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Turkish Press Review, 97-08-11Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs <http://www.mfa.gov.tr>CONTENTS
TURKISH PRESS REVIEWAUGUST 11, 1997Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning[01] TRNC PRESIDENT SOMBER PRIOR TO UN TALKSPresident of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Rauf Denktas, en route to a meeting with his Greek Cypriot counterpart, said on Sunday that the first round of talks had failed to advance the cause of peace between the rival communities."If justice is to be done, equality and sovereignivty must be accepted, the guarantor system must not be touched and bi-zonal rights must not be abused. We are going in order to defend our basic rights," Denktas said during a stopover in Istanbul before talks on Monday in the Swiss town of Glion near Montreux. /Milliyet/ [02] BOMB INJURES THREE IN ISTANBULA bomb placed in a rubbish bin in front of the Karasu Hotel in Sultanahmet, Istanbul exploded on Sunday leaving three people slightly injured, the Anatolia news agency reported. Two Turkish and a Canadian tourist received minor injuries in the blast. The Istanbul police department is investigating the incident but the police have given no information as to how it is going. /Sabah/[03] 82ND ANNIVERSARY OF ANAFARTALAR VICTORYThe 82nd anniversary of the Anafartalar Victory was celebrated on 10 August in Canakkale and throughout the country. President Suleyman said in a written message that the Anafartalar Victory showed to the world the Turkish people's great self-sacrifice in self-defense of their country and Ataturk's great military ability." /Milliyet/[04] S.AFRICA IMPOSES ANOTHER ARMS EMBARGO ON TURKEYSouth Africa's administration has allegedly banned the sale of 12 helicopters to Turkey because of Turkey's human rights violations the and Cyprus issue. Kader Asmal, the chairman of the board which made the decision, said that the sale of the Rooivalk-type helicopters was banned due to ongoing human rights violations and Turkey's unrighteous invasion of part of Cyprus."South Africa lifted a previous arms embargo in April, imposed because of another cross-border operation into northern Iraq in 1995. /Sabah/ [05] PKK KIDNAPS SIX WORKERSThe Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) separatists attacked a construction site in Siirt and kidnapped six workers after setting on fire heavy construction machines. Officials reported that they had already started operations to find the workers.On the other hand, during operations in Istanbul police seized two members of the out-lawed Hizbullah terror organization. /Cumhuriyet/ Sabah_ [06] 801 BANGLADESH CITIZENS ARRESTED AT TURCO-GREEK BORDERAccording to the official statements 801 Bangladesh citizens were arrseted in Turkish-Greek border military zone while they were trying to flee to Greece. /Cumhuriyet/[07] ISTANBUL HEALTH SUMMITThe 47th European Region Committee Meeting, or "Health Summit" will be held in Istanbul on 15-18 September. The Health Ministry has announced that Turkish health policy would be announced to the world and that technical visits to health centers in differents parts of Turkey would be organized for participants to observe the Turkish health systems. /Cumhuriyet/[08] MORE GAP SPENDINGThere are plans for spending more money on the development of the giant Eastern Anatolia Project (GAP), one of the world's biggest projects. All the estimates suggest that at least eight billion TL will be spent hourly on pushing the project forward. Total yearly spending on the GAP project is put at 77 trillion TL with more funding coming from the public sector. /Hurriyet/[09] MORE TURKS BECOMING GERMAN CITIZENSAlthough the German authorities deny that Germany is extending citizenship to immigrants, they cannot deny that another 250 thousand Turkish workers who have moved to Germany are becoming German citizens. The German Focus magazine notes that some German cities are turning into cities of migrants. Officials however, have also warned that dual citizenship is no longer possible. /Cumhuriyet/[10] NEW EXPORT INCENTIVEExport-oriented companies in Turkey are being encouraged to try harder. The new three party coalition government is pulling out all the stops and proposing new incentives to develop the sector. State minister Isin Celebi noted over the weekend that the government was determined to develop exports and beef-up the sector with new credit facilities and funding. /Hurriyet/[11] PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR EDUCATION REFORMThe public has backed the education reform initiated by the Yilmaz government with huge donations. Following a TL 32 trillion donation in support of the reform by the Istanbul Stock Exchange, so far TL 900 trillion has accumulated in National Education Foundation accounts. Banks are also extending huge amounts, with TL 122 billion extended by Yapi Kredi Bank at the top of the list. Leading football clubs have decided to organize a football championship in support of the reform. The Turkish Argiculturalists Association has called on its members to donate a part of their production in support of the eight-year uninterrupted education reform programme.In addition to a $1 billion credit extended by the World Bank, EU officials have also pledged to back the reforms with an ECU 30 million credit. /Cumhuriyet/ [12] $14 BILLION DEBT REPAYMENTS IN 1998The Treasury Undersecretariat announced that in 1998 Turkey will have to pay $14 billion in debt back payments and interest repayments. The public sector will provide $10 billion of the total payments, and private sources will have to meet the burden of paying out nearly $4 billion. /Milliyet/[13] SEPTEMBER MEETING WITH IMF OFFICIALSRepresentatives of the Treasury will have a meeting with IMF and World Bank officials in September to evaluate recent developments in the economic situation in Turkey and outline future policies. During the meeting, Turkish officials will give details about the "financiable deficit policy" recently adopted by the Treasury. /Milliyet/[14] EU FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR TURKEYThe EU has agreed to extend TL 5.6 trillion to various projects in Turkey within the framework of the Mediterranean Programme. In discussions on the 1997 aid programme, the European Commission managed to convince the European Parliament (EP) to extend TL 17.1 trillion to Turkey within the framework of the 1997 programme. The EP has been pressing for reconsideration of developments in democratization and for a solution of the Cyprus issue prior to extending aid to Turkey. /Sabah/[15] TOTAL OIL CONSTRUCTS NEW FACILITIES IN ALIAGAThe French oil company Total Oil, in cooperation with the Turkish Colakoglu company is planning to complete, by the end of the year, the construction of new fuel oil filling facilities in Aliaga, Izmir. The facilities will cost $20 million dollars. The facilities will be connected by pipeline to the Tupras Refinery. /Sabah/[16] SUCCESS OF THE TURKISH VOLLEYBALL TEAMWinning an overwhelming victory of 3:1 over its Belgian rivals, the Turkish volleyball national team has won for the first time a place in the World Championship Finals. Turkish volleyball fans rejoiced over their team victory./Milliyet/[17] TURKISH MADE CELLULAR PHONEThe first all Turkish cellular phone produced by Aselsan has been a huge success. The phone is being successfully marketed in various countries all over the world, and a number of companies from China, Malaysia, Spain, Australia and the Czech Republic are in line for production licences. Aselsan officials notes that in the short period of one and a half months more than 5,500 phones have been sold. /Millyet/[18] TURKISH WRESTLERS WIN THREE GOLD MEDALSAt the World Youth Wrestling Championship in Finland, the Turkish team came third. Turkish wrestlers won three gold and one bronze medal./Milliyet/[19] PRODUCTION OF DURABLE GOODS INCREASESDuring the first six months of this year, nearly two million durable goods units were produced. Oven production in the January-June period increased by 32.2 % compared with the same period last year and reached 358,767. The production of washing machines increased by 24.2 % and reached 661,121, while the production of refrigerators increased by 5.5 % and amounted to 897,886. Thus, the production of durable goods during the first six months of 1997 reached a total of 1,917,774, over 1,654,830 in the corresponding period last year.During the January-June period of this year, the production of televisions increased by 59.9 % and reached 1,700,552, while the production of videos increased by 266.1 % and amounted to 3,295 units. /Hurriyet/ [20] US CONGRESS MEMBERS IN TURKEYA seven-person US Congress delegation, which arrived in Istanbul over the weekend, came together with the Turkish-American Businessmen's Association (TABA). During a banquet, in addition to TABA members, US Consul general Carolyn Huggins and policy representative Stephen Kimmel were also present. Delivering an opening speech at the banquet, TABA Chairman Bulent Senver said that among 52 Muslim countries, Turkey had a different position because of Ataturk's reforms, a free market economy and democracy. The TABA delegation proposed cooperation in projects including the Southeast Anatolian Project (GAP), airports, energy investments, telecommunications networks, technology investments and port facilities to US Congress members. /Hurriyet/[21] 174 ACCIDENTS IN BOSPHORUS DURING SEVEN YEARSAccording to research undertaken by the Chambers of Maritime Trade, there have been in total 174 accidents in the Bosphorus from 1990 to the end of 1996. It is reported that on average, 2,597,504 vessels pass through the Bosphorus yearly including 4,248 tankers. Since only 19 % of these vessels had pilots on board, many accidents occurred. /Hurriyet/[22] TANER AT HARVARD IN TURKEYState Minister Gunes Taner visited over the weekend the "Ottoman Summer School" on Cunda Island in the Ayvalik district in Balikesir opened recently by Harvard University, a leading US scientific education institution. Taner said: "Developed countries attach great importance to increasing quality in education. Harvard University supports important projects to overcome the inadequacies in Turcology education". He added that Turkey's new eight-year uninterrupted compulsory primary education programme was based on efforts to increase quality in education. While on the island, Taner met with the administrator of the school and some American students. /Hurriyet/END Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |