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Turkish Press Review, 97-11-26
From: Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs <http://www.mfa.gov.tr>
CONTENTS
[01] DEMIREL IN ROMANIA
[02] PM VISITS ITALY AND SPAIN
[03] BAYKAL TO U.S.
[04] GREECE: "TURKEY DOES NOT CHANGE ITS POLICY"
[05] ECEVIT MEETS UN SPECIAL CYPRUS ENVOY
[06] YILMAZ TALKS TO SPANISH DAILY
[07] RUSSIAN NATURAL GAS AWAITS SIGNATURE
[08] HUMAN RIGHTS COURT RULES ON ZANA CASE
[09] OCALAN PANICS OVER PKK's FAILURES IN THE SOUTHEAST
[10] AKIN BIRDAL ELECTED AS FIDH DEPUTY PRESIDENT
[11] ARMENIAN, TURKISH BUSINESSMEN SIGN DEAL
[12] SERVICE SECTOR EXAMINED AT TIKA SEMINAR
[13] SUCCESS OF TURKISH COMPUTER COMPANY
TURKISH PRESS REVIEW
DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION,OFFICE OF PRIME MINISTER
26.11.97
Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this
morning
[01] DEMIREL IN ROMANIA
President Demirel is paying an official visit to Romania. During his
contacts with Romanian officials Demirel dwelt on the efforts of the PKK
terrorist organization to establish itself in Romania.
The Turkish president noted that Turkey and Romania were closely
cooperating with each other and that there were nearly 5000 Turkish
companies operating in Romania. "Nevertheless, the PKK terrorist
organization is trying to turn Romania into a base for its activities
aiming to undermine Turkish security," Demirel told Romanian
representatives. /All papers/
[02] PM VISITS ITALY AND SPAIN
Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz is visiting some EU member countries in a
move to raise support for Turkey's EU membership bid. Yesterday Yilmaz
met his Italian counterpart Romano Prodi. During the meeting Prodi
pledged that Italy will continue to back Turkey's drive for integration
with Europe and stressed that the Italian government will exert every
effort to enhance Turkey-EU rapproachement.
Having completed his contacts in Italy, Prime Minister Yilmaz went on
to Madrid to meet Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar. Yilmaz voiced
optimism about the results of the approaching Luxemburg summit where EU
enlargement will be discussed and added that Turkey could not be excluded
from the EU expansion process. In a later statement to journalists, the
Turkish prime minister noted that his Italian and Spanish counterparts
shared the same view. /Sabah/
[03] BAYKAL TO U.S.
Chairman of the Republican People's Party (CHP), Deniz Baykal will go
to Washington today to attend the World Peace Conference about to begin
there. Baykal will return home next Monday. /Sabah/
[04] GREECE: "TURKEY DOES NOT CHANGE ITS POLICY"
Dimitri Reppas, Greek government spokesman, said that there was no
change in Turkey's Greece policy. Holding a press conference yesterday,
Reppas said that Athens would continue with its veto against Turkey's
participation in the Permanent European Conference. Reppas added that
Turco-EU relations could only be improved when Turkey accepted the
judicial authority of the International Court of Justice in the Hague,
helped towards a solution of the Cypruss problem and maintained good
relations with Athens. The spokesman noted that Athens would lift its
veto on financial aid to Turkey, only if Turkey accepted taking the Kardak
islets issue to the International Court of Justice.
Meanwhile, Deputy Defense Minister, Dimitris Apostolakis claimed that
Turkey has started to produce chemical weapons. Apostolakis made this
claim to NATO South Europe Commander, Mesley Clark. Clark, however, noted
that they had some information that PKK terrorists were being trained in
Greece and Southern Cyprus. /Cumhuriyet/
[05] ECEVIT MEETS UN SPECIAL CYPRUS ENVOY
Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit met UN Special Envoy, Diego
Cordovez yesterday and told him that he thought the UN General
Secretariat's influence on the Cyprus question had diminished. Ecevit
said Turkey is ready for any kind of help from the UN.
/Cumhuriyet/Milliyet_
[06] YILMAZ TALKS TO SPANISH DAILY
Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz stressed on Tuesday in an interview a
leading Spanish daily, El Pais, that Europe will decide 'whether it will
become a Christian club or a multi-cultural organization', at the EU
enlargement summit to be held in December in Luxembourg. He added that he
saw no possibility of Turkey being totally excluded from the enlargement
process. Yilmaz said Turkey would not be satisfied only with
participating in the conference with equal status, which he said he
believed "will determine the borders of the European Union." "What we want
is only the ratification of our future membership and consideration of
Turkey's candidacy using the same criteria as applied to other candidates.
The objection of Greece is the internal problem of the EU," said Yilmaz.
/Milliyet/
[07] RUSSIAN NATURAL GAS AWAITS SIGNATURE
Russian Prime Minister Victor Chernomyrdin, who will be coming to
Ankara on December 15 following an invitation from Turkish Prime Minister
Mesut Yilmaz, will then sign a $ 20 billion natural gas project agreement,
initially agreed to last month. It is claimed that the U.S. will not
object to the agreement in return for the operation and management rights
of the Imir Aliaga Refinery. The competition between Russia and the U.S.
to transfer Central Asia oil has been accelerating. This race between
Moscow and Washington, which has also set sights on Turkey's power plants,
has enabled Turkey to play its trump cards against both sides. The U.S.
has announced that it supports Turkey's project for the transfer of
Central Asia oil through the Turkish port city of Ceyhan. /Cumhuriyet/
[08] HUMAN RIGHTS COURT RULES ON ZANA CASE
The European Court of Human Rights has found Turkey justified in the
trial of former Diyarbakir Mayor Mehdi Zana for spreading terrorist
propaganda. The court has held that Zana's statements defending an
outlawed terrorist organization, at a time when it was murdering
civilians, further worsened a situation in the region, which the court
maintained, 'was ready to explode'. /Hurriyet/
[09] OCALAN PANICS OVER PKK's FAILURES IN THE SOUTHEAST
In a document discovered by Turkish security forces it is reported
Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the outlawed PKK has harshly criticized his
own commanders. Reportedly Ocalan will demand from his leaders an
explanation for recent failures, saying that, especially in recent years,
the PKK has been dealt crushing blows by the Turkish Armed Forces and that
the responsibility for this failure rests with the so-called commanders.
He said that the PKK's casualties stemming from clashes with the security
forces have reached an alarming level. /Hurriyet/
[10] AKIN BIRDAL ELECTED AS FIDH DEPUTY PRESIDENT
Human Rights Association (IHD) President Akin Birdal has been elected
as International Human Rights Federation (FIDH) deputy president. The
33rd congress of FIDH was held in Senegal's capital Dakar between November
20-23. The congress included the participation of 110 member
organizations from Europe, Africa, Asia and America. According to a press
statement released by the IHD, besides IHD President Akin Birdal being
elected as FIDH deputy president, the Turkish Human Rights Foundation was
accepted as a FIDH observer member. /Milliyet/Cumhuriyet_
[11] ARMENIAN, TURKISH BUSINESSMEN SIGN DEAL
Turkish and Armenian businessmen on Thursday signed a protocol in
Istanbul, calling for normalizing economic relations between their
countries. The businessmen, members of the joint Turkish-Armenian
Business Development Committee, have ended a four-day meeting to discuss
ways to improve ties between the two neighbour countries. The committee
was established in May following a Black Sea Economic Cooperation summit
and business meeting in Istanbul. /Hurriyet/
[12] SERVICE SECTOR EXAMINED AT TIKA SEMINAR
Emphasis was placed on the growing importance of the service sector
in international trade in the future at a seminar organized by the World
Trade Organization (WTO) in cooperation with the Turkish Cooperation and
Development Agency (TIKA). State Minister Ahat Andican at the opening of
the two-day seminar on Monday in Istanbul stressed that the goal of the
meeting was to provide more information about the international discipline
and rules related to trade in the services sector.
The assistant representative of WTO in Turkey, Hakki Akil, pointed
out that international services were covered by a generalized agreement on
the in services sector. He further noted that Turkey would pay an
important role in its own region as one of the concrete results of
globalization. /All papers/
[13] SUCCESS OF TURKISH COMPUTER COMPANY
Turkish computer producer Escort participated in the international
technology Comdex fair, the world's largest computer technology fair where
a computer server developed by Escort was chosen "Comdex Fall'97 best of
the show". The Escort server was met with great interest on the part of
fair visitors and company representatives. /Milliyet/
END
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