Anadolu Agency: News in English, 99-02-14

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From: The Anadolu Agency Home Page at <http://www.anadoluajansi.gov.tr/>

AA Daily

14 February 1999 Sunday

CONTENTS

[01] TURKEY-PRESS SCAN

[02] ECEVIT, THE PREMIER DENIES THE NEWS SAYING THAT RUSSIA ASKED FOR FILE CONCERNING THE EXTRADITION OF OCALAN

[03] U.S. PRESIDENT CLINTON WARNS ONCE AGAIN: - ''SPREAD OF CLASHES IN KOSOVO MAY INVOLVE OUR ALLIES, TURKEY AND GREECE''

[04] TALAY, MINISTER OF CULTURE: ''WE ALLOCATED 300 BILLION LIRAS FOR RESTORATION OF ST. PAUL CHURCH''

[05] SECURITY NETWORK TO STRAITS - COMPANIES TO SUBMIT THEIR BIDS ON 26 FEBRUARY

[06] TRNC DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER AKINCI LEAVES FOR LONDON

[07] ZULFIGAROV, AZERBAIJANI FOREIGN MINISTER DUE IN TURKEY ON MONDAY

[08] SEZER, MINISTER OF FORESTRY: ''I AM PLEASED ABOUT THE USE OF MOST RECENT TECHNOLOGY BY A.A.''

[09] ISMAIL CEM, THE FOREIGN MINISTER: ''WE'LL WELCOME AZIZ WITH GOOD WILL, BUT EVERYBODY HAS TO KNOW THAT OUR POLICY WON'T CHANGE BY ONE VISIT'' - ''TURKEY IS THE STRONGEST STATE OF HER REGION AND WE AIM TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE STABILITY AND PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST''

[01] TURKEY-PRESS SCAN

HURRIYET (LIBERAL) SHAME ON YOU AHMET KAYA
It has been found out that Ahmet Kaya, a Turkish singer who said that he does not want the division of Turkey, gave concert in front of a Kurdish map at an organization held by the terrorist PKK in 1993 in Germany. Noting that he wanted to sing a Kurdish song at an organization held in Istanbul, Kaya wanted to provocate people in fact.

YILMAZ:I KNOW NOW
Former Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz says that 18 months in power taught him important lessons about how and when to exercise political power. New elections are due on April 18.

MILLIYET (LIBERAL)

OCALAN DIVIDES SPAIN INTO TWO
Catalonian people also participated in the debate that is going on in Spain concerning the gathering of the socalled Kurdish parliament in exile. Pujol, the president of Catalonia Local Administration said that they won't open their parliament to Kurds, however he understands the decision of the Basque parliament. The Spanish government points out that they are the ones who will decide on foreign policy issues and thus they will bring the issue before the Constitutional Court.

SABAH (LIBERAL)

OCALAN IN PANIC
Russian administration warned Abdullah Ocalan, the chief of the separatist terrorist organization PKK till February 17. Ocalan's lawyer applied to the Dutch Minister of Justice and asked for asylum for Ocalan. The Dutch government rejected the request. Ocalan is afraid of being extradited to Turkey.

CUMHURIYET (LEFT)

RADIKAL (LEFT)

The visit of Tareq Aziz, the Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister, to Turkey will start on Monday. It was reported that Aziz would proceed from Habur to Diyarbakir by a military helicopter and then fly to Ankara with a military plane. Diplomatic sources said the U.S. warned Massaud Barzani, the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), not to meet with Aziz.

YENİ YÜZYIL (LIBERAL)

20 PERCENT OF TELEKOM TO BE SOLD IN 1999
Hasan Basri Aktan, the Minister of Transportation and Communications, said that the sale of first 20 percent share in Telekom and the tender for the third GSM network, which would bring 700 million US dollars income, could be carried out until the end of 1999.

TÜRKİYE (RIGHT)

Foreign Ministry is carrying out preliminary studies while it is mentioned that a Turkish brigade will be sent to Kosovo.

WHAT WILL THEY SAY?
The political parties specified their slogans they will use for elections. The slogan of the Virtue Party (FP) is ''Virtue, the name of change.'' The True Path Party (DYP) will use the slogan ''New Turkey In New Century'' while the Motherland Party's (ANAP) slogan will be ''the voice of the quiet majority'' and the slogan of the Democratic Left Party (DSP) will be ''hope''. The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) specified its slogan as ''let's set our hearts together with the public for the leader Turkey'' and the slogan of the Republican People's Party (CHP) will be ''new Left, new CHP''.

ZAMAN (CONSERVATIVE)

Kardemir, Isdemir and Eregli, the three giant integrated facilities of Turkey making production from ore, are now in crisis because of the state which allows the entrance of dumping products into Turkey and which does not protect this sector.

NEW NUCLEAR WARNING SYSTEM
Hundred new radiation early warning system, which will be produced by the Turkish Atomic Energy Institution, will be deployed in differents regions of Turkey, especially near the Armenian and Bulgarian borders.

[02] ECEVIT, THE PREMIER DENIES THE NEWS SAYING THAT RUSSIA ASKED FOR FILE CONCERNING THE EXTRADITION OF OCALAN

Responding to questions of journalists, Ecevit said ''I don't know whether or not Ocalan is in South Africa. We also hear some news about whereabouts of Ocalan, the terrorist chief. He will come out sooner or later, but he will disappear in political meaning... Everybody should be patient, I am sure his voice will come out soon in one of the places of this world.''

When asked whether a message has come from Russia, Ecevit said ''No, no. The news which was issued for the last two days does not have any connection with the truth.''

[03] U.S. PRESIDENT CLINTON WARNS ONCE AGAIN: - ''SPREAD OF CLASHES IN KOSOVO MAY INVOLVE OUR ALLIES, TURKEY AND GREECE''

U.S. President Bill Clinton said they are planning to send almost 4,000 troops to the region within the framework of the NATO peace force if the sides in Kosovo reach a compromise.

Clinton emphasized that the clashes in Kosovo had a very serious risk of spreading through the Balkans.

''Clashes may absorb even our NATO allies, Turkey and Greece,'' U.S. President Clinton stressed.

The U.S. administration is concerned that the U.S. might be obliged to intervene with a more powerful force if the war spreads to the Balkans.

[04] TALAY, MINISTER OF CULTURE: ''WE ALLOCATED 300 BILLION LIRAS FOR RESTORATION OF ST. PAUL CHURCH''

Stressing that Tarsus is an important place for tourism, Talay said a total of 100 billion Turkish Liras (TL) had been spent for the restoration of the St. Paul Church.

''We appropriated new funds worth of 300 billion TL for the completion of the restoration. 40 billion portion of that appropriations will be sent to Tarsus next week. Many old houses around St. Paul Church will also be expropriated. The allocated funds will be used for the legal expropriation and restoration of the buildings surrounding the St. Paul well,'' he said.

[05] SECURITY NETWORK TO STRAITS - COMPANIES TO SUBMIT THEIR BIDS ON 26 FEBRUARY

It was reported that nearly ten Turkish and foreign companies are interested in the ''turn-key delivery'' construction tender for the Vessel Traffic Administration and Information System aiming at monitoring, controlling and guiding the traffic at the Straits.

The system was planned to be installed at Istanbul and Canakkale Straits with an investment worth of almost 40 million U.S. dollars.

Officials at the Undersecretariat of Maritime said they would announce the company which will win the tender after they conclude their evaluations of bids.

[06] TRNC DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER AKINCI LEAVES FOR LONDON

The conference, at which the Turkish-European Union (EU) relations and the Cyprus issue will be discussed, will start on Monday and conclude on 18 February.

Officials from Turkey and Greece and other European countries are expected to participate in the conference.

TRNC State Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Akinci will return to the TRNC on 20 February.

[07] ZULFIGAROV, AZERBAIJANI FOREIGN MINISTER DUE IN TURKEY ON MONDAY

Zulfigarov will hold contacts in order to improve the cooperation between the two countries in various fields during his two-day visit to Turkey.

The visit of Zulfigarov to Turkey will take place after the statements issued concerning the improvement of military cooperation between Turkey and Azerbaijan.

Zulfigarov refrained last week from making a comment when asked whether or not he will discuss the military cooperation between the two countries during his stay in Turkey.

[08] SEZER, MINISTER OF FORESTRY: ''I AM PLEASED ABOUT THE USE OF MOST RECENT TECHNOLOGY BY A.A.''

Noting that A.A issues correct and objective news, Sezer said ''Anadolu Ajansı is the most effective institution in correct journalism.''

Volkan Sevenler, the Regional Director of A.A said that A.A started to transmit photographs to its subscribers through satellite in addition to transmitting news through satellite.

[09] ISMAIL CEM, THE FOREIGN MINISTER: ''WE'LL WELCOME AZIZ WITH GOOD WILL, BUT EVERYBODY HAS TO KNOW THAT OUR POLICY WON'T CHANGE BY ONE VISIT'' - ''TURKEY IS THE STRONGEST STATE OF HER REGION AND WE AIM TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE STABILITY AND PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST''

Visiting Yıldırım, the governor of central province of Kayseri, Ismail Cem said that the ''foreign policy of Turkey is on the right track, Turkey wishes to be a country which has her own identity, which knows her deficiencies and power and which is taken seriously by her counterparts.''

Noting that they have succeded in her targets up to now, Ismail Cem pointed out that ''the whole world knows that if Turkey or her foreign minister says something, they say the truth.''

Pointing out the seriousness in Turkish foreign policy has given its results, Cem said that ''for instance our turning the S-300 missiles upside down which would be deployed in the Greek Cypriot side put the Greek-Greek Cypriot front into a difficult position in front of the world.''

''When our relations with the Arab world is compared to those of one and a half years ago, we have better relations with the Arab and Islamic world today. Our relations with Iran are improving, we had difficulties with Iran concerning security and we take serious steps to overcome them. This is very important for us. Our trade volume with Egypt increases to 1.5 billion dollars. We'll increase our trade volume with Algeria to two billion dollars in 2000. We attribute great importance to relations with the Arab world,'' said Cem.

''However we could not improve relations with Iraq at the desired level, Mr. Aziz will visit us and I hope this visit will be positive in respect of two countries. Four months ago, when Bulent Ecevit was the deputy prime minister, the Iraqi side told us that if they were invited they could visit Turkey. We invited them, but they did not come. Later, ten days ago, they conveyed us the message that they tend to accept our invitation, we accepted that as they are our neighbours. Sometimes there are some news in the public opinion saying that Aziz will come to Turkey and there will be disagreements with the U.S. This is a bit exaggeration, such kind of a thing is out of question. The status of Incirlik base won't change,'' said Cem, adding from the beginning Turkey has wished Iraq to abide fully with the U.N. Resolutions.

''We even told Iraq that we can take confidence building measures and economic measures among Syria, Iraq, Iran, Jordan and Turkey. All countries except Iraq were positive about our proposal,'' said Cem, noting that ''Iraq should behave warmly to the proposed plan and be friendly to neighbourhood relations. In fact neither Turkey, nor Iraq and the US want the death of people. Turkey is the strongest country of her region and has the most dynamic economy, the most effective and experienced armed forces, '' Cem said.

Noting that the Adana Agreement signed with Syria about terrorism has shown her effect, Ismail Cem said ''the separatist terrorist organization PKK seems not using the territories of Syrian territories by this agreement. The most important thing for us is the life of human beings and the number of our martyries decreased by the Adana Agreement.''

Stressing that the chief of the separatist terrorist organization PKK was welcomed almost as a hero one and a half months ago in Europe, Cem said that the European countries have opened their doors to the terrorist chief today.

''This was not easy, I regard this as the common success of Turkish society, The foreign ministry has spoken with officials of nearly all countries as Ocalan, the terrorist chief applied to them,'' he added.

A.A

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