Anadolu Agency: News in English, 00-11-27

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ANADOLU AGENCY

NEWS

27 NOVEMBER 2000 Monday

CONTENTS

[01] TURKEY-PRESS SCAN

[01] TURKEY-PRESS SCAN

HURRIYET (LIBERAL)

DENIZLI JOLTED AGAIN
An earthquake measuring 3.5 on the Richter scale jolted Aegean Denizli province and its surrounding on Sunday. Denizli, which was rocked by almost 150 minor tremors since last April, was shaken again on Sunday after a one- month interval. The Bogazici University Kandilli Observatory Center and Seismology Institute said that the quake was centered on Saraykoy, Denizli. There were no reports of casulties in the earthquake.

MILLIYET (LIBERAL)

CEM SAYS ACCESSION PARTNERSHIP ACCORD NOT LIKELY TO CHANGE
Foreign Minister Ismail Cem said that the Accession Partnership Accord had very weak chances of being changed the way Turkey demanded. When asked if Turkey would submit its national plan before Dec. 31, he said ''it does not make much sense to prepare and submit a plan before the Accession Partnership Accord is officially formed.'' He also added that EU Commission's members in charge of enlargement are working to change the Accord in a way to please Turkey.

SABAH (LIBERAL)

DEMIREL CAN GO TO MIDDLE EAST
The former president Suleyman Demirel who was elected as a member of the Middle East Fact-Finding Committee formed to end the clashes between Israelis and Palestinians, can go to the Middle East as the Committee decided to go there in its meeting on Sunday.

CUMHURIYET (LEFT)

EXPORTS TO IRAQ INCREASE
Turkey's exports to Iraq increased 93.2 million U.S. dollars between Janary and October 2000 when compared with the same period in 1999. Iraq ranked the third among the countries where Turkey's exports increased the most in the mentioned period. The U.S. ranked the first among the countries where Turkey's exports increased the most in the first ten months of 2000, with 480.6 million U.S. dollars.

RADIKAL (LEFT)

BOZLAK ELECTED HADEP LEADER AT CONGRESS
Murat Bozlak, the only candidate for leadership, was elected People's Democratic Party (HADEP) leader at the 4th Congress of HADEP which was held in Ankara's Ahmet Taner Kislali sports hall. Inside the sports hall, speaking Kurdish was not allowed and the party executives asked participants not to shout any slogans other than the party previously agreed on. Feleknaz Uca, member of the European Parliament who is of Kurdish origin, started his speech in Kurdish. However, he had to continue in German after he was warned. Murat Bozlak asked for a general amnesty which does not discriminate against people.

YENI BINYIL (LIBERAL)

BOMB EXPLODES IN BAGCILAR, INJURING THREE
A bomb planted in a trash bin in Bagcilar Square of Istanbul exploded, injuring three people. The health condition of Hakan Akerdik, one of the injured people who was taken under medical treatment in Bagcilar Hospital, was serious. A fragmentation type pipe bomb caused the blast.

TURKIYE (RIGHT)

PARLIAMENT TO SPEED UP ITS STUDIES
The change on rules and regulations of the parliament will be taken up this week. If the change that was accepted by the Constitutional Commission is also accepted by the parliament, deputies will work for one more hour everyday.

ZAMAN (CONSERVATIVE)

YUSUF ISLAM IN TURKEY
Yusuf Islam whose name was Cat Stevens before adopting Islam as his religion, came to southeastern Sanlýurfa province on Sunday. People in Sanlýurfa were very interested in his new music.

-IMF-TURKEY
-IMF'S FISCHER: ''THE DISINFLATION AND FISCAL ADJUSTMENT PROGRAM LAUNCHED
BY THE TURKISH GOVERNMENT IN LATE 1999 HAS ACHIEVED IMPORTANT RESULTS''
ANKARA - International Monetary Fund (IMF) First Deputy Managing Director Stanley Fischer said on Monday that Turkey's IMF-supported economic program was on track.

Releasing a statement, Fischer noted that the IMF's Executive Board is expected to consider in the third week of December the strengthened package of measures recently agreed by the Turkish authorities and IMF staff.

''The disinflation and fiscal adjustment program launched by the Turkish government in late 1999 has achieved important results: inflation this year will be the lowest since the mid-1980s; growth has picked up strongly; and public indebtedness, which was rising steeply in relation to GDP last year, is now falling,'' he said.

Fischer said, ''however, the pace of disinflation has been less than targeted and the external current account balance has weakened more than anticipated, partly because of oil prices and partly because of the strength of the rebound in economic activity.''

In his statement, Fischer continued, ''against this background, the authorities and the staff announced on November 15 agreement-for review by IMF Management and Executive Board-on a marked reinforcement of the policy package, including a further improvement in 2001 of the primary surplus of the public sector from 3 to 5 percent of GNP. 2 Structural policies are also to be strengthened, including importantly in the areas of banking and privatization.''

''In Management's view, these policies represent an apt response to developments, geared as they are to containing excessive domestic demand pressures, raising domestic saving, and reducing the external current account deficit. Management expects the IMF's Executive Board to consider the policies in the third week of December,'' he stated.

''More recently, money and foreign exchange market conditions have become quite volatile. Against the backdrop of the significantly more discihplined approach to banking supervision embedded in the program, the authorities' response has been twofold: -a temporary easing of domestic liquidity constraints so as to avoid a disruption of domestic money market conditions; following this injection, the net domestic assets of the central bank are being gradually brought back into line with the quarterly framework specified in the program; and -more fundamentally, accelerated adoption of the policy measures underlying the 2001 fiscal program, including the privatization aspects. To that end, they have enacted a first tax bill and intend to implement the balance of the measures by the end of November,'' he said.

''In sum, the program is on track, and it is expected to remain so given the authorities' strong policies for 2001,'' Fischer added.

The Board meeting in December is to complete the third and fourth review under the three year standby with Turkey approved on December 22, 1999 for a total amount of SDR 2892 million (about 3.7 billion U.S. dollars). Each tranche is for SDR 221.7 million (about 283 million U.S. dollars), of which three have already been disbursed. Two more would be disbursed upon completion of the third and fourth review.

-MUSLIM WOMEN'S ASSOCIATION HOLDS FAIR IN BERLIN
BERLIN - The Muslim Women's Association held on Sunday a fair in Berlin, Germany.

The fair is held every year to provide income for the disabled and mentally handicapped children in the Muslim countries.

The Muslim Women's Association sold several objects and foodstuff in the fair.

Besides many German and foreign people, Osman Koruturk, the Turkish Ambassador to Germany; Suzan Koruturk, the wife of Osman Koruturk and the Chairperson of the Turkish-German Friendship Association, and Pinar Orcal, the Deputy Chairperson of the Association, attended the fair.

Meanwhile, the Turkish-German Women's Friendship Association proposed to carry out a project for the establishment of a educational rehabilition center in Turgut Reis Elementary School in Ankara.

-SPORTS-SOCCER
-TURKISH DIVISION ONE RESULTS AND STANDINGS
ANKARA- Results of the Turkish division one soccer matches played between November 24-26:

Istanbulspor-Besiktas.........................(2 - 3)

Trabzonspor -Ankaragucu.......................(2 - 2)

Erzurumspor-Adanaspor.........................(2 - 0)

Samsunspor-Antalyaspor........................(4 - 2)

Genclerbirligi-Siirt Jet-Pa Spor..............(2 - 0)

Gaziantepspor-Denizlispor.....................(1 - 1)

Kocaelispor-Yimpas Yozgatspor.................(2 - 2)

Bursaspor-Caykur Rizespor.....................(2 - 1)

Galatasaray-Fenerbahce........................(0 - 0)

Standings:

P W D L F A Pts

December 1, Friday

Ankara Gucu-Galatasaray

December 2, Saturday

Trabzon-Gaziantep

Yozgat-Istanbulspor

Antalya-Kocaeli

Besiktas-Gencler Birligi

December 3, Sunday

Siirt Jetpa-Denizli

Rize-Samsun

Adana-Bursa

F. Bahce-Erzurum

Top Goal Scorers:

16 goals: Jardel (Galatasaray)

11 goals: Pascal Nouma (Besiktas)

10 goals: Cenk (Adanaspor)

9 goals: Lobe (Trabzonspor)

-GAP EXPORTS TEXTILE WORTH OF 134,3 MILLION U.S. DOLLARS
GAZIANTEP- The South East Anatolia Project (GAP) region exported textile products worth of 134,331,000 U.S. dollars in the first 10 months of this year, with an increase of 40.7 percent compared to the same period of last year.

Last year, 95,408,000 U.S. dollars were obtained from the textile export from GAP.

Last year, the textile products held a 20.7 percent share in the region's total export. This year, this figure rose to 29.2 percent.

According to the data of the South East Anatolia Exporters Associtions, main export items were machine woven rugs, knit, synthetic and cotton fabrics and towels.

Turkey exported these products to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Romania, Uzbekistan, Italy, Belgium, Greece, France, Morocco, Russia, Israel, Azerbaijan, the United States, Germany, Portugal, Iraq, Lebanon, Australia, Jordan and Sweden.

-ATIAD DELEGATION IN BRUSSELS
BRUSSELS - A delegation of the European Turkish Businessmen's and Industrialists' Association (ATIAD), based in Germany, started on Monday its contacts in Brussels.

The delegation is holding contacts in Brussels to overcome the negative views against Turkey.

Esref Unsal, the Chairman of ATIAD, said that they hold this visit in a period when the relations between Turkey and the European Union (EU) began to sour again.

Unsal continued, ''the EU is assuming an attitude which damages the partnership rathen than promoting it. The difficulties brought by the Accession Partnership Accord, impositions about Cyprus, votes on the so- called genocide on Armenians, and intense efforts to isolate Turkey from the EU, began to affect the relations negatively. We will be in an effort to convey that Europe, rather than Turkey, will have to bear the negative consequences that will be brought by the burden of the economic cost.''

The ATIAD delegation is comprised of Kemal Sahin, the Chairman of the Consultative Board of the ATIAD; Zeki Safak Ozan and Yakup Arikan, the deputy chairmen of ATIAD; Recep Keskin, Yusuf Ziya Aksu, Huseyin Kuru and Pulat Iplikci, the members of the ATIAD Executive Board.

The delegation will hold contacts with German Werner Langen, Ozan Ceyhun, Ingo Friedrich, and Manfred Vohrer, members of the European Parliament.

The ATIAD delegation will also meet with Alain Servantie, the member of the EU Commission for Turkey.

The contacts of ATIAD in Brussels will last for three days.

-PUBLIC WORKS MINISTER AYDIN:
-''41,403 PERMANENT DWELLINGS WILL BE CONSTRUCTED IN QUAKE ZONE''
ANKARA - Public Works and Housing Minister Koray Aydin said on Monday that 41,403 permanent dwellings will be constructed in the quake zone.

The Parliamentary Planning and Budget Commission started to discuss the Public Works and Housing Ministry's budget for 2001.

Aydin said that they target at completing the construction of these dwellings by the end of the year.

His ministry's budget for 2001 was foreseen as 1 quadrillian 471 trillion Turkish liras (TL), Aydin noted.

Aydin stated that 112,752 dwellings and workplaces were damaged in the earthquakes which hit the Marmara Region and Duzce province in 1999.

The Akyazi-Izmit motorway which cracked in the earthquake, was asphalted 18 days after the quake, Aydin said.

Aydin stressed that total of 260 kilometre roads were built in the prefabricated and tent-site areas and that 194 trillion 929 billion TL will be spent in the quake zone as the roads of the permanent dwellings are built.

A total of 79 trillion 368 billion TL was spent on the infrastructure of the prefabricated huts, Aydin said.

Aydin noted that 23,152 of 41,403 permanent dwellings will be constructed by his Ministry and the rest by the World Bank loan and the assistance collected by aid campaigns.

They will start distributing the permanent dwellings to the quake survivors by December, Aydin stated.

Aydin noted that the dwellings built by the contributions of the Prime Ministry Project Implementation Unit will be handed over to the quake survivors in April 2001.

Touching on tenders, Aydin said that they plan to fulfil the Izmit Gulf Transition Project, Canakkale Strait Project, and Project for Construction of Third Bridge on the Strait in the following years.

-THIRD MEETING OF ECO'S HIGH RANKING EXPERTS GROUP HELD IN ANKARA
ANKARA- The third meeting of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO)'s High Ranking Experts on Tariffs and Non-Tariff Restrictions was held in Ankara between 22-23 November.

Foreign Trade Undersecretariat said in a written statement on Monday that the ECO Trade Agreement was also discussed in the meeting chaired by Tuncer Kayalar, the Director General of Foreign Trade Undersecretariat's Department of Agreements. Tariffs and non-tariff restrictions in the regional trade and the progress recorded by countries in the economic and commerical fields were revised in the meeting.

The members of ECO decided to reduce gradually the customs tariffs in the meeting.

The Turkish side brought onto agenda the the bureaucratic implementations that increase the cost of freight in customs and various taxes in transit transportation at the meeting as this is the basic impediment in Turkish businessmen's trade with the region. The Turkish side wants these issues to be solved by the mentioned trade agreement.

Undersecretariat said that the ECO members have to take into consideration their existing obligations stemming from their relations with other countries and other international institutions to which they are members, in the preparation of the ECO Trade Agreement.

-1ST REGIONAL NARCOTIC LAW IMPLEMENTATION TRAINING PROGRAMME
STARTS IN ANKARA
ANKARA- Security General Director Turan Genc has said that Turkey continued its fight against drug smuggling and it believed in the need for international cooperation.

The 1st Regional Narcotic Law Implementation Education Programme started at the Turkish International Academy Against Drugs and Organized Crime on Monday.

The education programme which will last until Dec. 8, 2000 is being participated by narcotic officers from Albania, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Romania, the Russian Federation, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Ukrain.

The programme's goal is to provide and exchange information and experience, and initiate regional cooperation in narcotics operations.

During a speech, Genc said Turkey was greatly affected by the heavy traffic of drug and chemical substance smuggling due to its geographic location. Therefore, Turkey believes in international cooperation against drug trafficking and continues its fight against this crime of humanity, he stated.

''Turkey had important achievements in preventing drug trafficking especially after 1990's. New legal regulations on money laundering and organized crimes were also put into practice as a part of these activities, '' he went on to say. ''Turkey is always ready to share the information and experience it has with other nations in the region.''

The participants of the meeting agreed to prepare legal regulations which are in harmony with each other to continue the fight against drug smuggling in the region.

-CAT STEVENS VISITS EYUP SULTAN MOSQUE
ISTANBUL - Cat Stevens who later changed his name to Yusuf Islam after converting to Islam, visited Eyup Sultan Mosque and the tomb in Istanbul on Monday.

Stevens visited the mosque first. Later he prayed at the tomb of Eyup Sultan.

-EXTERNAL BORROWING
-450 MILLION U.S. DOLLARS AMOUNT OF DEBENTURE BOND
ISSUE IN SAMURAI MARKET TO ENTER TREASURY'S ACCOUNT
ANKARA- The 450 million U.S. dollars raised by the Treasury through debenture bond issue in the Japanese Samurai market on November 2, 2000 will enter Treasury's account on Monday.

The Treasury said that almost 450 million U.S. dollars amount which had been raised with a debenture bond issue in the Japanese Samurai market on November 2, 2000 would be deposited to Treasury's account on Monday, November 27, 2000.

-FOURTH GROUP MATCHES OF EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP U-19 TO BE HELD IN
ANTALYA
ANKARA - The fourth group matches of the European Championship Under 19 will be held in southern Antalya province between 3-7 December.

The team which will rank the first in the fourth group will qualify for the second tour. The fourth group comprises Turkey, Israel, Albania, and San Marino.

The schedule of the matches is as follows:

3 December Sunday:

14.00 Israel-Turkey

14.00 Albania-San Marino

5 December Tuesday:

14.00 San Marino-Israel

14.00 Turkey-Albania

7 December Thursday:

14.00 Albania-Israel

14.00 Turkey-San Marino

The teams of Israel, Albania and San Marino will arrive in Antalya on December 1.

-PROF. TEMUR SAYS 66 PERCENT OF WHOLE BORON RESERVES IN WORLD
LOCATED IN TURKEY
KONYA- Prof. Sedat Temur from Geology Engineering Department of Selcuk University said on Monday that 66 percent of the whole boron reserves in the world was located in Turkey.

Temur added that Turkey had a very strategic position in the reserves of the boron element, adding that this element was used in a large spectrum ranging from rocket fuel to tooth paste, and from detergents to radioactive shelters, and for coating several materials.

Noting that there is not a material that will substitute the boron element in some products, Temur said glass industry was one of the fields that the boron element was widely used.

''Boron element is used also in the production of soaps and detergents. Boron element will be one of the most demanded elements of this industry, as the population and the consumption of detergents and soaps will increase in the future,'' said Temur.

Temur pointed out that the boron element was used in medicine, pharmacology, cosmetics sector and some products such as lotion, and tooth paste.

Noting that the boron element was used in the engines of the jets, in the production of the organic elements, and in dye industry, Temur said the market price of the boron element was at a very good level and the price of the boron element had sometimes seen an increase of 300 percent annually.

Temur said Turkey had two billion 243 million tonnes of boron reserves.

-DEFENSE INDUSTRY EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE CONVENES
ANKARA - The Defense Industry Executive Committee convened on Monday under chairmanship of Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit.

Chief of General Staff General Huseyin Kivrikoglu, National Defense Minister Sabahattin Cakmakoglu and Defense Industy Undersecretary Dursun Ali Ercan are attending the meeting which started at 03:00 p.m. at the Defense Industry Undersecretariat building.

Sources said that the issue of purchase of Awacs detection aircrafts was on the agenda of the meeting.

-TORRENTIAL RAIN CONTINUE IN IZMIR
IZMIR - The torrential rain which started in Aegean Izmir province on Sunday continues to be effective on Monday.

The officials from the Meteorology Directorate told the A.A correspondent that the torrential rains will continue till Wednesday.

The officials added that the torrential rains are also effective in other Aegean provinces such as Aydin, Manisa, Usak, Mugla and Denizli.

Some houses in various neighbourhoods of Izmir were inundated due to the torrential rains.

-GAP DIRECTORATE PROMOTES ZEUGMA IN INTERNET
GAZIANTEP- The General Directorate for the Development of Southeastern Anatolia Project(GAP) Region, is promoting the Zeugma ancient city by the internet.

The photographs and the information on Zeugma Ancient City, which is located at the Nizip township of southeastern Gaziantep province, is given at the web site of the Directorate.

The web site comprises 46 photographs of the excavation site, mosaics, and several artifacts, and a sketch of Zeugma.

The excavations in Zeugma is carried out under the coordination of the GAP Directorate, and with the financial support of the Packard Humanities Institute.

The web site of the Directorate can be reached at http://www.gap.gov.tr address.

-STATISTICS RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM
-STATE MINISTER TOSKAY:
''I HOPE WE WILL BE ABLE TO DISCLOSE DEFINITE
POPULATION OF 3-4 IMPORTANT PROVINCES BEFORE
THE NEW YEAR''
ANKARA - Tunca Toskay, the State Minister, said on Monday that the State Institute of Statistics' (DIE) works on the census continued, adding that, ''I hope we will be able to disclose definite population of 3-4 important provinces before the new year.''

Responding to the questions of reporters after Statistical Research Symposium, Toskay said DIE continued works to obtain definite results of the census.

When asked about the current population, Toskay said, ''it would be misleading to say something before the figures become definite.

Speaking about foreign trade deficit, Toskay said it was the natural outcome of the economic policy that is under implementation, and added that they were continuously trying to take measures according to the data they obtained in order to prevent foreign trade to create a problem.

Toskay said there was a little decrease in foreign trade deficit according to the September figures which have not been disclosed. Toskay said, ''we will see if this means importation began to slow down or not.''

-IZMIT GULF REPROCESSING PROJECT TO COST 40.5 MILLION U.S. DOLLARS
IZMIT- The Izmit Gulf Reprocessing Project will cost almost 40.5 million U.S. dollars.

Hasan Misir, the Iller Bankasi First Region Chief Engineer who is responsible for this project, told A.A correspondent on Monday that when the Izmit Gulf Reprocessing Project is completed, it will serve one million people in the region.

Misir said that the consortium including Alsim Alarko and Italian Emit company started to implement the project last year by the loan provided from Italy.

The project is planned to be concluded two years later, Misir noted.

Misir stated that the construction of reprocessing plant in Kullar hamlet was started within the framework of the project.

Misir continued, ''the Izmit Gulf is 50 kilometres in length and 2-10 kilometres in width. The project targets at preventing the pollution of the gulf. The Izmit Gulf is mainly polluted by industrial and home waste products. Within the framework of the project, five reprocessing plants will be constructed in Korfez, Golcuk, Kullar, Karamursel and Altinova. The Izmit Gulf will be cleaned and will become as beautiful as it used to be by this project.''

This project is expected to be concluded in October 2002, Misir said.

Misir added that the project will cost 40 million 497 thousand 631 U.S. dollars.

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