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Turkish Press Review, 98-11-27Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs <http://www.mfa.gov.tr>27.11.98Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morningCONTENTS
[01] SURPRISE PROPOSALS BY DEMIRELPresident Suleyman Demirel, yesterday evening presented three surprise proposals to the party leaders in meetings he held with them to form a new government. Demirel's proposal to separate general and local elections and postpone general elections until after April 18 was flatly rejected by the leaders of the Virtue Party (FP), Motherland Party (ANAP), and True Path Party (DYP) while the leader of the Democratic Left Party (DSP) requested that the general elections be held on April 18.On the subjects of lifting the immunity of parliamentary members and local elections to be held in two rounds, all leaders supported Demirel's proposal except for the Virtue Party Chairman. /Hurriyet/ [02] GERMANY'S STAND IS CLARIFIEDGermany will determine its policy concerning the leader of the terrorist organization, the PKK, today. German Foreign Minister Gerhard Schroeder yesterday said that he would state the German policy on Ocalan following a meeting with Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema in Bonn. German Justice Minister Herta Dauebler-Gmelin in an interview with the Leibziger Volkzeitung said that the important issue was to bring Ocalan to justice. "It does not necessarily have to be in Germany. The trial can be held in Italy or in Turkey if capital punishment is lifted." /Cumhuriyet/[03] DI PIETRO TO PROTECT TURKISH INTERESTSAntonio di Pietro, one of the most popular politicians in Italy said, "Turkish and Italian people cannot be enemies. There are old and deep-rooted friendship ties between the two nations. To prove this, I am ready to walk by myself, without any bodyguards, in the streets of Istanbul and Ankara. He added that from Italy's point of view boycotts were unacceptable but he understood the feelings of the individuals. He said that Turkey viewed the matter as the betrayal by a brother in the family. /Milliyet/[04] WORKING GROUP IN ITALYFollowing a meeting between the representatives of 149 Italian firms doing business with Turkey, Italian Foreign Trade Minister Piero Fassino stated that a working group has been established. Fassino said: "In order to prevent our firms from entering difficult situations, we will take every necessary precaution". He added that they could even extend financial support to Italian firms which have been damaged by the Turkish boycott against Italian goods. /Hurriyet/[05] ITALIAN FM: OCALAN WON'T BE GRANTED ASYLUMDistancing himself from previous announcements by Italian officials, Italian Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini has said that granting political asylum to the leader of the PKK terrorist organization Abdullah Ocalan, is not possible since he was not the victim of political persecution.Dini emphasized that the crimes of which Ocalan stands accused, were not compatible with the status of political asylum. He added that this was confirmed by information from non-governmental organizations on human rights, such as the Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. Dini will travel to Moscow on Sunday to clarify whether Ocalan left Moscow voluntarily or whether it was upon the order of the Russian authorities. /All papers/ [06] TURKEY TO APPEAL AGAINST THE RELEASE OF OCALANThe Turkish Ambassador to Rome, Inal Batu, said that all the legal preparations for appealing against the recent release of the PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan have been completed. Meanwhile, the translation of the papers for the extradition of Ocalan into Italian is about to be completed. The file will be given to the Foreign Ministry on Friday by the Ministry of Justice. Video cassettes and photographs of PKK massacres will be included in the file. In addition, Batu met Silvio Berlusconi, the head of the Italian opposition party, Forza Italia, and thanked him for his remarks supporting Turkey. /Hurriyet/[07] ATHENS SUPPORTS GRANTING OF POLITICAL ASYLUM TO OCALANGreek Prime Minister Kostas Simitis said that the PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan should be given the right of political asylum. He added that the Kurdish issue would never become a Turco-Greek problem. However, Simitis criticized Greek parliamentary members who invited Ocalan to Greece saying that such an invitation would damage the Greek nation. He pointed out that they never supported terrorist activities. /Sabah/[08] OCALAN NEWS IN FOREIGN PRESSBritish daily newspaper, "The Independent" reported on the feelings of the mothers and wives of soldiers and policemen killed by PKK terrorists, using their photographs. The paper also related that Italian Benetton shops in Turkey have covered their shop-windows with black ribbons to protest against the decision of the Italian government.The chairman of the Executive Board of the Human Rights Watch Committee (HRW), in yesterday's issue of the Washington Post, one of the leading daily newspapers in the US, likened PKK leader, Abdullah Ocalan to the former dictator of Chile, Pinochet, architecture of the Ruanda massacre, Bagosora and "Butcher of Bosnia-Herzegovina", Karadzic. He added that Ocalan was a bloody murderer. /Sabah/ [09] ITALIAN INDUSTRIALISTS WARN THE GOVERNMENTIn a meeting organized by the Confederation of Italian Industrialists (Confindustria), two ministers were informed that the industrialists were perturbed by the current situation. Talking to Fassino and Bersani, the Minister of Foreign Trade and the Minister of Industry respectively, businessmen expressed the futility of Ocalan's demand for political asylum, given the numerous cases brought against him for terrorist activities.P.Cantarella, the top executive of Italian Fiat, also attended the meeting while R.Perissich, the Member of the Executive Board of the Pirelli Group, mentioned that Turkish Pirelli was quite disturbed by the circumstances. In the declaration issued after the meeting, Italian firms emphasized that they were against any kind of terrorism and thus, they thought that persons under legal prosecution and condemned due to terrorist activities must not be granted the status of political refugeee. In turn, the representatives of the government stated that the commission that would make the decision about Ocalan's demand for political asylum would not ignore the accusations against the PKK leader. /Milliyet/ [10] SABOTAGE ON PIPELINEMembers of the PKK terrorist organization sabotaged a pipeline of the Turkish Pipeline Transportation Joint Stock Company (BOTAS) near Yayvantepe Village in the Midyat District of Mardin. The PKK members, who broke the pipeline into pieces and set ablaze the crude oil, managed to escape. Fire brigades had difficulty in extinguishing the fire. It is reported that 100 tons of crude oil have been burnt. Mardin Governor Fikret Guven said that operations were continuing in search of the terrorists.Meanwhile, PKK terrorists have abducted a village guard in the Bismil District of Diyarbakir. The body of the village guard was later found near Suceken Village in Batman. During clashes between PKK members and Turkish security forces in the Dortyol District of Hatay two days ago, one person (Osman Ozkaya) died. /Hurriyet/ [11] DHKP-C OPERATION IN DENIZLISecurity Forces started an operation against the out-lawed DHKP-C terrorist organization in Yorga and Bahcekoy townships in Denizli three days ago. Military sources announced that three shelters belonged to terrorists were found where arms, wireless radios, bombs and texts belonged to the organizations were seized. /Sabah/[12] EGYPTIAN PRESIDENT TO VISIT ANKARAEgyptian President Hosni Mubarak will visit Ankara next week on December 4-5 for official talks. Bilateral and regional issues, as well as the Middle East peace process, will be discussed during the talks. The aftermath of the recent crisis between Turkey and Syria will also be a broad topic of discussion. /All papers/[13] 75TH ANNIVERSARY PRESENT FROM ROMANIAA meaningful gift has come from Romania on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Turkey. The exhibition, which resulted from a joint decision by the Romanian President and Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit, was opened yesterday in Istanbul with a lively ceremony. The show contains paintings by famous Romanian artists who lived between World War I and World War II. Ecevit, Culture Minister Istemihan Talay, Romanian Culture Minister Ion Caramitru and the Turkish Ambassador to Romania Volkan Bozkir were among those present at the opening. /Hurriyet/[14] UZUN RESIGNS FROM ANAPKocaeli Deputy Hayrettin Uzun has resigned from the Motherland Party (ANAP). Uzun's resignation reduces the number of ANAP deputies to 134. /All papers/[15] FIRST TURKISH-BULGARIAN COUNCIL MEETSTurkish-Bulgarian relations have been improving in every respect, particularly in the last-one-and-a-half years, stated Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz. The First Turkish-Bulgarian Economic Council started in Sofia yesterday. The Council meeting was organized by the Bulgarian-Turkish Businessmen's Association (BUTID), the Economic Research Foundation (IAV) and the Bulgarian Industry and Trade Chamber.Yilmaz conveyed a message to participants in the meeting, thanking those who have contributed to the development of business relations between Turkey and Bulgaria. The First Turkish-Bulgarian Economic Council will conclude today with Turkish and Bulgarian businessmen meeting to discuss joint investment opportunities. /All papers/ [16] BORDER DIESEL TRADE STARTS UP AGAINThe lucrative border trade in diesel between northern Iraq and Turkey has resumed following a 10-day shut down, prompted by Iraq's showdown with the UN Security Council over weapons inspections, according to the deputy governor of Sirnak. Orhan Guldibi told the Anatolia news agency that 500 heavy trucks had crossed the border into northern Iraq via the Habur border gate yesterday morning and that the number of trucks passing the border daily would slowly increase to 1,000. Once the trade is up to its peak, between five and six million litres of diesel will be imported into Turkey each day.[17] THIRD LOCAL MEDIA EDUCATION SEMINAR IN BURSAThe Third Local Media Education Seminar organized by the Office of the Governor of Bursa and the Directorate-General of Press and Information with the contributions of the Bursa Journalists' Association (BGC) started yesterday in Bursa. Bursa Governor Orhan Tasanlar delivered a speech at the seminar and said that the world was rapidly globalizing and the media should assume many responsibilities during this process. The Director-General of Press and Information Aydin Sezgin said for his part that following the seminars in Diyarbakir, Trabzon and Bursa, seminars would also be held in other regions, the Anatolia news agency reports.[18] HONORARY DOCTORATE TO YASAR KEMALBerlin Free University (FU) awarded an "Honorary Doctorate" to Yasar Kemal, the worldly-renowned Turkish writer, due to his works and his efforts in human rights matters. In the speech he gave in the ceremony, Yasar Kemal said that he expects the German government to support the endeavours towards democratization in Turkey. Kemal was also granted the "Peace Award" by the German Publisher's Union last year. /Milliyet/[19] "FIRST WE SHOULD ENSURE FINANCIAL STABILITY"Gazi Ercel, the Head of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey, declared that it was the duty of the CB to assure financial stability as well as stability in prices. In a conference held in Ankara, Ercel pointed out the strength of the Turkish economy and its success in coping with international financial crises by virtue of its robust infrastructure. Noting that monetary policy should uphold both monetary and financial stability, Ercel said: "In developed countries, stability in prices means an annual inflation rate of under 2%. I want to re-emphasize the importance of strong monetary policies to ensure monetary stability." /Milliyet/Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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