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Voice of America, 99-11-05
CONTENTS
[01] KOUCHNER ON KOSOVO (L ONLY) BY BRECK ARDERY (UNITED NATIONS)
[02] NY ECON WRAP (S&L) BY ELAINE JOHANSON (NEW YORK)
[03] TURKEY / PIPELINE (L-ONLY) BY AMBERIN ZAMAN (ANKARA)
[04] TURKEY/VIRTUE PARTY BY NINIE G. SYARIKIN (WASHINGTON)
[01] KOUCHNER ON KOSOVO (L ONLY) BY BRECK ARDERY (UNITED NATIONS)
DATE=11/5/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
NUMBER=2-255875
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The chief of the United Nations Interim
Administration in Kosovo, Bernard Kouchner, said today
(Friday) that more money is desperately needed for
rebuilding efforts. At the United Nations, V-O-A
Correspondent Breck Ardery reports.
TEXT: Mr. Kouchner says 25-million dollars is needed
for the Kosovo budget by the end of this year and 110-
million dollars more will be required for next year.
He says it is unrealistic to expect people who are
trying to rebuild Kosovo's infrastructure to work for
free. Mr. Kouchner spoke to reporters immediately
following his private briefing for the U-N Security
Council.
/// Kouchner Act ///
Without the money it will be impossible to
convince the people not to go back to the black
market or to the mafia because they have to
feed, help and support their families. That was
my main message (to the Security Council) and it
was very well received.
//// End Act ///
An international conference on Kosovo is set for
November 17th in Brussels, Belgium, and donor nations
will receive a detailed document on funding needs.
Mr. Kouchner said protection of ethnic minorities in
Kosovo is a major priority and he expressed thanks to
the United Nations for sending more police officers.
Regarding the slaughters that took place during
Serbian attacks in Kosovo, Mr. Kouchner said there is
still no way to tell how many people were buried in
mass graves.
/// Kouchner Act ///
We are discovering mass graves every week. But
the numbers are difficult to announce. It is
certainly in-between five and six thousand to,
some have said, 20 thousand and more. I do not
know, I don't know, it is very difficult.
/// End Act ///
Mr. Kouchner did close his meeting with reporters on a
positive note, pointing out that 90 percent of the
schools in Kosovo are now open again.(Signed)
NEB/UN/BA/LSF/ENE/JP
05-Nov-1999 17:29 PM EDT (05-Nov-1999 2229 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
[02] NY ECON WRAP (S&L) BY ELAINE JOHANSON (NEW YORK)
DATE=11/5/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
NUMBER=2-255872
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Stock prices in the United States were up
today (Friday), helped by what analysts called benign
news on the U-S economy. V-O-A correspondent Elaine
Johanson reports:
TEXT: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 64
points, closing at 10-thousand-704. The Industrials
lost 25 points for the week. The Standard and Poor's
500 index rose seven points to 13-hundred-70. And the
technology-led Nasdaq index, in another record close,
gained one and one-half percent.
U-S unemployment fell to a 30-year low of four-point-
one percent and job creation in October accelerated.
But wage increases were held to a mere one-tenth of
one percent, showing no inflationary pressure. Wages
account for about two-thirds of consumer prices.
/// Opt ///
Many analysts believe the U-S Federal Reserve Board
(central bank governors) should feel less pressure at
this point to raise interest rates when it meets
November 16.
But, the stock market is going up again. Yields on
the long bond are starting to fall back toward six
percent, after reaching a high of six-point-four
percent last week. Some economists suggest the
Federal Reserve and its chairman, Alan Greenspan,
might decide to increase short-term rates anyway to
prevent the stock market from becoming too exuberant.
Maury Harris, chief economist at the Paine Webber
investment house, says that is not the job of a
central bank:
/// Harris Act ///
I think the most important thing for the Fed is
economic results. And you are getting a
slowdown in the average monthly job growth. The
average hourly earnings are being well-
contained. The employment cost index is well-
contained. And I just think those arguments are
more important.
/// End Act ///
/// End Opt ///
Walt Disney, the second-largest media company,
reported disappointing earnings. Sales are down at
Disney stores. And, the company says, its two-year
slump will probably continue for another year.
/// Rest Opt ///
Tension grows in the U-S pharmaceutical industry.
Drug-maker Warner-Lambert has rejected a more than 80-
billion dollar takeover bid from Pfizer. Warner-
Lambert says it will go ahead with plans to merge with
American Home Products to form the world's biggest
drug company.
Pfizer is challenging part of that merger deal in
court. (signed)
NEB/NY/EJ/LSF/JP
05-Nov-1999 17:10 PM EDT (05-Nov-1999 2210 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
[03] TURKEY / PIPELINE (L-ONLY) BY AMBERIN ZAMAN (ANKARA)
DATE=11/5/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
NUMBER=2-255861
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: A U-S official says he believes an agreement
will be signed next month on a multi-billion-dollar
pipeline to carry Caspian Sea oil from Azerbaijan to
Turkey. But as Amberin Zaman reports from Ankara, the
U-S special adviser on Caspian Basin energy resources,
John Wolf, says some technical hurdles remain.
TEXT: The pipeline would carry petroleum from
Azerbaijan's capital, Baku, to Turkey's southern
Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. Ambassador Wolf told a
news conference in Ankara he is confident an agreement
on the pipeline will be signed next month, at a
meeting of the Organization on Security and
Cooperation in Europe in Istanbul.
/// 1st WOLF ACT ///
I think that this project is accelerating, and
the negotiators are well engaged in the process
and they know what the target is for signature
of this, and they are working in all good faith
to get there. And I am very hopeful that
they're going to get there.
/// END ACT ///
Construction of the pipeline -- running almost two-
thousand kilometers from the Azeri capital through
Georgia to Turkey -- is among the U-S government's
major energy goals.
Experts say pumping Azerbaijan's vast offshore Caspian
crude reserves through a main export line to Turkey
would significantly reduce the former Soviet
republic's dependency on Russia. And Mr. Wolf says it
also would prevent Iran from gaining influence in the
region.
/// 2nd WOLF ACT ///
We do not see any advantage at all for any
countries or any companies in this region to be
giving Iran additional influence in the region
or additional influence over the world's energy
supplies.
/// END ACT ///
Turkish, Georgian and Azeri officials, as well as
members of the Western consortium developing three
offshore oil fields in Azerbaijan, have been meeting
in Ankara this past week to iron out final details of
the agreement.
Ambassador Wolf says these include a set of issues
pertaining to property laws in Georgia.
/// 3rd WOLF ACT ///
They'll be looking at issues like, are there
differences on what could be expected on land
acquisition, for instance. On land acquisition
in Azerbaijan, all land is public; in Georgia
it's private.
/// END ACT ///
Analysts say another, more difficult, problem is
continuing Russian opposition to the pipeline. A
Russian official traveled to Azerbaijan Friday to try
to persuade Azeri President Heidar Aliyev to abandon
the Turkish project and use a route through Russia
instead.
An existing pipeline from Baku to Russia's Black Sea
port of Novorossiisk was shut down this summer after
an explosion on a section running through the southern
Russian republic of Daghestan.
Oil and security analysts say continuing violence in
the breakaway republic of Chechnya, combined with
pressure from the United States, persuaded Western oil
companies to finally endorse the Turkish route, even
though it is much more costly than other proposed
options, including one through Iran. (Signed)
NEB/AZ/JWH/WTW
05-Nov-1999 12:52 PM EDT (05-Nov-1999 1752 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
[04] TURKEY/VIRTUE PARTY BY NINIE G. SYARIKIN (WASHINGTON)
DATE=11/5/1999
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
NUMBER=5-44714
INTERNET=YES
CONTENT=
NOT VOICED:
INTRO: Mehmet Recai Kutan, the leader of the main
opposition party in Turkey, Fazilet Partisi, or Virtue
Party, is on a one-week trip (Oct. 30 - Nov. 7) to the
United States. He visited Washington earlier this
week and gave a speech (November 1) at the Woodrow
Wilson Center about his party and its role in the
country. VOA's Ninie G. Syarikin has this report.
TEXT: Mr. Kutan became chairman of pro-religious
Virtue Party in 1997, the year that party was
established. Though it is only two years old, in
general elections last April, the party won 110 seats
in the 550-member parliament. Part of the reason for
his trip to the United States, Mr. Kutan says, is to
explain what the young party stands for.
/// FIRST KUTAN ACT ///
We are aware of some circles in Turkey are
trying to introduce us in a way other than what
we are. One of the purpose of our trip to
Washington, D-C and New York City, is to let the
opinion makers in this country know us as we
are, know us by interacting face to face with
the leadership of our party.
/// END ACT ///
According to Mr. Kutan, the Virtue Party has five
basic principles: it supports democracy, liberty,
human rights, the rule of law, and economic growth.
Support for the party, he says, is particularly strong
among the country's middle-class, including farmers,
workers, businessmen, and entrepreneurs, groups that
value stability, continuity and the opportunity to
improve their economic situation.
Because it is at the crossroads of Europe, Asia and
Africa, Mr. Kutan says, Turkey has good strategic and
geopolitical advantages. It can play an important
role as a bridge between the East and West - and is an
ideal base of operation for joint ventures and foreign
investments. In addition, he says, it is a young
country - with 35 million people -- or 55 percent of
its population -- under the age of 24.
Mr. Kutan also believes that a close and stable
relationship between Turkey and the United States is
very important for peace and stability in the troubled
areas in the world, the Middle-East, Balkan, and
Caucasus.
He says the state should not interfere with
religious affairs. As a pro-religious party in a
secular but overwhelmingly Muslim Turkey, he says the
Virtue Party opposes banning headscarves in schools
and public offices.
/// SECOND KUTAN ACT ///
We demand that everybody be free in their
religious beliefs and practices. We demand and
prefer the application of secularism which
exists in Anglo-Saxon tradition and in the
United States. Our standing up against the
existing (secular system) in Turkey has
been interpreted by some people as our
opposition to secular systems in principle.
/// END ACT ///
Recai Kutan describes his party's aim as follows:
/// THIRD KUTAN ACT ///
We demand a fair income distribution; we are
against exploitation of people in any way. We
call for social security for all. We feel that
we are the voice of the poor and the oppressed.
In short, Fazilet Party/Virtue Party demands
that such principles, mentioned in the
constitution, be applied in practical life as
they are described in universal norms.
/// END ACT ///
When it comes to economics, Mr. Kutan says, he is a
strong believer in the free market. Government should
not take a leading role in guiding the economy, it
does, he says, have a regulatory and supporting role.
(Signed)
NEB/NGS/KL
05-Nov-1999 17:51 PM EDT (05-Nov-1999 2251 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
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