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Turkish Press Review, 01-10-08
From: Turkish Directorate General of Press and Information <http://www.byegm.gov.tr>
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Press
& Information
Turkish
Press
Foreign
Press in Turkey
Turkish
Press Review >>
Press
Guide
Summary of the political and economic
news in the Turkish press this morning
08.10.2001
CONTENTS
[01] AND THE WAR BEGINS
[02] EXTRAORDINARY NIGHT IN ANKARA
[03] CHENEY INFORMS SEZER
[04] SPECIAL PROTECTION FOR EMBASSIES
[05] GUREL EXPRESSES SOLIDARITY WITH PAKISTAN
[06] TASAR VISITS MOSCOW
[07] YILMAZ: "OUR PRIORITY IS ECONOMY"
[08] DISCUSSIONS ON LAWS AHEAD IN THE PARLIAMENT
[09] TURK RETURNS FROM MOSCOW WITH HOPES
[10] KHARRAZZI TO VISIT ANKARA
[11] PAPANDREOU REFERS TO NEW ERA IN TIES WITH TURKEY
[12] YILMAZ HOPEFUL ABOUT EU MEMBERSHIP TALKS
[13] COUNCIL TO DISCUSS TURKEY AND TERRORISM
[14] NO SUPPORT FROM G-7s TO TURKEY
[15] EXPORT TO NEIGHBOUR COUNTRIES INCREASES
[16] IMF SENDS BUDGET TEAM
[17] TURKISH AIRLINES (THY)
[18] SHORT TERM FOREIGN DEBT DECREASES
[19] AWARDS GIVEN AT GOLDEN ORANGE FILM FESTIVAL
[20] MEVLANA MOSQUE IN HOLLAND OPENS
[21] EU GRANTS 43.5 MILLION EURO TO GAP
[22] EUROPEAN FILM FESTIVAL STARTS
[23] 53TH FRANKFURT BOOK FAIR
[24] WORLD'S LARGEST MOSAIC MUSEUM TO BE ESTABLISHED
[25] FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS
[26] THE AFTERMATH OF SEPTEMBER 11 AND TURKISH MODEL BY SUKRU ELEKDAG (SABAH)
[01] AND THE WAR BEGINS
The United States and the Great Britain have launched military airstrikes
against the Taleban Administration in Afghanistan yesterday. The first
strikes began about 19:27 p.m. and targeted the Taleban's air defense
installations, airport-based command centers, airfields, defense ministry,
and energy production facilities. Stating that the retaliation was aimed
at Taleban, not Afghan civilians, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
said about 15 land-based bombers, 25 strike aircraft and U.S. and British
ships and submarines fired about 50 Tomahawk missiles against terrorist
targets. Western leaders have expressed their support for the US and
British military strikes against targets in Afghanistan. US President
George W. Bush said the airstrikes were joined by Great Britain, with
assorted intelligence efforts and logistical support from several other
nations, including France, Germany, Australia and Canada. Bush described
the action as "carefully targeted," and said its aim was to "cut the
military capability of the Taleban regime." /All Papers/
[02] EXTRAORDINARY NIGHT IN ANKARA
Following the start of the US strike to Afghanistan, a meeting was held
last night chaired by Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit. Deputies of Prime
Minister Devlet Bahceli and Mesut Yilmaz , Minister of Foreign Affairs
Ismail Cem, Minister of State Sukru Sina Gurel, Minister of Defense
Sabahattin Cakmakoglu, Chief of the General Staff Huseyin Kivrikoglu, Prime
Ministry Military Counsellor Lieutenant-Gen. Koksal Karabay, National
Intelligence Service Undersecretary Senkal Atasagun and Undersecretary of
Foreign Affairs Ministery Ugur Ziyal attended the extraordinary meeting.
After the 3 hour-meeting, a written statement saying, "Turkey who has been
defending the necessity of fight against terrorism for many years, supports
both the strenghtening of the international law and establishment of an
organization for international cooperation regarding the subject," was
issued. Premier Bulent Ecevit and Foreign Minister Ismail Cem then visited
the President at Presidential Palace and met for a while. Ecevit is also
expected to meet with opposition parties' leaders today. On the other hand,
security measures were increased around the buildings of the
representatives of NATO member countries in Ankara.
/Turkiye/
[03] CHENEY INFORMS SEZER
Reportedly, US Vice President Dick Cheney called Presiedent A. Necdet Sezer
just before the start of the US military operation to Afghanistan to inform
him. According to the Presidential Press Office, pointing that the target
of the operation is terrorists, Cheney emphasized they will take care of
not to harm the Afghan nation. Cheney also expressed US appreciation for
Turkey's support. President Sezer said he welcomes the commonsense US has
shown for innocent people and wished success during the operation. On the
other hand, Sezer cancelled his visit to Eskisehir scheduled for today.
/Turkiye/
[04] SPECIAL PROTECTION FOR EMBASSIES
Due to the "Enduring Freedom" operation, the police blockaded the American
Embassy in Ankara. Paris Street, on which the American Embassy takes place,
and the intersecting streets have been closed and at the crossroads the
identity control have been made. In addition, the police in Ankara began to
control the regions in which foreigners lived, particularly the British and
Israeli Embassies. Meanwhile, the Minister of the Interior, Rustu Kazim
Yucelen, gave an order to the effect that the crisis desks within the
Ministry and the Directorate General of Security will be active. In
addition, the security precautions will be taken at the Embassies of the
NATO-member countries, Consulates and the other missions. /Hurriyet/
[05] GUREL EXPRESSES SOLIDARITY WITH PAKISTAN
State Minister Sukru Sina Gurel stated that Turkey and Pakistan show
complete solidarity in the international fight against terrorism, and said
the burden should not be faced only by Pakistan but must be shared by all
countries. Gurel held a press conference yesterday in Islamabad, where he
came as the special envoy of the government. He told the reporters that he
had had a long and fruitful meeting with Pakistan Foreign Minister Abdul
Settar, was briefed by President Perwez Musharraf and submitted Prime
Minister Bulent Ecevit's written message to him. Gurel acknowledged that
Pakistan faces hard times. "As a matter of fact," said Gurel, "These are
the times when friendships are tested. Our visit's aim is the confirmation
of the brotherhood relations between Turkey and Pakistan." Gurel also
mentioned the American response: "The United States started discovering and
punishing the criminals with international support. Turkey and Pakistan
share the same ideas, however, both countries think that the innocent
Afghan people must not be punished." Gurel told the press that the two
countries had responded positively to the guarantees given to them.
/Turkish Daily News/
[06] TASAR VISITS MOSCOW
After his visit to Germany and Japan, Tourism Minister Mustafa Tasar
visited Moscow to participate in the "BDT Travel Market 2001" fair in St.
Petersburg. Tasar said there was no need to worry about tourism in Turkey,
as the effect of the attacks in the US was less than expected and he added,
"For tourism, the next year will be better than the last year." Completing
his visits, Tasar returned to Turkey on Sunday. /Turkish News/
[07] YILMAZ: "OUR PRIORITY IS ECONOMY"
Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Motherland Party (ANAP) Mesut
Yilmaz said that the priority of ANAP was the economy. Stating that they
agreed to hold the next elections in 2004 as the coalition partners, Yilmaz
said, "I do not find it right to talk about elections while we are pursuing
an economic program. Our priority as ANAP was the economic problems. We
will present a report to the government on solving problems of financial
sector and manufacturing industry which will be prepared by experts."
/Cumhuriyet/
[08] DISCUSSIONS ON LAWS AHEAD IN THE PARLIAMENT
After enacting the constitutional amendment package, the Turkish Parliament
will continue to work by monitoring activities. The Parliamentary
Consultation Board will convene today to determine the agenda of this week.
The Bill on Turkish Civil Code and censure motions are expected to be
brought to the agenda. Additionally, Parliament has 130 bills and 107
proposals on its agenda waiting to be discussed. /Cumhuriyet/
[09] TURK RETURNS FROM MOSCOW WITH HOPES
Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Turk, who attended the 24th European Justice
Ministers Conference in Moscow, returned home on Saturday night. Turk told
reporters at Ataturk Airport that the adjustment of judicial decisions to
European standards and international cooperation against terrorism were the
two major topics of the meeting. Turk said he delivered a speech at the
conference stressing that Turkey, a country that has suffered from
terrorism for years, knows very well the pain caused by Sept. 11 attacks.
Turk said, "All participating ministers denounced the Sept. 11 attacks.
They agreed that there was a need to access the terrorism issue and its
legal aspects. They decided that all nations should join in efforts to
protect the supremacy of law, human rights and pluralist democracy."
/Turkish News/
[10] KHARRAZZI TO VISIT ANKARA
Iran's Foreign Minister Kemal Kharrazzi is due to visit Ankara in the first
week of November, Foreign Ministry resources have disclosed. Kharrazzi is
due in Ankara for a one-day working visit as the official guest of his
Turkish counterpart Ismail Cem. Pointing to the fact that relations between
the two countries have been improving over the past years, as well as
regional and international issues, would be discussed during the
talks. /Turkish News/
[11] PAPANDREOU REFERS TO NEW ERA IN TIES WITH TURKEY
Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou said that in his opinion a new era
had opened in his country's relations with Turkey. Papandreou said Greece
was always supportive of good relations with Turkey on the basis of human
rights, democratic rules, and respect for international law. He said they
wanted to see Turkey to remain as a secular and democratic state, which
also instituted new measures to enhance and deepen its democracy.
Papandreou mentioned illegal smuggling in humans and drugs, terrorism, and
organized crime as the areas for the two countries to cooperate closely.
/Turkish News/
[12] YILMAZ HOPEFUL ABOUT EU MEMBERSHIP TALKS
Deputy Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz said over the weekend that Turkey could
fulfill its obligations for membership to the EU earlier than the period
foreseen in the National Programme, and start full membership negotiations
soon. Sending a message to the seminar held in the Turkish-EU Foundation on
"Relations of Turkey and the EU" on Saturday, Yilmaz said that Turkey
displayed its resolution for EU membership through the constitutional
amendment bill it had adopted recently. / Turkish News/
[13] COUNCIL TO DISCUSS TURKEY AND TERRORISM
The foreign ministers of EU member states will discuss relations with
Turkey and terrorism during its regular monthly meeting today in
Luxembourg. The European Council will be informed about recent political
developments in Turkey as well as the continuing efforts for legal reform
by the European Commission. The Council will evaluate Ankara's position
with regard to the European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP). Some EU
diplomats were quoted as saying that Ankara had toughened its stance on the
issue after September 11 attacks against the United States. The European
Council is also expected to approve a list of terrorists and their
organizations, and the financial sources of these organizations will be cut
where possible. No consensus was seen among the member states concerning
the above mentioned list. /Turkish Daily News/
[14] NO SUPPORT FROM G-7s TO TURKEY
During the meeting of the G-7 Group's Ministers of Finance and Treasury no
support was given to Turkey for additional financial aid. The main topic of
the meeting of ministers from the US, Britian, France, Germany, Italy,
Japon and Canada were the world's economic situation and precautions
against terrorism following the Sep. 11 terrorist attack in the US.
Replying to a question whether Turkey was discussed in the meeting or not,
US Secretary of Treasury Paul O'Neill said, "We took up the situation in
Turkey and some other countries, and agreed that financial aids to those
countires should be ensured by means of international financial
organizations, such as the IMF and World Bank." /Turkiye/
[15] EXPORT TO NEIGHBOUR COUNTRIES INCREASES
About $ 1.7 billion-export has been realized to neighbour countries between
Jan. and July in 2001. According to Foreign Trade Undersecretariat, the
share of the export to those countries increased from 5% to 11% in last two
years. With 110.4%, the largest increase was observed in the export to
Iraq. /Turkiye/
[16] IMF SENDS BUDGET TEAM
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) sent a delegation, consisting of
budget experts, to Ankara to determine the budget targets of the year 2002
and the macroeconomic indicator targets. The delegation will participate in
the budget preparations by October 11, on which the Supreme Planning
Council (YPK) is working. The IMF Chief to the Turkish Desk, Juha Kahkonen
will not be present at the delegation. /Hurriyet/
[17] TURKISH AIRLINES (THY)
The Minister of Communication, Oktay Vural, will present a package to the
Council of Ministers so the airlines companies, which have been suffering
from the financial crisis as the insurance companies had increased the
premium rates, can be provided with resources and enjoy special discounts.
Within the framework of the precaution package, which is expected to be
approved by the State Minister responsible for Economy, Kemal Dervis, the
private airlines companies will be given financial resources amounting to
106 million US dollars by the Treasury. Representatives from the State
Airlines Managements (DHMI), Civilian Aviation, Turkish Airlines (THY) and
the private airline companies met upon the instruction of Vural and
discussed the precautions that should be taken. Bureaucrats, chaired by the
Deputy Undersecretary Selcuk Coskun listened to the problems and the
suggestions for solutions that were mentioned by the representatives of
THY and 11 private airline companies, continue their preparations for an
urgent precaution package. /Milliyet/
[18] SHORT TERM FOREIGN DEBT DECREASES
Turkey's short term foreign debt, which amounted to 29 billion US dollars
due to the monetary policy of the last year, has decreased to 20.8 billion
US dollars at the end of July. According to the data of the Central Bank,
the short term foreign debt has decreased by 8.1 billion US dollars. Thus,
the short term foreign debt stock has decreased to its minimum point since
1997. /Milliyet/
[19] AWARDS GIVEN AT GOLDEN ORANGE FILM FESTIVAL
The 38th Golden Orange Film Festival ended with the distribution of awards.
Eleven films that competed through the festival and were viewed by cinema
lovers in Antalya over five days finally received the results and the
winners received the golden figurine. At the film festival, Handan Ipekci's
"Buyuk Adam Kucuk Ask" won the best film award and Zeki Demirkubuz won the
best director award with his film "Yazgi". Demet Akbag for her role in
"Vizontele" and Yesim Salkim with her role in "Sarkici" shared the best
actress award. Altan Erkekli won the best actor award for his role in
"Vizontele". For the first time, this year at the film festival a
"Hollywood Motel" open air museum was set up in Antalya. The Golden Orange
Film Festival still holds its image of being the most important and
distinctive film festival in Turkey. /Turkish Daily News/
[20] MEVLANA MOSQUE IN HOLLAND OPENS
Holland's most modern mosque, the Mevlana Mosque, has opened in Rotterdam
with a ceremony attended by Chairman of Religious Affairs Mehmet Nuri
Yilmaz. The area where the Mevlana Mosque is built has changed its name to
Mavlanapein (The Place of Mevlana). The mosque was built with the financial
support of the Religious Foundation of Holland and Turkish citizens living
in Holland. "Assaults to mosques in some European countries are also terror
acts" said Yilmaz during the speech he made in the opening ceremony. Yilmaz
stressed the importance of interracial, intercultural and mutual tolerance.
/Turkish Daily News/
[21] EU GRANTS 43.5 MILLION EURO TO GAP
It has been reported that the European Union has approved a "Project
Package" including three projects presented by the Southeastern Anatolia
Project's (GAP) Regional Development Administration, and has decided to
grant 43.5 million Euro. GAP Regional Development Administration Chairman
Olcay Unver stated that the Project Package included a "Rural Development
Project," a "Project to Strengthen the Centers for Supporting Investors"
and a "Project to Protect Cultural Heritage and Archaeological Entities."
He also said the administration will start to use this resource in February
2002. /Turkish Daily News/
[22] EUROPEAN FILM FESTIVAL STARTS
The European Film Festival will start in Ankara on September 12. Then the
"Festival on Wheels" will go to Bursa, Izmir and Diyarbakir. During the
festival, which will be held with the contribution of the European
Commission in Turkey, Europa Cinamas and the European Film Festivals
Coordination, the films of famous directors will be viewed. Within the
framework of the 7th European Film Festival, a book titled "Director: Atif
Yilmaz" will be prepared for Atif Yilmaz, who celebrates his 50th year of
art. This book consists of the articles written by the actors, actresses,
script-writers, producers and directors, who have worked with Yilmaz, and
will be presented to Yilmaz as a present during the opening of the
festival. /Sabah/
[23] 53TH FRANKFURT BOOK FAIR
The Ministry of Culture will participate in the 53th Frankfurt Book Fair
which will be held between October 10-15. Minister of Culture Istemihan
Talay will attend the opening ceremony. /Cumhuriyet/
[24] WORLD'S LARGEST MOSAIC MUSEUM TO BE ESTABLISHED
Southeastern Anatolian Project (GAP) Administration Chairman Olcay Unver
said that the world's largest mosaic museum will be established by the
Firat (Euphrates) River. He said that the largest mosaic museum is in
Tunisia and the second is is Antakya, and a new one will be esatblished at
the ancient city of Zeugma by the Firat River. The museum will cost $ 100
million and financial support will be given by the Packard Institute.
/Turkish News/
[25] FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS
[26] THE AFTERMATH OF SEPTEMBER 11 AND TURKISH MODEL BY SUKRU ELEKDAG
(SABAH)
Former Ambassador Sukru Elekdag comments on the clash of civilisations in
the aftermath of the attack against the USA. A summary of his column is as
follows:
"Terrorist attacks perpetrated against the US, have brought political
scientist Samuel Huntington's theory into the agenda which says that the
clash between communism and capitalism was replaced by the clash of
civilizations or religions. Huntington's argument stressed that the West
would be challenged by the Islamic world and that the fight between the
religions would take place either between the West and Islam or the Asian
civilization under the influence of Confucius and the West. With this
concept, another argument concerning Turkey has come to the fore. That is,
Turkey can undertake a mission to secure peace and harmony between the
Western and Islamic civilizations due to the values she has adopted and
represents today. In fact, leading American historian Bernard Lewis in his
article in the French 'Le Figaro' daily said that none of the Arab
countries were able to create a state system in the Islamic world. He added
that Turks and Iranians had formed two different state systems. Lewis
compares 'Kemalism', which aims to reach modern standards, with Iran's
model which sees modern civilization as an enemy and puts religion at the
center of the state. He says that the only system which has the chance for
survival is the Turkish model and suggests the countries lying from the
Middle East to the Cental Asia to take Turkish model as an example. Michael
Radu, one of the specialists in the Foreign Policy Institute in Washington
also underlined the fact that the state system established by Ataturk, is a
successful example which shows that Islam and Western political values are
not at odds with each other. He regarded the struggle against terrorism
being viewed as a violation of human rights by European countries far from
being serious. Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi's words scorning Islamic
civilizations shoud not come as a surprise. In the West there is a
widespread prejudice that Islam is anti-democratic in essence and Islamic
and democratic values contradict eah other. Therefore, the Christian world
believes that pluralistic democracy and industrial societies can only exist
in an environment where Christian cultural values are prevalent. Japan is
accepted as an exception to this belief. However, Turkey is the only
state which can disprove this claim as the only system sheltering Islam,
secular state structure, pluralistic democracy and market economy. For this
system to be accepted by the whole world, she has to eliminate her
shortcomings in the areas of democracy, human rights and transparency and
take her rightful place among the the first group of countries. The road
to accomplishing this passes through becoming a full EU member. As the
representative of 'secular-democratic-republic' Turkey's promotion to the
first league will acquire a special importance in both the East and the
West. The EU also needs such a Turkey as much as the world does. From a
strategic point of view, the EU will greatly benefit by admitting such a
Turkey into the Union in this enlargement process."
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