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Turkish Press Review, 96-08-26Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs <http://www.mfa.gov.tr>CONTENTS
TURKISH PRESS REVIEWMONDAY AUGUST 26, 1996Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning[01] PARLIAMENT TO CONVENE TOMORROWParliament will hold an emergency session tomorrow to debate a draft law stopping compulsory savings deductions. Recalled from its summer recess, in the next few days, Parliament should go on to debate, among other issues, the legal amendments required by the government's Southeast plan. Following a joint application by the Welfare Party (RP)-True Path Party (DYP) coalition government, Parliament Speaker Mustafa Kalemli called on Friday for an emergency parliamentary gathering on August 27. /All papers/[02] BOSNIANS IN TURKEY GO TO POLLSBosnians living in Turkey voted as part of the elections to be held on September 14 in Bosnia-Herzegovina by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Bosnians voted at centres formed by the Anatolian Development Foundation with the support of the Turkish Foreign Ministry in Ankara and in other cities where more than 50 Bosnians live. They can also vote by mail. OSCE has sent a representative to every country and also to Turkey where more than 5,000 Bosnians live. The OSCE sent four observers to Turkey to follow the elections. Up to now, 1,460 people have registered to vote. In Ankara, 78 people have voted including Hajrudin Somun, Ambassador of Bosnia-Herzegovina. The elections are for local administrations, canton administrations, the Federation Representatives Council, the Bosnia-Herzegovina Representatives Council and the Bosnia-Herzegovina Presidency. /All papers/[03] 18 PKK MILITANTS KILLED IN THE SOUTHEASTSecurity forces killed 18 militants of the PKK terrorist organization during military operations in Hakkari, Van and Bingol on Saturday. Meanwhile, six militants surrendered in Van, Hakkari and Sirnak, and two terrorists were captured in Bingol and Diyarbakir. During the fighting, four members of the security forces and two village guards were killed. Addititonally, two members of the security forces, Naif Acar and Bedran Gultekin, who were monitoring roads in Mardin, a town in Midyat province, were martyred on the same day. /Sabah-Milliyet/[04] TURKISH JOURNALISTS DETAINEDSeyhmuz Cakan, the Diyarbakir correspondent of the Milliyet daily, and Mehmet Guc, a reporter from the private ATV television channel, as well as a cameraman and a driver were detained last night by the peshmergas from Mesut Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) near the town of Amadiyah, south of the Turkish border. /Sabah/[05] YILMAZ RE-ELECTED ANAP CHAIRMANMesut Yilmaz won an overwhelming victory on Saturday at the Motherland Party (ANAP) convention beating his challenger Isin Celebi 1032 votes to 170. Yilmaz, in a convention speech before the election promised that irrespective of the conditions from now on all candidates in parliamentary elections will be nominated through provincial primaries. /All papers/[06] CONFUSION REIGNS IN NORTHERN IRAQ AFTER KURDISH INFIGHTINGDespite a US-brokered cease-fire in the latest bout of fighting between rival factions in the Western-protected Kurdish enclave in northern Iraq, fresh clashes were reported yesterday with a senior Iraqi Kurdish official denying any truce. The sides were reported to have responded positively to a call from Washington to lay down their arms after a week of fierce clashes which claimed several hundred lives. The battles were the latest in a year-old, on-and-off war between Mesut Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Celal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) for power.Sami Abdurrahman, a senior KDP official has been quoted as saying that the fighting was going on near the main Kurdish city of Erbil and there was no cease-fire. Noting that the PKK terrorist organization benefitted from the clashes in northern Iraq, Abdurrahman said: "We have no cooperation with the PKK". /Hurriyet/ [07] PKK TO FREE CAPTIVE TURKISH SOLDIERSMilitants of the PKK terrorist organization on Friday said they would free seven Turkish soldiers they hold in northern Iraq. A delegation which will meet the PKK for the release of seven Turkish soldiers will go to Habur border gate today. It is reported that Welfare Party (RP) Deputy from Van, Fethullah Erbas, said that accompanied by families of the soldiers, and administrators of the Human Rights Association (IHD) and Mazlum-Der, they would go to northern Iraq through the Habur border gate. /Cumhuriyet/[08] COMMERCE DEPT. REPORT CLASHES WITH GAS DEAL FURORA US Department of Commerce report on Turkey's energy problems conflicts with Washington's reaction to the natural gas agreement signed between Turkey and Iran. Senator Alphonse D'Amato, the creator of the law imposing sanctions on firms which invest in Libya and Iran, sent a letter to President Clinton, calling for sanctions on Turkey following the agreement signed with Iran. D'Amato had claimed that if the US did not impose sanctions on Turkey, it would set a bad example for the trade policies of other countries. The law imposes sanctions on firms which invest more than $40 million in Libya or Iran.At the same time, Congressman Robert Menendez, a leader of the Greek lobby in the US, collected signatures calling for the annulment of the natural gas agreement. It has been reported that Menendez will forward the petition to Clinton with the addition of Iranian President Hashemi Rafsancani's claim that the gas deal was a victory against US imperialism. While criticism for the gas deal mounted, a Department of Commerce report concerning Turkey's energy needs said that Turkey's natural gas needs would be 25-30 billion cubic metres in the year 2000 and 35-40 billion in the year 2010. "The amount of natural gas imported from Russia will not be sufficient..so Turkey will have to import more" says the report. /Hurriyet-Milliyet/ [09] TURKISH DRUG FIRMS SEEK IRAQI DEALSTurkish pharmaceutical firms displayed their products in Baghdad on Sunday in their first such exhibition since sanctions were clamped on Iraq in 1990. The fair is the latest bid by Turkey to win the largest portion of funds that will emanate from Iraq's partial oil sales deal with the UN, expected to go into effect in September. "About 26 companies are taking part. All ready to strike deals to supply Iraq with medicines and medical supplies" said Sameh Hamdan, a Jordanian middleman supplying both Iraq and Jordan with Turkish drugs. Of the $2 billion worth of oil will be allowed to export in six months, $210 million will be earmarked for medicines and medical supplies.A delegation of 27 Turkish businessmen came to Iraq in mid-August, seeking food contracts for the $870 million Iraq has allocated for the purchase of foodstuffs under the oil deal signed with the UN in June. Iraq's Health Minister Umeed Madhat Mubarak opened the Turkish pharmaceutical exhibition in Baghdad. /Hurriyet/ [10] EXPORTS TO REACH $43.7 BILLION BY 2000Turkey's Foreign Trade Undersecretariat (DTM) has determined export targets to the year 2000. It said Turkey's export volume was expected to reach $43.751 billion by 2000, accounting for an average annual rise of 13.9 %. According to a report prepared by the Export General Directorate, Turkey's exports will be $25.956 billion by the end of this year. An estimation based on Turkish Exporters Association figures suggest a total of $24.787 billion in exports for this year. The DTM estimations suggest that Turkey's exports would be valued at $30.014 billion in 1997, $34.428 billion in 1998, $38.542 billion in 1999 and $43.751 in 2000. /All papers/[11] TURKEY AND ALBANIA TO HOLD JOINT NAVAL EXERCISETurkey and Albania are to hold a joint military exercise in the Adriatic Sea off the coast of Albania from August 25 to 31. The Office of the Chief of General Staff said in a statement on Friday that three Albanian warships and the Turgut Reis, one of the best frigates in the Turkish Navy, will participate in the military exercise, dubbed Marex-96. /All papers/[12] JAPAN TO TRAIN TURKS ON MINE EXPLORATIONJapan plans to train Turkish mining experts, particularly those in the Turkish-Speaking Republics, in mine exploration. Naoyoshi Sasaki, a representative of the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) told the Anatolia news agency that it planned to inaugurate a huge training project for mining experts of Turkish origin in Central Asia, the Balkans, Bosnia and the Black Sea countries. Sasaki said 30 experts from five Asian countries and Bosnia will be trained in Turkey as a preliminary stage starting from next month in oil and natural gas exploration. He added that Japanese investments in Turkey would continue to increase as Turkey was a gateway for Japan to the EU market.[13] IZMIR BUSINESSMEN TO SEEK OPPORTUNITIES IN BULGARIAIzmir businessmen will visit Bulgaria between September 1 and 4 to seek new commercial opportunities, Izmir Chamber of Commerce (IZTO) executive board member Omer Kaplan told the Anatolia news agency. Kaplan said the aim of the visit was to develop cooperation with Bulgarian businessmen and to participate in business opportunities in Bulgaria.[14] CREDIT FROM COUNCIL OF EUROPEThe agreements relevant to the extention of ECU 20.4 million and $13.1 million in credit to Turkey from the Social Development Fund of the European Union have been approved by the Council of Ministers and published in the Official Gazette. Credits, which must be used within six months, will be used for eight projects. For the first five years of the credits will be free of interest and the term of the credits is for 10 years. The annual interest rate to be applied to the credits is 6.9 %. /Sabah-Cumhuriyet/[15] REFERENDUM IN TRNCAfter the recent border clashes in Cyprus, leader of the Greek Cypriot, Glafkos Klerides refused the proposal of the Secretary-General of the UN, Boutros Ghali to initiate negotiations with the Turkish side. President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), Rauf Denktas has then decided to go on a referendum regarding a federation.Denktas said: "There is no hope for a federation. We should initiate a referendum as soon as possible to determine a new strategy." TRNC is still economically, politically and militarily bound to Turkey. On the other hand, the Greek Journalists' Association refused the call of the TRNC Journalists' Union for "cooperation and dialogue". Resat Akar, chairman of the union, sent a letter to his Greek counterpart Andreas Kannauros on the subject but Kannauros replied that the TRNC flag on the letter was an obstacle to any meeting between the two sides. /Cumhuriyet/ [16] 65TH IZMIR FAIR OPENS TODAY308 foreign and 900 domestic firms are represented at the 65th Izmir International Fair, which opens today with a ceremony at the Open Theatre. Pakistan is the guest of honour of the fair. /Sabah/END Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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