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Turkish Press Review, 00-05-30Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs <http://www.mfa.gov.tr>30.05.00Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morningCONTENTS
[01] ONAL SEES NO SUBSTANTIAL DEVIATION FROM CURRENT ACCOUNT PROJECTION[02] FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...[03] NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL TO MEET TOMORROWThe National Security Council (NSC) will have its monthly meeting at the Presidential Palace tomorrow. This will be the first such meeting attended by the new President Ahmet Necdet Sezer. /All papers/[04] ECEVIT TO VISIT NORWAYAt the invitation of Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit will make an official visit to Norway on June 4-6. Ecevit will be received by King Harald V of Norway and will have talks with Prime Minister Stoltenberg. Ecevit will deliver a speech at the Nobel Institute on 'Turkey at the Dawn of the 21st Century'. Foreign Minister Ismail Cem, accompanying Ecevit during his visit, is expected to meet his Norwegian counterpart, Thorbjorn Jagland. /All papers/[05] CEM MEETS ALIYEVMinister of Foreign Affairs, Ismail Cem, who held a series of meetings in Azerbaijan's capital city, Baku, also met Azerbaijan's President, Haydar Aliyev. Cem in a statement concerning this meeting, said, "We held concrete and constructive meetings as part of my visit to Azerbaijan. During the process of the implementation of Baku-Ceyhan pipeline project, this stage had been reached thanks to Aliyev's great contribution. Turkey also did its best for the implementation of the project." /Hurriyet/[06] SASI: "TURKEY COMMITTED TO FULFILLING EU CRITERIA"Finnish Minister of Foreign Trade and European Affairs Kimmo Sasi stated that Turkey was committed to fulfilling the Copenhagen criteria and eventually be a full member of the EU. Stressing that his country supported Turkey's candidacy at the Helsinki Summit, Sasi pointed out that he was hopeful about Turkey's membership of the EU. Speaking at a press conference at the Finnish Embassy yesterday, Sasi outlined his visit's purpose as discussing trade relations with Turkey and exchanging views on EU enlargement. Meeting with Health Minister Osman Durmus, Energy Minister Cumhur Ersumer, Deputy Prime Minister Husamettin Ozkan, State Minister Yuksel Yalova and State Minister Tunca Toskay, Sasi said that Turkey was a train on the right track and added that the only problem was the speed of the train, which was solely up to Turkey. /All papers/[07] ATAMAN RECEIVES FINLAND'S MEDALFinnish President Tarja Halonen decided that Finland's Honorary Consul-General to Istanbul, Ural Ataman, be given Finland's Lion Medal due to his achievement in improving relations between the two countries. In a statement by the Finnish Embassy, this medal was presented to Ural Ataman yesterday during a ceremony, which was also attended by the Finnish Foreign Trade Minister, Kimmo Sasi. Ataman has been working as Finland's Honorary Consul-General for 10 years. /Hurriyet/[08] TAI PRODUCES ITS FIRST COUGAR AS-532 HELICOPTERThe first Cougar AS-532 helicopter produced by Turkish Aviation and Space Industry (TAI) will be given to the Land Forces Command on May 31. According to a written statement by TAI, it produced its first Cougar AS-532 with the 'EUROTAI' consortium established with EORUCOPTER. It will be given to the Land Forces Command at a ceremony to be attended by Defence Minister Sabahattin Cakmakoglu. /All papers/[09] EFQM FORUM TO BE HELD IN ISTANBULThe 'Perfection Forum', which is organized by the European Foundation of Quality Management (EFQM) every year, will be held in Istanbul this year. EFQM Forum 2000, which will be organized on the theme of 'Management of Differencies: A Bridge Through Perfection', will be held at Lutfu Kirdar International Congress Hall between 27 and 28 September. Member of the Executive Board of EFQM, Kazim Kantarci, and the Chairman of KalDer, Dr.Yilmaz Arguden, stated that Istanbul would welcome the leading representatives of the international business world during the forum. In addition, European Quality Awards will be presented during this forum. /Hurriyet/[10] ELECTRONIC TRADE SEMINAR TO BE HELD AT BOGAZICI UNIVERSITYThe Banking and Finance Conference, which is the first of the electronic trade conferences' series, will be organized by Bogazici University's Department of International Trade with the contribution of Central Bank and the Finance World between 2 and 3 June. /Hurriyet/[11] KIEKENS IN TURKEYInternational Monetary Fund's Executive Director to the European Region, Willy Kiekens, arrived in Ankara yesterday. It was stated that Kiekens will participate in the IMF delegation, chaired by the IMF's Turkey-Desk Chief, Carlo Cottarelli, who is expected to leave Turkey at the end of this month. /Turkiye/[12] FINANSBANK IN THE EUROPEAN UNIONFinansbank, which has received the licence of the European Union Bank and established a base in Holland, speeded up opening new branches in Europe. Chairman of the Executive Board of Fiba Holding Company, Husnu Ozyegin, who attended an opening ceremony of the Directorate General of Finansbank Holland N.V., said, "We opened many branches in Europe by taking the advantage of being an EU bank. We also benefited from well-educated Turkish young generation in these countries and made a big progress in a short period of time. We are one of the two biggest Turkish banks, which are active abroad. We are performing banking services in Sweden, France, Holland, Germany, Romania and Russia. Our target is to work also in Austria and the Scandinavian countries." /Turkiye/[13] ARCELIK TO BE VISITED BY EUROPEAN COUNTRIESThe Arcelik Company will share its knowledge and experience of quality with the European companies. As part of the project of 'distribution of the best practices', organized by the European Foundation of Quality Management (EFQM), Arcelik takes place among the companies, whose best practices will be taken as an example. As part of the project, Arcelik will be visited by a group of 11 people from various institutions in seven European countries on 31 May. /Milliyet/[14] IMKB BECOMES A PARTNER WITH KYRGYZ STOCK EXCHANGEWithin the framework of its initiatives on the international level to support and improve the Central Asian countries' capital markets and stock exchanges, the Istanbul Stock Exchange (IMKB) became a partner (27.4%) with the Kyrgyz Stock Exchange. During the meeting that was held in Bishkek on 25 May, 17 partners, including the IMKB, decided that the Kyrgyz Stock Exchange would continue its activities as a joint stock company from now on. International Market Director, Ugur Polat, was appointed to the Executive Board of the Kyrgyz Stock Exchange as the representative of the IMKB. /Milliyet/[15] COOPERATION BETWEEN BANK CAPITAL AND ALPHA BANKBank Kapital, whose fifth anniversary was celebrated this year, has signed its fifth syndication with Alpha Bank, which is the biggest private bank in Greece. Thus, the Greek banks, which have taken place in the Turkish banks' syndication loans as a participant or co-organizer, this time took place on the level of the only organizer for the first time. /Milliyet/[16] BONIFACE: "EUROPEAN DEFENCE NEEDS TURKEY"Chairman of the International Relations and the Institute of Strategy (IRIS), Prof.Paskal Boniface, stated that Turkey had a European identity and that Turkey was necessary as a strategic power in Europe's joint defence. French strategist Boniface, delivered a speech at Galatasaray University yesterday during a conference entitled 'Why a Europe of Defence', which was organized by the Prime Ministry's Directorate General of Press and Information and Galatasaray University's Strategic Research Centre, and said, "When the period of Cold War was over, NATO's mission began to be questioned and the future of NATO began to be discussed. However, the European defence improved during the last two years as it had not improved in the last 50 years." /Cumhuriyet/[17] EXTRADITION OF FEHRIYE ERDAL REFUSED BY BELGIUMFollowing an announcement last Friday by Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt that Fehriye Erdal, an accomplice to the assassination of businessman Ozdemir Sabanci, will not be extradited to Turkey, a letter of justification reflecting the position of the Belgian Cabinet is expected to arrive in Ankara. It was announced by diplomatic circles that the Turkish Ambassador to Belgium, Temel Iskit, was verbally informed of the decision by the Belgian Cabinet to turn down Turkey's request for extradition and that a written justification will be forwarded to Turkey through the same channel. /All papers/[18] EU CANDIDATE PARLIAMENTS' GENERAL SECRETARIES' TO MEETParliament General Secretary Vahit Erdem has gone to Romania to participate in a meeting with his counterparts from other EU candidate countries in Romania. The general secretaries will discuss what more needs to be done to bring their countries into line with EU standards. /Turkish Daily News/[19] FOREIGN MINISTRY MARTYRS COMMEMORATEDMembers of the Foreign Ministry who were killed in terrorist attacks while on duty abroad were commemorated in a ceremony yesterday in Ankara with the participation of the ministry and many public officials. State Minister Sukru Sina Gurel stated at the ceremony that terrorists would never be able to threaten ministry officials, adding that the struggle would continue against activities which aim to divide the country. /Turkish Daily News/[20] HIZBULLAH SUSPECT TAKEN TO CRIME SCENENurettin Sezik, caught in Sanliurfa and accused of Hizbullah terrorist activities, was taken to the crime scenes of murder and kidnapping incidents which took place in Diyarbakir in 1994, the Anatolia News Agency reports. Meanwhile, an operation against Hizbullah was conducted by the police in Gebze, Kocaeli, resulting in six people being taken into custody. Kocaeli Police Chief Erdinc Sarialp stated at a press conference that they had caught the suspects thanks to statements of another 33 suspects.[21] INVESTMENTS IN SOUTHEASTUS Ambassador to Turkey, Mark Parris, who is in the midst of a tour of Turkey's Southeast region, has said that he sees many reasons to re-invest in the region. Parris was speaking at a dinner hosted by the Van Chamber of Trade and Industry and said this was the first time since the early 1980s that an American Ambassador had visited the region. Parris stated that the US supported Turkey's legal fight against terrorism and would do whatever it could to help. Parris signalled that the region was a great potential for economic and employment expansion and that opportunities exist for the mutual benefit of both Turkish and American businessmen. /All papers/[22] MOODY'S SURPRISED BY TURKEY'S SUCCESSInternational rating agency Moody's stated that the Turkish government was pursuing a constructive and determined economic policy and that it demonstrated a surprising performance. Moody's pointed out that Turkey has been experiencing a high-rate of inflation for many years and said that the government headed by Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit was determined to solve the problems and receive positive results. /Star/[23] TURKISH BUSINESSMEN IN IRANA meeting attended by a Turkish delegation of businessmen and government officials headed by Foreign Trade Undersecretary Kursat Tuzmen and nearly 600 Iranian businessmen was held in Tehran yesterday. Chairman of Iranian Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Minerals, Ali Naki Hamushi, said that bilateral trade should be diversified through non-oil goods and suggested co-production and exports to third countries. Hamushi stated that Iran was considering to improve cooperation with Turkey through the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO). Tuzmen said for his part that the visiting Turkish mission of more than 150 industrialists and businessmen revealed the importance Turkey attaches to trade with Iran. /All papers/[24] ONAL SEES NO SUBSTANTIAL DEVIATION FROM CURRENT ACCOUNT PROJECTIONState Minister for the Treasury Recep Onal said an unacceptable real evaluation in Lira was not expected, ruling out the possibility of a substantial deviation from program targets. "The planned transition to a new exchange rate policy by mid-2001 will increase flexibility in this respect" Onal told a conference in Ankara yesterday. Treasury Undersecretary Selcuk Demiralp told the same conference that the current account deficit was the most important indicator for the success of an IMF-backed economic reform program. /All papers/[25] NEW COMPANIES OPENEDNew companies and cooperatives rose by 11.92 % from last year to 10,904. According to the State Institute of Statistics (DIE), companies and cooperatives shutting down in the first four months of this year numbered 679. /All papers/[26] TURKEY AMONG THE TOP 10 AFTER 23 YEARSIf the targets outlined in Turkey's Eighth Five-Year Development Strategy Draft are realized, Turkey will be among the top 10 countries throughout the world with a population of 83.6 million and a national income of $1.9 trillion in current prices. The draft envisages a 6.5 % growth rate during the 2001-2005 period and 7 % during the 2006-2023 period. /Aksam/[27] ERDEMIR TO START HIGH-TECH POWER PLANTState-owned iron and steel concern Erdemir said it would set up a 25 megawatt power plant to generate 1.2 billion kilowatt_hour electricity per year, the company said yesterday. In a statement to the Istanbul Stock Exchange, Erdemir said the advanced technology plant would supply part of the electricity needed for uninterrupted production of hot minerals. /All papers/[28] TURCAS EYES LEAD ROLE IN OIL RETAILINGTurkish oil retailer Turcas is eyeing the lead role in the oil retailing market in the new century, Turcas Chairman Erdal Aksoy told an annual shareholders' meeting yesterday. Shareholders accepted to increase its capital to TL 16.2 trillion, up from the current TL 7.3 trillion, the Anatolia News Agency reports. Turcas plans to spend several millions of dollars in the coming years to expand its gas station network through deals with strategically positioned gas stations, Aksoy added.[29] TWO CARTOONISTS IN NEW YORKKyoto Seika University in Japan opened an international cartoon exhibition, which will participate in the activities of the World Environment Day, at the United Nations Public Gallery in New York. This exhibition, during which the cartoons of Eray Ozbek and Atila Ozer from Turkey were also displayed, will be opened at the Art Museum in the Municipality of Kyoto in Japan between 14 and 26 November. /Cumhuriyet/[30] FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...[31] HOPES FOR MEMBERSHIP TO THE EU BY ILTER TURKMEN (HURRIYET)Former Ambassador Ilter Turkmen writes on Turkey's expectations regarding its full-membership to the EU. A summary of his column is as follows:"Last week 'Turkish Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association' (TUSIAD) Chairman Erkut Yucaoglu participated in a symposium in Brussels and delivered a convincing and influential speech which was received favourably by all. He also distributed documents including comprehensive information on Turkey's political and economic problems. The private sector is continuing its efforts on the issue. However the official institutions of the State are standing-by at this stage. Ambassador Volkan Vural expected to be assigned as the secretary general of the organization responsible for coordination on these issues also participated in the symposium and made an excellent presentation using his diplomatic experience and knowledge despite all uncertainties in the Government policy. In spite of the inaction which was going on, Ankara has reflected the political will which was seen in the EU Helsinki Summit to technical staff at the Commission and Council. All units are working in line with a calendar and are preparing the draft on Participation Partnership to present to the Turkish Government in order to learn its views. Following the expression of Turkish views, in October the final document of Participation Partnership will be submitted and there won't be any discussions on this text. At that stage Turkey is expected to prepare a national program for the implementation of the decisions in this text. Ankara is inactive on many issues it defended in the past. However, the problems with the EU do not only stem from the inaction of Ankara. The EU has important institutional problems. During the expansion negotiations conducted with 12 states, unexpected difficulties arose. The discussion between those who favour a federal structure for the union and those who are opposed to it is growing. On the other hand, the hesitations in France and Germany concerning Turkey have been voiced. There are those who underline the disagreement between the civilizations and culture in additon to others who do not consider Turkey a European country even geographically. One view expressed concerning Turkey is that, they do not know what to do if Russia follows suit when Turkey becomes a member. This is not a realistic question. Turkey is European State as Russia but Russia is still an empire which wants to change the status quo. The path before Turkey is long and full of traps. It has to overcome the fixed ideas and prejudices in the European community and start negotiations with the EU as soon as possible. The policies of postponement and delay should be ended. Otherwise, the hopes for membership can easily be dashed. It should not be forgotten that there are many people in Turkey who do not want to be an EU member". Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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