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Turkish Press Review, 02-04-09
From: Turkish Directorate General of Press and Information <http://www.byegm.gov.tr>
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Press
& Information
Turkish
Press
Foreign
Press Guide
Summary of the political and economic
news in the Turkish press this morning
09.04.2002
CONTENTS
[01] SEZER SIGNS HARMONIZATION LAW
[02] SEZER TO VISIT EASTERN ANATOLIA
[03] CEM: “TURKEY WILL COMPLETE ITS REFORMS”
[04] DENKTAS: “DON’T IMPOSE TIMETABLE ON SETTLEMENT”
[05] IRANIAN AMBASSADOR LAVASANI MEETS AKP CHAIRMAN ERDOGAN
[06] CHINESE PRIME MINISTER TO VISIT TURKEY
[07] IRAQ CUTS OIL EXPORTS TO PROTEST ISRAEL
[08] IMF EXECUTIVE BOARD TO DISCUSS TURKEY THIS MONTH
[09] CENTRAL BANK LOWERS INTEREST RATES
[10] DSP ADANA DEPUTY RESIGNS FROM PARTY
[11] TURKISH ENERGY COULD BE SOLD TO TRNC AND SOUTHERN
CYPRUS
[12] TOURISM SPIKE SEEN IN MARCH
[13] POLAND TO SPOTLIGHT TURKISH PHOTOGRAPHER
[14] FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…
[15] ANKARA APPROACH BY FIKRET BILA (MILLIYET)
[16] EUROPE STILL A PAPER TIGER BY SEMIH IDIZ (STAR)
[01] SEZER SIGNS HARMONIZATION LAW
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer signed into law yesterday a
harmonization bill which, following the lead of the Turkish Constitution,
moves Turkey further into line with European Union norms. The law is to
take effect after being published in the Official Gazette today. /Hurriyet/
[02] SEZER TO VISIT EASTERN ANATOLIA
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer will travel to two provinces in eastern
Anatolia this week to attend ceremonies as part of the “Campaign to
Support National Education” as well as to hold a series of meetings with
officials in the region. Sezer is expected to leave for Malatya today
and to proceed to Elazig tomorrow. /All Papers/
[03] CEM: “TURKEY WILL COMPLETE ITS REFORMS”
Speaking to the British Council in Turkey’s special bulletin
yesterday, Foreign Minister Ismail Cem said that Turkey would complete
all the reforms to which it has pledged. Cem also stated that Turkey
would fulfill the Copenhagen criteria for full European Union membership
but that the government would not compromise the nation’s interests for
the sake of those criteria. This issue is also connected to Turkey’s
profile on the world stage, Cem added. /Hurriyet/
[04] DENKTAS: “DON’T IMPOSE TIMETABLE ON SETTLEMENT”
As part of the direct talks process which began this January to find
a solution to the Cyprus issue, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC)
President Rauf Denktas will meet today with Greek Cypriot leader Glafcos
Clerides to start their third round of talks. Before the meeting,
Denktas issued a written statement urging the United Nations not to
impose a strict timetable on reaching a settlement. The UN has stated
that it wanted the two sides to come to terms by this June. /Hurriyet/
[05] IRANIAN AMBASSADOR LAVASANI MEETS AKP CHAIRMAN ERDOGAN
Iranian Ambassador to Turkey Muhammed Lavasani yesterday met with
Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chairman Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Remarking that relations between Turkey and Iraq were gradually
improving, Lavasani stressed the importance of the natural gas pipeline
agreement the two countries recently signed. Recalling Iranian President
Mohammed Khatami’s recent visit to Greece, Lavasani stated that Turkey,
Iran and Greece were planning to develop joint projects in the future
which would help to improve their relations. Turning to the issue of the
terrorist PKK, Lavasani underlined Iran’s recent decision to recognize
the PKK as a terrorist organization in order to stress Iran’s resolve to
combat terrorism. He also denied that PKK terrorist Cemil Bayik was
taking refuge in Iran. /Cumhuriyet/
[06] CHINESE PRIME MINISTER TO VISIT TURKEY
Chinese Prime Minister Zhu Rongji is to visit Turkey on April 15-19
as an official guest of Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit. A statement by the
Foreign Ministry said that the two prime ministers would discuss
bilateral relations as well as recent regional and international
developments. In addition, Yugoslavian Foreign Minister Goran
Svilanovich is also scheduled to visit Turkey on April 11-12.
/Cumhuriyet/
[07] IRAQ CUTS OIL EXPORTS TO PROTEST ISRAEL
Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein yesterday declared that he would cut oil
exports from his country until Israel withdraws its forces from the
occupied Palestinian territories. Stressing that the Iraqi people also
felt pain from the bloodshed in Palestine, Saddam said, “We want to show
our support for the Palestinian people by cutting oil production until
the Zionist power halts its attacks.” The Iraqi leader noted that oil
transfers from the Kirkuk-Yumurtalik pipeline were also being cut.
Meanwhile, Kenan Veziroglu, director-general of the Turkish Petroleum
Joint Company, said yesterday that the Kirkuk-Yumurtalik pipeline cutoff
would hurt Turkey both by damaging the pipeline’s operations as well as
through revenue losses. He also predicted that oil prices would rise in
the wake of Saddam’s decision. /Turkiye/
[08] IMF EXECUTIVE BOARD TO DISCUSS TURKEY THIS MONTH
The International Monetary Fund Executive Board is scheduled to
convene on April 15. During the meeting, it is expected that the first
review of Turkey’s economic program will be discussed and the additional
Letter of Intent (LOI) that was sent to accompany it will be up for
approval. In order to conclude the first review, Turkey’s government has
fulfilled a number of requirements, including addressing the problem of
nonproductive workers in state economic enterprises (KITs), enactment of
a public financing and borrowing law, the appointment of a council on
bidding and the closing of redundant regional government offices.
Following the board’s approval of the additional LOI, the release of a
first loan tranche to Turkey totaling $1.1 billion is expected. /Star/
[09] CENTRAL BANK LOWERS INTEREST RATES
Amid expectations of a continuing downward trend in inflation, the
Central Bank yesterday lowered overnight and weekly interest rates by 3
percentage points apiece. The former fell from 61 to 58 percent, while
the latter went down from 55 to 52 percent.
In line with these changes, repo-reverse repo rates in Istanbul Stock
Exchange (IMKB) and borrowing rates on the interbank money market were
also cut by 3 points from 54 to 51 percent. In a written statement
accompanying its decision, the CB noted the downward inflation trend in
March on both the consumer price index (CPI) to 65.1 percent and on the
wholesale price index (WPI) to 77.5 percent. The bank attributed these
reductions to lowering prices trends of agricultural and food products,
among other factors. Exceptions to this downward trend were attributed
to recent crude oil prices increases on international markets as well as
inflexible service sector pricing. The bank’s statement predicted that
if government continues to decisively implement its economic program,
the positive trend of reduced inflation would continue. /Hurriyet/
[10] DSP ADANA DEPUTY RESIGNS FROM PARTY
Democratic Left Party (DSP) Adana Deputy Arif Sezer yesterday
resigned from the party. Counting Arif Sezer, the number of independent
deputies in the Parliament rose to 14, while that of DSP deputies fell
to 128. /Turkiye/
[11] TURKISH ENERGY COULD BE SOLD TO TRNC AND SOUTHERN
CYPRUS
A project to sell electricity to the Turkish Republic of Northern
Cyprus (TRNC) via underwater cable is currently being investigated,
sources said yesterday. Additionally, as part of ongoing efforts to
bolster Turkish-Greek economic and energy cooperation, eventual sale to
the Greek Cypriot administration is also being looked into, the sources
added. The initial step in the investigation will explore the
feasibility of laying 70 miles of cable between Anamur on Turkey’s coast
to Girne in the TRNC. /Star/
[12] TOURISM SPIKE SEEN IN MARCH
According to a statement issued by the Tourism Ministry, some 675,000
tourists visited Turkey this March. Foreign tourists from Organization
for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) memeber countries made
up 58.6% of this number, a 20.8% increase compared to the same month
last year. Moreover, the number of visitors from eastern Mediterranean
countries coming to Turkey rose by 26.9% compared to 2001 figures.
/Cumhuriyet/
[13] POLAND TO SPOTLIGHT TURKISH PHOTOGRAPHER
Works by Turkish photographer Cengiz Akduman will be exhibited in
Warsaw, Poland, as part of “Turkish Week” events this month sponsored
jointly by the Turkish-Polish Businessmen’s Association and Poland’s
state television. Akduman’s exhibition entitled “Anatolia Isn’t That Far
Away” will open on April 23. /Cumhuriyet/
[14] FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…
[15] ANKARA APPROACH BY FIKRET BILA (MILLIYET)
Columnist Fikret Bila writes on the Middle East problem and Turkey’s
efforts to bring peace to the region. A summary of his column is as
follows:
“One of the capitals exerting maximum effort to get Israel to end its
occupation of the West Bank and to get both sides to meet
unconditionally at the bargaining table is Ankara. ... Turkey was the
first state to issue warnings that the situation would go from bad to
worse with the escalating Israeli-Palestinian tension accompanying
Sharon’s rise to power in Israel. However, these efforts were of no
avail, and then the crisis erupted. What can be made of this situation?
It seems that little will change until US Secretary of State Colin
Powell arrives in the region. Probably, some result will be achieved
during Powell’s visit. This is a plan the Bush-Sharon cooperation has
begun to implement in stages ... Under these circumstances Ankara is
trying to transform the climate and developments stemming from Powell’s
visit into a peace process. Turkish Foreign Ministry officials, who have
been busy conducting talks with both sides since the beginning of the
crisis with the Israeli occupation, are trying to contribute to the
formation of a strong, broad-based conciliation platform. Foreign
Minister Ismail Cem summarized the Ankara approach as, ‘For a peace
process we can pursue a four-sided strategy, with the contributions of
the UN, the EU, the US and Russia. This is an expectation, and it will
require certain efforts. However, Turkey would like the Organization of
the Islamic Conference (OIC) to be included in this process, as a strong,
broad-based platform would be beneficial for achieving peace. The OIC
should be included because its member countries have been greatly
affected by the clashes between Israel and Palestine.’ Cem stressed the
fact that he had conveyed this idea to the sides regarding such a
meeting during Powell’s visit. He added that Turkey has expressed its
views on the issue to Spain’s ambassador in Ankara, as Spain is the
current president of the EU, and to Qatar officials as the term
president of the OIC. Talks are being conducted with the Israeli,
Palestinian, US, Russian, and EU officials towards the same end. If such
a platform can be established, what kind of a peace initiative will be
explored? Foreign Minister Cem believes that the proposal receiving the
most support up to now is that of Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, which
requests that Israel withdraw to its pre-1967 borders and that Arab
countries normalize their relations with the Israeli state.”
[16] EUROPE STILL A PAPER TIGER BY SEMIH IDIZ (STAR)
Columnist Semih Idiz writes on the Middle East problem and the
policies of the US and the EU on the issue. A summary of his column is
as follows:
“My first impression after listening to President Bush’s address on
the Middle East crisis was that it would help to solve the problem.
President Bush had expressed a determined stance towards both sides and
stated that he would send Secretary of State Colin Powell to the region.
At first glance, these actions seemed important to me. However, Foreign
Ministry officials with whom I had the chance to speak said that they
had come too late, too little. Another official said that the US
administration had given Israel the chance to finish its occupation and
added that Bush had been obliged to say something on the situation. Even
with its inaction the US is right in the middle of the Middle East
problem. It is turning a blind eye to the ongoing violence as it knows
that Sharon, who has completed his occupation plan of the Palestinian
territories, will have a better bargaining hand. This gives time to
Sharon. Meanwhile, by consistently accusing Arafat, this tries to
counter the increasing sympathy felt for the Palestinian leader on the
part of the international community. By doing so, Bush demonstrates that
the US is directly or indirectly involved in this problem and using its
weight in line with US interests. On the other hand, when we take a look
at Europe, we can see a paper tiger both as individual countries and as
a whole. The EU’s influence in the Middle East is nonexistent. What is
more, it has to accept Israel’s diplomatic insults directed at it. The
most concrete example of this is that Israel did not allow a high-level
EU delegation to meet with Arafat. It is highly noteworthy that the same
Israel is permitting special US presidential envoy Anthony Zinni to meet
with the besieged Palestinian leader. A few days ago, one of Danish
Prime Minister Rasmussen’s chief advisors said that Copenhagen was
unsure about establishing a European-based collective defense
organization. He added that Denmark, like Turkey, was against the
weakening of NATO, that is to say the Atlantic tie. The advisor also
said that the views on European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP)
should be clarified after reaching a better understanding of what it is.
He added that presently there were varied views on the topic. To clarify
the issue, the EU had first to develop a common foreign policy. At the
moment there are differing calculations on the crises in the Balkans,
Afghanistan and the Middle East in all the various European countries.
Today the EU may in fact be an economic power. However, it has not yet
become as a political power. It has not evolved beyond than being a
paper tiger in view of certain matters. There are two important examples
of this. The first is that it was unable to define a terrorist
organisation such as the PKK, which has an international network, for
what it is, and secondly with a near-sighted approach has come to the
point of apparently importing a complicated international problem such
as ‘Cyprus’ into its fold.”
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