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Turkish Press Review, 97-11-26Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs <http://www.mfa.gov.tr>CONTENTS
TURKISH PRESS REVIEWDIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION,OFFICE OF PRIME MINISTER26.11.97Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning[01] DEMIREL IN ROMANIAPresident Demirel is paying an official visit to Romania. During his contacts with Romanian officials Demirel dwelt on the efforts of the PKK terrorist organization to establish itself in Romania.The Turkish president noted that Turkey and Romania were closely cooperating with each other and that there were nearly 5000 Turkish companies operating in Romania. "Nevertheless, the PKK terrorist organization is trying to turn Romania into a base for its activities aiming to undermine Turkish security," Demirel told Romanian representatives. /All papers/ [02] PM VISITS ITALY AND SPAINPrime Minister Mesut Yilmaz is visiting some EU member countries in a move to raise support for Turkey's EU membership bid. Yesterday Yilmaz met his Italian counterpart Romano Prodi. During the meeting Prodi pledged that Italy will continue to back Turkey's drive for integration with Europe and stressed that the Italian government will exert every effort to enhance Turkey-EU rapproachement.Having completed his contacts in Italy, Prime Minister Yilmaz went on to Madrid to meet Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar. Yilmaz voiced optimism about the results of the approaching Luxemburg summit where EU enlargement will be discussed and added that Turkey could not be excluded from the EU expansion process. In a later statement to journalists, the Turkish prime minister noted that his Italian and Spanish counterparts shared the same view. /Sabah/ [03] BAYKAL TO U.S.Chairman of the Republican People's Party (CHP), Deniz Baykal will go to Washington today to attend the World Peace Conference about to begin there. Baykal will return home next Monday. /Sabah/[04] GREECE: "TURKEY DOES NOT CHANGE ITS POLICY"Dimitri Reppas, Greek government spokesman, said that there was no change in Turkey's Greece policy. Holding a press conference yesterday, Reppas said that Athens would continue with its veto against Turkey's participation in the Permanent European Conference. Reppas added that Turco-EU relations could only be improved when Turkey accepted the judicial authority of the International Court of Justice in the Hague, helped towards a solution of the Cypruss problem and maintained good relations with Athens. The spokesman noted that Athens would lift its veto on financial aid to Turkey, only if Turkey accepted taking the Kardak islets issue to the International Court of Justice.Meanwhile, Deputy Defense Minister, Dimitris Apostolakis claimed that Turkey has started to produce chemical weapons. Apostolakis made this claim to NATO South Europe Commander, Mesley Clark. Clark, however, noted that they had some information that PKK terrorists were being trained in Greece and Southern Cyprus. /Cumhuriyet/ [05] ECEVIT MEETS UN SPECIAL CYPRUS ENVOYDeputy Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit met UN Special Envoy, Diego Cordovez yesterday and told him that he thought the UN General Secretariat's influence on the Cyprus question had diminished. Ecevit said Turkey is ready for any kind of help from the UN. /Cumhuriyet/Milliyet_[06] YILMAZ TALKS TO SPANISH DAILYPrime Minister Mesut Yilmaz stressed on Tuesday in an interview a leading Spanish daily, El Pais, that Europe will decide 'whether it will become a Christian club or a multi-cultural organization', at the EU enlargement summit to be held in December in Luxembourg. He added that he saw no possibility of Turkey being totally excluded from the enlargement process. Yilmaz said Turkey would not be satisfied only with participating in the conference with equal status, which he said he believed "will determine the borders of the European Union." "What we want is only the ratification of our future membership and consideration of Turkey's candidacy using the same criteria as applied to other candidates. The objection of Greece is the internal problem of the EU," said Yilmaz. /Milliyet/[07] RUSSIAN NATURAL GAS AWAITS SIGNATURERussian Prime Minister Victor Chernomyrdin, who will be coming to Ankara on December 15 following an invitation from Turkish Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz, will then sign a $ 20 billion natural gas project agreement, initially agreed to last month. It is claimed that the U.S. will not object to the agreement in return for the operation and management rights of the Imir Aliaga Refinery. The competition between Russia and the U.S. to transfer Central Asia oil has been accelerating. This race between Moscow and Washington, which has also set sights on Turkey's power plants, has enabled Turkey to play its trump cards against both sides. The U.S. has announced that it supports Turkey's project for the transfer of Central Asia oil through the Turkish port city of Ceyhan. /Cumhuriyet/[08] HUMAN RIGHTS COURT RULES ON ZANA CASEThe European Court of Human Rights has found Turkey justified in the trial of former Diyarbakir Mayor Mehdi Zana for spreading terrorist propaganda. The court has held that Zana's statements defending an outlawed terrorist organization, at a time when it was murdering civilians, further worsened a situation in the region, which the court maintained, 'was ready to explode'. /Hurriyet/[09] OCALAN PANICS OVER PKK's FAILURES IN THE SOUTHEASTIn a document discovered by Turkish security forces it is reported Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the outlawed PKK has harshly criticized his own commanders. Reportedly Ocalan will demand from his leaders an explanation for recent failures, saying that, especially in recent years, the PKK has been dealt crushing blows by the Turkish Armed Forces and that the responsibility for this failure rests with the so-called commanders. He said that the PKK's casualties stemming from clashes with the security forces have reached an alarming level. /Hurriyet/[10] AKIN BIRDAL ELECTED AS FIDH DEPUTY PRESIDENTHuman Rights Association (IHD) President Akin Birdal has been elected as International Human Rights Federation (FIDH) deputy president. The 33rd congress of FIDH was held in Senegal's capital Dakar between November 20-23. The congress included the participation of 110 member organizations from Europe, Africa, Asia and America. According to a press statement released by the IHD, besides IHD President Akin Birdal being elected as FIDH deputy president, the Turkish Human Rights Foundation was accepted as a FIDH observer member. /Milliyet/Cumhuriyet_[11] ARMENIAN, TURKISH BUSINESSMEN SIGN DEALTurkish and Armenian businessmen on Thursday signed a protocol in Istanbul, calling for normalizing economic relations between their countries. The businessmen, members of the joint Turkish-Armenian Business Development Committee, have ended a four-day meeting to discuss ways to improve ties between the two neighbour countries. The committee was established in May following a Black Sea Economic Cooperation summit and business meeting in Istanbul. /Hurriyet/[12] SERVICE SECTOR EXAMINED AT TIKA SEMINAREmphasis was placed on the growing importance of the service sector in international trade in the future at a seminar organized by the World Trade Organization (WTO) in cooperation with the Turkish Cooperation and Development Agency (TIKA). State Minister Ahat Andican at the opening of the two-day seminar on Monday in Istanbul stressed that the goal of the meeting was to provide more information about the international discipline and rules related to trade in the services sector.The assistant representative of WTO in Turkey, Hakki Akil, pointed out that international services were covered by a generalized agreement on the in services sector. He further noted that Turkey would pay an important role in its own region as one of the concrete results of globalization. /All papers/ [13] SUCCESS OF TURKISH COMPUTER COMPANYTurkish computer producer Escort participated in the international technology Comdex fair, the world's largest computer technology fair where a computer server developed by Escort was chosen "Comdex Fall'97 best of the show". The Escort server was met with great interest on the part of fair visitors and company representatives. /Milliyet/END Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |