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TRKNWS-L Turkish Press Review (September 26, 1995)From: hristu@arcadia.harvard.edu (Dimitrios Hristu)Turkish News DirectoryCONTENTS[01] CILLER PRESENTS COALITION TERMS TO YILMAZ[02] DEMIREL LAYS FOUNDATION FOR HYUNDAI PLANT[03] INONU TO ATTEND SIGNING CEREMONY[04] OSCE TEAM TO VISIT KARABAKH[05] VIENNA MEETING TO DISCUSS TURKMEN GAS PROJECT[06] ANKARA RAPS AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT FOR CRITICIZING TURKEY[07] NINE PKK MILITANTS KILLED IN SOUTHEAST[08] TURKEY AND CUBA TO SIGN HEALTH COOPERATION ACCORD[09] TURCO-FINNISH CONTRACTORS SEEK MORE BUSINESS COOPERATION[10] BOYNER TO COUNCIL OF EUROPE: "DON'T LEND SUPPORT TO TERRORISM"[11] OSLO CONFERENCE CRITICIZES THE PKK[12] APOCALYPSE SYMPOSIUM IN PATMOS[13] BOSNIA WAITS FOR TURKISH BUSINESSMEN[14] ATHENS CHANGING TACTICS[15] TURKEY IN GOTEBORG BOOK FAIR[16] PETROL PIPE CONFLICT CONTINUES[17] EUROPEAN BANK SUPPORTS CU WITH TURKEY[18] PAKISTAN'S CHIEF OF GENERAL STAFF TO VISIT TURKEY TODAY[19] GIANT TOURISM OPPORTUNITY[20] TURKEY LAUNCHES "FAITH TOURISM" TOURTURKISH PRESS REVIEWTUESDAY SEPTEMBER 26, 1995Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning[01] CILLER PRESENTS COALITION TERMS TO YILMAZAfter meeting with Chairman of the Motherland Party (ANAP), Mesut Yilmaz, on coalition terms -following a meeting on Saturday-, Prime Minister-designate Tansu Ciller said the coalition between her True Path Party (DYP) and ANAP had to be a "government of solutions" instead of being a mere caretaker government as Yilmaz prefers. She said the elections could be held in June instead of October as they are normally, but Yilmaz had to take part in the government and that the Cabinet seats had to be shared between the two parties in proportion to their parliamentary strengths. Ciller said her terms had to be accepted or rejected as an indivisible package and she expected an immediate answer. Adressing a press conference after the 45-minute meeting, Yilmaz said they did not regard the tabling of rigid conditions as a "constructive step", but conceded that Ciller's backing down from her insistence on a government to last until the normal time of elections -October next year- was a positive proposal worth studying. Yilmaz said his party's decision-making bodies would evaluate Ciller's conditions on Tuesday. The two leaders are scheduled to meet again tomorrow. /Milliyet/
[02] DEMIREL LAYS FOUNDATION FOR HYUNDAI PLANTPresident Suleyman Demirel laid the foundation stones of the new Hyundai Assan automobile factory yesterday, and urged foreign companies to invest in Turkey to benefit from its unique position between Europe and Asia. He said: "Turkey is a secure, stable and democratic country". The car factory, to be located near the western industrial city of Izmit, will be a joint venture between Turkey's Kibar Holding and South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co. The two firms will each have a 50 % stake in the venture. Once the factory begins operating at full capacity, the $400 million investment will turn out 100,000 passenger cars and 20,000 commercial vehicles every year. The factory is slated to begin production in September 1997. "We love these types of investments because they generate employment, industrial production, exports and taxes" Demirel told a cheerful crowd of 5,000 gathered for the ceremony. Speaking at the same ceremony, Se Yung Chung, chairman of Hyundai Business, said Turkey will soon emerge as one of the world's important car manufacturing countries, not only because of its potential market, but also because of its role and position in the neighbouring regions. /Cumhuriyet/
[03] INONU TO ATTEND SIGNING CEREMONYForeign Minister Erdal Inonu has been invited to the signing ceremony of the "Widening of the Autonomous Administration Agreement" between Israel and the Palestinian National Administration on Thursday in Washington.Today, Inonu, who is still in New York, meets with his Bulgarian, Albanian, Belgian, Luxembourg, and Swiss counterparts. Tomorrow, he will have a breakfast with Croat and Bosnian Foreign Ministers Granich and Sakirbey. It is expected that Inonu will meet with his Greek counterpart. /Milliyet/
[04] OSCE TEAM TO VISIT KARABAKHA team of diplomats from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), including a special envoy from Turkey, is to hold talks with Armenian officials in the Armenian-held Azeri enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh later this week as part of an effort directed towards a peaceful settlement to the Karabakh problem. Ankara's special representative on the Karabakh issue, Ayhan Kamel, will be the first Turkish diplomat to be admitted to the enclave since Karabakh was occupied by the local Armenians in the early 1990s. Earlier, the Armenians objected to the participation of Turkish diplomats in OSCE delegations visiting the enclave.
[05] VIENNA MEETING TO DISCUSS TURKMEN GAS PROJECTSenior officials from Turkmenistan, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Russia and Azerbaijan will meet in Vienna today to discuss options for the transport of natural gas from Turkmenistan's huge gas fields to Europe. It is reported that the options to be discussed will not include the Iranian alternative, which was recently eliminated by a US move to declare a full embargo against Tehran, urging other countries not to do business with that country. /Sabah/
[06] ANKARA RAPS AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT FOR CRITICIZING TURKEYTurkey reacted to last week's Amnesty International (AI) report yesterday by accusing the human rights group of bias and use of "secondhand information". Responding to a question, Foreign Ministry Deputy Spokesman Nurettin Nurkan accused the September 21 report from the London-based organization of displaying "an unrealistic and misleading attitude" toward Turkey. The report accused Turkey of not carrying out its promises on democratization. "Those who penned the report merely referred to the atrocities carried by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and other terrorist organizations in one or two paragraphs.. while the majority of the report is earmarked for blaming Turkish officials with secondhand information that is not based on concrete facts" Nurkan said. "The report, despite the accurate information provided by Turkish officials, has intentionally downplayed the number of the people killed by the terrorists. Instead, it counts the number of civilians killed by the PKK in hundreds, rather than in thousands" Nurkan added. The AI is harming, rather than helping promote human rights, Nurkan concluded. /Hurriyet/
[07] NINE PKK MILITANTS KILLED IN SOUTHEASTNine militants of the PKK terrorist organization were killed during military operations in Hakkari's Cukurca district and three soldiers were killed in action in the clashes. Officials from the emergency rule region said that the militants' weapons were confiscated. Meanwhile, two PKK militants surrendered in Hakkari's Semdinli and Sirnak's Cizre districts, and nine PKK militants were arrested after their capture in Batman, Bitlis, Siirt and Tunceli. /Sabah/
[08] TURKEY AND CUBA TO SIGN HEALTH COOPERATION ACCORDThe Turkish and Cuban Health Ministries will sign an agreement today to cooperate on health issues. The accord will be signed by Jorge Castro Benitez, the Cubam Ambassador to Turkey and Siddik Ensari, the Deputy Undersecretary of the Health Ministry, and will remian in effect for three years. Turkey will cooperate with Cuba in the fields of medicine, pharmacology and biotechnology.
[09] TURCO-FINNISH CONTRACTORS SEEK MORE BUSINESS COOPERATIONFollowing a one-week visit to Finland by businessmen, eight major Turkish contracting firms and their Finnish counterparts agreed to expand cooperation in business projects in the former Soviet Union, the Anatolia news agency reported yesterday. An agreement for new purchase of goods was signed by the parties. The Turkish delegation held meetings with 37 different Finnish firms in five different cities.
[10] BOYNER TO COUNCIL OF EUROPE: "DON'T LEND SUPPORT TO TERRORISM"Cem Boyner, the leader of the New Democracy Movement, appealed to Council of Europe liberals not to extend support to terrorism. In an address to the Liberal Group of the Council's Parliamentarians' Assembly, Boyner said that the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) was in no way representative of the Kurds in Turkey. European countries should take this into consideration and adopt a careful policy in granting asylum to the members of the separatist group, Boyner said and added: "In order for Turkey to solve its problems, Turkey should have Europe on its side, rather than be subjected to abuse by the European institutions". /Hurriyet/
[11] OSLO CONFERENCE CRITICIZES THE PKKThe three-day long Conference on Human Rights in Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria, mainly dealing with issues relating to the problems of the Kurds, ended in Oslo, Norway, yesterday. It was marked strongly by the apparent differences on basic issues between the Western participants and the representatives of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). A growing rift was also noted between the Turkish Kurds on one side and the members of the self-declared "Kurdish parliament-in-exile" and the PKK supporters on the other. The PKK side was, in return, strongly criticized as a "nondemocratic and intollerant organization which is trying to monopolize debates and, due to its violent actions, is obstructing the creation of a dialogue with Turkey on a possible solution". /Milliyet/
[12] APOCALYPSE SYMPOSIUM IN PATMOSInternational church leaders, ecologists and government officials gathered on the Greek island of the Apocalypse on Sunday to mark the 1,900 years since Saint John received his vision of the cataclysmic end of the world. The celebration on Greece's eastern island of Patmos, where Saint John lived in exile in 95 AD and had his revelation, was led by Fener Orthodox Patriarch Bartalomeos. More than 150 guests were also invited to join in a cruise ship symposium to Patmos and a weekend of celebrations.The centuries-old Fener Patriarchate has received a new lease of life after communism fell and Orthodoxy was revived in Eastern Europe and Russia. Nevertheless, Ankara, closely following these developments with respect to the Patriarchate's assuming an ecumenical title, has been assessing the situation in the light of the Laussane Treaty. /Sabah/
[13] BOSNIA WAITS FOR TURKISH BUSINESSMENAfter the NATO operations to Bosnia, besides the efforts for establishing peace, there are also efforts for the reconstruction of the country. Within this framework, Bosnian businessmen want their Turkish counterparts' support in the leather and textile sector.The Borac shoe factory, which was one of the leading factories in the Travnic region before the war, managed to continue production during the war. Ismail Bojcanovic, director of the factory, said that they produced more than 1000 shoes a day, and exported to Italy, Slovenia and Croatia. Bojcanovic added that they had asked for raw from Turkey. /Hurriyet/
[14] ATHENS CHANGING TACTICSTaking advantage of the political situation in Turkey, Athens has embarked upon a change of course in its attitude towards Turkey. Over the last few weeks Athens has shown indications that it was prepared to take up some of the suggestions for new dialogue as proposed by Ankara.Now however, Greek leaders are rushing to claim that Turkey is no longer in a position to promote new ties with Greece, and that instead, Turkey was "threatening" Greece. Greek Prime Minister Andreas Papandreu now says that the Greek government will never turn a blind eye to Turkish threats. Now anti-Turkish reports are circulating in Athens, and ministers say that a new round of talks is out of the question. Over in New York, where Turkish Foreign Minister Erdal Inonu is attending the celebrations of fifty years of UN activity, together with representatives of all the UN members -including Greece- Greek Foreign Minister Karolos Papulyas has also made it clear that Greece no longer wants dialogue with Turkey. Referring to a possible meeting with Inonu, Papulyas stressed that it would be nothing more than a formality. /Milliyet/
[15] TURKEY IN GOTEBORG BOOK FAIRTurkey is participating in the prestigious Goteborg book fair, which begins today. During the fair, there will panel discussions and seminars on Turkish books and literature.Turkey will be represented by Yasar Kemal, Orhan Pamuk and Sezer Duru. In recognition of the warm ties between Turkish and Norwegian writers, an award will be presented during the fair to Sezer Duru. /Hurriyet/
[16] PETROL PIPE CONFLICT CONTINUESThe dispute between the leading factions over a decision on an overland petrol pipeline to transport early Azeri petrol production continues to rage. Dispute mainly revolves around the route to be taken-through Turkey to Turkish port facilities, or through Russia to Black Sea outlets.Although a compromise dual route has apparently been agreed to, the main participants in the petrol consortium still do not agree among themselves about the route to be followed, and the final decision has been postponed yet again. /Cumhuriyet/
[17] EUROPEAN BANK SUPPORTS CU WITH TURKEYThe important European Investment Bank (EIB) has declared that it fully supports Turkey's inclusion in the European customs union. The bank will also initiate a new financing programme involving new credits to Turkey worth 400 million dollars.During a press conference yesterday, bank director for the Mediterranean countries, Alain Seve said that the money, in ECUs, would be paid out by the end of next year. /Cumhuriyet/
[18] PAKISTAN'S CHIEF OF GENERAL STAFF TO VISIT TURKEY TODAYGen.Farooq Feroze Khan will visit Turkey today as the official guest of his Turkish counterpart, Gen.Ismail Hakki Karadayi, Chief of General Staff. Gen.Khan will stay in Turkey until 30 September, officials from the Office of the Chief of General Staff said. It is reported that the two countries' military officials will discuss further cooperation.
[19] GIANT TOURISM OPPORTUNITYIstanbul is going to be the host city for yet another massive conference, one that will be almost as large and important as nest year's international Habitat conference.Described as a "giant tourism opportunity" the world tourism olympiad or 29th UFTAA World Conference will bring prestige and tourism money to Istanbul. The International Federation of Travel Agency Unions conference will attract more interest to Istanbul and Turkey as federation members from 94 countries meet at the Istanbul Hilton Hotel Conference Centre on November 2-7. /Sabah/
[20] TURKEY LAUNCHES "FAITH TOURISM" TOURThe Turkish Tourism Ministry is launching a five-year project "Faith Tour '95" today in order to promote Turkey and to open Muslim, Christian and Jewish sanctuaries to visitors. The tour is scheduled to begin in Istanbul on 26 September and pass through Istanbul, Bursa, Iznik, Kayseri, Urgup, Cappadocia, Adana, Payas and Hatay. Provincial Director for Tourism in Bursa, Vatan Ercan said: "The Christian world is preparing to celebrate the 2,000 anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ and now is a good time for Turkey to launch the five-year project. The tour aims to celebrate this anniversary in Turkey, especially in Iznik". /Cumhuriyet/END |