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Turkish Press Review, 00-11-24
From: Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs <http://www.mfa.gov.tr>
24.11.00
Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning
CONTENTS
[01] FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...
[02] SEZER: "TEACHERS SHOULD RECEIVE THE SUPPORT THEY DESERVE"
[03] ECEVIT RECEIVES ROBERTSON
[04] KIVRIKOGLU'S ROMANIA VISIT
[05] EFFORTS TO END CLASHES IN THE MIDDLE EAST
[06] MOSCOVICI'S STATEMENT ON HUMAN RIGHTS IN TURKEY
[07] ROBERTSON'S SPEECH IN ESDI CONFERENCE
[08] BRITISH GOVERNMENT IS DETERMINED
[09] TOROS-2000 EXERCISE ENDS
[10] KUCHMA: "WE REGARD YOUR SUCCESS AS A GUIDING PRINCIPLE"
[11] TGNA RATIFIES THE NEW TAX LAW
[12] SECOND TURKISH-SPEAKING REPUBLICS BUSINESSMEN'S CONGRESS BEGINS
[13] MULTINATIONAL TEXTILE FACTORY IN URFA
[14] KOC HOLDING RECEIVES $250 MILLION CREDIT
[15] DOGUS HOLDING'S RATE INCREASES
[16] FOREX RESERVES INCREASE BY $850 MILLION
[17] FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...
[18] TURKEY ON WEEKEND BY YILMAZ OZTUNA (TURKIYE)
[01] FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...
[02] SEZER: "TEACHERS SHOULD RECEIVE THE SUPPORT THEY DESERVE"
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer issued a message celebrating the
"Teachers' Day". Mr. Sezer said the support they deserved should
be given to teachers shaping the future generations. The economic
conditions of teachers should be improved. Mr. Sezer said the
society needs an educational system involving democratic ideals.
Therefore the required changes should be carried out as soon as
possible. /Milliyet/
[03] ECEVIT RECEIVES ROBERTSON
Yesterday, Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit received NATO
Secretary-General George Robertson. Following the meeting, Mr.
Ecevit said that the NATO Secretary General has informed the
member countries about the recent developments before his
one-year term in office come to end. Regarding a question on
Turkey's exclusion from the decision-making mechanism of the
European Security and Defence Identity (ESDI), Mr. Ecevit said,
"Turkey is confronted with unfairness on the subject." In his
statement, Mr. Robertson said that they discussed the ESDI topic
and other regional issues. /Turkiye/
[04] KIVRIKOGLU'S ROMANIA VISIT
According to a statement issued by the General Secretariat of the
Office of the Chief of General Staff, Chief of General Staff Gen.
Huseyin Kivrikoglu paid an official visit to Romania on Nov.
20-23 at the invitation of Romanian Chief of General Staff Gen.
Mihail Popescu. The statement said that Gen. Kivrikoglu met with
President's Defence Counsellor, Gen. Konstantin Degeratu, Chief
of General Staff, Gen. Mikhail Popescu, and other Romanian high
level officials. During the meetings, cooperation in military and
defence industry, Partnership for Peace activities and other
bilateral topics were discussed. /Turkiye/
[05] EFFORTS TO END CLASHES IN THE MIDDLE EAST
Former President Suleyman Demirel made phone calls to Egyptian
President Husnu Mubarek, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat,
Jordanian King Abdullah and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak
before attending the meeting of the international committee,
formed to stop the violence in the Middle East. Mr. Demirel will
leave for New York on Nov. 25 to participate in the international
committee's meeting to be held on Nov. 26-27. Following the
meeting in New York, the members of the committee are expected to
proceed to the Middle East. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Ismail
Cem said that Turkey had important historic responsibilities in
the Middle East and he was continuing to meet with authorities of
the sides to end the clashes. /Aksam/
[06] MOSCOVICI'S STATEMENT ON HUMAN RIGHTS IN TURKEY
Speaking before the European Conference Ministerial Meeting which
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ismail Cem also attended in
Socheaux, France, EU term president France's Minister of State
responsible for the EU Affairs, Pierre Moscovici stated that
problems concerning human rights, democratization and minority
rights are still viewed as an obstacle for Turkey's full EU
membership. Mr. Moscovici also said that close relations between
military and political institutions constituted a problem, adding
that Turkey's participation in the meetings was important.
Recalling that Turkey's Accession Partnership Document was about
to be accepted, Mr. Moscovici said, "Turkey's candidacy is a
wager we bet to win." Mr. Cem representing Turkey at the meeting
conveyed Turkey's concern over the Cyprus issue's inclusion in
the Accession Partnership Document to his European counterparts
and EU Commissioner responsible for enlargement Gunther Verheugen
at the meeting. The meeting is a preparation for the Nice Summit
to be held with the participation of candidate countries on
December 7. Candidate countries were informed about the
structural reforms planned to be made within the EU. /Cumhuriyet/
[07] ROBERTSON'S SPEECH IN ESDI CONFERENCE
Delivering a speech at the European Security and Defense Identity
(ESDI) Conference organized by the Turkish Economic and Social
Studies Foundation (TESEV), NATO Secretary-General Lord George
Robertson emphasized the importance of Turkey for the EU, NATO
and the interests of the region. Giving information on the
strategic relations between NATO and the EU. Mr. Robertson said,
"Turkey should enter the picture. We need Turkey as it has a very
important geopolitical location in the region. Turkey's vital
role should be clearly understood. We should not forget that
Turkey has always a place in all defense scenarios." Stating that
countries which are not members of the EU but are NATO allies
should be given more roles, Mr. Robertson said, "Turkey as a
secular, Kemalist (M. Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Republic
of Turkey) and democratic country has an essential place in
Europe's security." /Cumhuriyet/
[08] BRITISH GOVERNMENT IS DETERMINED
The British government rejected Armenian lobbies' demands for
January 27 to be named as the "Commemoration Day for the Victims
of the Holocaust". The daily Independent stated that Armenian
attempts were officialy refused in a letter written by Neil
Frater, an official from the British Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
to the Armenian Union in the US. /Cumhuriyet/
[09] TOROS-2000 EXERCISE ENDS
The Toros-2000 exercise conducted by the Turkish Armed Forces on
the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC)'s territorial
waters and air space, as well as Eastern Mediteranean's
international air space and territorial waters, was completed
successfully. Turkish-Cypriot Peace Forces also participated in
the exercise. /Turkiye/
[10] KUCHMA: "WE REGARD YOUR SUCCESS AS A GUIDING PRINCIPLE"
Turkey and Ukraine decided to support the cooperation efforts in
defense industry by developing concrete projects. Ukrainian
President Leonid Kuchma, who is visiting Turkey on an official
invitation by President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, invited Turkish
businessmen to invest in Ukraine. The construction of Odessa
Airport, investments in telecommunications and glass industry by
the Turkish Businessmen were discussed at the meeting between the
two delegations. Koc Holding might also open hypermarkets in
Ukraine. Mr. Kuchma, in a speech he delivered in the TGNA
yesterday, said, "Ataturk pointed to today's Turkey when he said
after the war of independence, 'we will gain great non-military
victories from now on, especially in economic, scientific and
information areas.' I belive Ukraine will also be successful in
carrying out the required reforms by taking your success as a
guide." /Hurriyet/
[11] TGNA RATIFIES THE NEW TAX LAW
The Turkish Grand National Assembly (TGNA) ratified the
supplementary tax draft law yesterday. With the implementation of
new taxes, including "the standard of living tax", around $43
million in more taxes will be collected. The rate of special
transaction tax, special communication tax, automobile purchase
and selling tax will be determined by the government. With the
new law, merger of the banks will be exempted from the tax
liabilities for three years. Institutions and persons who will
buy the banks at loss will have the right to subtract the losses
of those bank from their profits for a five-year period.
/Milliyet/
[12] SECOND TURKISH-SPEAKING REPUBLICS BUSINESSMEN'S CONGRESS BEGINS
Second Turkish-Speaking Republics Businessmen's Congress will
begin today in Istanbul under the auspices of President Ahmet
Necdet Sezer. During the Congress to be opened by Minister of
State Abdulhaluk Mehmet Cay, the problems of the businessmen
working in the Turkish-Speaking Republics will be taken up.
/Star/
[13] MULTINATIONAL TEXTILE FACTORY IN URFA
An Italian, a Swiss and two Turkish companies are planning to
establish a textile factory in Urfa. The factory will initially
produce cotton yarn,and later blue jeans and special cloths.
/Sabah/
[14] KOC HOLDING RECEIVES $250 MILLION CREDIT
Koc Holding obtained $250 million in syndication credit from
foreign financial markets. The one-year credit with Libor+0.95
will be of general use for the group companies of the holding.
/Milliyet/
[15] DOGUS HOLDING'S RATE INCREASES
International rating institutions, Standard and Poor's and Fitch
announced the credit rate they gave to the Dogus Holding. These
rating institutions rated the holding for the first time.
Standard and Poor's gave B+ for the long-run, B for the
short-run. Fitch gave BB- as exchange rate and BB as TL rate to
the holding. Standard and Poor's announced the banks owned by
Dogus Holding are making good profits and their risk management
is successful. /Milliyet/
[16] FOREX RESERVES INCREASE BY $850 MILLION
The Turkish Central Bank's foreign exchange reserves rose by $850
million to $24.4 billion in the week ending Nov.17, the bank
announced yesterday. The bank said its gold reserves had remained
unchanged at $1.01 billion. Total foreign currency reserves of
commercial banks and special finance institutions amounted to
$16.5 billion as of Nov.3, according to the most recent data
available. National foreign exchange reserves, including Central
Bank foreign exchange reserves, commercial banks' and special
financial institutions' foreign exchange reserves and Central
Bank gold reserves, rose by $948 million to $41.8 billion Nov.3.
Meanwhile, the Central Bank said that a total of $8.7 billion had
been transferred out for debt payments since Jan.1. /Turkish
Daily News/
[17] FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...
[18] TURKEY ON WEEKEND BY YILMAZ OZTUNA (TURKIYE)
Columnist Yilmaz Oztuna describes the events of the week briefly
in his column. A summary of his column is as follows:
"This weekend is closing with economic news high on the agenda.
At the beginning of the week, the most important issue discussed
was the Accession Partnership Document. When those who could not
fathom the sensitivity of money acted carelessly, the stock
exchange market hit the bottom. Interest rates rose, demand for
foreign exchange increased, despite the strength of our economic
potential which is accepted by both World Bank and the West.
Foreign exchange reserves are at a level($24 billion) which was
not reached before. However, bailed out banks cast a shadow on
the banking system and as we are not accustomed to acting
quickly, some issues turned into never ending problems.
Turkey's relations with the EU are left to the Nice Summit in
France in December. I am optimistic of its outcome. Nothing can
be imposed upon Turkey through force or insults. Turkey is
accustomed to discordant voices. It will not lose its European
identity with the propaganda campaigns of Armenians, Greeks or
others. It will be a disappointment to those who expect Turkey,
who has lived through the days of Ataturk, defended Europe
against the Soviet Union for 40 years, to turn its back on the
West.
The amnesty issue which we have brought upon ourselves should
also be mentioned. In fact, there is not a proper draft on the
isse. Even if there is an accord among the parties in the TGNA,
no one knows what will happen in the Constitutional Court. The
judges themselves cannot say anything until they have seen the
file.
I believe Turkey is moving forwards. A brilliant Turkish State
will arise after these periods of confusion. It is a historical
fact that periods of prosperity follow eras of violence."
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