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Turkish Press Review, 96-10-07Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs <http://www.mfa.gov.tr>CONTENTS
TURKISH PRESS REVIEWMONDAY OCTOBER 7, 1996Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning[01] ERBAKAN DEPARTS FROM LIBYA ON A SOUR NOTEPrime Minister Necmettin Erbakan left for Nigeria on Sunday, the last stop on his African tour, having wrapped up his official visit to Libya on a sour note with Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi repeating his calls for an independent Kurdish homeland. Addressing reporters after the Libyan leader spoke, Erbakan stressed that Turkey had no Kurdish problems, but one of terrorism, echoing the governments' resolve to stamp it out.He accused the West of planning to divide Turkey and slammed the US-sponsored sanctions against Libya for its alleged support to international terrorism. The official talks centered on overcoming the financial constraints which are plaguing Turkish contractors' undertakings in Libya and their unpaid claims totalling over $300 million. Turkish officials said the two sides also agreed to boost the annual volume of two-way trade to $2 billion from the current level of $623 million. In his talks with Libyan officials, Erbakan also sought new stakes for Turkish contractors from Tripoli's plans for the cosntruction of 60,000 new dwellings and 20,000 classrooms. /All papers/ [02] 18 TERRORISTS KILLED IN SIVASAn operation near Sivas against the PKK terrorist organization resulted in the death of 18 militants. The operation came the day after terrorist attacks in Sivas' Divrigi district on Saturday which left four Turkish soldiers dead and 17 injured. Backed by Cobra helicopters and F-16 jets, Turkish security officials say the operation is expected to capture more PKK members. On the other hand, PKK terrorists, who raided a construction site belonging to the Tek-Galkom contracting firm in Hakkari, kidnapped 10 workers.Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Tansu Ciller swore to continue the battle against the PKK. Stating that all the guilty would be captured, Ciller sent her condolences to the families of the four dead soldiers. /Sabah-Cumhuriyet/ [03] ISRAELI BANKS APPROVE FINANCING FOR TURKISH JETSIsraeli commercial banks have approved a package of credit to finance a $600 million deal by Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) to upgrade Turkey's fleet of F-4 Phantom fighters, banking sources said yesterday. No further details of the financing package were available from the consortium of banks. A spokeswoman for IAI declined to comment on the deal. The deal is considered to be very important to Israel's defence industry as well as for the advancement of Turkish-Israeli relations. /Hurriyet/[04] BIDDING FOR TURKISH NUKE PLANT PROJECTS TO OPEN NOVEMBERBidding for the contracts to build Turkey's first two nuclear power plants will open in November. Turkish officials have completed their preparations for the projects to build two nuclear power plants, which are planned to be built near Akkuyu on Turkey's south coast. Each of the plants will have an electricity generation capacity of 1,000 megawatts. Prior to opening the bidding, a Turkish mission headed by Undersecretary of the Energy Ministry, Ugur Dogan, took an eight-day fact-finding tour of the US and Canada recently. The Turkish mission is expected to return to Turkey today. /All papers/[05] TURKEY REPORTS $151 M CURRENT ACCOUNT SURPLUSTurkey has a current account surplus of $151 million for the first two months of the year, official figures revealed on Friday. The Central Bank (CB) announced that Turkey's imports and exports in the first two months of the year were $5.6 billion and $3.4 billion respectively. Turkey repaid a total of $1.476 billion foreign debt in the first two months. $866 million of the total accounted for the principle, the remaining $610 million accounted for the interest repayment. Turkey's foreign debt repayment was $1.289 billion in the same period.Tourism receipts in the first two months rose slightly from $318 million to $348 million, the CB said. Another foreign currency item on the balance of payments, workers' remittances, grew from $490 million to $677 million, an increase of 38.2 %. /All papers/ [06] TURKEY SHOULD INCLUDE NORTHERN IRAQAccording to the American National Review magazine, experts on the region suggest that Turkey should take over northern Iraq in a move to create lasting stability.It would also mean however, that the West would be that much closer to getting its hands on the rich petrol reserves in northern Iraq. Turkey too, would benefit -first of all by having secure borders. The American National Review also notes that the setting up of an independent Kurdish state in not within the realms of possibility. Instead the the region must eventually fall into the hands of either Iran or Iraq, or preferably come under the control of Turkey. /All papers/ [07] GAGAUZ SEEKING HELP FROM TURKEYThe Gagauz Turks are seeking help from Turkey to set up a free zone where they live in Moldova. The Gagauz Turks have requested technical assistance on the laws and procedures needed to establish the kind of zone they have in mind.Two experts from the Foreign Trade Department will go to help on October 17, and also carry out feasibility studies. /Sabah/ [08] VOLVO COMING TO TURKEYThe noted Swedish Volvo car company is readying to boost sales of its family cars in Turkey. Director of sales in Turkey, Larz Freme said over the weekend that economic growth in Turkey, and a young population had turned Turkey into an attractive market for up-market Volvo cars. /Sabah/[09] TURKISH ARMS SALES UPThe Turkish Machinery and Chemicals Industries Board (MKEK), which competes with noted international firms in the military hardware sector, made exports worth $50 million this year.MKEK exported $80 million worth of military equipment to various countries in 1994 and 1995. Leading countries to which MKEK made exports include: Norway, Tunisia, Pakistan, Switzerland, Britain, Jordan and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). /Milliyet/ [10] US LOOKING FOR DETERMINED SOLUTION IN AEGEANThe US, which aims to ease the tension between Turkey and Greece due to the Aegean Sea and Cyprus problems, will offer new "package proposals". The US, which qualifies the new package as an "important step" to normalize Turco-Greek relations, initially wants to two sides to abandon any provocative act.According to the Greek Kathimerini newspaper, parallel contact channels will be established between the two sides jsut as between Palestine and Israel, and delegations will be formed to constitute a second reconciliatory action channel called "Dual Track". The delegations will create an atmosphere in which to develop negotiations on issues like disarmament in the Aegean region. Pointing out that delegations outside the government will be formed in both countries, the US stated that they were opposed to exercises jointly held by Greece and the Greek Cypriot Army. Meanwhile, Greek Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos said: "It will be suicide to extend Greek territorial waters from six to 12 miles in the Aegean". /Sabah/ [11] TURCO-RUSSIAN HIGH SCHOOL OPENS IN MOSCOWThe first Turkish-Russian high school has opened in Moscow. The school reserves a 10 % quota for Turkish citizens. School director Mehmet Guler said that they would accept only second year high school students this year and as of 1997 they will start to register first year students. Guler added that they also wished to establish a primary school. The school will be legally opened on October 11. The Turco-Russian high school will be governed by the statute pertaining to Russian schools. /All papers/[12] TURKISH GOVERNMENT AIMS AT NEW MEDIUM-TERM STABILIZATION PROGRAMMEA mission from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is expected to arrive in Ankara on October 14 to negotiate the new economic stabilization programme which is nearing completion by Turkish officials. The team, led by Martin Hardy, the head of the Turkish Desk at the IMF, plans to stay one week in Ankara.Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Tansu Ciller said last week that a medium-term stabilization programme would be set up to achieve the desired economic stabilization in the country. She told the press prior to the Economic Board meeting that the government was on course to complete preparations for the 1997 financial year budget. Ciller said that the government was looking for ways to reduce the pressure of interest payments on the budget. The government is keen to maintain the balances in the budget, she added. /All papers/ END Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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