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Turkish Press Review, 02-01-07

Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

From: Turkish Directorate General of Press and Information <http://www.byegm.gov.tr>

<LINK href="http://www.byegm.gov.tr_yayinlarimiz_chr_pics_css/tpr.css" rel=STYLESHEET type=text/css> <map name="FPMap1"> <_map> Press &amp; Information Turkish Press Turkish Press Review &gt;&gt; Foreign Press Guide Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning

07.01.2002


CONTENTS

  • [01] PARLIAMENT TO RATIFY UN CONVENTION BEFORE ECEVIT'S US VISIT
  • [02] PARLIAMENT WORKS TO PASS BILLS BEFORE VISIT
  • [03] CEM ON US VISIT, AFGHANISTAN, AND IRAQ
  • [04] VERHEUGEN: "GREEK CYPRUS MAY BECOME EU MEMBER ALONE"
  • [05] CILLER CRITICIZES GOVERNMENT
  • [06] NATURAL GAS SUMMIT TO WRESTLE PRICE SPIKES
  • [07] MEETING TO CONVENE OVER NEW TURKISH AIR CORRIDOR
  • [08] TURKEY TO MAKE $170 MILLION IN DEBT REPAYMENTS
  • [09] JAPANESE LOANS TO HELP ANKARA WATER PROJECT
  • [10] COLD AND SNOW TO CONTINUE
  • [11] WEATHER, HEAVY TRAFFIC JEOPARDIZE TURKISH STRAITS
  • [12] TURKISH MEDICAL SCHOLAR RECEIVES HONOR
  • [13] NAZIM HIKMET TO BE COMMEMORATED
  • [14] FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS
  • [15] STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP BY SUKRU ELEKDAG (SABAH)
  • [16] THE OTTOMAN CITADEL BY YILMAZ OZTUNA (TURKIYE)

  • [01] PARLIAMENT TO RATIFY UN CONVENTION BEFORE ECEVIT'S US VISIT

    Prior to Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit's visit to the US on Jan. 15, the Parliament is expected to ratify the UN Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism, which was signed last September as a part of the UN's action against terrorism. The Convention lays out what financing of terrorism means in detail by defining it as a separate crime, and it calls on the countries to take appropriate measures for the detection, freezing or seizure of any funds used or allocated for the purposes of committing acts of terrorism. The convention covers the offence of involving or complicity in the collection of funds with the intent that the funds may be used in committing acts of terrorism described. Additionally, the convention defines the collection of funds as an offence whether or not the funds are actually used to carry out the envisioned acts. /Cumhuriyet/

    [02] PARLIAMENT WORKS TO PASS BILLS BEFORE VISIT

    Parliament has a week of hard work ahead of it in order pass certain bills before Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit's visit to the US on Jan. 15. During tomorrow's plenary session, the deputies will debate a controversial bill which proposes the transfer of resources to the financial sector and the restructuring of the real sector's debts to the finance sector. Discussions between the government and the IMF on the bill may continue up to the last minute. The government wants to increase the number of the banks to benefit from the finance transfer, while the IMF is asking that the finance transfer supply only to banks which have 1% share in the sector. Parliament passed the Tobacco and State Bidding Bill last week after a heavy schedule. /Turkiye/

    [03] CEM ON US VISIT, AFGHANISTAN, AND IRAQ

    Appearing on state TV channel TRT 1 yesterday, Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem offered his thoughts about Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit's upcoming visit to the US on Jan. 15 and of recent developments regarding Turkey's foreign policy. Remarking that he placed great importance on Ecevit's trip to the US, Cem stated that he believed Turkey's role in restructuring Afghanistan's future would be clarified in the course of the visit. "Whether the US will take an active role in restructuring Afghanistan's future will also determine Turkey's policies over the issue," said Cem. Commenting on the Iraq issue, Cem remarked that so far the US had not put any pressure on Turkey concerning the matter. "The US' main target is to topple the current regime in Iraq," said Cem. "However, Turkey's priority is to protect the territorial integrity of Iraq and to prevent the country from being plunged into chaos. Turkey wants Iraq to be a more democratic country." Calling on Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein to act in line with UN resolutions, Cem said, "The Gulf War had justifiable grounds. However, what the US has in mind today is unclear. The reasons for a possible US intervention in Iraq and what is planned for the future should be expressed very clearly." In addition, Cem also offered his views on the issue of terrorism and Turkey's relations with the European Union. He said, "Although Turkey has taken significant steps in its relations with the EU, the issue of terrorist organizations remains a problem. The way the EU prepared its recent list of terrorist organizations is unjust and unacceptable." /Cumhuriyet/

    [04] VERHEUGEN: "GREEK CYPRUS MAY BECOME EU MEMBER ALONE"

    EU Commisssioner Responsible for Enlargement Guenter Verheugen said yesterday that Greek Cyprus could become a member of the EU by itself if necessary. In a statement on Germany's Deutschland radio, Verheugen said, "We never doubted that Greek Cyprus would enter the EU. However, its entering alone is not the solution we particularly wanted." He also expressed his satisfaction at recent developments between the two leaders on the divided island. Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Rauf Denktas and Greek Cypriot leader Glafcos Clerides have agreed to begin to direct talks on Jan. 16. /Turkiye/

    [05] CILLER CRITICIZES GOVERNMENT

    Yesterday, True Path Party (DYP) leader Tansu Ciller criticized the government's performance. Claiming that far from moving forward Turkey's situation was worse than it was five years ago, Ciller stated, "The government told us that they were aiming for a 10% wholesale price inflation rate.Yet their policies produced instead inflation of nearly 87%. We have been deceived."/Turkiye/

    [06] NATURAL GAS SUMMIT TO WRESTLE PRICE SPIKES

    Energy and Natural Resources Minister Zeki Cakan will meet in Ankara today with the mayors of Ankara, Istanbul, Izmit, Bursa and Eskisehir as well as authorities from the state-owned BOTAS pipeline company to discuss natural gas supply-demand policies and pricing. Recently, there has been an outcry in the public and the media over large rises in natural gas prices, with spikes of 226% recorded over last year. Today's meeting is expected to bring about an agreement for natural gas price reductions. /Turkiye/

    [07] MEETING TO CONVENE OVER NEW TURKISH AIR CORRIDOR

    A meeting of Turkish officials is slated tomorrow to discuss possible new air corridors through Turkish airspace. A host of airline companies whose passengers and income fell sharply following the Sept. 2001 attacks are asking for such corridors to be opened. Such corridors, they argue, would decrease travel time for some journeys by 20 minutes and reduce costs as well. Turkey selected new corridors and large airlines began to lobby for them. Following protests from Athens over these developments, European air traffic administrators called Turkish and Greek representatives to an urgent summit to be held in Brussels on Jan. 15. In the leadup to that meeting, a Turkish group made up of officials from the Directorate General of Civilian Aviation, Office of the General Staff, Air Forces, Foreign Ministry and Transportation Ministry will convene on Tuesday to determine a strategy. With the new air corridors, some flights will be made through Turkey instead of Athens, thus making flights from Europe to the Far East, Africa and the Middle East shorter. If this new route is accepted, every day an average of 600 planes will use Turkish airspace. European air authority Eurocontrol and the International Air Transporters' Union have welcomed Turkey's proposal, saying they consider it vitally important for the airlines. /Aksam/

    [08] TURKEY TO MAKE $170 MILLION IN DEBT REPAYMENTS

    Turkey is set this week to make foreign debt repayments totaling $170 million. The Treasury announced yesterday that it would repay $22.7 million today, $7.9 million tomorrow, $1.2 on Wednesday, $4.4 on Thursday and $133.7 million on Friday. Including this week's repayments, the total foreign debt repayments for the first half of Jan. 2002 will total $216.2 million. /Milliyet/

    [09] JAPANESE LOANS TO HELP ANKARA WATER PROJECT

    The same Japanese lenders who are helping to fund Istanbul's tube passage project are now stepping forward to aid in a water purification project for Ankara. Japanese lender JBIC met with Turkish officials in Ankara over the weekend to discuss both the tube project and the Greater Ankara Municipality's second Merhale Gerede System Project for water. The amount and conditions of loans for the latter are to be determined later this year. /Aksam/

    [10] COLD AND SNOW TO CONTINUE

    The State Meteorology Institute said yesterday that heavy snowfall and falling temperatures would continue to plague Turkey through the end of this week. The new snowfall will be coming from the Black Sea region. /Hürriyet/

    [11] WEATHER, HEAVY TRAFFIC JEOPARDIZE TURKISH STRAITS

    The Istanbul and Dardanelles Straits are in jeopardy due to Turkey's recent bad weather and heavy fuel tanker traffic, with three accidents attributable to these factors last week. Some 135,000 ships passed through the Istanbul straits last year, - eight time the number of ships passing through the Suez Canal - and this number is expected to increase in 2002. /Aksam/

    [12] TURKISH MEDICAL SCHOLAR RECEIVES HONOR

    A pre-eminent Turkish medical scholar has been chosen to be admitted to the prestigious US-based World New Discoveries Foundation (WNDF) and the group's executive council. Uner Tan, the chairman of Karadeniz Technical University Medical School's Physiology Department and a prominent researcher, was chosen by the WNDF following a rigorous selection process evaluating the number and quality of various scientists' discoveries. Over 150 discoveries are attributed to Tan's work. _Sabah7

    [13] NAZIM HIKMET TO BE COMMEMORATED

    Famous Turkish poet Nazim Hikmet will be commemorated nationwide tomorrow on 100th anniversary of his birthday. Prominent writers such as Erik Stinus, Richard Mckane, John Berger and Cengiz Aytmatov are expected to attend the "International Nazim Hikmet Symposium" to be held in Istanbul. /Cumhuriyet/

    [14] FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS

    [15] STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP BY SUKRU ELEKDAG (SABAH)

    Retired Ambassador Sukru Elekdag writes on Turkish-US relations and the concept of strategic partnership. A summary of his column is as follows: "The US is defining its relations with Turkey as a strategic partnership. This definition shows the special importance Washington is attributing to another country and the privileged allied relations it maintains with that country. It is a fact that the US is protecting some of Turkey's interests within this framework. However, it is hard to say that it is fulfilling all the requirements of a strategic partnership. Strategic partnership covers cooperation on trade, cultural matters; the economy and many other fields in addition to the military and political spheres. This privileged alliance envisages the establishment of bilateral institutions to protect each others's interests as well as the sharing of intelligence, and it provides for political and military consultations at all levels. The US sees nothing wrong in giving sophisticated, high-tech weapons to countries such as Great Britain, Canada and Israel with which it enjoys strategic partnership relations. When loooked at closely, we can see that the strategic partnerships with these countries are based on human, ethnic, social and historical ties. The most important point of them all, is that the American public has adopted these common interests. However, as the Turkish presence in the US is still marginal, there is no group defending the interests of Turkish-American common interests. In fact, the anti-Turkish lobbies in the US are so influential that they are still able to derail Washington's policy regarding Turkey and seriously damage bilateral relations. Therefore, if the anti-Turkey ethnic lobbies are not neutralized, it will be very hard to base the relations between Turkey and the US on a strategic partnership. However, increasing the trade volume between our two countries as well as the number of investments by three or fourfold may be a way of neutralizing these lobbies. As a result, there will be groups and lobbies which will defend common interests in both countries. The present situation seem ripe for taking necessary steps. Washington has realized that Ankara has the potential to steer the Islamic sensibilities away from fundamentalism using its 'secular-democatic-republican' administrative system, and also that Turkey is of pivotal importance in its strategy against terrorism. Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit's visit to the US is an important opportunity to revitalize the 'no aid, but trade' policy together with increasing of investments in Turkey."

    [16] THE OTTOMAN CITADEL BY YILMAZ OZTUNA (TURKIYE)

    Columnist Yilmaz Oztuna writes on the destruction of Ottman architectural works throughout the world. A summary of his column is as follows: "Over nine-tenths of Ottman architectural work in the Balkans has already been destroyed. The remaining ones in Bosnia-Herzegovina were ruined by savage murderers who bombed them systematically. Last year, Afghanistan's Taliban destroyed gigantic Buddha monuments that had been protected by their Muslim ancestors. This led to the fury of a billion Buddhists and countles admirers of Buddha.This action was a smear against all Muslims. A few days ago, a follower of bin Ladin who calls himself a Muslim threatened India by saying that he would put a bomb in the Taj Mahal. This mentality does not view Taj Mahal as the pearl of Islamic civilization and a highwater mark in aestheticism. Wahhabi gangs have been unable to erase all Ottoman arichetctural works of art from the face of earth by destroying them but not through lack of trying .A few days ago, they destroyed the Otoman Citadel in Mekke through setting off TNT. They will build a hotel in its place. This enmity against the Ottoman legacy, is the classic demonstration of animosity towards the Turks. We denounce all those who are trying to insult our fathers and grandfathers.It is our duty to protect and repair the Hittite, Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine works remaning on our soil with the utmost care. Fanaticism is evil no matter where it shows it face.Therefore, there is no difference between someone threatening the Taj Mahal, planning action against Hagia Sophia, destroying the Ottoman Citadel or firing mortars at the Mostar bridge. The people of the 21st century should not fall into these traps."

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