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Turkish Press Review, 06-01-20
From: Turkish Directorate General of Press and Information <http://www.byegm.gov.tr>
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Summary of the political and economic
news in the Turkish press this morning
20.01.2006
FROM THE COLUMNS… FROM THE COLUMNS… FROM THE COLUMNS…
CONTENTS
[01] ERDOGAN: “NO ONE SHOULD EXPECT EARLY ELECTIONS”
[02] TAJIK PRESIDENT VISITS TURKEY
[03] PARLIAMENT SPEAKER ARINC: “INJUSTICE OF THE LAW SHOULD BE CORRECTED”
[04] ERDOGAN TO MEET WITH EU AMBASSADORS TO TURKEY
[05] GUL TRAVELS TO BRAZIL
[06] ULUSOY BECOMES NEW TFF PRESIDENT
[07] STATE MINISTER TUZMEN WARNS IRAQ ABOUT PAYMENTS
[08] BABACAN: “WE CAN’T RETURN BACK TO POPULIST POLICIES OF THE PAST”
[09] MISCHENKO CALLS FOR INVESTMENTS IN UKRAINE
[10] 45 MILLION USD THERMAL INVESTMENT IN DENIZLI
[11] FROM THE COLUMNS… FROM THE COLUMNS… FROM THE COLUMNS…
[12] PUBLIC PROCUREMENT LAW IS CHANGING BY ISMAIL KUCUKKAYA (AKSAM)
[01] ERDOGAN: “NO ONE SHOULD EXPECT EARLY ELECTIONS”
Speaking at an award ceremony at the Ankara Chamber of Industry (ASO)
yesterday, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that no one should
expect early elections, adding that he wouldn’t allow such a betrayal.
Erdogan stated that there were circles who were jealous of the atmosphere
of stability in the country. “I’m underlying that no one should expect
early elections,” he said. “Elections will be held as scheduled. We can’t
betray to the nation’s trust since it brought us to power for five years
and we’ll carry out our mission properly.” The premier said that the nation
had seen 59 governments in 59 years. “Unfortunately, Turkey is not ready
for a coalition culture,” he added. Also addressing the gathering, ASO
Chairman Zafer Caglayan said that early election issue shouldn’t be on the
agenda of Turkey. For his part, Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodities
Exchanges (TOBB) Chairman Rifat Hisarciklioglu said that the economic
program needed a fine-tuning without harming the fiscal discipline. /Sabah/
[02] TAJIK PRESIDENT VISITS TURKEY
Tajikistan President Emomali Rakhmonov currently visiting Turkey, yesterday
met with his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Necdet Sezer and Parliament Speaker
Bulent Arinc as well as Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. During a joint
press conference, Sezer and Rakhmonov said that they shared common goals on
the strengthening of regional harmonization and cooperation between the two
countries. In the evening, Sezer hosted a dinner in the honor of the Tajik
president. /Turkiye/
[03] PARLIAMENT SPEAKER ARINC: “INJUSTICE OF THE LAW SHOULD BE CORRECTED”
Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc yesterday said, “We can say that there is
an injustice and inequality. Political parties and deputies should submit a
bill to correct this injustice,” about the situation of the former Prime
Minister Necmettin Erbakan, who was sentenced on charges of embezzlement of
Treasury funds. “While making amendments on both the Turkish Penal Code
(TCK) and the Penal Execution Code last year, convicts who completed 75 to
complete their sentences at home were bind to two conditions; first one is
to be in a poor state of health, second is to compensate the public damage,
” said Arinc speaking in Parliament. He added, “When Article 110 of the
Penal Execution Code is examined, you can see that medical certificate and
compensation aren’t required from convicts who completed 65. On the
contrary, both medical certificate and compensation are required from
convicts completing 75. When we look at with naked eye, we can that there’s
a inequality and injustice.” /Cumhuriyet/
[04] ERDOGAN TO MEET WITH EU AMBASSADORS TO TURKEY
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is due today to meet with European
Union ambassadors to Turkey. During the meeting, a number of issues,
including the Additional Protocol, bird flue, author Orhan Pamuk case and
the Turkish Penal Code are expected to be discussed. The diplomatic sources
stated that Turkey’s democratic reforms and its European Union membership
bid would also be discussed at the meeting. /Milliyet/
[05] GUL TRAVELS TO BRAZIL
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul arrived in Brasilia yesterday to pay an
official visit at the invitation of his Brazilian counterpart Celso Amorim.
Speaking to reporters on the board, Gul said that his Justice and
Development Party (AKP) would not waste its time dealing with ideological
disputes. Stressing that the government focused on to further develop
Turkey, Gul said they would continue to follow their own way. Meanwhile, on
the first day of his stay, Gul met with Brazil Parliament Speaker Aldo
Rebelo and then he held talks with Development and Foreign Trade Minister
Louis Fernanda Furlan. /Turkiye-Aksam/
[06] ULUSOY BECOMES NEW TFF PRESIDENT
Haluk Ulusoy was elected as the new Turkish Football Federation (TFF)
president with the backing of 109 of the 223 delegates at an extraordinary
TFF convention yesterday in Ankara. His rival candidate Ayhan Bermek
received 102 votes. Ulusoy was the president of the TFF between 1997 and
2004. During his term in office, Galatasaray won the UEFA Cup and the
Turkish national team came third in the World Cup. /Aksam/
[07] STATE MINISTER TUZMEN WARNS IRAQ ABOUT PAYMENTS
State Minister Kursat Tuzmen yesterday said that the works were being
conducted on collecting Turkish firms’ receivables from Iraq. Tuzmen said,
“If no improvement is made concerning the issue of payments until January
21, we‘ll stop the fuel oil shipments to Iraq.” Tuzmen answered reporters’
questions before the Ankara Chamber of Commerce’s tax and export record
holders award ceremony and said that Iraq was indebted to Turkish firms
worth $1 billion and that they had taken such a measure to collect these
receivables. Tuzmen added that the work on the issue was underway. /Star/
[08] BABACAN: “WE CAN’T RETURN BACK TO POPULIST POLICIES OF THE PAST”
Speaking at an international meeting titled “Inflation Targeting” yesterday,
State Minister for the Economy Ali Babacan said that Turkey adopted
inflation targeting at the beginning of 2006 after living with high
inflation for about 30 years. “If we return back to populist policies, this
will be betrayal to our country,” said Babacan. He stated that the public
and the private sector began to get used to the new term, adding that
Turkey would never go back to the populist policies of the past. “We can’t
allow this,” he said. Babacan added that the economic program carried out
determinedly in accordance with the European Union membership process
provided Turkey to enter into a different atmosphere. Addressing the
gathering, Central Bank Governor Sureyya Serdengecti said that actual
independence of central banks was more important than legal independence,
adding that the independence of the Central Bank eased the implementation
of monetary and fiscal policies. /Milliyet/
[09] MISCHENKO CALLS FOR INVESTMENTS IN UKRAINE
General Secretary of Istanbul Chamber of Industry (ISO) Mehmet Kabasakal
said: “We aim to improve our commercial relations with Ukraine”. At the
meeting organized by the ISO yesterday, Ukrainian Ambassador to Turkey,
Olexandr Mischenko, said: “I’m calling all Turkish businessmen to cooperate
with the Ukrainian businessmen. Our market is open for partnerships”.
/Star/
[10] 45 MILLION USD THERMAL INVESTMENT IN DENIZLI
Turkey and France will carry out a joint investment in Denizli. The
investment which is expected to be completed within seven years will cost
nearly 45 million USD. The promotion of Pamukkale Thermal Cure Center was
made yesterday in Sapanca Richmond Nua Wellness SPA Hotel with the
participation of Tourism Minister Atilla Koc and many investors. Chairman
of Pamukkale Thermal Hotels’ Union (PATERO), Mustafa Aksoy, in his speech
at the meeting, said that the project is funded by 3 million USD investment
from the Ministry of Tourism, 2 million USD from Denizli Governorship and 3
million USD from PATERO and the project survey was conducted by the French
Government. Underlining that Turkey has a share of 2.5 percent in the world
tourism market, Atilla Koc said: “With 1,300 thermal resources, Turkey has
the 7th largest thermal resource in the world but its revenues from thermal
tourism only constitute 1 percent of its total revenue.” The center will
serve for 1,500 people in one day and the visitors are expected from the
European countries. /Star/
[11] FROM THE COLUMNS… FROM THE COLUMNS… FROM THE COLUMNS…
[12] PUBLIC PROCUREMENT LAW IS CHANGING BY ISMAIL KUCUKKAYA (AKSAM)
Columnist Ismail Kucukkaya comments on the Public Procurement Law. A
summary of his column is as follows:
“We lack the culture of being successful by establishing healthy relations.
Most of the people don’t know how to communicate and we see the negative
reflections of this defect during the daily life and public order.
Politicians run after non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the West and
make efforts to benefit from them and most of the ministers spend some time
with NGOs at least once in a week. However, our public culture doesn’t
understand the importance of civilian society. The government wants to
change the Public Procurement Law. I learned this from a minister this
week. I learned that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had a report
prepared concerning the changes and wanted that report to be brought during
the Council of Ministers meeting of that day. The report includes certain
changes requested by the European Union. The EU wants to end the advantages
of Turkish firms in international tenders and requests Turkish and European
firms to compete under equal conditions. It sounds good, but there are
certain risks for the Turkish contracting sector. I discussed this issue
with the Association of Contractors Chairman Erdal Eren on the SKYTURK
channel. I met with the Public Procurement Council (KÝK) officials during
and after the program. Neither the KÝK, nor the Association of Contractors
knew something about the issue. I think this is the most important issue to
consider. Certain issues which are open to abuse, the situation of tenders
with great discounts and changes concerning some conditions of time are
points at issue. However, such an arrangement to be made without a
consensus would hardly be beneficial. I think this issue will be discussed
greatly soon.
I attended the Ankara Chamber of Commerce’s (ASO) award ceremony yesterday.
Half of the cabinet, including Erdogan, was there and I could seize the
opportunity of speaking with ministers. Justice Minister Cemil Cicek was
complaining and he was right to complain. He’s considered the person who is
responsible for Mehmet Ali Agca’s release. They know neither the system,
nor the real face of incidents. Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu and
Finance Minister Kemal Unakitan were fine, but ASO members weren’t
cheerful. They complained about exchange rates and said that the government
should take necessary measures. Meanwhile, the Union of Chambers and
Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) Chairman Rifat Hisarciklioglu said to
Unakitan that he would be happy if he can see Unakitan with a smiling face.
I wonder who will be able to smile following the amendments to be made in
the Public Procurement Law.”
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