|
|
|
Turkish Press Review, 00-06-27
From: Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs <http://www.mfa.gov.tr>
27.06.00
Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning
CONTENTS
[01] FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS
[02] NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL CONVENED
[03] ADMIRAL ERKAYA LAID TO REST
[04] ORGANIZATION FOR ISLAMIC CONFERENCE (OIC) CONVENES
[05] CLINTON PRAISES TURKEY'S SUPPORT DURING WAR IN KOREA
[06] CLINTON'S COMMENT ON TURCO-GREEK RELATIONS
[07] ANAP'S PACKAGE ON AMENDMENTS
[08] YILMAZ GOES TO USA
[09] ECZACIBASI SPEAKS AT THE OECD MEETING
[10] GUARANTEE ON STABILITY BY BAHCELI
[11] ECONOMIC SOCIAL COUNCIL MEETING
[12] ISTANBUL CHILDREN'S MEETING
[13] NEW STATE TENDER BILL
[14] WIND ENERGY POWER PLANT
[15] RMK MARINA DOCKYARD BUILDS TANKERS
[16] SAFE PASSAGE THROUGH THE STRAITS
[17] TURKEY'S ECONOMY IN A GROWTH TREND
[18] NEW POWER PLANT IN ISKENDERUN
[19] A HOPEFUL PERIOD IN THE STOCK EXCHANGES
[20] FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS
[21] TURKEY'S REALITY AND THE COPENHAGEN CRITERIA BY METIN TOKER (MILLIYET)
[01] FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS
[02] NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL CONVENED
The National Security Council (MGK), presided by President Ahmet
Necdet Sezer, convened yesterday at Cankaya Palace. During the
4.5-hour meeting, the MGK decided to advise the government to
abolish the State Emergency Rule (OHAL) in the city of Van as of
July 30. A statement declared by the MGK Secretariat said the
council also decided that Emergency Rule should be extended in
four other southeastern cities, Diyarbakir, Hakkari, Sirnak and
Tunceli, for a further four months. Besides, the Council decided
to recommend government to take a series of measures to boost
border trade in the region. Concerning the issue of Turkey's
exclusion from the European Security and Defense Identity (ESDI),
the council said Turkey would continue to follow closely the EU
decisions taken at the summit in Feira and their reflections in
the NATO. /Turkiye/
[03] ADMIRAL ERKAYA LAID TO REST
One of the Chief Consultants of the Prime Ministry, ex-Commander
of the Naval Force, Retired Admiral Guven Erkaya was buried with
a state ceremony at Zincirlikuyu cemetery in Istanbul. The Chief
of General Staff, Gen. Huseyin Kivrikoglu, Force Commanders, high
level officials, parliamentarians and a big crowd of citizens
attended the funeral. /Hurriyet/
[04] ORGANIZATION FOR ISLAMIC CONFERENCE (OIC) CONVENES
Islamic States will discuss "the new economy" in Kuala Lumpur,
Malesia. Turkey is going to bring the issues related to the
Cyprus, Western Thrace and Kosovo on the agenda. Ambassador Ya?ar
Yaky?, representing Turkey at the OIC meeting, is a candidate for
the post of Secretary General of the OIC. /Cumhuriyet/
[05] CLINTON PRAISES TURKEY'S SUPPORT DURING WAR IN KOREA
U.S President Bill Clinton stated that if the allies such as
Turkey would not helped during the Korean War, World War III
would have broken out. At the opening ceremonies in Washington to
mark the 50th anniversary of the start of the Korean War, Clinton
stressed that the Korean War was considered the forgotten war,
although it was the most savage war in history and also played a
key role in the Cold War. Representatives of the 21 countries
which participated in the Korean War, including Turkey attended
the ceremony. /Turkiye/
[06] CLINTON'S COMMENT ON TURCO-GREEK RELATIONS
Clinton explained his views on the Turco-Greek rapprochement
during an interview by the Greek newspaper "To Vima". U.S
President Bill Clinton said that recent developments, experienced
between Turkey and Greece, were promising. Clinton wished that
courageous steps should also continue to solve the Cyprus issue.
/Turkiye/
[07] ANAP'S PACKAGE ON AMENDMENTS
The Motherland Party (ANAP) which launched initiatives for the
amendments on Articles 83 and 100 of the Constitution, is trying
to eliminate the concerns on these issues with its studies.
Noting that Article 100 is totally under the control of politics,
the members of ANAP aim to reduce the effect of politics to a
minimum with a new control mechanism to be formed. According to
the draft discussed at the ANAP Chairmanship Board, the issue to
be investigated will be first deliberated in the Parliament. If
the Parliament suggests the case to be sent to the Supreme Board,
the case will then be taken Preliminary Investigation Commission
which will be made up of six members. Three of the members will
be from the Constitutional Commission and the other three will be
determined by the High Court of Appeals. If this Commission
accepts the case to sent to the Supreme Court, the Parliament
will discuss the issue./Aksam/
[08] YILMAZ GOES TO USA
The leader of the Motherland Party Mesut Yylmaz will go to the
United States after the discussions for Supreme Court files
against him are completed whhen the TGNA convenes on Thursday. It
is reported if he was exonorated in the TGNA investigations, he
would enter the government after his return from the USA.
/Cumhuriyet/
[09] ECZACIBASI SPEAKS AT THE OECD MEETING
Eczacibasi Holding's Chairman of the Administrative Board, Bulent
Eczacibasi stated that the business world had to take initiatives
in order to allow the democracy to work properly. Eczacibasi made
a speech at the meeting entitled "Cooperation Models in the New
Economy" of the Forum 2000 held in parallel to the OECD Council
of Ministers conference. In his speech Eczacibasi explained the
role of the private sector during the the efforts of the
developing countries in adapting to globalization. Noting that
private sector could contribute to the solution of problems by
forming its own pressure groups and non-governmental
organizations, Eczacibasi stated that it had become inevitable to
pay attention to politics, giving the example of Turkey.
/Hurriyet/
[10] GUARANTEE ON STABILITY BY BAHCELI
The Chairman of Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen's
Association (TUSIAD), Erkut Yucaoglu said that State Minister and
Deputy Prime Minister Devlet Bahceli expressed in no uncertain
terms that the Coalition Government would continue and they were
in favour of stability as the business world. State Minister
Devlet Bahceli had received Erkut Yucaoglu and a business
delegation yesterday. Answering the questions of journalists
following the meeting, Yucaoglu said that this economic programme
should be based on sound foundations to pave the way for a
healthy economic growth. /Hurriyet/
[11] ECONOMIC SOCIAL COUNCIL MEETING
The Economic and Social Council which is going to be convened
today under the leadership of Deputy Prime Minister and State
Minister Devlet Bahceli, will discuss the five-month
implementation of the stability programme and the letter of
intention given to IMF. During the meeting the Government will
inform the social parties on the issues and ask for the support
of employers and employees for its fight against inflation.
/Milliyet/
[12] ISTANBUL CHILDREN'S MEETING
The "First Istanbul Children's Meeting", organized by the
Foundation for the Children in Istanbul, a division of the
Istanbul Municipality, and held under the auspices of President
Ahmet Necdet Sezer, began yesterday. 395 children and 260
academicians attended the meeting. President Sezer, in his
message, sent to the meeting, said that to have a healthy future,
children's physical and psychological well-being should be
protected. During the meeting, the problems of children have been
discussed. /Milliyet/
[13] NEW STATE TENDER BILL
Minister of Public Works and Housing, Koray Aydin, and Minister
of Finance, Sumer Oral, organized a joint press conference and
announced the new state tender bill which aims standardizing
procedures and ensuring transparency in the process. Minister
Aydin stated that the bill prepared by a commission, comprised of
experts, after a work of a year. Minister of Finance, Sumer Oral
told that the bill was drafted in line with World Trade
Organization (WTO) and European Union norms. The bill will be
presented to Parliament immediately after the summer recess.
/Turkiye/
[14] WIND ENERGY POWER PLANT
Turkey's biggest wind energy power plant, Bores Bozcaada Wind
Energy Power Plant, constructed by Demirer Holding in Bozcaada,
was inaugurated by the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources,
Cumhur Ersumer. Ersumer stated that the power plant cost 13
million dollar and it would produce energy of 30 million
kilowatt_hr. Stressing that currently, there were three wind
power plants in Turkey, Ersumer said, "In the near future, we
will increase this number to 17." He also pointed out that there
was a 10,000-MW wind power in Turkey. /Turkiye/
[15] RMK MARINA DOCKYARD BUILDS TANKERS
RMK Marina Dockyard, affiliated to Koc Holding, has begun to
build tankers for Dutch and Denmark firms. Each of the tankers
will be 3,900 DWT and completed in 20 months. /Turkiye/
[16] SAFE PASSAGE THROUGH THE STRAITS
The first general assembly of International Association of
Maritime Universities convened in Istanbul. Minister of State
Ramazan Mirzao?lu said that radar towers would be built to
improve the safe passage through the straits. The radar system
will be in use in 2001. /Cumhuriyet/
[17] TURKEY'S ECONOMY IN A GROWTH TREND
Turkey's economy which had shrank last year due to many internal
and external reasons and was hit by Marmara earthquake with final
blow, at last began to grow during the first quarter of the year.
Industrial production has inreased by 3.4 percent in this period
which indicates that general growth will be positive. Industrial
production had the bigger share with 32.6 percent of the GNP in
1999 among other sectors. For this reason alone, growth in GNP at
the first quarter this year is expected to be 1.1 percent even
though the growth rate in other sectors may result with zero
growth. Trade sector has also revived and has the second share in
the growth of GNP. The growth during the first quarter of this
year in the production of durable consumption goods is 21.6
percent. The rate of increase in sales is 19.3 percent.
/Hurriyet/
[18] NEW POWER PLANT IN ISKENDERUN
Germany's engineering Company, the Steag, has signed a contract
yesterday to build a thermic power plant in the Iskenderun
province. The company announced in Essen, Germany that the power
plant is expected to cost about dollars 1.5 billion and it is to
be the biggest investment ever in the past of the company.
/Sabah/
[19] A HOPEFUL PERIOD IN THE STOCK EXCHANGES
New companies are offering their shares to the public which in
turn brings new hopes to Istanbul Stock Exchanges (ISO). The
market has recently suffered a drop because of the low volume of
the transactions. The companies permitted to sell part of their
capital to the public are Ak Energy, Ayen Energy, and Turkcell.
Although the expected market capitalization of the shares will
approach $2 billions, the transaction volume yesterday (on June
25) totaled only about $425 millons which did not paint an
encouraging picture. But players in the market point out that
investors' long term expectations are strong since the economic
indicators are turning out quite well. /Sabah/
[20] FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS
[21] TURKEY'S REALITY AND THE COPENHAGEN CRITERIA BY METIN TOKER (MILLIYET)
Columnist Metin Toker expresses his grief over the death of
Admiral Guven Erkaya. A summary of his column is as follows:
"We have bid farewell to a glittering member of the Armed Forces,
Admiral Guven Erkaya in his last journey. The passing away of
Erkaya has given us the opportunity to recall that in Turkey the
military and the civilians carry the duty of saving and
protection of Turkey jointly. During the critical days leading to
28 February, Admiral Erkaya had said that the society was in an
idle state. He pointed out that everyone was depending on the
Armed Forces to solve the problems if things got worse. However,
he added that solution to political problems should not be
accepted from the Armed Forces and this time it should be solved
by the civilians.
In fact that crisis was averted by the stance of the civilians,
however the spark igniting the fire had again come from the Armed
Forces. It is not a coincidence that among more than 50 Moslem
countries of the world only one has a secular and democratic
state. Neither the Europeans have put forth criteria which would
jeopardize this nor Turkey would have been expected to adhere to
them if they had done so. It is an important point that the
Armed Forces stands against all reactionary forces in Turkey.
However, the same situation can be observed in many other
countries. It is true that the Copenhagen criteria also have a
political aspect to them, and it requires an effective
structuring which has the power of implementing sanctions against
dirty money, corruption and bribes. Those who want to use these
criteria against the military are not talking about them. Admiral
Erkaya who was laid to rest yesterday had defended that the
civilians had to solve these problems."
|
