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Turkish Press Review, 00-08-09
From: Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs <http://www.mfa.gov.tr>
09.08.00
Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning
CONTENTS
[01] SEZER VETOES THE CONTROVERSIAL DECREE
[02] COALITION PARTNERS MEET TO DISCUSS PRESIDENT'S VETO
[03] PRIME MINISTER ECEVIT: "TURKEY WILL BE A MODEL"
[04] EL-SHAZLY'S STATEMENT
[05] NEW DECREE FOR THE MUNICIPALITIES
[06] MINISTER TURK IN SAKARYA
[07] ADMIRAL ERDIL HEADS FOR ROMANIA
[08] RUSSIA'S MILITARY INSPECTION IN TURKEY
[09] NARCOTICS OPERATION
[10] CROSS-BORDER ILLEGAL MIGRATION
[11] EXPORTS TO IRAQ
[12] BIG COMPETITION FOR SATELLITE BIDDING
[13] INDUSTRIAL OUTPUT 3.4 PERCENT
[14] TELSIM LAUNCHES SERVICE FOR FASTER INTERNET ACCESS
[15] QUALITY AWARD TO CENAJANS GREY
[16] TURSAB ATTEMPTS TO BOOST FAITH TOURISM
[17] 12TH GOLDEN COCOON FILM FESTIVAL IS POSTPONED
[18] BESIKTAS BEATS LOCOMOTIVE MOSCOW
[01] SEZER VETOES THE CONTROVERSIAL DECREE
Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer yesterday refused to approve
a decree in the force of law which would dismiss hundreds of
civil servants who are allegedly involved in reactionary and
separatist activities. President Sezer said the dismissal of
civil servants should be backed by law instead of decree.
President Sezer's Press Office said in a statement, "The
President has returned the decree with the belief that the
principle of the state of law obliges that the arrangements
sought by the decree should be made by law." In the statement,
Sezer reaffirmed his commitment to defending the constitutional
principle of secularism. /All papers/
[02] COALITION PARTNERS MEET TO DISCUSS PRESIDENT'S VETO
It is expected the coalition government partners will meet today
to discuss President Ahmet Necdet Sezer's veto for the decree in
the force of law concerning the dismissal of the civil servants
who are involved in reactionary and separatist actions. Prime
Minister Bulent Ecevit said, "I will discuss the issue with the
chairmen of the coalition parties." Mr. Ecevit, Deputy Prime
Minister and Chairman of Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Devlet
Bahceli, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of Motherland Party
(ANAP) Mesut Yilmaz are expected to meet today. It was claimed
that the government would try to pass the decree as a law when
the Parliament returns from recess in October rather than sending
it back to the President which might cause a tension between the
government and the President. Meanwhile, opposition parties
indicated their appraisement with the President's veto of the
decree in the force of law. Spokesmen of True Path Party (DYP)
and the Virtue Party (FP) said that the President displayed his
loyalty to the principle of supremacy of law. /Turkiye/
[03] PRIME MINISTER ECEVIT: "TURKEY WILL BE A MODEL"
Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said that Turkey would be a modern
and model country for its contemporary understanding of Islam.
Prime Minister Ecevit said that during the 4th Eurosia Islamic
Council which was held in Sarajevo between 25-28 July, very
important decisions were taken. He said that some of them were
setting of the dates of religious holidays by the Directorate of
Religious Affairs; establishment of education and research
centers on Islam in Turkey, the need for a contemporary
interpretation of Koran and re-examination of fikh (canonical
decisions) and hadiths (words of Prophet Muhammed) in the light
of today's development in science and socio-political life,
prevention of exploiting the religion for political gains.
/Sabah/
[04] EL-SHAZLY'S STATEMENT
Egyptian Ambassador to Ankara, Muhammed Fathi El-Shazly, said
they expect Turkey to play a more active role in the Middle East
peace process. In his statement to daily Cumhuriyet El-Shazly
said: "Turkey's role should be above being a mediator. Turkey has
followed a very cautious policy concerning the issue until now. I
think you should have an independent initiative in the region. We
consider Turkey as an inseparable part of the Middle East".
/Cumhuriyet/
[05] NEW DECREE FOR THE MUNICIPALITIES
Deputy Prime Minister and State Minister Devlet Bahceli said, "As
government, we are determined to eliminate the shortcomings the
local municipalities face". It was stated that the government
prepared a decree on controlling the budgets of the muicipalities
and avoiding the waste of resources. According to the decree the
expenses and the investments of the municipalities will be
transparent. The procedures of the activities ranging from buying
official cars to the employment of workers will change within the
new decree. In addition, the decree includes certain measures for
ensuring new resources for the municipalities. These measures
will be based on new taxes. /Turkiye/
[06] MINISTER TURK IN SAKARYA
Minister of Justice Hikmet Sami Turk visited Governor of Sakarya
Cahit Kirac and was briefed on the the works that were carried
out after the last year's devastating earthquake. On the other
hand, in response to a question, Turk stated that the abolution
of death penalty would be beneficial for Turkey in terms of its
relations with the European Union (EU). Also answering a question
concerning the extradition of Fehriye Erdal, Turk said that they
had informed Belgian officials that nobody had been executed in
Turkey since 1984 and that they had wanted the woman's political
asylum claim to be denied and be extradited to Turkey. He added
that the death penalty was a major obstacle to Turkey's relations
with other EU countries. /Cumhuriyet/
[07] ADMIRAL ERDIL HEADS FOR ROMANIA
Naval Forces Commander Admiral Ilhami Erdil went to Romania at
the official invitation of Romanian Naval Forces Commander Traian
Atanasiu, whom Erdil is scheduled to visit. He will lay a wreath
at the Turkish Military Cemetery in Bucharest on 11 August. Erdil
is also scheduled to visit Romanian Chief of Staff Mircea Chelaru
on the same day, after which he will return to Turkey. /Turkish
Daily News/
[08] RUSSIA'S MILITARY INSPECTION IN TURKEY
Within the scope of the Open Skies Agreement signed in 1992,
Russia will hold military inspections in Turkey between August
7-11. An aircraft called "An-30B" flew to Turkey for that
purpose. The representatives of the "Center for Reducing the
Nuclear Threat", affiliated with the Russian Ministry of Defense,
also came to Turkey to conduct the inspections. The Russian
delegation is equipped with a camera called AFA-41_10 which will
be used for the inspection from the air. The Open Skies Agreement
was considered to be one of the key points for controlling the
military activities all over the world. The same Russian
delegation was in the US recently to conduct inspections within
the scope of the Agreement. /Turkiye/
[09] NARCOTICS OPERATION
The Istanbul Narcotics Branch Directorate seized 55.5 kilos of
heroin destined for smuggling overseas during an operation in
Bagcilar. Istanbul police pursued a group of smugglers who were
reportedly carrying heroin from Southeastern Anatolia to Europe.
Police took three individuals into custody. Officials stated that
market value of the heroin is estimated TL 1 trillion.
/Cumhuriyet/
[10] CROSS-BORDER ILLEGAL MIGRATION
It was reported that 2,515 foreigners, caught while attempting to
cross the border into Turkey at seven separate locations in Van
province, had been deported. The security forces stated that
improved security measures to prevent illegal border crossings
have resulted in a 10% drop in the number of recorded attempts.
/Turkish Daily News/
[11] EXPORTS TO IRAQ
Turkish businessmen tour of Iraq, Iran and Syria under the
chairmanship of State Minister Edip Safter Gaydali in March paved
the way for establishing new export contacts with these
countries. Turkish companies' contracts with Iraq has increased
five times reaching $190 million. With the approval of other
contracts, the exports will reach $300 million. The exports
include not only food stuff but also industrial products,
construction materials and spare parts for cars. /Milliyet/
[12] BIG COMPETITION FOR SATELLITE BIDDING
After Turkey's reopening its military satellite bidding, the
competition among the US companies has increased. Three US
companies have announced that they wanted to participate the
bidding. Acoording to an article published in Defense News, LM
Space Systems Company has completed its preparation to
participate the satellite bidding. An authority from LM Space
Systems Company, Ed Irvin said they were pleased with Turkey's
reopening of the bidding. It had been announced that the contract
had been awarded to Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI) without
opening the bidding. Therefore Israeli officials said that they
were uneasy with the cancellation of the contract and it was
stated that IAI might prefer to withdraw from the bidding as it
has to compete with three US companies which would decrease its
chance to win the bidding. /Turkiye/
[13] INDUSTRIAL OUTPUT 3.4 PERCENT
State Institute of Statistics (DIE) announced that industrial
output increased by 2.4 percent in June and 3.4 percent in the
first six months of this year. Manufacturing industry output rose
3 percent compared to the same month last year. /Milliyet/
[14] TELSIM LAUNCHES SERVICE FOR FASTER INTERNET ACCESS
Telsim launched a new technology called General Packet Radio
Service (GPRS) to enable the fastest and cheapest access to the
Internet through cellular phones. Telsim became the third GSM
company offering this newest technology to the service of its
customers apart from British Telephone Cellnet and German
T-Mobile. With the GPRS adjustable cellular phones, Telsim
customers will be able to connect to Internet without any extra
charge. /Star/
[15] QUALITY AWARD TO CENAJANS GREY
Cenajans Grey Turkey was presented with the "Quality Summit
Convention for Excellence in Corporate Image and Quality Award"
at the "Quality Summit New York 2000" convention organized by
Business Initiative Directions (BID). The award is given to the
companies which meet the established criteria, such as giving the
best qualified service to the customers with the motto "Do it
better, do the best", qualified administration and production,
customer satisfaction, having a vision, recruiting new
administrators. /Hurriyet/
[16] TURSAB ATTEMPTS TO BOOST FAITH TOURISM
Turkish Association of Travel Agents (TURSAB) Chairman Alex
Baltazzi said Turkey could do very well in faith tourism. He
said, "Turkey has good touristic elements, and if it assesses
these elements in order to promote itself properly, it could be
the third most popular country after Israel and Italy in the
faith tourism sector." This year is very important for Izmir and
Turkey because it is the 5,000th anniversary of Izmir's
establishment as well as the 2,000th anniversary of the birth of
Jesus Christ. In this important year, Turkey wants to participate
in the $50 billion and 100-million-strong tourist global market
for faith tourism. In Turkey there are some 316 sites of interest
concerning faith tourism. Baltazzi told Israel and Italy have
been promoting faith tourism for a long time and that Turkey
should also develop its tactics to compete with such countries.
/Turkish Daily News/
[17] 12TH GOLDEN COCOON FILM FESTIVAL IS POSTPONED
12th Golden Cocoon Film, Culture and Art Activities Festival was
postponed. According to the written statement made by the
Executive Council of the Cocoon Culture, Art and Tourism
Services, the authorization given to the Intermed Company to
organize the festival was cancelled. It was announced in the
statement that the promotion reception which was supposed to be
held in Istanbul was also cancelled. /Turkiye/
[18] BESIKTAS BEATS LOCOMOTIVE MOSCOW
At Championship League qualifying tour match which was held last
night in Istanbul, Besiktas beat its Russian rival Lokomotive
Moscow 3-0. /Star/
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