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Turkish Press Review, 98-12-09Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs <http://www.mfa.gov.tr>09.12.98Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morningCONTENTS
[01] CETIN GOES TO RUSSIATurkish Parliament Speaker Hikmet Cetin will go to Russia today to attend the 12th General Council meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC). Cetin will take over the term-presidency of the Assembly from Russian Duma Speaker Gennady Selezniev. Cetin will deliver a speech at the final session of the General Council on December 10. Cetin and an accompanying delegation will return to Turkey on December 11, the Anatolia news agency reports.[02] ECEVIT MEETS TROUBLE IN ATTEMPT TO FORM GOVERNMENTDemocratic Left Party (DSP) leader Bulent Ecevit's chances of forming a government have decreased as the True Path Party (DYP) Board of General Administration refused to join the Motherland Party (ANAP)-DYP-DSP coalition.In a statement after the DYP General Administraion Council's meeting in Parliament, the DYP leader Ciller said DYP approved of Ecevit's prime-ministership and both ANAP and DSP roles in the government, with the precondition that this government be a broad-based government comprised of all the parties that have groups in Parliament. Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal, interpreted the attempt by ANAP and DYP, the two main centre-right parties, to form a government under the leadership of the DSP, as the collapse of the centre-right in Turkey. Speaking at his parliamentary group meeting Baykal said that if no government model can be found, the only solution will be for President Suleyman Demirel to appoint as Prime Minister a deputy who is agreeable to all parties. Meanwhile, Recai Kutan, leader of the Virtue Party (FP), also came out against the ANAP-DYP-DSP coaltion proposed by Ecevit. Kutan said that a broad-based government was a necessity. He noted the new government should not be a long term one and they would provide support if it were a broad-based one. /All papers/ [03] EMBARGO COSTS DM 300 MILLIONThe economic embargo implemented by Turkish businessmen against Italian goods has cost DM 300 million. The Italian Foreign Trade Undersecretary Paola Trichilo visited the Ankara Chamber of Trade yesterday. Trichilo noted that following the Ocalan crisis, many agreements signed with Italy have been annulled by Turkey. /Aksam/[04] SHUSSEL: "WE CANNOT ESTABLISH AN INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNAL"The EU term-president, Austrian Foreign Minister Wolfgang Schussel, has noted that the PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan should be tried because of his terrorist activities and said however, there was no concrete proposal for the establishment of an international tribunal. He pointed out that the EU had no authority on this issue. Schussel claimed that if Turkey annuls the death penalty, the extradition of Ocalan will be simplified. /Aksam/[05] TURKEY REJECTS COUNCIL OF EUROPE INITIATIVE FOR OCALANOn Tuesday, Turkey expressed its objection to taking the matter of Abdullah Ocalan to the Council of Europe, saying such a move would "further politicize" a subject that should remain in the judicial field. The Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ismail Cem, after a two-hour bilateral meeting with his Italian counterpart Lamberto Dini in Brussels on Tuesday, said that Turkey would stand against a trial in any country other than Italy. Cem pointed out that Turkey's consent was necessary to "transfer the Ocalan court case to a signatory country of the 1972 agreement."Turkey used the opportunity of the NATO Ministers of Foreign Affairs meeting to bring up the question of terrorism and call for solidarity against it. Despite Turkey's repeated assertions that an initiative on Ocalan within the Council of Europe will not help, Italy put the issue on the Council's agenda on Tuesday. Italy suggested a debate on the Ocalan crisis under the title, Cooperation in Struggling against Terrorism. The Delegates Committee members decided to discuss the matter at their session on Thursday. The European Union (EU) Foreign Ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday ended up abandoning the idea of making a declaration on Ocalan. Speaking to journalists after the meeting, the Austrian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Wolfgang Schussel said that the EU had to be realistic and that the setting up of an international court was not a simple process. Meanwhile, the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jazias von Aartsen has rejected proposals from Italy and Germany that an international tribunal be set up for Ocalan in the Netherlands. /All papers/ [06] NEW NATO STRATEGY TO OPEN THE DOORS OF THE EU TO TURKEYFusun Mutlu in her column in Sabah analyzes the recent developments in the EU concerning Turkey's acceptance.Turkey hit the barrier of Greece's opposition at the last meeting of the EU Ministers of Foreign Affairs on December 7. European Parliamentary spokeswoman Chantal de Bourmont gives the reason for Turkey's exclusion from the candidates to be accepted by the EU as Greece's objection. She says that Greece cannot stand the sight of the words 'candidate' and 'Turkey' in the same sentence and therefore is using every excuse she can find to exclude Turkey from the Union. She adds that bearing this in mind Turkey has to take care not to give any reason for Greece to use such excuses. However there is a change in NATO and this change may present new choices for the EU. The new leftist governments of Europe want to enter the next millenium in a spirit of great change aiming to form a new Defense Union in addition to the Monetary Union. There are some who believe that a strengthened European Defense Union will be an alternative to American economic and foreign policies. The Turkish Ambassador to NATO, Onur Oymen, believes that the emergence of a defense and security dimension in the structure of the EU should be carefully evaluated by Turkey and that this recent development was only one of the reasons why Turkey should be admitted to the Union as a great military power in Europe. /Sabah/ [07] IRAN DOES NOT WANT OCALANThe Iranian Foreign Minister Kemal Harrazi stated that they did not want to see the PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan in Iran. Ocalan earlier noted that he wanted to go to Iran. Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid Riza Asefi described Ocalan's demand to come to Iran as 'unfounded propaganda'. /Aksam/[08] EU DOES NOT CALL TURKEY TO VIENNA SUMMITThe European Union (EU) has not called Turkey to a two-day Vienna summit even though 11 candidate countries have been invited to the summit. The EU term-president presented a pretext claiming that there is no government in Turkey. The EU term-president said: "We cannot invite Turkey to the summit in such a situation". The EU Foreign Ministers have found a new formula and invited Turkey to a European Conference to be held following the summit and attended by all candidate countries. Ankara said that this would not make Turkey a candidate country and rejected the offer. /Hurriyet/[09] US TO EU: 'DO NOT EXCLUDE TURKEY'The US administration has noted that it is against military initiatives to solve regional problems by the European Union (EU). US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright explained US views on a proposal by France and Britain for a joint European intervention force. Albright, who assumed a positive stance towards the concept of establishing a joint intervention force against a crisis in Europe, said: "However, Washington cannot accept Turkey's exclusion from new military establishments". The proposal made by France and Britain is expected to be discussed at autumn sessions of the NATO meeting of Foreign Ministers in Brussels. /Hurriyet/[10] ITALIAN ASSEMBLY TO DISCUSS OCALANThe Italian Parliament and Senate will discuss the PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan today. Italian Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini will talk about his contacts in Brussels on the Ocalan and Kurdish problem issues. Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema will reply to questions. Meanwhile, former Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Martino criticized the Italian government and said: "The PKK terrorist can easily organize his organization's activities from here". /Hurriyet/[11] ITALIAN ADVISERS FOR OCALANErtugrul Ozkok, a journalist on the Hurriyet newspaper, says in his article today that he read a statement by the PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan published in Ozgur Politika (Free Policy) newspaper. Ozkok notes that the literary style of the interview does not belong to Ocalan. Instead of meaningless words, there is a diplomatic style in his speech, Ozkok states. He says: "I do not think that this speech has been prepared by Ocalan. It is evident that this speech was written by experts. The worst possibility is that some politicians in Italy are rendering advisory services to Ocalan. This gives important clues for the future of the PKK terrorist organization. In the upcoming period, terror will not be an issue of priority and its dimension of human rights will be on the agenda". /Hurriyet/[12] PROF. HOWARD TOLLEY: "ITALY SHOULD TRY OCALAN"Professor Howard Tolley, the renowned American human rights expert, said that Italy should try Ocalan herself. Speaking in a conference held at Istanbul University, Tolley said: "Italy refused the extradition of a criminal to the US on the ground that there was capital punishment in Virginia. Then, after obtaining the promise that the criminal would not be sentenced to death, she accepted the extradition. A terrorist must certainly be tried. That may be either before a national or international court." /Cumhuriyet/[13] CYPRUS REPORTER IN TRNCThe Cyprus Reporter for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Hungarian Deputy Andras Barsony, is currently holding meetings in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) to prepare a report for the Assembly. Barsony, who met Republican Assembly Speaker Hakki Atun yesterday, said that they were determined to launch new initiatives for the solution of the Cyprus problem. Atun said for his part that he wanted his visits to continue, the Anatolia news agency reports. Atun added that he hoped that these new initiatives would be more realistic since the political will of the Turkish Cypriot nation could not be denied.[14] TURKISH-TAJIK FRIENDSHIP DELEGATION IN TRABZONThe Chairman of the Turkish-Tajik Friendship Association, Kurban Sattarov, stated that following the disintegration of the Soviet Union, economic, social and cultural relations between Turkey and Tajikistan were further developing. A five-person delegation headed by Sattarov visited and observed Trabzon. The delegation will proceed to Ankara, the Anatolia news agency reports.[15] TENDER FOR UNMANNED PLANEWithin the framework of an international tender put out by the Turkish Defense Industry Undersecretariat last August for 'an unmanned plane-UAV-XI' and related systems', proposals were considered last week. US General Atomics, Israel IMI and the Catic firm from the People's Republic of China attended the bidding. The unmanned plane project will cost nearly $350 million and will be completed in 2005 at the latest. /Aksam/[16] ISRAELI MINISTER PRAISES TURKEYIsraeli Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon said: "Turkey is a very important country in every development in our region, she is a cornerstone". Sharon, who is currently visiting Washington, stated that they regarded Turkey as the most significant country of the region. Sharon noted that Turkish-Israeli relations were pleasing. /Aksam/[17] TL 8 TRILLION DRUGS IN HAKKARIDuring operations in the Yuksekova district of Hakkari, 99 kilos of heroin and 98.5 kilos of hashish were seized. It is reported that the market value of the drugs totals TL 8 trillion and 13 people have been taken into custody regarding the incident. /Aksam/[18] CAKICI LODGES AN APPEALAlaattin Cakici, head of a criminal organization in Turkey, lodged an appeal yesterday. The French court earlier decided to extradite Cakici to Turkey. Cakici dismissed his French lawyers and lodged his application for an appeal. /Hurriyet/[19] BANKS RECEIVE TL 764 TRILLION IN PROFITSDuring the first eight months of this year, banks in Turkey received TL 764 trillion in profits. According to Treasury Undersecretary data, during January-August 1998, public banks received TL 86.2 trillion in profits, while private banks obtained TL 593 trillion and banks with foreign capital TL 84 trillion. /Hurriyet/[20] IMKB BLOOMSThe Chairman of the Istanbul Stock Exchange (IMKB), Osman Birsen said that there were 277 companies on the IMKB and this number was rising at a healty rate. Twenty to 25 new companies enter the IMKB each year and 20 new companies joined the Stock Exchange in 1998. Birsen gave a speech to gathering of the members of the Economic Correspondents' Association (EMD). He expounded on the characteristics of Turkish capital markets and compared the IMKB with other stock exchanges around the world, in addition to setting forth priority targets for the future. The daily operation volume of the IMKB was $ 198 million, which represents a greater volume of trading than many other Stock Exchanges in terms of liquidity, said Birsen. /All papers/[21] STRAITS ARE DISCUSSED AT IMO MEETINGThe 70th Term Meeting of the Maritime Security Committee of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) started yesterday in London. It was announced that the security of the Turkish Straits and measures to be taken against accidents caused by increased traffic will be discussed during the meeting. /Turkiye/[22] WORK OF ARTS AUCTIONImportant works of art which shed light on the 500 years of Ottoman civilization will be presented to art lovers at Macka Auction which will be held on December 13 at Swissotel, Istanbul. Among the 200 works of art to be sold at the auction, there are some interesting pieces manufactured by European masters working for the courts as well as by Chinese masters./Sabah/[23] US AMBASSADORS TO COME TOGETHER FOR ENERGYTHe US is convening its Ambassadors posted to all the countries of the region to discuss the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline in Ankara next week. The Undersecretary for the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources Yurdakul Yigitguden said that the Special Advisor to President Clinton for the Caspian region, Richard Morningstar, would come to Turkey for this purpose on 13-15 December. Officials from the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources said that the arrival of Morningstar in Turkey was an open indication of US support for the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline. /Sabah/[24] "MEASURES AGAINST CRISIS WILL BE DECLARED ON FRIDAY"Zekeriya Temizel, the Minister of Finance, said that they were striving to take measures against the recent recession in the industrial sector. Temizel noted that some of these measures would be declared on Friday. He said: "As a matter of fact, the real sector faces trouble. In 1998, Turkey executed a program to slow down inflation and assure stability. This resulted in a reduction in domestic demand, alongside the general decrease in foreign demand. These two factors created a concrete recession in the real sector. Policies to compensate this recession must immediately be carried out. There is trouble. Yet Turkey will surely transcend these." Meanwhile, it was reported that the Banking Draft Law would be negotiated in the plenary session of the Parliament today. /Milliyet/[25] FORMER MP WILL BE EXTRADITED TO TURKEYIt was reported that the former MP of the closed Welfare Party, Ibrahim Halil Celik, would not take refuge in Germany or Austria and would most probably be extradited to Turkey. The Salzburg Police Department verified that the person who had been seized with an expired Turkish passport and an "invalid EU passport" last week was Celik. The former MP, who was the subject of a search due to committing some anti-secularist and separatist crimes, has been incarcerated in the Salzburg Prison since December 3. /Cumhuriyet/[26] AYTMATOV: "I FOUND MY ROOTS IN TURKEY"The world-renowned Kyrgyz writer Cengiz Aytmatov, who was elected to the honorary membership of the Ataturk Cultural Center on his 70th birthday,said: "I found my roots here. I saw a Turkey living in the arms of the sovereignty founded by Ataturk." /Cumhuriyet/[27] TOFAS BEATS H. JERUSALEM IN BASKETBALLThe Turkish TOFAS basketball team beat the Israeli Hapoel Jerusalem team yesterday in Bursa. The first period and the normal period of the match ended in a draw. At the end of injury time TOFAS beat H. Jerusalem 84 against 74. /Turkiye/[28] TO BE OR NOT TO BE: GALATASARAY V. A.BILBAO TONIGHTGalatasaray, who has come to the edge of the quarter finals in the Champions' League, is playing against Athletic Bilbao in Spain tonight. As the group leader in front of Rosenborg with equal points, Galatasaray must win against Bilbao to guarantee a place in the quarter finals. In the case of a draw, the fate of the Turkish team will be determined by the other match in Group B, which will be played between Juventus and Rosenborg in Torino. Fatih Terim, the Galatasaray Coach, said: "There is no other 90 minutes for us." /Milliyet/Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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