Anadolu Agency: News in English, 00-09-19

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NEWS

19 SEPTEMBER 2000 Tuesday

CONTENTS

[01] TURKEY-PRESS SCAN

[02] ZEUGMA ON INTERNET

[03] FOREIGN MINISTER CEM IN BRUSSELS

[04] UNICEF TO GIVE TURKEY 20 MILLION U.S. DOLLARS

[05] TUBITAK EXTENDS SUPPORT TO 55 PROJECTS IN GAP

[06] DELUX HOTELS AND HOLIDAY RESORTS IN ANTALYA ARE BOOKED UP

[07] TURKEY-WORLD BANK

[08] BUDGET RESULTS

[09] CAPACITY UZTILIZATION IN AUGUST

[10] MILD EARTHQUAKE IN YALOVA

[11] ''CONSTRUCTION 2000 ANKARA FAIR'' TO BE OPENED ON WEDNESDAY

[12] ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES MINISTER ERSUMER:

[13] 22TH INTERCONTINENTAL EURASIA MARATHON TO BE HELD ON OCTOBER 15

[14] TOTAL OF 20 RESEARCHERS TO JOIN SECOND INTERNATIONAL SEA STUDIES

[01] TURKEY-PRESS SCAN

HURRIYET (LIBERAL)

FOCUS:''TURKEY MADE HIGHEST PROFIT FROM TOURISM THIS YEAR''
An article which appeared in the German weekly magazine Focus said Turkey made the highest profit from tourism in 2000. The article noted that the hotels in tourism areas were completely full this summer. It was stated that Turkey had a tourism boom due to its low hotel prices like Egypt.

MILLIYET (LIBERAL)

During the meeting, Kutan denied that FP's trips to foreign countries aimed to ask for support for Article 312. He said they were travelling foreign countries to promote their party.

CENTRAL BANK CHAIRMAN GAZI ERCEL WARNS PRIVATE SECTOR ON EURO
Central Bank Chairman Gazi Ercel said that there will be no change in monatery and currency programmes despite the unpreventable increase in oil prices. ''A change in the programme would hurt our credibility,'' Ercel said and noted that the monatery and currency programmes will last for three years.

Drawing attention to the value loss of Euro, Ercel said ''the private sector should see this and act accordingly. It should not depend on only one kind of currency.''

SABAH (LIBERAL)

- Britain, Norway, Greece, and Denmark abolished the capital punishment long after they entered to the EU. Why is this a pre-condition for Turkey?

- Although every country lifts capital punishment in time according to its own internal structure, what lies behind the statements made to Turkey saying, ''you should abolish them immediately, or else the roads will be closed.''

- Is the insistency to put abolishment of capital punishment as a pre- condition really related with the EU, or related with separatist activity.

- Immediately after human rights are brought to the agenda, an ethnic group said ''capital punishment should be lifted soon,'' why did this happen.

- Are we face to face with a trap which we can not realize? Everybody should think of this.

And he said: ''I don't accuse or blacken anybody. However, you should think of the future and past of the things you are doing. Turkey is ours.''

SUMMER COMES BACK
Temperatures will increase between 2-4 degrees celsius above the seasonal averages as of today. Temperatures will increase to 29 degrees in Istanbul.

State Meteorogy Affairs General Directorate told A.A that temperatures will increase on Tuesday. Warm weather will be influential till the weekend, and rain is not expected. The temperatures will decrease at the weekend, and will be at seasonal averages.

CUMHURIYET (LEFT)

42 PEOPLE DIE IN TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS
Balance sheet of traffic accidents of Monday was serious. A total of 42 people died, and many others were injured in traffic accidents in various regions of the country. The accident which occurred in Gole township in Kars province was grave. When a failure occurred in the break system of a truck, it crashed into a minibus and later to a lorry. A total of 21 people died and 24 others were injured at the accident which occurred early on Monday morning.

RADIKAL (LEFT)

ANAP Chairmanship Council had a meeting yesterday under the leadership of Yilmaz and discussed constitutional amendment, and proposal of Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Turk, for amnesty.

POSTPONEMENT TO ASLITURK CASE
Hearing of Gulay Asliturk, the former Mayor of Sisli, was adjourned to February 26, 2001 to complete the missing parts in the six new accusations that came up at the last minute. Asliturk is under trial in London as Turkey called for her extradition.

Lawyer of Asliturk, who spoke at the hearing that took place in the Bow Street Magistrate Court, pointed out that there were three accusations against his client, yet noted that Turkish government made a supplementary to the 150-page extradition dossier, including six new accusations. The lawyer said they could not get prepared for the six new files as they could not get them on time, and requested time to discuss the extradition file as a whole.

YENİ BİNYIL (LIBERAL)

GOVERNMENT TO ANNOUNCE BASIC ECONOMY POLICIES AND MEASURES FOR
2001 ON OCTOBER 15
The government will announce the 2001 budget on October 15 revealing the level of public expenses. It will be clear whether the government will continue its strict spending policy or adopt a loser spending policy since the interests have dropped. According to the stand-by regulations of the IMF, the budget has to be tighter next year. To do this, the spendings will be limited and the income will increase.

TURKIYE (RIGHT)

''OLYMPIA SHOW OF TURKISH HAIR DRESSERS''
Turkey's leading fashion hairdressers were admired by French audience at a hair show they performed at Olympia concert hall in Paris on Monday.

Nine Turkish hairdressers working under the supervision of Orhan Bademli expressed Mevlana's philosoply in the hair styles they created, receiving a lot of applause. Turkish designer Ugur Dervis who lives in Australia designed the outfits the models wore during the show.

ZAMAN (CONSERVATIVE)

COOPERATION WITH UZBEKISTAN
Turkish-Uzbek relations, which had been tensed after the assasination attempt on Islam Kerimov, the Uzbek Head of State, entered to the normalization process following the meeting of President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, and Uzbek Head of State Kerimov during the U.N. Millenium Summit. Interior Minister Saadettin Tantan left for this country in order to contribute to the developments in bilateral relations. Tantan said Turkey supported establishment of security atmosphere in Uzbekistan, and its economic strengtening.

[02] ZEUGMA ON INTERNET

The webpage, which can be reached through www.zeugma2000.com, includes information about the city's history, archeologic map, preservation of historical objects, Gaziantep Museum, the Culture Ministry, South East Anatolia (GAP) Management and other institutions which contributed to the project to save Zeugma. It was also stated that the rescue works in Zeugma are financed by the Packard Humanities Institute (PHI).

The webpage calls Zeugma 2000, ''an an archaeological rescue project dedicated to documenting the Roman frontier city of Zeugma on the Euphrates river.''

''Under the auspices of the Turkish Ministry of Culture, the South-eastern Anatolia Project (GAP) and the Packard Humanities Institute (PHI) have organized an ambitious international emergency rescue project at Zeugma during the summer of 2000. The Roman city is remarkably well preserved beneath thick layers of hillwash, which almost completely obscure its former grandeur. It is not surprising that many have labelled Zeugma the "Turkish Pompeii!" ,'' it says on the webpage.

''Multinational teams of archaeologists and specialists have come to Zeugma to join forces with their Turkish colleagues. This rapid response team is composed of rescue and specialist archaeologists and conservators working together following a common strategy. The aim of the project is to record and to understand better the sectors of the ancient city due to be inundated around October 2000, following the completion of the massive Birecik Hydroelectric Dam.''

[03] FOREIGN MINISTER CEM IN BRUSSELS

On the first day of his contacts, Cem will have meetings with European Parliament Turkey rapporteur Philippe Morillon and Daniel Cohn-Bendit, the Co-Chairman of Joint Parliament Commission, which maintains the dialogue between the EP and the Turkish parliament. Cem will later visit European Parliament's Foreign Relations Commission Chairman Elmar Brok and the EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.

On Wednesday, Cem is scheduled to meet with Enrique Baron Crespo, the EP Socialist Group Chairman; Paul Lanoye, the Co-Chairman of the Greens Group; Hans Gert Pottering, the Chairman of the Christian Democrat Group; Patricx Cox, the Chairman of the Liberal Group, and Guenter Verheugen, the EU Commissioner responsible for enlargement.

Cem is expected to return to Turkey on Friday after meeting with Romano Prodi, the Chairman of the EU Commission, and Nicole Fontaine, the Chairperson of the European Parliament.

[04] UNICEF TO GIVE TURKEY 20 MILLION U.S. DOLLARS

The cash will be used to bring solutions to children's educational and health problems and to start vaccination against several diseases.

UNICEF Executive Committee has also agreed on its Turkey programme. The programme foresees benefiting from non-governmental organizations to make improvements in the lives of women and children; correct the social and economic inbalances among Turkey's different regions, and inspecting implementations in the field of children's rights.

UNICEF had earlier carried out a research on 450 children who live in the streets in six cities. It also contributed to efforts to provide good medical service, education, rehabilitation and nourishment to children who were affected by the Marmara earthquake.

Prof. Ihsan Dogramaci, former Chairman of Higher Education Council (YOK) who represented Turkey at the meeting thanked to UNICEF authorities.

[05] TUBITAK EXTENDS SUPPORT TO 55 PROJECTS IN GAP

The program, carried out by the administration of TUBITAK's Agriculture, Forest, and Food Technologies Research Group, extends support to 55 projects in Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP) Region.

A total of 200 scientists, researchers, and experts will attend the symposium which will last for two days.

Officials said 23 of the projects, which are carried out with the 750 billion lira support provided by the World Bank, will be under discussion.

[06] DELUX HOTELS AND HOLIDAY RESORTS IN ANTALYA ARE BOOKED UP

Tourism authorities said tourism season in 2000 was fruitful and that they were also expecting a profitable winter season.

Ahmet Barut noted that 2,5 million tourists visited Antalya in the last eight months and this number is likely to exceed 3,5 million by the end of November 2000.

Barut noted that some hotels in Antalya were closed during the winter months and said ''the hotels which have winter facilities could increase their customer number by offering their customers more options such as golf, congress, and culture tourism. I believe that the hotels will start making profit also in winter as of this year.''

[07] TURKEY-WORLD BANK

Sources said on Tuesday that the Turkish side and the World Bank side had different opinions also about the criteria for the support to farmers regarding the issue of ''Direct Income Support''.

World Bank officials believed that the support should be extended according to the ''area of the arable field'' while the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Ministry officials defended that the support should be evaluated within scope of the ''assets of the enterprise, amount of production, number of cattle and general structure of the economy'', sources said.

Stressing that the ''Letter of Intent'' which had been submitted to the IMF included the factor of giving the start for the ''Direct Income Support'' in 2001, officials said that it would become difficult to put this system into practice in 2001 under those conditions.

Noting that the project would be taken up by the World Bank Board in December, officials said that effective extension of loans could start in March 2001 under those conditions.

Stressing that opening and finalization of an international tender for the infrastructure of the ''Farmer Registration System'' could take a long time, officials said that the ''Direct Income Support'' system should start in 2001.

[08] BUDGET RESULTS

Releasing a written statement on the budget performance in the January- August period of 2000, Oral said that the total revenues had been 22 quadrillion 155 trillion TL including 17 quadrillion 517 trillion TL tax income.

Stressing that the state had paid a 17 quadrillion 296 trillion TL interest, and the total budget expenditures had become 32 quadrillion 471 trillion TL, Oral said the budget expenditures excluding interest payments had become 15 quadrillion 175 trillion TL.

Oral said that within this framework, the budget deficit had become 10 quadrillion 316 trillion TL, and the non-interest budget surplus had reached 6 quadrillion 980 trillion TL.

The Finance Minister said that the income collection had increased 102.3 percent, the tax collection had risen 104.2 percent and expenditures had increased 83.7 percent in August 2000 when compared to August 1999.

Noting that interest expenditures had increased 129.2 percent, Oral said that non-interest budget expenditures had risen 50.3 percent and the budget deficit had increased 53.5 percent.

[09] CAPACITY UZTILIZATION IN AUGUST

explained on Tuesday the result of the monthly tendency survey which reflects view of the establishments in manufacturing industry about production, sales, stocks and prices for the relation in August 2000.

According to the statement of the DIE, rate of capacity utilization that is weighted by production value, increased from 69.9 percent in August 1999 to 75.8 percent in August 2000, from the primarily provisional result of 540 large scale manufacturing industrial establishments.

Comparison of the reasons for not working in full capacity to the same month of the previous year is summarized below:

In August 1999 In August 2000

-------------- ---------------
from 52.6 percent to 48.5 percent Shortage of demands in domestic market

from 13.5 percent to 10.4 percent Shortage of demands in foreign market

from 2.1 percent to 2.4 percent Financial problems

from 2.6 percent to 3.9 percent Shortage of raw domestic materials

from 2.5 percent to 3.3 percent Labor problems

from 0.7 percent to 1.1 percent Shortage of raw imported materials

[10] MILD EARTHQUAKE IN YALOVA

Bogazici University Kandilli Observatory and Seismology Institute officials said that the quake which happened at 12:22 was centered on Yalova.

The earthquake was also felt in Istanbul and the surroundings.

[11] ''CONSTRUCTION 2000 ANKARA FAIR'' TO BE OPENED ON WEDNESDAY

A statement of the Construction Industry Center said on Tuesday that 180 local and foreign companies will join the fair.

Deputy Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz is expected to open the fair.

[12] ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES MINISTER ERSUMER:

Following his meeting with Shiferaw Jarso, the Ethiopian Water Resources Minister who is paying a visit to Ankara, Ersumer told reporters that stories saying that water will not be released to the Firat basin are not correct.

Ersumer said that 1999 and 2000 were the driest years experienced in Turkey in the last two decades and that they hope this year will be last dry year in Turkey.

There will not be any problems in irrigation in the following term, Ersumer noted.

A meeting was held in Botas on Monday about the energy deficit and measures taken to prevent energy shortage in November, December, January and February, Ersumer stated.

Ersumer added, ''administrators of institutions like the State Water Works (DSI), Turkish Electricity Distribution Inc. (TEDAS), Turkish Electricity Production and Transmission Inc. (TEAS), and Turkish Coal Enterprises (TKI) attended the meeting. I will give information on Thursday to the Council of Ministers about this meeting.''

[13] 22TH INTERCONTINENTAL EURASIA MARATHON TO BE HELD ON OCTOBER 15

Ali Mufit Gurtuna, the Mayor of Istanbul, told a press conference on Tuesday that this marathon is the only marathon which is run between the two continents.

Gurtuna said that the Intercontinental Eurosia Marathon is bringing people together with olympic ideal and without making any discriminations.

''Istanbul's new target is hosting the 2008 Olympics. We consider both this marathon and other sports activities as a preparation for the Olympics. We are sure that we will host the 2008 Olympics very well,'' said Gurtuna.

Gurtuna emphasized that this is the only event which gives people the chance to cross the continents by walking.

Gurtuna noted whole Europe and the world can watch Istanbul's historical, geographical and cultural beauties for almost two and a half hours through the television channels broadcasting the Eurosia Marathon.

Gurtuna added, ''humanity saw other dimensions of violence that the Serbians did in Bosnia by the Eurosia Marathon. This marathon was started in 1995. We ran for street urchins in 1996, for Eurasian Forest in 1997, for poor kids in Southeastern Anatolia in 1998 and for the quake survivors in 1999. This year, we will run for the Olympics in which bring together people of different language, culture, religion and race. The revenue of this year's marathon will be donated to the charities.''

[14] TOTAL OF 20 RESEARCHERS TO JOIN SECOND INTERNATIONAL SEA STUDIES

Gul Goktepe, the administrator of Regional Technical Cooperation Project carried out within scope of ''Environmental Studies In the Black Sea'', said on Tuesday that the studies will be carried out by the Ukranian- flagged research ship named ''Prof. Dr. Vodyanitsky.''

Goktepe noted that sea water samples should be taken by 32 stations set up in the Black Sea.

Radio-activity, physicochemical and heavy metal analysis will be made on the samples, Goktepe added.

The studies will end on October 11.

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