it on September 21, 2001. The coalition leaders had included these two drafts among the prior legal reforms to be made at the summit they held in the previous days. -TURKEY TO PRESENT TERRORISM REPORT TO U.N. Holding a press conference, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Huseyin Dirioz said that the report consisted of 3 parts would be presented to the United Nations the same day. The deadline for submission of report requested by the United Nations after events of September 11 is December 27, 2001. -TURKEY TO PRESENT TERRORISM REPORT TO U.N. (2) Holding a press conference, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Huseyin Dirioz said that the report consisted of 14 pages. Noting that the report included the information requested by the United Nations after the introduction part and a conclusion part, Dirioz said, ''in the introduction part, it is mentioned that the international community harshly condemned the terrorist attacks on September 11. It is mentioned that the international community displayed its determination in bringing of responsibles of this act to the court and this attack also displayed the dimensions of terrorism and proved the requirement for international efforts and joint fight against terrorism. It is mentioned that Turkey which had suffered much from terrorism for years and is still the target of terrorism, condemned the attacks and made a call for an intensified cooperation in fight against terrorism.'' Dirioz said that it was stated in the report that Turkey welcomed approval of decision no: 1.373 and that this decision had a ''concrete, sound and comprehensive instrument'' characteristics in global dimension in fight against terrorism. Noting that the report stressed that the decision constituted a clear road map for international community regarding fight against terrorism and that Turkey hoped all member states would completely abide by the decision, Dirioz said, ''it is mentioned in the report that Turkey, itself, is determined to continue actively contributing to development of international cooperation in fight against terrorism.'' Noting that the report included the information requested by the U.N. Security Council's resolution no: 1.373, Dirioz said, ''the report mentions that Turkey is a signatory of a number of bilateral and multilateral agreements on international cooperation in fight against terrorism, organized crimes and illicit drug trafficking. Besides, it requests for finalization of a global instrument to back these efforts and makes a call for bringing the comprehensive convention for international terrorism which is now being discussed at the working group formed by the United Nations sixth committee, to final result.'' Noting that the first part of the report enumerated the legal provisions proposed by Turkey for prevention of extension of financial support to terrorist activities, Dirioz said that the report also mentioned other rules, regulations and implementations regarding financing of terrorism, and enumerated the steps taken after September 11 on suppression of financing of terrorism. Dirioz said that the second part of the report enumerated in detail the legal regulations and provisions concerning Turkey regarding terrorist attacks. Dirioz said that the third part of the report explained what Turkey had done about exchange of intelligence and cooperation between security authorities. ''Within this framework, it is mentioned that ten of the twelve conventions prepared by the United Nations were approved by Turkey and the remaining two concentions are about to be approved and that Trukey signed bilateral cooperation agreements with more than forty countries. In addition to the U.N. instruments and other cooperation activities of Turkey within scope of the NATO, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Southeast European Cooperation and Black Sea Economic Cooperation, we stressed Turkey's contribution to activities with this purpose also within the Organization of Islamic Conference. The report also gives information on several instruments at the Council of Europe.'' -SDIF-CONTROLLED BANKS' LOSSES REACH 8.6 QUADRILLION LIRAS Releasing a statement on Wednesday, SDIF said that the total losses of eight banks as of November 30, 2001 was 8 quadrillion 555.7 trillion TL or 5 billion 763 million 170 thousand U.S. dollars. Transfer losses and accumulated losses of SDIF-controlled eight banks as of November 30, 2001 are as follows: . Accumulated Losses . Transfer Loss As of November 30 . --------------------- -------------------- Banks (billion) (thousand) (billion) (thousand) ----------- --------- --------- --------- -------- Etibank 679.320 987.466 4.465.045 3.007.685 - Interbank 249.939 792.353 - Esbank 578.483 1.090.225 Iktisat Bank 1.953.172 1.953.586 1.693.358 1.140.658 Bayindirbank 153.709 118.144 68.276 45.991 Sitebank 68.510 52.658 71.640 48.257 Kentbank 784.124 602.692 1.031.819 695.040 EGS Bank 719.709 553.181 843.613 568.264 Tarisbank 98.479 75.693 49.478 33.328 TOTAL 5.391.817 6.997.368 8.555.687 5.763.170 Holding a press conference, Dirioz responded a question about Turkey's contribution to peacekeeping force which would be deployed in Afghanistan saying, ''our interest in the peacekeeping force continues. We will contribute to it, of course.'' Noting that contribution might be made in different ways, Dirioz said that a Turkish officer would be assigned at the peacekeeping force headquarters but works on number of troops and date of dispatch were underway. When recalled of the news which said that Turkey had told the U.S. Defense Department that it was ready to command the peacekeeping force after Britain, Dirioz said, ''it is known that we are open to such a proposal. We conveyed that we are open to such a proposal.'' When asked whether or not Turkey had requested information from the United States on a possible operation against Iraq, Dirioz said that such news articles on the matter had been reported but they did not have any information on whether or not those news were true. Regarding the claims that Turkey had given some messages about Iraq issue, Dirioz said, ''we have not given any message to anybody.'' Noting that Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit had made the necessary statement on Turkey's attitude toward Iraq, Dirioz said there was nothing to say in addition to Ecevit's statement. -HUMAN RIGHTS BOARD HOLDS ITS FIRST MEETING The board was set up to strengthen and improve human rights in Turkey, especially to overcome the problems faced in practice. Three ministers held a press conference following their meeting. Turk said that the Human Rights Board was set up with the participation of three ministers under a decision taken at the last summit of the coalition leaders. The board was comprised of State Minister Arseven for human righs, Interior Minister Yucelen who had earlier acted as the State Minister responsible for human rights, and himself, Turk noted and stated that this was the clear indicator of the importance that the government attributed to human rights. Turk pointed out that the Article 2 of the Constitution placed respect to human rights at the list of unchangeable qualities of the Republic and that Turkey had exerted intensive efforts regarding human rights to fully implement that constitutional provision in social life. The Board would convene once every month, Turk said and added that they decided at their first meeting that a deputy undersecretary of each the Prime Ministry, Interior Ministry and Justice Ministry would hold a meeting every 15 days to evaluate human rights violations and complaints about torture. -JUSTICE MINISTER TURK SAYS HUMAN RIGHTS ARE UNIVERSAL PROBLEM The Human Rights Board comprised of State Minister Nejat Arseven, Interior Minister Rustu Kazim Yucelen and Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Turk held its first meeting. The board was set up to strengthen and improve human rights in Turkey, especially to overcome the problems faced in practice. Addressing journalists following the meeting, Turk said that the board would convene once every month to discuss developments in human rights, allegations about human rights violations and works aiming at preventing human rights violations. Turk said that the three ministers would hold continuous contacts on the issue of human rights. He told reporters that they had decided at their first meeting that a deputy undersecretary of each the Prime Ministry, Interior Ministry and Justice Ministry would hold a meeting every 15 days to evaluate human rights violations and complaints about torture. Turk said that the second meeting of the board would be held at the Interior Ministry in January of 2002. When asked whether or not a concrete decision was taken at the first meeting of the board, Turk said, ''it was a beginning meeting. We exchanged views on targets and methods of our joint works. We will discuss the issues in detail at the next meetings. Deputy undersecretaries will evaluate human rights violations and complaints about torture, and inform us on allegations.'' When asked whether or not legal and administrative arrangements would be brought onto agenda of the board, Turk said, ''legal arrangements will be made.'' When asked when Turkey will decrease human right violations to the minimum level, Turk said, ''human rights have always been high on agenda of the humanity. It is a universal problem. It is the problem of not only Turkey, but also of whole humanity. The whole humanity should work together to prevent human rights violations.'' Responding a question about decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), Turk said, ''Turkey is one of the countries signing the European Convention on Human Rights. It has recognized the authorities of the ECHR as binding. People can apply to the ECHR after exhausiting domestic legal methods. We have always abide by the ECHR's decisions.''
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