Anadolu Agency: News in English, 00-08-02

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ANADOLU AGENCY

NEWS

02 AUGUST 2000 Wednesday

CONTENTS

[01] TURKEY-PRESS SCAN

[02] HIGHER MILITARY COUNCIL STARTS ITS SECOND DAY WORKS

[03] PRINCIPLES DOCUMENT OF U.S. REPUBLICAN PARTY SAYS SOLUTION ON CYPRUS SHOULD NOT TURN BLIND EYE TO WISHES OF TWO SIDES

[04] IN FIRST SEVEN MONTHS, 310 MILLION U.S. DOLLARS OF AGRICULTURAL AND ANIMAL PRODUCTS EXPORTED FROM GAP

[05] FOREST FIRES IN MUGLA

[06] STATE PLANNING ORGANIZATION: -''TURKEY HAS THE BIGGEST NATIONAL INCOME AND POPULATION AMONG CANDIDATE COUNTRIES TO EU''

[07] BALKAN PARTNERSHIP 2000 PROGRAMME TO BE HELD IN SALONICA

[08] TAM'S PROPOSAL TO STRUGGLE WITH XENOPHOBIA IN GERMANY

[09] TURKEY-IRAN SIGN PROTOCOLS ON NATURAL GAS (1)

[10] 120 KG POWDER HASHISH SEIZED IN KAYSERI

[11] ELEVEN BANKS DECREASE TL DEPOSIT INTEREST RATES

[12] ''ENTERPRISE'' SHIP HAS TO GIVE ONE MILLION DOLLAR AS A GUARANTEE TO PASS THROUGH STRAITS

[13] PROXIMITY TALKS ON CYPRUS -DE SOTO CONTINUES HIS CONTACTS

[14] FM DEPUTY SPOKESMAN DIRIOZ: ''TURKEY WILL CONTINUE ITS PLANNED SUPPORT TO TRNC TO OVERCOME LATTER'S ECONOMIC DIFFICULTIES''

[15] 18 KG OF HEROIN SEIZED

[16] 3.7-MAGNITUDE QUAKE OCCURS OFF-SHORE CYPRUS

[01] TURKEY-PRESS SCAN

HURRIYET (LIBERAL)

CEM-PAPANDREOU SUMMIT POSTPONED
Ismail Cem, the Foreign Minister, and his Greek counterpart George Papandreou postponed their friendship journey to mark the first anniversary of rapproachement between Turkey and Greece. The Greek press claimed that tension on Cyprus caused the postponement. Cem and Papandreou had come together in Ohrid last month during Balkan Countries Foreign Ministries' meeting, and decided to meet in August. Diplomatic sources in Athens said that Cem and Papandreou were expected to meet during the United Nations General Assembly meeting in September.

MILLIYET (LIBERAL)

THEY WERE CAPTURED WITH 200 KG HEROIN
Police seized 200 kilograms of heroin which was brought from Iran and planned to be taken to Germany, in an operation at Ipsala Border Gate. Istanbul security forces found out that a gang which wanted to smuggle drugs abroad, targeted at smuggling 200 kilograms of heroin they brought from Iran, firstly to northwestern Edirne province and then abroad. Istanbul security forces, which contacted with Edirne security forces, followed the gang since it departed from Istanbul. The security forces seized the heroin and captured four people in Edirne.

SABAH (LIBERAL)

HIGHER MILITARY COUNCIL DECIDES TO DISMISS 40 PERSONNEL
The Higher Military Council decided to appoint General Hilmi Ozkok as the Land Forces Commander and General Aytac Yalman as the Gendarme General Commander. The Council also decided to dismiss 40 officers and non- commissioned officers.

CUMHURIYET (LEFT)

GURTUNA RECEIVES U.S. CONSUL GENERAL
Ali Mufit Gurtuna, Istanbul Mayor, received Frank C. Urbancic, U.S. Consul General to Istanbul. Gurtuna informed Urbancic about measures taken against earthquake. Gurtuna said that they will establish an institution which is similar to that in Los Angeles within framework of measures against earthquake.

RADIKAL (LEFT)

NEW U.S. AMBASSADOR TO TURKEY TAKES OATH
Robert Pearson who was appointed as new U.S. Ambassador to Turkey, took his oath in a ceremony held at the U.S. State Department. Pearson said that the U.S. and Turkey were two nations which build their future on past experiences and rich heritage. He noted that he listens to the Turkish people living in the U.S who expressed their hopes. After its European Union (EU) candidacy was announced, Turkey is face to face with a big examination, Pearson stated. Pearson stressed that the EU membership dream of Turkey which was supported by the U.S., was much likely to come true today than ever but that there are more things that Europe and Turkey should do.

ORAL: ''INFLATION WILL DECREASE TO ONE-DIGIT NUMBERS IN 2001''
Finance Minister Sumer Oral said that the disinflation program continues in accordance with the targets, adding that the inflation would decrease to one-digit numbers at the end of 2001. Oral recalled that they had firstly given the start for a three-year program to recover the balances in the Turkish economy and finance. Stressing that they had achieved the targets of the program for the first half of 2000, Oral said that the political and economic stability had been settled.

YENI BINYIL (LIBERAL)

5 MILLION U.S. DOLLARS SENT TO TRNC
Sukru Sina Gurel, the State Minister and Spokesman of Government, said that Turkey had sent 5 million U.S. dollars to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). The TRNC Government will use the money to pay salaries of civil servants. Gurel said that additional source would not be allocated to the TRNC due to depositors crisis.

TURKIYE (RIGHT)

TEXTILE SECTOR WORKERS IN MOSCOW
Osmanbey Textile Businessmen's Association (OTIAD) will participate in a fair which will be held in Moscow, Russia, between August 10 and 12. The fair which will be organized by Turkel Fair Organization and in which 47 textile and ready-made cloth companies will join, will be held in Expocenter, the biggest fair center of Moscow.

ZAMAN (CONSERVATIVE)

TURKISH LAWYER BRINGS A SUIT AGAINST KOUCHNER
Altay Suroy, a prominent Turkish lawyer in Kosovo, brought a suit at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) against Bernard Kouchner, the Chairman of United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). Suroy accused Kouchner of excluding Turkish from the list of official languages. Suroy said that Kouchner had violated human rights of Turkish people living in Kosovo. He noted that representatives of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), took action after he had filed the lawsuit, Suroy said that he refused to meet with OSCE representatives, stating that it is Kouchner with whom they had to talk.

[02] HIGHER MILITARY COUNCIL STARTS ITS SECOND DAY WORKS

General Huseyin Kivrikoglu, the Chief of General Staff, is presiding the meeting which started at 09:00 a.m. at the General Staff Headquarters.

The second day works are expected to end later in the day.

Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit will host a dinner in honor of the Higher Military Council members.

[03] PRINCIPLES DOCUMENT OF U.S. REPUBLICAN PARTY SAYS SOLUTION ON CYPRUS SHOULD NOT TURN BLIND EYE TO WISHES OF TWO SIDES

The document that Republican Party issued prior to the presidential elections that would be held in November, included issues which closely concerned Turkey.

The document supported efforts of finding a solution to Cyprus question by peaceful methods and requested all concerned sides to respect to wishes of nations living on Cyprus.

Observers think that the Republican Party, thus, emphasized the importance of the ideas of Turkish Cypriots.

The Armenian lobby of the Republican Party which exerted efforts to include a paragraph about so-called ''Armenian genocide'' in the document, could not reach its target.

Sources close to Republican Party said that despite the efforts of Armenian lobby, the inclusion of a paragraph on so-called genocide in the document was rejected.

[04] IN FIRST SEVEN MONTHS, 310 MILLION U.S. DOLLARS OF AGRICULTURAL AND ANIMAL PRODUCTS EXPORTED FROM GAP

In the same period last year, the region exported 305 million 943 thousand U.S. dollars of agricultural and animal products

Officials at the Southeastern Anatolia Exporters' Union, told the A.A correspondent on Wednesday that in the first seven months of the year, they exported 178 million 538 thousand U.S. dollars in textiles; 50 million 368 thousand U.S. dollars in grain-cereals; 22 million 292 thousand U.S. dollars in dried fruits, 57 million 867 thousand U.S. dollars in fresh fruits and vegetables, and 1 million 272 thousand U.S. dollars in livestock.

[05] FOREST FIRES IN MUGLA

Fire-fighting teams and local residents participated in efforts to put out the fires.

A total of five hectares of forested area was burnt down to ashes in the fires.

Meanwhile, a fire broke out in forested area near Sogutlu village in Fethiye township of Mugla province at about 08:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

The fire was taken under control partly.

Strong winds in the region complicated efforts to take the fire under control completely.

[06] STATE PLANNING ORGANIZATION: -''TURKEY HAS THE BIGGEST NATIONAL INCOME AND POPULATION AMONG CANDIDATE COUNTRIES TO EU''

In one of its reports, the State Planning Organization gave broad place to data of the Eurostat, the European Distributors of Statistical Software.

According to the report, Hungary is the country in which compulsory education starts at the youngest age among candidate countries.

Compulsory education starts in Hungary at the age of five and last for 11 years.

Number of female students is higher than number of male students in universities in almost every candidate countries. Number of male students is higher than number of female students in Czech Republic.

Turkey is the most populous country among candidate countries with its population of 63.5 million. Poland and Romania follow Turkey in the list.

Turkey has the biggest GDP among candidate countries to the European Union (EU) with its GDP of 175.8 billion ECU. Poland came on the second place with its GDP of 140.2 billion ECU and Czech Republic came on the third place with its GDP of 50.1 billion ECU.

The report said that economic development in Turkey was overshadowed when a massive earthquake devastated Turkey's industrial heartland last year.

Turkey's GDP is expected to increase by 5 percent in 2001 as a result of reconstruction efforts in the wake of last year's quake disasters, and positive effevts of economic stabilitiy program.

Candidate countries to the EU were determined as 2 group + Turkey. Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia and the Greek Cypriot side take place in the first group while Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Romania and Slovakia take place in the second group.

[07] BALKAN PARTNERSHIP 2000 PROGRAMME TO BE HELD IN SALONICA

The Economic Development Foundation (IKV) said on Wednesday that 127 companies from Greece, Albania, Bulgaria, Macedonia and Romania are chairing the programme.

Representatives of companies functioning in construction, food, pharmacy and hospital equipment sectors, will participate in the program.

Almost 150 companies from Turkey, Germany, Austria, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Britain, Italy and Israel will join the programme under visitor company status.

The programme targets at providing new technical, financial and commercial cooperation opportunities for companies.

[08] TAM'S PROPOSAL TO STRUGGLE WITH XENOPHOBIA IN GERMANY

Sen sent a letter to German Minister of Treasury Hans Eichel about the issue, TAM noted and Sen stressed that the extreme rightist tendency particularly seen in former Eastern German states takes ''the right to exist'' from foreigners and Germans.

Sen said in his letter that 1 percent of the income which is expected to be around 20 and 100 billion German marks can be used in the struggle with extreme rightists and xenophobia in Germany.

[09] TURKEY-IRAN SIGN PROTOCOLS ON NATURAL GAS (1)

Turkey will start to buy natural gas from Iran as of 30 July 2001 by the pipeline which is still being constructed.

Gokhan Yardım, the Director General of BOTAS ad Iranian Deputy Oil Minister Mohammed Nejat signed the protocols in Ankara.

[10] 120 KG POWDER HASHISH SEIZED IN KAYSERI

Sources said that acting on a tip-off, security forces raided the house of Asir Erol in Sakarya neighborhood in Kayseri, confiscating 120 kg powder hashish and devices used in production of powder hashish.

Sair Erol who was detained said that he was a drug-addict person and he had been convicted of this crime for 5-6 times.

Erol said he had produced powder hashish for himself as he did not enough money to buy illicit drug, and that he did not want to sell this 120 kg of powder hashish.

Officials said the market value of the powder hashish was 150 billion Turkish Liras.

The interrogation of Asir Erol is under way.

[11] ELEVEN BANKS DECREASE TL DEPOSIT INTEREST RATES

The TL deposit interest rates of some banks are as follows:

1-Month 3-Month 6-Month 12-Month

Name of Bank percent percent percent percent

--------------- ------ -------- ------ ----------
Ziraat Bankasi 28 28 27 26-TEFE+2

T. Is Bankasi 30 29 29 29 (x)

Akbank 31 31 32 32 (xx)

Yapi Kredi Bankasi 30 30 29 29 (xx)

Emlak Bankasi 33 32 32 31-TEFE+2

Halkbank 28 28 27 26

Vakifbank 28 28 27 26-TEFE+2

Garanti Bankasi 32 32 31 31 (xx)

Pamukbank 28 28 27 26

Osmanli Bankasi 29 29 28 28

Disbank 28 30 31 32

Sekerbank 32 32 30 30

TEB 28 28 30 30
Kocbank 30 32 33 34

Esbank 31 30 29 29

Finansbank 31 31 35 35

Etibank 31 30 29 28

Toprakbank 29 28 27 26

Interbank 33 32 30 29

Iktisat Bankasi 32 32 31 29

Sumerbank 35 35 34 33

EGS Bank 33 33 32 32

Bank Ekspres 29 29 28 27

Yurtbank 30 29 28 28

Alternatifbank 25 32 35 35

Turkbank 32 32 30 30

Korfezbank 27 24 25 25

Denizbank 28 28 28 27

(x) : Interest rate for deposits from 2 billion up to 60 billion TL.

(xx): Interest rate for deposits up to 2 billion TL.

TEFE: Wholesale Prices Index

[12] ''ENTERPRISE'' SHIP HAS TO GIVE ONE MILLION DOLLAR AS A GUARANTEE TO PASS THROUGH STRAITS

As the lenght of the ship, which is loaded with 192,554 tons of iron ore, is more than 300 meters, it has to take security measures under the Straits Regulations. These conditions have been conveyed to the ship officials.

The ship was on its way from Australia to Constanta port of Romania.

Officials said that the flag of the ship was Bahamian not Romanian, as it was ealier stated. Enterprise which waits offshore Bozcaada since 16 July, should be accompanied by five tugboats and one fire boat and guided by a pilot captain.

If the ship fulfils the conditions requested, the traffic in Canakkale and Istanbul Straits will be closed in two ways during its passage.

[13] PROXIMITY TALKS ON CYPRUS -DE SOTO CONTINUES HIS CONTACTS

Alvaro De Soto, the U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan's Special Representative to Cyprus met with Rauf Denktas, the President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) on Wednesday morning.

Denktas said after the meeting that ''everything is going well, we will meet again tomorrow.''

De Soto will also meet with Glafcos Clerides, the Greek Cypriot leader today.

The second stage of Geneva talks is expected to end on August 4.

[14] FM DEPUTY SPOKESMAN DIRIOZ: ''TURKEY WILL CONTINUE ITS PLANNED SUPPORT TO TRNC TO OVERCOME LATTER'S ECONOMIC DIFFICULTIES''

Speaking in a weekly press briefing, Dirioz said that they closely monitor the inner political and economic developments in TRNC.

Dirioz noted that Turkey will continue its existing support to TRNC to overcome its economic difficulties, adding ''we expect the creation of a suitable atmosphere in TRNC to give an order to the country within their own democratic structure and understanding.''

Upon another question, Dirioz noted that ''giving an order'' means overcoming the problems.

[15] 18 KG OF HEROIN SEIZED

Sources said on Wednesday that narcotics officials disguised as buyers and left for southeastern Gaziantep province upon invitation of drug smugglers.

Officials detained five people and confiscated 18 kg heroin while those people were trying to sell the heroin.

Investigation is under way.

[16] 3.7-MAGNITUDE QUAKE OCCURS OFF-SHORE CYPRUS

The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) Meteorology Department said that the earth tremor had happened at 08:30 a.m.

The Department said the epicenter of the quake was in the sea, off-shore northwestern Cyprus.

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