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TRKNWS-L Turkish Press Review (April 1, 1996)From: TRKNWS-L <trh@aimnet.com>Turkish Press Review DirectoryCONTENTS[01] DEMIREL RETURNS TO TURKEY[02] TURKEY'S BALKAN POLICY TO BE DISCUSSED IN ANKARA[03] GREECE STILL FORCING KARDAK ISSUE[04] CLINTON WARNS GREECE ABOUT THE AEGEAN[05] GERMANY READY TO EXTRADITE PKK TERRORISTS[06] DEFENCE MINISTERS TO MEET IN ALBANIA[07] MASS HOUSING FUND ABOLISHED[08] OPTICAL CABLE LINK FOR MIDEAST-EUROPE PHONE CALLS[09] ANKARA LAMBASTES EU ENVOY'S CYPRUS REPORT[10] US AND TURKEY SIGN TAX PACT[11] KARABAKH PEACE TALKS FALTER ONCE AGAIN[12] TURKISH NATIONAL INCOME GREW 8.1 % IN 1995[13] TURKEY FORECASTS $6 BILLION IN TOURISM REVENUE THIS YEARTURKISH PRESS REVIEWMONDAY APRIL 1, 1996Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning[01] DEMIREL RETURNS TO TURKEYPresident Suleyman Demirel returned to Turkey after completing his working visit to the US. Demirel noted that his visit was very instrumental for developing relations between the two countries. Demirel was welcomed at Ankara Esenboga airport by Parliament Speaker Mustafa Kalemli, Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz, Chief of General Staff Gen.Ismail Hakki Karadayi, General Secretary of the Presidency Necdet Seckinoz, Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Onur Oymen and other leading officials. In a press conference at the airport, Demirel recalled that he had paid a three-day working visit to Washington at the invitation of US President Bill Clinton and said: "This visit enabled us to make a comprehensive evaluation of bilateral relations and international issues. All circles I met in the US confirmed that Turkey was an element of peace and stability in its region and in the world thanks to its pro-peace foreign policy". Demirel stated that in his meeting with Clinton, Turkey's will and determination to diversify existing close, friendly relations between the US and Turkey and especially to accelarate the economic relations, were expressed. Pointing out that two agreements were signed during his visit, Demirel stressed that his visit was a good opportunity to strengthen bilateral relations. /Sabah/[02] TURKEY'S BALKAN POLICY TO BE DISCUSSED IN ANKARATurkey has decided to review its Balkan policy and has accordingly recalled ambassadors to the Balkan states to Ankara to discuss the issues involved. It has been reported that the meeting will be held during April in Ankara to determine a more effective Turkish policy for the Balkan region. /Milliyet/[03] GREECE STILL FORCING KARDAK ISSUEThe Greek government still wants to make something out of the Kardak rocks issue. Over the weekend Greek fishing boats were active in the area, with one fishing boat actually sending a man ashore to one of the islands. Turkish Coast Guard vessels stationed in the area, sought out and warned Greek Coast Guard boats about the developments. Later the man and the fishing boats were seen to leave the islands. In Ankara, the Greek ambassador was called into the Foreign Ministry, told about the incident after which he was handed a protest note. /Hurriyet-Milliyet/[04] CLINTON WARNS GREECE ABOUT THE AEGEANUS President Clinton has sent a tough warning letter to Greek Prime Minister Kostas Simitis about not stirring up trouble in the sensitive Aegean Sea region. Clinton has warned the Greeks about the possible results of their negative attitude and told them to get into line with a Turkish suggestion proposing more talks to solve the issue.In his letter -conveyed by his wife Hillary, who has been visiting the region, including Turkey- Clinton notes that there are four main problems involving Greece: Relations between Turkey and Greece, the Greece-Macedonia connection, ties between Greece and the US and the situation in the Balkans in general. Greece remains obstinate about meeting Turkish proposals even half way, with government officials saying no to dialogue. Turkish Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz extended the olive branch just about two weeks ago, and everyone except the Greeks has approved of the gesture as a first step towards stability in the Aegean Sea. /Milliyet-Sabah/ [05] GERMANY READY TO EXTRADITE PKK TERRORISTSAs promised by the German government, steps are being taken to extradite known PKK terrorists and hand them over to the Turkish authorities. Interior Minister Ulku Guney has been invited to Germany by his German counterpart, and while there will hand over a list of the people Turkey would like to interview in connection with PKK terrorism.PKK violence in Germany recently climbed to new and more serious levels, and in response the German government is clamping down heavily on the PKK organization, which has long been condemned by Turkey as an rists aiming to divide Turkey and deflect the attention of the world and the Arab public. Nurkan noted that the Arab League resolution -calling for an agreement on the allocation of the Euphrates waters between Turkey, Syria and Iraq- omitted to mention the fact that it was Turkey which has repeatedly invited Syria and Iraq for dialogue on the "optimal" use of the river's waters and had even proposed a three-stage plan for that. He said when implementing its own projects on the Euphrates, Turkey always took care to remain within the bounds of international rules and principles. /All papers/ [06] DEFENCE MINISTERS TO MEET IN ALBANIAA meeting of defence ministers from Turkey, Bulgaria, Italy, Albania, Macedonia and the US will be held in the Albanian capital of Tirana today. Turkish Defence Minister Oltan Sungurlu will represent Turkey at the meeting and give a talk about the issues of peacekeeping missions in the region, and military information exchange. Sungurlu also will meet with US Defence Secretary William Perry and the defence ministers of Albania and Macedonia. /All papers/[07] MASS HOUSING FUND ABOLISHEDA decision of the Council of Ministers to abolish the mass housing fund fee collected from the people going abroad has come into force. The decision has been published in the Official Gazette. Every year approximately four million Tuurkish citizens go abroad. However, only 20 percent of those who went abroad for exceptional reasons had to pay this fee. 50-60 million dollars used to be collected for the fund from travellers every year. /Milliyet/[08] OPTICAL CABLE LINK FOR MIDEAST-EUROPE PHONE CALLSAn optical cable link will be installed between Bulgaria and Turkey to improve the quality of telephone calls between the Middle East and Europe. Officials from the Bulgarian Telecommunication Administration said that the optical cables had been laid up to the Turkish border, and added that the Postal Telephone and Telegram Authority (PTT) would install the cables from the Kapikule border gate. /All papers/[09] ANKARA LAMBASTES EU ENVOY'S CYPRUS REPORTTurkey deplored Friday a report by an EU envoy as "unrealistic" and accused the envoy of breeching his mission. A statement by the Foreign Ministry stressed that the Cyprus report presented to the EU Council by the term presidency's Cyprus coordinator, Italian diplomat Federico Di Roberto, was a demonstration of the efforts of the EU envoy to devise a role for himself in excess of his mission. The statement said examination of Di Roberto's report revealed that he had a prejudiced approach toward the Turkish Cypriot people. The statement further underlined that Di Roberto's report revealed that contrary to his mission he was attempting to join in efforts aimed at establishing an agenda for the resumption of the Cyprus intercommunal talks process. "We were told that Di Roberto was appointed as an envoy of the term president of the EU and that his mission was only a fact-finding one and that he would only listen to the views of the two sides and report his findings to the term presidency" the Foreign Ministry statement said. /All papers/[10] US AND TURKEY SIGN TAX PACTThe US and Turkey have signed a new income tax convention which regulates how each country may tax business profits earned in one of the nations by a resident of the ot@i=18. ,,s with OECD member countries. /All papers/[11] KARABAKH PEACE TALKS FALTER ONCE AGAINThe latest round of Karabakh peace talks carried out by the Minsk group of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) has ended without any progress being achieved due to both side's maintaining their opposite stance. The negotiations reportedly entered an impasse during the discussion of the issues as to what type of political status would be given to the Karabakh in the future. The Armenian and the Azeri delegations were led by their respective deputy foreign ministers. Turkey was represented by Foreign Ministry Representative Selim Karaosmanoglu. Ayhan Kamel, the Foreign Ministry's Karabakh coordinator, went to the region as a presidential emissary. Kamel conveyed a message from President Suleyman Demirel to his Azeri counterpart Haydar Aliyev. He also delivered a message from Demirel to Armenian President Levon Ter-Petrossian. /All papers/[12] TURKISH NATIONAL INCOME GREW 8.1 % IN 1995Turkey's gross national product (GNP) grew by a rapid 8.1 % in 1995, official figures revealed at the weekend. The national statistics agency said the Turkish GNP was TL 7.644 quadrillion, or $165.5 billion, last year. Gross domestic product (GDP) jumped by 7.7 % to TL 7.671 quadrillion, or $166 billion. The State Institute of Statistics (DIE) also said Turkey's per capita income soared by 22.9 % to $2,685 at current prices. That represents a 6.2 % rise at constant prices, the DIE said. Per capita income, in terms of the national currency, jumped 93.2 %, at current prices, to TL 124 million. The DIE said the Turkish economy grew by 7.7 % in the final quarter of last year.In 1995, the agency said, the industrial sector grew by 12.1 %, the fastest on a sectoral basis. The trade sector grew by 11.6 % and agriculture 2.6 %. At constant prices, the DIE said, financial services grew by a slight 0.4%, ownership of dwellings 2.1 %, self-employed and services 7.5 %, government services 2.5 % and import taxes 11.8 %. The DIE said that in the final quarter of the year private consumption increased by 8.4 %. Government investment dropped 17.3 % but private investment rose by 38.8 %. /Milliyet/ [13] TURKEY FORECASTS $6 BILLION IN TOURISM REVENUE THIS YEARTourism receipts in 1996 are expected to rise as high as $6 billion with the arrival of 9.5 million tourists, according to Tourism Minister =DDsilay Saygin. Preliminary statistics from the World Tourism Organization (WTO) stated that in terms of tourist arrivals Turkey saw an increase of 7.9 % over 1994, gaining receipts of $5.02 nillion in 1995. The report emphasized that Eastern Mediterranean countries, especially Israel and Turkey, had benefitted from increasing peace and security as well as the trend towards cultural tourism. According to WTO data, 1995 was also the year that tourists rediscovered the Middle East, making it the fastest growing tourism region in the world. /All papers/ |
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