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Turkish Press Review, 98-10-12
From: Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs <http://www.mfa.gov.tr>
12.10.98
Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning
CONTENTS
[01] YILMAZ WARNS DAMASCUS
[02] BALKAN SUMMIT IN ANTALYA
[03] DEMIREL LAYS FOUNDATIONS FOR MARIN CITY
[04] TURKISH ARMENIAN PATRIARCH ELECTION
[05] TANER RETURNS FROM IMF TALKS IN US
[06] HIGHWAYS IN TURKEY
[07] SARKYILDIZI BEGINS TRIAL PRODUCTION
[08] AFSIN-ELBISTAN POWER PLANT
[09] AZERIS IN TURKEY VOTE DURING PRESIDENCY ELECTIONS
[10] FIRST LADIES MEET IN SOFIA
[11] EXPORTERS GO TO EGYPT
[12] SYMPOSIUM ON TURKISH-JAPANESE RELATIONS
[13] ALIYEV: "WE ARE BACKING TURKEY AGAINST SYRIA"
[14] TURKISH MARKET FOR ENGLAND
[15] "STOP SUPPORTING INTERNATIONAL TERRORIST ORGANIZATION, PKK"
[16] HOPE FOR TURKEY'S EU MEMBERSHIP
[01] YILMAZ WARNS DAMASCUS
Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz maintained his tough stance towards
Syria, saying: "If any one has an eye on our territory, it is our
duty to get rid of that eye". "We can't go on like this. Enough
is enough" Yilmaz said, adding that the Kurdish separatists will
be completely destroyed if Syria ceases supporting them and
providing a safe haven for their leader.
Meanwhile, Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa is returning to
Turkey for the second time in one week, and is believed to be
carrying his diplomatic briefcase "Syria's expectations from
Turkey". Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem, who was in Antalya
to attend the summit of leaders of the Southeastern European
countries, will be flying back to Ankara on that day to briefly
attend the talks with Moussa.
Syrian Leader Hafiz Esad, who panicked due to the determined
stance assumed by Turkey, began to send messages to Ankara saying
that he understood the seriousness of the issue. Esad, who sent
his first message to Turkey with Iranian Foreign Minister Kemal
Harazzi last week, will send his second message with Egyptian
Foreign Minister Amr Moussa. /All papers/
[02] BALKAN SUMMIT IN ANTALYA
Balkan Summit of leaders of the Southeastern European countries,
which will last for two days, will begin in Antalya today. Also
on Monday, Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz will have a face-to-face
meeting with his Greek counterpart Costas Simitis. The meeting is
scheduled to last just half an hour and will not have a definite
agenda. Yilmaz will also have bilateral meetings with his other
counterparts.
Yilmaz met with Yugoslavian Prime Minister Momir Bulatovic
yesterday. The Kovoso problem was taken up during the meeting.
Foreign Minister Ismail Cem had talks with Yugoslavian Foreign
Minister Zivadin Jovanovic and Albanian Foreign Minister Paskal
Milo. /Sabah/
[03] DEMIREL LAYS FOUNDATIONS FOR MARIN CITY
With the joint participation of Turkish, US and Polish companies,
"Marin City's" foundations were laid by President Suleyman
Demirel in Istanbul, the Anatolia news agency reported over the
weekend. Speaking at the ceremony, Demirel said that a great
project was now underway in Istanbul, a city that was a cradle to
many civilizations and had innumerable precious historical works.
Marin City will cost $500 million. The facility will be
constructed in an area 18 kilometres from Ataturk Airport. It
will include a 500 yacht-marina, a school, recreation and sports
areas, a water sports club, an open-air theatre, a hospital and
two shopping centres.
[04] TURKISH ARMENIAN PATRIARCH ELECTION
Armenian churches across Turkey held elections to select the 79
civil delegates who will make up the General Delegation Board
during upcoming elections to determine the 84th Patriarch of the
Turkish Armenians. After the death of Patriarch Karekin II on
March 10, 1998, members of the Spiritual Assembly chose 10
spiritual delegates who will join the 79 civil delegates in
selecting the new patriarch in elections to be held on October
14. /Sabah/
[05] TANER RETURNS FROM IMF TALKS IN US
Gunes Taner, state minister responsible for economic affairs, has
returned to Turkey. Taner was in Washington to participate in
meetings with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund
(IMF). While there, Taner held talks with high-ranking officials
from international financial institutions.Taner provided
information to officials from these financial institutions on the
Turkish economy and the policies to be followed in 1999. He also
spoke about the 1999 budget during his talks and invited foreign
investors to Turkey.
An IMF-delegation headed by Turkey-desk chief Martin Hardy will
arrive in Turkey on October 14. According to information the
Anatolia news agency obtained from IMF officials, the delegation
will conduct talks in Turkey on the situation of the economy.
[06] HIGHWAYS IN TURKEY
The total length of highways constructed across Turkey has so far
reached 2,099 kilometres, with 1,615 kilometres of these highways
currently in operation. According to information the Anatolia
news agency obtained from the General Directorate of Highways, as
of the end of 1997, over $10 billion had been spent on highway
construction. The Directorate plans to spend $3.63 billion to
complete highways already under cosntruction and a further $4.93
billion for new highway projects to be undertaken over the next
few years.
[07] SARKYILDIZI BEGINS TRIAL PRODUCTION
The first sugar plant constructed by Turkish entrepreneurs in
Uzbekistan has started its trial production. The sugar plant set
up in the Horezm province of Uzbekistan will begin to produce
sugar with an official ceremony to be attended by high-level
officials in November. The plant has cost nearly $80 million.
/Sabah/
[08] AFSIN-ELBISTAN POWER PLANT
The Turkish government, which has signed bidding agreements of
four big natural gas power plants two days ago, laid the
foundation of a huge power plant in Afsin-Elbistan yesterday.
Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz and the Japanese Ambassador to Ankara
representing the Mitsubishi firm, one of the partners of the
constructive consortium attended the foundating laying ceremony
of the new power plant in the Elbistan district of the
southeastern province of Malatya yesterday. 1,400
megawatt-Afsin-Elbistan power plant will meet 7.5 % of Turkey's
total energy consumption. /Sabah/
[09] AZERIS IN TURKEY VOTE DURING PRESIDENCY ELECTIONS
Azeri people living in Turkey voted for the new term-presidency
elections attended by six nominees including Azeri President
Haydar Aliyev at the ballot boxes at the Azeri Embassy in Ankara
and at the consulate general in Istanbul. Azeri Ambassador to
Ankara Mamed Aliyev said that participation in elections was high
in Ankara. /Sabah/
[10] FIRST LADIES MEET IN SOFIA
Berna Yilmaz, wife of Turkish Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz, said
that the most important investment for people was education.
Berna Yilmaz attended a conference on "Women in the 21st century"
and noted that education should be organized according to the
requirements of the contemporary period. Hillary Clinton, wife of
the US President Bill Clinton, also participated in the
conference. /Sabah/
[11] EXPORTERS GO TO EGYPT
A delegation of 100 exporters led by Foreign Trade Undersecretary
Yavuz Ege will visit Egypt on 16-19 October to promote Turkish
export products. In a statement made by Foreign Trade
Undersecretariat, the visit to Egypt will be organized by Uludag
Exporters' Union. Exporters from various sectors such as textile,
automotive, forestry, machinery, chemistry, construction, food,
electric-electronic, packaging and iron-steel will participate in
the visit. /Hurriyet/
[12] SYMPOSIUM ON TURKISH-JAPANESE RELATIONS
A symposium on the history of Turkish-Japanese relations was held
at the Bogazici University last week. Seven professors working at
various universities in Japan, Bogazici University professors who
contributed to the improvement of relations between the countries
and students who took scholarships from these universities
attended the symposium. The symposium ended on 9 October. The
Chairman of the History Department at the Bogazici University
Prof. Selcuk Esenbel said: "This symposium organized at the end
of 10 years of studies have shed light on the history of
Turkish-Japanese relations." /Hurriyet/
[13] ALIYEV: "WE ARE BACKING TURKEY AGAINST SYRIA"
Haydar Aliyev touched upon the crisis between Turkey and Syria
while casting his ballot and gave full support to Turkey. Aliyev
said: "Turkey and Azerbaijan are one. We have always supported
Turkey in its struggle against terrorism and will continue to do
so. We are backing Turkey." Foreign policy consultant of
President Aliyev, Vefa Gulizade said: "We know the problem of
PKK. We have information on which anti-Turkish forces support
this organization. Kurds are good people but the PKK cannot
represent them. Syria is sheltering terrorists and allocating
comfortable villas for them. Terrorists then organize attacks
against Turkey. Turkey cannot remain indifferent towards this
policy." /Hurriyet/
[14] TURKISH MARKET FOR ENGLAND
England is ready to take the place of Germany and France with
whom Turkey's trade has been decreasing due to economic and
political reasons. Last week, a delegation of 40 English
businessmen led by the chairman of English-Turkish Chamber of
Industry Eddy Warrington. came to Turkey. The delegation which
enquired the fields of cooperation with Turkey, especially dwelt
on fresh fruit-vegetable trade and met with the leading
representatives of this sector. Warrington stated that, English
Chamber of Trade put Turkey high on the list of countries having
great importance for trade. He added: "This is an important
development. England which for years has not given any importance
to Turkey, is declaring it to be its most important market. It
has shown Turkey as a target for English capital." /Milliyet/
[15] "STOP SUPPORTING INTERNATIONAL TERRORIST ORGANIZATION, PKK"
The US administration recalled Syria to stop its support for the
to PKK. US Defense Secretary William Cohen stressed last week
that the Syrian administration should not let international
terrorist organization PKK conduct activities on its territories.
Also, Deputy of the Director of the Southeast European Desk of
the Secretary of State, Dana Bauer said that the US
administration strongly advised Syria to stop supporting the PKK.
In his speech at an annual meeting of the Turkish-American
Assembly (TADA) Bauer stressed that the US administration had
declared PKK as an international terrorist organization.
/Cumhuriyet/
[16] HOPE FOR TURKEY'S EU MEMBERSHIP
Leader of the Social Democratic Party Gerhard Schroeder, who won
the general elections in Germany, said that Turkey's application
to the European Union (EU) membership would be re-evaluated. It
is announced that Turkey would contribute $4.7 billion annually
to the budget of the EU. /Cumhuriyet/
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